Thunder Road: Ignition
Thunder Road: Ignition Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Parts List
- 4 player dashboards (4 different colors)
- 12 cars (3 each of 4 different colors)
- 16 movement dice (4 each of 4 different colors)
- 8 double-sided road tiles (1 starting, 3 straight, 4 curved)
- 20 damage tokens
- 20 hazard tokens
- 4 pit stop tokens
- 1 first-player token
- 1 finish line tile
- 4 FX dice: 1 Direction die, 1 Stunt die, 1 Slam die, 1 Shooting die (These 4 dice are collectively called FX dice.)
Setup
- Place the starting road tile with either side up (numbered 1 or 10) on the table, players' choice, followed by 5 more tiles and the finish line. When laying out the tiles, you can use any mixture of straight and curved tiles and can use either side of each tile.
- Place a pit stop token next to the starting tile and the third and fifth road tiles. (For a longer game, place out 8 road tiles and place a pit stop token next to the seventh road tile as well.)
- Mix up the hazard tokens. Without looking, place a facedown tile on each hazard space on all the road tiles.
- Mix up the damage tokens and place them in a facedown pile.
- Place the FX dice within reach.
- Each player chooses a crew color and takes the matching dashboard, cars, and dice, placing their cars in the starting area near the starting road tile.
- The youngest player goes first. Give them the first-player marker.
How to Play
The game is played over a series of rounds. At the start of each round, each player rolls all of their movement dice. The first player takes a turn. Then, the player to their left takes a turn, and so on. The round ends after each player has taken 3 turns. The first player passes the first-player marker to the player on their left; that player will go first in the next round.
On Your Turn
Do these three steps in order on each of your turns:
- Use a COMMAND (once per round).
- MOVE a car.
- SHOOT with that car.
1. Command
Once per round, use a command on your dashboard. Put one of your rolled dice onto the command die slot and choose which command to resolve. The value on the die you place doesn't matter. You can choose which turn you want to use your command. If you are not using a command on your turn, skip to step 2.
- A. Slipstream: Immediately, roll the stunt die and move one of your cars that number of spaces. You cannot move the farthest forward of your cars. (If more than one car is tied for farthest forward, you cannot move either of those cars.)
- B. Jumpstart: After you move your car from the pit stop to the road this turn, you can move it as normal. ("Pit Stop Exit", below.)
- C. Drift: When you move your car this turn, you can ignore the first car you move onto unless it is the space you end your move on. You do not slam; keep moving your car as normal. ("Slamming", below.)
- D. Missile: Immediately, shoot at any car on the board. ("Shoot", below.)
Cars
Each player has cars of three different sizes: small, medium, and large. Smaller cars are easier to move in a slam but harder to shoot. Larger cars are harder to move and easier to shoot.
On your dashboard, each car has a slot for one damage token. A car with no damage or one damage token can still run normally. If a car ever gets a second damage token it goes to the pit.
The Pit Stop
There are 3 pit stops in play, represented by the tokens next to the road boards. Your cars can go "to the pit" when they take too much damage, get knocked off the road, or other ways. When a car goes to the pit, place it next to the closest pit stop token behind it. The next time you use that car, you will reenter the race from there. ("Pit Stop Exit", below.)
2. Move
Put one of your rolled dice onto an open slot on your dashboard. You must put it on a slot that you have not assigned a die to already that round. Then, move the corresponding car that number of spaces using the following rules:
- Movement: Move your car into one of the three spaces ahead of it: front-left, front-right, or directly in front.
- Hazards: If you enter a space with a facedown hazard token, flip it face up and resolve it. Hazards remain on the board. ("The Road", below.)
- Space Resolution: Resolve every space you enter, even if another car is there. If another car remains, resolve a slam unless you used Drift and still have movement. ("Slamming", below.)
- Movement Limit: You must use the full die value unless you take damage or slam another car, which ends your movement. Resolve the slam or damage.
- Exiting the Board: If a car leaves the board from the left, right, or rear edge from being slammed, taking damage, or another effect, it goes to the pit.
- Pit Stop Exit: When exiting a pit stop, discard any damage tokens from that car and place it on any road space on the back row of that road tile (indicated with a small arrow). It cannot move or shoot unless you used Jumpstart. If placed on another car, immediately resolve a slam.
At the start of the game, a car's first move is from the starting area onto one of the spaces at the edge of the starting tile.
3. Shoot
You can shoot a car in front of the car you just finished moving. This can be a car to the front left, front right, or directly in front of your car. You can shoot through a barricade. If there is more than one car that you could shoot, choose which one you want to shoot at (including one of your own if you want).
Roll the shooting die. If the die matches the size of the car you shot at, you hit! The player whose car you hit draws and resolves a damage token. ("Taking Damage", below.)
