Village Attacks Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Component Breakdown
• The Basics - Playing the Game
  • Setup
  • Winning & Losing
  • Dice
  • Monsters
  • Monster Dashboards
  • Monster Roles
  • Monster Abilities
  • Villagers
  • Monster & Villager Types
  • Melee & Ranged Attacks
  • Rooms & Corridors
  • Zones
  • The Castle Heart
  • Room Conditions
  • Line of Sight
  • Game Overview Tile
  • Trap Cards
  • Exhausting Decks
  • The First Player Coin
• Phases of Play
  • Monster Phase
  • Leaving a Villager Occupied Zone
  • Attacking with Dice Results
  • Defence
  • Reserve
  • Activating Abilities
  • Experience and Levelling Up
  • Maxing Out Abilities
  • Interacting with Objectives
  • Placing Traps
  • Death and Dying
  • Villager Phase
  • Town Heroes
  • Clean Up Phase
• Advanced Rules
  • Status Conditions
  • Full Zones and Heaving
  • Running Out of Miniatures
  • Day & Night Mode
  • The Troll
  • Summoning Monsters (Horrors of the Sands Expansion)
  • Yunfakh Hunters (Horrors of the Sands Expansion)
  • Minions
  • Player Difficulty Adjustments

Component Breakdown

• Game tiles — Used to construct the sprawling labyrinth of the castle interior, these tiles are used to create the many different missions and scenarios of Village Attacks.
• Game Overview tile — Used to keep track of Castle Heart Health, Village Morale, Village Events and Traps at your disposal.
• Monster dashboards — Each Monster comes with their own dashboard that displays their unique stats, abilities and type.
• Monster Ability tokens — Monsters may also level up and unlock new abilities, which are printed on their own tokens.
• Town Hero tokens — Town Heroes are special enemies that come with their own tokens that display their stats, type and special ability.
• Village Event cards — The Village Event deck periodically triggers random events such as additional Villager spawns and room status effects.
• Villager Spawn cards — Villagers will pour into the castle from designated Spawn points, and these cards indicate the amount and type of Villagers that will appear on any given tier.
• Trap cards — Traps can be purchased and placed by the Monsters around the castle to help fend off the onslaught of Villagers.
• Damage tokens — These tokens are placed on Monster dashboards and Town Hero tokens whenever they are damaged.
• Experience tokens — These tokens are awarded to Monsters for slaying Villagers and completing objectives and can be spent on new, more powerful abilities.
• Status tokens — Used to represent the various status effects that can happen during the game.
• Villager Spawn tokens — Used to indicate where on the map Villagers will spawn from.
• Objective tokens — Used to represent a specific goal that Monsters need to fulfil when playing a scenario.
• Type tokens — Used to assign a random type to Hunters as they spawn on the map.
• Room special condition tokens — These are placed on the map as a reminder that this room has a special condition attached in the scenario.
• Dice symbol tokens — Displaying the 5 useable faces of the dice, these tokens are used as placeholders on the Monster dashboards when the dice need to be passed to the next player.
• Day & Night token — This tokens represents whether the game is currently in Day or Night.
• First Player Coin — Used to identify the Monster who is the current first player. The coin is also used to decide when multiple possibilities are available.
• Custom dice — The currency and core of Village Attacks, gameplay is based around these custom dice.
• Day & Night dice — These dice have different symbol arrangements on their faces and are used when playing Day & Night mode.

The Basics - Playing the Game

Setup

1. Sort the pieces

Sort all card decks by their type and shuffle each one respectively. Before shuffling the Village Event deck, remove the 4 "TROLL!" cards and place them back in the box. Separate all tokens and markers and place them into separate piles.

2. Choose a scenario

Players choose a scenario that they wish to play, lay out the map tiles, and place any Villager spawn points, room tokens and objective tokens according to the scenario guidelines.

3. Choose your Monsters & claim their dashboards

Once you have decided on a scenario, each player must choose a Monster to play as. All Monsters have their own strengths and weaknesses and are always one of the 5 Monster types, so be sure to choose a variety to avoid falling prey to a particular type of Hunter and Town Hero. Place the Monsters you've chosen in the Castle Heart and nominate a first player for the opening round. This person is given the First Player coin.

4. Select type tokens & Town Heroes

Place type tokens matching the Monsters being used in your scenario into the dice bag. These will be used to determine Hunter types when spawning. Create the Town Hero deck by taking the 5 Town Hero tokens, shuffling them together and placing them face down by the board. The Town Hero deck should always be made up of at least 5 Town Heroes, but more can be added using expansions. If players wish to make a Town Hero deck of more than 5 Town Heroes, the types should remain balanced i.e. 2 Demon Town Heroes, 2 Mythic Town Heroes etc.

5. Set up the Game Overview tile

Each scenario will tell you where to set the starting values of the Castle Heart Health and Village Morale. Set the dials on the dashboard according to these values. Scenarios will also tell you the Village Event trigger point, which is also kept track of here.

6. Deal Villager Spawn & Trap cards

Finally, deal a Villager Spawn card for each Villager Spawn point and place those miniatures on the map. Deal 1 Trap card onto the Game Overview tile, and you're ready to begin!

Winning & Losing

To win the game, players must complete the objectives outlined in the scenario. Village Attacks is a co-operative game, so work together to defend the castle! The game is lost if the Villagers manage to reduce the Health of the Castle Heart to zero or if a fail condition is met.

Dice

The custom dice are the currency of Village Attacks that allow you to control your Monster, purchase Traps, and activate objectives. At the beginning of a Monster's turn the 6 custom dice are rolled, with 6 possible unique results:

Melee — deal 1 damage to an enemy in your zone

Ranged — deal 1 damage to an enemy in an adjacent zone

Magic — used for spells and healing

Defence — block up to 2 points of damage from a single attack

Retaliate — deal equal damage to an enemy that succesfully attacks you

Villager — advance a Villager furthest from the Castle Heart 1 zone

If 3 or more of the same result is rolled, then those results may be re-rolled. This effect can be chained, but all dice showing the same symbol must be re-rolled, including those placed in a Monster's Reserve. Villager symbols are considered unusable, as Monsters cannot spend these results when acting during their turn.

