Overboss Duel Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Objective
• What's New?
  • 1. Setup
  • 2. Shared Board
  • 3. Spires
  • 4. New Terms
  • 5. New Bosses
  • 6. Combining Overboss & Overboss Duel
• Set Up
• Turn Order
• Placing Tokens
• Placing and Scoring Tiles
  • Dungeon
  • Icy Peak
  • Spawning Pool
  • Road
  • Town
  • Sunken City
• Placing and Scoring Tokens
  • Monsters
  • Matching Monsters
  • Minibosses
  • Spires
  • Crystals
  • Heroes
• Boss Cards
• Final Scoring Notes
• Combining Duel and Overboss
• Scoring Example

Components

• 1 double-sided Duel board
• 12 Icy Peak tiles
• 12 Spawning Pool tiles
• 12 Town tiles
• 12 Sunken City tiles
• 12 Road tiles
• 8 Dungeon tiles
• 10 matching Monster tokens and 1 matching Crystal token for each tile type
• 6 Miniboss tokens
• 15 Hero tokens
• 6 Boss cards
• 5 Terrain Selection cards (used only when combining sets with the Overboss base game)
• 1 Score pad
• 1 Monster token bag
• 7 Spire tokens

Objective

Your Objective is to craft the most deadly overworld in Arcadia, but your opponent will be trying to do the same thing. The Boss with the highest Power score at the end of the game wins! Your Power score comes from the Terrain tiles on your side of the map and the tokens arranged on those tiles. But building the perfect kingdom is easier said than done, since your enemy will be sending mischief directly into your realm. Good thing you can attack them as well!

What's New?

If you've already played Overboss, here are the new elements you need to know to get right into your game. If you've never played Overboss before, skip this section and read through the rules like normal.

1. Setup

• A. Set up the market the same way as in the original Overboss. However, instead of including Portals in the Token bag, include the 7 Spire tokens.
• B. Set the Hero tokens within easy reach.
• C. Only use Overboss Duel Bosses.
• D. Place the game board between the two players. Overboss Duel is played on a shared board. Each player may place tiles and tokens on either side of the board, but (for the most part) only scores tiles and tokens on their side, which will either be a 4x4 grid or a 3x4 grid, depending on which board is used.

2. Shared Board

• A. When players take a tile from the Market, they can place it on either side of the board. The same applies to tokens.
• B. Any adjacency effects, such as the Town or Icy Peak, apply across the divide in the middle of the board.
• C. Tiles and tokens can be moved between the two boards through the use of Icy Peaks, Spires, Roads, and certain Bosses.
• D. At the end of the game, players score any tiles and tokens on their side of the board, regardless of whether or not they placed them originally.
• E. When scoring bands of monsters that cross the central divide, whichever side of the board has more of the band scores the entire band. Both players score if the band is evenly split across the central divide.
• F. Crystals only count tiles on their Boss's side of the board.

3. Spires

• A. Spires replace Portals in Duel.
• B. A Spire can be expended (flipped over) to move any tile on the board (and the token on top of it) in a diagonal line. It can move any distance in any diagonal direction until it is stopped by the edge of the board or a different tile.

4. New Terms

• A. Architectural Tokens: refers to Crystals and Spires, as well as Portals if combining with the basic game.
• B. Expendable Tokens: refers to Architectural tokens that can be flipped over to activate an ability.
• C. Side of the Board: refers to the half of the board that is closer to that player.

5. New Bosses

Overboss Duel has new Bosses that can only be used in the Duel format. This includes new versions of King Croak and Belladonna.

6. Combining Overboss & Overboss Duel

See "Combining Duel and Overboss" below for detailed instructions on combining Overboss Duel with the Overboss base game.

Set Up

1. Set up the shared board between two players in a way that each player can access both sides of the board. The recommended side is the 4x8 grid, but for a shorter game, use the 4x6 grid.
2. Randomly give each player a Boss card, facedown. Set the Hero tokens within easy reach.
3. Take the 12 Terrain tiles, 10 Monster tokens, and 1 Crystal token for each of the five included terrains, as well as the 8 Dungeon tiles (used in every game). Also take the 6 Miniboss and 7 Spire tokens from the box. Place all the Monster, Crystal, and Spire tokens in the Token bag and shuffle them well. If combining with the base game, shuffle all the Terrain Selection cards together and draw five. Use those 5 terrains to determine which tiles and tokens to use.
4. Turn all the tiles face down and shuffle them before setting them aside in a neat stack (or stacks) near the play area.
5. Lastly, draw four Terrain tiles from the Terrain tiles stack(s) and place them out on the center of the table within reach of all players. Draw four tokens from the Token bag and randomly place the tokens next to the four Terrain tiles to make four tile/token pairs. This is the starting market. Now you're ready to play!

