Uprising: Titans of the First Age Expansion Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Aether
  • Generating Æther
  • Using Æther
• Mercenaries
  • Hiring Mercenaries
  • Destroyed Mercenaries
• Banes and Elite Dice
  • Banes
  • Immediate Effects & Banes
  • New Dice & Symbols
• Advanced Capitals
• New Factions
  • Titans of the First Age
  • The Nethersea Pirates
    • The Undernest
    • Example: Nethersea Pirates
• Difficulty
  • Valkyrie Variant
  • Ragnarok Variant
  • New Components

Aether

Æther is a new source of power, that is shared by all players. It symbolizes the influence of the Old Gods, and is used to either reroll all of your dice, or activate Godpowers.

Druid cards that come with this expansion will produce Æther in the Refresh Phase. If you want to use Æther in a game, replace the old Druid cards with the new, larger ones. They will cover the Terrain and Garrison/Skeleton rule reference, so we have included reference cards for those.

At the start of the game, ALL Druids are placed face-up. If you have the first printing of Uprising, ignore the "Reveal a Druid" step on the Chapter Track.

Generating Æther

At the beginning of the Refresh Phase, check the Druids for their Aether production and place Æther tokens on them. There are 7 Æther tokens in the game, stored in a bag. If they are all on the Druids, no more will be generated.

For your first game, or when playing on Rebel Difficulty, place 1 Æther on every Druid at the beginning of the game, and skip the first Generate Æther step.

Using Æther

Any player may remove 1 Æther from any Druid (put it back into the bag) to reroll ALL of their dice - once per roll. You may not assign any symbols or use feats, items or other effects on your roll, before you make this decision.

A player may also remove 1 Æther to activate the Godpower on the Druid card - once per roll. You may do both in the same roll, rerolling then activating a Godpower. You may even do this on a Curse.

Mercenaries

This expansion introduces 13 new Elite Units, that can be hired by any player. These are survivors of the Curse throughout the far-flung lands of Drakorea, escaping to Azuhl through the Sea Towers, seeking shelter and salt.

At the start of the game, place 1 Mercenary token on each Sea Tower. When explored, draw the top card from the Mercenaries Deck and place the card near the Sea Tower. The Mercenary can now be hired from that Sea Tower.

Hiring Mercenaries

While your Hero is in a hex with a Mercenary card, you may pay its cost to hire it. This does not cost you AP. Give its card to any player. That player now controls that Mercenary. It may share hexes with Havens and units of that player. The card counts against the 10-card hand limit.

Place its standee on any explored hex without enemy units. If the Sea Tower with a Mercenary token or card on it is removed from the game, remove the Mercenary token or card - it is no longer available.

NOTE: The Titans faction can not gain a Mercenary, but may buy them for another player normally.

Destroyed Mercenaries

When a Mercenary is destroyed, discard its card and place its standee in the graveyard. It is no longer a player Unit. It and all other Mercenaries count as the Mercenary faction in the Graveyard, and provide 2 VP to The Empire or Chaos. Remove the standee and card from the game after emptying the Graveyard.

If you discard a Mercenary card for any other reason, remove the standee and card from the game.

If you are playing the new Nethersea Pirates faction, and one of your Mercenaries is destroyed, do NOT discard the card and do NOT remove the standee from the game. You may hire it again in the Build Phase by paying the costs on its card. If you do not wish to play with Mercenaries, the Nethersea Pirates still start the game with 1 Mercenary, and are able to find more with their cards.

Banes and Elite Dice

Banes

This expansion adds 13 Imperial and 13 Chaos Banes tokens to the game. A Bane is a special ability for Legions and Hordes. When any Horde or Legion is drawn, draw 1 Bane from the respective bag and place it on the Horde or Legion card.

Immediate Effects & Banes

Finish the resolution of all immediate effects from Legions and Hordes first. Then resolve immediate Bane effects. Finally, begin any combats. This can result in a Legion or Horde moving two hexes without starting a combat if you play with the Chaos "Blitz" and Empire "Nethersea Ambush" Banes (feel free to remove these Banes if you do not want to see this).

