Tripods!
Tripods! Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
The aim of the game
Each player is trying to save as many of their Populace Counters (PCs) from destruction as possible. Success is measured in Survival Points (SPs) which are added up at the end of the game, the player with the most points wins. Players score:
- 3 SPs for every PC which escapes the board (by leaving it from one of the 5 stations or Tillingham docks)
- 1 SP for every PC left on the board at the end of the game
- 3 SPs for each Tripod they have felled
- 1 SP for every unused Character card
- -1 SP for every PC captured by the Martians
Contents
The game contains:
- 1 game board
- 1 deck of 66 Tidings cards containing news of the invasion
- 1 deck of 8 Headline cards detailing major events
- 4 coloured decks of 5 Character cards
- 4 sets of 10 coloured PCs
- 10 Discontinuance counters used to mark closed locations
- 1 Train counter used to mark the train's progress
- 6 Chance counters showing either cylinders or carriages
- 5 Military Units with card stands
- 5 Tripods with card stands
The board
The action takes place in and around the city of London in the last years of the 19th century. The board is made up of three elements; Locations, Spaces and Tripod movement markers.
Locations are the pictures of places with their names. PCs on spaces which touch a Location along an edge or at a corner are said to be 'at' that Location. Most spaces are at two and some may be at three Locations simultaneously. When Tripods and Military Units are placed and moved they go onto the Locations themselves.
Spaces are the small squares which form a track running around the Locations. PCs move along these Spaces. Some spaces are surrounded by creeping Red Weed, these have a special significance explained later on and are not good places to linger for too long. As the game progresses it will become harder to avoid settling on these 'red' spaces.
Tripod movement markers are the coloured rays which bridge one Location to another, crossing the spaces. When Tripods are told to move by Tidings cards they do so along these lines.
Setting up
Lay the board in the centre of the playing area.
Each player takes a set of coloured Populace Counters and the matching coloured set of Character cards and places them with the Character portraits up in front of them.
Take the Tidings cards and shuffle them together, place them face down next to the board.
Sort the Headline cards into numerical order and place them face down beside the board so that the first to be drawn is numbered '1' on the back.
Place the 5 Military Units and Tripods in the card stands. Put the Military Units by the side of the board and lay the Tripods down so that the numbers on them are hidden.
Turn the Chance Counters so the '?'s show and place them by the board.
Decide which player will go first.
The first player takes the top (number 1) Headline Card and carries out the instructions on the card (see reference sheet). Play then passes immediately to the second player.
The second player draws the next (number 2) Headline Card and carries out the instructions. Play then passes to the next player and the game proper begins.
After the second Headline has been resolved every subsequent turn follows this sequence:
- Draw Tidings Card
- The Heat Ray
- Nominate attacks
- Roll for Variable Action Points
- Spend Action Points
Headline Event and Tidings cards
The main source of information the populace of London have to warn them about the events they are caught up in is the press. Newspaper hawkers cry the headlines even as they flee on the oncoming disaster. In Tripods! this is represented by the Headline Event deck. Each major new development in the course of events is marked by a news bulletin. These cards contain a set of instructions as to how to alter game play which must be followed in the order they appear on the card. These are explained on the Reference Sheet. When resolving Stop Press! cards, remember to carry out the last instruction on the Tidings card after resolving the Headline Event.
On the back of each Headline Card there is a number from one to eight. The cards should be arranged so that the first card drawn is number one and the game ends when the eighth card is drawn and resolved. Under the directions, is another number telling you which numbered Headline Event to draw next.
The Heat Ray
After each Tidings Card has been resolved the Martian Heat Ray reaches forth! Find each location where there is a Tripod, any PCs on Red Weed spaces at those locations are destroyed.
Nominate Attacks
If you intend to use a Military Unit to fell a Tripod you must declare it at this point before rolling for and spending APs.
Action Points
Once Tidings and Headlines of the invasion have been revealed players get to react by spending Action Points (APs). Only the player who drew the Tidings/Headline Card may spend APs in their turn. APs are generated and used as follows.