NOTE: If you'd like to combine this game with the base one, you can use the Terrain Selection cards as detailed in "Combining Duel and Overboss" below. Otherwise, use the 5 Terrain types included in this box.

Turn Order

1. First off, you'll need to determine a first player. You should choose the person with the coolest lair, but if neither of you has your own lair, choose randomly.
2. Starting with the first player, each player will take a turn until the whole board is full of tiles. A player's turn has two steps: draft and place.
3. To draft, simply take one of the tile and token pairs available in the market. For instance, you might grab the Spawning Pool and Spellslime on the right.
4. Now it's time to place your tile. Select an open square anywhere on the board (on your side or the opponent's!) and place the Terrain tile in that square. Note that some squares border water (blue edges), some border mountains (stony edges), and some border both! This can matter for scoring some tiles, like the Sunken Cities. Orientation of a tile does not matter. Players typically orient tiles so that they are readable to the player whose half of the board they occupy.
5. Next you must place your token. In this case, the Spellslime token must be placed on top of the Spawning Pool you just placed. However, some tokens are placed differently depending on their type; see "Placing and Scoring Tokens" and "Placing Tokens" for detailed instructions on placing tokens.
6. At the end of your turn, restock new tiles and tokens: replace any empty spots in the market with tiles and tokens from the tile stack(s) or Token bag. The next player always starts their turn with a full market of 4 paired tiles and tokens.
7. The duel is over once the board is completely filled with Terrain tiles. When the final player has placed their final tile (which might be on their side of the board or their opponent's), grab your score pad and prepare to tally each player's score.

The player with the highest Power score wins the game!

Placing Tokens

• Monster and Miniboss tokens must be placed on any open terrain tile if one is available. This requirement extends to newly acquired tokens and any sitting around in your lair.
• Dungeon tiles are the only kind of tile that may not accept a Monster or Miniboss. If you collect a Monster or Miniboss along with a Dungeon tile, place that token on an available Terrain tile if you can. If you have no available open tiles, place the unused token in your lair.
• Your lair is the bottom right section of the 6x4 board on the side facing you. If playing with the standard 8x4 board, your lair is just the table space near your side of the board. Your lair has unlimited holding capacity for all token types, and its contents are always open knowledge.
• If you have an unused Monster or Miniboss in your lair, on a future turn, you may place it onto a new tile you collect instead of the new token that was collected. In this case, place the new collected token in your lair instead. However, any unused Monster or Miniboss tokens in your lair MUST always be placed onto an open terrain tile if there is one available, even on the opponent's side of the board. This means that you may only end your turn with unused Monsters or Minibosses in your lair if there are no open terrain spaces on the board.
• In general, a terrain tile may only ever have one token on it.
• Crystals and Spires are always placed in your lair. They are never placed on a tile. Their effects are described below.

Placing and Scoring Tiles

Every Terrain tile type has the same layout. The terrain type's icon is on the bottom left of each tile. This type's Matching Monster will have the same icon.

The terrain type's scoring rules are represented on the bottom right. A number in a solid white circle is a tile's base point value.

Also on the bottom right is the tile's ability, if it has one. There will be some sort of icon to remember what it does, but you can always check the rulebook to help you remember.

Borders are shared sides of each tile. Two tiles that touch only at a corner are not considered to border. In the example, the Icy Peak and Dungeon are bordering, but the Icy Peak and Town are not.

Dungeon

Dungeons lay at the center of deadly terrain, keeping watch over the lands around them.

Each Dungeon is worth 1 base point. Each Dungeon also gains a point for every different type of terrain that borders it. If all four sides of a Dungeon are bordered by a different type of Terrain tile, that Dungeon gains its maximum value of 5 points. Tokens may NOT be placed on Dungeons. Dungeons count as a terrain type when next to each other.

Icy Peak

Tall, cold, and prone to deadly avalanches, Icy Peaks are home to fearsome Yetis.

Icy Peaks are worth 1 base point, and then an additional 2 points if the Icy Peak is not bordering any other Icy Peaks, for a max of 3 points. Effect: When you place an Icy Peak, you may move any other tile in a straight line (not diagonal) any distance, until it is stopped by another tile or the edge of the board. You may move your tile or your opponent's. This can cause a tile to switch sides of the board. In the example, the player has placed an Icy Peak on the board, allowing them to move their Spawning Pool from one side of the board to a spot in the same row.

If using Icy Peaks in the original Overboss, you may only move tiles on your own map.

Spawning Pool

Some say the first monsters emerged from Spawning Pools. True or not, the pools attract a fearsome variety of monsters now.

