Battlefield · 1. Overview
The Battlefield Expansion
A large hex board and two 1 vs 1 modes - both play without the Map.
The Battlefield Expansion introduces the large Battlefield Board and two 1 vs 1 game modes that focus on tactical combat on it. Neither of these modes uses the Map.
What it is
Adventure vs Skirmish differ in how you build your Decks.
In Adventure Mode, players go through a card-driven Adventure Phase followed by a final Combat. The Adventure Phase replaces the Map exploration of regular games: players use Adventure cards to gather Resources, expand their Town and develop Heroes, deciding which units to recruit and which card types to include. In Skirmish Mode, players receive pre-constructed Decks and armies with minimal control and immediately engage in Combat.
The two modes
Victory: defeat all enemy units in the final Combat.
Victory in both Adventure and Skirmish modes is decided by the Battlefield Combat: one player must defeat all of the units the other player deploys onto the Battlefield board. In Adventure mode that final Combat happens after the last Adventure round, while in Skirmish mode players jump straight to it.
Victory condition
You can also use the Battlefield Board instead of the Combat Board in other modes.
You can also use the Battlefield Board in place of the standard Combat Board in regular Core Game sessions (see step 6). It is meant for player-versus-player fights; if you use it against Neutral Units you ignore the usual one-round limit and cannot spend Movement Points for extra rounds, which can make Combat much longer.
Reuse in other modes
Both modes were designed for the Core Game only.
Both game modes were designed for the Core Game only. As a result, the official rules do not address many interactions, particularly those involving expansion content.
Rule ambiguity note
optional: Battlefield Board photo, PDF p.61
Battlefield · 2. Setup
Adventure & Skirmish setup
Common setup (both modes): board, factions, decks, tokens, dice, starting Deck.
1. Place the Battlefield Board in the middle of the table.
2. Each player chooses a Faction and a Hero and takes: Hero Board, 3 Specialty cards and 1 Ability card, 7 unit cards and 7 miniatures, 20 Faction Cubes.
3. Prepare the Artifact, Spell and Ability Decks normally; remove the Diplomacy and Logistics Ability cards.
4. Prepare the Positive and Negative Morale cards (including all with the battlefield symbol).
5. Prepare near the board: Black Cubes, Damage Tokens, Defense/Paralysis Tokens, Obstacles and the Initiative Token.
6. Prepare the Attack and Resource Dice.
7. Build your starting Deck per steps 11-13 of Setup.
Common setup steps
Adventure adds: Town Board (10/0/0), starting resources 15/3/1, Adventure Deck, Round Tracker, Level I.
8. Prepare Resource Tokens and Treasure Dice.
9. Each player takes a Town Board set to income 10 gold / 0 building materials / 0 valuables, with no Town Buildings and no units in the Unit Deck.
10. Starting resources: 15 gold, 3 building materials, 1 valuable.
11. Shuffle the Adventure Deck face down.
12. Place the Round Tracker with a Black Cube on Round
1. 13. Set Hero Level to I.
14. Set your starting Deck aside - you only need it for the final Combat.
Adventure extra steps
Start of the game: both roll 2 Resource Dice; highest becomes first player.
In both Adventure and Skirmish setup, each player rolls 2 Resource Dice. The player with the higher total becomes the first player and takes the Initiative Token, which is used through the game to break Initiative ties - the holder activates first whenever opposing units share the same Initiative value.
Start of the game
optional: setup diagram, PDF p.62
Battlefield · 3. Adventure Mode
The Adventure Phase
Two phases; pick a length first: Short 9, Medium 13, Large 16 Rounds.
Adventure Mode is divided into the Adventure Phase and the Final Combat. Before starting, both players choose a length by setting the number of Adventure Phase Rounds: Short 9, Medium 13, Large 16.
Phases & length
Step 1 each Round: move the Round Tracker; income or Astrologers (income boost).
