Stratos Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Setup
• How to Win
  • Prosperity Points
  • Special Goals
• Units
• Action Phase
  • Universal Actions
  • Special Actions
• Buy Phase
  • Hire a New Unit
  • Promote a Unit
  • Learn Spells
  • Retrain a Peasant as Another Class
• Tiles, Resources and Characters
  • Land Tiles and Resources
  • Special Tiles
  • Cards
• Scenarios
  • Scenario on Page 10 (Two Players)
  • Scenario on Page 11 (Three Players)
  • Scenario on Page 12 (Four Players)
  • Scenario on Page 13 (Islet, Four Players)
  • Scenario on Page 13 (Five Players)
  • Scenario on Page 14 (Tombolo, Five Players in Two Teams)

Setup

1. Shuffle the tiles and put them into piles, symbols down. Arrange them on the tile trays according to the chosen scenario, and set aside unused tiles, symbols-down, for later use.
2. Choose a scenario (see the Scenarios section, pages 10–14).
3. Assemble and place character units according to the scenario's start conditions.
4. Separately shuffle the four decks of cards and place them within reach.
5. Give a set of five reference cards to each player, with the base characters face up.
6. Set aside all other tokens, resources and unused character unit standups within reach.

Component notes (setup diagram):

• Character unit assembly – a character unit is a plastic stand with the player's colour stripe.
• Promotion token – shows when a unit is promoted.
• Defend token – shows when a unit is defending.
• Equipment token(s) – show what the character has equipped.
• Health token – shows the current health points.
• Spirit token – shows the current spirit points.
• Character reference cards – each character has a maximum number of health points and spirit points; see the character reference cards.

How to Win

Win a standard match by earning 10 Prosperity Points before the other players do!

If all your characters are defeated and you do not have enough resources to hire another one on your next turn, you are eliminated from the match.

Prosperity Points

There are four main ways to earn Prosperity Points (PP) – hoarding resources, defeating enemies, casting spells, and discovering treasures. Each type of character excels at one of these things, but can also earn Prosperity Points outside of their area of specialty. For example, a Mage may defeat an enemy unit with a damage-causing spell, thus earning Prosperity Points.

• Hoarding (Hoard Token, 1 PP): Place one of each main resource back into the game box to earn one Hoard Token, worth 1 PP. The Peasant outworks everybody else when it comes to harvesting the land!
• Defeating (Defeat Token, 1 PP): Reduce an opponent's character unit to zero health points to earn one Defeat Token, worth 1 PP. The Archer and Soldier have your back covered when things get tough. The Soldier excels up-close, while the Archer prefers to maintain some distance from her opponents.
• Casting (Knowledge Token, 1 PP): Cast a spell you haven't cast before to earn one Knowledge Token, worth 1 PP and shown directly on the spell card. This counts toward your point total as long as you have the spell card. Unlock the power of the arcane through the intense study of the Mage.
• Discovering (Treasure Token, 1 PP): Find a treasure to earn one Treasure Token, worth 1 PP and shown directly on the exploration card. This counts toward your point total as long as you have the exploration card. Find coveted artifacts and grow your material wealth through the Explorer's careful investigations.

The kinds of actions available to each type of character unit are shown in a later section. You can earn additional Prosperity Points by keeping certain conditions continuously satisfied to achieve Special Goals.

Special Goals

• Promote Token (2 PP): Having 5 Promoted character units gives you a Promote Token worth 2 PP. Lose this token if you lose any of those units. Token can be regained.
• Occupy Token (2 PP): Occupying 3 special tiles gives you an Occupy Token worth 2 PP. Lose this token if you fail to keep occupying 3 or more. Token can be regained.

Units

There are 5 types of character units in Stratos: Peasant, Soldier, Mage, Explorer and Archer. All of them except Peasant have their own unique actions they can perform (see Special Actions), and there are universal actions that can be taken by any unit (see Universal Actions). Each player can have up to 5 units on board.

General rule for placing a unit on a tile: If a spell, treasure, or any game effect would result in an illegal unit placement (peasant on water, etc.), the controller of that spell, treasure, etc. must choose a new nearest tile and place that unit on that tile.

Action Phase

Begin your turn with the Action Phase as you try to earn Prosperity Points. Each character unit may only take up to two unique actions per turn. Actions may be taken in any order by your collective group of character units.

