Metro 2033: Breakthrough Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Overview
• Goal of the Game
• Setup
• Game Process
  • Main Actions
  • Free Actions
• Cards Classification
  • Faction Cards
  • Resource Cards
  • Station Cards
  • Caravan Cards
  • Hero Cards
  • Threat Cards
  • Threat Protection
• Game End
• Survival Mode
• Rules Summary
  • Cards on Your Hand
  • Played Cards
  • Game Process

Game Overview

Components:

• 133 cards
  • 72 Resource cards
  • 30 Station cards
  • 14 Threat cards
  • 6 Caravan cards
  • 6 Hero cards
  • 5 Faction cards
• 50 Faction tokens (10 per color)
• 1 game rules

Goal of the Game

Faction tokens represent your able-bodied population. At the beginning of the game each faction leader has 5 tokens. His goal is to double his able-bodied population, i. e. collect 10 Faction tokens. Thus, the winner is the one to enlist the support of most residents of the post-apocalyptic underground.

By paying the cards cost you will send your people to obtain resources, call for heroes and protect against threats. And by discarding cards you will rest your men so they become available again.

Setup

1. Each player chooses a color and takes all tokens and the Faction card of that color. Place any unused components back into the box.
2. Each player places 5 tokens in the area above his Faction card and the rest in general supply (e.g. in the center of the table). Faction tokens are your victory points.
3. Make a single draw deck of Resource, Station, Threat, Caravan and Hero cards, then shuffle the deck. Deal each player a hand of 5 face-down cards and place the draw deck in the centre of the table. Take top 3 cards from the draw deck and place them face-up as a Market to the left of the deck.

Leave some space for the discard pile to the right of the draw deck. All cards are discarded face-up.

4. The player who has been to the subway most recently is the First Player.

Game Process

Main Actions

On your turn you perform strictly one of the three main actions:

1. Play a card from your hand (in front of yourself), pay its cost with tokens, then take a face-up card from the Market or draw a card from the top of the deck.

When paying the cost of the played card, take the number of tokens indicated on the played card from the area above your Faction card and place them below your Faction card, i.e. move your tokens down. Your men start working in the Moscow underground and will be unavailable for some time.

Important: If you take a face-up card from the Market, immediately replace it with the top card of the draw deck (the new card is placed face-up). If the draw deck has run out of cards, shuffle the discard pile and make up a new draw deck.

2. Discard a card from your hand face-up, get its cost with tokens, then take a face-up card from the Market or draw a card from the top of the deck.

When getting the cost of the discarded card, take the number of tokens indicated on the discarded card from the area below your Faction card and place them above your Faction card, i.e. move your tokens up. Your men are again available for different tasks to do (but not this turn).

Important: If the number of tokens below your Faction card is less than indicated on the discarded card, you move up all the tokens that are placed below your Faction card.

Some cards in the game are considered Active cards. Discarding such cards triggers different effects applied to all players.

Active card ("red fist")

3. Discard 3 cards from your hand face-up (you don't get their cost with tokens and don't trigger their effects), then take 3 cards from the Market (face-up cards or/and face-down cards from the top deck). Thus you get rid of unwanted tasks to obtain new ones.

Free Actions

You can perform any number of free actions at any moment of your turn.

A) Complete a Quest. By delivering resources to a station you enlist the support of its residence and increase your influence. You can complete a quest indicated on your Station or Faction card if you have the required quantity of resources placed in front of you.

Blue quest color corresponds to peaceful resources, while red color corresponds to the military ones. Green color corresponds to trade quests; in order to complete them you may use both your peaceful and military resources.

Inform your opponents about having completed a quest. Then take a Faction token of your color from the general supply and place it in the area above your Faction card. Move up all your tokens from the area below your Faction card.

All resources used for completing the quest are discarded.

• If you have completed a Station card quest, this Station card is either discarded along with Resource cards or left near the player's Faction card: in this case place 1 of your tokens (not from the supply!) on the Station card. Station card quest can't be completed twice.

Important: If you already have a Station card with a Faction token placed upon it, you should place 2 tokens on your next Station card after completing its quest. Similarly you should place 3 Faction tokens on your third Station card and so on.

• If you have completed a Faction card quest, turn it face-down to indicate that the quest is completed. Faction card quest can't be completed twice. You don't need to place the Faction token on your Faction card.

