Last Heroes
Last Heroes Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Rules Summary
Setup
Use as many Weapon decks as the number of players. Shuffle and deal 12 Weapon cards to each player. In turn order, each player chooses 2 Weapon cards from their hand, and places them in their Magazine. Form as many columns of Monster cards as the number of players. In each column, place 3 Monster cards, one for each Level, in ascending order, and one Artefact.
Your turn
(Mandatory) Play a card from your hand.
- either IN your Magazine, as an Ammo. You immediately gain 1 Joker Ammo.
- or IN FRONT OF you, as a Loaded Weapon. The required Ammos are supplied by your opponents' Magazine or yours. Pull the Guns that provide the Ammos down accordingly. You may also use your Joker Ammos.
The Ammos supplied by the Magazines must correspond to the Ammos required by the Weapon card you are loading. Your opponents earn 1 point per Ammo you take from them. The Weapon must be fully loaded in one go.
(Optional) Then Attack one Monster. Discard as many Loaded Weapon cards as the number of Impacts on the Monster card, according to the required type of Impact. The Monster must be killed in one go. Place your Hero standee on the dark zone of the Monster card of the next Level (you create a Breach).
- If you kill a Level 1 Monster, you can exchange a card from your hand with a card from ANY Magazine. If you do it with your Magazine, you earn 1 Joker Ammo.
- If you kill a Level 3 Monster, you earn the Artefact and its power, except if another player has created the Breach at Level 2 (their standee is on the Level 3 Monster card). In that case, your opponent gains the Artefact and its power.
- Do not place your Hero standee on the Battlefield.
End of your Turn
- Lose 1 Point per Gun with no available Ammo in your Magazine.
- Take your Hero standee back if you have not killed a Monster during this turn.
- Fill in the empty slots on the Battlefield with Monster cards, if no Hero stands in the Breach.
End of the Game
The game ends as soon as all the Artefacts have been gained OR after 10 rounds. You score the points on the Monster cards you earned, plus the points on your Scoring Wheel. Artefacts are worth 5 points each, only if all of them have been gained.
Your Mission
You are one of the Last Heroes and fight the monsters alongside your partners. Take advantage of the breaches opened by your squad to reach the Lieutenants, bearers of the Artefacts. If all the Artifacts are assembled the Horde is sent back into Limbo. Otherwise, try to eradicate as many monsters as you can during the ten turns. It's up to you to take advantage of the situation, as only the most valiant or smartest Hero will be rewarded. But be careful, acting too personally can only attract the wrath of your partners on you and mitigate your feat.
Your Equipment
If this is your first time playing the game, punch out all the pieces from the punchboards and assemble the Magazine boards as indicated on the punchboards.
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5 Magazine boards (player boards). The Jokers Wheel shows your available Joker Ammo (max. 3). Place the Guns to show the remaining Ammo on both slots. The Scoring Wheel shows the points you earn or lose during the game.
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6 Power tiles.
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5 Artefact pedestals.
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5 Hero standees (cardboard figures to be assembled with the plastic stand).
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5 Permanent Breach tokens.
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60 Weapon cards, of 5 different types:
- 12 Flamethrowers / Fire,
- 12 Crossbows / Bolts,
- 12 Pistols / Poison darts,
- 12 Lightning Gauntlets / Energy,
- 12 Sniper Rifles / Bullets.
For each type of Weapon, there are: 5 cards with a Power 1 Impact, 4 cards with a Power 2 Impact, 3 cards with a Power 3 Impact.
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36 Monster cards: 15 Level 1 cards, 12 Level 2 cards, 9 Level 3 cards. The Monster Level equals the number of scratches on the card back. Each card shows the special effect of the Level 1 Monster, the Victory points the Monster generates at the end of the game, and the Impact symbols required to kill the Monster.
Setup
The opposing Forces
Place the Permanent Breach tokens in a stack within easy reach of all players.
Sort the Weapon cards by type and keep as many decks as players. The unused Weapon decks are put back in the box. For instance, in a 3-player game, keep only the 12 Flamethrowers, the 12 Crossbows and the 12 Pistols.
The Battlefield
Sort the Monster cards into 3 decks according to their back (different number of scratches on the top-left corner). Shuffle each deck. Place them facedown in a column in the center of the table, by increasing level. For each level, reveal as many Monster cards as the number of players, and place them in a line to the right of each deck.
For instance, in a 4-player game, the Battlefield is composed of 4 columns of monsters.
