Phoenix Covenant Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Core Mechanics Walkthrough
  • Goal of the Game
  • Card Breakdown
  • Basic Tactics: Maneuvering
  • Basic Tactics: Combat
  • Puzzle Demo #1
• Core Mechanics Walkthrough (continued)
  • The Answer (#1)
  • Ranged Units
  • Playing Cards
  • Resources and Economy
  • Playing Spells
  • Playing Units
  • Gating
  • Resources (Continued)
  • Puzzle Demo #2
  • The Answer #2
  • Structures
  • Structures (Continued)
• Rules Library
  • Game Setup
  • Game Setup (Continued)
    • Mulligan
  • Flow of the Game
  • Start Phase
  • Action Phase
  • Playing a Card
  • Playing Units
  • Gating Units
  • Action Phase (Continued)
    • Playing Spells
    • Playing Structures
• Quick Reference Guide
• 2v2 Rules

Core Mechanics Walkthrough

Goal of the Game

Reduce your opponent's life points to zero. (For other game modes, see page 24.)

To accomplish this feat, you need to understand the cards you have at your disposal.

Card Breakdown

The numbered elements of a card are:

1. Card Name
2. Barrier (see pages 16, 20)
3. Cost (see pages 6-8)
4. Tier (see pages 6, 21)
5. Force (see pages 2, 20)
6. Range (see pages 2, 21)
7. Health (see pages 2, 20)
8. Move (see pages 2, 21)
9. Corps Icon (see page 20)
10. Armored Side (see pages 3, 16)
11. Faction Icon (see page 20)
12. Keywords (see page 21)
13. Set Icon (see page 21)
14. Ability Text & Flavor Text (see page 17)
15. Unarmored Side (see pages 3, 16)

• Force - The base amount of damage a unit might deal with an attack. This is important because you will use units to attack an opponent's Base or Hardpoints, dealing damage to an opponent's Life Points.
• Range - Melee units (shown with a crossed-swords icon) may only attack the entity in front of them, so they must face whatever they attack. Ranged units may attack anything at least as far as their minimum Range and at most as far as their maximum Range.
  • Example: a unit with a 2-2 Range may only attack things that are exactly 2 squares away.
• Health (or Health Points, HP) - The total health of an entity. Units and structures build up damage over time as they are dealt damage. If the amount of damage is greater than or equal to an entity's HP, that unit or structure leaves play and goes to the defeated pile.
  • Example: If a unit has 12 HP, it would be defeated by 3 attacks that each deal 4 damage.
• Move - The number of squares a unit can move into, per move action. For each Move point, you can move the unit to any open, adjacent, non-occupied square. You may move along a diagonal for just 1 Move. Once you move, you may turn that unit to face any cardinal (North, South, East, or West) direction.

Basic Tactics: Maneuvering

Let's look at an example of movement. The Kagitsume Samurai has 2 Move, so it can move into any of the (blue) unoccupied squares on the field (except squares B and D).

For 1 Move point, a unit can move to any of the 8 squares around it, so moving diagonally 1 square costs 1 Move!

After moving, you may turn the unit to face any cardinal (North, South, East or West) direction. Say you want to attack the unit in square B from square C with the Kagitsume Samurai. Melee units can only attack forward (whatever is facing their Card Name), so once you moved the Kagitsume Samurai to C, you would need to turn it (90 degrees to the left, facing West) in order to attack.

(Diagram: with 2 Move, a unit can move to any adjacent square and then move again to another square.)

Maneuvering around the field is a key element of the game because of another important feature of units: armor and weakpoints.

Let's try a combat example (below) involving two units: Player 1's Legion Knight, and Player 2's Shieldmaiden.

The Legion Knight does not move or turn, and then attacks the Shieldmaiden. The melee attack is valid since the Legion Knight is directly facing the Shieldmaiden. The Legion Knight's Force is 2 and, when attacking armored sides, the attacking unit's Force is halved (rounded up), so the Shieldmaiden takes 1 damage.

Shieldmaiden card callouts: Armored Side (Force x 1/2); Unarmored Side (Force x 1); Weakpoint (Force x 2).

When attacking an unarmored side, damage dealt is equal to the Force of the attacking unit. So, if Player 1 moves the Legion Knight next to, and turns to face, an unarmored side of the Shieldmaiden before attacking, the attack will do full damage.

(Diagram: moving to this square lets Legion Knight attack an unarmored side.)

Let's say we are Player 2. Moving the Shieldmaiden to the left or right side of the Legion Knight won't deal more damage, because the Legion Knight is armored on those sides as well.

Basic Tactics: Combat

When you attack a unit on a weakpoint, you deal a 2x critical hit. So, a unit with 4 Force attacking another unit's weakpoint would do: 4 x 2 = 8 damage.

Let's say Player 2 gets the Shieldmaiden around to face the Legion Knight's weakpoint.

(Diagram: attacking a weakpoint, the attacker deals 2x its Force in damage!)

The Shieldmaiden's Force is 3, so the Legion Knight takes a whopping 6 damage!

Taking advantage of facing, movement, armor, and weakpoints is truly essential to victory.

Puzzle Demo #1

Let's practice everything you've learned up to this point by doing the first of three puzzles. Get your game board and Puzzle Deck!

• You control both units marked with blue Exert tokens.
• Your opponent's Shieldmaiden moves 1 square forward and then attacks your Legion Knight on its front-center armor.
• The Shieldmaiden's Force value is 3, resulting in 2 damage (half of 3 is 1.5, rounded up is 2). Then your opponent passes, and it is now your turn.

The goal of this puzzle is to defeat your opponent's Shieldmaiden using your units in 1 turn.

(Diagram: With 2 Move, the Kagitsume Samurai can reach any blue square.)

The answer is on the next page. During any turn, you may move and use all the units you control, keeping in mind that after attacking, your unit becomes Exerted (meaning it cannot perform a move action, attack action, or anything that might cost Exertion again until your next turn).

