Monster Lands Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Overview
• Components
• Game Setup
  • Player Area Setup
• Basic Concepts
  • Glory and Reputation
  • Clan Members (Mercenaries)
  • The Dice
  • Dice Manipulation
  • Talents and Abilities
  • Gameplay
• Dice Pool Preparation Phase
• Deployment Phase
  • The Citadel and Its Buildings
    • Persuasion Dice
    • The Hunter's Lodge (Traps)
    • The Alchemist (Potions & Venoms)
    • The Tavern (Mercenaries)
    • The Armory (Defense Tokens)
    • The Pawn Shop (Gold Coins)
    • The Bazaar (Equipment Cards)
    • The Mine (Gold Coins)
  • The Outside
    • The Mission Paths
    • The Lands
    • Entrance of the Citadel
  • Deploy in a Settled Land
• Adventure Phase (Resolving the Outside)
  • Missions
  • Land Battles
    • 1. Revealing Traps
    • 2. Monster Battle
    • 3. Land Conquest
    • 4. Loot Tokens!
  • Defense of the Citadel
• Clean-up Phase
  • 1. Clean the Board
  • 2. Spread Panic
  • 3. Replace Dead Leaders
  • 4. Pay Wages
  • 5. Glory Verification
  • 6. Board Reset
  • 7. Assign First Player Tile
  • 8. Move the Round Marker
• Scoring and Victory
  • Affinities and Affinity Effects
• Difficulty Levels
• Variants
  • Queen's Grant
  • More Monster Action
• Strategy Hints
  • General Hints
  • Hints for the Citadel
  • Hints for the Outside
• Appendix I - Trick Module
  • Clash Between Mercenaries
• Appendix II - Solo Mode
  • Setup
  • Regular Solo Mode vs Solo Campaign Mode
  • Gameplay
  • Strategy Hints
  • Solo Scenario Book
• Appendix III - Reference Tables
  • Trap Benefits
  • Trick Benefits
  • Loot Tokens
  • Monster Powers
  • Mercenary Talents
  • Equipment Abilities
  • Land Abilities
• Player Aids
  • Game Phases
  • Dice
  • Battle Order
• Credits

Game Overview

You will take on the role of the leader of a small clan of brave warriors, competing to win the crown of the Lands of the Discord. You will visit buildings within the Citadel, the last bastion against the monsters that have overrun the kingdom, and also travel to the outside, the areas surrounding the Citadel, where you will battle monsters and reclaim the lands for the Queen.

At the end of the game, the crown is handed to the clan with most Victory Points, which are gained by amassing glory, reputation, and a few other elements that enrich the game. The most important aspect is glory; to gain it you must leave the safety of the Citadel and undertake missions, defeat monsters, and conquer lands.

You will use your dice to take actions using a "worker-placement" mechanic. In the Citadel, your dice allow you to improve your clan, acquiring hunting tools, shields, potions, venoms, mercenaries, and more. The timing of your dice placement and the type of dice you use affects both yourself and other players.

In the Outside, your dice become battle tools. You roll them in missions and battles to try and defeat monsters or conquer the land. You will have many opportunities to manipulate your dice results and increase your chance of success.

You cannot simply hope for lucky rolls to snatch the crown, you will need to carefully manage your resources and do some proper planning to be successful.

Do you have what it takes to go for the crown?

Components

• 1 game board
• This rulebook
• 4 Clan Progress tracks
• 1 Round marker
• 259 cardboard tokens:
  • 4 Reputation markers
  • 4 Glory markers
  • 7 Panic tokens
  • 36 Mercenary Assignment tokens
  • 64 Trap tokens
  • 20 Defense tokens
  • 55 Gold coins
  • 16 Potion tokens
  • 16 Venom tokens
  • 16 Loot tokens
• 94 cards:
  • 8 Initial Clan Member cards
  • 28 Mercenary cards
  • 8 Novicius cards
  • Monster Deck: 20 Monster cards (8 cards Difficulty A, 12 cards B)
  • Equipment Deck: 18 Equipment cards
  • Land Deck: 12 Land cards
• 6 double-sided Land Path Header tiles
• 1 double-sided Round Modifier tile
• 12 double-sided Mission tiles
• 1 Mission Bag
• 1 double-sided First player tile
• 80 six-sided dice:
  • 32 red Strength dice
  • 22 purple Magic dice
  • 18 yellow Persuasion dice
  • 8 black Monster Attack dice

Game Setup

MONSTER LANDS can be played on different difficulty levels and with or without the Trick module. Follow these instructions to set up the game using the Tutorial difficulty level without the Trick module. See Difficulty Levels for details on playing on harder difficulty levels and Appendix I - Trick Module for including the Tricks. For playing the game in Solo Mode, please refer to Appendix II - Solo Mode for the changes.

To guide you where to place the various components, refer to the illustration of the board:

Place the board in the middle of the playing area.

The Citadel: In the Citadel there are seven buildings: the Hunter's Lodge, the Alchemist, the Tavern, the Armory, the Pawn Shop, the Bazaar, and the Mine.

The Outside is divided into three different areas: The Mission Paths in the middle, the Lands (left and right of the mission paths), and the Entrance of the Citadel. There is also space for Loot tokens.

Card Docks: The colored bars on the edges of the board are Card docks. They indicate that cards will be placed here throughout the game. Leave appropriate space on your game table.

First, prepare the Citadel:

• Take the 8 Novicius cards (Novices) with a sling symbol. Place them face up in a stack at the bottom dock of the Tavern. Until they are all hired, there will always be an eager Novicius keen to join your Clan.
• Shuffle the Mercenary deck (28 Mercenary cards) and place it face down near the board. Then, create an offer of Mercenaries available for hire by drawing the top four Mercenary cards and placing them face up next to the Mercenary docks of the Tavern, to the left of the board. The Mercenary offer at the start of the game must have at least one Mercenary of Reputation 4 or less per each player in the game. If this is not the case, set aside the highest Reputation Mercenary and redraw a new card until this condition is fulfilled. Then reshuffle the Mercenary Deck, including any cards set aside.
• Place the 28 Assignment tokens close to the Tavern, to be used whenever a Mercenary is hired. Select the Assignment tokens of the 4 Mercenaries at the Tavern and place them with their respective Mercenary card.
• Take the 64 Trap tokens. Each Trap token has a trap icon on the back and the effect of that trap on the front.

There are 4 different types of Trap: Initial Traps (with an icon), Shielded Traps (with an icon), Tricks (with a brown background), and Improved Traps (everything else).

• Separate out the 4 Initial Trap tokens and set them aside. Put the 18 Trick tokens and the 6 Shielded Traps back in the box. Shuffle the remaining Trap tokens and place them face down near the board. Draw 6 tokens at random and place them face up on the spaces of the Hunter's Lodge, so that the effect of the Trap and the cost is visible.
• Shuffle the Equipment deck (18 cards) and place them face down below the board. Draw 3 Equipment cards and place them face up below the Bazaar docks as an initial Bazaar offer.

Then, prepare the Outside:

• Separate out the difficulty A Monster cards, shuffle them, and choose 2 at random, placing them face up next to the Monster docks. These will be the active Monsters for the first round, each defending their respective occupied Land.
• Prepare the Monster deck by shuffling the remaining difficulty A Monster cards with the difficulty B Monster cards and placing it face down above the board.
• Shuffle the Land deck (12 Land cards) and place them face down above the board, next to the Monster deck. Draw 2 cards and place them face up next to the green Land docks. These will be the active Lands for the first round.
• Shuffle the Path Header tiles (6 double-sided tokens) and place 2 random tokens on the indicated spaces below the Land cards with a random side face up. A Path Header is linked to the Land it is placed under and will be replaced when the Land changes.

Note: In a 2-player or Solo game, only draw 1 Monster card, 1 Land card, and 1 Path Header tile. Place them on the respective spaces of Land A.

• Shuffle the 16 Loot tokens and place them face down next to the board. Place 4 random Loot tokens face up on the indicated spaces between both active Lands.
• Place the 12 double-sided Mission tiles into the Mission Bag. Draw 2 Mission tiles. Place the first one with face A up on Mission space A, the second with face B up on Mission space B. These will be the active Missions for the first round.

Prepare the Reserve & get ready to start:

• Place the Round Modifier tile with side A face up on top of the original round track on the board.
• Put the Round Marker token on space 1 of the Round track.
• Place the red, purple, and yellow dice next to the board. They are the reserve to feed your Dice Pools. Also place there the black Monster Attack dice, which will be used for Monster attacks.
• Separate the Gold coin, Defense, Potion and Venom tokens into loose piles. They are the reserve to be used whenever they come into play.
• Shuffle the 7 Panic tokens and place them face down in a stack. Place them on the marked space at the Entrance of the Citadel.
• The greediest player receives the First Player tile with side A up and will be first during the Deployment Phase.

Player Area Setup

Each player does the following:

• Take one of the Clan Progress tracks. Place it in front of you.
• Take two Initial Clan Member cards of matching Affinity (icon in upper right corner). Place the Leader to the left of your Clan Progress track and the Initial Mercenary to the right.
• Put unused Clan Progress tracks and unused Initial Clan Member cards back in the game box.
• Each Leader and Mercenary card comes with its Assignment token. Search for the Assignment tokens of your Initial Clan Members and place them on their respective cards.
• Return any Assignment tokens of unused Initial Clan Members back to the box.

Your Leader provides you with 5 starting Glory points, place a blue Glory marker on space 5 of the Clan Progress Track.

He also provides you with 7 Gold coins and a free initial Trap token marked with a Leader icon, take them now and place them in your play area as indicated. Any remaining Initial Trap tokens are returned to the box.

Your Initial Mercenary has 1 Reputation, place a red Reputation marker on space 1.

Basic Concepts

Ah, so you are eager to get started with your clan and get out to battle? Good! But hold your horses, you first need to learn some basic concepts.

Glory and Reputation

Your Glory and Reputation are recorded on your Progress track.

The value of a Clan's Glory is a measure of its greatness and fame throughout the length and breadth of the Lands of the Discord. As you capture and eliminate Monsters, conquer Lands, and succeed in Missions, you will be granted Glory points by the Queen's provost.

Glory points are tracked on the Clan's Progress track with the blue Glory marker. If you achieve more than 30 Glory points at the end of a round, announce this to the other players because this triggers the end of the game.

Reputation points are also tracked on the Progress track, with the red Reputation marker. Your Reputation is equal to the sum of the Reputations of each Mercenary you have in your Clan.

At game end, the sum of both Glory and Reputation counts towards Victory Points, so make sure you get a lot of both.

Clan Members (Mercenaries)

Your Clan Members are key to your success, they will enable you to carry out actions by contributing dice to your Dice Pool. Also, you will be able to use Clan Members' Talents for additional actions or to influence the probability of a positive outcome of your actions.

Your Initial Leader is also classed as a Mercenary in all cases with the following exceptions: unlike other Mercenaries, they do not have a Reputation (in fact, nobody really knows them).

Mercenary cards show: Name, Affinity Icon, Hiring Cost, Reputation, Dice Contribution, Talent, and Outside Talent Icon.

