Way of the Fighter: Turbo Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Overview
• Components
• The Arena
• Cards
  • Character Cards
  • Action Cards
  • Initiative Card
  • Status Cards
  • Character Pawns
  • Dice
  • Tokens
• Game Setup
  • Building a Fighter Deck
• How to Win
• Fight!
• Turn Sequence
  • Ready Phase
  • Challenge Phase
    • Step 1. Use Command
    • Step 2. Play Actions
    • Step 3. Roll Dice
    • Step 4. Reveal Actions
    • Step 6. Resolve Actions
  • Recovery Phase
• Dice Pools
• Position and Movement
  • Landing
  • Facing
• Action Cards
  • Checking Grids
  • Resolving Actions
    • Primary Effects
    • Secondary Effects
    • Timing keywords
  • Combo Actions
  • Cancelling Actions
• Action Types and Primary Effects
  • Strike Actions
  • Grab Actions
  • Block Actions
  • Blast Actions
  • Move Actions
  • Mode Actions
• Four-Player Tag Team
  • Setup
  • Winning the Game and Knock Outs
  • Active and Passive Fighters
  • Tagging
  • Initiative
  • Turn Sequence Changes
    • Step 1. Use command
    • Passive Fighter commands
    • Step 2. Play Actions
    • Step 3. Roll Dice
    • Step 4. Reveal Actions
    • Step 5. Resolve Actions
• Keywords
• Rules Summary
  • Turn Sequence
    • Ready Phase
    • Challenge Phase
    • Recovery Phase

Game Overview

Way of the Fighter is an expandable card game that pits two fighters against one another in an arena, with a theme reminiscent of classic arcade-style fighting games. Each player manages their fighter's movements, actions, health, and energy to achieve victory and come a step closer to the ultimate prize. A player wins when the opposing fighter takes more damage than they have dice remaining in their life pool, or if their own fighter has the most life at the end of twelve turns. The game is quick and involves bluffing, resource management, knowledge of each fighter's style, and sharp tactical decisions.

Components

This box contains:

• 1 Rulebook (this book)
• 1 Game board
• 1 Initiative card
• 2 Reference cards
• 3 Status cards
• 5 Character cards
• 225 Action cards
• 24 White core dice
• 6 Red power dice
• 6 Blue power dice
• 1 Turn counter
• 5 Character pawns
• 5 Double-sided red blast tokens (high blast side and low blast side)
• 5 Double-sided blue blast tokens (high blast side and low blast side)
• 1 Double-sided red crouching/jumping position token
• 1 Double-sided blue crouching/jumping position token

The Arena

The arena board consists of multiple zones used to organize the action.

1. Turn Track: Twelve spaces used to indicate the current turn.
2. Arena Track: Ten spaces that track both fighters' locations.
3. Life Pools: Twelve spaces that track the current life of both players' fighters.
4. Position Indicators: Spaces that indicate a fighter's posture; crouching, standing, or jumping.
5. Burnout Pools: Spaces that track all of the burned out dice.
6. Energy Pools: Spaces that track dice in reserve that may be powered up for later use.
7. Active Pools: Spaces that track dice that are ready for use during the current turn.
8. Fighter Areas: Zones where players place their character cards, the initiative card, status cards, mode cards, and blast cards.
9. Challenge Areas: Zones where action cards are played and resolved during the challenge phase.
10. Fighter Decks: Zones where each player's deck of action cards go facedown.
11. Discard Piles: Zones where each player's discarded action cards go faceup.

Cards

Way of the Fighter uses four different types of cards.

Character Cards

These cards provide a quick reference for each fighter.

1. Name: The name of the fighter.
2. Ability: The fighter's unique ability. Some abilities provide an ongoing passive effect, while others are used in place of a command. (See Step 1. Use Command on page XX.)
3. Styles: This area shows the styles from which a player may select technique packs when building the fighter's deck. (See Building a Fighter Deck on page XX.)

Action Cards

Action cards represent the attacks, moves, blocks, and modes that the fighters use.