Place one Artefact pedestal above each Level 3 Monster and randomly place a Power tile on top of it. The remaining Power tiles and Artefact pedestals can be placed back into the box.
Each player chooses one Hero standee, then takes the matching Magazine and places it in front of them. Both Wheels are set to 0.
Shuffle all Weapon cards and randomly deal 12 Weapons to each player.
Randomly choose the first player.
Starting with the first player and going clockwise, each player chooses 2 Weapons to provide Ammo to the squad, and then they insert their 2 chosen cards (Ammo up) in their Magazine and place the Guns in order to show all the available Ammo.
The Battle Plan (Game Flow)
Last Heroes is played over a series of rounds. Players take turns clockwise, starting with the first player.
On your turn, you must choose a card from your hand and play it in one of the two following ways:
- A - Placed in your Magazine: it is an Ammo.
- B - Placed next to your Magazine: it is a Loaded Weapon.
Each player has 10 Weapon cards in hand at the beginning of the game. Since they play one card per round, the game ends after 10 rounds (or less if the Artefacts have all been obtained before that.)
Then, if you wish and if you have the required Loaded Weapons, you may kill a Monster.
A - Share Ammo
- Discard the card that is currently in one of the slots of your Magazine. If there is Ammo remaining on that discarded card, it is lost. Place the discarded cards in a discard pile next to the Battlefield.
- Then insert a card from your hand into the empty slot so that its type is shown inside the eye and the Ammo is shown under the Gun. Position the Gun accurately so that it shows all the Ammo on the card. The shared Ammos are now available for every Hero.
- Finally, immediately gain one Joker Ammo: turn the Jokers' Wheel one step clockwise.
B - Load a Weapon
Play a card from your hand. Place it next to your Magazine.
To load a Weapon, all Ammo shown on this Weapon card must be available among the Heroes' Magazines, according to the following rules:
- The type of Ammo must fit the Weapon you want to load. For instance, you need 1 Poison Dart Ammo to load this Pistol.
- You can use the Ammo of other Heroes. They are not allowed to refuse. You can use Ammo from your own Magazine. You can select only one Ammo per card (even if more than one are available). You can therefore use a maximum of two Ammo per Magazine (one from the right slot, one from the left slot, if the type matches). Each opponent who provides you with Ammo earns 1 point per Ammo given on their Scoring Wheel. Important! You do not earn points if you use Ammo from your own Magazine.
- You can use one or several Joker Ammos from your Jokers Wheel on your Magazine. You are allowed to load your Weapon with only Joker Ammo. Each time you use one Joker Ammo, turn the Jokers Wheel one step counterclockwise.
Each time an Ammo is used, lower the Gun to hide this Ammo.
- A Weapon must be fully loaded in one go. If there is not enough Ammo of the required type on the table and you do not have enough Joker Ammo to load a Weapon, you are not allowed to play this card as Loaded Weapon.
The Weapon you load on your turn can immediately be used to attack a Monster or it can be kept in readiness for another turn.
Kill a Monster (optional)
Once you have played a card (either as Ammo or as a Weapon), you may kill one and only one Monster.
Impact symbols value:
- Power 1: HIT!
- Power 2: BAM! BAM!
- Power 3: POW! POW! POW!
To kill a Monster, you must have one Loaded Weapon for each Impact symbol shown on the targeted Monster card, in front of you. Each Loaded Weapon must supply an Impact of equal or higher Power than a corresponding Impact on the Monster card. A Monster must be killed in one go.
For instance, to kill this Spider, you need 2 Loaded Weapons, each one with at least one Power 2 (BAM! BAM!). (But a Power 3 (POW!) can also be used instead of a Power 2.)
For instance, to kill this Giant Snake, you need 4 Loaded Weapons, with 2 Power 3 (POW!), 1 Power 2 (BAM! BAM!) and 1 Power 1 (HIT!). (4 Power 3 could also be used, but it would be a waste.)
If you meet the conditions, announce the Monster you want to attack and then...
- Discard the used Loaded Weapons.
- Take the Monster card and place it facedown to the left of your Magazine (it will be scored at the end of the game).
- If you kill a Level 1 or Level 2 Monster, move your Hero standee on the dark Impact area of the Monster card right above the Monster card you have just taken: you have opened a Breach for one turn. The hidden Impacts are no longer required. If you kill a Level 3 Monster, your Hero standee should be back in front of you.