The Dice

The Dice Pool: Your Dice Pool consists of all the dice that are provided by Mercenaries and your Clan Glory bonus. The more dice you have in your pool, the more you will be able to do in a round, as you deploy the dice on action spaces across the board. Once a die is deployed on a particular space on the board, no other die may be deployed there for the rest of the round.

Each new Mercenary that you hire will immediately add their dice to your Dice Pool.

Dice can be of 3 types, depending on the color:

• Strength Dice (Red): These dice do not grant any special skill, but they are the most common, and can be manipulated more than any other dice.
• Magic Dice (Purple): These dice provide a special ability during Monster battles by reducing the Monster's attack. They can also be used to create Potions and Venoms at the Alchemist.
• Persuasion Dice (Yellow): These dice are used at some of the buildings in the Citadel to grant a discount, making use of your Mercenary's haggling skills.

The full details of how these dice work is explained under Deployment Phase, below.

Dice Manipulation

Dice are not only used to carry out actions within the Citadel, but they are also used in adventures outside the Citadel, where they are rolled to achieve specific target values. You cannot just rely on lucky rolls in these adventures, so be sure to utilize some of the many ways you can manipulate your luck. Mercenary Talents, Traps, Venoms, Path Headers, and the right Equipment will enable you to alter the result, allow rerolls, or allow you to add additional dice to the battle.

Talents and Abilities

All Mercenaries have specific Talents, and during the game you may equip them with items from the Bazaar which give them additional Abilities, as if adding Talents to the Mercenary.

Each Talent and each Ability can be used once per round.

Talents and Abilities with the Outside symbol must be used during the Adventure Phase, at the moment of activating the respective Mercenary assigned to a Path. All other Talents and Abilities may be used in the Deployment Phase.

Gameplay

A game of MONSTER LANDS is divided into a maximum of 6 rounds. Each round consists of the following 4 Phases which are carried out in this order:

1. Dice Pool Preparation Phase
2. Deployment Phase
3. Adventure Phase
4. Clean-up Phase

The game ends at the end of the sixth round, or at the end of any round in which at least one player ends up with 30 Glory points or more.

Dice Pool Preparation Phase

Players prepare their Dice Pool by checking the dice they have available. Check the following sources:

• Dice contributions from Leaders and Mercenaries.
• Glory Bonus dice as per the player's current Glory.
  • 1-10 Glory points: (no bonus dice)
  • 11-20 Glory points: bonus dice
  • 21-30 Glory points: bonus dice

Take all the relevant dice and place them in your play area. Based on your Initial Clan members and the position of your Glory marker, your Dice Pool at the start of the game is 2 Strength dice, 1 Persuasion die, and 1 Magic die.

Roll your Persuasion dice now. Do not roll the other dice at this time.

Deployment Phase

Starting with the player who has the First Player token, and proceeding in clockwise order, each player takes a turn to perform a single Action. After all players have had a turn, the first player takes a second turn, and so on.

On your turn, you must take one of 3 possible Actions:

• Deploy in the Citadel
• Deploy to the Outside
• Deploy in a Settled Land

If you do not have any dice remaining in your Dice Pool, you must pass instead of taking an Action. You are not allowed to pass until you have deployed all of your dice from your Dice Pool. The process of players taking turns continues until all players run out of dice and pass.

Some cards and tokens have dice conversion abilities which can convert a die of a specific color into a die or dice of another color that might be more useful for you. To convert a die, deploy it on the card or token and take the die / dice of the indicated color(s) from the reserve.

An Action simply consists of placing (deploying) one or more dice on one of the free dice spaces of the board or in Settled Lands in your possession. Dice spaces marked as unavailable in a 2-player game are not available in a 2-player game.

The Citadel: Deploy dice to the buildings of the Citadel to gain the bonus of the building. For example, you can get Gold coins at the mine, Potions and Venoms at the Alchemists, recruit new Mercenaries at the Tavern, etc. The full rules for deploying in the Citadel can be found below.

The Outside: Send your Mercenaries to Lands or on Missions by deploying dice to the Paths. There, they will fight Monsters and conquer Lands, or complete Missions. Also, if there is a Monster at the Citadel Entrance, you can deploy dice there to protect the Citadel. The full rules for deploying to the Outside are also below.

Settled Lands: Deploy dice indicated to a Land card that you have settled to obtain the indicated benefit. This is explained in full under "Deploy in a Settled Land" below.

The Citadel and Its Buildings

There are three types of dice spaces in the Citadel:

• Single die spaces, requiring exactly one die.
• Double dice spaces (the Mine), requiring exactly two dice to be deployed in the same action.
• Unlimited dice space (the Pawn Shop), allowing an unlimited number of dice in the same location.

You can only deploy dice of the type indicated on that building, and only onto an empty dice space of that building. Once dice are deployed, you immediately get the benefit or resource that the space gives you. For example, you can deploy two Strength dice on the first space of the Mine to immediately receive 6 Gold coins.

A building cannot be used if all the dice spaces are occupied. The only exception is the Pawn Shop, which has no limit to dice number per single Action and no limit to number of Actions that can be taken there during a round.

Some of the buildings (Hunter's Lodge, Tavern, Armory, and Bazaar) require you to pay a cost in Gold coins, as required by the resource/Mercenary you want to buy. If you do not have the required number of Gold coins, you cannot deploy your dice to that space. However, using a Persuasion die in these buildings gives you a discount.

When deploying dice on the Hunter's Lodge, Tavern, Armory, or Bazaar, they should be placed from left to right, to track the order of Persuasion dice.

Persuasion Dice

Persuasion dice grant valuable discounts. The amount of the discount will depend on the number showing on the die and on the previous Persuasion die played on the same location.

If your Persuasion die is the first Persuasion die at its location, the discount is equal to the number on the die. Reduce the price by this number.

If your Persuasion die is not the first at its location, compare the number on the die to the previously placed Persuasion die: if your die number is lower, you can sum both dice's values, if it is not, apply only your own die roll value for your discount. Only compare it to the most recently placed Persuasion die, not any before that. Disregard dice of other colors placed in between.

The total price cannot be reduced below a minimum price of 1 per purchase action (vendors can be manipulated, but nothing comes for free).

Outside the Citadel, Persuasion dice can only be deployed on certain Missions and are rerolled at the time of activating the respective Mission Path.

Hint: Look at other players' Persuasion dice before deciding to deploy one of your own, as other players may take advantage of your deployment. A high roll gives you a good discount, but can give an even better one for the next player. On the other hand, try to be quick to pick up the best items.

Example: It is the first round, Natalie has one Persuasion die in her Dice Pool. At the beginning of the round, she rolls it and gets a 5. During her first Action, she decides to buy a Trap token that has a cost of 9 coins, she deploys her Persuasion die on the leftmost space of the Hunter's Lodge and takes the Trap token for 4 Gold coins, applying the discount of 5 from her die.

Stefan is up next and deploys a Strength die on the next space of the Hunter's Lodge, buying a Trap at full price.

Now it is Tom's turn, he rolled a 3 at the beginning of the round on his Persuasion die. If he uses it at the Hunter's Lodge, he can add his 3 to Natalie's 5 for a total of 8, a generous discount. Stefan's Strength die does not interfere with this. He decides to do it and grabs 2 available Traps with a price of 4 each. Since the total cost cannot be reduced to below 1 per purchase action, he must pay 1 Gold coin.

The Hunter's Lodge (Traps)

"Come on in, my friend, I have the latest in monster trapping technology"

With a Strength die or Persuasion die, you may take an Action to buy as many Trap tokens as you can afford. Each Trap token indicates the amount of coins it costs. If you use a Persuasion die, you may apply the discount to the total cost of various Traps, but the total cost cannot be reduced to below 1.

Each player can have a maximum of 5 available Trap tokens on their Clan Progress track (certain cards may change this number). If a player receives more Trap tokens than they are allowed to keep, they must immediately discard Traps until reaching their allowance limit. Traps already assigned to a Path do not count towards this limit.

There must always be 6 Trap tokens available when a new buyer visits the Lodge. After a player has bought all their Traps, fill the empty spaces with new face up Trap tokens from the pile next to the board. If at any time there are no Trap tokens left in the pile, create a new pile with the discarded Traps.

When you buy a Trap token, place it face down in your play area to mislead your opponents when you deploy it later on. See the Land Battle section for detail on how Traps work and how you can use them to mitigate the luck factor.

The Alchemist (Potions & Venoms)

"We do not take any responsibility for what you mix in our lab!"

You may deploy a Magic die to gain either 3 tokens (the upper space) or 2 tokens (the lower space) of Potions and/or Venoms, combining them as you wish. Each player can have a maximum of 3 Potion tokens and a maximum of 3 Venom tokens in their play area. Potions and Venoms on a Mercenary assigned to a Path do not count towards this limit.

Potions & Venoms

• You may discard a Potion in your play area to heal an unassigned wounded Mercenary.
• You may also place 1 Potion and/or 1 Venom on top of a Mercenary's Assignment token at the moment of assigning that Mercenary to a Path. Potions and Venoms are considered part of the equipment that the Mercenary is taking with them to confront the Monster and they can be used during battle.
• Potions heal wounds, while Venoms add poison to your weapon, giving you a +2 attack in a battle.
• Potions and Venoms are not lost after battle, unless used.

The Tavern (Mercenaries)

"Pay no attention to the mind-numbing stench in the Tavern. Showers have never been a favorite amongst our clients."

You can deploy a Strength or Persuasion die in the Tavern to hire exactly one of the Mercenaries on display at one of the card docks or a Novicius. Although you start the game with a matching pair of Mercenaries of one Affinity, you may hire new Mercenaries of any Affinity. Pay their hiring cost.

To hire a Mercenary however, you must have sufficient Excess Glory to be able to attract the Mercenary to your Clan!

Mercenaries are greedy and proud! They will not join your clan if they cannot get their fair share of glory.

Excess Glory and Hiring Mercenaries

Your Excess Glory are the points in between your Reputation marker and your Glory marker. You may only hire a Mercenary whose Reputation is lower than or equal to the amount of Excess Glory you have.

If the Reputation of a Mercenary at the Tavern is higher than your Excess Glory, you cannot hire them.

If your Reputation is equal to or higher than your Glory, you have no Excess Glory, and cannot hire any Mercenaries.

When you hire a Mercenary, place the Mercenary card to the right of your Progress track, along with the rest of your hired Mercenaries. Immediately adjust your Reputation marker on your Progress track and add the Contribution dice on the Mercenary card to your Dice Pool. If the contribution includes a Persuasion die, roll it immediately. All new dice must be used later in the Deployment Phase.

Example: You have 20 Glory points and your Reputation marker is on 14 on the Progress track, so your Excess Glory is 6 (20-14). You would like to hire Vaidala, but although you have plenty of coins, her Reputation is 7, higher than your Excess Glory, so Vaidala rejects the offer with a shrug.

Fandor is also available for hire, a Mercenary with a cost of 10 and a Reputation of 5, within your Excess Glory limit. You spend an Action, deploying a Persuasion die of value 5 on the Tavern and you pay 5 Gold coins (10 base cost minus your Persuasion discount of 5). Your Reputation rises by 5 (to 19) and you immediately receive the 2 Strength dice from Fandor's contribution. You now only have 1 Excess Glory point (20 Glory - 19 Reputation).

