Last Aurora: Frozen Steel Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Expansion Modules
• Module 1: New Exploration Deck
  • Components
  • Setup
  • New Symbols
  • Card Notes
• Module 2: The Asgard Enemy Clan
  • Components
  • Setup
  • New Symbol
  • Asgard Defense Cells
  • Card Notes
• Module 3: Asymmetric Crew
  • Components
  • Setup
  • Card Notes
• Module 4: Story Cards
  • Components
  • Setup
  • Activation Conditions
  • Available Story Cards
  • Playing a Story Card
  • Making a Check
  • Tasks
  • Keywords
  • Story Cards at the End of the Round
  • Changing Story Decks
  • Automa and Story Cards
• Module 5: Player vs. Player Mode
  • Components
  • Setup
  • Stage 4: Shooting (PvP changes)
  • Stage 5: End of Round (PvP changes)

Expansion Modules

Frozen Steel consists of five independent modules. This expansion is compatible with any other expansion and may be introduced fully or partially.

• Module 1: New Exploration Deck (22 Exploration cards, 12 Object cards)
• Module 2: The Asgard Enemy Clan (6 Enemy cards, 6 Loot cards)
• Module 3: Asymmetric Crew (8 Survivor cards)
• Module 4: Story Cards (40 Story cards)
• Module 5: Player vs. Player Mode (4 PvP cards, 12 new Outcome cards)

Notes on translation: the Russian card-letter markers А, Б, В, Г are rendered as the Latin letters A, B, C, D used by the base game's Outcome and Target boxes. Character and card names are given in English translation.

Module 1: New Exploration Deck

Components

• 22 Exploration cards (marked with I, II or III on the back)
• 12 Object cards

Setup

Before step 6 of the standard setup, replace all base-game Exploration cards marked with the orange plus symbol with the expansion Exploration cards marked with the blue plus symbol, adding them to the corresponding stacks by the normal rules. Then shuffle all of the expansion's Object cards into the Object deck. After that, continue the standard setup.

New Symbols

Junk weapon: this weapon works in the same way as a normal weapon, but to fire it you need not an Ammo token but an Object card.

Note: because this weapon does not use Ammo, players cannot play the Object card "Incendiary Ammo" to attack with a junk weapon.

Special cell (At end of round) (card 213): this cargo cell gives 1 Object card at the end of each round.

Special cell (Max +1) (card 214): this cargo cell increases the maximum number of Objects you may hold by 1.

Note: these bonuses stack with any other bonuses.

Card Notes

Encounter cards

[210] When you encounter the Wanted Fugitive, you have 2 options:

• discard the card and 1 Object card, and lose 1 Fame Point, to increase the speed of your truck by 3 in the next Movement phase; OR
• discard the card and spend 1 Ammo token to gain 1 Object card, 1 Fame Point and (optionally) add to your convoy 1 truck, trailer or device card from the discard pile.

Note: keep the Wanted Fugitive card next to your player board as a reminder of the speed bonus. Discard it after the Movement phase in which you used the bonus.

Object cards

[223/224] When you use Canned Food, immediately add 2 Food tokens to your convoy and place 1 Contamination counter on your survivor's card.

[225/226] Stealth Device allows you to ignore all effects of ambushes and attacks from all enemies in the Fire Weapons phase of this round.

Note: you can still attack enemies normally even if you have played this Object card.

[227/228] Anti-Tank Gun allows you to deal 2 damage to 1 enemy in your region and gain 1 Fame Point. Since this is not considered a normal attack, you cannot place a Target counter on that enemy's card.

[229/230] When you use the Smoke Bomb, choose 1 enemy in your region and, if possible, remove 1 of the opponents' Target counters from that enemy's card. Then place 1 of your own Target counters on its card, in the leftmost empty Target box.

[231/232] Unstable Fuel allows you either to increase your truck's speed by 2 by placing 2 Damage counters on the cards of your convoy, OR to increase your truck's speed by 3 by placing 4 Damage counters on the cards of your convoy. The damage from this card is dealt after you have moved your convoy.

[233/234] Anti-Radiation Serum allows you to remove 1 Contamination counter from each of up to three or fewer survivor cards located in one zone of your choice (Active Zone, Rest Zone or Exhausted Zone).

Survivor cards

[207] The Observer: when you get a "Miss" result during a normal attack, you may deal 2 damage instead of the miss. Since this counts as a normal attack, gain 1 Fame Point and place a Target counter on the enemy you hit.

[208] When the Dog Handler gathers resources, take 1 additional Object card.