Each game tile can only be occupied by one character unit at a time. Each action occurs on the tile occupied by the character performing that action.

You can perform your units' actions in any order – and this includes the option to perform one unit's actions in-between another unit's first and second action! You can also decide not to take any actions. After all your units perform their actions, proceed to the Buy Phase.

Universal Actions

Available to all character units.

Travel. Move a character unit onto an adjacent, unoccupied land tile. If a unit travels onto a covered special tile, he flips the tile and discovers it – see Special Tiles for more information on discoveries!

Note: Travelling is the only action that can be taken twice in a turn by the same character unit.

Lagoon Travel. Lagoons certainly look harmless. However, they contain perils only understood by one character unit… The savvy Explorer is the only character unit able to move onto and occupy Lagoon Tiles.

Harvest Resources. Collect one resource token associated with the land tile your character currently occupies. Resources are used to hire new units, and to promote your units to more powerful forms. See Tiles, Resources and Characters for associations of resources and land tiles.

Power Harvest. Peasants may choose to harvest D4 resources instead of taking only one. In this case, a roll of 4 indicates failure; otherwise take resources equal to the number shown on the die.

When a Peasant is promoted to Cultivator, he harvests without fail. This means that a roll of 4 will result in gaining 4 of the appropriate resource.

Defend. Take a defensive stance to reduce loss of health by some actions. To show that a character unit is defending, place a defense marker in the leftmost slot on the top of the character card. Until your next turn, all character actions that would reduce this character unit's Health have their effects lessened by 1.

For example, if an attack would reduce a non-defending Peasant's health by 3, the same attack would reduce a defending Peasant's health by 2 instead.

Sturdy Defend. When Soldiers defend, physical attack damage is reduced by 2 instead of by 1. When Mages defend, magical attack damage is reduced by 2 instead of 1.

Effectively, the Soldier gets a +1 bonus to defending against physical attacks, and the Mage gets a +1 bonus to defending against magic attacks.

Special Actions

Available only to specific character units.

Attack & Shoot. Attack or shoot another unit by rolling the appropriate die when the unit is within range. Inflict damage as indicated on the die, and reduce the opposing unit's health accordingly by changing the health point token to the amount of health left.

• Soldiers attack at range 1 using a D6, but miss on a roll of 6.
• Archers shoot at range 2 – 3 using a D4, but miss on a roll of 4.
• Range is simply the number of spaces away from your unit. (The range diagram in the rulebook shows the spaces at range 0 through 3 from the attacking unit, with range 0 being the unit's own tile.)

Notes – Attack & Shoot:

• If a unit has zero Health, remove it from the board. Then, give a Defeat Token worth 1 PP to the player controlling the attacking unit.
• Promoted units do not miss. For example, if the Archer has been promoted to Marksman, then she would inflict 4 damage on a roll of 4.
• Attacks at ranges greater than 1 are still effective even if another unit is in-between the attacking unit and the unit under attack.
• Special circumstances caused by in-game events may allow other unit types to attack.

Cast. Mages cast spells in the following way:

1. Place the card face-up on the table.
2. Reduce the casting Mage's spirit points by the number of blue dots on the card.
3. Follow the instruction text on the card.

If the instructions on the card cannot be followed for any reason, then that spell cannot be cast by that unit at that time.

Spells remain face-up after being cast as a reminder of which unique spells have been cast. Every time you cast a new spell, you earn 1 Prosperity Point as shown on the card. A face-up spell can be cast again whenever you have a unit with enough spirit points to cast it. If you cast a spell and it's ineffective, keep the card face-down, and gain no Prosperity Points. Deduct the associated Spirit for attempting to cast it.

Notes – Casting Spells:

• The set of all your spell cards is called your Spellbook and is shared among all your Mages and Sorcerers.
• When you hire a new Mage, do only one of the following: Draw one new Mage Spell card, or Recover your spellbook, if you previously had Mage(s) but lost them all (see "Learn Spells" in "Buy Phase"). When you promote a Mage to Sorcerer, draw one new Sorcerer Spell card. He can still cast his Mage Spells, but Mages cannot cast Sorcerer spells.
• Mages and Sorcerers each recover 1 spirit point at the beginning of your turn, until they have maximum spirit points – 7 for Sorcerer, 3 for Mage.