Monsters

Players in Village Attacks take on the roles of Monsters of folklore and legend. These Monsters come in a variety of types, each with their own strengths and weaknesses.

Monster Dashboards

A Monster's dashboard contains all of the important information that you need to know about the creature:

1. Name — The name of the Monster
2. Type — Every Monster will be one of the five Monster types in the game; Undead, Mythic, Cursed, Arcane & Demon.
3. Health — How much damage a Monster can take before being slain.
4. Experience — How much experience is needed to level up and gain a new ability, or improve a current one.
5. Defence — Defence & Retaliation dice results may be placed in these spaces to defend against and counter against incoming attacks.
6. Reserve — Dice results may be stored here indefinitely for use in later rounds.
7. Movement — Any dice (except Villager symbols) may be placed in these spaces to move the Monster. 1 dice result placed here moves a Monster a single zone.
8. Range — The range of the Monster's ability. If no range is displayed then the ability either has a range of 0 or range is irrelevant to the ability.
9. Ability name & description — The name of the ability and details of the effect it has.
10. Ability cost — The dice cost required to activate the ability.
11. Line of sight — If this symbol appears on a Monster's ability then a direct line of sight is not required between the Monster and its target.
12. Role — There are 3 roles that a Monster can be; Guardians, Supports and Decimators.

Monster Roles

There are 3 possible roles that Monsters can be:

Guardians — With a large Health pool and abilities that focus on disrupting the Villagers advances, Guardians are able to withstand great punishment whilst slowing the advance of the Villagers.

Supports — Some of the most versatile Monsters available are Supports, as their wide range of abilities allow them to aid their allies with healing, Villager manipulation and movement enhancing abilities.

Decimators — Powerful but easily slain, Decimators are able to deal the most damage to the enemy forces but must be protected from direct conflict.

When choosing Monsters for any scenario, a maximum of 1 Guardian and 1 Decimator can be used. Any additional Monsters must be Supports.

Monster Abilities

Each Monster has three unique abilities at their disposal. The first of these abilities is available at the very beginning of the game, whilst the other two must be unlocked as the game progresses. Each ability has a basic and an advanced version which must be unlocked in order. New abilities are purchased with experience gained from slaying Villagers and completing objectives.

Basic ability example — Wail of the Damned (Banshee): All Peasants in your zone are Stunned.

Advanced ability example — Comb Trap (Banshee): Target zone becomes Unlucky.

Villagers

Villagers are the antagonistic force that seek to storm the castle and end your reign of terror! There are 4 known kinds of Villagers:

1. Peasants

Weak and stupid but vast in number, Peasants make up the bulk of the force assaulting your castle. They have 1 Health, 1 attack action, 0 range and move a single zone.

2. Hunters

Would-be adventurers with a taste for Monster hunting, Hunters are a much more dangerous foe. They have 1 Health, 1 attack action, 1 range and move a single zone.

3. Yunfakh Hunters (Horrors of the Sands expansion)

The Yunfakh are an elite fighting guild that spend their lives training to hunt the evils of the world. They have the same stats as regular Hunters, but are so agile they can only be hurt by attacks and abilities made in their zone

4. Town Heroes

Your presence has attracted the most famous and renowned heroes from all corners of the earth! Town Heroes have their own unique stats that you'll find printed on their Town Hero token.

Villager Miniatures

Both the Peasant and Hunter Villagers have multiple miniatures that represent them. These variations have no gameplay effect, and simply add variety to the game. When selecting Peasants and Hunters, it does not matter which specific sculpt is chosen.

Monster & Villager Types

One of the fundamental mechanics of Village Attacks is the type system. Every Monster has a type, which is displayed on their dashboard. Each Town Hero has a type, indicated on their Town Hero token, and Hunters are assigned a type at random when they spawn onto the map. There are 5 possible types: Arcane, Cursed, Demon, Mythic, and Undead.

Hunters and Town Heroes that match a Monster's type deal +1 damage to them, so it's important to avoid them whenever possible!

Melee & Ranged Attacks

A melee attack is defined as an attack that has no range and can only target the zone the attacker is in. A ranged attack is an attack that can target zones beyond that of the attacker's.

Rooms & Corridors

Scenarios are constructed using map tiles of varying sizes. There are 3 types of map tile; corridors, small rooms and large rooms. Understanding the difference between room types is important when placing Traps, as most Traps may only be placed in specific types of rooms.

Zones

Each individual tile is considered a single zone, regardless of size and shape.

The Castle Heart

Within the walls of the castle lies a room unlike any other. Great stones, inscribed with symbols from a language long forgotten by the world, emanate an ancient magic that is bound to the very essence of the creatures that gather to it. The Castle Heart must be protected at all costs, as failure to protect the heart from the onslaught of the Villagers will result in all being lost!

Not only does the Castle Heart contribute to the Monster's long term vitality, it also may benefit them during play. Any Monsters occupying the Castle Heart may spend Magic symbols to restore their health and remove status effects. 1 Magic symbol removes 1 damage or 1 status effect from a Monster's dashboard. Monsters can only heal themselves in this way, not other Monsters in the zone.

Room Conditions

Many rooms have special unique conditions that affect how a scenario plays. If a room condition is active, the scenario will tell you this and a Room Condition token should be placed onto the tile to remind players that the room has a special effect in that scenario. Should no special conditions be specified, then that room has no special conditions for that scenario has no impact on play.

Line of Sight

Monsters and Villagers can see in straight lines that run parallel with the board, no matter the distance.

Line of sight example — The Banshee and the Peasants are in view of each other and may be targeted by each other's attacks and abilities. The Hunters however are not in the Banshee's line of sight, and may not be targeted by her unless she moves into the zone containing the Peasants.

Game Overview Tile

The Game Overview tile keeps track of important information as you play the game:

1. Castle Heart — These keep track of the current Health of the Castle Heart. The starting values of the dials are set according to the scenario and the game is lost if these ever reach zero.
2. Village Morale — These keep track of the current level of Village Morale, which is depleted by slaying Villagers and completing objectives. The starting values of the dials are set according to the scenario.
3. Village Event deck spaces — During setup the Village Event deck is shuffled and placed here. When the Village Event dial reaches certain points that are indicated in the scenario, the top card from the Village Event deck is revealed and its effects are played out immediately.
4. Village Event dial — This dial is advanced at the beginning of the Villager Phase by the number of Monsters in play. Village Events are triggered periodically when this dial reaches a certain number as indicated in the scenario.
5. Trap slots — A Trap card is dealt here during setup, and then throughout the game at a rate of one at the end of each game round. Only Trap cards placed here are available for purchase.

