Micro Hero: Hercules Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• How to play?
• Turn Sequence
• Posture Instance
• End of Round
• End of Game
• Saving the Game
• Difficulty Levels
• Cooperative Mode - 2 players
  • Setup
  • Round Overview
  • End of Game
• Credits

Components

36 cards:

• 1 Posture card
• 18 Technique cards, each showing a card name, cost, card effect, the point generated, and the upgraded card on its reverse
• 2 Wound cards
• 3 Modifier cards, showing Attack value, Defense value, and Health value
• 12 Labor/Benediction cards, each showing a Labor capacity and a reference card layout
• 1 Reference card

How to play?

A game of MICRO HERO: Hercules plays over 12 rounds, each corresponding to a Labor.

Before starting the game, follow the instructions below:

1. Draw a Labor: Shuffle the 12 Labor of Hercules cards and draw one to determine which Labor you will be facing first.
2. Place the Value Modifiers: Take the Modifier cards and place them around the Labor card to determine its Health Points (HP), Attack value (ATK), and Defense value (DEF).
3. Create your deck and shuffle it: Select 10 Technique cards to build your starting deck with. Shuffle that deck and place it near your game area. For your first play, we recommend you select: 4x Train, 3x Strike and 3x Block.
4. Create the Reserve: The 6 remaining Technique cards constitute the Reserve. Add the 3 Wound cards to the Reserve. Spread the cards in the Reserve face up somewhere you can see them, ready to be added to your deck during the game.
5. Place the Posture card: Place the Hercules Posture card in front of you, ready, on its Posture: Supercharged side. With those steps done, you are ready to start the game and face the first of the 12 Labors of Hercules!

Turn Sequence

Each turn follows these steps:

1. Draw Phase: Begin your turn by drawing 5 cards from your deck. These cards represent the Techniques with which you will attack, defend or gain Experience to improve the cards in your deck. Three icons are used on Technique cards: the red icon, with a sword, symbolizes 1 ATK; the blue icon, with a shield, indicates 1 DEF; the yellow icon, with a star, represents 1 XP.

Clarification: if your deck is empty and you need to draw a card, flip your discard pile, without shuffling it, to build a new deck.

2. Planning Phase: Play each Technique card in your hand, one at a time. A Technique card is broken in two halves: the top half, and the bottom half. The top half represent the card's base level, and grants a modest effect. Once you upgrade the card (see phase 3), rotate it 180° to reveal the bottom half, which corresponds to its upgraded level, and grants a much more powerful effect. When playing a card, place it so that it covers the bottom half of the previously played card. The order in which you play cards is also crucial: each time you play a new card and cover the bottom half of another card, the effect of each card you played this turn before the card you are playing is triggered again.

Clarification: You can look at all the face up card from the discard pile, your hand and the Reserve at any time during play. You cannot look at the facedown card from your Deck, or the Labors you are yet to face, until they are revealed.

Clarification: an upgraded Technique card, i.e.: Strike+, Block+, Train+, generates 2 points per card played after it this turn.

You can activate your Posture effect at any point during your turn (see more about this in section 6. Upkeep Phase).

Clarification: if you draw an additional card after your Planning phase with Posture: It's Raining Cards, you will only play that card during the following turn's Planning phase.

Example: If the first card you play is a Strike that generates 1 ATK, the card will generate 5 ATK in total: 1 when played, then +1 for each other card subsequently played from your hand this turn. If you play your second Strike card as your penultimate card, it will generate a mere 2 ATK, for a total of 7 ATK this turn. This mechanisms lets your modulate the resources (ATK, DEF, XP) you wish to generate during a turn.

3. Purchase Phase: Use the XP generated this turn to enhance your deck:

• Gain a card (Technique or Benediction) from the Reserve and place it face up on top of your discard pile. Each card in the Reserve has an XP cost indicated by the number of stars on the card. In MICRO HERO: Hercules, each Technique card costs 4 XP, each Benediction card 8 XP.
• Upgrade the top card of your discard pile, rotating it 180° to reveal its upgraded version. Upgrading a Technique card costs 4 XP, upgrading a Benediction card costs 8 XP.
• Place an upgraded card from the top of your discard pile to the top of your deck to use on your next turn. Pay 4 XP for a Technique card, 8 XP for a Benediction card.

The above actions progressively enhance your deck over turns.

Clarification: You cannot gain a Benediction card on the first round: at the end of a round, the vanquished Labor transforms into a Benediction and is added to the reserve along with the Technique and Wound cards. You will be able to purchase and use the Benediction on the following rounds, like any Technique card, by paying its XP cost.

Example: if you generate 13 XP, you can perform the following purchase sequence:

• Purchase a Block card for 4 XP and place it on top of your discard pile.
• Upgrade the Block card into a Block+ for 4 XP, rotating it 180° but leaving it on top of your discard pile.
• Place the Block+ card on top of your deck for 4 XP, ensuring you will draw it next turn.