Search & Use. Explorers search for treasure by turning over a Land Tile when standing on it. Draw the number of Land Exploration Cards indicated on the underside of the tile:

• I – draw one card
• II – draw two cards
• Δ – draw D4 cards (fail on 4 if not promoted)

If the underside is blank, you find nothing. There are 5 types of Exploration Cards: equipment, one-use items, permanent items, traps, and calamities. Reveal all cards immediately except for one-use items, which remain face-down until they are used as an action. Always draw the cards one-by-one, and follow the instructions text on each card. Rules for each type are shown on every card.

Notes – Searching:

• When you promote an Explorer to Swashbuckler, she can search under Lagoon tiles in addition to Land tiles. Draw the appropriate number of Lagoon Exploration Cards, and follow the usual rules.
• Swashbucklers automatically disarm traps found among Land Exploration Cards.
• Explorers and Swashbucklers can use one-use items as one of their two actions in a turn. The item is then set aside, face up, indicating it has been used up – and also showing one Prosperity Point has been earned.

Buy Phase

After your Action Phase, spend resources to hire more character units (up to 5 per player), improve existing units, or both – limited only by the resources you have available to spend.

Hire a New Unit

Pay the Hire Cost shown on the character reference card, and assemble the unit (see Setup) with the appropriate Health token (and Spirit token for Mages). Also add a defense token – new units defend automatically.

Place it on an unoccupied tile adjacent to one of your units that performed actions this turn. If no such tile is available, place it on any of the closest unoccupied tiles instead. Always choose a tile that the unit could travel to, otherwise it is an illegal unit placement.

If you have no units on the board, place the new unit on any unoccupied land tile.

Tips and tricks: Each of your units can take two actions on your turn, so it is a good idea to quickly build up your army to 5 units! As you plan your turn, think of where you would like your new units to start.

Character reference card diagram: Max Health and Spirit (top); the cost of hiring a new unit (bottom).

Promote a Unit

Pay a unit's Hire Cost again to promote it to a higher class. Place a promotion indicator on the top of the unit. Then increase the unit's Health and Spirit by the amount indicated on the reverse side of the character reference card, below the + symbol.

Note: Sometimes game events affect one or more units of a particular type. In these instances, promoted units still count as the same type as before they were promoted. For instance, a Sorcerer still counts as a Mage.

Tips and tricks: Promote a Mage to Sorcerer by paying 2 Spice and 1 Corn. If he has 2 Health and 2 Spirit before promotion, he would still have 2 Health after being promoted, but would gain 4 Spirit, increasing his total to 6.

Character reference card diagram: Max Health (and Spirit for Mage) (top); the cost of upgrading a unit (bottom).

Learn Spells

If you have at least one Mage on the board, you can learn spells by paying:

• 1 Spice for a Mage spell
• 2 Spice for a Sorcerer spell

Draw a card from the appropriate deck, and keep the card face-down until you cast it. Sorcerer spell cards are completely separate from, and do not count as, Mage spell cards. You must have a Sorcerer on the board to learn Sorcerer spells.

Tips and tricks: Your Mages and Sorcerers share a common spellbook, so buying more spells is even better when you have more than one Mage!

Retrain a Peasant as Another Class

A Peasant or Cultivator can be retrained as a different base unit by paying the Hire Cost of the new unit type. Adjust the Health Token by the difference among the two unit types' Health maximums. (Retraining does not restore the unit's Health.)

Tips and tricks: Retrain a Peasant as a Soldier by paying 1 Oak and 2 Nickel. If he has 2 health (out of a maximum 4) before retraining, he would have 4 out of a maximum 6 afterwards.

Tiles, Resources and Characters

Land Tiles and Resources

• Prairie – Corn
• Mountain – Nickel
• Desert – Spice
• Forest – Oak
• Lagoon – nothing to harvest

Harvest each of the four main resources from the associated Land Tiles shown above. You cannot harvest resources from Lagoon Tiles, but Swashbucklers can search them, possibly finding gems, which can be spent as any other resource during the Buy Phase.

Special Tiles

Special land tiles represent landmarks that give bonuses to units that land on them.

