Mythic Battles Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Object of the Game
  • Summary
  • Contents
• I - Description of Contents
  • Unit Cards
    • Evolution of Vitality and Wound levels
  • Unit Tokens
  • Maneuver Cards
  • Dice
  • Power Points
  • Art of War Cards
  • Battlefield Tiles
• II - Game Rules
  • 1 - Setup
    • Recruiting Units
    • Preparing the Battle
  • 2 - The Battle
    • Victory
  • 3 - Using the cards
    • Draw and Discard
    • The Maneuver Cards
    • The Art of War Cards
    • Unit Types
  • 4 - Activating units
    • I - Performing a Movement
    • II - Attacking a Unit
    • III - Activating Multiple Units
  • 5 - Actions Which can be Performed During the Opponent's Turn
  • 6 - Using Talents
• III - Appendices
  • Variant: 4-Player Battle
  • Variant: Deck Building
  • List of Talents
  • Campaign: The Stelae of Destiny
  • Lexicon

Object of the Game

Mythic Battles enacts epic battles between two armies from mythic Greece – and sometimes, up to four armies can face off on the battlefield.

The players take on the roles of the Generals leading these armies. Each attempts to lead his troops to victory by routing the enemy.

To do that, the players create their armies using Unit cards, and wage war by strategically deploying their tokens on the Battlefield. To claim victory, each General will have to use his Units as best he can, by activating them at the right moment and by using their Talents intelligently.

Summary

• I – Description of Contents
• II – Game Rules
  1. Recruiting Units
  2. The Battle
  3. Using Cards
  4. Activating Units
  5. Actions which can be taken during the opponent's turn
  6. Using Talents
• III – Appendices
  • Variant: 4 player Battle
  • Variant: Deck Building
  • List of Talents
  • Lexicon

When a game term appears for the first time, it's written in red. Refer to the Lexicon on the last page to learn the detailed meaning of the term.

Contents

• 145 Unit cards
• 86 Maneuver cards
• 9 Stele cards
• 40 Art of War cards
• 10 special dice
• 5 Stele tokens
• 34 Unit tokens
• 6 double-sided tiles
• 30 Power point tokens
• 1 Campaign booklet

I - Description of Contents

Unit Cards

These cards are placed in front of the players; they display game information on fighting Units: strength, speed, special talents, etc.

1. Name. Followed by Unit type (such as: Infantry, Cavalry, Pack, etc).

2. Cost. Indicates the Unit's cost in Recruitment points.

3. Characteristics:

   • Vitality. Indicates the amount of Damage the Unit can suffer before being destroyed.
   • Movement Value. Indicates the number of spaces the Unit can move during an activation. If the Unit performs a Combat Maneuver during the turn, use the central number. Otherwise, use the number on the right.
   • Close Combat Attack (CC). Indicates the number of dice the player uses when rolling Close Combat Attacks.
   • Ranged Attack. Indicates the number of dice the player uses when making a Ranged Attack. The number underneath indicates the range of the Attack.
   • Defense. Indicates the difficulty of Attack rolls made against the Unit.
   • Maneuvers. Indicates the number of Maneuver cards available for this Unit (see Lexicon).

   A bonus symbol to the right of a characteristic indicates that the Unit gains +1 for its next Maneuver or action if its General pays 1 Power point (once per Maneuver or action).

4. Talents. Indicates the special rules from which this Unit benefits (see Using Talents).

5. Leadership Value. Indicates the number of Power points earned when discarding a Maneuver card.

6. Faction Symbol (Athena or Hades) or Neutral Symbol.

7. Affiliation. Allows players to differentiate between identical Units.

Evolution of Vitality and Wound levels

For each Unit, the player gets a certain quantity of Unit cards – this number is equal to its Vitality value. During the game, the player will cycle through the Unit's cards as it receives Wounds. Each card shows the Unit at a different Vitality value.

The Unit's Characteristics and Talents vary depending on its Vitality value: the lower the number, the less effective the Unit is. If a Unit's Vitality value reaches 1, it will be destroyed by the next Wound it receives.

Legendary Units are exceptionally powerful Units, which may only be recruited once. They are differentiated by their gray background.

Unit Tokens

The tokens represent Units on the Battlefield. Players move them on the board during the game.

1. Name.
2. Movement Symbol. A footprint symbol for ground Units, a wing symbol for flying Units (see Moving).

Units with multiple copies: Each copy of a given Unit (same name) has a corresponding affiliation and distinct illustration. Example: Hoplites from Temple of Ares (left), Hoplites from Temple of Charydis (right).

Maneuver Cards

These cards are drawn by players during the game. They are used to activate Units.

Summary of Contents: The Units. For each Unit in his army, a player will get:

1. The corresponding Unit cards, the quantity of which is indicated by the unit's Vitality Characteristic. They are placed in stacks in front of the player.