1. Priority Value: The base priority of the action. Actions are resolved from highest to lowest priority each turn.
2. Name: The name of the action.
3. Type: The action's type: strike, grab, move, blast, block, or mode. (See Action Cards beginning on page XX).
4. Fighter/Style: Shows the fighter or style that the action belongs to. Each character card shows the styles that may be included in the fighter's deck.
5. Technique: Each style includes multiple techniques. Techniques come in packs of eight cards.
6. Primary Effects: The main purpose of the action.
   • a. Damage Value (strike, grab, blast actions only): Shows the damage dealt by a strike, grab, or blast action when it hits.
   • b. Movement Value (move actions only): Shows how many spaces the pawn is moved by a move action, and which direction it can be moved.
   • c. Blast Value (blast actions only): Shows the type of blast tokens placed by a blast action and how far they move each turn.
   • d. Defense Value (block actions only): Shows how much damage a block action prevents when a blocking fighter is hit.
7. Secondary Effects: Lists any additional effects that may resolve during the challenge phase and any associated keywords.
8. Grids: Grids show the action's range when a fighter is crouching, standing, or jumping. (See Checking Grids on page XX.)

Initiative Card

The initiative card is a special card that players use and exchange throughout the game. When a player has the initiative card, they place it in their fighter area and are said to have "the initiative." Always break ties between priority scores in favor of the player with the initiative. The player with the initiative uses the first command each turn.

A player may use the initiative card immediately after rolling dice to do one of the following: Jump, Stand, Kneel, Move (1), or give their action Priority Bonus (2). (See Keywords on page XX.)

The initiative card can only be used once per turn. A player still has the initiative while it is used. When a fighter with the initiative is knocked down, the initiative card immediately counts as having been used, but the fighter gains no benefit from it.

A player must give the initiative card to their opponent during the recovery phase if they used the initiative or had it count as being used during their turn. It is then placed in the other player's fighter area.

Status Cards

Whenever a fighter suffers the Crippled, Dazed, or Knockdown conditions, its player places the relevant status card in their fighter area as a reminder. Each card notes how the condition affects a fighter and when it is removed.

Character Pawns

These standees are used to track each fighter's location in the arena. The image on the pawn also tracks a fighter's current facing, either toward or away from the opponent.

Dice

Each player has numerous dice that they may roll when performing actions to boost the action's total priority scores and effects. Dice come in two sets, core and power. The twelve core dice are white and have facings marked 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3. The six power dice match the color of their respective pawns and have facings labeled 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4.

Tokens

Way of the Fighter uses two types of tokens: position tokens and blast tokens.

Position tokens are the larger tokens that are used to track when a fighter is crouching or jumping.

The smaller blast tokens track the location and direction of low and high blasts in the arena.

Game Setup

Follow these steps to set up for a game of Way of the Fighter.

1. Set the game board on a flat surface between the players.
2. Place the turn counter on the space marked "1" on the turn track.

Both players then:

3. Select a character card and pawn to represent their fighters.
4. Build a fighter deck. (See Building a Fighter Deck in the following section.)
5. Place their character cards in their respective fighter areas.
6. Select one action card from each of the four technique packs in their fighter deck and combine them with the block action card to form a starting hand of five cards.
7. Shuffle their fighter decks and place each deck beside their side of the board.
8. Place the blast tokens and position tokens matching their pawn's color near their decks.
9. Place their pawn in one of the designated spaces on the arena track, facing toward their opponent's pawn.
10. Place six core dice in their burnout pool.
11. Place one core die in each of the lightened spaces of their life pool.
12. Place one power die matching their pawn's color in each of the six darkened spaces of their life pool.

New Players: Instead of selecting technique cards, you may choose to draw cards until you have one card from each technique in your fighter deck, along with your fighter's block card. Shuffle any other cards back into the deck. This allows for a faster setup and requires minimal knowledge of the game prior to playing.

Building a Fighter Deck

A fighter's deck consists of 46 cards, including:

• 1 character card
• 1 fighter pack, consisting of one block and two copies of six fighter actions
• 4 Different style packs, each consisting of two copies of four technique actions

New Players: Each fighter's deck has been pre-built with a recommended set of technique packs for use straight out of the box. We strongly suggest that new players use these techniques before building customized decks. The recommended technique packs are listed on page XX.

How to Win

During the game, players will battle until one fighter takes more damage than they have dice remaining in their life pool or until the end of Turn 12. At this point, the fighter who has the most dice in their life pool wins. If both players have the same amount of dice in their life pools at the end of Turn 12, the game is a draw. In the finest tradition of arcade fighters, we recommend that you play to the best of three games.

Fight!

Before Turn 1, both players roll three core dice from their burnout pool. The player with the highest roll places the initiative card in their fighter area and places one of the dice that they rolled into their energy pool. The other player places two of the dice that they rolled into their energy pool. Both players return all remaining dice to their burnout pool. Then Turn 1 begins!

