Uprising: Curse of the Last Emperor – Arch-Nemesis Expansion
Uprising: Curse of the Last Emperor – Arch-Nemesis Expansion Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- Omens Phase card
- Herd card
- 2 Legion cards
- 2 Horde cards
- 4 Arch-Nemesis cards
- 4 Hero cards (double sided)
- 4 VP Trackers (1 for each Faction)
- 3 Arch-Nemesis standees (The Kraken uses the Curses)
- 2 Targets (1 for each Legion)
- 17 Havens
- 9 Omens
- 2 Chaos Horde standees
- 2 Imperial Legion standees
- 8 Hero standees
- 42 Unit standees
- 80 Feat cards (8 decks, 1 for each Hero)
- 6 Hexes
- 4 Player Boards (1 for each Faction)
The Arch-Nemesis
If you want your game of Uprising to have a climactic finale in the last Chapter, add the Arch-Nemesis to your game. Instead of Hordes and Legion one of those behemoths will appear at the end of the game, for those of you who want to truly test your mettle.
This expansion comes with 4 Arch-Nemesis, two for the Empire and two for Chaos. Each Arch-Nemesis has its own unique standee – except The Kraken, which is represented on the map by the Curse Standees.
Even though they do not count as Legion or Hordes, the Arch-Nemesis work similarly: they have Threat, and are considered Units, so are affected by Skulls on combat dice and anything that affects Units generally. They enter combat normally, in their initiative order.
But an Arch-Nemesis is not a Horde or a Legion, and is not affected by cards or effects that target Hordes and Legions. So they do not gain 2 Activation Tokens on the Events Phase, nor does a Quest like The Hungry Giant or Strike at Dawn affect them.
All the rules for their placement and activation of an Arch-Nemesis can be found on their cards. Follow those instructions – there is no need to add any other rules to them.
There are two Imperial Arch-Nemesis:
- The Drakoliche, most potent weapon of the old Empire, long imprisoned beneath a mountain as a desperate means of containment.
- The Empress herself, bride of Aezher the Immortal, keeper of ancient and terrible arcane secrets, escaped from the very heart of the Mainland.
When any effect generated by an Imperial Arch-Nemesis, or their Omens, destroys a Unit, place it in the Imperial Graveyard.
There are two Chaos Arch-Nemesis:
- The Kraken, the great devourer, now awakened from deep beneath Azuhl. The Kraken has no standee, but is represented by the Curses on the map.
- The Harvester, collector of souls, whose flight through the smoky skies presages the transmutation of all life into the unnatural service of primordial Chaos.
When any effect generated by a Chaos Arch-Nemesis, or their Omens, destroys a Unit, place it in the Chaos Graveyard.
Setup
Place the Arch-Nemesis standees and their cards on the table near the Legions and Hordes. Place the Omens Phase card below the Scoring Phase of the Chapter Track. Shuffle the nine Omens tablets and place them face-down in a stack beside the Omens Phase card.
Omens Phase
After the Scoring Phase, the first player rolls their Hero Dice. This can be modified as normal by effects that modify out of combat rolls.
If the Hero rolls 4 Skulls, 2 Shields, and/or 2 Bolts, draw the top 2 Omens, then select one and shuffle the other one back with the others. If the Hero does not roll any of those, draw only 1 Omen.
The selected Omen has an effect that is resolved immediately. If any Units are destroyed, send them to the appropriate Graveyard – these Units remain there as normal until the next Scoring phase. Place the Omen, face-up, on top of the face-down Event Card of the last Chapter (if you are playing a 3 Chapter game, the Omens are placed on the Chapter III Event card. If you are playing a 4 Chapter game, the Omens are placed on the Chapter IV Event card).
Greater Omen of the Drakoliche (Omen number 2) Choose the hex with the most non-Imperial Units or Threat. Roll 1 black die and 2 red dice and apply Skulls (ignore Bolts).