Loss of Glory

In some cases, you might lose Glory points. If your Glory marker is ever reduced to below your Reputation marker, the Reputation marker will remain where it is; it is not also reduced and your Glory marker can be lower.

Until your Glory points increase, you have no Excess Glory, and cannot hire new Mercenaries.

Luckily for you, a loss in Glory does not scare your existing Mercenaries off, they will only desert in case of not being paid wages (see Clean-up Phase).

Example: Carmen has 18 Glory points, and her Reputation marker is on 17. After failing a Mission, she loses 2 Glory points; therefore, her Glory marker is moved from 18 to 16. Her Reputation marker remains on 17.

Not counting the Novicius, there must always be 4 Mercenaries available when a new buyer visits the Tavern (3 in Solo Mode). After a player has hired a Mercenary, fill the empty space with a new face up Mercenary from the Mercenary deck. If at any time there are no Mercenaries left in the deck, create a new deck with the discarded Mercenaries.

A Round of Beer

After you have deployed a die to the Tavern, but before hiring a Mercenary, you may choose to pay 2 Gold coins to buy a round of beer for the Mercenaries at the Tavern. They will leave the Tavern happily, making space for new tenants. Discard the Mercenaries at the Tavern and replace them with new Mercenaries from the deck. Then, you may hire one of them. This option becomes important when looking for Mercenaries of specific Affinities. You may not use your Persuasion die discount to pay the 2 Gold coins.

Novicius (Novices)

Novices are cheap to recruit and have little Reputation, but they are handy helpers in your Clan. Novices contribute a single Strength die, but during the Deployment Phase, they have the versatile Talent to convert a die of any color into a die of a different color.

To activate this Talent, place the die you want to change on the Novice card and take a different colored die from the reserve. Leave the die on the Novice until the Clean-up Phase, to remind you that the Talent has already been used. It is not an Action to use this Talent, and the new die gained must be used in the Deployment Phase in which it is taken.

Novices do not have an Assignment token and no Affinity, meaning they cannot be assigned to any Path nor settle any Land nor contribute to Affinity Victory Points. They do get paid the same wages as other Mercenaries, though.

The Armory (Defense Tokens)

"If you get hit, don't say I didn't warn you!"

You can deploy a Strength or Persuasion die to obtain up to 3 Defense tokens for 2 Gold coins each.

Each player can have a maximum of 5 Defense tokens on their Progress Track. If a player receives more Defense tokens than they are allowed to keep, they must immediately discard Defense tokens until reaching their allowance limit. Tokens already deployed on a Path do not count towards this limit.

Defense Talents vs Defense Tokens

The Defense Talents printed on some cards are limited to attacks from Monsters. The Talent itself performs the function of a Defense token, without taking up space on the Path. A Defense Talent can be used once per round, whereas a token is discarded after use or during the Clean-up Phase. Defense tokens are deployed on the Paths during the Deployment Phase and can be discarded in battle to allow you to cancel one Monster hit. They can also be used against Tricks if using the Trick Module.

The Pawn Shop (Gold Coins)

"Dice! Dice! Dice! I'll buy them all! Best prices in the Citadel!"

You can spend as many dice as you wish from your Dice Pool to obtain 1 Gold coin for each die.

Important! Unlike other buildings, the Pawn Shop has no dice limit. Any player can use it to gain 1 Gold coin for each die deployed there. Multiple dice may also be deployed with the same action (gaining 1 Gold per die).

The Bazaar (Equipment Cards)

"The Citadel's best vendors! Find unique and wonderful gear!"

You can deploy a Strength or Persuasion die on an available space to purchase one available Equipment card by paying its cost, provided you can place it as described below.

Once an Equipment card is purchased, it must be placed below an unassigned Mercenary card.

Each Mercenary can carry only one Equipment of each type.

Equipment cards show: Name, Cost in Gold (Gold coins needed to buy the card), Ability (unique ability that the card provides to the Mercenary it is assigned to), Outside Icon (the ability of an Equipment card with this icon can only be used during the Adventure Phase, if the Mercenary equipped with it is assigned to the active Path), and Type (Weapon, Attire, Spell).

Note: You may swap the Equipment cards between your unassigned Mercenaries as you wish (as long as you respect the limitation of 1 card of each type). You may discard Equipment cards to make space for new ones.

After a purchase, fill the blank dock with a new Equipment card from the Equipment deck, if possible.

The Mine (Gold Coins)

"Warning! Hard labor! Any reputable hero will sneer at you for carrying out such lowly tasks."

To extract gold from the mine, you must deploy 1 Strength die to an empty space on the right, or 2 Strength dice to an empty space on the left. The number of Gold coins you get is printed next to the space.

Example: Natalie has 2 Strength dice in her dice pool, she wants to deploy them to the mine to get some gold. However, Stefan takes his turn before Natalie, and he frustrates her plan by deploying 2 dice to the mine and collecting 6 Gold coins. Therefore, when it is Natalie's turn, she can either deploy her 2 dice on the 4 Gold coins space, or 1 die on any of the 2 Gold coin spaces.

The Outside

To deploy Outside, you must use your Action to assign one of your unassigned Mercenaries to an unoccupied Path. Place the Mercenary's Assignment token on the top space of the Path and deploy required and optional dice according to the Path Header in the spaces below it. That Mercenary is now considered assigned to that Path. You may assign multiple Mercenaries (in different Actions) to different Paths of the same location.

Unlike in the Citadel, dice deployed to the Outside are not resolved immediately. Instead, they are resolved during the Adventure Phase.

Hint: When choosing the Mercenary to assign, pay special attention to their Outside Talent as this may provide a benefit during the Adventure Phase.

The Mission Paths

Missions are opportunities to win some resources and Glory, proposed by the Queen's provost. There are two Mission tiles available each round, one of each type: the low-risk dice-rolling Missions and the zero-risk contract-based Missions.

Each Mission has 2 Paths, allowing up to 2 Mercenaries (from the same or different Clans) to take part. The dice-rolling Missions are competitive; only one player can snatch the reward. The contract-based Missions are Path specific, each Path will give a specific reward to the Mercenary of that Path, provided he fulfills the Mission objective.

Mission Path: To assign a Mercenary to a Mission Path, you must deploy below the Mercenary's Assignment token the exact number of dice depicted on the Mission token. If the Mission tile shows a choice of dice, each one you deploy can be any of the colors shown.

Dice-rolling mission tiles show: Dice (number and type of dice that must be deployed), Mission objective (dice roll number required to succeed in the Mission), Reward (Glory and other benefits for the Mercenary who is most successful in the Mission), Penalty (Glory loss for failing the Mission), and Leftovers (a player who meets the Mission objective but is beaten by an opponent receives 2 Gold coins as leftovers from the Mission).

Contract-based mission tiles show: Dice (number and type of dice that must be deployed), Mission objective (resource that must be discarded to receive the reward), and Reward (Glory and other benefits for the Mercenary on the respective path).

See the Missions section under Adventure Phase for more details on resolving Missions.

The Lands

The Lands are the property of the crown but have been invaded by Monsters. Defeating the occupying Monsters and conquering the Lands is a priority objective. At the beginning of the game, each Land is formed by a Land card, a Monster card, and a Path Header with 4 available Paths. The Mercenaries assigned to these Paths try to capture or defeat the Monster and conquer the Land.

In the Adventure Phase, Paths will be activated in order from left to right, and the first Path to be activated will always encounter the Monster. Mercenaries on subsequent Paths will only face the Monster if it has not already been captured or eliminated, otherwise, they can only try to conquer the Land.

Path Headers show: Requirements (the type and number of dice that must be deployed to assign a Mercenary to this Path), Reinforcements (the type and the maximum number of additional dice that may be deployed), and Benefit (the reward obtained when assigning a Mercenary to that Path; see "Path Benefits" below).

Land Path: To assign a Mercenary to a Land Path, you must deploy the mandatory number and type of dice required by the Path Header. You may then add additional dice as also depicted on the Path Header.

You may also choose to deploy Trap and/or Defense tokens to the Path. Traps are deployed face down. There are two exclusive spaces for these tokens at the bottom of the Path. Any additional tokens can be placed above these spaces, but each token takes up the space of two dice spaces. So, you could have a maximum of 6 dice and 2 tokens, or 4 dice and 3 tokens or 2 dice and 4 tokens.

The deployment of the Assignment token, dice, and any Trap/Defense tokens is a single Action. You may not add anything else to the Path in future Actions.

Any Trap and/or Defense tokens assigned to the Path will be lost after the combat is over, whether used or not, so you need to choose carefully which ones to assign.

If you are intending to capture the monster, you will need to deploy a Trap token.

Pay special attention to the Talents and Equipments of your assigned Mercenary, as they may help you in the coming battle. At this time, also think about equipping your Mercenary with 1 available Potion and/or 1 Venom, by placing the token(s) from your play area onto the assigned Mercenary's Assignment token.

Path Benefits

Each Land Path grants the assigned Mercenary a benefit:

• Reroll: When the assigned Mercenary is activated in the Adventure Phase, you can reroll one die of one of the colors indicated. If there is a number within the reroll symbol, you can do this that number of times, with the same or different dice.
• Defense Talents: These are Talents that can be used to defend against Monster attacks. They cannot be converted to physical tokens.
• Gold coins: Place the indicated amount of Gold coins on the Mercenary's Assignment token. You will win them if your Mercenary survives the battle.
• Potion/Venom: Take a Potion/Venom token from the reserve and put it on the Mercenary's Assignment token. You may use it during battle. If you survive the battle without using it, you move it to your play area. This means that a Mercenary could end up with more than 1 Potion or Venom in a battle, 1 from the Path and 1 they brought with them.

Example: During the Deployment Phase, Carmen assigns one of her Mercenaries to the second Path. Carmen then deploys the required 2 Strength dice and as reinforcements, she chooses to deploy 2 Magic dice. Below that, there is space for 3 Trap / Defense tokens, but she only has 1 Trap and 1 Defense token, both of which she chooses to deploy. As a benefit from the Path Header, she receives a Potion that she places on her Mercenary's Assignment token.

Land cards show: Name, Affinity, Conquest Value (the number that needs to be matched or exceeded to conquer the Land once the active Monster has been captured or eliminated), Conquest Reward, and Benefit (if you conquer this Land and settle it with a Mercenary, you can use this ability in the Deployment Phase as an action).

Entrance of the Citadel

The Entrance of the Citadel is the area in the bottom right of the board. It has a dock for 1 Monster card and 2 Paths.

Players can only deploy at the Entrance of the Citadel if there is a Monster card at the Citadel entrance. Monster cards may only get added here during the Clean-up Phase, so in the first round of the game, no Mercenaries may be assigned here.

To assign a Mercenary to one of these Paths, place the Assignment token on the space on the right. Then place any combination of dice (Strength and/or Magic) and/or face down Traps and/or Defense tokens on the Path, remembering that each Trap/Defense token takes up the space of two dice. You must assign at least 1 die, or 1 Trap token, or 1 Defense token.

Note that the Paths come with reinforcements from the Citadel's guards: 2 Defense talents or 1 Defense talent and 5 Gold coins respectively. Place the coins on your assigned Mercenary's Assignment token, your Mercenary will get them if they survive the battle.

