RIOT: Cast The First Stone Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• The Board
• Teams
• How to win
• Public Opinion Cards (PO)
• Area Points
• Turn Phases
  • 1) Count Area Points and Credits
  • 2) Purchase Cards and Units
  • 3) Deploy Units
  • 4) Move Units and Use Cards
    • Movement
    • Cards
  • 5) Clashes
    • Distance attacks
    • Losses and wounded
    • Attacking and defending a building
  • First Round
• Unit Specials
• Tips and Tricks

Components

1 board - 42 Protester Cards - 10 Public Opinion Cards - 2 Nationalist Goal Cards - 4 Summary Mats - 96 Unit tokens

The Board

The Board features: the Police Headquarters with one Hospital inside of it, and 6 Areas bounded by white lines. Every Area is divided into: Buildings (producing 1 or 2 credits), the Street and 2 Entry Points (the Police HQ and the Entry Points for the Protesters)

Teams

In RIOT you have 4 different teams: the Police and 3 different types of Protester: Autonomen, Anarchists and Nationalists

How to win

Victory conditions vary according to the team you choose. The Police win when the last Public Opinion Card is turned over. Both Autonomen and Anarchists win when they achieve 7 Area Points. Nationalists win when they accomplish the secret Goal declared in their Nationalist Goal Card that they randomly draw at the beginning of the game.

Public Opinion Cards (PO)

A Public Opinion Card is drawn every time the Police are involved in a hand-to-hand clash with a Protester and either the Protester or Police win. At the end of the turn in which the clash happened, the card is turned over and the Police undergo the penalty written on it, but they also come one step closer to winning (see above).

Only one PO card can be revealed per turn (this means that in a 4 player game, a maximum of 4 PO cards can be turned over in a complete round) even if more than one valid clash with the police has happened. However, the Protester teams can clash and beat each other up without penalty, as long as the Police are not involved.

Area Points

At the beginning of their turn, both Autonomen and Anarchists get 1 Area Point for every Area on the board wherein they are currently occupying all of the buildings.

Turn Phases

1. Count Area Points and Credits
2. Purchase Cards and Units
3. Deploy Units
4. Move Units and Use Cards
5. Clashes

1) Count Area Points and Credits

At the beginning of their turn, both Autonomen and Anarchists check to see if they receive any Area Points; if so they update the count on their Summary Mat. Nationalists do not receive Area Points, but they do receive Credits for occupied buildings (see below).

Autonomen, Anarchists and Nationalists get Credits from the buildings they're occupying; every building can be worth 1 or 2 credits, based on the number written on it, and independently from the Units inside it.

At the beginning of their turn, the Police receive 1 Credit for each remaining enemy Unit (including wounded Units) of the opposing team that currently has the fewest units. in a 3 Player game the Police also receive +2 Credits each turn. In a 4 Player game the Police also receive +3 Credits each turn.

NB: You cannot collect Credits between one turn and another, only after every complete round.

2) Purchase Cards and Units

Every Protester can now buy Units and Cards with their credits, while Police can only buy Units. The cost of each unit is indicated on the Summary Mats. Cards have a progressive cost within the same turn: the first Card bought in a turn costs 1 Credit, the second Card costs 2 Credits, the third Card costs 3 Credits, and so on.

3) Deploy Units

After a player has finished purchasing Units and Cards, new Units must be deployed. Every Player must place their new units on the Entry Points of their choice, but the Police must place every new Unit inside the Police Headquarters.

4) Move Units and Use Cards

Movement

Every Player can move any or all his Units one step at a time (unless affected by movement bonuses), including those units that were just created and those wounded on the previous turn. The first move of every Unit which is on a Entry Point (ie. those recently purchased or wounded) is always into the adjacent street; a Unit can never stop on a Entry Point. Units already in the street can move inside a building, thereby occupying it, or attack an already occupied building, but to do so the street must be clear from any enemy Units. If not, the enemy Player can choose to obstruct their movement, forcing the player to give up or to fight in the street. On the other hand, Units can freely move from one street to another and from a building to the adjacent street, even if the starting (or the destination) street is occupied by enemy Units. Police Units are the only ones which can enter Police Headquarters, and pass through it (this still counts as a step).