2. The Unit's Maneuver cards, the quantity of which is indicated by the unit's Maneuver Characteristic. They are included in the player's draw pile.

3. The corresponding Unit token. The tokens are deployed on the game board.

4. Name. Followed by the Faction Symbol.

5. Affiliation. Allows players to differentiate between identical Units.

For each Unit in your Army, the Unit cards, the Maneuver cards, and the Unit token must have the same name, the same affiliation, and the same illustration. These traits are used to distinguish between identical units among a given army.

Dice

Mythic Battles uses special 6-sided dice. These dice have faces that go from 0 to 5, and are used during combat.

Whenever these rules mention rolling dice, it's always with these special dice.

Power Points

1. Value. When a player gains 1 Power point, they take a token with a value of 1. There are tokens of various values.

Example: Five tokens of value 1 can be traded for one token of value 5.

As you will quickly discover, Power points are a resource that are as rare as they are precious. Use them sparingly.

Art of War Cards

Each player has 10 Art of War cards for use during the game. These cards represent the strategies and wiles which are used by the Generals to win the Battle.

Once the game has begun, players may no longer add new Art of War cards to their draw piles.

Battlefield Tiles

The tiles represent the Battlefield and are made up of spaces on which the players move their Units (1 space = 1 Movement point).

A standard 2-player game is played on 4 boards, set up in a square.

During setup, the player who begins the game chooses the boards and sets them up as they wish.

Spaces which have the following symbols are subject to special rules (see Movement):

1. Hill
2. Forest
3. Ruins
4. Impassable Terrain
5. Crevasse

Summary of the Tile Placement:

• For a 2-player game, choose 4 boards.
• Choose which side of the boards you will use.
• Place the boards – opponent determines the Deployment Zones.

II - Game Rules

1 - Setup

In order to shape your Legend, you will first have to surround yourself with faithful and fearless warriors. Then build the strategy which will allow you to crush your opponents mercilessly!

Recruiting Units

Each General has 100 Recruitment points with which they can recruit Units – deduct from this total the Cost value of each recruited Unit.

The Factions

Each general chooses his Faction, Athena or Hades. They can only recruit Units affiliated with that Faction and neutral Units.

Spending Recruitment points

• A General can recruit a minimum of 5 Units and a maximum of 10 Units.
• A General cannot recruit multiple Units with the same name, the same affiliation, and the same illustration.
• A Legendary Unit can only be recruited once.

For each recruited Unit, the General also gets the Unit cards, the Maneuver cards, and the token for that unit.

Example: To make up his army, Nick recruits the following Units:

• Cerberus, Guardian of the Gate of Hell: 29 Recruitment points;
• Rhadamanthus, Judge of Hell: 30 Recruitment points.

(As these two Units are Legendary, he can only recruit them once each.)

He then recruits:

• 1 Unit of Infernal Auditors: 15 Recruitment points;
• 1 Unit of Infernal Marauders: 12 Recruitment points;
• 2 Units of the Legion of the Damned (Acheron and Phlegethon): 5 Recruitment points each, for a total of 10 points;
• 1 Unit of Damned Artillerymen: 4 Recruitment points.

Nick has thus spent his total of 100 Recruitment points for 7 Units. This way he respects the maximum of 10 Units and the minimum of 5 Units to form his army. All recruited units belong to the same faction: Hades (Nick also could have recruited neutral Units).

He then gets the tokens and Maneuver cards for the Units he's recruited:

• 1 Unit token for Cerberus, Guardian of the Gate of Hell + the 3 Maneuver cards for this Unit;
• 1 Unit token for Rhadamanthus, Judge of Hell + the 4 Maneuver cards for this Unit;
• 1 Unit token for Infernal Auditors + the 3 Maneuver cards for this Unit;
• 1 Unit token for Infernal Marauders + the 3 Maneuver cards for this Unit;
• 1 Unit token for Legion of the Damned (Acheron) + the 2 Maneuver cards (Acheron) for this Unit;
• 1 Unit token for Legion of the Damned (Phlegethon) + the 2 Maneuver cards (Phlegethon) for this Unit;
• 1 Unit token for Damned Artillerymen + the 2 Maneuver cards for this Unit.

Nick thus gets 19 Maneuver cards.

It is possible that the players don't reach a total of exactly 100 Recruitment points. Each player must spend at least 95 of his Recruitment points. If a player doesn't spend all of his 100 Recruitment points, that player gets 2 Power points at the beginning of the game for each unspent recruitment point.

Summary of Unit Recruitment:

• Choose your Faction.
• Recruit 5 – 10 Units, costing a total of 100 Recruitment points.
• You can only recruit Units of the Faction you've chosen, or Neutral Units.
• For each recruited Unit, take the Unit cards, the Maneuver cards, and the corresponding Unit tokens.