Common Keywords: The following terms are used throughout the rest of the rules:

Draw (X): Draw X cards from the top of your deck. If the deck runs out, shuffle the discard pile and place it facedown to form a new deck.

Energize (X): Move X core dice from the burnout pool to the energy pool.

Power-Up (X): Move X dice from the energy pool to the active pool.

Burnout (X): Move X dice from the action card to the burnout pool.

Turn Sequence

Ready Phase

Starting with the player who has the initiative, each player performs the following, in order:

1. Draw one card OR discard three cards from their hand and draw three new cards.
2. Move one power die OR two core dice from their burnout pool to their energy pool.

Next, both players move all the dice in their energy pool to their active pool.

Challenge Phase

The challenge phase is separated into five steps:

Step 1. Use Command

Starting with the player with the initiative, each player uses one command from the list below:

• Kneel: The player places their position token with the crouching side faceup on the position indicator space on their side of the board and then moves one core die from their burnout pool to their energy pool.
• Shift: The player removes their position token from the board, Advances their pawn up to one space forward or Retreats it up to one space backward, and may draw one card after moving.
• Leap: The player places their position token with the jumping side faceup on the position indicator space on their side of the board and then Advances their pawn up to two spaces forward or Retreats it up to two spaces backward.

In addition to the commands listed above, some character cards and actions have the following text, "As a command..." These powerful effects are noted on the card and are used during this step in place of one of the basic commands.

Step 2. Play Actions

Both players simultaneously play a card from their hand facedown into their challenge area.

Step 3. Roll Dice

Both players take all dice from their active pool into their hand, secretly pick from one to four of them in any combination of core and power dice, and roll them simultaneously. Players return any dice that they did not roll to their active pool. The player with the initiative decides if they want to use it.

Step 4. Reveal Actions

Both players reveal their action and place the dice that they rolled on the action card, showing the results. Next, both players check whether they can perform their action based on their current position. Their action is immediately cancelled if they cannot perform their action in their current position. Cancelled actions are immediately discarded and their dice moved to the burnout pool. Every player with an action then totals the numbers rolled on the dice and adds that number to their action's priority value. This determines each action's priority score.

Step 6. Resolve Actions

Starting with the action with the highest priority score, including blast actions already in play, each player resolves their action. Ties go to the fighter with the initiative. When resolving an action, check the action's secondary effects to see if any resolve before the primary effect. The primary effect may be modified by secondary effects. (See Resolving Actions, beginning on page XX.)

Some actions will allow for a player to begin or continue a combo, which lets the acting player link actions so long as they can roll a high enough priority score. (See Action Combos on page XX.)

It is also likely that an action may be cancelled before it can resolve. In this case, the fighter does not perform an action this turn. (See Cancelling Actions, beginning on page XX.)

Recovery Phase

During the recovery phase, both players:

1. Pass Used Initiative: If the player with the initiative has used it, the initiative must be passed to the opponent.
2. Recover Blocks: Dice remaining on block actions return to the energy pools, and block cards return to their players' hands.
3. Check Blasts: Cancel any blast cards that do not have tokens in play. Move all remaining blast cards to the fighter area and burnout any core dice on them, leaving any power dice.
4. Check Hand Limit: Discard down to seven cards. A player may not discard the block action.

If no fighter has been KO'd, and if the match is not on Turn 12, move the turn counter to the next numbered space and repeat the turn sequence.

Dice Pools

There are four different pools for dice. The dice represent each fighter's potential and limits; their numbers have no meaning until the dice are rolled.

• Life Pool: Dice in the life pool are simply tokens that represent each fighter's vitality. If there are no dice in a player's life pool when they need to remove a die from being damaged, they are knocked out and immediately lose the game.
• Burnout Pool: Dice that players roll for actions go to the burnout pool during the recovery phase. This indicates energy the fighter has used but not lost.
• Energy Pool: Dice in the energy pool represent the fighter's reserves of strength and stamina. They may be moved to the active pool by effects with the Power Up keyword and during the ready phase.
• Active Pool: Dice in the active pool represent the force and focus that the fighter can immediately bring to bear. These dice may be rolled to boost an action's priority score. The effects of certain actions may be modified based on how many dice were rolled with them.

Position and Movement

The arena track on the game board is broken into a row of ten spaces. These spaces, along with a fighter's pawn and position token, depict that fighter's location in the arena.