Example: The previous round, a fearsome Snagnus (5 attack dice) managed to beat all Mercenaries, so its card was moved to the Citadel Entrance. Tom wants to try and capture him in order to win Glory and 10 Gold coins from the Monster Reward, so during the Deployment Phase, he takes an Action to deploy Tranok's Assignment token on the upper Path of the Citadel entrance. As Tom does not want to take any risks, he deploys 3 Strength dice and 2 Magic dice from his pool, along with 1 Trap token.

Deploy in a Settled Land

During the game, you will have the opportunity to conquer Lands and then Settle them (see "Settled Land!" under Land Conquest below). Once you have a Settled Land, you can take an Action and deploy the dice indicated on the Land card to immediately obtain the indicated benefit.

Example: On a previous round, Natalie conquered the Land of Khyzul and settled it with her Mercenary Lusara. During the Deployment Phase, Natalie can take an Action to make use of the Land's ability: deploy a Strength die to obtain two Persuasion dice.

Adventure Phase (Resolving the Outside)

The most exciting deeds of each round tend to occur during the Adventure Phase. It is at this time that the Mercenaries assigned to the different Paths during the Deployment Phase take part in Missions, fighting against Monsters, and conquering Lands.

The Adventure Phase is divided into three steps, resolved in order:

1. Missions
2. Land Battles
3. Defense of the Citadel

If there is no active Mercenary on a Path in the corresponding area of the board, skip the step. For example, in round 1, step 3 is skipped as no Mercenaries will have been assigned to the Defense of the Citadel.

Missions

The dice-rolling Mission on the left is resolved first (if any Mercenaries were assigned to it), and then the contract-based Mission on the right.

Follow this process when resolving a dice-rolling Mission:

• If there is one Mercenary assigned to the Mission: The player whose Mercenary is assigned to the Mission rolls all dice deployed on the Path, including Persuasion dice, and may use the skills available, such as Equipment cards and/or the Mercenary's Talent. If the sum of their dice is equal to or greater than the Mission Objective, the player receives the Reward indicated on the Mission tile and discards that tile. Otherwise, the player fails and suffers the Penalty. Discard the Mission tile.
• If there are two Mercenaries assigned to the same Mission: Both Mercenaries roll all their deployed dice and apply any Talents and/or modifiers they might have.
  • If only one Mercenary succeeded in the Mission, they receive the Reward and the Mission tile is discarded. The Mercenary who failed to meet the Mission Objective suffers the Penalty.
  • If both Mercenaries succeed in the Mission, the Mercenary with the highest modified total wins the Mission and receives the Reward and the Mission tile is discarded. The other Mercenary receives 2 Gold coins as leftovers, as depicted on the board. If both Mercenaries meet the Mission Objective and tie for the highest modified total, the Mercenary assigned to the left Path is the winner.
  • If both Mercenaries fail to meet the Mission Objective, they both suffer the Penalty. Discard the Mission tile.

Follow this process when resolving a contract-based Mission:

If the player controlling the Mercenary on the left Path chooses to discard the resource depicted in the Mission Objective, he receives the Reward depicted on the left side of the Mission tile. Then, the player controlling the Mercenary on the right Path may discard the resource depicted in the Mission Objective and receives the Reward depicted on the right side of the Mission tile. There is no penalty for not fulfilling a contract-based Mission.

Land Battles

Land battles are resolved one by one, starting with Land A on the left, and then Land B on the right. Each Land Battle is divided into four parts: (1) Revealing Traps, (2) Monster Battle, (3) Land Conquest and (4) Loot Tokens.

1. Revealing Traps

All Trap tokens deployed to this Land are flipped face up, revealing their Improved Trap side. Improved Traps can give additional dice or modifiers to the dice roll. See the Summary Table at the end of the Rulebook (Appendix III - Reference Tables) for a detailed explanation of each Trap.

If the effect of an Improved Trap grants extra dice, place these from the reserve on the Trap token, disregarding Path limitations.

If the effect of an Improved Trap token grants a roll modifier, the modifier is applied during the Mercenary Attack.

2. Monster Battle

Combat with the Monster starts with the leftmost Path that has an assigned Mercenary. First, the Monster attacks and then the Mercenary fights back. That is, if he is still alive!

Monster cards show: Name, Affinity, Attack Value (the number of dice the Monster rolls when attacking), Special Powers (the Special Powers of the Monster), Capture Value (the roll needed to capture the Monster), Elimination Value (the roll needed to eliminate the Monster), Rewards (what you receive for capturing/eliminating), and Monster Level (used for difficulty levels).

Monster Attack

To resolve the Monster's attack, the player to the left of you takes as many black dice as indicated by its Attack Value (for Caribdis, this is 5). Add 1 additional die if the Affinity of the Monster matches the Affinity of the Land (see "Affinities and Affinity Effects" under Difficulty Levels). Also add dice as per the dice symbols on the Round Track, depending on the round you are in (does not apply in Tutorial mode).

Each Monster also has a Special Power. See its effect on the card (symbol references in Appendix III) and activate it when indicated.

Your left neighbor then rolls the dice. Each result of 3, 4, 5, or 6 is a hit. For each hit rolled, the Mercenary receives a wound. For the first wound, flip the Assignment token to its wounded side. If a wounded Mercenary receives another wound, the Mercenary is killed.

To defend against a Monster attack, you have several options:

• Before the attack roll, you may remove a Magic die deployed on the path to remove 1 Attack die from the Monster attack. This can be done multiple times, 1 Attack die is removed for each Magic die removed.
• Discarding a Defense token deployed on your path avoids one hit.
• Use Special Abilities (Equipment cards, Mercenary Talents, Path Header benefits, Defense from Citadel, etc.).
• Discard a Potion token on the Mercenary's Assignment token to cancel a wound that they are about to take (they drink the potion immediately after and it heals them as they are exhaling their last breath).

Death of a Mercenary

When a Mercenary dies, immediately discard their card, along with all Equipment card they had equipped at the time. Remove the Assignment token and all unused dice and tokens from the Path the Mercenary was assigned to. In the rare case that a Mercenary dies after having attacked the Monster, their rolled dice and Trap tokens stay on the Path.

Because Queen Gimelda rewards heroic martyrs, if your Mercenary dies during a Land battle, your Clan gains Glory points as indicated on the space that the Mercenary's Assignment token was placed on.

Finally, adjust your Reputation by subtracting the dead Mercenary's Reputation on your Progress Track.

If at any time in the game you lose all your Mercenaries and Novices, you may take a Novice for free at the start of the next Round and promote him to be your new Leader. This happens before the Dice Pool Preparation Phase. You maintain all your Glory and items in your Clan reserve, and if you have fewer than 5 Gold coins, refill your Gold coin supply to 5 Gold coins.

Example: During a Monster Battle, Tom's Mercenary Frunks receives 2 hits from the Monster. He decides to spend the Potion he had placed on the Mercenary Assignment token to immediately heal one of the wounds. Frunks has been saved but is wounded (Assignment token flipped).

Mercenary Attack

After the Monster has attacked, and as long as your Mercenary is still alive, you may attempt to capture or eliminate the Monster.

Roll your dice on the Path and compare the total rolled to the Capture Value (CV) and the Elimination Value (EV) printed on the Monster card.

You must use your revealed Traps and your assigned Mercenary's Outside Talent and the Equipment cards that they are carrying to manipulate the dice results. The exception to this are rerolls which are optional. If available, you may also discard Venom tokens on your Mercenary Assignment token to add +2 per token to your attack result.

Roll modifiers from revealed Traps, Talents, and Equipment cards always apply to all dice of the specified color on the Path.

• To capture a Monster, you must have a Trap token deployed on the Path (revealed Tricks from the Trick Module do not count). Your total roll must be equal to or greater than the CV, without reaching the EV. If you capture a Monster, take the capture reward (Glory and Gold) and discard the Monster.
• If your total roll is equal to or greater than the EV, you receive the elimination reward (Gold and Trophies). Take the Monster card and place it in your play area facedown, showing the trophy reward.

If you are particularly interested in capturing the Monster as opposed to eliminating it, you may roll your dice one by one and stop your attack at any point, without rolling the rest of the dice. Remember that the use of Venoms is optional, so you may be able to work your way to the roll number you need.

Example: Tom is using Frunks to try capture Sckon (CV: 11 and EV: 12). Frunks is carrying a Venom. On the Path, he has a total of 2 Strength dice and 2 Magic dice. He also has an Improved Trap that gives +4 for capturing or eliminating Monsters, which is the starting value for his roll count. Frunks's Talent adds 1 point to every Magic die. He decides to roll 1 Magic die first and gets a 2, which converts into 3 through Frunk's Talent, totalling 7. He then rolls one of his strength dice and rolls a 2, totalling 9. He decides to use his Venom, adding +2 for a total of 11, just what he needed to capture Sckon. He stops his attack, disregarding the remaining dice.

• If you fail to capture or eliminate the Monster with your Mercenary, leave your Trap tokens and the dice you have rolled on the Path, showing the results. The total modified roll result, including roll modifiers from Talents and Abilities, is considered damage inflicted on the Monster so far and benefits the next occupied Path to the right.
• The player on the next occupied Path then repeats the steps "Monster Attack" and "Mercenary Attack" with one important difference: the total modified roll results of the Paths to the left are added to their own result!

The Improved Traps with roll modifiers modify only the dice on the Path they are placed on, not the dice on other Paths.

Roll modifiers from Talents and Equipment abilities modify only the dice on the Path on which the respective Mercenary is deployed and do not modify dice on other Paths.

Trophies

The Trophy Point Value (1-3) is converted to Victory Points at the end of the game.

A trophy may instead be sold for 5 Gold coins per Trophy Point at any time in the game, this is not an action. To sell a Trophy, discard the Monster card and take the Gold coins from the reserve. Since you no longer have the card, it is not worth any Victory Points at the end of the game. You cannot partially sell a Trophy.

End of Monster Battle

The Monster Battle part ends when a player manages to capture or eliminate the Monster, or when all the assigned Mercenaries in the Land have fought and failed.

• After a player has captured or eliminated the active Monster and taken the rewards, remove the dice, Traps, and Defense tokens from the Mercenaries that took part in the battle. If there are one or more assigned Mercenaries that have not fought yet, they will have the chance to conquer the active Land.
• If the active Monster has neither been captured nor eliminated, the "Land Conquest" does not take place. The Monster is now fuming with anger and will attack the Citadel next round, causing panic. The Monster card will be moved to the Citadel entrance dock in the Clean-up Phase (see "Spread Panic" under Clean-up Phase).

Hint: Capturing a Monster may sometimes give you a bigger reward than killing it, the Queen's provost wants monsters for his "pet experiments". When you are attacking a Monster, remember that you can roll your dice one by one.