Placing the Arch-Nemesis
On the Event Phase of the last Chapter, after adding Threat to Legions and Hordes, read only the top part of the Event Card. Ignore the bottom part – the Arch-Nemesis will be more than enough for the players to fight.
Each Omen has a number on it (2). Add the numbers of any Omens of the same Arch-Nemesis (there are two for each). Whichever 1 or 2 Arch-Nemesis has the highest number appear now. Take the appropriate card(s) and resolve the "Placement" side first (1), in initiative order if there are 2. Once the Arch-Nemesis has been placed, flip the card and resolve its activation (2), then place the card next to any remaining Legions or Hordes, in initiative order.
The Drakoliche and Harvester fly through the air, and are not affected by Impassable Terrain. Note that an Arch-Nemesis only activates according to its card, in the Event and Nemesis Phases, and not through any other effect.
Card: The Kraken
Placement side:
- Placement Rules
- Curses are now Units. This can start a combat. They do not go to the Graveyard, and are worth 0 VP.
- Place 1 Activation Token per player on this card.
- Activate The Kraken once in the Event and Nemesis Phase (do not remove Activation Tokens).
- The Kraken is NOT a HORDE, but an Arch-Nemesis.
Activation side:
- Activation Rules
- Remove all hexes with a Curse from the game, but leave any Curses in play.
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- Activate all Curses (following the rules for Activating Skeletons).
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- For each Activation Token here, place 1 Curse on any empty hex.
- Combat ability (3): Skip Archery with The Kraken.
- Godpower (4): Gain 1 Activation Token and 2 Shields. Before Damage, Once per Round.
- Back to the Depths: If you destroy or remove the last Curse on the map, The Kraken is destroyed. You gain 9 VP; you may give them to any player(s).
Omen cards shown in the rulebook
The Omens shown in the rulebook's example are reproduced below as printed.
Greater Omen of the Empress (number 4 on the tablet in the example) Every player may draw 1 Feat. The Empire gains 1 VP per drawn Feat.
Lesser Omen of the Harvester (number 1 on the tablet in the example) Place 2 Skeletons on any empty hex, with no [red X icon] if possible. Then discard 1 card from the Quest deck for every player.
Greater Omen of the Harvester (number 3 on the tablet in the example) Every player places 1 Skeleton on a hex adjacent to their home hex, with a Curse if possible.
Combat with an Arch-Nemesis
When enemy Units enter a hex with an Arch-Nemesis, combat occurs normally, with an Archery round and Clash rounds, terrain effects, etc. Each Arch-Nemesis has its own combat ability (3) and Godpower (4). If an Arch-Nemesis is destroyed, read the effect at the bottom of the card (5). The 9 VP they give can be given to a single player or distributed among several.
The Kraken's combat strip shows no Archery dice (the Kraken skips Archery) and three black dice in the Clash row.
Example
Omens Phase
At the end of Chapter 1 in a 4-Player game with 4 Chapters, Syndra was the first player. She rolls her Hero dice after the Scoring phase, and gets 2 Bolts and 4 Skulls, enough to draw 2 Omens. She draws and reads them both, then selects one, the Greater Omen of the Empress. The effect of the Omen is resolved and the Omen is then placed on top of the Chapter IV event.
At the end of Chapter 2, Kha'al, now the first player, rolls his dice, and gets 3 Skulls only. He only draws one Omen, and it is the Lesser Omen of the Harvester. It is resolved and placed on top of the Chapter IV event.
On Chapter 3 Baranth rolls, and gets 2 Skulls and 1 Shield. He also draws just one Omen, and it is the Greater Omen of the Harvester. It is resolved and placed on top of the Chapter IV event.
Last Event Phase
On the Event Phase of Chapter 4, the Event is drawn, and the effect of the top of the card is generated. No other effects from the card happen. Then the players look at the Omens. It is bad news – The Empress has an Omen with 4 (1) on it, and The Harvester has a 1 (2) and a 3 (3), meaning both The Empress AND The Harvester will appear!