Pawns move between the spaces on the arena track. When a command or action Advances a fighter forward, move their pawn in the direction that it is currently facing. When a command or action Retreats a fighter backward, move their pawn in the direction opposite to its current facing, but do not change its facing. (See Facing on page XX.)

Players use their double-sided position token to show when their fighter is crouching or jumping. One side indicates crouching, and the other side indicates jumping.

When a fighter uses a command or action that causes them to crouch or jump, place the appropriate position token on the position indicator space on their side of the board. This supersedes the standing icon that is printed on the position indicator space. Simply remove the position token to indicate when a fighter is standing.

The pawns of crouching and standing fighters may never occupy the same space. Except for when jumping, if a pawn moves onto or through a space occupied by a crouching or standing fighter, the moving pawn stops on the space in front of the opposing pawn. A jumping fighter's pawn moves normally through a crouching or standing fighter's pawn.

A jumping fighter's pawn may not end its movement on or move through a space occupied by another jumping fighter's pawn. A jumping fighter's pawn stops on the space in front of an opponent's jumping pawn, because it cannot pass through that space.

Landing

A jumping fighter automatically stands:

1. After resolving their non-move action
2. At the end of the turn

The player removes their jumping position token from the board to show that the fighter is no longer "in the air."

After removing the jumping position token, if the pawn occupies a space that another crouching or standing pawn occupies, move the pawn to the space in front of the opposing pawn.

Facing

Pawns change their facing to face each other:

1. After a player uses a command.
2. After resolving an action.
3. At the end of the turn.

Do not change the facing of pawns when they occupy the same space. Pawns do not change facing in the middle of an action, but do change facing between two actions of a combo.

Action Cards

This section describes how to read and resolve key features of an action card.

Checking Grids

Actions use grids to determine if they can affect a space on the arena track. Grids are composed of twelve boxes. Each column in a grid represents a space on the arena track relative to the acting pawn. Each row represents the position for both fighters. The top row is for the jumping position, the middle for standing, and the bottom row is for crouching.

Grids have a gray box to indicate how the active fighter needs to be positioned to affect a given space. Some grids also have colored boxes indicating how and where the opponent needs to be positioned for the action to be effective, also called the target zone.

Every action card has three grids. The left grid is used when the active fighter is crouching. The middle grid is used when they are standing. The right grid is used when the fighter is jumping. One or two of the grids might be blank, meaning that the action cannot be used if the fighters are in those positions.

Each row on a grid has four spaces, representing the acting pawn's current space on the arena track and the three spaces in front of it. Any red boxes in the row indicate that the action can affect pawns in those spaces. The top row of each grid shows if the action can target a jumping fighter in any of the spaces with a red box. The middle row indicates if the action can target a standing fighter. The bottom row indicates if the action can target a crouching fighter.

A player will only use the grid on an action card that corresponds to their fighter's position. The gray box on the grids and labels above them indicate which grids apply to which position. If there isn't a grid with a gray box corresponding to the active fighter's position, the action is immediately cancelled.

NOTE: The grid is shown as if the fighter is facing to the right. When a pawn is facing to the left, its controlling player will need to flip the grid to mirror what is shown.

Grid Example: The Light Kick card has three grids at the bottom, indicating that it can be used in any position. Players reference the left grid when their fighters are crouching, the middle grid when standing, and the right grid when jumping.

In this example, Becca has already used the Leap command, so her fighter is jumping, and she decides to use a Light Kick. Checking the right grid on the card, she sees that all of the boxes in both of the next two columns are colored red. This means that the Light Kick will strike any other crouching, standing, or jumping opponent within two spaces of her pawn. It would not hit a target crouching or standing on the same space or three (or more) spaces away, because those boxes are blank.

If her fighter were standing, Becca would reference the middle grid and see that the bottom row does not have any colored boxes. This means that a standing Light Kick would not hit a crouching opponent, even an adjacent one, or a jumping target in the same space.

Resolving Actions

Actions sometimes include both primary and secondary effects. While primary effects almost always trigger before secondary effects, some secondary effects may trigger before the primary effect. When resolving an action, always check the various timing keywords and resolve them in order, as some secondary effects may modify the primary effect. Once resolved, the action remains in play until the end of the turn or it is cancelled.

Primary Effects

All actions have a primary effect that varies with each action type. (See the card diagrams, page XX.) Strike and grab actions hit and deal damage. Blast actions throw projectiles that hit and deal damage. Block actions reduce damage dealt to a fighter. Move actions move a fighter outside of using commands during Step 1. Modes stay in play after being resolved, making their secondary effect a lasting advantage.