Example: Monster Battle — Carmen has assigned Shandee to the second Path of the active Land. The active Monster is an Abysur, a beast with a Capture Value of 17, Elimination Value of 22, Attack of 5, and Affinity with water. As its Affinity is a match with the active Land, its attack goes up to 6. It is the fourth round of the game and the game is being played on Normal level, so the Monster gets another 1 die to its attack, giving it a total of 7 Attack dice. Carmen does not want to risk losing Shandee, so she decides to remove one of the Magic dice deployed on the Path to remove 1 die from the Monster's attack. Her left neighbor then rolls the 6 Monster Attack dice and gets 4 hits! Carmen had placed a Defense token on the Path, and also Shandee has a Defense Talent against Monsters with Affinity to Water or Fire, so 2 of the hits are stopped, leaving the remaining 2 hits to cause wounds. If she does not stop at least one of them, Shandee will die. Luckily, Carmen had placed a Potion token on Shandee when assigning the Mercenary to the Path, so she discards it to cancel one of the wounds. She flips Shandee's Assignment token to the wounded side. In addition to this, the power of the Abysur is the loss of 1 Glory point when a Mercenary receives a wound, so Carmen's Glory goes from 19 to 18. At least Shandee is still alive!!

After surviving the Abysur onslaught, it is now time for Shandee to get revenge. Carmen rolls her 2 Strength dice and 1 Magic die, rolling 1, 2, and 3, not exactly a great roll! However, during the Revealing Traps step earlier, she had revealed an Improved Trap token that improves Magic die rolls with a +1, so the "3" becomes a "4". Even so, the total of 7 is not enough to capture the Abysur. Shandee stays on the Path, along with the dice and the Trap token.

Stefan, whose Mercenary is on the next Path to the right, survives the Monster's attack. In his own attack on the Monster, he will add Shandee's 7. Stefan rolls the 2 Magic dice he had deployed, getting a 4 and a 2 (6 total). Stefan can reroll one Magic die thanks to the benefit granted by the Path: he rerolls the 2 and gets a 3, bringing his total to 7. Adding this to Carmen's, the total is 14. Stefan has not managed to deal with the Monster either!

Next, Carmen has another Mercenary on the rightmost Path. She will add 14 to her total from the preceding Paths. The Mercenary also resists the Abysur's attack and Carmen has 3 dice deployed: 2 Strength dice and 1 Magic die. She rolls all dice in an attempt to kill the Monster and succeeds, adding her 3+5+3 to the 14 damage previously dealt. She receives the reward: 7 Glory points and 2 Trophies. She then turns Abysur's card face down (to indicate its value of 2 Trophies) and puts it into her play area.

After the battle, first Carmen (for Shandee) and then Stefan get to take a Loot token from the Loot token offer. See "Loot Tokens!" below.

3. Land Conquest

Once the active Monster of a Land is captured or eliminated, any Mercenaries that have not fought yet may try to conquer that Land for the Queen and for their Clan.

Hint: If you intend to conquer a Land, plan accordingly by occupying Paths further to the right in the Deployment Phase.

From left to right, each remaining Mercenary will try to match or exceed the Conquest Value of the active Land, rolling the dice that they deployed on that Path and applying all modifiers. In the same way as when fighting the Monster, if the first Mercenary fails to conquer the active Land, the modified result of their roll will be added to the rolls of the next Mercenary who attempts it. Remember that Traps with roll value modifiers only affect the dice on the Path where the Trap is placed.

If your Mercenary manages to conquer the active Land, immediately gain the Glory points as indicated by the Conquest Reward on the Land card. Then, take the Land card and place it below your Clan Progress track.

Settled Land!

Now that you have conquered some of the Queen's Lands, she allows you to manage it for her. You may choose one of your hired Mercenaries with a matching Affinity and settle them on the Land, positioning them to the left of the card. It does not have to be the Mercenary who conquered the Land.

"Let me settle those god-forsaken lands, Queen Gimelda, and turn them into blooming gardens for you!"

An unsettled Land may be settled at any time you have a Mercenary of matching Affinity available. For example, when you hire a new Mercenary in the Deployment Phase, or after your previously settled Mercenary dies in battle.

Example: Natalie settles her Mercenary Nimra, who has an Affinity with water, in the Land she has just conquered. From now on, during the Deployment Phase, Natalie can take an Action to make use of the Land's ability: deploy a Strength die to obtain two Persuasion dice.

Settling a Mercenary on a Land allows you to take advantage of the Benefit that the Land provides during the Deployment Phase by using an Action.

In addition, settled Mercenaries do not require wages, they are content with their new home and will not desert you. Once settled, you cannot change your Mercenary to another location, unless they are the last available option to become new Leader. They are still active, so they can venture out to the Outside.

4. Loot Tokens!

Any Mercenary on a Land Path who comes back without a reward (does not capture or eliminate a Monster or conquer a Land), will plunder the Land for Loot before returning home.

If your Mercenary is in this situation, take a Loot token from the Loot token offer and put it in your play area. Each Loot token can only be used once, and can be discarded at any time you wish to obtain the depicted benefit. Loot tokens with the Outside symbol can only be used in the Adventure Phase. They may be used for a subsequent battle in the same round.

At the end of the resolution of each Land, refill any empty spaces of the Loot token offer.

Example: The four Paths of the active Land are occupied. Carmen has a Mercenary assigned to the leftmost Path and another one to the third Path, Tom has one on the second Path and Natalie one on the rightmost Path. During "Monster Battle", Carmen failed to capture or defeat it, but Tom managed to capture the Monster. Therefore, neither the Mercenary of the two leftmost Paths can participate in "Land Conquest". They remove their dice, Traps, and Defense tokens. Carmen's Mercenary, Nimra, manages to conquer the Land. Natalie's Mercenary, on the final Path has not had a chance to show off this round. Tom's Mercenary captured the Monster, and one of Carmen's Mercenaries has conquered the Land, so Carmen's other Mercenary and Natalie's Mercenary both take a Loot token following the order of the Paths from left to right. The Loot tokens are then replenished.

Defense of the Citadel

This step only takes place if there is a Monster card at the Citadel entrance and at least one Mercenary is assigned to one of the Paths. Otherwise, this step is skipped and the game continues with the Clean-up Phase.

The Defense of the Citadel is divided into two parts: (1) Revealing Traps and (2) Monster Battle.

1. Revealing Traps

This step is identical to the "Revealing Traps" part in the Land Battles step. All Trap tokens on both Paths are flipped face up.

2. Monster Battle

This step is almost identical to the "Monster Battle" in the Land Battles Phase. Follow the instructions described in the Land Battles section, taking into account that the Affinity of the monsters is not used and there is no Land to be conquered. The top Path is resolved first, followed by the bottom one.

A player whose Mercenary heroically dies in the defense of the Citadel will earn the Queen's gratitude and 3 Glory points.

If the Monster is captured or eliminated, remove all Panic tokens that were on buildings and shuffle them face down into the Panic token stack.

If the Monster is not captured or eliminated, it remains on the card dock.

If both Paths are occupied by Mercenaries, only one of them can be successful in defeating the Monster. Unsuccessful Mercenaries do not receive loot after defending the Citadel.

Clean-up Phase

The Clean-up Phase consists of the following 7 steps which are carried out in order:

1. Clean the Board

Each player takes the Assignment tokens of their deployed Mercenaries who were not killed and moves all the Gold coins, Potions, and Venoms that were on their Assignment tokens to the Clan's play area.

Remember to keep a wounded Mercenary's Assignment token on its wounded side. However, you may discard a potion from your play area to heal the Mercenary and flip its Assignment token back to the unwounded side.

Any Trap and Defense tokens on the Paths, whether used or not, are discarded.

2. Spread Panic

Move any Monster that was attacked but not captured or eliminated during the Adventure Phase to the Citadel entrance dock. If there are various Monsters fulfilling this condition or if there is already a Monster card at the Citadel entrance, the one with the highest Attack Value stays (in the case of a tie, the one with the greater EV stays). Discard the other Monster card(s).

If there is a Monster at the Citadel Entrance, take the top Panic token from the Panic token pile, flip it face up and place it on the building that is indicated on the token. Players cannot deploy dice in a building while there is a Panic token on it.

3. Replace Dead Leaders

If your Leader was killed this round, you must promote the available Mercenary with the highest Reputation from your Clan to become your new Leader (if several have the same Reputation, promote the one with the highest cost, if still tied again, choose the one you like best). Settled Mercenaries are not considered available, unless they are the last possible option to become Leader. To do this, move the Mercenary card to the left side of your Clan Progress track. Remember that your Leader is not paid wages and is immune to desertion.

4. Pay Wages

For each Mercenary, with exception of your Leader and any Mercenary settled on a Land, you must pay a salary in Gold coins:

• 1 Gold coin per Mercenary if your Glory is no more than 10.
• 2 Gold coins per Mercenary if your Glory is between 11 and 20.
• 3 Gold coins per Mercenary if your Glory is greater than 20.

If you cannot pay the full wages, first pay all the Gold you have. Then one of your Mercenaries (excluding your Leader and settled Mercenaries) deserts in protest. The Mercenary with the highest Reputation (in case of tie, the one with the highest cost, and if still tied, you choose the one you like the least) deserts you, discard their Mercenary card and token. If you can, you may reassign any Equipment they had to another Mercenary, otherwise discard it.

Hint: Try "protecting" your Mercenaries with a high Reputation by settling them on Lands or promoting them to become your Leader.

5. Glory Verification

If this is round 6, or one of the players has 30 or more Glory points, the game ends and the players add up their scores to see who the winner is. See Scoring and Victory below.

6. Board Reset

Remove all dice in the Citadel buildings and the Outside and move them to the dice reserve. In practice, players may take them directly back into their personal dice pools, but be sure to carry out a Dice Pool verification in the first Phase of the next round, as dice sources change constantly.

Discard the remaining Mission tiles and replace them with new tiles from the Mission bag, one of each type.

If any of the spaces for Monster cards are empty, replace them with new cards from the Monster deck.

If any of the spaces for Land cards are empty, replace them with new cards from the Land deck. Whenever a new Land is placed, also replace the Path Header with a new one. If the Land does not change, do not change the Path Header tile.

Trap tokens in the Hunter's Lodge, Mercenaries in the Tavern, Equipment cards in the Bazaar and Loot tokens stay; they are refilled immediately after a player obtains tokens/cards at the respective location or after a Land battle (Loot tokens).

7. Assign First Player Tile

Give the First Player tile with side A up to the player with least Reputation. In case of a tie, the current first player passes the tile to the tied player closest to his right. See the Queen's Grant variant under Variants for using side B of the First Player tile.

8. Move the Round Marker

Advance the Round marker one space forward.

Scoring and Victory

At the end of the game, players calculate their Victory Point (VP) totals to determine the winner. Each Clan gains:

• 1 VP for each Glory point on their Progress track.
• 1 VP for each Reputation point on their Progress track.
• 1 - 3 VPs for each eliminated Monster, according to the Trophy value.
• Count the number of Fire Affinity icons you have on Mercenaries (including Initial Mercenaries) and Lands (settled and unsettled). Score points for these icons based on the following table:

# of Affinity icons	0	1-2	3	4	5	6+
VPs	0	1	3	5	7	10

Repeat this step for each Affinity in the game.

In the case of a tie, use tie-breakers between the tied Clans in the following order:

• Leader with highest reputation.
• Most Trophies.
• Most Gold coins.

If still tied, take a break and then repeat the game with all players.