When the Horde or Legion is destroyed, remove the Bane from the game, unless an ability allows you to take it. If you somehow empty a bag of Banes, return all the removed Banes to the bag.

If you are playing the new Titan faction, but you do not want to play with the Banes for Legions and Hordes, when a Titan would gain a Bane, draw 1 from the respective bag (maximum once per combat).

New Dice & Symbols

There are three new dice, bronze, silver and gold. They have a new symbol, the Star. A Star can be used as a wildcard, meaning the player can use it as any symbol: Skull, Shield, Bolt, or Blank. You may choose what symbol the Star is at any point in the roll.

Hordes and Legions rolling a Star gain 1 Shield and 1 Bolt per Star they roll.

Advanced Capitals

This expansion includes three new Advanced Capitals for you to choose from, which alter the behavior of the Legions that appear on it. At the start of the game, choose an Advanced Capital, or select a Capital randomly, and place it in the middle of the map, face-up. Take the matching card and place it to the left on the Nemesis area, for reference.

The Nethersea Capital is an Ice Waste for combat purposes. Legions activating there will always move to a Sea Tower first, even if they could reach their target in one move. In addition, while the Nethersea Capital is face-up, all Legions on a Sea Tower are adjacent to any hex, even if the Sea Tower is unexplored.

The Iron Capital is a Woods for combat purposes. Legions placed there will always target the Iron Capital, not a haven. When a Legion with a Target there activates, it moves to the adjacent hex with a haven, units, or least Imperial units, to create a ring of defenses for the Iron Capital. (The printed rulebook reads "or least Imperial units" here; this is transcribed as printed.) A Legion that leaves the Iron Capital will attempt to return there. Legions with Targets placed elsewhere follow all normal rules.

The Capital of Storms is a Badlands for combat purposes. Legions placed there gain 1 Activation Token. While this Capital is face-up, a player can have any number of Targets. Legions now target the closest Haven of any player, with the fewest Units, that does not already have a Target. The Capital of Storms can not have a Target placed on it - the Legion will always target a Haven instead, if possible.

Note: all Advanced Capitals retain the basic Capital ability to place a new Garrison on the map if a fourth Garrison would be placed there.

New Factions

Titans of the First Age

Playing a Titan is a bit like playing a Horde - they have a Threat tracker, and as they take damage, they lose Threat (and dice). If they are destroyed, return them to their Home Hex. When a Titan has no Threat, they are still a Hero, and their spirit can move freely as a Hero can - except not onto unexplored hexes!

When a Titan has Threat, they count as:

1. a Hero.
2. a number of Units equal to their Threat.
3. a Haven, producing resources and VP.

Titans use the following rules:

Move & Command: Titans have no Command Action - they just use Move. Titans can not enter an unexplored hex with the Move action and only move to adjacent hexes.

Primal Lore: Instead of Explore, Titans have the Primal Lore Action, which costs 2 AP, and allows an adjacent hex to be explored (or any Hex from a Sea Tower).

Devour: Titans may use the Devour action on their Hex if it has no cannot-gain-Haven icon, Curse, enemy Unit or Haven. They drink the energy of the land to gain benefits during Production and Scoring. This removes the hex from the map to the Titan player board.

Feast & Build: Titans gain Threat in two ways. During Build, you may spend 3 of any resources to either gain 1 Threat or 1 Bane from either bag. During Actions, you may take the Feast Action to gain 1 Threat, and may also discard up to 1 Bane to gain 1 additional Threat.

Titanic: No effect (except Titans themselves) can move a Titan. No effect that would attempt to do so (such as the Siren Horde's ability, or the Horn of Brotherhood Item) can affect a Titan. Titans also ignore effects that would affect Havens. They can take damage from any source, just like Units.