Trap Cards

Traps are essential in holding back the near endless tide of Villagers and there are 2 keys stages to remember; Placing Traps and Triggering Traps.

Placing Traps

Traps may be purchased with your dice results during your Monster's turn by paying the cost at the top of the Trap card. If a Monster wishes to purchase a Trap, they must satisfy the following conditions:

• It's their turn
• They are in a zone the Trap can be placed
• They can pay the cost of the Trap

The effect of the Trap is explained below the Trap's name, and the symbols at the bottom of the card indicate which zones the Trap can be placed in and which Villagers the Trap affects.

Villager-type icons: All Villagers, Peasant, Hunter, Town Hero.

Room-type icons: All Rooms, Corridor, Large Room, Small Room.

Triggering Traps

Traps are triggered during the Villager Phase after Villager movement and before new Villagers are spawned. They also:

• ONLY trigger if there is a Villager present in the zone at this specific stage of the Villager Phase (with the exception of the Treasure Hoard, see page 16)
• ARE NOT triggered by Villagers passing through and ending their movement in zones beyond.
• ARE triggered by all types of Villagers, regardless of whether the Trap affects them or not.
• CANNOT be removed from play until they have been triggered.

If multiple Traps trigger simultaneously then players may choose in which order to resolve them. Each zone can accommodate a single Trap at a time.

Trap trigger example — The Vampire is in the Library and decides to purchase the Chandelier Trap with one of his Melee dice results. During the Villager Phase, the Peasants in the adjacent zone move up, and once all Villagers have moved the Trap is triggered. The Trap deals 2 damage, slaying 2 Peasants and pushing the surviving Peasants back 1 zone.

Exhausting Decks

Whenever the Village Spawn, Village Event or Trap decks have been exhausted, the cards or tokens should be reshuffled and put back into play immediately.

The First Player Coin

If there is ever a time when playing the game that a decision must be made from several possibilities which are out of your control, such as the target of the Villagers attacks when multiple targets are in range, then the First Player Coin is used to decide the outcome. The players as a group narrow down the choices to 2 possible results, assign each one heads or tails and the current first player flips the coin.

Phases of Play

Each game round consists of 3 phases, played out in the following order: 1. Monster Phase, 2. Villager Phase, 3. Clean Up.

1. Monster Phase

The Monster with the First Player Coin rolls their dice and then spends them to perform actions such as moving, attacking and activating abilities. Once they have finished the next Monster takes their turn and so forth, moving in a clockwise fashion around the board until all Monsters have had their turn. Then the Villager Phase begins.

2. Villager Phase

Next is the Villager phase. First, the Village Event wheel is advanced by the amount of Monsters playing the scenario. Events trigger when this number reaches a certain point, which is specified in each scenario. Next, all Villagers on the board attack any targets within range and move towards the Castle Heart, always in that order. Traps placed on the board that can be triggered are now set off, and finally new Villagers are spawned. Players may take turns to control the Villagers' movements and attacks, or may select one person to do so for the entire game.

3. Clean Up Phase

Lastly is the Clean Up Phase. Any expired tokens and cards are removed from play, a new Trap card is dealt onto the Game Overview tile (if able to) and the First Player Coin is handed clockwise around the table so that a new Monster acts first during the next round.

Monster Phase

The Monster Phase begins with the player currently holding the First Player Coin. The custom dice are rolled, and the results may be spent to move, attack, defend, activate an ability, purchase Traps and even be stored for later use.

Spending Dice Results

At the beginning of every Monster's turn, the 6 custom dice are rolled and placed onto their Monster's portrait. The results rolled make up the pool of resources that the Monster may draw from this round. Dice results may be spent in whatever order the player wishes. When a dice result has been spent, it should be removed from the Monster's portrait and placed in the appropriate space on the dashboard or off to one side of the dashboard if it has been spent in a way that does not allow placement, such as using Melee and Ranged symbols to make direct attacks.

Spending dice example — The Banshee has rolled 1 Melee, 2 Ranged, 2 Magic and 1 Defence. She could spend 1 Melee to slay a Peasant in her zone and 1 Ranged to slay the Peasant in the adjacent zone, but she'd need to move out of her current zone to use her last Ranged to slay the final Peasant in the zone in which we started.

Re-rolling Dice

If 3 or more of the same result is rolled then a player may choose to re-roll those dice. This effect can be repeated as many times as 3 identical results are rolled. If a player wishes to re-roll dice symbols then all symbols must be re-rolled, including any in Reserve. No dice should be spent or Villager symbols resolved until a player has completely finished re-rolling results.

Dice re-roll example — The Dullahan rolls his dice and gets a Melee, 2 Magic and 3 Defence. The 3 Defence can be re-rolled, so he decides to do so and rolls 1 Melee, 1 Magic and 1 Ranged. The 3 Magic could also be re-rolled, but the Dullahan is satisfied with the result and decides to play out his turn.

Villager Activation Symbols

When Villager Activation symbols are rolled, a single Villager from the zone furthest from the Castle Heart is moved 1 zone closer towards the Castle Heart. If there are multiple zones that are equidistant from the Castle Heart, then the lesser enemy always activates first (Peasants < Hunters < Town Heroes). If there are multiple zones of an equal distance to the Castle Heart that contain lesser enemies, such as 2 zones both containing Peasants equally distant from the Castle Heart, then players nominate 2 of the zones, assign them head and tails and flip the First Player Coin.

If a Monster rolled multiple Villager Activation results then they should attempt to resolve all of these in the same zone, rather than flipping the coin for each result.

Villager activations never cause the Villagers to attack, only move, except for in the rare case that all Villagers in play are in the Castle Heart. In this case a Villager activation causes the Villager to attack.

