The Refuge: Terror from the Deep

The Refuge: Terror from the Deep Rulebook

Table of Contents

Components

1 Game board
1 Kraken Head miniature
16 Tentacle miniatures
10 Kraken cards
9 Cooperative Objective cards
4 Cooperative Reference cards
6 Competitive Reference cards
64 Salvage cards
18 Character Ability cards
7 Escape Pod tokens
3 Objective tracking markers
3 Camera tokens (Sophie St. Laurent)
7 Competitive Escape Pod Objective cards
6 Diver miniatures (Michael, Satoshi, Sophie, Mags, Katerina, Vega)

Cooperative Dive

1-4 players, 30-45 minutes

Deep in the Atlantic lurks a mysterious wreck and a dangerous monster. The world's powers are focused on averting war - and the secret may be in the cargo of the UB-85, which sank during The Great War. An international team of divers has been assembled to explore the wreckage of UB-85 and return safely. It's a dangerous mission that requires precise timing and teamwork. Do you have what it takes?

Cooperative Overview

In each Cooperative Dive, you'll work together with your team to accomplish three goals as the Kraken threatens to overwhelm you. You can also play as a Solo Diver if you're feeling up for a challenge.

If you can accomplish all three objectives in order, without getting overwhelmed by the Kraken, you win!

Cooperative Setup

Place the game board in the center of the table on the side that says "Cooperative" in the bottom-right corner.
Separate the Salvage cards and Kraken cards based on the image on the back of the cards. Remove the 8 "Grabber" cards from the Salvage deck and return them to the game box. Shuffle each deck separately and place them on the side of the board.
Place the Kraken head in the center of the Kraken row (there will be 8 free spaces to its left and 8 to its right). Draw and reveal two cards from the Kraken deck, perform the top Kraken movement of both cards to randomize the Kraken's starting position. Then reshuffle the Kraken deck.
Place the remaining tentacles near the board to form the tentacle supply.
Give each player a cooperative reference card.
Each player chooses a Diver and takes that Diver's:
- A. Miniature
- B. 3 Character Ability cards (matching that character's image)
- C. Ability tokens (only Sophie has tokens)
Players then place their 3 Character Ability cards face up in front of them. Return any unused Divers, their abilities, and their tokens, to the game box.
The player that was last underwater is the starting player.
Starting with the first player and proceeding clockwise around the table, each player places their Diver miniature onto an unoccupied space in the "Start" row of the board.
In each column, place a tentacle miniature in the Spawn space closest to the Kraken row. If playing with 3 or 4 players, place a tentacle miniature in the "3+" space of the Threat track on the right-hand side of the board.

Cooperative Objective

The deep sea is full of dangers as you navigate your way toward your goal. You'll need to get past the threats of the ocean deep, including the massive Kraken guarding your prize. You'll need to use the environment, powerful Salvage cards and your Diver's special abilities, to help navigate you through the ocean.

In the Cooperative Dive, you and the other players will attempt to accomplish 3 objectives. Objectives must be accomplished in order: I, then II, and finally III.

Some objectives introduce additional setup, game rules, or special actions your Diver can take.

When you accomplish an objective, flip it over to reveal a reward. If you accomplish Objective III, you and your fellow divers find the cargo and win the game!

Cooperative Turn Structure

On your turn you will take up to 2 actions from the following list. Each action may be taken more than once and in any order:

Move
Play an Action card
Use a character ability
Recover

You may also pass cards in your hand to other Divers that are adjacent to you. This does not require an action. You may still pass cards if you are knocked down.

After you have taken your actions, you must draw a Kraken card at the end of your turn and resolve both its top and bottom effects.

Move Action

To take the move action, you must be able to move your Diver to an adjacent space. You can move Up, Down, Left or Right (known as orthogonally). You cannot move diagonally. These rules also apply to Tentacles.

Occupying Spaces and Tokens

A space is considered to be occupied if there is a miniature in that space.
Divers cannot move onto spaces occupied by other Divers.
But may move into spaces occupied by tentacles or the Kraken. (In the case of tentacles, see the Tentacle section.)
If divers move into spaces occupied by the Kraken, that Diver is devoured.
Tokens, like those produced by some character abilities or in some Objectives, do not occupy a space.
If a Diver, Tentacle, or the Kraken would move onto a space with a token, leave the token in place under that miniature.

