Siege Storm
Siege Storm Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
I. Quick Start
Siegestorm is a two-player collectible card game of unending assault. Two armies rush forward on two Tracks and crash into one another's defenses, trying to deplete the enemy force in a war of attrition. Every card is used in multiple ways, and most decisions are either risky, painful or both.
There are no card types, counters, dice, numbers to remember, or complex rules to distract you from what matters most: bringing the pain to your enemy!
II. Battleground Layout
Since the game involves two eternal forces clashing together in brutal battle, you need somewhere to clash. Preferably far from valuable property or human settlements.
This place is called the Battleground and contains one Resources bar, one War Track, one Support Zone, and one Casualties Pile for each player. During the game, it all looks like the diagram on the next page.
III. Battleground Diagram
The Battleground is laid out with the enemy's side at the top and your side at the bottom. Reading from the diagram:
1. The Middle — Contains your Frontline card (2), opponent's Frontline (3), and between them - a No Man's Land (4).
5. Your Resources (or: Your Prosperous Kingdom) — Any time you draw any cards, start with the top pile of your Resources bar (6) and move down once it depletes. Any time you receive damage, put that many cards from the top of your Resources to your Casualties (11). If you are asked to put any cards on the bottom of your Resources, place them below or under the last pile.
7. Your Track (or: Your Glorious Battle Lines) — Every creature you play starts in the Deployment Zone on the bottom of the track (8) and moves up each turn until it reaches the top (9), where it can be ordered to either Storm, Hold Ground or Support. Two creatures can never occupy the same track space!
10. Your Support (or: Your Fearless Servants) — These creatures help you pay the costs of any played cards or activated abilities.
11. Your Casaulties pile (or: Your Revered Martyrs) — They all end up here eventually...
The Enemy
12. His Despicable Mudhole 13. His Unwashed Hordes
14. His Dumb Peons 15. His Heap of Carcasses
IV. Getting Started
To start, both players set their Frontline cards and the No Man's Land card in the center of the Battleground, according to part 1 of the diagram. In your first few matches, you should use a pre-constructed Starter Deck, created from cards with a green symbol on the bottom edge of the card. Cards bearing a white symbol are used for constructing your own decks once you're comfortable with the rules.
- Starter Decks — cards marked with a green symbol.
- Expanded Decks — cards marked with a white symbol.
Both players shuffle their decks and draw four cards as their starting hand.
Now, take three 10-card piles from the top of the deck and arrange them as shown in section 5 of the battleground diagram. This is your vertical Resources Bar, used both for drawing cards and applying damage. As long as your Resources Bar is long and enemy's grows short, you are winning!
Set aside any remaining cards - they won't take part in this match. You are now ready to start the game! Decide who goes first (through peaceful means such as coin toss or die throw). Starting player will not draw cards during his first draw phase. Now, take a peek at the remaining rules.
Playing Cards
Card types? What in Crom's name is that? War has no place for subtlety, and that's why we have only one type of card in Siegestorm:
Example card — Fire Dragon:
- Cost: 5
- Attack Ratio: 6
- Defence Ratio: 3
- Rarity: Elite (golden trim)
- Action: Opponent removes all Casualties from the game
- Passive: Whenever you play a card, deal 1 DMG to the opponent
To play a card from your hand, discard a number of cards equal to its cost and put them on the Casualties Pile. You can also use your Support Zone (10) to help pay the bills (see: Storm, Hold Ground, Support). Every card may be played in two basic ways:
1) As an Action
Play the card from your hand announcing that you are playing an Action. Resolve the ability described on the Action part of the card and then put the card on the Casualties Pile (11).
2) As a Creature
Play the card announcing it as a Creature and put it in your Deployment Zone (8). You can do this only if the zone is currently empty. As long as the Creature remains on the Track, its Passive ability remains enabled. If Creature's Passive ability has an activation cost (usually a number of cards to discard), you may activate it any time, any number of times, as long as you can afford to pay.
Storm, Hold Ground, Support
When your Creature reaches the top slot of your Track (9) it becomes ready to take part in the battle. Once you move your Track again, pushing the Creature up from the top slot, take the Creature and immediately issue one of three orders:
Storm
Your Creature assaults the opponent, dealing damage AND performing its Action. If the opponent has a card present in his Deployment Zone, subtract its Defense from your Attack value first.
Once you determine the final strength of the Storming card, pick a target. You can damage the enemy player - he removes that many cards from the top of his Resources Bar. You can also target a Creature on his Frontline (3) or in No Man's Land (4). If the damage is larger than target Creature's Defense value, it dies. Any leftover damage is lost.
After Storming, and resolving any triggered Actions or abilities, put the Creature on your Casualties Pile. For the purpose of any rules, the Creature counts as present on your Track up until this moment.
Hold Ground
Place the unit on your Frontline (2) or in No Man's Land (4) - as long as the chosen slot remains empty. If your Frontline is occupied, you may replace the occupying unit and move it to the Casualties Pile.
As long as your Creature stays on the Frontline (2) or No Man's Land (4), its Passive ability remains in effect.
Support
Move the Creature back to your Support Zone (10) and flip it over. From now on, you may Commit the Creature once per turn to help you pay the cost of any card or Passive – when you do that, tilt the creature to the side and subtract one from the cost of the card or ability that you are playing. The number of supporters is not limited, though each can be Committed only once per turn. You may Commit a Supporter as soon as he is placed in your Support Zone.