[209] The Sniper allows you to spend 1 Ammo token to deal 3 damage to 1 enemy in your region without revealing an Outcome card. Since this counts as a normal attack, gain 1 Fame Point and place 1 of your Target counters on the enemy you hit.

Note: you may use the Object card "Incendiary Ammo" to activate the Sniper's ability.

Event cards

[211] Snowstorm: when this card is revealed, all convoys are slowed in the nearest Movement phase according to turn order: the first player's speed is reduced by 2, and the second and third players' speed by 1. The fourth player is not affected by this event.

[222] Emergency Message: when this card is revealed, in Forward Turn Order the players, one after another, may discard Food from their convoy in order to immediately gain 1 Fame Point for each Food token discarded. If the players have discarded a total of fewer than 2 Food tokens, the Aurora advances to the red waypoint on the route that matches the number of the current round.

Note: you may discard Food tokens even if the previous players have already discarded a total of 2 Food tokens.

Module 2: The Asgard Enemy Clan

Components

• 6 Enemy cards
• 6 Loot cards

Setup

Before step 6 of the standard setup, replace the base-game enemy clan (6 Enemy cards and 6 Loot cards) with the cards from this expansion. After that, continue the standard setup.

New Symbol

Asgard armor cell: this counts as a standard armor cell (it may hold only a Damage counter). In the End of Round phase the metal on such armor is restored automatically, and you may remove the Damage counter from this cell (if there is one).

Asgard Defense Cells

The Asgard clan is very hard to destroy, because the armor of its members is made of alien metal that can repair itself.

When you deal damage to one of these enemies, you must first fill all of its Asgard defense cells with Damage counters, and only then proceed to the ordinary cells on the enemy card.

In the End of Round phase, remove ALL Damage counters from the Asgard defense cells of each surviving enemy.

Diagram captions: "First cells receiving damage" (left) and "Damage counters removed at end of round" (right).

Card Notes

Enemy cards

[235] Tyr (Ambush) deals 1 damage to the left column of the cards of the leader convoys (all convoys in first position) in its region, and 1 damage to the two left columns of the cards of all other convoys in its region.

[236] Ullr (Ambush) deals 1 damage to the left column of the cards of the leader convoys (all convoys in first position) in its region, and 1 damage to the second and third columns of the cards of all other convoys in its region.

[237] Heimdall (Ambush) forces each player in the region to place 1 Damage counter on their undamaged weapon with the highest numerical value in their convoy. If you have several such weapon cards, you may choose which one receives the counter.

[238] Hel (Ambush) forces each player in the region to place 1 Contamination counter on each survivor in their Rest Zone.

[239] Thor (Ambush) forces each player in the region to place 1 Damage counter on each of 3 different cards in their convoy.

[240] Loki (Ambush) deals 1 damage to the top row of cards, and 2 damage to the second and third columns of the cards of all leader convoys (all convoys in first position) in the region. It also deals 2 damage to the top row of cards of all other convoys in the region.

Loot cards

[241] Asgard Trunk is a device containing an Asgard armor cell and a special cargo cell that gives 1 Fame Point at the end of the game if it is undamaged.

[242] Radio Operator is a survivor who can force each rival who is ahead of you on the game board (even if their convoy is in another region) to place 1 Damage counter anywhere in their convoy for each enemy in their region.

Note 1: any convoys on the same space as the convoy with the Radio Operator take no damage. Note 2: the Radio Operator's ability is activated on its owner's turn.

[243] Asgard Trailer is a trailer containing an Asgard armor cell and a special cargo cell that gives 1 Fame Point at the end of the game if it is undamaged.

[244] Asgard Destroyer is a device consisting of a junk weapon with a value of 4, a weapon with a value of 4, and a special cargo cell that gives 1 Fame Point at the end of the game if it is undamaged.

[245] Asgard Metal Plates is a device consisting of 2 Asgard armor cells and a special cargo cell that gives 2 Fame Points at the end of the game if it is undamaged.

[246] Asgard Power Source is a device consisting of a special cargo cell that gives 1 Fame Point at the end of the game if it is undamaged, and another special cell that gives 1 Fame Point for each Asgard armor cell in your convoy at the end of the game (no more than 2 Fame Points), if it is undamaged.

Module 3: Asymmetric Crew

Components

• 8 Survivor cards (marked with a "C" on the back)

Setup

At step 11 of the standard setup, replace the starting Survivor cards with the Survivor cards from this expansion. After that, continue the standard setup.