Core Mechanics Walkthrough (continued)

The Answer (#1)

Your Kagitsume Samurai has 2 Move. It can move 2 squares diagonally and turn to face the Shieldmaiden's weakpoint, and then make an attack. The Kagitsume Samurai's Force is 4, so a weakpoint attack hits for 4 x 2 = 8 damage.

The Shieldmaiden has 2 Health Points remaining (10 - 8 = 2). The Legion Knight only has 2 Force, and you know that attacking on an Armored side will halve that damage. Hitting front armor will do only 1 damage.

The Legion Knight has 1 Move, so move it diagonally to the left and turn it to face the unarmored side of the Shieldmaiden, and then attack to do full damage, dealing the 2 points you need. Congrats!

(Diagram: Attacking weakpoints is critical. Gaining 2x Force is devastating!)

Ranged Units

Ranged units have a range of numbers that defines the minimum and maximum amount of squares away from the unit that the unit can hit and/or target.

(Diagram: There is only 1 unit in the Warden of Tenksa's 2-2 Range.)

Ranged units fire indirectly, meaning that you ignore any cards in between an attacking ranged unit and its target.

Since ranged units fire indirectly, they cannot hit weakpoints. When determining the side hit by the ranged attack, use the closest corner. Armor still applies to ranged attacks.

(Diagram: Every unit is in the Tundra Explorer's 1-2 Range. Note: Legion Knight's front-right armor reduces the Tundra Explorer's attack damage.)

With a 2-2 Range, a unit can only attack something exactly 2 squares away. A 1-2 Range allows a unit to target something at least 1, and at most 2, squares away.

Playing Cards

You will draw cards from your deck into your hand, and you'll play cards from your hand to the field. Every card has a cost shown in the upper left corner. Each crystal represents one of the two resources, Command Points (Left, Yellow) and Mana Points (Right, Blue). For certain cards, you will also need to consider special costs, like Supply or Mana Burst values (see pages 14, 21 for more details).

(Diagram: Zenko Blade Initiate card; Command Points (CP); Mana Points (MP); Mana Burst. Tier: red crystal - pay Supply with Max CP. Tier: black crystal - do not pay Supply.)

You can only play units and structures during your turn. To play a card, you have to pay its cost. Note: once a card is in play, the cost is not relevant. You do not have to pay the cost to use the card after it has been played.

Resources and Economy

Each of your two resources exists in a pool, which is indicated on your tracker. Each resource pool has a max value (how much it can hold) and a current value (how much is in the pool right now).

Each pool has an indicator arrow and a dial that turns, allowing you to track both the max value and the current value respectively. In the picture above, the tracker has 4 Command Points with a max of 6, and 0 Mana Points with a max of 2.

When spending base resources, decrease the current value by the amount you are spending. Note: neither your current nor your maximum values of either pool can drop below zero.

Example: start with 6 of 6 Command Points & 2 of 2 Mana Points.

The Zenko Blade Initiate costs 2 Command Points & 2 Mana Points to play. Since you have 6 available Command Points and 2 available Mana Points, you can play this unit.

Since the Zenko Blade Initiate is a unit, you will also need to pay the "Supply" value of the card by decreasing your Max Command Points by the Tier value on the card; here, that's 1 Max Command Point.

After paying the cost, the tracker shows 4 of 5 Command Points (4/5 CP) & 0 of 2 Mana Points (0/2 MP), like this.

Playing Spells

Spells are blue-bordered cards with effects that are resolved as soon as possible. Once used, spells are then discarded to the defeated pile.

(Diagram: Lightning card.) Lightning has an effect "Deal 4 damage to target unit." To play Lightning, you would pay 5 Mana Points, declare that you are playing Lightning, and then resolve Lightning's effect.

Note: spells and structures do not have a "Supply" cost.

For more on spells, see the Rules Library section, which starts on page 12.

Playing Units

After you pay a unit's cost, you may play it from your hand to an unoccupied square in your Home Row.

(Diagram: Home Row: the first row of the field immediate outside your Base.)

Then, reduce your Max Command Points by the unit's Tier value to pay its "Supply" value.

Units come into play Exerted, meaning that they cannot perform move, turn, attack or exertable ability actions during the turn you play them.

When they are defeated or otherwise leave play, their "Supply" value returns to your Max Command Points pool; you increase your Max Command Points by the unit's Tier (see page 6 as well).

It might seem that playing units and getting them across the field to attack an opponent's Base would take a lot of effort. Worry not, as there are two shortcuts that allow you to get to your opponent's Life Points faster than you might expect...

Gating

Commander units are special units in the game. These units have red borders and an ability called Gating.

Gating allows you to use squares on the field (shown in the Commander's gating diagram) to play units to in addition to the squares in your Home Row. Commanders act like mobile deployment locations.

(Diagram: No matter how a Commander faces, gating squares don't change position.)

You must Exert the Commander to gate, and then you must also pay all the costs for a unit to bring it into play.

Commanders may not gate other Commanders, and can only gate units of their Tier or lower. Example: a Tier II Commander may only gate Tier I or Tier II Units.

Resources (Continued)

Let's look back at that tracker. The inner dial tracks current values, and the outer dial tracks maximum values. You set up the game (note: this is only initial setup) with both sides at 0/0 in both resources. At the beginning of the action phase of your turn, you gain 2 Essence Points, each of which can be spent to increase the current and max values of either of your resource pools by 1.

On your first turn, you could put both points into Command Points. If you are the first player, you would have 3/3 CP & 0/0 MP because first player starts at 1/1 CP. You spend those 2 CP on a Tier I unit; you have 0/2 CP & 0/0 MP because you spent 1 Max CP on "Supply." So, how do resources come back?

Remember: First player will start with 1/1 CP. Second player will start with 1/1 CP & 1/1 MP.

During the start phase, you Un-Exert everything under your control, then refill your pools back up to their max values. So at the start of your second turn, your CP pool would refill, and before spending essence, you would be at 2/2 CP & 0/0 MP (again, you spent 1 Max CP on "Supply").