Preparing the Battle

Before starting the first turn of the game, the players proceed as follow:

• Each General rolls a die. The highest score determines which player begins the game – in case of a tie, the Generals reroll until a winner can be determined.
• The player who begins the game places 4 boards of his choice to create the Battlefield. Then his opponent designates the Deployment Zone for each army: these are the two rows of the Battlefield closest to each player. These zones must be facing one another.
• The Generals create their Unit stacks by piling up the cards for a given Unit (same name, same affiliation, same illustration) face-up in decreasing order of Vitality. Then each player places his Unit stacks in front of him, next to the Battleground.
• The Generals create a common reserve of Power points off the Battlefield. When a General gains Power points, they are taken from this reserve. When a General uses Power points, they're returned to this reserve.
• Then, in turn, beginning with the player who has won the die roll, each General places a Unit token wherever he likes in his Deployment Zone, until all of their Unit tokens have been placed on the Battleground.
• The tokens must be oriented towards their General at all times, so that Units of an army can be clearly differentiated.
• Finally each General creates a deck (face down) with the Maneuver cards of their recruited Units and 10 Art of War cards. Each player shuffles the deck made this way and draws 7 cards.

Example: After having gathered all of his Maneuver cards, Nick adds 10 Art of War cards to them and shuffles the deck made this way.

The Battlefield consists of: Boards, Deployment Zone, Unit tokens, Unit stacks, Deck, Discard pile, Art of War cards, Power points, and special dice for each player.

Summary of Setup:

• Recruit your Units.
• Roll a die to determine who starts.
• Set up the Battlefield and determine the Deployment Zones.
• Create your Unit stacks and the Power point reserve.
• Place your Unit tokens on your Deployment Zone.
• Create your deck: your Maneuver cards + 10 Art of War cards.
• Create your hand by drawing 7 cards.

2 - The Battle

Now that you know how to assemble an army of seasoned warriors, you will learn how to lead your troops to victory!

A game represents a Battle, which is made up of successive turns. During their turns, each General will activate his Units and use their Characteristics and their Talents to vanquish enemy Units.

Game Turn

A General's game turn is split into three phases:

1. He draws three cards from his deck.
2. He places any Art of War cards he draws face-up in front of himself, and keeps any Maneuver cards in his hand.
3. He activates one or more of his Units.

The General must activate at least one Unit per turn, unless he doesn't have any Maneuver cards in his hand. If there are fewer than three cards remaining in a General's deck at the beginning of his turn, that General just draws all remaining cards (1 or 2).

Once a General announces that he is done activating Units, that General's turn ends.

Once per turn, after having activated his Units, a General can place three Maneuver cards from his hand at the bottom of his draw deck, and then draw two new cards which he adds to his hand.

As long as a player's turn isn't over, the discarded Maneuver cards don't go directly into the discard. The players keep them in front of them until the end of the turn, in order to avoid a given Unit being activated or Counter-Attacking multiple times during a single turn.

A player can check the contents of his discard pile at any time – for example to count the Maneuver cards of a Unit already spent and deduce the number of remaining Maneuver cards in his deck.

Each time a player goes to find a card from their draw pile (following the use of a Talent or of an Art of War card, for example), he must then shuffle his deck again.

At the end of the turn, the General must make sure that his hand of Maneuver cards does not exceed 7 cards. Otherwise, he must discard so that his hand doesn't contain more than 7 cards at the end of his turn. Each card thus discarded earns the General a number of Power points equal to the Leadership value of the Unit.

Example: Sophie draws her first hand of 7 cards at the beginning of the game. She gets 4 Maneuver cards for her Units, which she keeps in hand, and 3 Art of War cards which she immediately places in front of her.

Later during the game, at the beginning of her turn, she draws three cards. She gets two Maneuver cards, which she keeps in her hand and an Art of War card, which she immediately places in front of herself.

At the end of that turn, Sophie doesn't want to activate any more Units and ends her turn. She checks her hand, which contains 8 Maneuver cards. She must thus immediately discard one Maneuver card, for which she will get the Power points indicated on the corresponding Unit card.

Summary of a Turn:

• Draw three cards from your deck.
• If you've drawn one or more Art of War cards, place them in front of you. Keep your Maneuver cards in your hand.
• Activate one or more Units.

Summary of the Cards:

• You can discard an Art of War card at any time to go look for any card in your deck.
• You cannot have more than 7 cards in your hand at the end of your turn.
• After having played a card, discard it face-up.
• At the end of your turn, you can place three Maneuver cards from your hand under your deck to draw two new cards.
• Be careful not to use your Maneuver cards too quickly, otherwise you could end up defenseless against your enemy!