B) Make a clean-up. Discard any cards played in front of you (except your Faction card). If you discard a Station card, place its token (if any) in the area above your Faction card.

Important: At the end of each turn each player's hand must consist of 5 cards. If you have fewer, take additional cards starting with the active player and proceeding clockwise.

Then the next player starts his turn in clockwise order.

Example: Player A played the following Resource and Station cards. He can complete his second Station card quest using his red and blue resources. After completing the quest he receives a token from the general supply and moves his tokens up. Used Resource cards are discarded, and the player decides to keep his Station card. He places one of his tokens on it.

Cards Classification

Faction Cards

Each player represents a survivors group of Moscow subway in 2033. The groups are presented by unique Faction cards. Each player takes one of these cards before starting the game.

A) Faction name B) Quest C) Quest criteria D) Class of required resources for completing quest E) Quest reward: You can play Resource cards of the indicated type for free F) Quest reward: A Faction Token

Each Faction card has a quest. It is not necessary to complete Faction card quests but if you do so, you receive a reward: a possibility to play the Resource cards of the indicated type for free. After completing the quest you should turn your Faction card face-down as you can't complete this quest twice.

Important: When playing a card for free you still spend an action.

Example: Fourth Reich player has completed his Faction card quest. He takes a Faction token from the general supply and turns his Faction card face-down. Now he can play Equipment cards for free.

Players place their Faction cards in front of them horizontally. There are two active zones near the card. The first one is above the card: it's your available human resources represented by your Faction tokens. You spend them as a payment for playing cards. The second zone is below the Faction card: that's your unavailable human resources that you've sent to Moscow underground. You place your spent Faction tokens here. In order to play more cards you first need to move your tokens up. You can do it by discarding a face-up card from your hand and taking the card cost with tokens.

Resource Cards

Players need resources to complete their Faction and Station card quests and thereby to increase their influence in key points of the Moscow Metro.

A) Resource name B) Resource cost C) Resource class D) Resource type E) Resource quantity F) Protection cost G) Threat Protection

All Resource cards have two values: resource cost and resource quantity. There are two classes of resources: Peaceful (blue) and Military (red).

Peaceful resources are divided into three types: Welfare, Food and Items. Military resources are divided into three types as well: Weapon, Bullets and Equipment.

You can complete your Faction or Station card quest if you have played enough Resource cards of a certain class to meet the requirements of your Station or Faction card Quest criteria.

A Resource card can be played in a different way — as a Protection (if acceptable). If you decided to play a Resource card as a Protection, rotate it by 180 degrees. Place the Resource card in front of you and pay its cost. Now you have Protection against some types of threats indicated by the Threat Protection icons in yellow shields.

Important: If you play a Resource card as a Protection, it won't give you its resources to complete a quest.

You can find more information about Threat Protection in Threat cards description (page 13).

Regular Resource card / Resource card as a Protection

Station Cards

Station cards represent the last strongholds of human race spread over the Moscow subway.

A) Station name B) Station faction C) Station cost D) Quest criteria E) Faction token area F) Class of required resources for completing quest G) Quest reward: You can play Resource cards of the indicated type with a discount or for free H) Quest reward: A Faction Token I) Additional Quest reward: another Faction Token

These cards give you new quests. For completing a Station card quest it must be placed in front of you. After you play a Station card:

• Playing a Resource card of the indicated type costs 1 token less (type is determined by a Resource icon at the bottom of the card).
• Playing the next Station card of the indicated faction costs 1 token less (faction is determined by a Faction icon at the top of the card: Red Line, Hansa or Polis). If the player has two Station cards with the same Faction icon, he gets a discount of 2 tokens and so on. Station cost can't be reduced below zero.

After completing a Station card quest you receive a reward: a possibility to play the Resource cards of the indicated type for free. To do you have to place one of your Faction tokens on the card.

Example: Player A plays Station card Komsomolskaya. Now he can play Food resource cards at a discount of 1 token (e.g. he can play Pork for 2 tokens instead of 3). Also the player can play another Station card belonging to Red Line faction at a discount of 1 token (e.g. he can play Chistye Prudy for 2 tokens instead of 3).