Cards

Cards can be played in any moment during a Player's turn (before, during or after the Movement phase) except for Blitz Cards (lightning symbol) that can be played only during clashes in which the Player is involved.

5) Clashes

Every Unit can attack any enemy groups of (or single) Units located within reach of their possible move this turn. If a unit has already moved and is not in the same area as its target, it cannot attack it. In a clash, the total Force of the Units involved determines the winner and loser ; in the case of a Draw, nothing happens.

Every Player must declare which Units are involved in the clash and with whom; the defending Player must use all the Units in the attacked space. The Police can never attack when the Force of Police units involved is lower than Protesters in the clash. When a Player is defending a building he recieves a +1 Force Bonus. A group of Units can only be attacked a maximum of 2 times in the same turn by the same Player.

Clashes are divided into two different phases: Distance attack and Hand to hand attacks.

Once the Units involved have been declared, the Distance attack phase can begin: starting from the defender, both Players can now play their Distance Attack Blitz Cards (see Distance Attack); once the cards' effects are applied, the attacker can choose to continue the attack or to stop. If the attacker decides to continue the attack, this leads to the Hand to hand fight phase. In this phase Players can use all the other types of Blitz Cards (lightning symbol); then the Clash is resolved by counting the total Force of the Units still involved. The loser removes all his involved Units from the board, while the winner counts his losses and wounded (see Losses and wounded).

Distance attacks

Whenever a Player plays a "Distance Attack" Blitz Card during a clash, he immediately decides which enemy Unit (within that group) to target; that Unit immediately recieves the damage indicated on the card; the unit is then removed or wounded, in either case it will not be involved in the next phase of the clash.

NB 1: Every Police Unit, except for the basic Unit, resists the first damage from a distance attack, thanks to their Shield (shield symbol). This means a +1 distance attack card is useless, while a +2 distance attack or two +1 distance attack combined cause 1 damage.

N.B 2: If a clash in which the Police is involved is resolved in this phase (with a Draw or with Police units in the minority) there are NO effects on Public Opinion.

Losses and wounded

Winning Units involved in the fight receives damages equals to the total Force of the enemies Units involved. Damages are distribute starting from the Units with lower Force (in case of equal Force from the ones with a lower cost). A Unit is wounded if the damages are lower than its total Force. Protesters place their wounded Units in the Acces Point adjacent in the Area where the clash took place; they move back in the street in the next turn. Police places wounded Units back in the Hospital; they move to Police Head Quarters in the next turn, so they need two movements to get back to the street.

Attacking and defending a building

As mentioned above, a building grants a +1 Force bonus to the defender. An attacker can't use "Distance Attack" Blitz cards against units within a building, but the defender can. If the attacker wins the clash: all his surviving Units (including wounded) immediately enter the building. If the defender wins the clash: all his surviving Units (including wounded) remain inside the building.

First Round

Every Protester Player, following a random order, places one basic Unit inside a building of his choice, until each has 2 occupied buildings in two different Areas.

2 Player game: Protester places 4 basic Units in 4 buildings in 4 different Areas.

Now the Police receive Credits and can start their first turn. From now on the Police, at the end of every round, will decide the order of other players' turns.

Unit Specials

The English pages of this rulebook carry no printed heading for this section; it is the page of unit special abilities that follows the First Round text (the Italian edition calls it "Unità Speciali").

Mediactivist When this Unit is involved in a fight there's no effect on Public Opinion. When it is eliminated as defender the Player that owns it immediately draws a Card.

Black Bloc When this Unit fights in a street (ie. not defending or attacking a building) its Force is 3 (for attacks and receiving damage), in all the other cases its Force is 2.

Paramilitary When created, this Unit can directly attack any occupied buildings (if possible). It cannot directly enter into a free building, just attack an occupied one.

Riot Van This Unit can move two spaces instead of one, even when it's in the Hospital.

S.W.A.T. When created, this Unit can directly attack any occupied buildings (if possible).

Tips and Tricks

• Always ask your opponents if they'll try to obstacle your movement before placing your units.
• Every time you move a unit or you use it for an attack, turn it over. Doing so you'll always know which unit has already moved and which is still active.
• If you're playing as protester try always to buy at least one card per turn.
• If you're playing as police try always to buy at least one basic unit per turn.