Since The Harvester has the lower initiative, his card and standee are placed first. Reading the placement side of the card, the standee is placed on the map, and 4 Activation tokens are placed on the Harvester's card, which is placed at the end of the Legions and Hordes row.
Then The Harvester is activated (this only happens once on the Event and Nemesis Phases, as it states on the card). The Harvester is moved, Skeletons are placed with him, and then the Skeletons on the map activate, with their new abilities. Each hex of Skeletons activates in order, finishing both activations before moving to the next one.
After the Harvester finishes its activation, The Empress arrives, following the exact same sequence. Regardless of the outcome, no more Omens will be drawn in Chapter 4. Good luck, rebels...
Expansion Factions
Azuhl, being long neglected by The Empire, has remained a refuge for myriad races seeking to survive. While not naturally allies to each other, given the circumstances, they have set aside their differences to try and escape their collective doom.
This expansion includes four new factions for you to play against Chaos and The Empire – the nimble Hokqan, the exiled Ytuma, the cautious Tua Than, and the Renegade Legion, an Imperial remnant.
The Tua Than
These shy ocean-dwellers have been driven out of their beautiful reef dwellings by the sudden freezing of the seas, and have had to leave much beauty behind them. Even though they abhor violence, the Isles of Azuhl have taught them to fight off any intruders.
The Tua Than and their armored mounts are extremely bulky, and have little desire to march about dry land. Every Command costs them 2 Food instead of 1.
The Renegade Legion
Led by a Drakh and her Orgon enforcer, the XIII Legion somehow broke their oath to The Emperor, a feat thought impossible. They are master engineers – when they place a Haven, it gains a Wall and Tower immediately, but they can not rebuild these in the Build Phase. Renegade Legion Havens cost 3 Plunder, and they can only have 4 Havens.
The XIII has little support among the locals of Azuhl, and so must apply Imperial methods of taxation to ensure their supplies. On Production, they generate twice the hex bonus shown where they have a Haven – they have no other resource production.
The Hokqan
Once the splendid rulers of Azuhl themselves, factionalism, and their long crusade against the Krowh, have left them scattered and few. They make their palaces in the increasingly decrepit ruins of The Ancients, claiming their glory for themselves, which The Krowh detest them for.
The Hokqan have only Elite Units – if they would gain any number of Basic Units from an effect, they gain 1 VP instead.
They only have 3 Havens, and these may not be placed adjacent to each other, for each prince among them claims sole rulership of their people.
The Ytuma
The Last Herd has traveled for leagues and leagues across the Ice Wastes to make a new home on the still-living pastures. The Ytuma are the only faction that can exceed the 5 Unit limit on a hex, instead they are only limited by their Herdsize. Ytuma may only roll 5 of their Unit dice – even if they have more Units in a combat.
The Herdsize of the Ytuma starts at 5 and is increased by 1 every time they place a Haven, to a maximum of 11. Losing a Haven does not lower the Herdsize. To keep track of the Herdsize, the Ytuma start the game with their Herd card (1) next to their player board. You can use a Threat Tracker to keep track every time you place a Haven (2).
It is common for the Ytuma to form quite a large force on one Hex – since not all Units will fit on that hex, you can use the Herd standee (3) as a placeholder and place all units on the Herd card. The herd standee is not a Unit, just a placeholder. You may replace it at any time with your Units, or vice versa.
Ytuma may not gain Walls or Towers. They are pastoralists who roam the plains, and not builders of cold stone cities.
Card: The Herd
The Herd card, as far as it is legible in the source, reads:
The herd standee is not a Unit, just a placeholder. You may replace it at any time with your Units and place your Units here, or vice versa.
Your Unit limit on a hex is equal to the Herdsize track. Place a Threat Tracker on this card starting at 5.
When you place a Haven, increase the [remaining text is cut off at the foot of the printed page and is not legible in the source].
The Herdsize track is printed from 11 at the top down to 7 on the visible part of the card; the lower values are cut off in the source.