After completing Station card Komsomolskaya quest the player gets an additional token and places it on the Station card. He receives a reward for it: a possibility to play Food Resource cards for free.

There are some special heavily populated stations in the game. Completing their quests gives you an additional token of your color from the general supply to place above your Faction card (Arbatskaya, Biblioteka Imeni Lenina, Aleksandrovsky Sad, Borovitskaya and both Kitay-Gorod stations).

Also there are Neutral stations not belonging to any faction (Paveletskaya, Mayakovskaya etc.). If you play these stations, you won't get a discount of 1 token for playing another Neutral station.

Caravan Cards

Caravans travelling through the Moscow Metro are the main suppliers of valuable resources for stations.

A) Caravan cost (active card) B) A discarded Caravan card renews the Market C) If any player has a Station or a face-down Faction card with the same Quest-reward color as the discarded Caravan, he moves up an additional token.

If you discard a Caravan card, move up the indicated number of tokens: your people are fed and ready to work again. Then renew the Market, i.e. discard all face-up cards from the Market and draw 3 new face-up cards to replace them. If the draw deck has run out of cards, shuffle the discard pile and make a new draw deck.

There are two classes of caravans: with Peaceful resources (blue) and with Military resources (red).

If any player (not only the one who has discarded the Caravan card) has a Station card or a face-down Faction card with the same Quest-reward color as the discarded Caravan card, he moves up an additional token. If the player has several cards of corresponding class, he moves up a token for each of them. This effect applies to all players.

Example: On his turn the player plays Caravan card with Military resources. He moves up 5 tokens and then 1 more token as he has Station card Sokolniki with red Quest-reward. Since his opponent has Station card Kiyevskaya in front of him, he also moves up 1 token of his color for the discarded Caravan card.

Hero Cards

Hero cards represent brave explorers of Moscow underground. But whom will they join?

A) Hero's name B) Hero's cost C) Threat Protection D) Hero's ability: To double the resources of indicated type

If you play a Hero card, you get a protection against a threat of certain type. When a Threat card of that type appears, you discard that Hero card to protect yourself.

Besides a Hero card in front of you can double your resources of indicated type (but only once). That Hero card must be discarded after doubling the resource quantity.

Example: Player A has played Uniform and Backpack Resource cards, as well as the Paveletskaya Station card. On his turn he pays 3 tokens and plays the Hero card Hunter which doubles the number of player's Equipment resources (Uniform and Backpack are considered Equipment). Now the player can complete the Station card Paveletskaya quest. He places his tokens above his Faction card, takes 1 additional token (which he immediately places on Paveletskaya card) and discards Backpack, Uniform and Hunter.

Threat Cards

Mutants are the main danger to underground inhabitants. They spread radiation, drive people mad with their mental attacks and siege the last strongholds of human race.

A) Threat name B) Threat cost (active card) C) Threats D) Threat losses E) Protection cost F) Threat Protection

Threats are represented with icons in orange shields. There are different types of threat: Biological, Mental, Radiative, Physical, Epidemiological and Unknown. If a player is not protected from the threat, he suffers indicated losses.

Threat losses are one of the following:

• Discard of 1 played Station card. If there was a Faction token on it, place it above your Faction card.
• Discard of all played Resources of indicated class.
• Discard of all played Resources.

Important: rotated Resource cards are not considered Resources. A player doesn't lose them when he suffers resource losses after Monster attacks.

A Threat card can be played in two ways:

• You can discard it as Monster. OR
• You can play it as Protection.

If you decide to discard the Threat card as Monster, move up the indicated number of tokens, because your men are motivated by oncoming danger and ready to repel it. Then the Monster attacks all players (including you).

If you decided to play the Threat card as a Protection, rotate it by 180 degrees. Place the card in front of you and pay its cost. Now you have Protection against some types of threats indicated by the Threat Protection icons in yellow shields.

After resolving the Monster attack each player takes cards from the draw deck or from the Market starting with the player who discarded the Threat card until everyone has a hand of five cards.

Example: Player A discards Giant Amoeba Threat card. This card has two Threat icons: Biological and Mental. Player A moves up 5 tokens. Then all players try to protect against the Monster.