Some effects also change based on special conditions, as indicated by icon codes on the cards (the icons are not reproduced in the source text):

• The number of power dice rolled for the action.
• The total number of dice rolled for the action (both core and power dice).
• The amount of damage dealt by the action.

Secondary Effects

Secondary effects appear as text below the primary effect. Secondary effects include a number of keywords that describe when and how to resolve them. Timing keywords indicate the conditions or point in the action's resolution when the effect resolves. If the conditions are not met, the effect does not resolve. An effect with the Hit or Damage timing keywords doesn't do anything if the action fails to hit or damage the target, for example. Timing keywords always appear before any other keywords, separated by a colon. If an effect doesn't have any timing keywords, its other keywords always apply at the start of the action's resolution and the timing is irrelevant. (See page XX for a list of all keywords.)

Timing keywords

• Block: Resolve this effect if the action reduces the damage dealt to a fighter.
• Combo: Resolve this effect if the action begins or continues a combo.
• Damage: Resolve this effect after the action deals any damage to the opponent.
• End: Resolve this effect after resolving the action's primary effect.
• Hit: Resolve this effect after the action hits the opponent.
• Special: Resolve this effect if the opponent is in the valid grid and the box that correlates to their space has the special icon.
• Start: Resolve this effect before resolving the action's primary effect.

Reveal: Some cards may have the Reveal timing keyword. Effects with this keyword are resolved immediately after revealing the card, regardless of priority score. If both players have a Reveal effect, the player with the initiative resolves their effect first.

Combo Actions

If a strike, blast, or grab action hits the opponent, or if the action has the Link keyword, it may begin a combo. To begin a combo, the acting player (and only the acting player) follows the same sequence as the challenge phase, beginning with Step 2. Play Actions.

1. Play Action
   • If the combo begins with a hit, the player can only play strike, grab, or blast actions.
   • If the combo arises from a Link keyword, the player can only play the action defined by the Link keyword.
2. Roll Dice (then choose to use the initiative)
3. Reveal Action
4. Resolve Action

If the combo action's priority score is equal to or higher than the last action the acting player played this turn, the new action resolves. At this time, any effects with the Combo timing keyword also resolve. Should the new action also hit or have the Link keyword, the player may continue the combo by repeating the sequence.

If the new action's priority score is not equal to or higher than the last action in the combo, the action is canceled, and the combo ends. (See Cancelling Actions on page XX.)

Blast actions may only begin or continue a combo on the turn they are played.

Cancelling Actions

If an action does at least 1 point of damage to the opponent, or if it has the Cancel keyword, the opponent's action is cancelled and does not resolve during the challenge phase. Immediately discard cancelled action cards and move any dice on the cards to the fighter's burnout pool. Actions may also be cancelled by other circumstances, such as playing an action while being in the wrong position or failing a combo.

Action Types and Primary Effects

Strike Actions

These are direct attacks, which usually result in damage to the opponent. Strike actions are the most common type of actions used during the game.

Hit: When resolving a strike, the player checks the appropriate grid on the action's card. If their opponent is in the target zone, they hit the opponent. If their opponent is not in the target zone, they do not hit, and their action is cancelled. If they hit, they may combo with any strike, blast, or grab actions once their first action resolution is complete.

Damage: Successful strikes deal an amount of damage equal to the strike's damage value. For each point of damage the fighter takes, move one die from their life pool to their energy pool. If the acting player deals at least one damage, their opponent's action is cancelled.

Grab Actions

Grab actions have a variety of effects. The most common are throwing and knocking down the opponent. Grab actions are slightly slower and shorter ranged than most strikes. They resolve exactly like strikes but have the distinct advantage of being unblockable.

Hit: When resolving a grab, the player checks the appropriate grid on the action's card. If their opponent is in the target zone, they hit the opponent. If their opponent is not in the target zone, they do not hit, and their action is cancelled. If they hit, they may combo with any strike, blast, or grab actions once their first action's resolution is complete.

If they hit, they may combo with any strike, blast, or grab actions once their first action's resolution is complete. If the grab hits an opponent using a block action, the block action is immediately cancelled.

Damage: Successful grabs deal damage equal to the grab's damage value. For each point of damage the fighter takes, move one die from their life pool to their energy pool. If the acting player deals at least one damage, their opponent's action is cancelled.