Salvage Cards

Salvage Cards represent items you can recover from the sea floor.

Some of these cards are played as an action. After using an "Action" Salvage card, discard the card. Salvage cards have a symbol in the top left of the card. This is the card's type, which may be referenced during play.

Salvage cards are earned by eliminating tentacles. You can do this by either moving into a Spawn space, or using a Weapon card.

You may also discard 2 Salvage cards that share a type to pick yourself - or an adjacent Diver - back up from the knocked down position, or to recover a character ability.

Weapons

If a tentacle moves into your space, or you move into a space occupied by a tentacle, you may immediately use any Weapon card to eliminate that tentacle. This may be done on any player's turn and does not count as an action.

Character Abilities

Each Character starts with three unique abilities. Character abilities that say "Action" in the middle can be used as an action on your turn. When an ability is used, flip it face down and keep it in front of you.

As an action on your turn, you can discard 2 Salvage cards that share a symbol to recover a used ability and flip it face up. Some Objectives also recover Character abilities.

Recover

To take the Recover action, discard two Salvage cards that share a symbol. Then, do one of the following:

Stand up your miniature from the knocked down position
Stand up an adjacent miniature from the knocked down position
Flip one of your face-down Ability cards face up

Cooperative Board Spaces

When a Diver lands on a space on the game board as a result of their action, immediately perform the ability associated with that space. You cannot move into a space containing another Diver.

Finish: These spaces are part of some objectives, normally as a win condition.
Start: No effect when moving into this space. There are 7 Start spaces at the opposite end from the submarine.
Cave: No effect when moving into this space. Tentacles cannot be moved into occupied caves.
Lair: You may move one tentacle one space.
Whirlpool: You may switch places with another player who is in a Cave space. Spaces only take effect when you move into them as part of your action, so this won't activate if you move another diver into it.
Spawn: Eliminate a tentacle from another space in this space's row or column. If there are no tentacles available to be targeted, this space has no effect.
- Whenever you eliminate a tentacle from the game board, draw a Salvage Card.
Kraken: Move the Kraken head 1 space closer to you.
- If you are playing the Abyss variant, it is possible for the Kraken to be below you on the map. In this case you choose which direction the Kraken moves (so long as it still moves closer to you).

Cooperative Kraken Cards

The Kraken head moves at the end of every turn or when you take a move action onto a Kraken space.

At the end of any player turn, draw and resolve both halves of a Kraken card.

Movement Arrows

If the Kraken card shows arrows pointing left or right, the Kraken will move in that direction. The card should be oriented the same way as the board, with the bottom of the card toward the Start Row and the top of the card toward the submarine.

The number of arrows, 1 or 2, determines the number of spaces the Kraken head will move. In the example, the Kraken head needs to move 1 space to the right.

Devour

The Kraken isn't just moving around, it's hungry. You may become devoured in one of three ways:

You are orthogonally adjacent to the Kraken head when a card with the devour symbol is drawn.
The Kraken head moves and would push you off the edge of the map.
Voluntarily walking into the Kraken head.

The Kraken's Head

The Kraken movement affects all players, no matter which player caused it to move. When the Kraken moves, any Divers or Tentacles on the spaces it is moving to get pushed in the same direction, with a few caveats:

Pushed off the edge: Divers pushed off the edge are devoured. Tentacles are returned to the supply.
Pushed into another miniature: If the second miniature is on the edge or unmovable, devour/remove the first miniature. Otherwise, push the second miniature as well.

Example situation. In the diagram, A, B, C, and D represent Divers. If the Kraken is required to move right:

A will be devoured as they are forced off the edge.
C will also be devoured as they can't move any further right.
B will be pushed and
D will watch from a "safe" space.

If this were not the edge of the board, C and D would both get pushed.

There are two Kraken spaces on each edge of the board that the Kraken cannot move into due to its size. Since the Kraken takes up a 3x3 area, it cannot move into these four spaces.

If you are devoured by the Kraken, remove your Diver from the map and place it on the Devour symbol on the side of the board. What happens next depends on your mode.

On your next turn, you place your Diver onto any unoccupied space of the devour row, knocked down (lay your miniature on its side). Do not activate that space.

Cards with the devour symbol also have the reshuffle symbol. If this symbol shows up on your Kraken card, shuffle together all the Kraken cards and form a new deck.

