Nightfall: Eastern Skies Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Preparation
  • The Draft
  • Starting Decks
  • Final Steps
• New Card Effects and Abilities
  • New Actions That Modify Minions
  • Combat Cards
  • Sacrifice (Feed) Cards
  • Link Effects
• Avatars (Optional)
• Moon Phases (Optional)
• The Summons
• Variants
  • Bloodbath
  • Constructed Deck Format
  • Draft Game
  • Other Variants
• Card FAQ

Preparation

The Draft

Place face up on the table 8 Draft cards minus one per player, drawn at random. Then deal each player 4 Draft cards if you are playing with a single Nightfall set, 5 or 6 cards for two sets, or 7 to 10 cards if you are playing with three or more different sets of Nightfall and its expansions.

The first two cards chosen during the Draft become each player's private archives. The third goes into the commons. The rest are set aside.

With two players, some cards can be very powerful. It is recommended that you draft as follows: 1st card set aside, 2nd to private archive, 3rd to private archive, 4th to the commons. Set aside the rest.

Optional rule: Some cards can prove very powerful in play with a certain number of players, or with certain combinations of cards present in the commons. If you wish, you can begin the draft by discarding one card first before passing your pile to the player on your left. The second card chosen then goes to your private archive, and so on as in the base rules.

Starting Decks

After the Draft, players may use the pre-built starting decks from Eastern Skies, The Coldest War, or the starting decks from Nightfall, or mix all three. In that case, each player chooses two cards of each color from whichever set they like, or may take one card of the same color from each of two sets. The goal is to end up with a 12-card deck made up of six different colors in two copies each.

Players then shuffle their deck and draw 5 cards.

Final Steps

Each player draws a Wound card at random. Whoever draws a Bite starts the game. If several players draw a Bite, they draw again until the tie is broken.

Shuffle all the Wound cards and place them face down in a pile next to the commons. Then turn face up the top 30 cards for a two- or three-player game, or the top 40 for a four- or five-player game. For longer games, you can turn up 5 additional cards per player present.

You are ready to play!

New Card Effects and Abilities

New Actions That Modify Minions

The Coldest War brings new action cards that are put into play attached to minions. You must place such an action card underneath the minion in play so that it remains visible. These are not considered minions and therefore cannot be targeted as such. When a minion attached to an action leaves play (by being destroyed, discarded, returned to your hand or your deck, etc.), all actions attached to it are discarded.

Combat Cards

Some cards say "Combat:" followed by an action. You must play these cards from your hand to activate these combat effects. They are ignored if the card is already in play or in the middle of a Chain. You can activate Combat effects at any time during the Combat Phase of a turn, except where specifically stated otherwise (see the base rules for Simultaneous Events). Activating a Combat effect ignores card color and does not trigger a Chain effect or a Full Moon effect.

Cards that say "Your Combat" can only be played during your own turn.

Sacrifice (Feed) Cards

As covered in the Martial Law rules, some card text in play, in a Chain, connected, or on a Full Moon contains the term "Sacrifice:" followed by an action. In the original English, this is the term "Feed:". These cards work the same way.

Link Effects

This set brings something new to Nightfall cards that takes effect the moment they are added to a Chain. These effects begin with the word "Link:" in the original English.

As soon as you play a card with a Link effect into a Chain, immediately resolve its Link effect (the card is not removed from the Chain). Link effects are not taken into account during the traditional resolution of the Chain.

Avatars (Optional)

The Avatar cards, which represent the player in the world of Nightfall, appear in the Nightfall: Dark Rages set. They are not included in this Nightfall: Eastern Skies box, but we present how they work here in case you want to mix the two sets.

If you want to play with Avatars, shuffle them and deal them out completely and evenly among the players. Put any extra cards back in the box. Perform a new Draft step with these cards, choosing one card at a time and placing it face down in front of you before passing the deck along. Continue the Draft until all the cards have been chosen.

Keep the cards face down until the common and private archives have been completed, then each player chooses one of these Avatars and turns it face up. Put the other cards back in the box with the ones already set aside earlier.

Moon Phases (Optional)

Nightfall: The Coldest War introduces new "Moon Phase" cards. Using these cards is not mandatory. They are not included in this Nightfall: Eastern Skies box, but we present how they work here in case you want to mix the two sets.

The Moon Phase affects the entire game and applies to all players. Moon effects are played during the game phase specified on the card's text. If you want to use these Moon Phases, shuffle the 6 cards and make a face-down pile next to the commons. Turn the first card face up on top of the pile. You may never look through the rest of the pile. At the end of their turn, each player must choose to do one of the following:

• keep the Moon Phase card currently in play;
• place the current Moon Phase card under the pile and turn over the next one;
• shuffle the pile and reveal the first card.

The Moon Phase pile is not considered an archive. It cannot be used in any way other than what has just been described.

The Summons

Cards with the word "Summon" let you summon hordes of ghouls to your service!

This is made possible by adding the Summon Deck and the three types of "Summoned Ghoul" cards. At the start of the game, before the first player's first turn, shuffle these cards together and place them face down next to the commons to create the Summon Deck.

When a card tells a player to "Summon," it then indicates the number of cards involved (for example, "Summon 2 cards," or "Summon a number of cards equal to the number of cards in your hand"). The player then draws that many cards from the Summon Deck and puts these new minions into play in front of them. "Summoned Ghoul" cards are, of course, minions under the control of the player who summoned them.

"Summoned Ghoul" cards behave like minions in every respect, with one exception: instead of being destroyed, discarded, or returned to your hand, put them face down under the Summon Deck. In the world of Nightfall, there are always bodies lying around somewhere…

Variants

Bloodbath

This variant is made for players who favor pure butchery over diplomacy. It rewards efficient decks that are best able to attack successfully. It can be combined with the "Draft Game" and "Constructed Deck Format" variants detailed below.