Breach
When a Monster is killed, the position it occupied becomes empty and forms a Breach in the column of Monsters. The next Level Monster thus becomes easier to kill, since the Impact Symbols on the dark area of the targeted Monster card are not required anymore.
To indicate this, the standee of the player opening the breach is placed on the dark Impact area of the Monster card.
If you take advantage of a Breach to kill a Monster, give the Hero standee that is on the Monster card back to its owner (and thank them for their help.)
- If the Breach is on Level 1, a Level 2 Monster can be killed with 1 Weapon instead of 2; but you still need 4 Weapons to kill a Level 3 Monster.
- If the Breach is on Level 2, a Level 3 Monster can be killed with 2 Weapons instead of 4. Thus if the Dragon stands in a Breach, you only need 2 Loaded Weapons instead of 4, each one with one Power 3 (POW!).
A Breach remains for one complete game round, before being closed at the end of the turn of the player who opened it. You can therefore take advantage of your own breach, if no one has done so before.
When you kill a Level 1 Monster...
You may apply the special effect:
Replace any card in any Magazine (yours included) with a card from your hand. Place the Gun on the new card so that it shows all the available Ammo. (The number and the type of Ammo may be different from the previous card.) Take the replaced card into your hand.
If you replace a card in your Magazine, immediately gain a Joker Ammo on your Jokers Wheel.
When you kill a Level 3 Monster...
You gain the Artefact token and the Power tile that were under its protection, unless an other Hero stands on the card of the Monster you have just killed. In that particular case, the other Hero gains the Artefact and the Power.
Creating a Breach in Level 2 allows you to earn the Artefact token and the Power tile when the Level 3 Monster is killed (by you or any other Hero).
End of your Turn
If one or both cards of your Magazine are empty of Ammo at the end of your turn, you lose 1 point per empty card on your Scoring Wheel.
If you have not killed a Monster this turn, take your Hero standee back. You cannot hold the breach alone for so long. Too bad for the squad, they should have made the most of your help. The Breach is closing.
For each column of Monsters, check if a Hero standee is present. If there is, do nothing and check the next column. If no Hero is present, fill in the empty slots with Monster cards drawn from the matching decks.
If no more Hero holds a position, the Monsters surge again.
If there is no Monster card left in a deck, the Breach at this level remains open permanently until the end of the game. To kill Monsters from that Breach, only the Impact symbols on the bright area are required. Place a Permanent Breach token on the dark Impact area of the Monster card located above the Breach.
The Horde begins to weaken and lacks reinforcements.
The End of the Battle (End of the Game)
The game ends when:
- A - All the Artefacts have been recovered, OR
- B - All players have emptied their hand (after 10 complete rounds).
While you are assembling the Artefacts, the Monsters yell and vanish one by one. The Horde is defeated... this time! History will remember the heroism of the BEAST squad and the name of the best amongst you!
As you were losing the battle, reinforcements arrived and helped you defeat the Horde. History will remember the name of the bravest amongst the Last Heroes!
Final Scoring
The final scoring depends on the end of the game: if the Last Heroes needed reinforcement (case B), the Artefact pedestals are not counted. They generate 0 point.
Each Hero scores their Victory points as follows:
- They add the value of the Monsters they have attacked.
- They add 5 points per Artefact they earned (only if all of them have been recovered - case A) no matter if they have used it or not.
- They add the score of their Scoring Wheel.
The Joker Ammos and the Power tiles generate no point.
The player with the highest total is the winner. In case of a tie, the winner is the Hero who has killed the most Monsters, amongst the tied players.
Artefacts
Each Artefact gives a special power to the player who has recovered it. This power can only be used once during the game. When you use an Artefact power, you discard the Power tile and apply the effect of the Artefact.
- JOKER: Immediately gain one Joker Ammo.
- EXCHANGE: Exchange a card from your hand with one of those that have been discarded since the beginning of the game. You must show the exchanged cards to other players.
- IMPACT: When you attack a Monster, use a Power 1 (HIT!) in place of a Power 2 (BAM! BAM!), or a Power 2 (BAM! BAM!) in place of a Power 3 (POW! POW! POW!).
- IMMUNITY: Do not lose point at the end of your turn if one or two Cards of your Magazine are empty of Ammo.
- RELOAD: Reload entirely one of your Ammo cards (place the Gun accordingly to show all the Ammo on the card).
- ADRENALINE: On the same turn, you can attack two Monsters instead of one (if you have the required Loaded Weapons for both). You may attack two Monsters of different levels and take advantage of the Breach you have just opened on the level below.