Justice League: Hero Dice – Flash Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Flash Components
• Dice Symbols
• Team Play
• Setup
  • Prepare the Heroes
  • Prepare the City
  • Prepare the Villain Cards
• How to Play
  • Round Sequence
  • Golden Rule
• 1. Villains Advance
  • Move Villains to the Battlefield
    • Overrun
  • Move Villains to the Outskirts
  • Villain Abilities
• 2. Attack
  • Targeting
  • Attacking
    • Rolling
    • Flash Dice Rules
    • Hero Cards
    • Flash Hero Ability
• 3. Settlement
• End of the Game and Scoring
• Play Example, 2 Players: Flash and Batman
  • Villains Advance (Round 1)
  • Attack (Round 1)
  • Settlement (Round 1)
  • Villains Advance (Round 2)
  • Attack (Round 2)
  • Settlement (Round 2)
  • Villains Advance (Round 3)
• Game Variants
  • Solo Game
  • Tough Fight
  • Doppelganger Game

Overview

With this Flash set for Justice League: Hero Dice you can face the villains threatening your city alone or as a team with other Justice League heroes (Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, etc.). Let the dice roll and fight the villains with your super speed. Keep the villains away from your city – the fewer that get through, the better.

Each hero needs his or her own Hero Dice set, which contains his or her individual powers (hero dice, cards and abilities) but also his or her arch-enemies.

Flash Components

• 3 red dice, 1 yellow die
• 3 Tornado markers
• 5 Team markers
• Damage markers: 4x 3-damage, 9x 1-damage
• 1 Target marker
• 6 Hero cards
• 1 Hero board
• 1 City card
• 10 Villain cards (including 2 Reinforcements)

Dice Symbols

• FLASH symbol: Each Flash symbol counts as 1 hit.
• REVERSE-FLASH symbol: Each Reverse-Flash symbol counts as -1 hit.
• RACE symbol: Each roll showing at least one Race symbol may be completely rerolled. The results achieved are added together.
• HERO ABILITY: Flash has 3 Tornado markers. He can use each marker once to divide his hits as he likes between the targeted villain and 1 adjacent villain.
• If the total ever falls below -2, the attack ends immediately and Flash scores 0 hits.

Hero card examples (as printed): "Take 1 played card back into your hand." / "Roll your yellow die. If the result is a Flash symbol, each villain on the battlefield receives 1 hit."

Team Play

The following rules apply to team play, in which each player plays a different hero. The rules for solo and doppelganger play are found on page 8 under Game Variants.

Setup

Prepare the Heroes

Each player lays his or her Hero board, Hero cards, hero dice and markers face up in front of him or her. As this is a cooperative game, all information may be shared.

Prepare the City

Choose a City card and place it in the play area with the Team play side face up. The City card and the area to the right of it are the city. The City card shows the city's name, its resistance, whether it is for solo or team play, and the title awarded at the end of the game (title list by final resistance: 16+ Legendary Hero; 15-12 Action Hero; 11-9 Valiant Hero; 8-4 Everyday Hero; 3-1 Wannabe Hero; 0 Never Heard Of).

Prepare the Villain Cards

First, all Reinforcements are removed from the Villain cards and set aside. The remaining Villain cards of all participating heroes are shuffled together, and 2 cards per player are placed in the middle of the play area as a face-down pile. Then the remaining Villain cards are shuffled together with the Reinforcements and placed face down on this pile. This is the finished Villain deck.

The area to the right of the Villain deck is the Battlefield, where the fight will take place. The area to the left of the deck is called the Outskirts; the villains gather here before being moved onto the Battlefield.

From the Villain deck, draw 1 villain per player one after another and place them in a row to the left of the Villain deck. All cards are laid out face up, with 1 exception: the last card is laid face down.

As soon as a Reinforcement card is revealed, another card is immediately drawn from the Villain deck and placed face up on top of it, so that the threat values of both cards remain visible. Cards in such a combination count as 1 villain with a combined threat value (e.g. 1+3 = 4 for the number of villains at setup). In this way several Reinforcements can also be stacked on top of each other.

How to Play

In Justice League: Hero Dice, all heroes try to protect the city over 8 rounds from an advancing flood of villains. All players play simultaneously. After the Villain deck and the Outskirts are empty, a scoring shows how well the heroes did.

Round Sequence

Each round consists of 3 phases:

1. Villains Advance
2. Attack
3. Settlement

Golden Rule

If a card contradicts these rules, the card text always applies.

1. Villains Advance

Move Villains to the Battlefield

The villains from the Outskirts move onto the Battlefield one after another: first the villain directly to the left of the Villain deck onto the first free space to the right of the Villain deck, then the second, and so on. The last, face-down villain must be revealed before it is moved (see the play example "1. Villains Advance" below).

Overrun

Before a villain advances onto the Battlefield, it must be determined whether the heroes are already so busy with other villains that it overruns them. To do so, the threat of all villains on the Battlefield is added together with that of the advancing villain.

Power limit:

• 1 player: 12
• 2 players: 15
• 3 players: 18
• 4 players: 21

If the sum is higher than the heroes' power limit, the villain runs directly into the city: the Villain card is placed face up next to the City card.