During this new action phase, you could increase each pool by 1, resulting in 3/3 CP & 1/1 MP. Or you could spend both Essence Points to increase your Mana Points, resulting in 2/2 CP & 2/2 MP. At this point, you could play that Zenko Blade Initiate (shown earlier), which at a cost of 2 CP, 2 MP, and 1 Max CP for the unit's "Supply," leaving you at 0/1 CP & 0/2 MP.

At the start of your third turn, your pools would refill to their max values, putting you at 1/1 CP & 2/2 MP. You'd then, of course, gain 2 more Essence Points to spend during your action phase.

Puzzle Demo #2

We've covered a lot, so it's time for a second puzzle to prove what you've learned. In this case, you have a Warden of Tenska (a Commander) and a Phoenix Warpriest in play.

Set your tracker resource dials to 6/6 CP & 6/6 MP. With the cards you have in your hand, and cards on the field, your challenge is to defeat the Legion Knight in one turn.

In your hand: a Kagitsume Samurai (5 CP, 2 MP) and a Lightning (0 CP, 5 MP).

The Answer #2

The Kagitsume Samurai's attack and mobility are a good reason to use the Warden of Tenska's gating ability. But gating Exerts a Commander, and gated units come into play Exerted, so both units would not be able to deal damage this turn.

Instead, the Phoenix Warpriest attacks the Legion Knight. Ranged units can't attack weakpoints, and from where the Phoenix Warpriest is, it can only hit the Legion Knight in its armor. Attacking with 3 Force, damage is reduced to 2 by armor (half of 3 is 1.5, rounded up is 2).

The Legion Knight then has 6 HP remaining (out of its original 8 HP). Lightning will do 4 damage to any unit. It costs 5 MP, and with 6 MP, we can play it. The Warden of Tenska has a 2-2 Range, which means that to attack the Legion Knight, it must move back. The Warden of Tenska's 3 Force attack will hit an armored side, dealing the final 2 damage.

Structures

We mentioned there were two shortcuts to your opponent's Life Points (see page 7). So far, we only covered gating. The other is by attacking Hardpoints, which are structures that you have in play at the start of the game at set locations. Each side has 2 Hardpoints under their control.

When you attack an opponent's Hardpoint with a unit, the resolved damage is dealt to your opponent's Life Points. But Hardpoints are armored on all sides, so attacks do reduced damage. It's inefficient to attack Hardpoints rather than an opponent's Base, but the Hardpoints are closer to your side of the field, making them tactical trade-offs.

Hardpoints are a blessing since you can construct structures on them (overriding Hardpoint's ability). Structures offer anything from a weak global effect, like Mage's Library, to a stronger local effect, like Blacksmith. Structures are played directly from your side-deck, which is accessible to you at any time.

Hardpoint (Structure - Core), 0 cost. Text: You may put 1 unit on this structure at a time. The armor of this structure replaces the armor and weakpoints of the garrisoned unit. Enemies may attack the garrisoned unit. A unit garrisoned here may attack or use abilities. If a unit moves back on the field, it is Exerted.

Mage's Library (Structure - Arcane), cost 3 CP & 6 MP, Tier III. Text: Exert; Draw a card. If the card is a spell, reveal it, and put it in your hand. If it is not a spell, put it on the top or bottom of your deck.

Blacksmith (Structure - Martial), cost 3 CP & 3 MP, Tier II. Text: Exert; Target adjacent melee unit gains +2 Force until the next end phase. Add 1 Smith token to this card. Charge: Once per round, Discard the top card of your deck or Spend 3 MP; Add 1 Smith token to this card. Upgrade Condition: Remove 6 Smith tokens; replace Blacksmith with War Factory.

Structures (Continued)

To play a structure, pay its cost and then play it on top of a Hardpoint of yours that does not already have anything on it. Structures come into play Exerted.

Structures allow you to adapt to the strategies and tactics your opponent plays, as well as bolster your own actions with cards you know you have (versus the luck of drawing the right cards from your deck).

(Note: What structures you include in your side-deck is critical to your strategy. Learn more about deckbuilding on page 19.)

Now that you know about structures, you know 98% of the game. Time for one last test of your skills before sending you to the battlefield!

Puzzle Demo #3

Set up the game board based on the picture. Your opponent has a Shieldmaiden and a Legion Knight.

You control a Phoenix Warpriest, a Legion Knight, a Kagitsume Samurai, and a Blacksmith. The Blacksmith allows you to increase the Force of an adjacent melee unit by 2 until the end of the turn. Note: the melee unit does not need to remain adjacent to the Blacksmith to use the +2 Force.

You also have a Lightning in your hand. Your CP & MP are the same as the previous test, at 6/6 CP & 6/6 MP. Given what you have on the field and in your hand, defeat both opposing units in one turn.

(Diagram note: Hardpoint (Optional). Hint: the Legion Knight and the Shieldmaiden have 18 HP between them. If you add up your units' total Force, the 4 damage from your Lightning, and the extra 2 Force from the Blacksmith, you only get 15 damage.)

The Answer #3

We know we need some way to increase our damage, so we must attack a weakpoint of at least 1 of the opposing units. We also know that the Blacksmith can give the Kagitsume Samurai +2 Force, so it could have a whopping 6 Force. Attacking a weakpoint with 6 Force would deal 12 damage! Since neither of the opposing units have more than 12 HP, the Kagitsume Samurai could take one out single-handedly if it could reach a weakpoint.

Set your sights on defeating the Legion Knight first, because it could absorb damage for the Shieldmaiden and create problems. Use the Phoenix Warpriest to make a ranged attack at the Legion Knight; because at that angle, the closest corner is unarmored and an attack would result in 3 damage.

Note: even if the Phoenix Warpriest moved 1 square forward to shoot at the weakpoint, ranged units can't hit weakpoints. So, that ranged attack would resolve as if the side was merely unarmored.

Now there's only 5 HP left on the Legion Knight. Cast Lightning on the Legion Knight to deal 4 damage. 1 HP left. Move your Legion Knight to the right and turn to make a melee attack. Even though it hits the armor of the opposing Legion Knight, its 2 Force attack still results in the 1 damage you need.