Victory

A Battle ends as soon as a General only has 3 Units left on the Battlefield. That General is defeated and his opponent wins the Battle.

3 - Using the cards

A good strategist can read the eyes of his opponent and seize the right moment to strike without mercy.

Draw and Discard

At the beginning of the Battle, each General has in front of him a draw deck of face-down cards, made up of the Maneuver cards of the Units they've recruited and 10 Art of War cards.

When drawing cards, they keep any drawn Maneuver cards in their hands and place Art of War cards in front of them.

After having played a card, the player must discard it. Discarded cards aren't returned to the draw deck, but are piled face-up to the side, thus creating the discard pile.

Making a new Deck

When at the end of a turn both Generals have exhausted their draw pile, each General shuffles his discard pile and makes a new deck. Then the turns resume normally, starting with the General who had emptied his deck first.

The Maneuver Cards

The Maneuver cards are used to activate Units and perform Counter-Attacks.

• A General can at any time convert as many Maneuver cards as he wishes into Power points by discarding them. A discarded Maneuver card gives a number of Power points equal to the Leadership value of the Unit.
• If a player discards a Maneuver card belonging to a destroyed Unit, the discarded card only earns the player a single Power point.

Summary of Activation:

• Choose the Unit you wish to activate.
• Discard a Maneuver card for that Unit.
• Perform a Maneuver with that Unit: a Movement and/or an Attack.

The Art of War Cards

The Art of War cards are used to perform special actions.

A General may, at any time:

• convert as many Art of War cards as he wants into Power points by discarding them. A discarded Art of War card is worth 2 Power points.
• discard an Art of War card to go look for a card of his choice in his deck.

Right before reshuffling their decks, each player may, if he wishes, discard some or all of the Maneuver cards in his hands and the Art of War cards in front of his to earn Power points. They then put all discarded cards into their discards and then reshuffle their decks normally.

A Unit activated during your turn can undertake some or all of the following Maneuvers:

1. Perform a Movement, then
2. Attack a unit

An activated Unit has the option of performing no Maneuver whatsoever, instead passing the turn. The Maneuver card is still discarded. The player gets no Power point for discarding this card.

A player can also perform actions outside of their turn (see Actions which can be taken during the opponent's turn).

You are now well equipped to demonstrate mastery on the battlefield. All that is left is for you to write your Legend in the blood of your enemies!

Unit Types

Units are divided into multiple types: Infantry, Cavalry, Pack, Horde, and Colossal. Some Talents, for example, only work with a specific Unit type.

There are two types of movement for Units: ground Units and flying Units.

Ground Units

Ground Units are subject to Terrain effects.

A ground Unit cannot cross through or stop on a space occupied by another Unit, be it ground or flying.

Flying Units

Flying Units ignore Terrain effects.

Although a flying Unit also cannot stop on a space occupied by another Unit, it can cross a space occupied by a ground Unit. Only the other flying Units represent an uncrossable obstacle for a flying Unit.

4 - Activating units

The central concept of the Art of War is the general's ability to adapt to his environment. The general with the better sense of his surroundings will always be victorious.

At the beginning of his turn, the General chooses which Unit to activate and then proceeds with its activation.

To activate a Unit, a General must discard from his hand a Maneuver card corresponding to the Unit.

Reminder: the General must activate at least one Unit each turn, unless he no longer has any Maneuver cards in his hand.

I - Performing a Movement

The wise strategist moves in order to make his troops impossible to catch. He harasses his enemy, dealing the death blow only when the moment comes.

All units move according to the following rules:

• A Unit can move in any direction orthogonally or diagonally, a number of spaces less than or equal to its Movement value.
• A Unit must end its movement on a free space, even if it doesn't use all of its Movement value.
• Movement must take place before any Attack.

Terrain Effects

Spaces bearing a symbol for Hill, Forest, or Ruins are subject to special rules when a Unit stops in them:

Hill

• A ground Unit gains +1 in Close Combat Attack and Ranged Attack against all Units not on a Hill.
• It however suffers a -1 penalty to Defense against flying Units and against Ranged Attacks (this penalty is non-cumulative).
• Hills are an obstacle to Ranged Attacks.

Forest

• A ground Unit gains +1 Defense against flying Units and against Ranged Attacks (this bonus is non-cumulative).
• Forest are an obstacle to Ranged Attacks.
• If a ground Unit passes through a Forest space, the remainder of the Movement it could still perform immediately suffers a -1 penalty.

Example: Nick's Infernal Marauders have a Movement value of 3. The first space they cross is a Forest. The remainder of their Movement for the current turn is immediately reduced by 1. The Infernal Marauders can now only move 1 space instead of 2 if they had moved through any space other than a Forest.