Cooperative Tentacles

While the tentacles do - thematically - belong to the Kraken, they should - mechanically - be considered separate miniatures. Unlike the Kraken, Tentacles do not push Divers out of the way, nor can they enter Cave spaces.

All Tentacles in the columns below the Kraken's head move simultaneously according to the three symbols at the bottom of each Kraken card. They cannot push other Tentacles or Divers.

If a Tentacle would move into any of the following types of spaces, perform the consequence indicated:

Start space: Remove the tentacle from the map and place it on an available space of the Threat track.
Another Tentacle: Do not move the tentacle.
An occupied Cave: Do not move the tentacle.
Onto a Diver: Return the tentacle to the supply and knock down the Diver by placing the miniature on its side (assuming they don't use a Weapon card).

Move the Tentacles according to the following symbols:

Arrows: Move all Tentacles in this column one space according to the direction of the arrow. If there are two arrows, move those Tentacles twice.
Spawn: Spawn a Tentacle in the topmost unoccupied Spawn space in this column. If there are no unoccupied spawn spaces in this column, place a tentacle on the Threat track.

Cooperative End of Game

The Divers must complete their three Objective cards in order. When an Objective's goal is met, flip it over to receive its award. Should the Divers complete the third Objective, they win the game!

Defeat

The Divers are overwhelmed by the Kraken and lose the game if:

There are no remaining tentacles in the tentacle supply.
You would draw a Salvage card and the Salvage deck is empty.
There are 4 tentacles on the Threat track. Note: At 3 or more players, one tentacle is placed on the Threat track at the start of the game.
All players are knocked down by a tentacle or by being devoured at the same time.

While playing solo mode, if you are knocked down, you do not immediately lose. Instead, you have 1 turn to pick yourself up. If you cannot, you lose the game.

Competitive Dive

2-6 players, 20-60 minutes

...Rumors have been swirling about a mysterious wreck off the coast of Scotland: an abandoned German submarine from The Great War. While every salvage team that's gone down has failed to return, you're not afraid. Deep in the icy waters, you've found the location of UB-85 and its mysterious cargo. Now it's a race to be the first diver to make it back to the safety of the harbor - but beware, you may not be alone...

Competitive Overview

Your goal in a Competitive Dive is to be the first player to escape from the underwater threat with the submarine cargo.

If you manage to get past the Kraken to an unlocked escape pod of the submarine, you acquire the cargo stored within and win the game!

Competitive Setup

Place the game board in the center of the table on the side that says "Competitive" in the bottom-right corner.
Separate the Salvage cards, Competitive Objective cards, and Kraken cards based on the image on the back of the cards. Shuffle each deck separately. Place the Kraken deck and Competitive Objective deck on their marked spaces on the board.
Draw the top 2 cards of the Competitive Objective deck and place them face up on the two spaces beneath the Objective deck.
Place the Kraken head in the center of the Kraken row (there will be 8 free spaces to its left and 8 to its right). Draw and reveal two cards from the Kraken deck, perform the top Kraken movement of both cards to randomize the Kraken's starting position. Then reshuffle the Kraken deck.
Place the remaining tentacles near the board to form the tentacle supply.
Give each player a competitive reference card.
Each player chooses a Diver and takes that Diver's:
- A. Miniature
- B. 3 Character Ability cards (matching that character's image)
- C. Ability tokens (only Sophie has tokens)
Players then place their 3 Character Ability cards face up in front of them. Return any unused Divers, their abilities, and their tokens, to the game box.
The player that was last underwater is the starting player.
Starting with the first player and proceeding clockwise around the table, each player places their Diver miniature onto an unoccupied space in the "Start" row of the board.

Competitive Objective

The deep sea is full of dangers as you navigate your way toward your goal. You'll need to get past the threats of the ocean deep, including the massive Kraken guarding your prize. Aside from just movement, you will also use Salvage cards, and your Diver's special abilities, to help navigate you through the ocean.

In the Competitive Dive, it is you against the other divers in a race to the submarine. Your objective is to be the first person inside an escape pod located at the finish row. Escape pods will only open after completing objectives, or by using a Decryptor card.