The opponent's defeated Legion Knight now leaves play immediately. This clears the path for the Kagitsume Samurai. Increase its Force to 6 by using the Blacksmith. Then, move the Kagitsume Samurai diagonally, turn it to face the Legion Knight's weakpoint, and attack for 12 damage.

Excellent! Victory is yours!

You've now completed your training. If you'd like, jump into a game right now, or continue on to the Rules Library and learn the rules in-depth. Good luck!

Rules Library

Game Setup

Note: these rules cover core gameplay; for variants and other modes, see page 24.

(Diagram labels: Opponent Base; Opponent Home Row; Opponent Hardpoints; Your Hardpoints; Your Home Row; Your Base.)

Base - The Base is where to place cards & resources, and, in addition to Hardpoints, what to attack in order to damage Life Points.

Battlefield - The battlefield is 6 rows by 8 columns of squares. Cards placed on the field are "in play."

Home Row - The Home Row is the first row of the field on each side of the board. You may always play units here.

Hardpoints - Each side of the field has 2 Hardpoints. Armored on all sides, they reduce damage dealt to their owner's Life Points when attacked. Structures get built here.

Side-Deck - All of your structures go in your side-deck. Any player can look at this pile at any time during a game. Play structures on top of Hardpoints.

Deck - All of your core units and spells go in your deck. You will draw a card from your deck every turn.

Defeated - Defeated units, discarded cards, and spells (after resolving them) go here, and are "out of play."

Tracker - The tracker is where you can track your max and current resources and Life Points. (See Core Mechanics Walkthrough, page 6, for more.)

Game Setup (Continued)

Place all of your structures (and auxiliary units) face up in your side-deck. All of these cards you (and your opponent) may look through at any time.

Place all of your units, spells, and other cards in your deck, which you will then shuffle and place face down. If your deck is empty during play, keep playing with the cards you have on the field.

Set your total Life Points to 25. You can also set Life Points to what you and your opponent agree to.

Determine the first player. We recommend, as gamers, a "Dice Poker" match. But please, be creative!

Set the first player's tracker to 1/1 Command Points (CP) & 0/0 Mana Points (MP). Set the second player's tracker to 1/1 CP & 1/1 MP.

During play, you may not have more than 10 cards in your hand at the end of your end phase. This is your hand limit, so always discard cards to your defeated pile until you're down to 10 cards again.

Draw 6 cards into your hand. If you aren't satisfied with your starting hand, you can mulligan.

Mulligan

Keep up to 3 cards from your current hand. Reshuffle the remaining cards into your deck. Draw new cards until your new hand size is equal to the current hand size limit.

For the first mulligan, your hand size is 6, the second is 5, the third is 4, the last is 3.

Example: Sophia starts with a hand of 6 cards, but doesn't like it. She chooses 2 cards to keep in-hand, reshuffles the remaining into her deck, and draws 4 new cards. She still doesn't like her hand; she chooses to keep 3 cards this time and reshuffles the remaining 3 into her deck, but this time only draws 2 new cards because her hand size has reduced to 5. Mulligans are not allowed after your starting hand size has been reduced to 3.

Card examples: Zenko Blade Initiate - Units, marked "UNIT" in the Keyword space; black-, purple-, or red-bordered; can be played to the field; they come into play Exerted. Lightning - Spells, marked "SPELL" in the Keyword space, blue-bordered; played by the card's owner; they grant an effect and are then discarded. Tactical spells can be played at any time; Strategic spells must be played on your turn. Blacksmith - Structures, marked "STRUCTURE" in the Keyword space; grey-bordered; must be played on top of a Hardpoint; they come into play Exerted.

Flow of the Game

Every game is broken up into rounds, and every player gets a single turn-of-play in each round. Every turn is divided into 3 phases:

• Start Phase - Phase at the beginning of a player's turn, featuring economic development.
• Action Phase - Phase featuring combat, spell casting, and structure construction.
• End Phase - Phase featuring clean-up or maintenance of your forces.

Start Phase

During the start phase, you must do all of the following, in order:

1. Un-Exert all units & structures you control.
   • Pro-Tip: if using Exert tokens, flip them to the Un-Exerted side.
2. Draw a card off the top of your deck.
3. Refill both your Command Points (CP) and Mana Points (MP) pools to their max values.
4. Resolve any start phase abilities or effects.
5. You may deconstruct structure(s) you control; discard them to your defeated pile.

Action Phase

You may do the following once every turn:

• Gain and Spend 2 Essence Points. You may:
  • Add +1 to Max & current CP and add +1 to Max & current MP,
  • Or add +2 to Max & current CP,
  • Or add +2 to Max & current MP.
• Resolve any action phase abilities or effects.

You can also do the following, in any order, and continue to do these until you cannot meet their requirements:

• Play a card
• Activate an entity (usually a unit or structure)

Playing a Card

In order to play a card, you must pay its cost in Command Points and Mana Points as indicated in the upper left corner of each card. You only pay this cost when you are playing the card.

Playing Units

You may only play units on your turn, and they can only be played during your action phase. After paying CP & MP costs, you must reduce your Max Command Points by the unit's Tier value. This pays the "Supply" cost of that unit. If a unit has a Mana Burst value indicated on the card, reduce your Max Mana Points by the Mana Burst value.

You may always play units to any unoccupied square in your Home Row. When playing a unit, you may have it initially face any cardinal direction. Units come into play Exerted.

Gating Units

Commander units are specialized units that you may add to a deck, and they have a gating ability. Gating allows you to create squares on the field, in addition to the Home Row, that you can play units to. Playing a unit to one of these squares is called "gating," and a unit played this way is considered to have been "gated to a Commander."

• Commander units may only be played to the field in the Home Row.
• They cannot gate other Commanders, and they may not gate units to the field if those units are of a higher Tier than the Commander unit.
• A Commander unit's gating ability ignores the direction the Commander unit is facing.

(Diagram: No matter how a Commander faces, gating squares don't change.)

Action Phase (Continued)

Playing Spells

Spells are cards that resolve an effect after being cast. They do not require a "Supply" cost to be paid, but watch for a Mana Burst cost.