A player automatically gets a number of APs equal to the number of PCs they have on the board (not including captured or escaped PCs). These are called Fixed APs. After the Heat Ray phase, players also get to roll the die to generate further APs to use. Note that the '0' on the die actually means 10, not 0. These are called Variable APs. APs only last for the current turn; they cannot be stored for use in later turns.
APs can be spent to move PCs, trigger certain Location abilities and Fell Tripods. These uses are outlined on the back of the Reference Sheet.
Escaping
The ultimate aim of the populace is to escape from the Tripods by leaving London far behind. Escaping is the way players can earn the most SPs and can be achieved in two ways. Firstly by taking the train out of London and secondly by taking a ship from the docks. Escaped PCs are placed in the green area at the bottom of the board. Players do not get any Fixed APs for PCs which have escaped.
Stations and the Train
There are five stations which can be used to escape from London; Leatherhead, Epsom, Waterloo, Chalk Farm and Edgware. These Locations all have a train symbol on the board. To the side of the board the Locations are replicated in circles connected by arrows, this is the Station Track. The first time a Tidings Card shows a train logo, place the Train Counter on the Leatherhead space on the Station Track. Each subsequent time a Tidings Card shows a train logo, move the Train Counter one space along the Station Track in the direction shown by the arrows. Once the train reaches Edgware it moves back to Leatherhead. On the turn that a train arrives at a station, all PCs at that location escape provided they are not in carriages, the station is not closed and there isn't a Tripod at the station location.
As the game progresses and the Martians take hold of the city the stations begin closing. Trains still move through these stations and when the Train Counter is moved it continues to move one space along the track at a time, even if it ends the turn on a station with a Discontinuance Counter, but drivers are too afraid to stop to pick up passengers or the stations are so ruined that no PCs may get onto the train.
Tillingham
The other way to escape from London is by ship from Tillingham. To do this a PC must be on one of the 'dock' spaces marked with an anchor and pay five APs to activate the Location Ability (see the reverse of the Reference Sheet).
Chance Counters
Chance Counters are either helpful Carriages or Martian Cylinders, but until they are revealed nobody knows which. When instructed by the first Headline Event, place the Chance Counters face down on the '?' spaces on the board. When instructed to reveal them, turn them over. The Carriages should be left where they are, the Cylinders should be turned so that the three arrows on the counters each point to one of the Locations surrounding the '?' space. The numbers on the Cylinders take significance when they land, the Carriages come into play during movement.
Character Cards
The populace are not entirely helpless in their struggle against the Martians. Among them are members of the military, the press and characters of strong will or personality who can be of great help in times of trial. To represent this each player has an identical set of five Character Cards they can use throughout the course of the game to affect play. Each Character Card gives a particular benefit when used; these are written on the cards themselves. Each may also be used to generate 2 Variable APs. Character Cards may only be used once each, turn them face down when they have been used, but may be used at any point during any player's turn. At the end of the game any unused Character Cards are worth 1 SP.
Ending the Game
The game ends in one of two ways. Either all players' PCs have either escaped or been destroyed/captured (if this happens the game ends immediately and SPs are added up) or the last Headline Event is reached.
The last Headline event
Headline Event eight ends the game as Bacterial infection finally seals the doom of the Martian invaders. As soon as this Headline is drawn the game ends, there is no need to resolve the end of the Tidings Card or the Heat Ray.
Add up each player's SPs, the player who has the most wins.
Being Out Early
If all a player's PCs have escaped, been destroyed or been captured in a two-player game then the game is over and SPs are added up immediately. If there are three or four players then players with no PCs left on the board continue to play, rolling for Variable APs, felling Tripods and using Character Cards as they wish. However, instead of drawing a Tidings Card at the start of their turn they instead draw and resolve the next Headline Event Card, ending the game much sooner. If no players have PCs left on the board the game ends immediately and SPs are counted up.