Block Actions

Every fighter begins the game with a unique block action. Blocks are defensive actions that reduce damage and often provide other unique capabilities. Blocks represent a fighter preparing to defend against incoming attacks, but attacks with a higher priority can still get past this defense. If an attack manages to hit a fighter before their block action resolves, the block is cancelled.

Block: When blocking, a player reduces the damage by the block action's defense value and moves one die to the burnout pool. Unlike other actions, a block action is not cancelled if the blocking fighter is dealt damage.

Block vs Strike: When a fighter is hit by a strike action, and their attacker is in their block action's target zone, they block that action. If the opponent is not in the target zone, the fighter does not block the strike, and the block can be cancelled normally.

Block vs Grab: When a fighter is hit by a grab action, their block action is immediately cancelled, and all the dice on the block are moved to the burnout pool.

Block vs Blast: If a fighter is hit by a high blast, and their block action's target zone includes any boxes on the top row, they block the blast. If a fighter is hit by a low blast, and their block action's target zone includes any boxes on the bottom row, they block the blast. Otherwise, the block can be cancelled normally.

Recurring: After using a block action to reduce damage, burnout one die, and resolve any secondary effect keywords. If the block action card has no dice remaining on it after resolving secondary effects, the block is cancelled and returned to the player's hand. This means that the same block action can reduce damage from as many strikes and blasts as the number of dice assigned to it, though with reduced effectiveness each time.

During the recovery phase, players do not burnout the dice on their block actions. Instead, they place these dice back in their energy pool and return the block action to their hands. Block actions can never be discarded.

Example: Jun uses a strike action that hits Ren three times. Ren's player uses his block action with two core dice. So on the first hit, he prevents two damage, moves one die to the burnout pool, and Energizes one die. On the second hit, he prevents one damage, moves his last die to the burnout pool, and Energizes one die. Since there are no dice on the action after resolving it, the action is cancelled. He is dealt the full damage on the third hit.

Blast Actions

Blast actions are ranged attacks that both deal damage and allow a player to control the fight from a distance. Blast actions represent a fighter throwing a projectile. Projectiles are depicted with blast tokens that move toward an edge of the arena track. They remain in play until they collide with a fighter, another blast token, or the edge of the arena track.

Blast tokens are double-sided. One side depicts a high blast and the other side depicts a low blast. High blasts hit jumping and standing fighters, low blasts hit standing and crouching fighters.

A player may never have more than one blast action in play at the same time. If a player uses another blast action, they immediately cancel their previous blast action. When a blast action is cancelled, remove any associated blast tokens from play.

Blast Icon: The primary effect of blast actions has an icon that indicates whether the action places high or low blast tokens and a blast value number that shows how far the tokens move each turn.

• On the turn that the blast action is played, place an appropriate blast token (high or low) on the pawn's space facing in the same direction as the pawn. Placing a token does not hit any fighter. Once placed, move the blast token in the direction it is currently facing a number of spaces equal to the blast value of the action. Follow the movement and targeting rules below.
• On every subsequent turn, and in priority order, move the blast token in the direction it is currently facing a number of spaces equal to the action's blast value. Follow the movement and targeting rules below.

Blast token movement and targeting:

• If a blast token moves into a space with another blast token that has a different facing, discard both tokens.
• If a blast token moves beyond the arena, discard the blast token.
• If a blast token moves into a space with another of the same player's blast tokens that is currently traveling in the same direction, stack both tokens in the same space. Continue to move and resolve each token individually corresponding to the action that placed it.

Hit: If a high blast token is on the same space as an opposing standing or jumping pawn, it hits the fighter. If a low blast token is on the same space as an opposing crouching or standing pawn, it hits the fighter. Discard the blast token after it hits a fighter. If the blast hits during the turn the action was used, the active player may combo with any strike, blast, or grab actions once the first action resolves.

Damage: If the blast hits, it deals and amount of damage equal to the action's damage value. For each point of damage the fighter takes, move one die from their life pool to their energy pool. If the acting player deals at least one damage, their opponent's action is cancelled.

Blast Token Resolution: Lumi's Essence Barrage (pictured here) has a blast icon showing that it produces one high or low blast token. Its blast value of 2 indicates that the blast token travels two spaces. The text box has the Repeat (P) secondary effect, however. This means that Lumi's player places one additional blast token for each power die rolled with this action. The player places, advances, and deals damage with each blast token individually. Only after completing all these steps does the action resolution end.

Lumi's player (blue) rolled two power dice with Essence Barrage, generating a total of three blasts. The player places one low blast token (1) in her space. The player moves the token forward one space, but it has to stop there because of the other low blast token already in that space traveling in the opposite direction. Both tokens are removed from the arena.