Competitive Turn Structure

On your turn, take 1 action:

Move
Play an Action card
Use a Character Ability
Draw a Salvage card

Move Action

Occupying Spaces and Tokens

A space is considered to be occupied if there is a miniature in that space.
Divers cannot move onto spaces occupied by other Divers.
But may move into spaces occupied by tentacles or the Kraken. (In the case of tentacles, see the Tentacle section.)
Tokens, like those produced by some character abilities or in some Objectives, do not occupy a space.
If a Diver, Tentacle, or the Kraken would move onto a space with a token, leave the token in place under that miniature.
If divers move into spaces occupied by the Kraken, that Diver is devoured.

Salvage Cards

Salvage Cards represent items you can recover from the sea floor. Some of these cards are played as an action. After using an "Action" Salvage card, discard the card.

Salvage cards have a symbol in the top left of the card. This is the card's type, which may be referenced during play.

As an action on your turn, you can draw the top card of the Salvage deck and keep the card in your hand for later.

Weapons

If a tentacle moves into your space, or you move into a space occupied by a tentacle, you may immediately use a Speargun card to eliminate that tentacle. This may be done on any player's turn and does not count as an action.

Character Abilities

Whenever you would be moved to a Start space by a Tentacle, you may recover (flip face up) all your character abilities that are face down in front of you.

Competitive Board Spaces

When a Diver lands on a space on the game board as a result of their action, immediately perform the ability associated with that space. You cannot move into a space containing another Diver.

Start: No effect when moving into this space. There are 7 Start spaces at the opposite end from the submarine.
Finish: Reach an Escape Pod with a Decryptor or the correct Objective to win.
Cave: No effect when moving into this space. Tentacles cannot be moved into caves.
Spawn: Take a tentacle miniature from the supply and place it onto another unoccupied Spawn space.
- If there are no more tentacle miniatures in the supply, you may take one of the tentacles closest to the start row and move it to another unoccupied spawn space.
Lair: You may move one tentacle one space.
Whirlpool: You may switch places with another player who is in a Cave space.
- Spaces only take effect when you move into them as part of your action, so this won't activate if you move another diver into it.
Kraken: Draw and play a Kraken Movement card from the Kraken deck.
- You do not activate another Kraken space if you are pushed into one.

Competitive Objective Cards

There are seven Objective cards in a Competitive Dive.

By completing an objective, you will be able open the corresponding locked Escape Pod and win the game when you reach it.

Until they are all completed, there are two available at a time. When one is accomplished, flip over a new one.

Competitive Kraken Cards

The Kraken head moves when you take a move action onto a Kraken space.

Draw and resolve the top half of a Kraken card. In a Competitive Dive, only the top half of a Kraken card is resolved.

Movement Arrows

The number of arrows, 1 or 2, determines the number of spaces the Kraken head will move. In the example, the Kraken head needs to move 1 space to the right.

Devour

The Kraken isn't just moving around, it's also hungry. You may become devoured in 1 of 3 ways:

You are orthogonally adjacent to the Kraken head when a card with the devour symbol is drawn.
The Kraken head moves and would push you off the edge of the map.
Voluntarily walking into the Kraken head.

The Kraken's Head

Pushed off the edge: Divers pushed off the edge are devoured. Tentacles are returned to the supply.
Pushed into another miniature: If the second miniature is on the edge or unmovable, devour/remove the first miniature. Otherwise, push the second miniature as well.

Example situation. In the diagram, A, B, C, and D represent Divers. If the Kraken is required to move right:

A will be devoured as they are forced off the edge.
C will also be devoured as they can't move any further right.
B will be pushed and
D will watch from a "safe" space.

If this were not the edge of the board, C and D would both get pushed.

There are two Kraken spaces on each edge of the board that the Kraken cannot move into due to its size. Since the Kraken takes up a 3x3 area, it cannot move into these four spaces.

If you are devoured by the Kraken, remove your Diver from the map and place it on the Devour symbol on the side of the board. What happens next depends on your mode.

On your next turn, you place your Diver onto any unoccupied space of the devour row and take your turn as normal. You may choose to activate the space you start on rather than take your normal action.

Cards with the devour symbol also have the reshuffle symbol. If this symbol shows up on your Kraken card, shuffle together all the Kraken cards and form a new deck.

Competitive Tentacles

If a Tentacle would move onto your space, assuming you have no way to prevent it, the tentacle grabs you and drags you through the water. Move your Diver to a Start space of your choosing. The tentacle remains in your previous space.

After moving to the Start space, you may recover all of your character ability cards.

Competitive End of Game

The game ends immediately after any player moves onto an unlocked Escape Pod. That player gains the cargo and wins the game.