Move the Round Tracker (skip in the first Round). In Resource Rounds both players gain income normally. In Astrologers Rounds, instead of drawing Astrologers cards, each player increases one income track: raise your preferred track, or roll a Resource Die to pick it randomly and immediately gain that resource's basic income (5 gold, 2 building materials, or 1 valuable).
1. Round Tracker
Step 2: starting player alternates by Round parity.
The starting player alternates with the parity of the Round: in odd-numbered Rounds it is the player holding the Initiative Token, and in even-numbered Rounds it is the player without it. The starting player acts first that Round - for example, they draw the 3 Adventure cards, keep one and pass two to the opponent, and they resolve their chosen card first if both players resolve one.
2. Starting player
Step 3: draft Adventure cards (3 → keep 1, pass 2 → keep 1).
Skip this in the last Round. The starting player draws 3 Adventure cards and keeps one in hand, then passes the remaining 2 to the other player, who keeps 1 and discards the other.
3. Draw Adventure Cards
Step 4: player turns - one Adventure card, plus Town/Morale/level-ups.
Beginning with the starting player, both take a turn performing any of: resolve one Adventure card from hand (only one per Round); perform Town or Morale actions, or resolve Hero level-ups, as in regular games; use the effects of set-aside cards from your Deck. At the end of the turn, discard your hand down to 1 Adventure card.
4. Player Turns
Starting the final Combat: recover Expert Effects, pick up & shuffle your Deck, draw to Hand Limit.
Recover all spent Expert Effects. Pick up your set-aside Deck, shuffle it, and draw cards up to your Hero's Hand Limit. Remove all tokens from your units, take all your unit Miniatures, and begin the final Combat.
Starting the final Combat
Adventure cards are Combat or Event; Combat cards use a Power Level wager.
Two types: Combat and Event. To resolve an Adventure-Combat card: 1) declare a Combat Power Level; 2) determine your Combat Power - select 2 of your units and roll 1 Attack Die for each, summing all unit Attack values and dice; 3) get the reward - if your Combat Power is equal to or higher than the declared Level, take both the Basic and the Battle Reward; otherwise take only the Basic Reward and place a stunned token on one of your units.
Resolving Adventure cards
Your main Deck is unavailable during the Adventure Phase - sort cards accordingly.
Your Deck is not available during the Adventure Phase. Cards useful only in Combat go directly into your Deck. Cards not useful in Combat (Resources, experience, discounts) are set aside next to your Hero Board; each may be used once, then removed from the game.
Managing your Deck
optional: Adventure round flow, PDF p.63-64
Battlefield · 4. Skirmish Mode
Skirmish Mode
No Adventure Phase - prepare your Deck and go straight to the final Combat.
Skirmish Mode has no Adventure Phase. Skip it, prepare your Deck, and proceed directly to the final Combat. Both players first decide on a game length: short, medium or large.
No Adventure Phase
Short game: Hero III, Specialty I, 3→2 Abilities, 2→1 Artifacts, 1-2 Spells, Bronze/Silver on Few.
Hero Level III; Level I Specialty card only; draw 3 Ability cards keep 2; draw 2 Artifact cards keep 1; draw 1-2 Spell cards; use all Bronze and Silver units on their Few side.
Short game
Medium game: Hero V, Specialty I+IV, 4→3 Abilities, 3→2 Artifacts, 2-4 Spells, B/S/Gold on Pack.
Hero Level V; Level I and IV Specialty cards; draw 4 Ability cards keep 3; draw 3 Artifact cards keep 2; draw 2-4 Spell cards; use Bronze, Silver and Golden units on their Pack side.
Medium game
Large game: Hero VII, all Specialties, 6→4 Abilities, 4→3 Artifacts, 3-5 Spells, all on Pack.
Hero Level VII; all Specialty cards; draw 6 Ability cards keep 4; draw 4 Artifact cards keep 3; draw 3-5 Spell cards; use all units (Bronze, Silver, Golden) on their Pack side. After modifying your Deck, shuffle it and draw up to your Hand Limit, then follow the rules for Combat on the Battlefield Board.
