The Grizzled: At Your Orders! Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Description of Mission Cards
• Difficulty Level
• Cutouts of the Grizzled
• The Traps
• Preparation
• Overview of an "At Your Orders!" Mission
  • 1. Preparation
    • Mission Card
    • Intensity
    • Completing a Mission
  • 2. The Actions
    • Strategic Withdrawal
    • Final Assault / Last Stand
    • Endless Speech
  • 3. Support
  • 4. Morale Drop
• The Grizzled Duo!
  • Preparation
  • Missions
• The Grizzled Solo!
  • Preparation
  • Actions
  • Support
  • Morale Drop
  • Clarifications
• Clarifications Regarding Mission Cards

Contents

• 13 easy Missions cards
• 13 normal Missions cards
• 13 hard Missions cards
• 1 Final Assault / Last Stand card
• 1 Novice card, for the "Duo!" version
• 4 Support tiles for the "Solo!" version
• The 6 cutouts of the Grizzled
• The rules of "At Your Orders!"

Description of Mission Cards

Each Mission card shows:

• Difficulty and Name of the Mission (top of the card).
• Bonus or Penalty – the effect of the Mission.
• Condition of resolution – what must happen for the Mission to succeed.
• Minimum Intensity of the Mission – the number of Trial cards each player receives (captioned "2 or 3 players" and "4 or 5 players" on the example easy card, and "Same number no matter the amount of players" on the example hard card).

Difficulty Level

Before beginning the game, choose the difficulty level and prepare the Mission pile (12 Mission cards) accordingly.

The following table shows the amount of Mission cards of each type that make up the Mission pile (Easy, Normal or Difficult).

	Easy Missions	Normal Missions	Hard Missions
The Classes (To learn how to play)	4	8	0
The Grizzled (For experienced players)	4	4	4
The Veteran (For daredevils)	2	4	6

Shuffle these 12 cards to make the Mission pile.

Cutouts of the Grizzled

At the beginning of a Mission, the players place the cutout of their Grizzled near No Man's Land to show they are joining this Mission.

When a player withdraws, remove the appropriate cutout from No Man's Land and place it on its Hard Knocks to remind the other players that its Hard Knocks no longer have effect (neither on the team, nor on the current Mission).

The Traps

We suggest to use the Traps, however you may decide to deactivate them to make the game easier (although this will reduce a bit your heroism).

If you decide not to use the Traps, the "Strategic Withdrawal" action (see page 6) will not be available.

Preparation

The Trials pile always starts at 25 cards.

Place the 5 Speech tokens.

Place the "Final Assault / Last Stand" card near the Missions pile.

Overview of an "At Your Orders!" Mission

The Missions play out as in the standard game. The modifications for each step are described below.

1. Preparation

Mission Card

Instead of choosing the amount of Trial cards for the Mission, the Mission Leader draws 2 Mission cards and selects one of them, which is revealed to the other players. The remaining card is placed on top of the Mission pile (This means such card and another one will be drawn by the following Mission Leader).

Intensity

Place the Mission card at the beginning of No Man's Land. This card shows the minimum amount of Trial cards each player receives (see base rules), which varies according to the number of players. The Mission Leader may choose to increase this value to distribute more cards. It also describes an ongoing effect for the Mission.

Minimum amount of Trial cards on a Mission card: either at least 3 cards each, for 2 or 3 players; or at least 2 cards each, for 4 or 5 players.

Completing a Mission

Most Mission cards last as long as the Mission itself and are discarded after the Support. However some Difficult Missions remain in game until some conditions are met. Such conditions are shown in a box like this:

In this example, a player who withdraws may decide to take 2 cards from the Trials deck to discard the Mission card.

If there is no box, discard the Mission card after the Support.

A new Mission card is drawn at the start of every Mission, even if the previous one wasn't discarded, accumulating their effects.

Refer to the last page of this booklet for some details regarding most complex Missions.

2. The Actions

Strategic Withdrawal

Note: The Strategic Withdrawal applies only to games with Traps.

Only the 1st player who withdraws from a Mission may decide to execute a Strategic Withdrawal: He chooses one card from his hand and places it on top of the Trial deck.

The Strategic Withdrawal takes place first, before any effect of Hard Knocks or Mission.

Final Assault / Last Stand

After drawing the 2 Mission cards, the Mission Leader may choose none of them and begin a Final Assault or a Last Stand. In this case, he shows the corresponding face of the card: It will be the last Mission of the game.

The faces of this card provide the necessary details.

During this last turn there is no Morale Drop (Hard Knocks and Mission cards in game do not cause any).

Final Assault (card face): Distribute all cards in the Trials Pile. There is no Morale Drop or Strategic Withdrawal. If the players do not get rid of all their cards during this Mission, the game is lost.

Last Stand (card face): This is a desperate Final Assault, distribute all cards in the Trials Pile. This Mission is only lost at the 4th Threat of the same type. There is no Morale Drop nor Strategic Withdrawal. If the players get rid of all their cards during this Mission, they are declared winners, but posthumously.

Endless Speech

Speeches are no longer removed from the game after their use. They remain in game.