• Discover Bonuses immediately apply to the first character unit that lands on a specific Special Tile. Each Special Tile may only be discovered once per campaign. Land on a face-down Special Tile and flip it to discover which special building it is.
• Occupy Bonuses apply to a unit sitting on a specific Special Tile at the beginning of your turn. Occupy Bonuses end as soon as the unit is not occupying the Special Tile.

Academy

• Discover: Discovering unit is immediately promoted.
• Occupy: Promotions cost you 1 fewer resource of your choice.

Fortress

• Discover: Discovering unit defends automatically from now on.
• Occupy: Occupying unit has a +1 bonus to physical defense, and defends automatically.

Cathedral

• Discover: Discovering unit gains permanent immunity to all spells. Immunity extends to current tile occupied by this unit.
• Occupy: Cathedral and occupying unit are immune to all spells.

Quarry

• Discover: Gain 2 gems immediately.
• Occupy: Receive 1 gem if one of your units occupies this tile at the beginning of your turn.

Cards

Mage Spells can be cast by Mages and Sorcerers. Sorcerer spells can only be cast by Sorcerers. Casting each spell costs Spirit Points. The cost is indicated below the title of the card. (Card anatomy: Title; Cost of casting; Prosperity Point; Explanation.)

Land and Lagoon Exploration cards are used when Explorers and Swashbucklers search tiles. There are different types of these cards:

• Equipment is attached by placing the Equipment Token in your character's Equipment slot.
• One-use items can be used once as an Action during your turn.
• Permanent items can be used on every one of your turns.
• Traps and Calamities are revealed as soon as they are drawn by the player. The effects occur immediately.

(Card anatomy: Title; Explanation; Type of card; Prosperity Point.)

Scenarios

The scenarios are printed on pages 10–14 of the rulebook; the headings below identify each one by page number, as the source prints no scenario titles in its text layer.

As printed on the scenario pages (10–13), special tiles are placed randomly and covered until someone discovers them.

Scenario on Page 10 (Two Players)

Both players start out at the corners of the land, with near-equal access to all resources. Each player begins with a Peasant to be placed on their indicated starting tiles.

• Player 1 must protect his sacred Cathedral from the invading barbarians. He begins with two Mages and one Gem.
• Player 2 begins with a Peasant on a Prairie and a Soldier in a Desert. He can only win by landing on the Cathedral.
• Any player who destroys the Cathedral automatically loses.
• Exclude the Sorcerer Spell card Georotate from this scenario.

Scenario on Page 11 (Three Players)

All three players start out at the corners of the land, with near-equal access to all resources. Each player begins with a Peasant to be placed on their indicated starting tiles.

• Player 1 begins with a Sorcerer.
• Players 2 and 3 are allies and each begins with a Peasant and a Soldier. They can only win by occupying the Quarry, the source of the reclusive Sorcerer's precious Gems.
• Any player who destroys the Quarry automatically loses.

Scenario on Page 12 (Four Players)

All four players start out at the corners of the land, with near-equal access to all resources. Each player starts the game with one Peasant.

The only way to get Nickel is to enter harm's way. The Mountains are all at the centre of the board as are the Cathedral and the Quarry. Do you rush to the centre, hoping to gain an advantage in Nickel, or do you hold back and defend your home territory?

Scenario on Page 13 (Islet, Four Players)

All four players begin with Explorers on this tiny islet. There are plenty of opportunities to amass magnificent Treasures! However, your rivals are too close for comfort. Proceed with prudence.

Scenario on Page 13 (Five Players)

All five players start out at the corners of the land, with near-equal access to all resources. Each player begins with 1 Peasant.

Scenario on Page 14 (Tombolo, Five Players in Two Teams)

Players 1 and 2 must cooperate to keep players 3, 4, and 5 out of the Tombolo (land tiles within the red rectangle). In this scenario, remove Pandora's Box from the deck of Underwater Exploration Cards. Also remove Georotate and Geoslide from the deck of Sorcerer Spell Cards.

• Players 1 and 2 each begin with a Peasant on a Prairie and an Archer in a Forest. They also act as one player, and they need a combined 10 Prosperity Tokens to win. Take all actions for P1's units, then all actions for P2's units prior to a collective buying phase where P1 and P2 share their resources.
• Players 3, 4, and 5 each begin only with a Peasant, and they win only if one of their units occupies a tile in the Tombolo for one round. These three players also act as one player in the manner described in the paragraph above.