Ruins

• A Ground Unit gains a +1 bonus to Defense against Ranged Attacks.
• Ruins are an obstacle to Ranged Attacks.

Spaces bearing the symbol for Impassable Terrain or Crevasse are subject to the following rules:

Impassable Terrain

• A ground Unit cannot pass through or stop on this space.
• Impassable Terrain are an obstacle to Ranged Attacks.

Crevasse

• A ground Unit cannot pass through or stop on this space.
• Crevasses are not an obstacle to Ranged Attacks.

Adjacent Units

Two units are considered to be adjacent to one another if they are on two spaces next to each other, including diagonally – there can be no spaces between their positions.

Summary of Terrain Effects:

• Terrain effects only concern ground Units.
• Hill: +1 to CC Attack and Ranged Attack. -1 Defense against flying Units and Ranged Attacks.
• Forest: +1 to Defense against flying Units and Ranged Attacks. -1 Movement for the remainder of the turn.
• Ruins: +1 to Defense against Ranged Attacks.
• Impassable Terrain: Ground Units cannot pass through or stop on this space.
• Crevasse: As above.
• Obstacles: The Hills, Forests, Ruins and Impassable Terrain are obstacles to Ranged Attacks.

II - Attacking a Unit

Exhort your troops into hitting the enemy with a vengeful and deadly fist so that he may never rise again!

A Unit can perform only a single Attack during its activation.

The player who announces an Attack on an enemy Unit is called the attacker, the player whose Unit is attacked is called the defender.

A Combat is resolved in the following way:

1. The attacker designates the Unit with which he is attacking, and the Unit he wishes to attack.
2. The attacker announces if he will perform a Close Combat Attack (CC) or a Ranged Attack.
3. The defender announces if he wishes to act (see Maneuvers which may be performed during the opponent's turn).
4. The attacker announces if they will use one or more Talent(s) of their Unit, then the defender does the same. The announcement of the use of a Talent must be made before any die roll.
5. The attacker determines the Attack's difficulty. This difficulty is equal to the target's Defense value.
6. The attacker makes his Attack roll and determines the number of successes obtained.
7. The defender's Unit suffers a number of Wounds equal to the number of successes obtained by the attacker during the Attack roll.

CC Attack

To be able to perform a CC Attack, the attacking Unit must be adjacent to its target.

Ranged Attack

To be able to perform a Ranged Attack, the following conditions must be fulfilled:

• The attacking Unit must have a Ranged Attack value higher than 0.
• The targeted Unit must be within firing range, meaning a number of spaces less than or equal to the Range of the Ranged Attack of the attacking Unit.

The central number indicates the Ranged Attack value. The number at the bottom indicates the Range of the Ranged Attack.

• The attacking Unit must not be adjacent to an enemy Unit. It is at the heart of the melee, which keeps it from taking aim at an enemy – we would describe this Unit as engaged by the enemy.

The trajectory between the shooter and its target must be in an uninterrupted straight line. If a third Unit, a Hill, Impassable Terrain, Ruin, or Forest space is in the trajectory, we say that it is an obstacle to the shot. The Ranged Attack is then impossible.

Tip: To determine if there's an obstacle to a Ranged Attack, try to draw a straight line from the center of the shooter's space to the center of the target's space (use the edge of a card, for example). If you can draw an uninterrupted straight line from center to center, the Ranged Attack is possible.

Flying Units ignore obstacles for their Ranged Attacks.

As with movement, a ground Unit does not represent an obstacle for a flying Unit. Only another flying Unit represents an obstacle when a flying Unit makes a Ranged Attack.

Summary of Attacking:

• CC Attack: Your Unit must be adjacent to the attacked Unit.
• Ranged Attack: Your Unit must have a Ranged Attack value above 0. The targeted Unit must be within range. There must not be any obstacle to the ranged attack. Your Unit must not be adjacent to an enemy Unit.

Attack Roll

To make an Attack roll, the attacker rolls a number of dice equal to the chosen Attack value (CC or Ranged).

The result of the die roll is read in the following way:

• The different dice are not added together. Instead, a die's total value accumulates as it is re-rolled (see below).
• Any die showing 1–4 can be discarded to turn another (non-zero) die to increase its value by 1. A discarded die is lost; its score isn't added to the total of the roll. The number of dice which can be discarded during the roll isn't limited.
• A result of 5 can be rerolled, with the new result added to the 5. A 5 can be obtained by a natural roll or by discarding other dice.
• Any die showing 0 is lost for good, even if it was a re-roll of a 5.
• Once the 5's have been rerolled, it's once again possible to discard dice, including those not used during previous rolls. You may continue this cycle of re-rolling 5's to keep accumulating their values for as long as you have 5's to re-roll.
• The attacker looks at their final results. Each result equal to or higher than the defender's Defense value is a success.