The last XP is lost. Unspent points are not carried over the following turn.

Clarification: Each Technique card and each Benediction card bear the same cost in MICRO HERO: HERCULES, respectively 4 XP and 8 XP, to make the game easier to grasp. Future MICRO HERO standalone expansions will have more varied XP costs for wider strategic variety.

4. Attack phase: In order to inflict damage to the Labor, your total ATK must be equal to or higher than the Labor's Defense. You deal Wounds to the Labor depending on how many times you exceed its Defense: 1 Wound if your ATK is equal to or higher than its Defense, 2 Wounds if your ATK is at least twice its Defense, 3 Wounds if thrice its Defense, and so on. After inflicting Wounds, move the Labor HP modifier card to reflect the number of Wounds inflicted and adjust its remaining HP.

Example: If the Labor has 4 Defense and you have 7 ATK, you inflict 1 Wound (7 is higher than 4 but lower than 8). If you have 13 ATK, you inflict 3 Wounds (4, 8, 12). Surplus ATK is not carried over on the following turn and is lost.

Clarification: The Labor's Attack and Defense values can never go below 1, whatever the circumstances.

5. Defense phase: The Labor attacks you. It deals as many damage as its Attack value as indicated by its red Modifier card. If your DEF is equal to or higher than the Labor's Attack, you block the damage. If your DEF is lower, you suffer 1 Wound. Add a Wound card to your discard pile. Wound cards can be played without effect and cannot be upgraded. They weaken your deck and your future turns.

After the attack, the Attack value of the Labor is automatically raised by +1, whether the Labor managed to wound you or not.

Example: You are facing the Lernean Hydra. It has 5 Attack and you have 3 DEF. Because its Attack value is higher than your DEF, you take damage. You must take 1 Wound card and place it at the top of your discard pile. Had your DEF been 5 or more, you would have blocked all damage and suffered no Wound. Either way, the Hydra's Attack is raised by +1.

Each Labor also has a unique special ability that must be applied and that will influence the strategy required to vanquish it. For instance, the Lernean special ability grants it +1 additional Attack each time it takes damage, making combat more and more challenging as you fight it. The more heads you cut, the more head-on it fights.

6. Upkeep Phase: Place all the cards played in your discard pile in the order they were played.

Clarification: card order in the discard pile cannot be altered.

The Posture card has an End of turn effect that automatically triggers during the Upkeep Phase: ready the Posture card, upgrade the top card of your deck, or flip the Posture to its other side.

Remember that you can exhaust the Posture card at any time during your turn by turning it sideways to activate its effect, for instance drawing a card.

Posture Instance

1. End of Turn Upgrade: The player is yet to activate the effect of their Posture: It's Raining Cards this turn, so the card is ready. Triggering the end of turn effect of the Posture, they reveal the top card of their deck, a Strike, which they immediately upgrade by rotating it 180° to transform it into a Strike+, before placing it on top of their deck, ensuring it will be drawn next turn.
2. Start of Turn Draw Phase: At the start of their turn, the player draws 5 cards. Among them, the Strike+ card that was just upgraded and placed back on top of the deck on the previous turn.
3. Posture Activation and Transformation: During their turn the player decides to activate the effect of their Posture: It's Raining Cards. To do so, they exhaust the Posture and immediately draw an additional card. They now have 6 cards in hand. The Posture is then readied and flipped to its Posture: Supercharged side.
4. Posture: Supercharged Use: The player exhausts their Posture: Supercharged card before playing Strike+, exhausted, to remember to destroy it and place it back in the Reserve at the end of the round, as indicated on the Posture: Supercharged effect.
5. Strike+ and Other Cards Resolution: The player plays their 5 other cards after the Strike+ card, which deals 12 damage by itself. The effect of Posture: Supercharged triggers it a second time: Strike+, by itself, therefore deals 24 damage to the Labor. Finally, during the Upkeep Phase, the exhausted Strike+ card is destroyed and placed in the Reserve, on its base side.

Clarification: a Wound card cannot be the target of Posture: Supercharged's effect, and therefore cannot be exhausted and removed from the deck into the Reserve.

Managing the Posture card and alternating between its two sides is a key strategical element of the game that lets you adapt your actions to coming challenges. Once the Upkeep Phase is resolved, begin a new turn by starting from Phase 1: Draw Phase and follow the steps until one of the End of Round conditions is reached.