Threat Protection

Whenever a player discards a Threat card, all players (including the one who has discarded the Threat card) must protect against the Monster. To do so you must have the cards with Threat Protection icons (which are indicated in yellow shields). These icons can be found on Hero cards and on some Resource and Threat cards played as a Protection. You should have these card in front of you. You can't protect against Monsters with cards from your hand.

When a Monster attacks, each player checks if he has at least one Threat Protection icon (in yellow shield) matching the icons of Monster Threat card (in orange shield). If you have one or more matching icons, you repel the Monster attack: you discard your used protection card (without any effect) and you can immediately play a card from your hand for free. That's the reward for repelling the threat: you find some useful resources or a passageway to a new station in the monster's lair or a new hero comes to your side — depending on the type of the card you play for free.

If you have protection from several Monster card icons, you choose which card to use for protection. If you have no protection from Monster card icons, you suffer losses indicated on the Monster Threat card.

Example: Player A has a protection, the rotated Caldron Resource card which protects him against Mental attacks. So he discards Caldron and can play 1 card from his hand for free to replace his Caldron because he has protected successfully.

Player B has two protections. Both are rotated Resource cards: Backpack (protection against Radiative threats) and Rat Meat (protection against Epidemiological threats). These cards can't protect Player B from Giant Amoeba, so he suffers losses: he must discard one of his played Station cards.

Player C also has a protection, the rotated Nosalis Threat card. It protects him against Biological and Unknown threats. Protection card helps Player C protect himself as it's enough to be protected against only one threat (in this case it's the Biological one). Player C discards Nosalis and can play a card from the hand for free to replace it.

Then all players draw new cards to fill their hands to 5 cards.

Game End

The first player to collect 10 Faction tokens of his color (including the starting 5 tokens) wins the game. All Faction tokens are taken into account: tokens above and below the Faction card, as well as the tokens on Station cards.

Survival Mode

If you consider the game too easy and not rough enough for post-apocalyptic reality, you can make one or more changes to the game process:

1. For successful protecting against Monsters you must have protection against all Monster card icons.
2. If you don't repel a Monster attack, place all your tokens below your Faction card.
3. After completing a quest don't place your tokens above your Faction card.

Rules Summary

Cards on Your Hand

Resource card on your hand can be:

• played as a Resource — move tokens down; or
• rotated and played as a Protection (if any) — move tokens down; or
• discarded — move tokens up.

Station or Hero card on your hand can be:

• played — move tokens down; or
• discarded — move tokens up.

Caravan card on your hand can be:

• discarded — move tokens up, renew the market. If any player has a Station or a face-down Faction card with the same Quest reward color as the discarded Caravan, he moves up an additional token.

Threat card on your hand can be:

• rotated and played as a Protection (if any) — move tokens down; or
• discarded as a Monster — move tokens up. Everyone must protect against the Monster. The one who does gets a reward — can immediately play a card from his hand for free. The one who fails suffers indicated losses.

Played Cards

Played Faction card:

• if turned face-down, allows you to play Resource cards of the indicated type for free.

Played Station card:

• allows you to play Resource cards of the indicated type with the discount of 1 token. The discount is not accumulative.
• allows you to play Station cards of the indicated faction with the discount of 1 token. The discount is accumulative.
• if covered with a token, allows you to play Resource cards of the indicated type for free.

Played Resource card:

• if not rotated, gives you resources for completing quests;
• if rotated, gives you Protection against the indicated threat (discard after resolving).

Played Threat card:

• if rotated, gives you Protection against the indicated threats (discard after resolving).

Played Hero card:

• gives you Protection against the indicated threat (discard after resolving).
• doubles your resources of the indicated type (discard after resolving).

Game Process

On your turn perform 1 of 3 actions:

• Play a card from your hand, move your tokens down; or
• Discard a card from your hand, move your tokens up; or
• Discard 3 cards from your hand without effect, don't move your tokens.

Without spending an action — you can:

• complete a Faction quest — discard resources, move your tokens up, get a new token, turn your Faction card face-down, get a reward.
• complete a Station quest — discard resources and station, move your tokens up, get a new token.
• complete a Station quest — discard resources, move your tokens up, get a new token, place a token on your Station card (or 2, 3… N tokens, if you already have 1, 2… N–1 stations with tokens), get a reward.
• make a clean-up — discard any cards played in front of you.

At the end of your turn — take enough cards from the market to bring your hand size back to five cards.