Example: Nick's Infernal Marauders Unit makes a CC Attack against Sophie's Spartans. The Infernal Marauders have a CC Attack of 4 and the Spartans have a Defense of 7.

Nick thus rolls 4 dice against a difficulty of 7 and gets: 5, 2, 4, 1.

Nick decides to discard the die with a result of 1 to bump the 4 up to a 5: 5, 2, 5.

Then Nick rerolls his two 5's: 5+3, 5+1. He thus gets 8 (5+3) and 6 (5+1).

He discards the die on which he had previously rolled a 2 in order to increase the 1. The final Attack roll is therefore: 5+3, 5+2.

Nick gets two successes: 8 (5+3) and 7 (5+2).

Summary of the Attack Roll:

• Roll a number of dice equal to the Attack value of your Unit.
• If you wish, you may discard one or more dice. For each discarded die, increase the value of another die by 1.
• You may re-roll each 5 obtained. The result of the new roll is added to the previous result.
• Discard dice to boost again if you so wish.
• Total up your successes and apply Wounds.
• At any point that you roll a 0, immediately remove that die; it will not be part of the result.

Wounds

To lead is to decide which of your soldiers must die in order for you to claim victory, and which will have a chance to survive!

For each success obtained by the attacker, the defender suffers a Wound.

For each Wound suffered, the defender removes a card from the top of the stack representing the attacked Unit, and places it on the bottom of the same stack, face-down.

Example: Because Nick got two successes during his attack, Sophie's Spartans receive two Wounds. Sophie removes two cards from the top of the Spartan Unit and places them face-down under the stack.

Destroyed Units

A Unit is destroyed when all cards which compose its stack are face-down.

The token of the destroyed Unit is immediately removed from the Battlefield and placed on the corresponding Unit stack.

III - Activating Multiple Units

When the first activated Unit has finished its Maneuvers, the General can decide to activate another unit by discarding an Art of War card. The standard activation rules apply and the General must discard a Maneuver card corresponding to the Unit.

• It is possible to repeat this process as many times as desired. To do this the General must discard a number of Art of War cards equal to the number of Units that he or she has already activated during the turn. A General who decides to activate a 3rd Unit must discard 2 Art of War cards, 3 for a 4th Unit, etc.
• It is not possible to activate the same Unit twice in a given turn.

Reminder: the Maneuver cards aren't discarded right away, but are kept face-up and only discarded at the end of the turn.

Example: On his turn, Nick activates his Infernal Marauders. He discards a Maneuver card for that Unit and keeps it in front of him. Once this Unit has made its Maneuvers, it cannot be activated again for the rest of the turn. But Nick wants to activate a second Unit right away. He discards an Art of War card, then a Maneuver Card for Cerberus, who is thus activated. He places this Maneuver card in front of him alongside that of the Infernal Marauders which he previously played.

After having moved and attacked with Cerberus, Nick wishes to continue his offensive. He thus discards 2 Art of War cards to activate a new Unit – as he's got 2 Maneuver cards in front of him. He activates his Legion of the Damned and places the corresponding Maneuver card in front of himself.

At the end of this activation, Nick declares that he is done activating units and that his turn is over.

During the turn, Nick attacked Sophie's Nemean Lion and her Hoplites. Each of these Units has counter-attacked (see Counter-Attacking the Attacking Unit below). Sophie has therefore activated these Units and placed in front of her the corresponding Maneuver cards.

At the end of the turn, Nick then places the 3 Maneuver cards placed in front of him into his discard, and Sophie does the same with the 2 Maneuver cards placed in front of her.

5 - Actions Which can be Performed During the Opponent's Turn

The spirit of your troops must be as hard as steel. They must not know fear, and they must strike the enemy, blow for blow.

During their opponent's turn, a General can react to enemy maneuvers. He can:

• Counter-attack the attacking Unit
• Defend an attacked Unit
• Harass an enemy Unit

Counter-Attacking the Attacking Unit

An attacked Unit can choose to counter-attack. A counter-attack is resolved in a manner similar to an Attack, starting from step 4.

To do that, the following conditions must be fulfilled:

• The General must discard a Maneuver card corresponding to the Unit.
• A counter-attack is only possible against a CC Attack.
• A Unit can counter-attack only once per turn.

Attack and Counter-Attack are considered to occur at the same time; the Wounds on both sides are applied simultaneously at the end of the Attack and Counter-Attack.

Summary of Counter-Attack:

• Discard a Maneuver card corresponding to the attacked Unit.
• Announce the use of Talents.
• Perform your Attack roll.

Defending an Attacked Unit

A Unit can substitute itself as the target of an Attack towards another Unit.