Turn Sequence
You and your opponent take alternating turns according to this sequence:
a) Prepare
If you have any Committed units in your Support Zone (10), turn them back up. They can now be used again.
b) Draw
Draw two cards from the top pile of your Resources Bar. If you don't have enough Resources to draw, you lose the game.
c) Move your Track
All Creatures on your Track move up one space.
If any Creature moved up from the top of your Track (9), you must immediately order it to Storm, Hold Ground or Support.
d) Deploy a unit
If your Deployment Zone (8) is empty, you may play a Creature and put it there. You won't be able to summon any more Creatures until you move your Track and clear your Deployment Zone.
e) End turn
You're done. Now brace for the pain train!
REMEMBER: you may play Actions from your hand or activate the Passive abilities of your Creatures at any time during your or opponent's turn. The opponent may immediately respond with his Actions or Passives.
Advanced Rule: Chain of Commands
If several abilities and cards are played in response to each other, they form the Chain of Commands. Resolve the chain starting from the most recent action.
EXAMPLE: Player A deploys a Creature. Player B plays an Action: "Destroy target Creature." Player A activates a Passive ability from another Creature on his track: "Until the end of turn, your cards can't be targeted by Actions or abilities."
We now resolve the chain starting from the most recent command. First player A protects all of his cards, then Player B's destruction effect comes into play, but fizzles off to the Casualties Pile without a valid target. The costs of any Actions or abilities that become cancelled or fail to have an effect still need to be paid!
Advanced Rule: Constructed Format
After some matches with the Starter Decks, advanced players might prefer to construct their decks themselves. If that's the case, simply select your own set of 34 cards, making sure it contains no more than four copies of any individual card. Then, shuffle your constructed deck, draw an opening hand of four and place the rest as your three piles of Resources. For longer games, you and your opponent may also agree on 44 cards (an opening hand + 4 piles of Resources).
V. Card Rarity
All cards in Siegestorm come in one of four rarities, determined by the color of the crest on the lower part of the card:
- Soldier (copper trim)
- Veteran (silver trim)
- Elite (golden trim)
- Champion (platinum trim)
Over time, we will support this game with additional factions, unit packs, and promotional cards, providing players with exciting ways to expand their armies. Hold on to your first edition champions – who knows how rare they might end up!
VI. Glossary of Card Terms
Ally - any other Creature on your Track
Defender - card present in the opponent's Deployment Zone when you Storm
Deploy - put the card in your Deployment Zone, if it's empty
DMG - damage dealt directly to the opponent (he puts that many cards from his Resources to his Casualties)
Draw - take the top card from your Resources to your hand
Discard - put the card from your hand on top of your Casualties
Enemy - any Creature on opponent's Track
Heal - take your top Casualty and put it at the bottom of your Resources
Kill - move the creature to its owner's Casualties pile
Raise - take your top Casualty to your hand
Resources - a vertical bar of three 10-card piles, used for drawing and applying damage
Sacrifice - remove the chosen card from your track and put it on top of your Casualties
Steal - take a random card from the opponent's hand to your hand
Storm - a card moves up from its Track and performs the Storm action (see Storm, Hold Ground, Support)
Supporters - cards in the Support Zone
VII. General Tips
- Drawing and playing many cards will drain your Resources faster, so be careful not to overextend yourself.
- Don't be greedy. If you have a strong but very expensive card in your opening hand, it might be a better idea to let it go and populate your battleground with cheaper units.
- Every bit of damage counts. Damaging the enemy for two might not sound like much when he has 30 Resources left, but this game resembles a Tug of War, and being two cards ahead might bring you a victory later on!
- Make plans to seize the Frontline and No Man's Land soon. Having more Passive abilities on the battleground may snowball into large advantage.
- Build up your Supporters early to get more value out of them.
- There are many powerful Action and Passive combos. Watch out for them!
- When in doubt, keeping the pressure on your enemy is often the right answer. Outside of fringe cases, your Track should never be empty!
- If that fails, you can always hope for one of your overpowered angels to swoop in and slaughter the opposing Creatures or even give you an additional turn.
How to Play: Seraphia
Aaah, the radiant army of Seraphia! Full of pompous Elves and boring do-gooders. They specialize in arts of protection, healing, and control.
This deck offers many opportunities to draw additional cards. Just don't fret about your Resources, since you also have many healers who may return your cards from the Casualties Pile, helping you outlast your enemy.
How to Play: Styxia
Itching to join the legion of destruction from the dark realm of Styxia? A rotten villain like you probably enjoys the salty taste of enemy tears. That's why your deck offers many abilities that force the enemy to discard his precious cards or wreak havoc on his neatly arranged battle lines. You can even prevent him from drawing cards or freeze his Track in place! And since your minions are expendable, you get many, many opportunities to sacrifice them for greater evil.
VIII. What Next?
Running out of enemy skulls to fashion into drinking cups? Good news! We're supporting Siegestorm with a simple game finder that can help you find matches in your area. Gather up, play, and report your results through our mobile site to claim your place in the rankings or win some real-life plunder.
Visit: www.siegestorm.com to know more!
Credits
Archangel (Game Design and Development): Marcin Świerkot
Keeper of Secrets (Creative Assistant & Content Writer): Krzysztof Piskorski
Guardian of Time (Graphic Design): Adrian Radziun
Alchemist (Main illustrator): Mariusz Gandzel
Summoners (Ilustrators): Dagmara Gąska, Marzena Piwowar, Piotr Tekien, Mateusz Bielski, Krzysztof Moszczyński
Purge Doctors (Testers): Paweł Samborski, Michał Siekierski
Old Paladin (Creative Consultant): Michał Oracz