Card Notes

The Pack

[247] Arctic Wolf allows you to perform the bonus actions of the Exploration Zone cells to the left and to the right (if there are any) of the cell it explores. This can be done before or after the main and bonus actions of the cell the Arctic Wolf explores.

Note: this ability does not allow you to perform the same bonus action twice.

Example 1, Arctic Wolf exploration: the Arctic Wolf is about to upgrade its convoy by taking the Junk Machine Gun. It may also perform the linked bonus action of that cell, and the bonus actions of two neighbouring cells, in any order the player chooses (even before the main action).

[248] She-Wolf Herder increases your truck's speed by 3 if at least 1 other convoy is ahead of yours.

Note: if you are the leader, the She-Wolf Herder gives you no speed bonus.

The Mutants

[249] You may move the Alpha Mutant, after completing its exploration action, immediately to your Rest Zone if you discard 1 Contamination counter from its card.

Note 1: you may discard the Contamination counter added to the Alpha Mutant's card during its exploration action to pay the cost of this ability. Note 2: if the Alpha Mutant receives a third Contamination counter, it dies like a normal survivor (it completes the action it is performing, but cannot survive by means of its ability). Note 3: if the Alpha Mutant performs a bonus action or card action that forces you to discard a Contamination counter from its card, you must do so.

[250] A Ghoul in your crew allows you to increase your truck's speed by 2 in the Movement phase if you discard 1 Contamination counter from its card.

Note 1: if the Ghoul receives a second Contamination counter, it dies like a normal survivor (it completes the action it is performing, but cannot survive by means of its ability). Note 2: if the Ghoul performs a bonus action or card action that forces you to discard a Contamination counter from its card, you must do so.

The Vikings

[251] The Valkyrie increases your truck's speed by 1, 2 or 3 if your convoy consists of 3, 5 or 7 (or more) cards respectively (including the truck, trailer and device cards).

[252] In the Fire Weapons phase, the War Maiden increases the damage dealt by the first successful hit on an enemy by 1, 2 or 3 if your convoy consists of 3, 5 or 7 (or more) cards respectively (including the truck, trailer and device cards).

The Androids

[253] The Synthetic Prototype increases your truck's speed by 2 if there are no Damage counters on the cards of your convoy. The Synthetic Prototype can be fed 1 Object or 1 resource of any type.

[254] The Quartermaster Robot allows you, once per Movement phase, to discard 1 Object card to increase your truck's speed by 2. The Quartermaster Robot can be fed 1 Object or 1 resource of any type.

Module 4: Story Cards

Components

• 40 Story cards (marked with I, II or III on the back)

Setup

Carry out all setup steps by the standard rules. Then sort the Story cards into 3 decks by the Time Period printed on the back (I, II and III), and shuffle each deck separately.

Place the Period I deck next to the Exploration deck, and leave space next to it for a Story card discard pile. Set the other two decks aside: they will be needed later in the game.

Activation Conditions

The back of each Story card shows the phase of the round in which the card must be activated. The text at the bottom of the back describes a specific action, event or situation that must occur in order to activate the card. Unless stated otherwise, a Story card must always be fully resolved before the action, event or situation that activated it ends.

Example 1, activating a Story card: this Period I card is activated in the Exploration phase, when any player performs the "Gather Resources" action. Denis decides to gather resources, and must first fully resolve this Story card (see p. 11) before performing the action.

Available Story Cards

Only available Story cards may be activated. A Story card is available if it is:

• on top of the Story deck, OR
• tucked under a card in the Exploration Zone (the effects of some Story cards tell a player to place them under other cards).

Playing a Story Card

At any stage of the game you may play only 1 Story card per turn. After you play 1 Story card, ignore all other available Story cards (including the card on top of the deck) until the end of your turn.

If the activation condition of an available Story card is met during your turn, you must play it. The player to your left reads aloud the card's name and introduction. Then they read all the possible options, so that you can choose which one to play, but they do not read the possible consequences of the choice.

Some Story cards may be activated outside a player's turn (for example, "At the start of the phase, before any of the enemies plays an ambush..."). In this case the card is played by the first player in Forward Turn Order.

Example 2, playing a Story card: from the previous example, Denis has activated a Story card. Fyodor, who sits to his left, takes the card and reads aloud its name, introduction and 2 options, without reading the success text or the failure text of the options. The example card is "The Fugitive": "You see a man trying in vain to start a truck. Noticing you, he shouts: 'Keep away. I need this wreck to get back to my family.'" Now Denis must choose one of the options.