To do this, the following conditions must be fulfilled:

• The two Units must be adjacent.
• The General of the defending Unit must spend 2 Power points.
• Only Terrain effects which are applied to the Defense of the original targeted Unit are applied.
• A ground Unit cannot defend a flying Unit.

A defending Unit can also counter-attack. To do that, its General must activate it.

Example: The Infernal Marauders Unit (ground) has 2 allied Units adjacent to it: the Infernal Auditors (flying) and the Lycaons (ground).

The Marauders cannot defend the Infernal Auditors, as a ground Unit cannot defend a flying Unit. The Marauders can defend the Lycaons as they are both ground Units.

Summary of Defense:

• Spend 2 Power points.
• Your Unit must be adjacent to the defended Unit.

Harass an Enemy Unit

A Unit can prevent an enemy Unit from moving during its activation.

To do this, the following conditions must be fulfilled:

• The two Units must be adjacent.
• The General of the harassing Unit must spend 2 Power points.
• The Unit harassing must have a higher CC Attack value (disregarding any bonus symbol) than that of its target.
• A ground Unit cannot harass a flying Unit.
• A Harassment action must be announced as soon as the Unit it targets is activated.

Example: The Unit of Infernal Marauders (ground, CC Attack 4) has 3 enemy Units adjacent to it: Spartans (ground, CC Attack 4), Dawn Regiment (flying, CC Attack 5), Toxotes (ground, CC Attack 2).

The Infernal Marauders cannot harass the Spartans, as they do not have a CC Attack value higher than the latter. The Infernal Marauders cannot harass the Dawn Regiment, as a ground Unit cannot harass a flying Unit. The Infernal Marauders can harass the Toxotes, as they have a higher CC Attack value and they are both ground Units.

Summary of Harassment:

• Spend 2 Power points.
• Your Unit must be adjacent to the harassed Unit and have a greater CC Attack value.

6 - Using Talents

Even the strength of a Spartan phalanx, descendants of Heracles, is not without limits. A general must obtain the best from his troops and take advantage of the weaknesses of his enemies to crush them without mercy!

To use one or more Talents from one of his Units, a General must:

• Check that the conditions to use the Talent are fulfilled.

• Pay the cost in Power points (indicated on the left side of the Unit card).

• Unless otherwise specified, if a Talent modifies the resolution of an action or of a Maneuver (die roll, Movement, etc), the use of that Talent must be announced before the resolution of that Maneuver.

• The effects of a given Talent cannot be cumulated for a given Unit. Unless otherwise specified, a Talent can only be used once for as long as its effects are applied (example: a Talent whose effects last for a turn can only be used once per turn by a given Unit).

• During combat, the attacker announces the Talent(s) they will use, then the defender does so.

• Spending Power points to increase a Characteristic with a bonus symbol is considered the use of a Talent. Reminder: this effect lasts until the end of the next Maneuver or action.

III - Appendices

Variant: 4-Player Battle

To lead a 4-player Battle, the special rules below are applied in addition to the regular rules:

• The players form two teams each made up of two players.
• Each player chooses a Faction. The players of a same team can choose different Factions.
• Each General has 60 points to recruit his Units. He can recruit any Unit from his Faction. Two Generals from a same team cannot recruit an identical Unit (same name, same illustration, and same affiliation).
• Each player must spend at least 55 Recruitment points. They get 2 Power points at the beginning of the game for each unspent Recruitment point.

The team that begins the game sets up 6 boards in a rectangle to form the Battlefield. The other team determines the Deployment Zones.

For the deployment and the order of the players' turn, the order must always be the following: Team 1, player 1 - Team 2, player 1 - Team 1, player 2 - Team 2, player 2.

The draw decks are only reshuffled when the decks of all four players are empty.

The Generals of a given team each play the Units they've recruited, and cannot trade Units, or reveal the contents of their hand, or benefit from the Talents of Units they have not recruited.

Victory

The team who has reduced the two enemy armies to a total of 3 Units wins the Battle.

Summary of the 4-player Variant:

• Form two teams of two players.
• Set up 6 boards for the Battlefield.
• Play your turns one player after another while alternating teams.
• Reduce the armies of the enemy team to 3 Units.

Variant: Deck Building

The General can create his army by recruiting any Unit, regardless of the Factions. All other restrictions still apply.

This variant can only be played if the two Generals agree on its use.

• The opposing armies cannot contain an identical Unit (same name, same affiliation, same illustration).
• This variant can be used during a 4-player Battle.