Movement

A Monster may spend any useable dice symbols to move around the castle (Villager symbols are the only symbols that are considered unusable). Moving 1 zone cost 1 die. Monsters may only move to zones that are adjacent and have doorways that are in alignment. Each Monster has a limited number of movement actions available to them, and they may not spend more dice on movement than the Monster's dashboard will allow.

Movement example — The Banshee wants to return to the Castle Heart to restore some Health. She has 3 Movement slots on her dashboard, meaning that she can reach her destination this turn. She decides to spend her Ranged to slay a Peasant in the adjacent zone, and then spends 2 Melee and 1 Magic to reach the Castle Heart. She still has 2 Magic left, so she uses them to remove 2 points of damage.

Leaving a Villager Occupied Zone

Hindered & Unhindered

To leave a zone containing Villagers, a Monster's remaining Health must be greater than the number of Villagers in the zone (the type of Villager is irrelevant). A Monster's remaining Health is their 'Health' (top right corner of the dashboard) minus the number of damage tokens on their dashboard. Being unable to leave the zone is known as being Hindered and Monsters may not leave until their Health is once again greater than the number of Villagers occupying the zone. If a Monster's ability allows them to move Unhindered, then they are able to leave Villager occupied zones without restriction as if no Villagers were present.

Tile placement note — When placing tiles for gameplay, doorways must line up for them to be usable. The tiles touching isn't enough.

Attacking with Dice Results

There are 2 symbols that may be used to cause immediate damage, the Melee and Ranged symbols. The Melee symbol deals 1 damage to an enemy in your current zone, whereas the Ranged symbol deals 1 damage to an enemy in a zone adjacent to your location. Slaying a Peasant or a Hunter reduces the Village Morale by 1, whereas slaying a Town Hero reduces the Villager Morale by 2.

Targeting Priority

If several different types of Villagers occupy the zone that you are attacking, then damage must be dealt to them in the following order:

1. Peasants
2. Hunters
3. Town Heroes

This order applies to all actions towards Villagers (Traps, Monster abilities, etc.) Certain Monster abilities allow you to target Villagers in an order of your choice, and these are distinguished from other abilities as they always begin with the word choose. In situations when there are variants of the same Villager type in the same zone, such as multiple Town Heroes or Hunters of varying types, then players decide which Villager they wish to target.

Defence

Defence and Retaliate symbols may be placed in the Defence slots of the Monster dashboards to prepare for incoming attacks. Defence symbols block up to 2 damage from a single attack, but multiple Defence symbols may not be combined to block powerful attacks. They can be used to block the damage from an attack but not any additional effects or conditions of the attack. Retaliate symbols do not stop incoming damage, but deal an equal amount of damage back to the attacker. An equal amount of damage is dealt back to the attacker even if it is more than enough to slay the defending Monster. Enemies slain by Retaliate award experience to the target Monster. If the Monster is the target of multiple attacks, then players may choose which attacks they wish to Defend and Retaliate against.

Retaliation note — In some rare cases, a Retaliation may slay a Town Hero before all of the damage from their attack has been dealt. If this ever happens, deal all of the damage from the Town Hero's attack before removing them from the board.

Defence example — It's the Villager Phase and there's 2 Peasants and a Mythic Hunter that are about to attack, but the Dullahan had placed 2 Defence and 1 Retaliate in his Defence on his turn, so he's ready to deal with them. The Peasants attack first, so he decides to block one of the attacks with a Defence and retaliate against the other with his Retaliate. He takes 1 damage from the Peasant, but also deals 1 damage and slays her. The Hunter is next to attack, and is the same type as the Dullahan! Luckily Defence blocks up to 2 points of damage from a single attack, so he uses his final Defence to prevent the damage from the Mythic Hunter. All symbols placed in the Defence slots are discarded as they are used.

Reserve

Dice results may be placed here and stored indefinitely until you wish to use them in later rounds. The cost of this is that 1 less die is rolled at the start of the Monster's turn for each symbol held in Reserve. If a player has symbols in Reserve at the beginning of their turn, they may elect to discard these and roll the die/dice instead. This must be done before any dice are rolled.

Reserve example — In this example, the Lich has rolled 2 Magic, 2 Ranged, 1 Melee and 1 Retaliate. The Lich has a very large Reserve, and so is in a good position to plan for future rounds. A Ranged and Magic are needed to activate Soul Arrow, but Lich has rolled 2 of each of these results, so is able to store these in its Reserve and activate its ability instantly in the future.

Activating Abilities

To activate a Monster's ability, the Monster must pay the cost displayed next to the ability. If no cost is shown, then the ability is a passive one and activates automatically when triggered or is always in effect. Each ability may only be used once per round and only lasts for the duration of the round. If a Monster is slain, then any effects of their abilities that would usually persist until the end of the round end with their death, except for abilities that place status effects on zones/Villagers, such as the Banshee's Comb Trap. These continue to persist until they expire.

Damaging a zone note — If a Monster ability refers to it damaging a zone, this means that the damage is dealt in that zone and distributed according to the attacking priority order, with Peasants taking the damage first, then Hunters and finally Town Heroes.

Experience and Levelling Up

Experience is gained by slaying Villagers and completing objectives. When experience is awarded to a Monster, experience tokens are collected and placed onto the Monster dashboard. Once a Monster has experience tokens equal to their experience value, they instantly level up and may either:

Choose a new ability

OR

Upgrade an existing ability

When the player has decided which ability they wish to gain, the spent experience tokens are removed from the Monster's dashboard and the new ability token is placed onto the Monster's dashboard, and may be used immediately. If an ability has been upgraded from its lesser version then it can be used again this round, so long as the Monster can afford to activate it.

If an ability that's effects persist until the end of the round had been activated but then levelled up, such as the Banshee's A Death Foretold or the Dullahan's Basin of Blood, then the cost of the ability must be spent again to reactivate it.

Different amounts of experience are awarded for slaying Villagers, depending on the Villager slain:

Villager Type	Experience Awarded
Peasant	1
Hunter	1
Town Hero	2 (3 if the same type)

Levelling up example — The Dullahan has just gained enough experience to level up and decides to unlock the first level of his Whiplash ability. Newly unlocked abilities can be used immediately, so he spends 1 Retaliate to activate Whiplash and slays a Hunter in his zone, but Whiplash causes the Dullahan's Melee to damage a second enemy of the same type, so the other Hunter is also slain.