End of Round

You win a round by inflicting enough Wounds to reduce the Labor's HP to 0. After you vanquish a Labor, perform the following steps before moving to the next round:

1. Transform the Labor into a Benediction: The vanquished Labor turns into a Benediction and is moved into the Reserve. In future rounds, this Benediction can be purchased by paying its XP cost and used in your deck as a Technique card.
2. Return upgraded cards to their base level: All the upgraded cards in your deck are rotated back to their base side.
3. Set the next Labor up: Reveal the Labor you will face next and give it +1 HP for each Labor vanquished (in the Reserve, in the deck or under the current Labor if you're playing on Heroic or Mythical difficulty) since the game began.
4. Choose TWO preparation actions: You can choose the same action twice, or two different actions:
   • Remove a Wound card from your deck and add it to the Reserve.
   • Gain a Technique card from the Reserve and add it to your deck.
   • Exhaust a Technique card in your deck: remove it from your deck and put it back in the Reserve.
   • Upgrade a Technique card in your deck by rotating it 180°.

These actions let you prepare your deck for the following round. Then ready your Posture card on its Supercharged side. Shuffle your deck and start the next round.

End of Game

You win the game when all 12 Labors of Hercules are accomplished. You lose the game if you must add a Wound card to your discard pile but are unable to because none is left in the Reserve.

Saving the Game

You don't have to face all 12 Labors in one sitting. The game can be saved after each Labor by meticulously storing cards in a precise order and resuming the game at a later time without losing the thread. Doing so lets you store the game in a organized and visually clear way and hop back into it without a skip.

Follow these steps to store your cards in a single stack:

1. Deck: Start by placing the cards in your deck facedown.
2. Posture: Use the Posture card as a divider. Place it on top of your deck.
3. Reserve: Next, place the Reserve cards face up: Technique cards, Wound cards, Benediction cards.
4. Remaining Labors: Place the Labors you haven't vanquished yet facedown.
5. Modifier cards and Reference card: Last, place the 3 Modifier cards (Attack, Defense, Health points) face up and finish with the Reference card at the top of the stack.

Difficulty Levels

Once you triumph over the 12 Labors for the first time, you can attempt them again in a Heroic or a Mythical fashion.

• Heroic Level: Once a Labor is vanquished, instead of immediately turning into a Benediction, it remains in play during the following round, adding its unique special ability to the next Labor. Each Labor thus remains in play for two consecutive rounds before becoming a Benediction and being added to the Reserve. Note that the Labor is still considered vanquished, increasing the next Labor's HP by 1.
• Mythical Level: Things take a turn for the worse! After a Labor is vanquished, its unique special ability remains in play for two additional rounds, adding its effect to the next two Labors. Each Labor remains in play for three consecutive rounds before becoming a Benediction and being added to the Reserve.

Cooperative Mode - 2 players

The cooperative mode requires two games in the MICRO HERO line. They can be two copies of the same game or two different games from the line. This mode lets you work as a team to accomplish the 12 Labors by combining your strengths and resources. Follow the solo rules with the modifications below:

Setup

Shared Reserve: The Reserve is shared between players and composed of cards from both games. Each player selects 10 Technique cards for their starting deck. The remaining cards from both games are added to the Reserve, which therefore contains 12 Technique cards. Add the 6 Wound cards to the shared Reserve.

Labor life total: The Labor's life total is doubled. I.e.: a Labor that has 10 HP in solo has 20 HP in cooperative mode.

Round Overview

1. Draw Phase and Planification - Simultaneous turns: Each player draws 5 cards and plays them independantly, following the solo rules. Players can discuss which card to play, but once played, a card cannot be taken back in hand.
2. Purchase Phase - Shared Experience: Players pool their XP together. They decide together on cards to purchase, upgrade or place on the top of their respective decks as a team.
3. Attack Phase - Shared Attack: When the players start attacking, their ATKs are added together. The sum of their ATK is compared to the Labor's Defense value. Damage is dealt following the usual rules.
4. Defense Phase - Shared Defense: The Labor attacks each player separately, using its total Attack value. But the players can pool their DEF. For instance, if the Labor's Attack is 7 and the players have 6 and 2 DEF, they would normally suffer 1 Wound each, 6 and 2 both being lower than 7. It is thus in a player's best interest to add their DEF to the other player's, so one of them has 7 DEF and the other 1 DEF. Doing so, only one player suffers a Wound. If their total DEF was twice as high as the Labor's Attack value, so 14 or higher, they would be dealt no Wound, whereas if the summed DEF was below 7, both players would suffer a Wound.
5. Maintenance Phase: When you discard your cards, do not place them in your discard pile but in your teammate's discard pile.

End of Game

• Players win the game by accomplishing the 12 Labors together.
• Players lose the game if a player must draw a Wound card from the shared Reserve but there is none to draw.

Clarification: there is no limit to the number of Wounds a player can have in their deck. This mode encourages synergy between players, allowing them to pool resources and adapt their strategy together to face challenges. Cooperation Mode can be played at both Heroic Level and Mythical Level for an even more intense challenge.

Credits

• Author: Léandre Proust
• Proofreader: Siegfried Würtz
• Translator: Albin Chevrel
• Illustrator: Rémi Leblond
• Graphic Designer: Clément Proust
• Publisher: Grammes Édition

www.grammesedition.fr