• Instead of a central Wound draw pile, deal each participant a stack of 15 Wound cards. Keep the rest nearby to cover an excess of damage or self-inflicted wounds.
• When you wound another player, give them as many Wound cards from your own Wound stack as needed.
• If you wound yourself, take cards from the pile set aside at the start of the game, not from your own Wound stack.
• The game ends when a player's Wound reserve is exhausted.
• At the end of the game, add to your deck any Wound cards remaining in your personal Wound stack before scoring. This way, whoever ends the game adds no cards to their deck, while whoever wounded no one during the game is penalized with 15 extra Wounds.

Constructed Deck Format

Some fans have asked us for rules to build decks that let them play the role of one of the four factions. Here they are:

• Each player builds 2 private archives of 12 cards each before starting the game.
• There can only be 3 copies total of the same card across both archives combined.
• Players also form a pile of 15 Wounds of their choice, with no limit on the number of copies.
• There is no preparatory Draft, nor are common archives formed.
• Players shuffle each of their private archives and place them face up in front of them.
• Players shuffle their Wound pile and place it face down.
• Players may never buy cards from an opponent's private archive, nor transfer a Wound into an archive. This rule cannot be overridden by card text.
• When players receive Wounds, they take them from their own personal Wound pile.
• When a player's Wound pile is empty, they are immediately eliminated from the game. There can therefore be no tie in this variant.
• When a Wound must be exiled, instead of removing it from the game, the player concerned puts it back under their own Wound pile.

The constructed format can be combined with the pre-built starting decks as well as with the Moon Phases for more variety.

Draft Game

Setup:

• Shuffle the Draft cards and draw 10. Take one copy of each of the 10 Order cards thus selected to create a pile of 10 random cards. Place it face down.
• Repeat this, returning the drawn Draft cards each time, so as to obtain 3 piles per player.
• Deal the piles out evenly and at random.

The draft:

• Each player chooses a pile to begin the draft.
• Players select one card to keep and pass the rest of the pile to the player on their left.
• Repeat until all cards are used up.
• Start again with one of the two remaining piles, this time passing the cards to the right.
• Start again one last time with the last remaining pile, passing the cards to the left again.

Build your decks:

• Each player selects 6 cards out of the 30 drafted and places them, arranged as they see fit, face up in the middle of the table to form a common archive.
• Each player arranges the remaining cards into two piles of 12 cards each, face up, which will form their 2 private archives. Be sure to arrange the cards in the order in which you plan to buy them, since you can only buy the card in the first position of each pile.
• Each player forms their own Wound pile by taking 15 Wound cards of their choice.
• Each player forms their starting deck according to the standard rules.

In play:

• When you receive a Wound, take it from your own Wound pile.
• When you must exile a Wound, put it back at the bottom of your own Wound pile.
• When a player's Wound pile is exhausted, that player is permanently eliminated from the game.
• The winner is the last player who has not been eliminated.

Other Variants

Hidden Archives: Do not place common cards during the Draft. Fill the common archives once the Draft phase is over. This makes Full Moons harder to obtain.

Team Play: In a game with 4 or 6 players, the players seated across from each other play as a team. Play normally. The winning team is determined by the total number of Wounds in the teammates' decks.

Reverse Draft: During the Draft, pass your cards to the player on your right instead of your left. Perhaps they will choose a card that lets you Chain off their own play.

Card FAQ

• All Fears Revealed (CW): The Full Moon effect does not let you buy a card outside your Claim Phase.
• Alton Hickman (NF): This minion cannot be blocked by others during the Combat Phase. However, damage dealt to you can still be intercepted by Bad Smoke and Vulko. They block the damage, not Alton Hickman himself.
• Bad Smoke (NF, BC): Yes, it can block damage you take, but it can still be used in defense during a combat phase. Its "In Play:" text does not protect it from being returned to your hand or deck. It only prevents it from being discarded at the end of your Combat Phase.
• Better Him than Me (CS): Influence is lost at the end of the turn, so using this card during an opponent's turn only summons a number of ghouls based on the influence you gained during that same turn.
• Blaine Cordell (NF): If you put him into play without resolving his Chain text, he arrives with 4 health. If you activate his Chain power while he is in your hand, put him into play immediately with 2 health.
• Blitz (DR): The Full Moon effect does of course let you buy a card outside your turn.
• Bloodpact (DR): Players must always pay the normal cost during their Claim Phase.
• Body Armor (DR): Multiple copies attached to a single minion do not stack as if there were only one instance of the "first 2 damage."
• Chan Jiang (LM): Yes, you can buy this minion outside your Claim Phase.
• Clever Ivan (CW): Do not exile this card until it has been put into play.
• Dagat Kasamaan (ES): The Full Moon lets you buy during a Claim Phase even if it is not your turn.
• Double Dealer (ES): The action card is always discarded unless the action card's text says otherwise.
• Eastern Arts (ES): You may choose to Link this card before making your minions untargetable (see the rules for simultaneous events).
• Exit Strategy (BC): Yes, the stolen card is kept permanently. Hopefully you can fit it into a Chain.
• Fists First (ES): The Full Moon requires the Order card to be resolved exactly twice, not twice more. The card's owner always chooses targets, gains its benefits, etc.
• Gather the Pack (BC): The healing from the Full Moon effect is optional, as stated.
• Gathering Strength (CW): You must discard the card you just drew.
• Grotesque Revenant (LM): This card's "In Play" text only prevents it from being discarded at the end of Combat. It does not protect it from being returned to your hand or deck by another card effect.

See also www.nightfallthegame.com/faq for further clarifications.