Example: Stefan's player area at the end of the game is shown below. He receives: 30 VPs for 30 Glory points, 16 VPs for 16 Reputation points, 4 VPs for 4 Trophies, 6 VPs for Affinities (3 for Air, 1 each for Fire, Water, Jungle). His total is 56 VPs.

Affinities and Affinity Effects

Each Land has an Affinity, describing the dominant element in the Land's expanse. This may be Fire, Water, Air, or Jungle. Mercenaries and Monsters also have the same types of Affinity, describing their origin from Lands of the respective element. Each Clan starts out with Mercenaries of matching Affinity, but can hire Mercenaries of different Affinities during the game.

If this icon on a Monster or a Mercenary matches that of a Land, this is known as a Matching Affinity and provides certain effects.

Monster Matching Affinity (Adventure Phase): If there is a Matching Affinity between the active Monster and the active Land, the Monster gains 1 additional Attack die to its attack. See "Monster Attack" under Adventure Phase.

Mercenary Matching Affinity (Deployment Phase): If you have a settled Mercenary on a conquered Land (matching Affinity is a prerequisite for settling), you may take advantage of that Land's ability. See "Settled Land!" above.

Victory Points (End of Game): You will receive victory points for collecting Affinity icons on Mercenaries (including Initial Mercenaries) and Lands. See "Scoring and Victory" above.

Difficulty Levels

The setup instructions covered above were for the game on Tutorial difficulty level. There are 3 other difficulty levels to choose from but we recommend even experienced gamers start with the Tutorial level difficulty to get used to MONSTER LANDS' mechanisms and to learn how to influence your success in the all-important Adventure Phase.

To setup the game for other difficulty levels, follow these setup changes:

Normal difficulty: Do not place the Round Modifier tile on the game board.

Hard difficulty: During step F of setup, shuffle all Monster cards together and choose 2 at random instead of always having Monsters of difficulty A. Do not place the Round Modifier tile on the game board.

Cut-throat difficulty: Setup the Monster cards as per Hard difficulty, but also place the Round Modifier tile on the board with side B face up.

Variants

Queen's Grant

The Queen's Grant is a help to the player falling behind in Reputation, a catch up mechanism. At the end of the first round, turn the First Player tile to side B and continue to play with this side up throughout the game. A first player will receive the Queen's Grant, which allows him to take the following in the Dice Pool Generation Phase:

• 1 die (Strength or Magic or Persuasion), and
• One of the following: 1 Potion or Venom, or 1 Defense token, or 2 Gold coins.

More Monster Action

If you find you want more Monster action (to give more players the chance to fight them and win Glory), you may increase their presence by drawing a Monster in the Dice Pool Generation Phase of rounds 2, 4, and 6, and placing them at the Entrance of the Citadel. If there is already a Monster present, disregard this step.

Note that Monsters drawn this way do only cause Panic if they have not been defeated at the end of the Round.

Strategy Hints

Read these to all players before your first game.

General Hints

• Glory points are crucial for victory and for your progress in the game. To get them, you must venture to the Outside.
• Missions are a nice and easy way to scrape together some resources and a bit of Glory, but they do not replace battling Monsters. Most Glory is to be won where there is risk.
• When assigning a Mercenary to a Path, pay special attention to their Talents and Equipment. Remember you can swap Equipment between unassigned Mercenaries at any time, including before they are assigned to a Path. This includes Potions and Venoms.
• If you go into a battle with a considerable risk (not enough Defense tokens, Defense Talents, Magic dice and Potions), assign Mercenaries that have few contribution dice so you limit the effect this will have on you in case of getting killed.
• If your Mercenary dies, not all is lost, it's just part of the game. You will be able to hire new ones the next round. You will have more Excess Glory due to your Clan Reputation dropping because of your killed Mercenary and thanks to receiving Glory points for heroism.
• Do not put your Leader at risk in the very first round. They do not have Reputation, so losing them will not open a big enough Excess Glory gap to hire a comparable Mercenary in round 2. However, at a later point, when their contribution dice are less important, you may consider risking them in battles. Their loss will not cause you to lose VPs (remember, Reputation equals VPs at the end of the game) and you might win important VPs by sacrificing them.

Hints for the Citadel

• Keep a close eye on the Persuasion dice of your opponents and choose the right moment and location for your own Persuasion dice. Weigh the value of being first with the threat of giving a potential bigger discount opportunity to your opponents.
• Maximize your return from a single dice deployment at the Hunter's Lodge and Armory by buying various Traps/Defense tokens at once (minimum price of 1 is per purchase, not per token).
• When hiring new Mercenaries, remember that you will receive their contribution dice immediately. Use this for your round strategy.
• If you have conquered a Land in a previous round that you could not settle on, hire a Mercenary of matching Affinity.
• Don't underestimate the power of the Novicius. His dice conversion Talent may open you access to important actions.
• Seek combos of Equipment and Talents.
• Be careful not to forget that you need to pay wages to your Mercenaries in the Clean-up Phase. Plan ahead. Remember that Monster Trophies can be exchanged for Gold coins at any time if you are short on funds.

Hints for the Outside

• In the Lands, choosing the first Paths will give you access to killing the monster and the biggest chance of winning Glory. Choosing paths further to the right may give you a chance at conquering the Land, but even if both Monster and Land are beaten by Mercenaries on previous Paths, you will still get to loot.
• You may send various Mercenaries to the same Land or the same Mission. Assigning your own Mercenaries to adjacent Paths can be of strategic advantage.
• Pay attention to the benefit granted by each Path's Header. E.g., a Potion will allow you to have 2 Potions in total (one equipped with the Mercenary, one from the Path). Gold coins will help you pay your wages… if you survive.
• If you cannot comply with a Path's dice requirement, remember the conversion power of the Novicius.
• Consider discarding Magic dice to avoid attacks by the Monster.
• Occupying a Land Path with the sole objective of gaining Loot is a valid option, if you think your risk of dying is limited.
• Battles at the Entrance of the Citadel do not have Path requirements and feature support from the Citadel, so they are considerably easier and should be a priority. However, there is no chance to loot if the Monster is killed before by another Mercenary.

Appendix I - Trick Module

The optional Trick module adds a conflict-heavy variant to the game, introducing an interaction between the Mercenaries on different Paths of a Land. If your group like playing games where players can be a little mean to each other, this module is just for you!

Add the 18 Trick tokens and 6 Shielded Trap tokens to the Trap reserve when setting up the game. Tricks are brown colored on their effect side. Tricks and Shielded Traps will be available for purchase in the Hunter's Lodge along with Improved Traps. Like Improved Traps, they should be kept face down in your play area once you acquire them, to hide them from your opponents.

Unlike Improved and Shielded Traps, a revealed Trick is no longer considered a Trap. To capture a Monster, you need a Trap.

Clash Between Mercenaries

In all battles with monsters, the Revealing Traps step is replaced with a "Clash between Mercenaries" step.

Starting with the leftmost Path which has a Mercenary assigned to it, and proceeding to the right, each player decides whether or not they reveal their Trap tokens, one by one and from top to bottom. Remember that revealing a Trick means it no longer functions as a Trap and you need a Trap to capture a Monster.

"Trick me if you dare, my revenge will be terrific!"

If a player chooses to reveal their Trap, one of two things can happen:

• If it is an Improved, an Initial or Shielded Trap, the player receives the appropriate bonuses, as in the normal rules.
• If it is a Trick, the player who revealed it immediately applies the effect to 1 Adjacent Path of their choice. See the Trap Benefit summary in Appendix III for a list of Trick effects.

The player that controls the Mercenary who is being targeted by the Trick can cancel its effect immediately by discarding one of the Defense tokens that is assigned to their own Path. In this case, discard the cancelled trick token. Defense Talents do not work against Tricks.

Some Tricks divert attack dice from the Monsters. These effects are resolved during "Monster Battle." When a Monster is going to attack, before rolling the attack dice, the player that faces the Monster attack can divert 1 or 2 of these dice against the player they targeted with the Trick. Roll these dice immediately and apply their hits (they may be defended against by the affected Mercenary, including discards of Magic dice previous to the roll).

Other Tricks allow the stealing of deployed dice from the adjacent Paths. To do this, remove from that Path the dice indicated by the effect (or as many as you can) and place them on the Trick token you have used to steal them. Dice stolen by a Trick do not count against the Path's dice limit. You cannot steal from a Shielded Trap.

When the player on the first occupied Path has finished revealing their Trap tokens (or does not want to reveal any more), the player that controls the Mercenary on the next Path to the right does the same, and so on until all players have had the opportunity to reveal their Traps on the active location.

Adjacent Paths

An adjacent Path is the next Path to the left or right of the current Path that has an assigned Mercenary. A Path can never be adjacent to a Path of a different Land.

Example: Stefan has assigned a Mercenary to the leftmost Path of the active Land; Natalie's Mercenary is assigned to the second Path, and Tom's to the rightmost Path. Stefan's and Natalie's Mercenaries are on adjacent Paths. Natalie's and Tom's Mercenaries are also on adjacent Paths. The third Path is disregarded, as no Mercenaries are assigned to it.

Appendix II - Solo Mode

"So you think you can take on those monsters all on your own? Or rather make a fool of yourself..."

The Solo Mode allows you to enjoy a variety of different playing options. Choose whether you want to play a single game or start a multi-game campaign. In both cases your will choose a Scenario and a difficulty level, giving you a different experience each time.

To play MONSTER LANDS in Solo Mode, use all rules of the 2 to 4 player game, except the Trick Module.

Setup

Prepare the game as if you were playing a 2-player game (follow the instructions under Game Setup), i.e. with only one active Land. Take a Progress track with Initial Mercenaries of an Affinity of your choice. At the Tavern, do not place a Mercenary at the marked dock. Put aside the 6 Assignment tokens of the Initial Clan Members of the non-chosen Affinities, they will be used by the Dummy Player.

Choose a difficulty level (see Difficulty Levels) and set up your Monster card deck and (if applicable) the Round Modifier tile accordingly. Take the First Player token.

Set one red and one yellow die next to the board. They become your Solo Mode Deployment dice.

Regular Solo Mode vs Solo Campaign Mode

In the Regular Solo Mode, choose any Scenario from the Solo Scenario Book. Your goal is to maximize your score against Scenario Objectives. Each Scenario has a Score Evaluation Table which will rank you, from Monster Fodder to Hero. For your first solo game we recommend you choose any of the Scenarios 1-3.

In the Solo Campaign Mode, you will play through the Scenarios in order, starting with Scenario 1. Depending on the rank you achieve at the end of the Scenario, repeat the current Scenario or move on to the next one, following below table:

Rank	Monster Fodder	Trainee	Veteran	Hero
Next Game	Repeat Scenario	Repeat Scenario	Next Scenario	Next Scenario
Next Difficulty Level	Reduce 1 level or lose	No change	Normal	Hard or Cut-throat

You win the Solo Campaign Mode, if you reach Scenario 10 and achieve a rank of Veteran or Hero on Normal or Hard Difficulty. Keep track on the number of games you took to fulfill this Victory condition if you want to compare against your previous or other players' campaigns.

If at any time you complete a Scenario on the Tutorial difficulty level and achieve a rank of Monster Fodder, you lose the campaign.