After making the choice, you must determine whether the outcome is a success or a failure. There are 3 possibilities:

• no check: this option automatically succeeds, and you read the success text (✓);
• check: an option for which you must immediately attempt a check (see the next section);
• task: a specific job you must complete to receive a bonus (see the Tasks section below).

Unless stated otherwise, after a Story card has been played, play continues from the point where it was interrupted. For example, if a player's action activated the card, that player must complete the action.

Note: if the result text of a Story card says "cannot perform the remaining actions this turn", and the player has not performed a bonus action before the main action, then no further actions are performed: neither the bonus action nor the main action that activated the Story card.

Making a Check

When you can attempt to fulfil a condition of a Story card, the text will say "successful attempts on ...". To find out how successful you were, reveal 1 Outcome card from the top of the Outcome deck and look at the leftmost letter at the bottom of the card.

• If that letter is listed in the "successful attempts on ..." condition, immediately read the success text (✓).
• If the letter is not in the condition, read the failure text (✗).

Some letters lead to success only if you spend resources before revealing the Outcome card, or if you meet a specific condition.

Example 3, making a check: the example card offers the option "Sneak up on him: successful attempts on [A, B] + [C], if you spend 1 Ammo token". For this option Denis may spend 1 Ammo token to improve his chance of success by adding the letter C to the letters that lead to success. He reveals the top card of the Outcome deck. The leftmost letter on it is B, which means he has passed the check and reads the success text.

Note: only the one option of this example card that is legible in the source is reproduced here; the rest of its text is not legible in the source image.

Tasks

Unlike a check, the success or failure of a task is not decided by a revealed Outcome card, but by whether specific conditions are met. Once you complete a task, you may receive the bonuses shown on the card.

Unless stated otherwise, when you decide to attempt a task you must place the Story card in your Active Zone as a reminder.

When you complete a task, immediately read the success text (✓); if you fail it, read the failure text (✗).

Note: you may attempt any number of tasks at the same time.

Keywords

Story cards use several keywords:

• Successful attempt on: appears on checks. You must reveal an Outcome card immediately and learn the result of the check.
• Add to your archive: place the card in a specified zone, or tuck it under a specified card or board. If the card is tucked under a convoy card, the cargo cells at the bottom of that card are affected by all rules as if they were part of that card. If the convoy card is sent to the discard pile, the Story card is also discarded. Note: you cannot tuck 2 Story cards under the same card. In that case, choose which Story card to keep, tuck it under the required card, and discard the other Story card.
• Failure, if: when the specified condition is met, the check or task fails. You must read the failure text (✗).
• Success, if: when the specified condition is met, the check or task succeeds. You must read the success text (✓).
• Task: a job the player must complete, together with a description of the conditions for success or failure.

Story Cards at the End of the Round

At the end of each round, discard the Story card that is currently on top of the Story deck. This makes a new Story card available.

Changing Story Decks

As soon as the first card of the Period II Exploration deck enters the game, remove the Period I Story deck from the game. Story cards lying in front of players, in archives, or under cards in the game are not removed.

Then place the Period II Story deck next to the Exploration deck. From now on, its cards are activated when their conditions are met.

Do the same with the Period III Story deck when the first card of the Period III Exploration deck enters the game.

Automa and Story Cards

If you are playing with the Automa, follow these rules:

• The Automa activates Story cards just like a normal player, even if it only discards the required card. For example, if the Automa discards an Encounter card as a result of this action, it activates a Story card with the condition "When any player plays an Encounter".
• The Automa does not play the Story card it has activated. Instead, place the Story card in the Automa's Object/Loot zone, without revealing it.
• On your turn you may discard any number of Story cards from the Automa's Object/Loot zone, to prevent the activation of all effects of the same number of Automa action cards. The Automa still performs the Exploration action.
• When you activate a Story card, you must take it and read it yourself.

Important: in solo mode you will have to read the Story cards yourself, but try not to read the success and failure texts, to avoid spoilers.

Note 1: cards that are activated by a specific situation (for example, at the end of a phase) are never discarded, and are always activated by the player. Note 2: at the end of the game, all Story cards remaining in the Automa's Object/Loot zone are discarded without effect and score no Fame Points. Note 3: when playing a Story card requires several players, the player plays the card and then moves it to the Automa's Object/Loot zone.

Example 4, discarding an Automa's Story card: the example shows an Automa action card, whose icon values are not legible in the source and are marked [icon] below. Its text reads: "If there is an ENEMY in this slot, the Automa gains [icon]." Movement phase: "Before movement, the Automa gains 1 [icon] if you have more [icon] than it does." End of round: "Your convoy gains [icon]."