The player places a second low blast token (2) and moves it two spaces. This puts it in the same space as the opponent's crouching pawn. Since Ren (red) is crouching, and low blasts hit crouching fighters, the player immediately resolves the blast's damage. The player repeats this with the third token (3). Once done, all the tokens are removed, the blast action card discarded, and any remaining dice moved to the burnout pool.

Move Actions

Move actions allow fighters to move outside of Step 2 and can provide a player with surprise combo attacks and dodging. Many move actions also allow a player to use certain types of cards as a follow-up to begin a combo.

Moving: The primary effect indicates how many spaces a pawn moves forward (Advances) or backward (Retreats) before resolving any other text on the action.

A >> icon next to the movement value means that the action Advances the pawn forward, the << icon shows that it Retreats the pawn backward, and finally, the < > icon shows that the action allows the pawn to Advance or Retreat.

A pawn must move a number of spaces equal to the movement value in the direction indicated and follows all movement restrictions outlined on page XX.

Mode Actions

Mode actions provide fighters with permanent, passive effects. Some effects modify the values listed on action cards. Others can be discarded for instant effects.

Ongoing: When resolving, players immediately burnout all the core dice on the card and place the action in their fighter area along with any of its power dice. The secondary effect of the action affects the fighter for as long as the card stays in play.

Each player can only have one mode with the same name out at a time. If a mode card with the same name would be resolved, cancel it instead.

Four-Player Tag Team

The Four-Player Tag Team rules allow four players to break into two teams for a match. Players can use this variant by combining a copy of Way of the Fighter: Super and Way of the Fighter: Turbo together. These matches require coordination and strategy, since a player's role can change before the end of each turn.

Setup

Follow the standard setup rules with the following changes:

• The players split into two teams of two fighters. Team members sit next to each other.
• The back of each Way of the Fighter game board has a version of the arena for four players. Flip over each game board from Super and Turbo and place them together to form a single game board. Each player thus has their own fighter area and set of pools and tokens.
• Each team chooses one active fighter.
• Place the active fighter pawns on the starting spaces of the arena.
• Keep passive fighter pawns near their fighter areas, ready to swap with their teammate's pawn when required.
• All players set up their health and dice pools, along with their tokens, as normal.
• Each player builds a starting hand following the rules from the basic game.
• Determine initiative as normal by having the players with active fighters roll three core dice. Both players on the team with the initiative begin with one die in their energy pools. Both players on the team without the initiative begin with two dice in their energy pools.

Winning the Game and Knock Outs

When a fighter must remove dice from their life pool but cannot, that fighter is knocked out and eliminated from the match. Immediately remove all of that fighter's dice from play. That fighter's player is also eliminated. A team wins when both opposing fighters have been knocked out. If, at the end of Turn 12, both teams still have able fighters, the team with more fighters wins. If both teams have the same number of able fighters, add up the remaining life pools of both fighters on the team, and the team with the most life wins. If the number is equal, the match is a draw.

Active and Passive Fighters

The active fighter is the one with its pawn currently in play, and the active player is the one controlling the active fighter. Each team may only have one active fighter at any time. The passive fighter is the one currently not on the board, and the passive player is the one controlling the passive fighter. Place the passive fighter's pawn near its fighter area. When an active fighter is knocked out, the active player must tag out at the end of the Recovery Phase.

While a fighter is passive, a team cannot use the ability printed on its card.

Tagging

At times, the active and passive fighters on a team may switch places by tagging in or tagging out. When this happens, replace the active fighter's pawn with the passive fighter's pawn. The fighter that tagged out is now passive, and the fighter that tagged in is now the active fighter.

Initiative

Teams control the initiative card, but only the active fighter may use it.

Turn Sequence Changes

The Tag Team rules expand the commands available to players and alter the way that they resolve actions. This section explains the new commands and how to resolve actions in a team game.

Step 1. Use command

The active fighter on the team with the initiative uses the first command each turn, then the active fighter on the team without the initiative uses a command. The passive fighter on the team with the initiative then uses a command, followed by the passive fighter on the other team. Remember, passive fighters cannot use abilities that replace commands.

Instead of using the kneel, shift, or leap command, the passive fighter has four new commands available, including one that allows them to replace the active fighter and attempt a combo during the Challenge Phase.