Spawning Pools are worth 1 point for every type of Monster or Miniboss in their row (a row is always 4 squares wide and is arrayed horizontally relative to its player). Each Miniboss is a unique type. Hero tokens are not worth any points. Effect: When you place a Spawning Pool, immediately take a random token from the Token bag and place it in your lair.

Road

All Roads lead to a Boss's lair eventually, or at least that's what the Heroes say.

Each Road is worth 1 base point. The player whose side of the board has the longest connected chain of Road tiles gains 4 additional points. If a Road travels over the central border, whichever player has more of the chain gains the points. In a tie, both players gain the points. Effect: When you place a Road, you may switch the locations of any two tokens anywhere on the shared board with each other. (In the example, the chain of Road tiles is 5 tiles long.)

If using Roads in the original Overboss, you may only switch the locations of monsters on your board.

Town

Towns are a hideous blight, spawning Heroes and ruining the view.

Each Town is worth 2 points. Effect: When a Town is placed, but before its accompanying token is placed, ALL Towns that are not "blocked off" produce a Hero. If a Town already has a Hero, a Hero spawns in any adjacent tile that can hold a token and does not already have a Hero or Miniboss (current player's choice). If there are no valid tiles for a Hero to spawn in, it does not spawn. If there is a monster in a tile where a Hero spawns, that monster is returned to the token bag. A Town with a Miniboss on it is "blocked off" and does not spawn Heroes. Bands and Matching Monsters do not block off Towns in this way. Heroes can be slain and scored by a Boss (see "Heroes" below for how).

If using Towns in the original Overboss, each placed Town will still trigger all other towns to produce Heroes.

Sunken City

Once home to architectural marvels, Sunken Cities are now rocky tidal ruins populated by Rocktopuses.

Sunken Cities aren't worth any base points. If they are adjacent to a watery edge of the board at the end of the game, each Sunken City is worth points equal to the number of Crystals and Spires in your lair. Effect: When you place a Sunken City on the board, you may turn one of your expended Spires over, allowing you to use it again.

If using Sunken Cities in the original Overboss, you score and refresh Portals instead of Spires.

Placing and Scoring Tokens

Tokens are scored in multiple ways, depending on the token type.

Monsters

Monster tokens are scored based on their arrangement on the map and whether or not they match their Terrain tile.

Each straight line of two, three, or four of the same Monster type is called a band. Bands are scored according to the size of the band, as indicated in the table below. If a band is split across the central border, whichever player has more Monsters in the band scores the band. If it's a tie, both players get the points.

Size of Band	Total Points
2	2
3	5
4+	7

A single Monster token may be counted in both a horizontal and vertical band. In the example, this player would score 5 points for the horizontal band of 3 yetis and 2 more points for the vertical band of 2 yetis. The yeti at the corner can count toward both bands!

Matching Monsters

Matching Monsters are Monsters that are placed on their matching terrain type. Each Matching Monster on your map is worth 1 point at game end.

All Monster tokens have an icon that matches that of their matching terrain type. For example, Roads are Bandits' matching terrain type. Note that they share the same icon. If the Bandit were placed on a Road, it would be worth 1 point at game end.

In the previous example, the two yetis in the left-most column are Matching Monsters, as is the Werewolf on the bottom right tile. Their icons match that of the terrain tiles they are on. This player would score an additional 3 points for Matching Monsters.

Minibosses

Minibosses are worth 2 points if they are placed on a terrain tile. They may be placed on any terrain tile (except Dungeons) and do not count toward bands of Monsters. Minibosses do not have a terrain icon.

Spires

Spires are not worth any points. They are placed in your lair active-side up (the glowing side). Once per turn you may use a single non-expended Spire (flip it over) to move any tile on the board in a diagonal line any distance, or until it hits the edge of the board or another tile. This can cause a tile to switch sides of the board. (In the example, a player flips a Spire to its expended side to move their Icy Peak diagonally to the corner of their board.)

Other Spire Rules:

• You may use a Spire at any point on your turn (but only one per turn).
• Any tokens on the moved tile move with it.
• Used Spires remain in your lair, face down - they do not return to the bag.
• Expended Spires can be refreshed by certain effects, such as Dr. Deadly or a Sunken City. If this happens, flip them over to their active side, and they can be used again like normal. A Spire can be used on the turn it is refreshed.

Crystals

Crystals grant a bonus for collecting a specific type of terrain. Remember to include five Crystals in every game, one for each terrain type used. When you collect a Crystal, always place it in your lair. At the end of the game, score 1 point per terrain tile of that Crystal's type on your side of the board. For example, if you collected the Icy Peak Crystal and finished the game with four Icy Peak tiles on your side of the board, you would score 4 points.