(Card example: Magic Shield - Tactical Spell, Arcane. Cost 0 CP & 4 MP. Text: "Target unit gains +3 Shield. (Damage is dealt first to a unit's Shield, then any remaining damage is dealt to the unit's HP.)" Flavor text omitted.)

When playing a spell, read the card effect aloud, resolve it, and then place it in the defeated pile. Spells are marked either Strategic or Tactical. Strategic spells may only be played on your turn. Tactical spells may be played during your turn, as well as during an opponent's turn.

Playing Structures

Structures are cards with grey borders that provide strong localized benefits or weaker regional or global benefits.

You play structures from your side-deck, which you can look through at any time.

You may only play structures onto Hardpoints.

Structures do not require a "Supply" cost to be paid, but watch for a Mana Burst cost. Lastly, structures come into play Exerted.

(Card example: Blacksmith - Structure, Martial. Structures can be destroyed. Structure abilities vary, but are always strategically helpful. Card text: see the Blacksmith card on page 9.)

Activating Cards

Other than playing cards, you can activate cards that you have in play. You can only activate one entity at a time. You must complete an action taken by an activated entity before activating another entity. You may use abilities that do not require a unit to Exert even if that unit is Exerted.

Activating Units

Declare which unit or structure you are activating. (Continue to "Activating Structures," page 17, if you are activating a structure.)

Each time you activate a unit, you may do one of the following things: move & turn, or act.

Move & Turn Actions

During your turn, you may select an Un-Exerted unit and perform a move action with that unit. Using 1 Move per square, move that card to any adjacent, unoccupied square. Adjacent squares are any of the 8 squares surrounding a square of the field. Only squares marked on the field's grid are possible to move into.

You may move the unit any number of squares up to its Move value and then you must finish the move action with a turn action in order to turn the unit to face a specific, cardinal (North, South, East, West) direction. A turn action does not cost any Move points.

You may always choose to spend no Move points and simply turn. An Immobilized unit or any unit with a Move value of 0 can perform a turn action. If a unit starts its initial move action on your turn with 0 Move or less, you may still move that unit, but it Exerts immediately after moving 1 square.

Move & turn actions are Strategic. Only Un-Exerted units may do these actions and only on your turn.

Attack & Ability Actions

Units may also perform attack or ability actions. As with other actions, you may always choose to not perform either an attack or an ability action.

Attack Actions

The cost of an attack action is for a unit or structure to Exert. Attack actions are Strategic; you can only perform them during your turn-of-play. Attacking has 3 stages: Declaration, Resolution, and Damage.

Attack stage	What happens	Responses
Declaration	Un-Exerted entity attacks legal target.	Allowed
Resolution	Compute damage from the combat.	Not allowed
Damage	Add damage to and defeat target(s).	Allowed

Declaration - With an activated unit, declare an attack against a target unit within the activated unit's range (for a melee unit, this means the target must be in the adjacent facing square; for a ranged unit, this means the target must be in the ranged unit's Range). Exert the activated unit.

With a target to attack, melee units (marked with crossed swords) can only attack the entity directly in front of them, while ranged units can attack anything within their Range regardless of which cardinal direction (North, South, East, or West) the ranged unit faces. Players may respond with spells or abilities and the like during the Declaration stage (see the next page for more details).

Resolution - Compute damage dealt to the targeted unit by resolving Force against any armor or weakpoints that may apply. Generally, damage dealt is equal to the Force value of the attacking unit at the start of the Resolution stage.

• If the attack is made against an unarmored side of an entity, damage is equal to the Force value of the attacking unit.
• If the attack is made against an armored side of an entity, deal damage equal to ½ x Force, rounded up.
• If the attack is made against a weakpoint side of an entity, deal damage equal to 2 x Force.
• If the attack is made against a barrier side of an entity, no damage is dealt.

During this phase, players may not respond. Damage is merely computed and dealt to the defending target(s), at which point you enter the Damage phase.

Damage - Resolve damage for each targeted entity. If a unit's hit points have been reduced to, or below, zero, then the unit is defeated, immediately leaves play, and is placed in the defeated pile. Note: regain its "Supply" value, too.

Players may respond during the Damage stage. For example, they may use a spell that prevents, reduces, or nullifies damage dealt to a unit to prevent it from being defeated (see the next page for an example).

Attacking a Base

For attack resolution, the Base is treated as having no armor, and is 1 square, targetable at or within the maximum Range value of a unit. For example, units with a 2-2 Range may enter an opponent's Home Row and still attack the opponent's Base.

(Diagram: A unit with 2-2 Range can't, of course, hit a Base from here. A unit with 2-2 Range can hit a Base from here.)

Damage dealt is equal to the Force of the attacking unit. During the Damage stage, the player whose Base was attacked reduces their Life Points by the total damage dealt.

Attacking a Hardpoint

Attacks on a Hardpoint are resolved normally, noting that Hardpoints are armored on all sides. This means that damage dealt is equal to half the Force of the attacking unit, rounded up.

During the Damage stage, the player whose Hardpoint was attacked reduces their Life Points by the total damage dealt through that Hardpoint.

Attacking a Structure

If a Hardpoint has a structure on it, then during Declaration, the attacker may choose to attack either the Hardpoint or the structure. Note: a structure on a Hardpoint overrides the ability that is on the Hardpoint prior to adding the structure.

• If attacking the Hardpoint, refer to "Attacking a Hardpoint," above.
• If attacking a structure, resolve damage normally, assuming the structure's armor replaces the Hardpoint armor. Deal damage directly to the structure's Health value.

Attacking a Garrison

Hardpoints have a native ability that allows its owner to place a unit on top of this core structure, making the unit a garrison. This unit can treat all of its sides as armored (barrier remains). If a unit ever leaves the Hardpoint, it Exerts immediately.

To make sure you remember that a unit acting as a garrison is armored on all sides, use a Hardpoint garrison token.

If a Hardpoint has a garrison on it, then during Declaration, the attacker may choose to attack either the Hardpoint or the garrison. Note: Effects or abilities might modify the attack.

