Justice League: Hero Dice – Batman
Justice League: Hero Dice – Batman Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Overview
With this Batman set for Justice League: Hero Dice, you join the Justice League as the Dark Knight. Let the dice roll and fight the villains with cunning and wit. Keep the villains away from your city – the fewer that get through, the better.
Golden Rule
If a card contradicts these rules, the card text always applies.
Finding Allies and Fighting Together
If you're ready to fight the forces of evil alone, the solo game is the right choice for you.
To experience the full fun and excitement of Justice League: Hero Dice, you should team up with friends who bring their own Hero Dice sets. Each set (SUPERMAN, FLASH, GREEN LANTERN, etc.) is meant for exactly one player; each player therefore needs their own set. Now you can fight the bad guys together as the Justice League!
Components
- 1 Hero board
- 7 dice: 3x gray, 4x black
- Damage markers: 4x 3-damage, 9x 1-damage
- 3 Batmobile markers
- Batman has 3 Batmobile markers. Each marker may be used once per game as a Batmobile of any color.
- 1 two-sided city card
- 6 Hero cards
- 10 Villain cards
- 5 Team markers
- 1 Target marker
Hero board callouts:
- Each Bat symbol counts as 1 hit.
- Each Wound symbol counts as -1 hit.
- A die that shows a Batmobile symbol allows you to set aside any number of dice of the same color to the side. Once at least one die has been set aside this way, all dice that have not yet been set aside are rerolled. It is not allowed to set aside dice that show a Batmobile symbol. You may only use 1 Batmobile per roll.
Villain card example: The targeted villain takes 2 damage.
Dice Rules
The die symbols are explained on the Hero board. The lower left corner also shows the hero's special ability.
Rolling
At the start of the attack, all dice are rolled. After each roll, you may end your attack. Or you may keep rolling for as long as you have BATMOBILES and dice of the corresponding color that can be set aside.
With a black Batmobile, only black dice can be set aside; with a gray Batmobile, only gray dice can be set aside. Dice that show a Batmobile symbol can never be set aside. You may only use one Batmobile at a time. At the end of the attack, each Bat symbol counts as +1 hit and each Wound counts as a miss. Each miss counts as -1 hit.
Example
Batman first rolls a black and a gray Batmobile. Since with the gray Batmobile he could only set aside gray Wounds, he decides to use the black Batmobile instead, sets aside the two black Bat symbols, and rerolls the remaining dice.
Would Batman stop after this roll, he would have no hits, since the three Wounds would cancel out the three Bat symbols. So he decides to use the gray Batmobile, sets aside a gray Wound, and rerolls the four dice that were not set aside.
Although Batman has a black Batmobile, he decides to end his attack. Batman scores 2 hits.
Setup
The game works best when each player plays a different hero. The rules for a solo or doppelganger game can be found on page 7.
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Prepare heroes: Each player lays out their Hero board, their Hero cards, their dice, and all hero markers face up in front of them. Since this is a cooperative game, all information can be shared among players. The Team markers of all heroes are placed in a pile in the middle of the play area.
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Prepare cities: Choose a city card and place it, with the side showing the lower number face up (the higher number is for the solo game), above the villain deck. The area above the battlefield is called the City (the city card is also considered part of this area).
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Prepare villain cards: First, set all Reinforcement cards aside. Shuffle the remaining villain cards of all participating heroes together. Then place 2 cards per player face down in the middle of the play area to form the base of the villain deck. Then shuffle the reinforcements into the remaining villains and place these cards face down on top of the villain deck. This deck is placed below the city card.
Now draw as many cards from the villain deck as there are players and place them face up in a row to the right of the villain deck. This area is called the Battlefield. Then draw villains again according to the number of players, and this time place them in a row to the left of the villain deck. This area is called the Outskirts. In the Outskirts, the first cards are placed face up, but the last card is placed face down. As soon as a Reinforcement card is revealed, immediately draw another card from the deck and place it face up on top, so that the threat value of both cards remains visible. Cards combined this way count as one card with a combined threat value (e.g. for the number of villain cards during setup).
2-Player Setup (Batman and Superman) — diagram labels
- Resistance of the city
- The title being played
- Name of the city
- Villains in the city (revealed)
- Team markers received
- Hero set
- Threat
- Outskirts
- Villain deck
- Battlefield
- Defeated villains (face down)
- The villain cards have special abilities. These are activated as soon as the villain is revealed or attacked (see Villain Abilities, p. 8).
- Name of the villain
- Abilities of the villain
How to Play
In Justice League: Hero Dice, all heroes try to protect the city from an oncoming flood of villains. The heroes must face all the villains in the villain deck.
The game is played in rounds, split into 2 phases. All players play simultaneously. The game ends after a final battle, once the villain deck is empty.
- Attack
- Resolution
Hero cards may be played at any time unless stated otherwise. There is no limit to how many cards can be played per round. After a card effect has been carried out, the card is placed on a discard pile.
1. Attack
During an attack, the following steps are carried out in this order:
- Each hero places their target marker on the battlefield, so that it points at a villain of their choice. This important decision should be discussed with the team.
- The heroes roll simultaneously.
- The heroes continue to roll simultaneously according to their individual dice rules, until they declare their attack over.
Rolling Simultaneously?
The team is always free to decide whether everyone wants to roll at the same time or not. Sometimes it's helpful to wait for one team member's result before continuing. If you roll simultaneously, however, everything goes faster.