3. Support

Please note with this expansion, Support always reactivates the Good Luck Charms.

In case of a successful Support, the player may discard 2 Hard Knock cards AND reactivate the Good Luck Charm.

In case of a failed Support, the player may discard 1 Hard Knock card AND reactivate the Good Luck Charm.

4. Morale Drop

The minimum number of cards of the Morale Drop is still 3, while the upper limit is now 6, even in case the players have more cards in their hands.

Note: A Hard Knock may cause a Morale Drop that is higher than the upper limit of 6 cards.

The Grizzled Duo!

You may apply these rules to the standard rules or to the expansion "At Your Orders!".

During a "Duo!" version of the game, add a 3rd Grizzled: The Novice. The other players take turns controlling him. Most rules of a 3 players game are still valid.

Preparation

The 2 players choose one Grizzled card each. A 3rd Grizzled represents the Novice. Assign to him the specific Hard Knock card "The Novice". This card can never be discarded (Supports and the Merry Christmas card do not work in this case).

The Trials pile begins at 25 cards. Expert players may begin with a 30 cards pile.

Missions

The 2 players take in turns the role of Mission Leader. Place the Mission Leader token between the Novice and the player to remind who is going to decide the actions of the Novice.

The Novice receives cards just like other players but in this case the cards are placed face up in front of its Grizzled card. The Mission Leader decides the actions of the Novice (without consulting the other player): Play a card; Use its Good Luck Charm; Or withdraw.

When the Mission Leader decides the Novice withdraws, he randomly picks one of its Support tiles and reveals it (face up). If the Novice withdraws first, it will be much easier for the other players to have a successful Support.

Moreover, in "Duo!" games there is no Strategic Withdrawal.

The Novice card text: He can never become the Mission Leader. Speeches have no effect on him. (This card cannot be discarded.)

Note: Some Hard Knocks have almost no effect on the Novice. That's a good thing for the team: For example, if the Novice becomes Tyrannical, the effect of this status will not apply, since the previous Hard Knock, "The Novice", takes priority and prevents it from becoming Mission Leader.

And remember, just like the other players, if the Novice has 4 or more Hard Knocks (Including "The Novice" card) after the Support, the game immediately ends.

The Grizzled Solo!

In a "Solo!" game you have a single hand of cards and you play 3 Grizzled (one at a time).

Note: This version of the game uses the standard rules.

In this version of the game, Speeches are not used.

Discard the Support tiles of the base game and take the 4 special "Solo!" version Support tiles.

Preparation

Choose 3 Grizzled and place them in front of you, Good Luck Charm side up.

Shuffle the 4 "Solo!" Support tiles.

Remove the following Hard Knock cards: Absent-Minded, Mute, Tyrannical, Panicked, Selfish, Frenzied.

Then, prepare the Trials deck with 25 cards.

Assign the Mission Leader token to a Grizzled. This Grizzled is the active one. Draw 3 cards for your starting hand.

Actions

Play one action for the active Grizzled, then move the Leader token to the following Grizzled and so on, until all Grizzled have withdrawn or the Mission failed. In order to represent the withdrawal of a Grizzled, flip its card.

After playing a card, decide whether you want to complete your hand (And have again 3 cards in your hand), or not. If you do not, you will not have this option again for the whole Mission, which is going to end rapidly.

Support

During the Support, draw one of the "Solo!" Support tiles which shows which Grizzled is going to receive the Support, then discard the tile. One of these Tiles does not show any Grizzled, which means the Support is lost.

After having drawn all 4 tiles, shuffle them again. Since this version of the game uses the base rules, you have to choose whether to recover the Good Luck Charm or to get rid of 2 Hard Knock cards.

Morale Drop

The Morale Drop consists of 2 cards + the amount of remaining cards in your hand. In order to reduce the Morale Drop, you should try to complete a Mission with no cards in your hand.

Before starting a new Mission, you must have again 3 cards in your hand.

Clarifications

Fragile: The single hand applies to all Grizzled, also the Fragile one. If you have any card in your hand, Fragile prevents the others from withdraw.

Hardheaded: If you have more than 1 card in your hand, the affected Grizzled cannot withdraw.

Clarifications Regarding Mission Cards

Small Fort / Big Fort: These cards remain in game from one Mission to another, so they add their Threat until the players get rid of them. In order to do so, right after withdrawing, a player has to draw 2 Trial cards (For a Small Fort), or 3 Trial cards (For a Big Fort) and add them to his hand.

Good Luck Charm: They can never be used against a Mission card or its effect (For example: "Bogged Down").

Final Assault / Last Stand: When one Mission of this kind is in progress, there is no Morale Drop.

Relentlessness / Tank / Mustard Gas: As long as one of these Missions is active, each time a player plays a Hard Knock card (Note: Merry Christmas is not a Hard Knock), immediately transfer one card from the Morale Reserve to the Trials Pile (And eventually end the game in this way).

At the end of a successful Mission, place under such Mission card all Trial cards that show at least one of the 2 selected symbols. When 5 cards have been discarded in this way, discard the Mission.