Move Villains to the Outskirts

As in setup, 1 villain per hero is drawn from the Villain deck and placed to the left of the Villain deck. The first villain is placed directly next to the Villain deck, the next to the left of it, and so on. The last villain is always placed face down.

Villain Abilities

The Villain cards have special abilities:

• REVERSE-FLASH: Counts as -1 hit for Flash, which must be subtracted from the hits scored during Settlement. This applies as soon as Flash scores hits against the villain with REVERSE-FLASH.
• NO CARDS: Whoever targets this villain cannot use Hero cards. Hero abilities may be used as usual. (Heroes who target a different villain can still use cards that affect the villain with NO CARDS.)
• ONLY 3 ROLLS: Whoever targets this villain may roll a maximum of 3 times.
• REINFORCEMENT: When this card is revealed, another Villain card is immediately placed on top of it, so that only the upper part of the Reinforcement card is visible. Several Reinforcements can be stacked this way. Such a combination counts as one villain with a combined threat.
• DEFEAT TWICE: When this villain is defeated for the first time, it does not go onto the discard pile. Instead it is rotated by 180 degrees. The damage markers stay on the card; they no longer count as damage, but they still count for Team markers. The villain must be defeated a second time in a later round. In the city, only the villain's normal threat value counts in scoring.
• TEAM ATTACK: This villain must be targeted by two or more heroes at once.

The companion sheet "All Villain Abilities" (for the hero sets Superman, Batman, Flash and Green Lantern) lists these further:

• KRYPTONITE: Counts as an additional Kryptonite that must be neutralized for hits to be scored.
• NO HEAT VISION: Heat vision cannot be neutralized. (It can still be used for other effects.)
• WOUND: Counts as -1 hit for Batman.
• TWO-FACED: If at least 1 damage marker lies on this villain (regardless of whether from the current or a previous round), after the damage markers are placed a gray Batman die is rolled. If the result is a Wound, 1 damage marker of each hero who has a damage marker on the villain is removed from it. If the result is a Bat symbol or a Batmobile, 1 damage marker is instead added for each hero who has a damage marker on the villain.
• REVERSE-FLASH: Counts as -1 hit for Flash, which must be subtracted from the hits scored during Settlement. This applies as soon as Flash scores hits against the villain with REVERSE-FLASH.
• PARALLAX: Counts as -1 hit for Green Lantern. This applies as soon as Green Lantern scores hits against the villain with Parallax.
• TEAM ATTACK: This villain must be targeted by two or more heroes at once.
• SOLO ATTACK: This villain can only be targeted/attacked by one hero at a time.
• SHIELD: Counts as minus hits equal to the number shown, for each hero (e.g. a Shield of 1 = -1 hit per hero). This applies as soon as a hero scores hits against the villain with Shield.
• DEFEAT TWICE: as above.
• ONLY 3 ROLLS: Whoever targets this villain may roll a maximum of 3 times.
• -1 DIE: Whoever targets this villain must set aside one of his or her dice, which does not count for this attack.
• REINFORCEMENT: as above.
• NO CARDS: as above.

2. Attack

Targeting

Each hero places his or her Target marker on the Battlefield so that it points at a villain of his or her choice. The villain the Target marker points at is the targeted villain. It is the target of the hero's attack. This important decision should be discussed with the team.

Attacking

The heroes attack with their dice, Hero cards and hero abilities.

Rolling

The heroes roll simultaneously according to their individual dice rules until they declare their attack finished.

Rolling simultaneously? For the first rounds we recommend rolling one after another, so that everyone can see how the other team members are doing. Later, too, it can be helpful to wait for a team member's result before rolling.

Flash Dice Rules

Flash has three red dice and one yellow die. The colors of the dice have no meaning for the roll; the yellow die merely has a slightly better distribution of symbols for Flash.

• FLASH symbol: Each Flash symbol counts as 1 hit.
• REVERSE-FLASH symbol: Each Reverse-Flash symbol counts as -1 hit.
• RACE symbol: Each roll with at least one Race symbol may be completely rerolled. The results achieved are added together.

Flash always rolls all 4 dice. After each roll he can end his attack. Or he keeps rolling for as long as he has rolled at least one RACE symbol. After each roll he adds the result to that of his previous rolls.

If the total ever falls below -2, the attack ends immediately and Flash scores 0 hits. Flash can still use hand cards that are not offset against negative hits.

Example 1: Barry rolls 1 Flash, 1 Reverse-Flash and 2 Race. As Flash and Reverse-Flash cancel each other out, he notes 0 hits. As he has at least one Race, he may roll again. This time he has one Flash more than Reverse-Flashes. He notes 1 hit and rolls again. Barry rolls two more hits (1 Flash and 1 Reverse-Flash cancel each other out). As he has no Race, he may not roll again. Barry scores 3 hits in total.

Example 2: At the start of his attack Barry rolls 3 Reverse-Flash. He falls below -2 hits and his attack ends immediately; Barry scores 0 hits. Although he has a Race, he may not roll again.

Hero Cards

Hero cards can 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 in the hero's discard area.