Maxing Out Abilities

Should a Monster ever reach a point where they have purchased all available abilities, then levelling up takes on a different effect. Rather than gaining a new ability, they may instead remove 1 point of damage or status condition from their own Monster Dashboard, much like spending Magic symbols in the Castle Heart.

Interacting with Objectives

Objectives can be interacted with in a variety of ways and will always be explained in the scenario, but most commonly they require dice symbols to be spent. This is done in the exact same way as spending any other dice in the game.

Placing Traps

Traps are available to purchase from the Game Overview tile. If a Monster wishes to purchase a Trap, they must satisfy the following conditions:

• It's their turn
• They are in a zone the Trap can be placed
• They can pay the cost of the Trap

If all of these conditions are met, then the Monster may purchase the Trap. Traps are placed immediately and may not be held onto. They activate at a specific point in the Villager Phase, after all Villagers have moved and before new Villagers spawn. Traps are triggered by any Villager, not just Villagers that are affected by the Trap. This makes the placement of Traps important, as they can potentially be triggered by the wrong type of Villager wandering through, rendering them useless! Damage from Traps is subject to the same targeting priority order as damage dealt by Monsters. Villagers slain by Traps award no experience, but still decrease Village Morale.

Treasure Hoard note — All Traps trigger at a specific point in the Villager Phase, with the exception of the Treasure Hoard. This Trap is unique and its effect triggers as soon as an eligible Villager enters its zone and persists for the duration of the round.

Death and Dying

If a Monster ever receives enough damage tokens to equal their Health then the Monster is slain. All damage, experience tokens, status effects tokens and dice symbols are removed from their dashboard (unlocked abilities are kept) and the miniature is removed from the board and placed on the Monster's dashboard. When the Monster would next activate, it is placed back on the board in the Castle Heart, and the Castle Heart suffers 2 damage. If there are multiple Castle Heart tiles in the scenario, Monsters always begin the scenario in CH-1 and, if a Monster is slain, the player may choose which one they would like their Monster to revive in. The Monster is now back in play and may take its turn as normal immediately. Monsters must revive if able to, unless doing so would reduce the Castle Heart Health to 0, in which case they cannot.

Dying whilst levelling up note — Should a Monster ever be slain by an attack that would also cause them to gain experience and level up, then the Monster is awarded the experience, levels up and chooses a new ability before being slain.

Villager Phase

The Villager phase is made up of 4 distinct actions, which must always happen in the order listed. Players may elect a single person to resolve the Villager phase for the entire game, or may take turns in doing so:

1. Advance Village Event Dial

The Village Event dial keeps track of when Village Events are triggered. At the start of the Villager phase, the dial advances 1 for every Monster playing the scenario. Each scenario will dictate when Village Events are triggered, and when this number is reached or passed the top card of the Village Event deck is revealed and its effects are played out immediately.

Triggering multiple events note — Should the Village Event wheel advance past multiple trigger points in a single round then multiple Village Events are triggered and played out in order.

Villager Type	Movement Actions	Attack Actions	Range	Damage Per Attack
Peasant	1	1	0	1
Hunter	1	1	0-1	1 - to Monsters of a different type; 2 - to Monsters of the same type
Town Hero	—	—	—	Stipulated on Town Hero token

2. Enemy Attacks & Movement

All Villagers now attack and then move, always in that order. Players activate each Villager one by one, starting in the zone(s) closest to the Castle Heart and working outward from there. In each zone Peasants are activated first, then Hunters and finally Town Heroes. Villagers that can attack at range can target zones in any direction, whether it is in front of, behind or adjacent to them. If a Monster is within range then they attack that Monster and move their maximum movement allowance towards the Castle Heart. If no Monsters are in range then Villagers simply move towards the Castle Heart. Villagers' attacks are always a success, unless a modifier such as an ability or Trap affects this.

3. Trigger Traps

At this point any Traps that can be triggered are triggered, and their effects are played out. Traps must be triggered if able. Villagers slain by Traps award no experience, but still decrease Village Morale.

4. Villagers Spawn

New Villagers are spawned onto the map by drawing from the Villager Spawn deck.

Village Event Cards

The Village Event deck is shuffled and placed face down on the Game Overview tile at the beginning of the game, and cards are drawn from it when the Village Event wheel reaches a particular value, as indicated in the scenario. When a Village Event card is put into play, its effects are resolved immediately and the card is placed face up next to the Village Event deck.

Village Event card examples — "The rabble appears": Spawn 3 Peasants in the closest corridor to the Castle Heart. "Sharpened weapons II": Hunters deal +1 damage.

There are 2 types of Village Event card; single and persistent effect. When a single effect card is played, the card is resolved immediately and just once. When a persistent effect card is played, the effects of the card continue until the next Village Event card is drawn. Persistent effects cards are marked with the persistent-effect symbol.

Villager Attacking & Target Priority

Damage dealt by Villagers is automatic and requires no dice rolls. Villagers do not harm other Villagers when attacking. The Villagers also have a targeting priority that explains who they will target if multiple options are available to them:

1. Nemesis — Hunters and Town Heroes will always attack a Monster that share their type above all others.
2. Castle Heart — The next most important target for the Villagers is the Castle Heart.
3. Monsters in their zone — Villagers will always target Monsters in their current zone above Monsters in adjacent zones.
4. Monsters in an adjacent zone — Lastly, Villagers will attack Monsters in adjacent zones. Villagers do not prioritise Monsters closer to them if their range is greater than just their adjacent zones.

Multiple targets note — If there is ever more than 1 possible target of the Villagers attacks of the same priority level, then players reduce the choice to 2 possible outcomes, assign those heads and tails and flip the First Player Coin. This is done for each attack.

Villager Action Priority

If there are multiple types of Villagers in the same zone, they act in the following order:

1. Peasants
2. Hunters
3. Town Heroes

In situations when there are variants of the same Villager type in the same zone, such as multiple Town Heroes or Hunters of varying types, then players decide which order they act in.

Villager Movement

The Villager's true goal is the Castle Heart, and they will stop at nothing to reach it! After a Villager has attacked, it now moves its maximum movement allowance towards the Castle Heart.