The Nethersea Pirates

The Nethersea Pirates use the following rules:

Bladeships are Havens for the Pirates, but they can also be moved on the map and provide archery dice. You begin the game with 1 Bladeship on your home hex. Bladeships can not gain Walls & Towers.

Build: You may build Bladeships on your Hero's hex or with another Bladeship, if that hex shows the Ice Waste symbol. You may build Units on any Bladeship.

Production: Bladeships generate the resources shown on their hex (but nothing if they are on a Curse), just like normal Havens. Your Player Board also shows increased production for having more Bladeships on the map.

Scoring: Every hex with no cannot-gain-Haven icon and one or more Bladeships is worth 2 VP (and any Bonus VP on the hex). A hex with more than one Bladeship only generates 2 VP.

Raid: The Raid Ability allows you to move your Units and or Hero onto adjacent Bladeships, before taking any other actions. This allows you to ferry your Units across the map if you build a chain of Bladeships. Taking another action stops you from Raiding, until you pass and it is your turn again.

NOTE: Raid costs zero AP.

Sail: This new action allows you to move three Bladeships once - the same Bladeship, or different ones. They must only be moved onto hexes showing the Ice Waste symbol (or a hex with a Curse that shows the Ice Waste symbol). Bladeships can also move through Sea Towers, just like Units. You may have any number of Bladeships on a hex, regardless of the 5 Unit limit (they are not Units) and the 1 Haven limit.

Combat: Bladeships dart in to fire their weapons during Archery. Adjacent hexes with Bladeships (including Sea Towers) add 1 white die of Archery to your Combat per hex. Bladeships do not have Archery dice in their own hex, or Clash dice, and take no damage.

The Undernest

The Undernest is a special type of "hex" you can play with one of your feats. It is the secret hideout of the Nethersea Pirates, and is only adjacent to Sea Towers (so you can not get there if no Sea Tower is explored). When you discard the feat, bring the new hex into play on the side of the map. It is otherwise like a normal hex - Legions and Hordes on Sea Towers can attack it as well. If the Undernest is removed somehow, or all Sea Towers are, place all Units and Heros from the Undernest on any explored empty Ice Waste on the map.

Example: Nethersea Pirates

Eyvind's first action is to Sail (1) two of his Bladeships from his home hex to form a chain to a Sea Tower. He passes, and when it is his turn next, he Raids (2) his Hero standee to be adjacent to the Sea Tower, then Moves and Explores (3), then passes.

His plan is to attack the Sea Tower, so he begins his next turn with Raid (4) to move his Units (for free) adjacent to the Sea Tower. He has only used 3 AP so far - now he is ready to attack with the Command Action.

Difficulty

Use one or more of these variants in combination with the difficulty settings in the Core Rulebook. Or even better, develop your own!

Valkyrie Variant

If you want a stronger start, give each player 2 additional Salt, Plunder and Food (for a total of 7 resources). For an even stronger start, give each player an additional action point (for a total of 9 AP).

Ragnarok Variant

Pair this variant with any difficulty for a more challenging game. Whenever Chaos is not able to:

• Place a Curse
• Place a Horde
• Raise the Threat of a Horde above maximum

Instead of giving 1 VP to Chaos, give 1 Threat to the Horde with the lowest Threat.

Whenever The Empire is not able to:

• Place a Garrison
• Place a Legion
• Raise the Threat of a Legion above maximum

Instead of giving 1 VP to The Empire, give 1 Threat to the Legion with the lowest Threat.

Note: the printed rulebook gives the Empire block above no heading of its own. It is the Empire counterpart of the Ragnarok Variant, and is placed under that heading here.

New Components

We love Uprising best with the following components from this expansion by difficulty:

Rebel Difficulty: Add Æther (and give yourself 4 to start), Advanced Druids, Items, hexes.

Veteran Difficulty: Add Æther, Advanced Druids, Items, hexes, Mercenaries, Quests, Events.

Nightmare & Apocalypse Difficulty: Add Æther, Advanced Druids, Items, hexes, Mercenaries, Quests, Events, Banes and Advanced Capitals.