Heroes

Heroes are tokens that spawn on the board through Towns, killing any Monsters they spawn on (see Town above). A Hero on the map can be slain in three ways:

• Placing a Miniboss on top of a Hero.
• Placing a Monster that creates a band of any length on top of a Hero.
• Placing a Matching Monster on top of a Hero (matching the terrain beneath the Hero).

When a Hero is slain, it immediately goes to the lair of the Boss that killed it and is worth 1 point. Heroes are not placed like monsters, but any effect that affects tokens in your lair can affect Heroes. Heroes do not form bands.

If a Town is placed and there are not enough Hero tokens to spawn in all Towns, the Boss who placed the last Town gets to decide which get Heroes and which don't.

In the example, placing the second Rocktopus forms a 2-token band on top of the Hero, killing it and sending it to the lair of whoever formed the band.

Boss Cards

Each player has a secret Boss card which may be looked at at any time, but should be kept face down, hidden until revealed. Boss cards have two features:

Reveal Ability: Once per game, anytime during your turn, you may reveal your Boss card. Turn it over to activate your ability. Your Boss will stay face up for the rest of the game. Some Bosses will have permanent abilities here.

Scoring Objective: This is a unique scoring condition for your Boss. At the end of the game, calculate it as shown, whether you revealed your Boss or not.

Example Boss card (King Croak):

• Reveal Ability: You may destroy any tile and replace it with a Dungeon from the marketplace. Your opponents cannot move Dungeons for the rest of the game.
• Scoring Objective: Score +1 for each Dungeon on the map at the end of the game.

Final Scoring Notes

Each player scores tiles and tokens on their side of the board, whether they placed those tiles and tokens or not. You can try to sabotage your opponent by placing weak tokens and tiles on their side of the board, and you can try to steal their strongest tiles with your Icy Peaks and Spires. There are many paths to victory!

Combining Duel and Overboss

Tiles from Overboss can be used in Overboss Duel and vice versa! Just shuffle the Duel Terrain Selection cards in with the ones from Overboss for either game mode and choose 5 random Terrain tiles.

Portals are always used in a game with individual boards, and Spires are always used in a game with a shared board.

Do not use Command cards with Duel. Bosses from Overboss Duel should only be used with Duel.

Certain tiles from the base game have some special notes when used on the Duel board:

• Forests, Graveyards, Cloud Islands, and Camp Tiles only count Terrain tiles on their side of the board.
• Swamps, Volcanoes, and Summoning Circles count adjacency across the central border.
• If a connected Desert is on both sides of the board, whoever has more of the Desert scores the points.

Scoring Example

Here's a game where King Croak just stomped all over Belladonna!

1. Icy Peaks are scored based on whether or not they're next to other Icy Peaks. Two of my Icy Peaks are by themselves and each score 3 points, but one is touching another Icy Peak, so it only scores 1 point, for 7 points total.
2. Each Road is worth 1 point by itself, but whoever has the longest connected Road scores 4 additional points. Even though they have more Road tiles than me, my opponent only has two that are connected, compared to my 3, so I have the longest Road, and I score 7 total!
3. Each Town is worth 2 points, and I have 2, so I score 4 points.
4. My top Spawning Pool is worth 2 points, because there are two different token types in its row (2 Werewolves and 1 Yeti). My other Pool is worth 3 points.
5. Sunken Cities only score anything if they're adjacent to a watery edge of the map. That means one of mine scores and two don't. The one that does score checks how many architectural tokens I have, which is three (one crystal and two Spires). That's a total of 3 points!
6. I have three Dungeons. The one on the bottom right is touching two different terrain types (Icy Peak and Sunken City), so it's worth 3 points. The one on the top right is touching three different terrain types (2 Icy Peaks, Road, and a Dungeon), so it's worth 4 points. The final one is touching 4 terrain types for 5 points. That's a total of 12 points!
7. I only placed one Miniboss who is worth 2 points.
8. My Road Crystal gives me 1 point for each Road on my side of the board, which is 3 points total.
9. I've got 4 points worth of matching monsters: the Bandit on the Road, the Spellslime on the Summoning Pool, the Yeti on the Icy Peak, and the Rocktopus on the Sunken City.
10. I have four bands of monsters on this board. The two Bandits next to each other score 2 points (10a), and then I have three Werewolves in an L shape (10b), which counts as two more bands, each worth 2 points. On the top right is a Spellslime that's formed a band with a Spellslime on the other side of the board. If my part of the band was longer, I'd score all the points, but since we tie, we both score 2 points. I have 8 points in total from my bands.
11. In a very important measure of my bosshood, I beat two Heroes, which gives me 2 points.