Multiple Paths

If there is ever a time when more than one path is available, assign the 2 possible zones heads and tails and flip the First Player Coin to decide which path they take. If more than 2 paths are possible, players choose 2 zones and flip the coin. This is done for each type of Villager and Villager types move as a group. (1 coin flip = 1 Villager type)

Multiple paths example — The Villagers have arrived at a corridor where the path splits, so the First Player Coin will need to be flipped to see where they go. The 2 possible zones are assigned heads and tails, and the coin is flipped. The first result is heads, so the Peasants are moved up into the Armoury. The Hunters are a different type of Villager, so the coin needs to be flipped again to see what direction they head in. This time the result is tails, so the Hunters head into the Courtyard.

Villager Spawning

The last step of the Villager Phase is to spawn new Villagers. Each scenario will dictate where Villagers appear on the map with the placement of Villager Spawn tokens. Players nominate a Villager Spawn token and draw a Villager Spawn card. The card will tell you exactly how many and what type of enemy to spawn. Repeat this for every Villager Spawn token in play.

Spawning Hunters & Assigning Types

Whenever Hunters spawn onto the map, they must be assigned a type. First, draw a type token at random from the dice bag; this is the type of Hunter that has appeared. Return the token to the bag, and then place the number of Hunters in the zone as listed on the Villager Spawn card with the matching coloured clip on bases. Hunter types are assigned as a group per spawn card, not per individual miniature. Villagers and Monsters of the same type are referred to as Nemesis.

Seasoned Hunters

Only 5 of each type of regular Hunter and 3 of each type of Yunfakh Hunter may be in play at any one time and only Hunters matching the Monster types in play should be spawned. If there is ever a time when players are unable to spawn Hunters matching the Monster types in play, then Hunters without coloured clip on bases should be spawned, and these are referred to as Seasoned Hunters. Seasoned Hunters are incredibly dangerous and are considered to be all types, dealing additional damage to all Monsters, so they must be dealt with quickly!

Spawning Tiers

There are 3 different levels of Villager spawns; Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3. At key points during the scenarios the spawn tier will increase and a greater number of Villagers will begin to spawn. The no-spawn symbol means that the card does not cause Villagers to spawn on that particular tier, and another card should be drawn immediately.

Town Heroes

Town Heroes are the most dangerous type of Villagers you will face. They are faster and stronger than any other foe you will face, and as such have their own Town Hero token that displays their unique stats:

1. Name — Town Hero name
2. Special Ability — Each Town Hero has their own special ability that bestows a unique bonus upon them, and potentially others around them
3. Type — The Town Hero's type
4. Health — The amount of damage required to slay the Town Hero
5. Speed — The number of zones the Town Hero will move per round
6. Damage — The amount of damage the Town Hero deals each time it attacks
7. Range — The range of the Town Hero's attacks

Example Town Hero — Alchemist (Arcane). Special ability "Volatile Concoction": Attacks deal 2 damage to all targets in the zone.

When setting up a scenario, the 5 Town Hero tokens are shuffled and placed in a pile face down, creating the Town Hero deck. When a Villager Spawn card indicates that a Town Hero should be spawned, reveal the top Town Hero token and place that Town Hero into play. Any damage or status effects dealt to the Town Hero are placed onto its Town Hero token. Once a Town Hero has been slain, its Town Hero token is placed at the bottom of the Town Hero deck, ready to be spawned again if needed. The same Town Hero can spawn multiple times in the same scenario.

Expanding the Town Hero Deck

Should players wish to use the Town Heroes found in Village Attacks add ons they may use these in any scenario they wish, but a Town Hero deck should always contain one of each type of Town Hero. If players own more than one type of Town Hero, it is recommended Town Heroes are sorted by type and 1 token is chosen of each type at random to construct the Town Hero deck. The Town Hero deck is not limited to 5 tokens however, so long as an equal number of types are represented in the deck.

Clean Up Phase

Lastly is the Clean-up phase. Any expired Traps or tokens are removed from the game board. All dice results that are not in a Monster's Reserve are cleared from their dashboards.

Advanced Rules

Status Conditions

There are 3 distinct types of status conditions:

• Status conditions that affect Monsters
• Status conditions that affect Villagers
• Status conditions that affect zones

Status Conditions that Affect Monsters

Monster status conditions are represented by tokens that are placed on the Monster's dashboard. These effects are persistent and do not expire at the end of the round and can only be removed by spending 1 Magic symbol whilst in the Castle Heart. 1 status condition is removed for each Magic symbol spent in this way.

Sunder — If a Monster becomes sundered, place a Sunder token over one of their Defence spaces. Defence symbols cannot be placed on the sundered space until the Sunder token has been removed.

Silence — Silence hampers a Monster's ability to store dice results. When a Monster is afflicted by Silence, place a Silence token over one of their Reserve spaces. Dice results cannot be placed on the silenced space until the Silence token has been removed.

Slow — If a Monster suffers from Slow, a Slow token is placed on one of their Movement spaces. Movement can be reduced down to a minimum of 1 space, but a Monster must always have at least 1 Movement space available.

Sunder, Silence & Slow note — If you are attempting to place a Sunder, Silence or Slow token but the Monster's slots are currently full, the token automatically replaces one of the dice in those slots. The player may choose which die to discard.

Burn — When a Burn is inflicted onto a Monster, a Burn token is placed onto the Monster's dashboard. The Monster now takes 1 damage at the beginning of their activation until the Burn has been removed. Monsters may only suffer from a single Burn at any given time and damage from Burn cannot be blocked using dice symbols.

Stun — When a Monster is Stunned, a Sunder token is placed onto one of their Defence slots and their miniature is laid on its side. When the Monster would next activate, return the miniature to a standing position and suffer a penalty of -1 die rolled this turn. If a Monster is Stunned during their turn, their turn automatically ends, their miniature is laid on its side and they suffer the penalty of -1 die on their next activation. Stunned Monsters are targeted by Villagers' attacks as they normally would be.