List of Talents

• Arching Shot: When making a Ranged Attack, allied Units are not treated as obstacles to the Ranged Attack.
• Assault Support: This Talent can only be used before activating Units. The General of the Unit using this Talent can go look for up to 2 cards of his choice in his draw pile. He can then activate the Unit that is using its Assault Support Talent, followed by another Unit, as well. The General only discards the Maneuver cards of the Units activated this way. No Art of War card is required. No other Unit can be activated this turn. If the two Units thus activated Attack during the turn, they are required to do so against the same enemy Unit.
• Aura of Strength: This Talent can be used at any time before a die roll and lasts until the end of the turn. When the Unit uses this Talent, its General can reroll one die of his choice during an Attack or a Counter-Attack. This effect also applies to allied Units adjacent to the Unit using this Talent.
• Cerberus' Bite: During a CC Attack, choose one Unit adjacent to Cerberus. Perform up to 3 separate attacks, one on each of the following: the target of the original Attack, and up to 2 other enemy Units that are adjacent to both Cerberus and the original target. The number of dice rolled for each attack is indicated with the Talent. The Units attacked this way cannot counter-attack.
• Coordinated Assault: This talent can only be used before activating Units. The General of the Unit using this Talent can go look for up to four cards of his choice in his draw deck. He then can activate the Unit that is using its Coordinated Assault Talent, as well as up to 3 other Units in succession. The General only discards the Maneuver cards of the Units activated this way. No Art of War card is required. You cannot activate any other Units this turn.
• Endurance: This Talent must be used during the Wound resolution of combat. The Unit using this Talent can cancel one Wound it receives. This Talent can be used multiple times during each Wound resolution.
• Evasion: This Talent can be used when the Unit is the target of a CC Attack from a ground Unit. The attack is considered to have never taken place. The Maneuver card of the attacker is still discarded, however. The use of this Talent must be announced right after the declaration of the Attack and before the attacker declares the use of Talents. This Talent can be used multiple times per turn.
• Explosive Shells: If the Unit makes a Ranged Attack against a ground Unit, the difficulty to hit is reduced by 1.
• Infantry Drill: This Talent can only be used before activating Units. The General of the Unit using this Talent can go look for up to 3 cards of his choice in his draw deck. The General can then activate the Unit that is using its Infantry Drill Talent, as well as up to 2 Infantry Units adjacent to that Unit. The General only discards the Maneuver cards for the Units activated this way. No Art of War card is required. No other Unit can be activated this turn.

Campaign: The Stelae of Destiny

The campaign booklet "The Stelae of Destiny" offers a series of scenario-based games, meant to progressively introduce the various game mechanisms.

The first scenarios of the campaign will help you get gradually more familiar with the rules of the game. Then the following scenarios will offer you special rules meant to spice up your Battles by adding strategic variants.

For the Battles of the campaign, the Battlefields and the players' Armies are predefined. Each Battle of the campaign contains its own victory conditions, and special rules may apply.

Lexicon

• Activate: Spend a Maneuver card to have a Unit perform a Maneuver on your turn, or to Counter-Attack.
• Art of War cards: Cards from the draw deck which may be used to: Activate multiple Units during a player's turn; Get a specific Maneuver card in your Draw; Obtain two Power points.
• Battle: Group of successive turns during which the players perform Maneuvers with their Units, and at the end of which a winner is chosen.
• Battlefield: Group of game boards representing the area where the Battle takes place and where the Unit tokens are placed and moved.
• Characteristics: Numbers given on Unit cards, representing the strength of a Unit during combat. The Characteristics change according to Vitality.
• Deployment Zone: Designates the two rows of the Battlefield closest to each player, on which the Unit tokens are placed before the Battle.
• Discard: A face-up pile of cards, comprising the Art of War and Maneuver cards used by a player during the game. These cards cannot be used until the player reshuffles his draw.
• Draw: A face-down deck of cards, comprising all the Maneuver and Art of War cards available to a player during the Battle.
• General: This is the player, who is leading his troops in the Battle.
• Legendary Unit: Unit which can only be recruited once by a given army.
• Maneuver: A Move or Attack action performed by a Unit during its activation, requiring the General to spend a Maneuver card.
• Maneuver Cards: Cards from the draw deck which, once played, allow Units to perform a Maneuver or a Counter-Attack. Each Maneuver card is assigned to a specific Unit, and can only be used to activate that Unit. The number of Maneuver cards available for a Unit is indicated by the Maneuver Characteristic's value on the Unit's card. These cards start out in the player's draw deck. Used Maneuver cards will go face-up in the player's discard pile. A player can also discard a Maneuver card to gain a number of Power points equal to the Leadership value of the Unit – in which case the player can no longer use that card to activate the Unit.
• Power points: Points gained by discarding cards, which allow the player to use special game effects: improving a Unit's Characteristic, using a Talent, performing certain actions, etc.
• Range: Secondary number of the Ranged Attack Characteristic, which indicates the maximum number of spaces away the target may be from its attacker.
• Recruiting: Spending Recruitment points to acquire Units to assemble one's army.