• If attacking the Hardpoint, refer to "Attacking a Hardpoint," above.
• If attacking the garrison, resolve damage as if the unit had armor replacing its unarmored and weakpoint sides, but if an attack is against the unit's barrier side (if applicable), nullify damage.

Activating a Unit Ability

Many units have abilities. Some abilities require you to pay a cost before activating them.

Abilities are usually written in the form: "Ability Name: Cost; Ability effect." For example: "Evasive Maneuvers: Spend 2 CP; Shift this unit 1 square left or right. This unit is then Pacified for 1 turn."

You must pay the cost before the effect resolves. Some ability actions cost a unit or structure to Exert; and some do not. Ability actions that do not require an entity to Exert can continue to be played as long as their other costs are paid. If a unit is Exerted, it cannot use any abilities that make them Exert.

Unit abilities are Tactical, meaning they can be used at any point, not only on your turn. These can be used in response to other actions, whether those by an opponent or any of the other actions or triggers that exist in the game.

Activating a Structure Ability

Structures have abilities that operate exactly the same way as unit abilities and these abilities also follow the same rules.

You must pay the cost to use the ability, then resolve its effect. If a structure is Exerted, it cannot use any abilities that make them Exert.

Structure abilities are Tactical, meaning they can be used at any point, not only on your turn. These can be used in response to other actions, whether those by an opponent or any of the other actions or triggers that exist in the game.

Some structure abilities may add a special token to an entity. Examples:

• Undeath - if this unit is defeated with this token on it, expel the unit.
• Necrotic - if this unit takes any damage with this token on it, expel the unit.

Actions & Responses

When taking any action during the action phase, your opponent may choose to respond to that action. That response resolves before your action.

Pro-Tip: "Actions" are player-level actions or unit-level actions, e.g. playing a card, using a unit's ability, or a unit's move action.

Action-Response Example

You declare an attack with a unit against an opponent's unit. In response, your opponent plays Lightning, a Tactical spell that deals 4 damage to your unit, defeating it. Your opponent's spell is resolved first.

Since your unit is defeated, it immediately goes to the defeated pile. Since you need that unit to resolve its attack, the unit's attack is ignored and can't be resolved (because the unit was defeated by Lightning's effect).

In fact, you and your opponents can continue responding to each other, with each response going onto a stack. When the final response has been played, the stack is "locked," and players refrain from adding any more responses to the stack. The stack is then resolved by starting with the last response and moving backwards through responses, ending with the initial action.

Extended Action-Response Example

Take the previous example, but say you had a Magic Shield in your hand. You could play it in response to your opponent playing Lightning; then the stack looks like this: Unit-Attack, Lightning, Magic Shield.

(Diagram: Terrain Explorer attack, 2 Force; Lightning, -4 (Health); Magic Shield, +3 (Shield). Stack order: "Play on to stack" from the attack upward, then "Resolve off of stack.")

Because Magic Shield was the last response on the stack, it resolves first, adding 3 Shield to your unit. Then Lightning resolves, much of its damage being absorbed by the Shield now on your unit. Since the unit was not defeated by Lightning's effect, its attack now resolves.

When the attack resolves, the stack is likewise resolved, since there are no more actions to resolve.

Important Notes

Regaining "Supply" upon defeat: Whenever a unit is defeated, add that unit's Tier value to your Max Command Points. You do not, however, gain additional current Command Points until the refill step during your start phase.

Replacement and upgrading (a variant of replacement): To replace a unit or structure, if the soon-to-be-replaced card is a unit, pay the difference in Tier values, and then place the new card in the same position as the existing card. The new card keeps all of the effects, damage taken, Shield, or any other statuses, including Exert status, that the old card had.

Example: Inari Yosei has taken 4 damage (now at 2 Health), gained 2 Shield, is Disarmed, and Un-Exerted. It is replaced by Phoenix Warpriest. Phoenix Warpriest comes into play with 2 Shield, Un-Exerted, Disarmed, and its Health (4 HP) reflecting it having taken 4 damage.

(Diagram: Disarmed, 2 Health + 2 Shield, Un-Exerted - "Replaced with..." - Disarmed, 4 Health + 2 Shield, Un-Exerted.)

Collisions: These happen when at least one entity is pushed toward an occupied square or the field's edge. Occupied squares have at least 1 entity on them. When a collision happens, every pair of entities involved are considered to have collided; but neither entity changes position on the field.

(Diagram: Knockback 1 pushes target unit (center) 1 square rightward, colliding with the Hardpoint. Neither unit changes position.)

End Phase

Discard cards from your hand to your defeated pile until you are at your hand limit (see page 13). Then, resolve any end phase abilities or effects. A good idea at the end of this phase is to check if your CP & MP resource pools are at the correct levels.

Opponent's Turn

During an opponent's turn, you can both Play Cards (see page 14) and Activate Entities (see page 15), except that you are restricted to playing cards and performing actions that are Tactical. Generally, you may choose to activate entity abilities (see page 17) in response to an opponent's actions or during changes of phase.

Pro-Tip: keep an eye on both your CP & MP, and the CP & MP of your opponent. Tactical abilities and effects can pop up at any time!

Deckbuilding Rules

Keep up with the latest versions and formats online (see the Academy link, page 24). If you have ideas of your own, feel free to share them with us - we want things to be driven and grown by the community!

You may have:

• A minimum of 45 cards, including units & spells in your deck and structures in your side-deck.
• Up to 5 structures in your side-deck.
• At most 1 copy of each structure card.
• Up to 3 copies of any non-structure card. If a card is deemed Limited (see the Academy link, page 24), you can only have up to 2 copies of that card.

Note: A "copy" is any card with the same name. "Two Tails Taichou (R)" is not the same as "Two Tails Taichou (L)," as names include superscripts.