Whether playing Regular Solo Mode or Solo Campaign Mode, apply all current Scenario rules before starting to play. In case of conflict between Scenario rules and Base Game rules, the Scenario rules prevail.

A Scenario lasts for 6 rounds (do not stop if you reach 30 Glory Points), unless specified otherwise in the Scenario rules.

Gameplay

In the Solo Mode, a Dummy Player (we will call her Madhala) simulates the actions of another player to maintain the dynamics of a dice-placement game. This means there will still be competition for the most important dice spaces during the Deployment Phase. Madhala does not have a Progress Track or an own Dice Pool, she has 6 Assignment tokens and her actions will follow a specific pattern.

Simulate Madhala's actions like this:

Dice Pool Generation Phase

Madhala does not act.

Deployment Phase

When it is Madhala's turn, roll the 2 Solo Mode Deployment dice. The red Deployment die roll shows in which area the deployment takes place, either in the Citadel or the Outside. The yellow Deployment die defines which of the locations within the area is to be occupied.

If no space is available in the location, roll both dice again until Madhala is able to deploy. Madhala will never run out of dice, she will continue to deploy until you run out of dice in your turn.

Red die result	Area	Yellow die result	Location
1-4	Citadel	1	Hunter's Lodge
		2	Alchemist
		3	Tavern
		4	Armory
		5	Bazaar
		6	Mine
5-6	Outside	1	Land Path 1
		2	Land Path 2
		3	Land Path 3
		4	Land Path 4
		5	Mission 1
		6	Mission 2

Madhala occupies spaces in the location as follows:

• Hunter's Lodge: Take a Persuasion die from the dice reserve, roll it and place it on the leftmost available space. Remove two Traps from a row, depending on your red Deployment die result: 1 or 4 = first row, 2 = second row, 3 = third row.
• Alchemist: Take a Magic die from the dice reserve and place it on the uppermost available space.
• Tavern: Take a Persuasion die from the dice reserve, roll it and place it on the leftmost space. Remove a Mercenary depending on your red Deployment die result: 1 or 4 = top Mercenary, 2 = Mercenary in the middle, 3 = bottom Mercenary. Disregard Novices.
• Armory: Take a Persuasion die from the dice reserve, roll it and place it on the leftmost available space.
• Bazaar: Take a Persuasion die from the dice reserve, roll it and place it on the leftmost available space. Remove an Equipment card, depending on your red Deployment die result: 1 or 4 = left Equipment, 2 = middle Equipment, 3 = right Equipment.
• Mine: Take 1 or 2 Strength dice from the dice reserve and occupy the available space(s) with the highest available output.
• Land Path: Take one of the 6 Assignment tokens you set aside for Madhala and place it on the Path's top space. It indicates this path is blocked by Madhala.
• Mission Path: Take one of the 6 Assignment tokens you set aside for Madhala and place it on the leftmost available Path of the indicated Mission. It illustrates this path is blocked by Madhala.

Adventure Phase

Whenever a Path occupied by Madhala is up for activation, she will win the respective adventure without rolling any dice. She is THAT strong, so plan accordingly and don't let her snatch away the important prizes. Exception: in dice-rolling Missions, Madhala will only win, if she occupies the first Path.

Mission Path

Dice-rolling Mission: Madhala only wins, if she is on the first Path, remove the Mission tile in this case.

Contract-based Mission: Madhala does not act.

Land Path

If there is still a Monster, remove the Monster. If there is no Monster but a Land, remove the Land. If there is no Monster nor Land, skip Madhala's turn.

Clean-up Phase

Madhala does not act.

Strategy Hints

The fact that Madhala is always successful in her battles changes the game significantly versus the multi-player experience. You can plan for her to take out Monsters for you and then go for the Land. And if you want to or need to take on the Monster for the added Glory, make sure to deploy on the first Path quickly. But don't rely on her, she will not necessarily deploy where you would like her to.

Solo Scenario Book

The rulebook's printed Solo Scenario Book contains 10 scenarios, each with its own special rules, objectives, and a Score Evaluation Table ranking Monster Fodder / Trainee / Veteran / Hero:

Scenario 1: Business as Usual

• Special rules: None
• Objectives: Maximize VPs
• Score: Monster Fodder n/a, Trainee 35+VP, Veteran 45+VP, Hero 60+VP

Scenario 2: Money is King

• Special rules: Set up the Mercenary Deck only with Mercenaries who contribute at least 1 Persuasion die. Initial Mercenary Affinity: Jungle.
• Objectives: Maximize gold
• Score: Monster Fodder Fail, Trainee Achieve, Veteran Achieve 35+VP, Hero Achieve 50+VP

Scenario 3: Blitz

• Special rules: The game lasts only 3 rounds. Start with 3 Defense tokens instead of 1. Start with 12 coins instead of 7.
• Objectives: Maximize VPs
• Score: Monster Fodder n/a, Trainee 22+VP, Veteran 30+VP, Hero 40+VP

Scenario 4: No Armor

• Special rules: The Armory is closed. Disregard any talents, Path benefits, and tokens that give you Defense. You may still use Potions. Initial Mercenary Affinity: Water.
• Objectives: Maximize VPs
• Score: Monster Fodder n/a, Trainee 30+VP, Veteran 42+VP, Hero 56+VP

Scenario 5: Fully Loaded

• Special rules: None
• Objectives: End the game with all 4 token sacks on your Progress track filled (5 Defenses, 5 Traps, 3 Potions, 3 Venoms). Have at least 1 of each type of Equipment. Have at least 1 Mercenary of each Affinity.
• Score: Monster Fodder n/a, Trainee 15 gold, Veteran 35 gold, Hero 55 gold

Scenario 6: Under Attack

• Special rules: Start the game with a Monster of Level A attacking the Citadel. Whenever the Citadel Entrance is empty at the start of a round, draw a new Monster of Level A and place it on the Citadel Entrance.
• Objectives: Maximize VPs
• Score: Monster Fodder n/a, Trainee 35+VP, Veteran 50+VP, Hero 65+VP

Scenario 7: Diversify

• Special rules: "A Round of Beer" costs 1 Gold instead of 2.
• Objectives: Your ranking will depend on how many Mercenaries of different Affinities you end your game with. 2/1/1/1 means minimum 2 Mercenaries of one Affinity, minimum 1 Mercenaries of all others.
• Score: Monster Fodder n/a, Trainee 2/1/1/1, Veteran 2/2/1/1, Hero 2/2/2/2

Scenario 8: Tricky

• Special rules: Prepare a pile with the Traps from the Trick Module. When Madhala occupies a Land Path, draw 2 Traps from the pile. Place them face down on the Path. Apply the Trick rules from Trick Module.
• Objectives: Maximize VPs
• Score: Monster Fodder n/a, Trainee 30+VP, Veteran 42+VP, Hero 56+VP

Scenario 9: Missionary

• Special rules: If Madhala deploys Outside and the yellow Deployment die is 3-4, she deploys on Mission 1. If it is a 5-6 deploys on Mission 2.
• Objectives: You must complete a number of Missions and have minimum VPs.
• Score: Monster Fodder n/a, Trainee 4 missions/30+vp, Veteran 6 missions/40+vp, Hero 8 missions/55+vp

Scenario 10: Doom

• Special rules: Monsters reroll once all dice that miss on attack. No Tutorial difficulty level allowed. Start with Monster of Level A at the Citadel.
• Objectives: Maximize VPs
• Score: Monster Fodder n/a, Trainee 35+VP, Veteran 45+VP, Hero 60+VP

Appendix III - Reference Tables

Trap Benefits

• Place 1 Strength die from the reserve on the Trap.
• Place 1 Strength die from the reserve on the Trap. It is shielded against Trick effects.
• Every Strength die of this Path adds +1 to its value.
• Every Strength die of this Path adds +2 to its value.
• Every Strength die of this Path adds +3 to its value.
• Place 2 Strength dice from the reserve on the Trap.
• Place 2 Strength dice from the reserve on the Trap. They are shielded against Trick effects.
• Place 3 Strength dice from the reserve on the Trap.
• Place 1 Magic die from the reserve on the Trap.
• Place 1 Magic die from the reserve on the Trap. It is shielded against Trick effects.
• Every Magic die of this Path adds +1 to its value.
• Every Magic die of this Path adds +2 to its value.
• Place 2 Magic dice from the reserve on the Trap.
• Place 2 Magic dice from the reserve on the Trap. They are shielded against Trick effects.
• Place 3 Magic dice from the reserve on the Trap.
• Add +4 to your roll result when attacking a Monster.
• Add +6 to your roll result when attacking a Monster.
• Add +8 to your roll result when attacking a Monster.

Trick Benefits

• Steal 1 Magic die from a Mercenary on an Adjacent Path.
• Steal up to 2 Magic dice from a Mercenary on an Adjacent Path.
• Steal 1 Strength die from a Mercenary on an Adjacent Path.
• Steal up to 2 Strength dice from a Mercenary on an Adjacent Path.
• Steal 1 Magic or Strength die from a Mercenary on an Adjacent Path.
• Steal up to 2 dice from a Mercenary on an Adjacent Path. You can only take Strength and Magic dice.
• 1 of the Monster Attack dice will attack a Mercenary on an Adjacent Path instead of you. Set it apart and roll it before rolling the others.
• 2 of the Monster Attack dice will attack a Mercenary on an Adjacent Path instead of you. Set them apart and roll them before rolling the others.

Loot Tokens

• Discard to gain +4 Glory points when conquering 1 Land.
• Discard to gain +4 Glory points when eliminating 1 Monster.
• Discard to gain +3 Glory points when capturing 1 Monster.
• Discard to reroll a Magic or Strength die. You may do this 4 times, with the same or different dice.
• Discard to gain 2 Potion and 2 Venom tokens.
• Discard to gain +6 to your roll result when trying to eliminate a Monster (does not count for capturing).
• Keep in your play area for 3 Trophies. You may discard it to gain 15 Gold coins.
• Discard to gain 6 Gold coins, 1 Defense token, and 1 Potion.
• In the Deployment Phase, discard 1 Persuasion die and take 3 Magic dice from the reserve. This is not an action.
• In the Deployment Phase, discard 1 Magic die and take 3 Strength dice from the reserve. This is not an action.
• Discard to gain +2 to the roll result of all Magic dice of a single Path.
• Discard to gain 12 Gold coins.
• Discard to gain 10 Gold coins.
• Discard to reroll a Magic die. You may do this 3 times, with the same or different dice.
• Discard to recruit a Mercenary for free from the Tavern. Must have sufficient Excess Glory.
• Discard to gain +2 to the roll result of all Strength dice of a single Path.