For your first game we recommend rolling one after another, so everyone can see how the other team members are doing.
2. Resolution
During resolution, the following steps take place in the order given:
- Villain abilities that affect the hits dealt are applied.
- Hero abilities that affect the hits dealt are applied.
- All remaining hits now become damage. Each hero places damage markers equal to the damage dealt on the villain they targeted.
- Any villain with damage markers equal to or greater than its threat value is defeated and placed face down on the defeated-villains pile. All markers on defeated villains return to the respective supply.
- If damage markers from at least 2 different heroes are on a defeated villain, the heroes receive 1 Team marker (of any hero), which is placed in the City next to the villain cards.
- Villains that were not defeated remain on the Battlefield, as do their damage markers. Gaps between villain cards are closed by sliding the outer cards inward.
- Now all villains are moved from the Outskirts – one after another – onto the Battlefield. First, the villain directly next to the villain deck is moved, then the next, etc. A face-down villain must be revealed before it is moved.
- IMPORTANT: Before a villain moves onto the Battlefield, it must be determined whether the heroes are overrun. To do this, add the threat of all villains on the Battlefield to the threat of the villain being moved. If the sum is higher than the heroes' Power Limit, the villain moves directly into the City. The villain card is revealed and placed to the right of the city card.
Power Limit
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1 player: 12
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2 players: 15
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3 players: 20
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4 players: 25
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Finally, new villains move into the Outskirts. New villains are drawn from the villain deck, again one card per hero. The first villain is placed in the Outskirts next to the villain deck, the next card next to that, etc. The last card is always placed face down.
Glossary
Outskirts: The play area to the left of the villain deck. Villains gather here for one round before facing the heroes.
Defeated: Villains that have received damage equal to at least their threat are placed face down on the defeated-villains pile. All markers on them are returned.
Miss: Each Wound counts as -1 hit against the targeted villain during the resolution phase.
Power Limit: The maximum threat the heroes can withstand before being overrun.
Damage: Each hit that cannot be canceled out deals damage to the villain. Damage can also be caused by Hero cards. For each point of damage dealt, a corresponding number of damage markers is placed on the villain.
Battlefield: The play area to the right of the villain deck. This is where the battle takes place.
City: The play area above the villain deck. This is where the city card, received Team markers, and all villains that got past the heroes are placed.
Hit: Each Bat symbol counts as 1 hit against the targeted villain during the resolution phase.
Overrun: If the sum of the threat of the villain entering the Battlefield and the threat of all villains already on the Battlefield exceeds the Power Limit, the heroes are overrun. The villain moves directly into the City.
Reinforcement: A special villain card that supports another villain. The Reinforcement and the card lying on it count as one villain with a combined threat value. There is no limit to how many Reinforcement cards can be stacked on top of each other.
Target: At the start of their attack, each hero places their target marker. The villain the target marker points at is considered the targeted villain. It is the target of the hero's attack.
The Final Battle
Once the villain deck is empty, one more round is played by the usual rules. At the end of the round, all villains move from the Outskirts onto the Battlefield (or they overrun the heroes and move into the City), but the Outskirts remain empty.
Then the last round follows. Here, Attack and Resolution are carried out as usual, up to the point where new villains would need to come from the Outskirts. Here the game ends and the final score is determined.
- Villains in the City lower the city's resistance value by their threat.
- Every villain card still on the Battlefield lowers the city's resistance by 2 (threat and damage markers do not matter).
- Every Team marker in the City restores 2 resistance to the city.
- Finally, the city's resistance value is compared to the list on the right side of the city card, to see how well the Justice League heroes fared.
Variant: Hard Fight
Looking for a challenge? No problem. At the start of the game, all heroes shuffle their Hero cards and each puts one random card back into the game box. Each hero must now fight with only 5 Hero cards.
Solo Game
Most of the solo game works exactly like the team game, with a few exceptions:
- Team markers stay in the game box. The villain ability "Team Attack" is ignored.
- You use the side of the city card that has a higher resistance.
- The Outskirts are now on top of the villain deck instead of to its left. The card in the Outskirts is placed face up – in the solo game there is no face-down last card. If a Reinforcement is face up in the Outskirts, it only receives its additional card once it moves during the next resolution phase.
Doppelganger Game
Anyone who wants to play with two (or even more) identical heroes may do so. However, this makes the game harder, since copies of a single hero don't complement each other as effectively as different heroes do. After the game it will take some time to sort the hero sets back apart. The rules themselves remain the same.
Villain Abilities
Wound: Counts as an additional rolled miss, which counts as -1 hit.
Only 3 Rolls: Only 3 rolls are allowed.
Team Attack: This villain can only be targeted by two or more heroes at once.
No Cards: If a hero targets this villain, they cannot use Hero cards. (This does not affect hero abilities.)
Reinforcement: When this villain card is revealed, the next villain is immediately placed on top of it, so that only the upper part of the Reinforcement card is visible. This way, multiple Reinforcements can be stacked on top of each other, until another villain is placed on top. Such a combination counts as one card, with a combined threat value.
Two-Faced: If there is at least 1 damage marker on this villain (whether from the current round or a previous one), after placing the damage markers a gray Batman die is rolled. If the result is a Wound, 1 damage marker is removed from this villain for each hero who has damage markers on it. If the result is a Bat symbol or a Batmobile, instead 1 damage marker is added for each hero who has damage markers on it.