The Direction Die
You use the direction die to resolve slams and some hazards and damage effects. The six adjacent spaces represent the spaces front-left, front-center, front-right, back-left, back-center, and back-right.
The solid icon in the center of the die represents the moving car. The hollow icon shows the space it moves into relative to the space it is in.
On some of the curved road boards there are more than six adjacent spaces. Ignore the spaces directly to the left or right, using only the directions indicated in the diagram. For example, a car on such a space could not move from its current space to the space directly to its left.
Slamming
When a car moves into a space with another car, whether from movement or an effect, they slam. Stack the car that entered the space on top of the other car and resolve the slam as follows:
- Roll the slam die and the direction die at the same time. The slam die tells you whether the top car or the bottom car moves. The direction die tells you what direction they move in.
- If one of the cars in the slam is larger than the other, the owner of that car can choose to reroll. If they do, reroll both dice. You can only reroll once.
- Move the car 1 space in the direction shown. Resolve any effect on the space it moved into. Then, if it is in a space with another car, that starts a new slam. Keep resolving slams until all cars are in a space by themselves.
The Road
On the road board and hazard tokens, there are several types of terrain with different effects:
- Off-Road: No effect.
- Road: During your regular movement, if your car started on a road space and only moved on road spaces, you may move it 1 additional bonus space. The bonus movement does not need to be onto a road space. This bonus does not apply to movement from the slipstream command, dazed effect, etc. Some hazards will turn a space into a road space.
- Oil Slick: If your car enters this space, roll the direction die and move your car 1 space in that direction. Resolve any slam or effect of the space your car moved into. If you still have movement remaining, you may continue moving that car.
- Rubble: If your car has one damage when it enters this space, it stops moving and goes to the pit. Otherwise, no effect. Some hazards will turn a road into a rubble space.
- Minefield: If your car enters this space, it stops moving and takes a damage.
- Omni-ramp: If your car enters this space, it stops moving. Roll the stunt die and place your car that many spaces away in the direction it was moving when it entered the space, ignoring all of the spaces in between. Resolve any slam or effect of the space your car ends up in.
- Impassable: If your car enters this space, it stops moving and goes to the pit. All impassable spaces are marked with a double yellow border.
- Barricade: If your car crosses a barricade between two spaces, it stops moving and goes to the pit.
Taking Damage
When your car takes damage, draw a damage token from the pile. Resolve the effect on the token. Then, flip it face down below that car's section on your dashboard. After you add a second damage token to a car, it goes to the pit. (If the damage token pile ever runs out, flip all the discarded tokens face down, mix them up, and make a new pile.)
Resolve the effect on the token. Then, flip it face down below that car's section on your dashboard.
- Dent: No effect.
- Battery Discharge: Roll the direction die. If there is a car in the adjacent space in that direction, it immediately takes a damage.
- Skid: Immediately move your car 1 space in the direction indicated.
- Dazed: Roll the stunt die. Roll the direction die and move your car 1 space in the direction indicated. Repeat this a number of times equal to your roll on the stunt die or until your car slams into another car or until your car is damaged or goes to the pit from another effect.
- Blast Off: Roll the stunt die and the direction die together. Place your car that many spaces away in the direction indicated, ignoring all of the spaces in between. Resolve any slam or effect of the space your car ends up in.
Winning the Game
When one of your cars crosses the finish line at the end of the road – whether you moved your car or it moved as a result of hazard, damage, or slam – place it near your command board. If you assigned a die to it that round, place the assigned die next to it. Otherwise, choose one of your unassigned dice and place it next to the car. In future rounds, you will only roll three dice and only take two turns, skipping the last turn in the round.
The first player to get two of their cars across the finish line immediately wins the game!
Thunder Road Smash Up!
If you have Thunder Road: Vendetta or any of the expansions, you can use this content with them and vice-versa.
If you're using Ignition content in Vendetta: (1) the Jumpstart command has no effect, and (2) any effect that would send your car to the pit eliminates it instead.
If you're using Vendetta content in Ignition: (1) anything that eliminates a car or makes it inoperable sends it to the pit instead, and (2) anything that lets you use the road die just gives you the road bonus instead. There are a few crew leaders, upgrades, and ongoing damage effects that won't really work in Ignition. And no Big Rig! Don't even try it!
Command Board Reference
- Slipstream: Immediately, roll the stunt die and move one of your cars that number of spaces. You cannot move the farthest forward of your cars. (If more than one car is tied for farthest forward, you cannot move either of those cars.)
- Jumpstart: After you move your car from the pit stop to the road this turn, you can move it as normal.
- Drift: When you move your car this turn, you can ignore the first car you move onto unless it is the space you end your move on. You do not slam; keep moving your car as normal.
- Missile: Immediately, shoot at any car on the board.