Monster Powers

• SNAILER: When paired with a Jungle Land, the Monster gets 2 additional Attack dice instead of 1.
• SPORUS: Before each Monster attack, roll 1 Monster die and apply the result to all Mercenaries in the Land, including the active Path. Then attack normally.
• KORCKO: If eliminated, the Monster's final lash inflicts 1 hit on all Mercenaries in the Land, including the active Path. This can be defended against as normal.
• GATOR: You cannot use Potions or Venoms in a battle with this Monster.
• TURFUS: Requires 2 Traps to be captured.
• WARKORS: Monster attacks inflict an automatic additional hit, on top of dice results. This can be defended against as normal.
• KRINX: When at the entrance of the Citadel, the Monster creates double Panic. Draw 2 Panic tokens in the Clean-up Phase instead of 1.
• SURBOL: When paired with a Fire Land, the Monster gets 2 additional Attack dice instead of 1.
• DOGOR: When drawn, place Dogor at the Entrance of the Citadel, replacing any existing Monster there. Draw a new Monster for the Land.
• SANDOR: If captured on a Land, the Monster escapes and reappears at the entrance of the Citadel. If captured at the Citadel, discard it. In both cases, take the reward.
• MOLDO: Subtract 1 from the result of each Strength die on the attacker's Path.
• KRUNN: If eliminated, the Monster's final lash inflicts 1 hit on all Mercenaries in the Land, including the active Path. This can be defended against as normal.
• TRONS: When at the entrance of the Citadel, the Monster receives 3 additional Attack dice.
• SCKON: When paired with an Air Land, the Monster gets 2 additional Attack dice instead of 1.
• SNAGUS: Monster attacks inflict an automatic additional hit, on top of dice results. This can be defended against as normal.
• GORGOSH: You cannot use Defense Talents against this Monster. Defense tokens may still be used.
• BLANDOR: When paired with a Water Land, the Monster gets 2 additional Attack dice instead of 1.
• KRUSHUS: Subtract 1 from the result of each Magic die on the attacker's Path.
• ABYSUR: If your Mercenary is wounded by this Monster, lose 1 Glory point.
• CARIBDIS: You cannot use Equipment of type Weapon against this Monster.

Mercenary Talents

Remember that each Talent may only be used once per round.

• PURKAS: Provides 1 Defense Talent against Monster attacks (not effective against Tricks).
• KORGO: May reroll 1 Persuasion die when on a Path (only usable in Missions).
• DALINA: You may store three additional Traps on your Clan Progress Track.
• DRAPIS: Provides 1 Defense Talent against Monster attacks (not effective against Tricks).
• TAROA: Add +1 to the result of each Strength die on the assigned Path.
• PUARGH: Gain +1 Glory point when capturing a Monster.
• FANDOR: Once per round, pay 1 gold to obtain 1 Persuasion die to be used this round. May not be activated if Fandor is assigned to a Path.
• WONDOU: Provides 2 Defense Talents against Monsters (not effective against Tricks).
• VAIDALA: Once per round, you receive a discount of 4 Gold coins on a Mercenary hire. You may reduce the price to 0 this way, but not below.
• TORTOCK: +1 to the total roll result for capturing Monsters (does not count for eliminating).
• TARON: Once per round when activating the Mine, you receive +2 Gold coins.
• PARSAS: Provides 1 Defense Talent against Monsters with Water or Jungle Affinity (not effective against Tricks).
• WISHOR: Once per round, you receive a discount of 4 Gold coins on a Trap(s) purchase action. You may reduce the price to 0 this way, but not below.
• GINOVA: One of the Monster attack dice will attack a Mercenary on an Adjacent Path instead of you. Set the die apart and roll it before rolling the others.
• NIMRA: Provides 1 Defense Talent against Monster attacks (not effective against Tricks).
• FROSTOR: Once per round, take a Potion or Venom token for free from the reserve and put it in your play area.
• DOLFUS: Provides 2 Defense Talents against Monsters attacks (not effective against Tricks).
• LUSARA: After capturing or eliminating a Monster, gain 2 Potion tokens.
• NUDURU: Once per round, take a Potion token for free from the reserve and put it on your Clan Progress Track.
• FRUNKS: Add +1 to the roll result of each Magic die on the assigned Path.
• GUSTER: Provides 1 Defense Talent against Monsters with Jungle or Air Affinity (not effective against Tricks).
• SHANDEE: Provides 1 Defense Talent against Monsters with Water or Fire Affinity (not effective against Tricks).
• LORIOS: Once per round, take a Venom token for free from the reserve and put it on your Clan Progress Track.
• ZONDU: Provides 1 Defense Talent against Monster attacks (not effective against Tricks).
• KAKRON: May reroll 1 Strength die on his path.
• TRANOK: Once per round, gain 2 Gold coins.
• WORMEE: Once per round, pay 2 Gold coins to obtain 1 Strength die to be used this round. May not be activated if Wormee is assigned to a Path.
• NAIALA: +3 to the total roll result for eliminating Monsters (does not count for capturing).
• TRULINA: Provides 2 Defense Talents against Monster attacks (not effective against Tricks).
• SCKRAT: May reroll 2 Strength dice on his Path.
• GEAS: +3 to the total roll result for conquering Lands.
• TORKO: +3 to the total roll result for capturing Monsters (does not count for eliminating).
• SARUNA: Does not require Traps to capture a Monster.
• KARUNNA: May reroll a Strength or Magic die on her Path. You may do this twice, with the same or different dice.
• POISSEN: +2 to the total roll result for eliminating Monsters (does not count for capturing).
• TIMBULU: Add +1 to the roll result of each Strength die on the Path.

Equipment Abilities

• KRAKHEN: May reroll 2 Magic dice on a Path.
• RASHNEK: Once per round when activating the Mine, you receive +2 Gold coins.
• MORTIS: Add +1 to the roll result of each Magic die on the Path.
• KEDAVRA: Add +2 to the roll result of each Magic die on the Path, when trying to conquer a Land.
• PUGNOR: Add +1 to the roll result of each Strength die on the Path.
• SLHAM: May reroll 2 Persuasion dice in the Adventure Phase.
• NOXX: Provides 1 Defense Talent against Monsters attacks (not effective against Tricks).
• TURZOKS: Once per round, you receive a discount of 4 Gold coins on a Trap(s) purchase action. You may reduce a price to 0, but not below.
• SLYZOR: Add +1 to the roll result of each Strength die on the Path, when trying to capture or eliminate the Monster.
• TERGEO: May reroll 2 Strength dice on a Path.
• AL-DAHN: Deploy 1 Strength die to gain 1 Loot token from the Loot offer. This is an action. Refill the Loot offer.
• SKYEHN: Deploy 1 Magic die to obtain 3 Strength dice to be used this round. This is an action.
• GHADIK: Deploy 2 Persuasion dice to obtain 9 Gold coins. This is an action.
• KALE: Deploy 1 Magic die to obtain 3 Potion tokens. This is an action.
• KYZHUL: Deploy 1 Strength die to obtain 2 Persuasion dice to be used this round. This is an action.
• RYNIA: Deploy 2 Strength dice to hire 1 Mercenary from the Tavern for free. Must have sufficient Excess Glory. This is an action.
• GURBAN: Deploy 2 Strength dice or 2 Persuasion dice or 1 of each to obtain 3 Magic dice to be used this round. This is an action.
• YUHA: Deploy 1 Persuasion die to obtain 2 Magic dice to be used this round. This is an action.

Land Abilities

• NEGUERIA: Deploy 1 Strength die, 1 Magic die and 1 Persuasion die to gain 2 Glory points. This is an action.
• THAKLAN: Deploy 2 Strength dice or 2 Magic dice or 1 of each to obtain 3 Persuasion dice to be used this round. This is an action.
• WAHIBAH: Deploy 1 Magic die to obtain 3 Defense tokens. This is an action.
• UYUNIAH: Deploy 2 Strength dice or 2 Persuasion dice or 1 of each to obtain 1 Equipment from the Bazaar for free. This is an action.

Player Aids

Game Phases

Dice Pool Preparation: Check Mercenaries + Glory bonus for dice contributions.

Deployment: Deploy dice in the Citadel or the Outside or in a Settled Land.

Adventure: Resolve Outside Paths: 1. Missions 2. Land Battles 3. Citadel Entrance.

Clean-up: 1. Clean the board 2. Spread Panic 3. Replace Dead Leaders 4. Pay wages 5. Glory Verification 6. Board Reset 7. 1st Player 8. Move Round marker.

Dice

Strength: Easiest to come by and can be manipulated better than any other dice.

Magic: You may remove a Monster die for each Magic die you discard from your Path.

Persuasion: Roll at the beginning of each round or immediately after obtaining the die. Grants discounts on purchases at the Citadel.

• If the 1st die at a location or ≥ previous Persuasion die: discount = roll value.
• If < previous Persuasion die: discount = sum of both Persuasion dice's values.
• Each purchase action of one or various items has a minimum cost of 1 Gold coin.

Battle Order

• Reveal Traps (Trick module: reveal the Traps one by one, from top to bottom).
• Apply Trap / Trick benefit (Trick target may discard Defense token to prevent Trick).
• Use Magic dice (optional), then Monster attacks (apply round modifier, if necessary).
• Mercenary defends with Defense tokens/Talents and/or uses Potions.
• If Mercenary dies, win glory points as indicated on the Path.
• If alive, attack Monster with your Path's dice and available modifiers.
• If Monster defeated or captured, gain rewards.
• If not, add roll results to next Path, which repeats the steps of the Monster attack.
• After Monster defeat, clean previous Paths and try to conquer the Land.
• Roll Path dice and use available modifiers. If not equalling or surpassing Conquest Value, roll results count for next Path, which repeats the steps of Land conquering.
• If Land is conquered, gain rewards and take Land card.
• Any Mercenary who comes back alive without a reward from the previous Battle steps gains a Loot token.

Credits

Game Design: Gorka Mata, Víctor Fernández, Sergi Solé, Daniel Schloesser

Rules Revision: Paul Grogan

Art: Enrique Fernández, Aitor Prieto

Manufactured By: LongPack

Publisher: Second Gate Games

Second Gate Games would like to thank those who reviewed Monster Lands: Richard Ham (Rahdo runs through), Eric Hopkins & co (D&E Miniatures), Robin Brooks (GeekDad), Steve Tudor (Polyhedron Collider), Tom Heath (Slickerdrips), Pete Copper (Agents of Sigmar), Ferdinand Capitulo (The Cardboard Stacker) and Jeremy Salinas & David Waybright (Man vs Meeple).

Special thanks to those who helped develop the game in early days: Nanu, Oriol Crespo, Michael Alebedo and Juanjo Peña. Luke Crane (Kickstarter), Thomas Covert (Boardgame Revolution), Vladislav Goldakovsky (tabletopia.com) and Johan Koitka (boiteajeux.net) helped us promote the game. And Jenefer Ham and Universal Head were great fun to work with to develop KS exclusive content.

We are extremely grateful to our many volunteer collaborators, who helped us with rulebook translation, proof-reading, and play testing. Lionel Gros, Marcus Racz, Pablo Benjumea (Evilpan), Asa Lin, Toby Shut-in, Richard Ham, Ricardo Jesus, Riccardo Bux, Tomasz Bargiel, Ronald Schetters, Michel Hermans, and many more.

And without the fantastic backers on Kickstarter, this wouldn't have been possible!

© 2017 Second Gate Games, all rights reserved. Monster Lands and Second Gate Games logo are trademarks of Dracma 3D, S.L.

No part of this product may be reproduced without specific permission.

Actual components may vary from those shown.

Second Gate Games, C/ Casp, 37 2-1, 08010 Barcelona, Spain — www.SECONDGATEGAMES.com