Status Conditions that Affect Villagers

Stun — When a Villager becomes stunned, their miniature is laid onto its side and a number of conditions take affect:

• The Villager misses its next activation
• They are no longer considered in the attacking priority order for Monsters, but are when resolving Traps
• They are not added to the total Villager count when deciding whether a Monster is Hindered

Stunned Villagers are returned to a standing position once they have missed their activation. Stunning should be treated the same as attacking regarding targeting priority order, unless an ability or effect dictates otherwise. Stunned Villagers can be targeted by Monsters attacks and abilities.

Burn — Just as with Monsters, burned Villagers take 1 damage at the beginning of their activation, and every future activation.

Villagers slain by Burn award no experience, but still decrease Village Morale.

Status Conditions that Affect Zones

The final type of status conditions do not affect specific miniatures, instead they affect the entire zone and everyone is subject to their effects. These status conditions expire at the end of the round, unless a Village Event causes them to persist.

Unlucky — If a zone becomes Unlucky, all attacks made in that zone by both Monsters and Villagers have a chance of failure. Anytime an attack is attempted from an Unlucky zone, flip the First Player Coin:

Heads - The attack is a success

Tails - The attack fails and no damage is dealt.

Unlucky only affects attacks made inside the zone suffering from Unlucky, so ranged attacks made into the zone from another zone are not affected. Damage dealt from Traps or Burn is also unaffected by Unlucky. Unlucky does not affect Monster abilities that do not deal damage, such as the Vampire's Regeneration, the Banshee's Comb Trap or the Dullahan's Unstoppable.

Darkness — Should a zone become inflicted with Darkness, no ranged attacks may be made into or out of the zone. Abilities that require line of sight may not be cast into or used in a zone suffering from Darkness, and Darkness also interrupts line of sight meaning attacks and abilities may not be cast through zones suffering from Darkness. Abilities that do not require line of sight are unaffected.

Full Zones and Heaving

A miniature is legally considered to be in the zone if more than 50% of its base is within the tile. Tokens should not be considered when deciding the fullness of a zone, and it is assumed that they take up no physical space. If a zone ever becomes so full that no other miniatures can physically fit onto the tile, then Villagers attempting to enter the target zone cause Heave. Heaving is when a Villager of the same type is forced 1 zone towards the Castle Heart by the shortest route possible. The miniature that caused the Heave immediately moves into the zone it was attempting to enter. If a Villager of the same type is not available, the next Villager in the targeting priority is Heaved. Heave works both ways, so if enemies are forced away from the Castle Heart then the same rules apply but in reverse. Monsters can also cause a Heave by entering a full zone, immediately forcing the lesser enemy 1 zone towards the Castle Heart.

Heave example — The Hunters are attempting to move into the next zone, but it's already full so their movement causes 3 Peasants to immediately move up into the next zone. The Hunters then move up into the zone that they forced the Peasants from.

Running Out of Miniatures

If at any time you should spawn a miniature but cannot do so, a miniature of the same type of enemy that you're trying to spawn that is in play gets an additional activation. This is resolved in the exact same way that Villager Activation symbols are.

Day & Night Mode

For those who are seeking an even greater challenge, every scenario in Village Attacks can be played in Day & Night mode, an optional gameplay mode that will test even the toughest of Monsters!

Day & Night Dice

When playing Day & Night mode, players swap one of their regular dice for the die corresponding with whether it is day or night. Monsters are more powerful at night and weaker during the day, and the symbols on these dice reflect this.

Night Die — The Night die allows the Monsters to play more aggressively. Its faces have 3 Melee and 3 Ranged symbols.

Day Die — On the Day die 2 faces are blank and 4 faces have the Villager symbol. Blank faces are unusable results that are discarded immediately.

There are also a couple of special rules relating to these dice:

• Day and Night dice cannot be re-rolled and do not count towards the triggering of re-rolls.
• Day and Night dice results cannot be stored in Reserve and must be spent on that turn or discarded.
• The Day and Night dice should always be rolled If the player is subject to a penalty, such as -1 die rolled, then a regular die is always the one that is deducted. The Day and Night dice should always be rolled.

The Day/Night Cycle and its Effects

To begin playing a scenario in Day & Night mode, players take the Day & Night token and flip it to determine which phase the game begins in now. From there, the following rules now apply:

Day

• Each Monster rolls 5 normal dice and the Day die at the beginning of their turn.
• At the beginning of a Day round, each Monster removes 2 experience tokens from their dashboard. If they are unable to remove experience tokens, they suffer 1 damage for each experience token they cannot remove. This is not done on the first round if the scenario brings in the Day.
• Monsters do not collect experience for any Villagers they slay during the Day. Experience gained from objectives is still collected and Village Morale is still decreased as normal.

Night

• Each Monster rolls 5 normal dice and the Night die at the beginning of their turn.
• Monsters are rewarded with +1 experience for any Villagers they slay during the Night.

At the end of every round, the very last thing that is done is the Day & Night token is turned over so that the next round begins in the opposite phase. This is done at the end of every round, so that Day & Night alternate evenly.

The Troll

The Troll is a Village Event that adds a hulking, random force of destruction to any game! To setup the Troll:

• Take the 4 Troll! Village Event cards and remove 1 at random.
• Shuffle the other 3 into the Village Event deck and place face down on the Game Overview tile.
• Draw the top 2 cards form the Village Event deck, and without looking shuffle the remaining Troll card into these. Place these 3 cards back on top of the Village Event deck.

Activating the Troll

The Troll is a friend to neither Monster nor Villager and can cause untold havoc for both parties. The Troll activates in the Villager Phase, immediately after all the Villagers have finished attacking and moving. Due to the Troll's unpredictable nature, roll one of the regular custom die at the beginning of its activation to see how it behaves:

Melee & Ranged — 3 damage to each Monster in the zone & the Troll moves 1 zone towards the Castle Heart

Magic & Villager — 3 damage to Villagers in the zone & the Troll moves 1 zone towards the closest zone containing a Villager spawn point.

Defence & Retaliation — All Monsters & up to 5 Villagers in the zone are stunned & flip the First Player Coin.

• Heads — Moves 1 zone towards the Castle Heart
• Tails — Moves 1 zone towards the closest zone containing a Village Spawn point.