Flash Hero Ability

Flash has 3 Tornado markers. He can use each marker once to divide his hits as he likes between the targeted villain and 1 adjacent villain.

3. Settlement

The following steps are carried out in this order:

• Hero abilities and cards that score damage are applied immediately. (Villains cannot defend against damage.)
• Hero abilities and cards that score hits are applied.
• Villain abilities that influence hits (Parallax, Shield, Reverse-Flash, etc.) are applied once per hero in each round.
• All remaining hits become damage.
• Each hero places his or her own damage markers, equal to the damage he or she inflicted, on the villain or villains against which he or she scored damage.
• All villains with damage markers equal to or higher than their threat value are defeated and placed on the pile of defeated villains. All markers on defeated villains return to the respective supply.
• If damage markers from at least 2 different heroes lay on a villain that was just defeated, the heroes place 1 Team marker (of any hero) in the city.
• Villains that were not defeated, and the damage markers assigned to them, remain on the Battlefield. Gaps between the villains are closed by moving the villains up toward the Villain deck.

If villains remain in the Outskirts, the next round begins with "1. Villains Advance".

End of the Game and Scoring

At the start of the 8th and last round, the last villains from the Outskirts move onto the Battlefield. After the Settlement phase the game ends and the city's final resistance is determined.

• Villains in the city reduce the city's resistance by their threat.
• Each card (including Reinforcements!) still on the Battlefield reduces the city's resistance by 2. Threat and damage markers do not matter here.
• Each Team marker in the city raises the city's resistance by 2.

Finally, the city's final resistance is compared with the title list on the City card to see how well the heroes of the Justice League did.

Play Example, 2 Players: Flash and Batman

Villains Advance (Round 1)

In the first round, Weather Wizard and Scarecrow advance from the Outskirts onto the Battlefield (Weather Wizard threat 4, Scarecrow threat 3). Together they have a threat of 7. They do not exceed the power limit.

Now new villains move into the Outskirts. First a card is drawn from the Villain deck and placed face up to the left (Captain Cold, threat 5), then another card is drawn and placed face down to its left.

Attack (Round 1)

Flash and Batman both target Weather Wizard. After three rolls both must end their attack. Flash scores 3 hits, Batman none. Flash uses a Tornado marker, which allows him to transfer as many of his hits as he likes to Scarecrow.

Settlement (Round 1)

Flash places all 3 damage markers on Scarecrow. Scarecrow is defeated and goes onto the discard pile.

Villains Advance (Round 2)

In the second round Captain Cold (5) first advances from the Outskirts onto the Battlefield (new total threat 9). The face-down card is revealed: Reverse Flash (3). Reverse Flash also advances onto the Battlefield (new total threat 12). Now new villains move into the Outskirts (The Joker (6) + a face-down villain).

Attack (Round 2)

Flash and Batman decide together to attack Reverse Flash (a silly idea, but a good example to show special cases). Flash scores 5 hits and Batman 4 hits, clearly more damage than needed. Flash again uses a Tornado marker to transfer his hits to the adjacent villain. Because of Captain Cold's REVERSE FLASH, however, he cannot defeat the villain alone. Batman therefore now uses his Hero card "Batmobiles additionally count as hits against 1 adjacent villain." He scores 1 hit against Captain Cold.

Settlement (Round 2)

Batman places 4 damage markers on Reverse Flash and, through his Hero card, 1 damage marker on Captain Cold. Flash transfers his 5 hits to Captain Cold; since Captain Cold has a REVERSE-FLASH, he places only 4 damage markers on him. Captain Cold is defeated and goes onto the discard pile. Since damage markers from several heroes lay on him, the team receives 1 Team marker. Reverse Flash is not defeated because of its DEFEAT TWICE but is rotated by 180 degrees. The damage markers on it stay, but now count only for Team markers.

Villains Advance (Round 3)

In the third round The Joker (6) first advances from the Outskirts onto the Battlefield (new total threat 13). The face-down card is revealed: Grodd (3). With Grodd the total threat of the villains on the Battlefield would be 16. He overruns the heroes and moves into the city. New villains move into the Outskirts.

And so on ...

Game Variants

Solo Game

Most of the solo game works like the team game, with a few exceptions:

• Team markers stay in the game box.
• The villain ability "Team Attack" is ignored.
• Use the Solo side of the City card, which mostly has a higher resistance value.
• The card in the Outskirts is laid face up – so there is no face-down last card.

Tough Fight

Want more of a challenge? No problem. At the start of the game all heroes shuffle their Hero cards and each puts one random card back into his or her game box. Each hero must now fight with only 5 Hero cards.

Doppelganger Game

Anyone who wants to play with two (or more) identical heroes can do so. However, this makes the game harder, as copies of a single hero do not complement each other as effectively as different heroes. After the game the hero sets must be sorted apart again.

The rules themselves stay the same.

Note: Doppelgangers can also attack as a team and receive Team markers. Damage should therefore be arranged on the villain so that it is clear which of the doppelgangers it came from (e.g. one Flash always places his damage markers at the left edge of the card and the other at the right edge).