Passive Fighter commands

• Tag In: The player plays an action facedown and selects the crouching, standing, or jumping position. During the Challenge Phase, the passive fighter may combo their facedown action with the active fighter's action following the normal combo rules. They tag in for the active fighter, entering with the position that they selected during the Use Command step and rolling 1-4 dice from their active pool. Then they reveal and compare their action's priority score to the priority score of the last action played by their teammate. A passive fighter will not tag in if the active fighter's last action was cancelled.
• Focus: The player draws 1-3 cards.
• Rest: The player moves up to one power die and two core dice from their burnout pool to their energy pool.
• Taunt: The active fighter's first action this turn gains: Reveal: Priority Bonus (1).

Step 2. Play Actions

Active players must play an action from their hands during this step.

Step 3. Roll Dice

Active players must secretly select and roll dice from their active pools during this step.

Step 4. Reveal Actions

The actions played are revealed.

Step 5. Resolve Actions

Only the actions from active fighters are resolved, unless the passive fighter swapped with the active fighter by using the Tag In command.

Recovery Phase

After checking hand limits, the team with the initiative may choose to tag out their active fighter for their passive fighter, followed by the team without the initiative.

Keywords

• Advance (X): Move the acting fighter's pawn forward X spaces.
• Burnout (X): Move X dice from the action card to the fighter's burnout pool.
• Cancel: The opponent's action is cancelled.
• Chain (X): If the player combos the action, move X of the highest core dice from the acting fighter's action card to their active pool. When using the Tag In command during a tag team game, the dice on this action will move to the active pool belonging to the fighter that tagged out.
• Cripple: The affected fighter may only use the block action. Place the Crippled status card in the player's fighter area as a reminder. The status is removed after they play an action.
• Crouch: Place a crouching position token on the player's position indicator space.
• Damage Bonus (X): Increase the action's damage value by X.
• Daze: The opponent's fighter may not Jump, Crouch, Advance, or Retreat. Place the Daze status card in the player's fighter area as a reminder. The status is removed after the player uses an action.
• Drain (X): Move X dice from the energy pool to the burnout pool.
• Draw (X): The acting player draws X cards.
• Energize (X): Move X core dice from the acting fighter's burnout pool to their energy pool.
• Jump: Place a position token with the jumping side faceup on the player's position indicator space.
• Knockdown: The opponent's action is cancelled, they discard one of their mode cards of their choice from play, and the initiative is used (if they have the initiative) but grants them no benefits. A knocked down fighter may not use the Leap command. Knocked down fighters cannot be targeted by any actions. The status card is removed after the player uses a command. Place the Knockdown status card in the player's fighter area as a reminder.
• Link (action types): The acting fighter may combo with the specific action card type after this card is resolved, regardless of whether the action hits.
• Move (X): Move the acting fighter forward or backward X spaces.

Rules Summary

Turn Sequence

Ready Phase

Starting with the player who has the initiative, each player:

1. Draws one card OR discards three cards and draws three cards.
2. Energizes two or moves one power die to the energy pool.

Both players Power-Up all dice in their energy pools.

Challenge Phase

1. Use Command: Starting with the player with the initiative, use one command:
   • Leap: Jump, and may Advance or Retreat up to two spaces.
   • Shift: Stand, and may Advance or Retreat up to one space, then Draw (1).
   • Kneel: Kneel, and Energize (1).
2. Play Actions: Play a card simultaneously from hands facedown in the challenge area.
3. Roll Dice: Take all dice from the active pool. Secretly pick between one and four dice and roll them simultaneously. Then choose to use or not use the initiative.
4. Reveal Actions: Reveal action cards and place rolled dice on them. Check to see if the action be performed in their current position. Add the total priority score to the action cards' priority values.
5. Resolve Actions: Starting with the action with the highest priority, including any blasts in play, resolve the actions. Check secondary effects before resolving primary effects. An action that hits or has the Link keyword may begin a combo. Cancelled actions are not resolved.

Recovery Phase

1. Pass Used Initiative: If the player with the initiative has used it, pass the initiative card to the other player.
2. Recover Blocks: Return dice on block actions to the energy pool and return the block card to the player's hand.
3. Check Blasts: Cancel any blast cards that do not have tokens in play. Move all remaining blast cards to the fighter area and burnout any core dice on them, leaving any power dice.
4. Check Hand Limit: Players discard their hands down to seven cards. Players may never discard block actions.

If no fighter has been knocked out, and if the match is not on Turn 12, move the turn counter to the next numbered space and repeat the turn sequence.