Dictionary & Terms

• Adjacent - when an entity is next to another. On the Field, an entity is adjacent to another entity if it occupies any of the 8 squares surrounding another entity.
• Advancing - any time an entity goes into a square.
• Area - a group of squares defined by a certain shape. Often a rectangle written like "a 2x3 area."
• Armor - a set of directional icons that, when resolving an attack, reduce incoming Force to half (round up; so 3 Force becomes 2 Force).
• Attacker or attacking entity - any card that is making an attack against another.
• Auxiliary - cards used as stand-ins for other cards. Mechanically they work the same as the type that they stand in for. If defeated, they go to side-deck.
• Barrier - a special type of armor, blue in color, and reduces all attacks from a certain side to zero.
• Base - the area immediately behind a player's Home Row. It is one, always-targetable square.
• Cardinal - a term used for the group of North, South, East, and West directions.
• Casting - a term used for playing a spell.
• Collision - a trigger that happens anytime a unit is pushed to an occupied square or the edge(s) of the field. (Collision X: deal X damage upon collision.)

Dictionary & Terms (Continued)

• Immobilized - the status effect on a card meaning that it cannot perform a move action.
• Keyword - a word used to label a card. These are used in certain mechanics and rules in the game.
• Life Points - similar to Health, but for a player. If brought to zero, a competitive game is over!
• Limited - a deckbuilding restriction: 2 copies only.
• Mana Burst - the amount that must be paid from a player's Mana Points to pay for certain cards.
• Mana Points - also written as MP, this is one type of resource spent on all types of cards.
• Max Command Points - also written as Max CP, this is the maximum amount of CP a player has.
• Max Mana Points - also written as Max MP, this is the maximum amount of MP a player has.
• Move - the number of squares a unit may move into during a unit's move action.
• Necrotic - type of effect where any point of new damage dealt defeats a unit immediately.
• Outnumbered - whenever one player has deployed more units than the other. The other is considered Outnumbered.
• Owner - any player who started the game with an item or card under their control is the owner of that item or card.

Dictionary & Terms (Concluded)

• Tier - generally, this is the power-level of a card.
• Token - a marker used for counting or tracking.
• Tracker - a specially-crafted dial system for counting current and maximum resources.
• Turn - part of a round where any player performs their actions in the start, action, and end phases.
• Undeath - an effect where the next time a unit is defeated, it is expelled.
• Unique - only 1 copy allowed on the field per player.
• Weakpoint(s) - a set of directional icons that, when resolving an attack, double incoming Force.

A Little More About Timing

The "next" phase or thing is the one immediately after the current phase or thing. The "following" phase or thing is the second iteration (or instance) of that phase or thing. But there's a bit more to it...

Timing is very important to how the game plays out, what actions are allowed, and how a player may be able to respond to the previous action. Note: any of your cards or unit or structure actions marked "Tactical" or presumed to be Tactical can be played during your turn or an opponent's turn. Those marked "Strategic," or any unit or structure action that is Strategic, can only be played during your turn.

Sometimes actions, abilities, or spell effects may require or otherwise lead to entities suffering some sort of penalty for a certain period of time. For example, a unit has an ability that, after it is used, forces the unit to become Disarmed until the player's following end phase. Anytime these kinds of conditions come up during play, remember to break down the phrase like this:

1. First check the phase or step that the effect might start or end on. In the example above, that would be the "end phase," so this effect triggers on some end phase of a turn.
2. Then, check who is the reference or owner of the phase or step. In this case, it's "the player," which will usually be written as "you" or "your." That means it's in reference to the current player who is taking the action at that moment. If this effect comes into play as a response, that means that while the turn may be the player's opponent's turn, when this effect gets resolved, it will be in reference to the player, not the player's opponent.
3. Consider that sometimes there may not be a reference. In that case, the phrase might be written as "until the following end phase." [Printed as "his means"; read as "this means".] Here, this means that the end phase is not linked to any player in particular. So, whenever the first instance of this condition is met is the time that one would resolve the effect.
4. Remember the difference between "next" and "following." In this example, the Disarmed effect happens "until the player's (say, your) following end phase," which means that the Disarmed effect remains on the player's/your unit until your end phase that comes after your end phase that is coming up. So, if it's your action phase at the moment, the Disarmed effect will stay on your unit through your action phase, through your "next" (immediately after the current phase - here, the action phase) end phase, and remain active until the end phase that comes up during your turn after your opponent's turn.

Now, there may be some phrases that mention a unit is Stunned (let's say) "for 2 full turns." This means that 2 series of start-action-end phases must have passed before this effect is resolved. So not only should you be careful about what an effect does, but also how long it stays in play.

Decklists

Warband

Deck: 3 x Battlecry; 3 x Blade Initiate; 3 x Magic Shield; 2 x Kagitsume Samurai; 2 x Legion Knight; 2 x Lone Ronin; 2 x Magic Armor; 2 x Phoenix Commando; 2 x Press the Attack!; 2 x Surge Paladin; 2 x Tundra Explorer; 1 x Border Captain; 1 x Champion of the Five; 1 x Dragonwing Defender; 1 x Fireball; 1 x Four Tails Flame Captain (L); 1 x Four Tails Flame Captain (R); 1 x Inari Yosei; 1 x Kagitsume Champion; 1 x Night Watch Captain; 1 x Spined Ushtena; 1 x Sword Prince; 1 x Two Tails Taichou (L); 1 x Two Tails Taichou (R); 1 x Veteran Caravan Guard (L); 1 x Veteran Caravan Guard (R).

Side-Deck: 1 x Bastion; 1 x Command School; 1 x Mage's Library; 1 x Tower of Command; 1 x Tower of Undying; 2 x Hardpoint.

Sword & Shield

Deck: 3 x Lightning; 2 x Grappling Monk; 2 x Kagitsume Samurai; 2 x Lightning Exarch; 2 x Lone Ronin; 2 x Magic Shield; 2 x Phoenix Commando; 2 x Phoenix Warpriest; 2 x Press the Attack!; 2 x Warden of Tenska; 2 x Zenko Blade Initiate; 1 x Blue Warden; 1 x Crescent Moon Chosen; 1 x Fireball; 1 x Five Tails Fateweaver; 1 x Inari Yosei; 1 x Magic Armor; 1 x Retreat!; 1 x Salamander Sentinel; 1 x Sentry Samurai; 1 x Shift; 1 x Shrine Protector; 1 x Six Tails Skirmisher; 1 x The Lady; 1 x Two Tails Taichou (L); 1 x Two Tails Taichou (R); 1 x Unhindered; 1 x Weaken.