In the Movement phase Andrei decides to discard a Story card from the Automa's Object/Loot zone, to prevent all effects of the Automa action card that was just played. So the Automa does not gain 1 survivor, and Andrei does not place 1 [icon] on his convoy.

Module 5: Player vs. Player Mode

Components

• 4 PvP cards
• 12 new Outcome cards

Setup

Set up the game by the normal rules, with the following changes:

• When you build the Exploration deck, randomly remove 1 Enemy card (without looking at it) from each Time Period stack (I, II and III) and put it back in the box. In the same way, remove 1 Loot card from each Loot stack for Time Periods I–II, III–IV and V–VI.
• Replace the normal Outcome cards with the new ones.
• Each player receives 1 PvP card (place it above your player board). Place 1 Damage counter on the first space of the Evasion track and 1 Damage counter on the first space of the Aggression track, as shown in the illustration. The Damage counters used in this way are called the Evasion token and the Aggression token respectively.
• Each player places a Fame counter on the Fame track of their player board, not on the zero space but on the space with the value –1.

Diagram captions: "Evasion track" and "Aggression track".

Note: the Aggression track consists of 8 spaces arranged in two rows. Treat it as a single track. That is, when you need to move the Aggression token to the right of the 4th space, move it to the lower row, starting from the leftmost space. And when you are told to gain the bonuses shown to the left of an Aggression token that is in the lower row, the symbols in the upper row of the Aggression track also count.

The game is played by the normal rules, with the following changes.

Stage 4: Shooting (PvP changes)

During your turn you may attack an opponent in the same region as you. In this case that player is called the attacked player, and you are the attacker. You may do this instead of shooting at an enemy, or in addition to shooting at an enemy.

When you attack an opponent:

• The attacker chooses an undamaged weapon that has not yet been used to attack in this phase, spends 1 Ammo token, and reveals the top card of the Outcome deck. The card shows the number of damage the attack deals.
• The attacked player ignores as many damage as is shown to the left of their Evasion token on the Evasion track.
• If the attacked player could not ignore all of the damage, they must distribute the remaining damage across the area of their convoy shown in red on the back of the top Outcome card. In addition, the attacked player moves their Evasion token 1 space to the right for each damage they distributed to their convoy as a result of this attack.
• The attacker moves their Aggression token 1 space to the right for each damage the attacked player distributed to their convoy as a result of the attack (if possible).

Note: during one phase you may attack one or several opponents several times (as long as you have weapons and Ammo), so that you can move your Aggression token as far as possible along the Aggression track and gain more bonuses at the end of the phase.

Note: the Evasion track allows you to ignore damage only when you are attacked by another player. It has no effect on damage from other sources, for example from enemies.

Note: other players are not considered enemies, and no effects that affect enemies apply to them.

At the end of the Fire Weapons phase, in Forward Turn Order, each player must:

• move their Evasion token 1 space to the left;
• gain ALL the bonuses shown to the left of their Aggression token on the Aggression track;
• move their Aggression token to the first space of the Aggression track.

Aggression track bonuses:

• star: gain 1 Fame Point.
• crossed-tools symbol: remove 1 Damage counter from your convoy.
• card symbol: take 1 Object card.
• red star, to the attacked player: the player you hit during this phase loses 1 Fame Point. If this is not possible, that player must place 1 Damage counter on any cargo cell of their convoy, following the placement rules.

Example: Denis decides to attack Andrei with a weapon. Denis spends 1 Ammo token and reveals the top Outcome card: this attack deals 4 damage! Andrei ignores 2 damage (according to his Evasion track), but the remaining 2 damage must be distributed across the central cards of his convoy. In addition, he must move his Evasion token 1 space to the right. Since the attack was successful, Denis moves his Aggression token 2 spaces to the right (by the number of damage dealt).

At the end of the phase:

• Denis gains 1 Fame Point and removes 1 Damage counter from his convoy, these being the bonuses shown on his Aggression track; then he moves his Aggression token to the first space of the Aggression track.
• Andrei moves his Evasion token 1 space to the left (he will begin the next round ignoring 2 damage from attacks by other players).

Stage 5: End of Round (PvP changes)

When you play with the PvP module, you must discard surplus cards from the Exploration Zone before refreshing the row only if there are more than 4 cards in that zone (or more than 3 cards in a 2-player game). In the base game the limit is more than 3 cards (or more than 2 in a 2-player game).