Large game
optional: Skirmish length table, PDF p.65
Battlefield · 5. Combat
Combat on the Battlefield Board
Combat uses Miniatures, not unit cards.
Combat on the Battlefield Board is fought with the plastic unit Miniatures rather than the unit cards used in the Core Game. Each side takes its 7 unit models at setup, and once placed every model also counts as an obstacle on the hex board, blocking the movement of non-flying units just like Walls and other Obstacles.
Miniatures
Three token types - Effect, Obstacle, Wall/Gate - all count as Obstacles.
You can place three token types: Effect, Obstacle and Wall/Gate. Unless otherwise stated, they count and work as Combat Obstacles, and all unit Miniatures also count as Obstacles. To place Effect Obstacles you need the card that creates the effect, such as the Fire Wall Spell; units may enter Effect Obstacles if the card text allows.
Obstacle Tokens
Setup: alternate placing Obstacles, then deploy units; no 5-unit limit in Adventure/Skirmish.
Starting with the Initiative-Token player (the attacker in non-Adventure/Skirmish games), players alternate placing Obstacle Tokens one by one until all (except Effects) are placed. No Obstacle may be adjacent to another Obstacle or to any deployment zone. The Initiative-Token player chooses a deployment zone and places one unit, then players alternate placing units in their zones. The 5-unit limit does not apply in Adventure and Skirmish - you may place all Faction units available to you.
Combat Setup
A unit's Movement equals its Initiative value.
On the hex Battlefield Board you follow the regular Combat rules with a few changes, the main one being movement. Each unit's Movement allowance equals its Initiative value, so a unit with Initiative 8 can move up to 8 hexes per activation. When its activation ends, mark the unit with a Faction Cube; the cubes are removed at the start of the next Combat Round.
Unit Movement
Ranged units either move or attack, not both; penalty in melee and at 8+ hexes.
On the hex board a Ranged unit may either move or attack on its activation, but not both. It also takes a Combat Penalty - rolling 2 Attack Dice and keeping the lower result - when it attacks a unit right next to it or a unit that is 8 or more hexes away, so Ranged units work best at a middle distance.
Ranged on the board
Initiative ties: the Token holder activates first, then players alternate at that Initiative.
If two or more opposing units have the same Initiative value, the player with the Initiative Token activates one of their units first; then the players alternate activating all of their units of that same Initiative value one by one.
Initiative ties
In Adventure/Skirmish: each Combat Round, regain an Expert Effect and draw 2 cards.
In Adventure and Skirmish only - at the end of each Combat Round, regain one used Expert Effect up to your Hero's Limit, and draw 2 cards from your Deck.
Per-Round regen
optional: Battlefield combat layout, PDF p.66-67
Battlefield · 6. Board in regular games
Using the board in other modes
The attacker takes the Initiative Token at the start of setup.
You may use the Battlefield Board in other modes with minor changes. The attacker receives the Initiative Token at the start of Combat Setup. In player-vs-player Combat you may place up to 7 units; in Neutral Combat the 5-unit limit still applies. Playing on the board requires using rules for Miniatures.
Initiative & unit limits
Siege: Walls and Gate use a fixed layout; defenders enter the Gate via its two middle hexes.
During a Siege against a Town with a Citadel, Walls and Gate Obstacles are placed in a specific layout. Defending units may enter the Gate Token only through the two middle hexes where the Gate is printed. Attacking the Gate Token is still possible on all four hexes.
Siege with Walls & Gate
With Neutral Units you may ignore the Round Limit.
If you use the Battlefield Board in Combats with Neutral Units, ignore the Round Limit: at the end of each Combat Round you may freely decide to Retreat or to start another Round with no need to spend MP. Be aware this may significantly extend the playtime.
Neutral Combat on the board
Recommended only for player-vs-player Combats.
It is recommended to use the Battlefield Board only for Player-versus-Player Combats. You can use it against Neutral Units, but then you must ignore the one-round Combat limit and cannot pay Movement Points for extra rounds, which can stretch a single fight out and significantly increase the overall playtime.
Recommendation
optional: siege layout on board, PDF p.68