Side-Deck: 1 x Bastion; 1 x Blacksmith; 1 x Command School; 1 x Necrotic Pylon; 1 x War Factory; 2 x Hardpoint.

Move & Groove

Deck: 3 x Khir Sureshot; 3 x Sword Nomad; 2 x Bind; 2 x Callistan Hammerknight; 2 x Charging Lancer; 2 x Forced March; 2 x Grenadier Ranger; 2 x Kagitsume Samurai; 2 x Militia Captain; 2 x Nomad's Charge; 2 x Raid Commander; 2 x Shift; 2 x Shockwave; 2 x Sprint; 1 x Battlepriestess of the Saint; 1 x Jizo Druidess; 1 x Khir Saint; 1 x Maneuver; 1 x Phoenix Battletwister; 1 x Phoenix Commando; 1 x Saint's Mercy; 1 x Shal Trade Convoy; 1 x Two Tails Taichou (L); 1 x Two Tails Taichou (R).

Side-Deck: 1 x Archmage's Den; 1 x Blacksmith; 1 x Necrotic Pylon; 1 x Shaman's Lair; 1 x Sidhekami Paths; 2 x Hardpoint.

Scrap-Tech

Deck: 3 x Drone Scavenger; 3 x The Arctic Fox; 3 x The Squirrel; 2 x Armistice; 2 x Cogwork Guardian; 2 x Ideation; 2 x Invention; 2 x Iron Valkyrie; 2 x Lightning; 2 x Mechbot Porcupine; 2 x Press the Attack!; 2 x Retreat!; 2 x Scavenging Trawler; 2 x Steel Valkyrie; 2 x The Bull; 2 x The Rhino; 2 x The Turtle; 2 x Tinker Lieutenant; 1 x The Dragon; 1 x The Titan; 1 x Weaken.

Side-Deck: 1 x Forge of Tasaria; 1 x Steam Colossus; 1 x Drone Factory; 2 x Guardian Drone; 2 x Hardpoint.

Puzzle Deck

Deck: 2 x Legion Knight; 1 x Blacksmith; 1 x Kagitsume Samurai; 1 x Lightning; 1 x Shieldmaiden; 1 x Phoenix Warpriest; 1 x Warden of Tenska.

Quick Reference Guide

The manual's one-page summary of the rules above.

Before You Play

• Place your structures in your side-deck. Place your other cards in your deck. Shuffle.
• Set your Life Points to 25.
• Set 1st player: 1/1 CP & 0/0 MP. Set 2nd player: 1/1 CP & 1/1 MP.
• Draw 6 cards from your deck.

Goal: Reduce enemy Life Points to 0.

Mulligan: Keep up to 3 cards from your hand. Reshuffle the remaining cards into your deck. Draw new cards until your new hand size is equal to the current hand size limit. For 1st mulligan, hand size is 6, the last is 3.

Exerted: The status effect on a card after it performed an action. It then is not able to use some abilities, attack, or do major actions.

Resolving responses: Players may respond to any action. Remember this: play on to stack, then resolve off of stack.

• Units - black-, purple-, or red-bordered; can be played to the field; they come into play Exerted.
• Spells - blue-bordered; played by the card's owner; grant an effect, and are then discarded. Tactical spells can be played at any time; Strategic spells only on your turn.
• Structures - grey-bordered; must be played on top of a Hardpoint; they come into play Exerted.

A Turn: Start - Action - End Phases

Start Phase. During the start phase, you must do all of the following, in order:

• Un-Exert all units & structures you control. Pro-Tip: if using Exert tokens, flip them to the Un-Exerted side.
• Draw a card off the top of your deck.
• Refill both your Command Points (CP) and Mana Points (MP) pools to their max values.
• Resolve any start phase abilities or effects.
• You may deconstruct structure(s) you control; discard them to your defeated pile.

Action Phase. You may do the following once every turn:

• Gain and Spend 2 Essence Points. You may:
  • Add +1 to Max & current CP and add +1 to Max & current MP,
  • Or add +2 to Max & current CP,
  • Or add +2 to Max & current MP.
• Resolve any action phase abilities or effects.

You can also do the following, in any order, and continue to do these until you cannot meet their requirements:

• Play a card - make sure to pay all costs.
• Activate an entity - activate only one entity at a time. You must complete that entity's action before activating another entity. You may use abilities that do not require a unit to Exert even if that unit is Exerted.
• Per activation, units may: move & turn, or act. Using 1 Move per square, move to any of the 8 squares surrounding a card. Finish your move by turning it to a North, South, East, or West direction. Turning does not cost Move. Attacks and using abilities are then done.

End Phase. Discard cards from hand to your defeated pile until you are at your hand limit (10 cards). Resolve any end phase abilities or effects.

2v2 Rules

(Note: for all questions and answers, check the 2v2 FAQs via the PCov Academy.)

Goal: Defeat the opposing team by reducing their life points to 0.

• Board Setup: (diagram on the manual's page 29; not reproduced)
• Team Setup:
  • Each team has a shared health pool of 30 HP and shares one side of the standard board. When a hardpoint or base square is targeted, the team's health is reduced by the damage received. [Printed as "damaged received".]
  • Each player owns the units they play (teammate units don't count as units you control).
  • Separate economies (as normal).
• Gameplay:
  • Simultaneous team turns (both players on a team take their turn at the same time).
  • At the beginning of each team turn:
    • Each player on a team gets 1 essence to spend.
    • Each player does not draw at the beginning of their turn.
    • Each team gets 1 essence and 1 draw that they can distribute to players on the team as they like. (E.g., if Bill and Ted are on the same team, each gets 1 essence at the beginning of their turn, then they choose to have Bill draw a card and Ted take the extra essence.)
  • "Friendly" units includes units your teammate has played.
  • For gating: If a teammate used the gating ability on one of his/her commanders, you may gate units to that commander by paying an extra amount of CP equal to that unit's Tier.