Monster Busters Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• Gameplay
  • 1. Monster Phase
  • 2. Location Phase
  • 3. Player Phase
  • 4. Action Phase
  • 5. Monster Weakening Phase
  • 6. Clean-Up Phase
• Graveyard
• Locations
• Game End

Components

• Game board x1
• Monster cards x10 (each shows its VP for defeating the Monster, and its Strength for each player count)
• Action cards x16 (2 per player: Fight / Retreat)
• Item cards x49
• Location cards x15
• Player markers x32 (4 per player)
• Weakening tokens x4

Setup

1. Each player chooses a color and takes the corresponding components (2 Action cards and 4 player markers). Place one marker on the 0 space of the score track.
2. Shuffle the Location cards to form a face down Location deck.
3. Shuffle the Item cards and deal 2 cards to each player. The remaining cards form a facedown Item deck.
4. Place the Weakening token aside. You are ready to play!

Gameplay

The game will be played for a few rounds until all Monsters are defeated or one player has lost all of their player markers. In each round, all players will play through 6 phases together.

1. Monster Phase

If there is no Monster on the table, draw one Monster card and place it face up on the table. If the Monster is still present, nothing happens.

2. Location Phase

Reveal one Location card and place it on top of the previous Location (if any).

3. Player Phase

Each player chooses one card from their hand (Action or Item card) and places it face down in front of themselves. Depending on which card they play, they might contribute to the battle or retreat. (See below)

Players are encouraged to discuss which card they want to play, but all discussion should be public to all players. You can make promises, but no promises are binding when you are fighting a furious Monster...

4. Action Phase

All players reveal the card they played and resolve the battle against the Monster. Each player who doesn't retreat will contribute 1 Strength in the battle.

• Fight: What a brave hero! You contribute 1 Strength to the battle.
• Retreat: Coward! You won't gain the glory (VP) if they win the battle, but you won't be dead if they lose.
• Mercenary: Each Mercenary shown on the Location card provides 1 Strength.
• Some Items will provide additional Strength, and some Locations/Items will further enhance the Items' effects. If the card doesn't mention "Retreat", then you will fight.

Add up the total Strength to see if you defeat the Monster:

(A) If the players' Strength is equal to or greater than the Monster's Strength, it's defeated!

• All players who are engaged in the battle are rewarded with one Item card (drawn from the Item deck), and score VP shown on the Monster card. Keep track of your VP on the score track. Note: All players in the battle get the full VP. No dividend is needed.
• Players who retreated get NOTHING. Coward!
• Discard the Monster card.

(B) If the players' Strength is lower than the Monster's Strength, you lose the battle!

• All players who are engaged in the battle lose one of their player markers and place it in the Graveyard (See: Graveyard), and then draw two Item cards as a compensation.
• Players who retreated get NOTHING, but they don't lose their markers!

Example (as printed): Players: 3 (Red, Green, Blue) + 1 (Spear) + 2 (Mercenaries) = 6. Monster: 5 (4 players). Result: Players won the battle!

5. Monster Weakening Phase

If the Monster is not defeated, place one Weakening token on it. For each Weakening token on the Monster card, its Strength is reduced by 1.

Regardless how badly the players lost the battle, at most one Weakening token will be placed on the Monster in each round.

6. Clean-Up Phase

All Action cards are taken back into their owners' hands, and all Item cards are discarded. If the game end condition is not met, play a new round from the Monster Phase again.

Graveyard

When the battle you fought was lost, you must place one of your player markers into the Graveyard.

• Count how many player markers are already in the Graveyard.
• If there are no markers in the Graveyard, your marker will be placed on the coffin marked with "0." If there are already 3 markers, yours will be placed on "3." In each round, all losing players' markers will be placed on the same coffin space.
• At the end of the game, your marker will score VP equal to the number on its coffin. So the longer your marker can stay alive, the more VP you will score.

Example (as printed):

1. Green lost a marker first.
2. Red was the second to lose a marker.
3. Yellow and Blue lost their markers in the same round.
4. White lost a marker later, and placed it on space 4.

Locations

There are different effects on the Location cards. Be sure to pay attention to how they interact with your Item cards.

• Field: Each Spear becomes +2 Strength.
• Valley: Each Crossbow becomes +2 Strength.
• Cave: Each Axe becomes +2 Strength.
• Village: 2 Mercenaries.
• Temple: Gain twice the VP if you win the battle.
• Mercenary: Each Mercenary on the Location card provides 1 Strength.

Game End

The game ends when either of the following conditions is met:

• At least one player has lost all 3 player markers.
• All Monsters are defeated.

When either condition is met, finish the current round. Then all players who still have their markers place them into the Graveyard as if they lost a battle. (Well, actually they survived and retired and decades later they were buried with honor...)

All of these "surviving" markers will be placed on the same coffin space.

Example (as printed):

1. Green and Yellow lost all their 3 player markers.
2. Blue and Red placed their surviving markers on space 9.

Scoring (as printed): Red: 1+9+9 = 19. Yellow: 3+4+7 = 14. Green: 1+4+7 = 12. Blue: 0+4+9 = 13.

All players add the VP from their 3 markers in the Graveyard to the score track. The player with the highest score wins!

If tied, the tied players share the victory.