If the Troll is ever in a zone containing a Villager Spawn token and is instructed to move towards the closet zone containing a Villager Spawn token, then it exits the Castle and is removed from play. If it is ever in the Castle Heart and is instructed to move towards the Castle Heart, then the Castle Heart takes 1 damage and the Troll remains in place. Villagers slain by the Troll do not decrease Village Morale.

Attacking the Troll

The Troll cannot be slain or hurt, but Monsters can still choose to attack the Troll in the hope of steering the hulking beast into the path of the Villagers or chasing it out of the Castle! Monsters may only attack the Troll using Melee and Ranged dice results, and can target it even if there are Villagers in the Troll's zone. Instead of dealing any damage to the Troll, attacking it automatically activates it and a custom die is immediately rolled to see how it behaves. Villagers do not attack the Troll because they are too scared of it! The Troll is completely unaffected by any Monster abilities and Status Effects.

Entering a Full Zone

The Troll cannot be stopped and Heaves any Villagers out of its way if there is not enough room in the zone for it.

The Troll & Traps

The Troll is unaffected by Traps and automatically triggers Traps in any zone that it enters.

Summoning Monsters (Horrors of the Sands Expansion)

The Horrors of the Sands expansion introduces a brand new mechanic to Village Attacks; Summoning Monsters. Lesser versions of Monsters that are not being played by a player in the scenario may be summoned to aid the Monsters with their objectives. To clearly distinguish between the two, Monsters that players have chosen to play as will now be referred to as Player Monsters and Monsters brought into the game through the Monster Summon deck will be referred to as Summoned Monsters.

Building the Monster Summon Deck

The Monster Summon deck is constructed the same way that the Town Hero deck is; 1 Monster Summon card of each type (Demon, Undead, etc) is selected at random. These 5 cards are then shuffled together and placed face down. Player Monsters cannot be used in the Monster Summon deck. Only 1 Monster of each type should be used when building the deck.

Summoning Monsters into Play

Summoned Monsters are brought into the game from the Summoning Room tile. Displayed on the Summoning Room tile is the 5 usable dice results and to summon a Monster:

• Each Player Monster in the scenario must pay any 1 of these dice costs. The Player Monster must be in the Summoning Room to pay the cost and each dice cost may only be paid once.
• When a Monster pays any one of these costs, place a corresponding Dice Symbol token over it to show it has been paid and place a Damage token onto the base of the Player Monster. This Damage token stays on the Player Monster's base until the Summoned Monster has been summoned, and whilst it is there the Player Monster rolls -1 die.
• Once each Player Monster has paid one of the costs, the top card of the Monster Summon deck is revealed and the Summoned Monster is placed into the Summoning Room. However, to keep the Summoned Monster in this world requires a sacrifice, and 2 Player Monsters must continue to roll -1 die for the entire time that the Summoned Monster is in play. Players may choose amongst themselves which Monster(s) remove the Damage token from their base.

Summoning Room example — The Vampire is in the Summoning Room and decides to pay one of the costs to summon a Monster. The corresponding Dice Symbol token is placed over the cost he paid, is the Ranged symbol, and a Damage token is placed on the Vampire's miniature base to remind him that from now on he rolls -1 die until a Monster has been summoned. This is a 3 player game, so the other 2 Player Monsters will need to visit the Summoning Room to pay one of the remaining costs to complete the summon.

Controlling Summoned Monsters

Summoned Monsters act at the end of the Monster Phase once all Player Monsters have acted and are controlled jointly. You can elect one player to control Summoned Monsters for the entire game, or take turns in doing so. A Summoned Monster may act in the round in which it is summoned, and stats are displayed in the same way as Town Heroes (p18-19).

Summoned Monsters are still affected by Status Effects (Unlucky, Darkness, etc) Villagers slain by Summoned Monsters still decrease Village Morale, but Summoned Monster cannot interact with objectives. Lastly, Summoned monsters are unable to place Traps.

Damage from Summoned Monsters is considered to be the same as damage from Monster abilities and is not the same as damage from dice results. This is important when attacking certain Town Heroes.

Banishing a Summoned Monster

If the summoned Monster ever receives enough damage to equal its Health value then it is slain. The Summoned Monster is removed from play immediately and its Monster Summon card is placed to one side. Unlike the Town Hero deck, Monster Summon cards are not recycled back into the Monster Summon deck and once a Summoned Monster has been slain it may not be summoned again in that scenario.

Yunfakh Hunters (Horrors of the Sands Expansion)

The Yunfakh Hunters are a deadly guild of elite assassins that have trained their entire lives to hunt evil the likes of which dwell within the castle. Even more agile and deadly than the standard Hunter, dispatching them quickly should be the utmost priority.

Spawning Yunfakh - Whenever playing with the Yunfakh Hunters, half of any Hunters spawned should be Yunfakh Hunters, rounded up.

Attacking & targeting - Yunfakh Hunters cannot be damaged by Melee symbols, or any attacks made from outside their zone. They can still be affected by abilities that would not damage them, such as movement based abilities like the Lich's Zombify. Neither Yunfakh nor standard Hunters take priority in the targeting order, both are considered Hunters and players may choose which to target if both varieties are in the same zone, but Yunfakh Hunters are still considered to be a different kind of Villager.

Minions

Lesser creatures under the control of Monsters are known as Minions. Wode of the Wild Hunt has the ability to summon and control Hounds, which are classed as Minions, and have the following rules:

• Bringing a Minion into play is known as Summoning a Minion.
• The Monster who summoned the Minion is the one who controls it.
• Minions activate at any point during the turn of the Monster who controls them.
• Minions share the same type as the Monster that controls them.
• Minions are treated as Monsters in the Villager targeting priority.
• If a Monster has Minions under their control in their zone and they are attacked, they can choose to have the Minions suffer the attack instead. If the attack deals damage over what is necessary to slay the minion(s) then the controlling Monsters suffers the remaining damage.

Player Difficulty Adjustments

All Village Attacks scenarios have been designed to be played with 3 Monsters, but if players would like to play with more or less they should make the following adjustments:

• 2 Monsters – -1 to Tier 1 Villager spawns & -2 to Tier 2 & 3 Villager spawns
• 3 Monsters – N/A
• 4 Monsters – +1 to Villager spawns
• 5 Monsters - +2 to Villager spawns and +1 damage to Castle Heart when you revive.