BATTLE MASTERS

1992 2 Players 60 Minutes Fantasy / Fighting / Miniatures / Wargame Object Two players each command an army in a fantasy battle between the forces of good (the Imperial Army) and the forces of evil (the Chaos Army.) The player who first completely eliminates their opponent is the winner! Setup Lay the Battle Mat flat on a large surface. Choose whether you will use a Scenario or a free fight. If it is a free fight, one player will place any variety of land features on the board; the second player will choose which of the four sides on the board they will set up their army. Their opponent will set up on the opposite side. If choosing a Scenario, set up the board as shown in the Scenario (found on pages 21-25 of the rule book). Players must form their armies by fitting the correct units and accompanying flags into the bases. Players will deploy their entire army on the first two rows (or columns) of their side, including any half hexes. This does not include the quarter hexes. Players cannot deploy any troop onto a space that already contains a figure or onto a space that could not be moved on to (e.g., a river space or Marsh.) Players deploy units one-at-a-time, alternating until all units are on the board. (Note: when playing a Scenario, follow the placing instructions listed there.) The Imperial side receives the 10 Mighty Cannon tiles; the Chaos side receives the six Ogre Champion cards. Shuffle the 59 Battle cards and place them face-down in easy reach of both players. Rules of play Playing Surface The playing surface is filled with landscape features, hexagonal landscape tiles and other pieces that define the landscape. The River No unit may enter a space that contains the river. There are three Ford spaces printed on the map where players may cross the river. The Roads Roads can be used by any player. They do not affect movement. Fords Fords are the only way units can travel across the river. There are 2 Ford tiles in the game and three Fords printed on the map. Hedges There are four plastic hedges available. No unit may move across a hedge. Hedges can border the same hexagonal space, but no hexagons are allowed to segment a road or river. Marshes There are four marsh tiles available. No unit may enter a marsh tile. Marsh tiles cannot be placed on river or road spaces. Ditches There are three ditch tiles available. No unit may move across any of the fortified sides of a Ditch tile. A unit may, however, move onto or out of a Ditch through its open sides. A ditch tile cannot be placed on a road or river hex. The Tower The Tower offers tactical advantages to those units who are placed on top of the Tower. Unlike other features, the Tower can be destroyed during the game. It may be placed on any hex that does not contain a road or river. All other features printed on the playing mat are consider empty spaces. The Battle Cards One player is chosen to flip the battle cards, one at a time. The Battle deck shows which side and units will be able to activate that turn. Any figure that is shown on a card can be activated that turn.

When a card is flipped over, the printed units may move first and then attack. Archers and Crossbowmen, however, may only move or attack. The Mighty Cannon may also only move or attack (more on this later.) Units may choose not to move or attack. Movement and attacks of each unit should be fully resolved before activating a different unit. If a Battle card displays some types of units that have already been destroyed, then only those units that survive on the map may activate. When you have exhausted the draw pile, remove any cards which display only units that have been destroyed, and then reshuffle the cards to make a new draw pile. Movement All units shown on a Battle card may move to an adjacent space. They may not move onto or through spaces that contain units. They cannot move onto river or marsh spaces, or through fortified ditch spaces or through hedges. A unit that moves onto the empty Tower space takes command of the Tower. The unit is placed on top of the Tower. All units may occupy the Tower, except those that ride horses or wolves. As well, the Mighty Cannon and the Ogre Champion cannot move onto the Tower. Wolf Riders have a 'Double Move' card that allows them to move up to two adjacent spaces before attacking. As usual, they may only attack once. There are 'Whole Army Move' Cards that allow a player's entire army to move and attack. However, the Mighty Cannon and Ogre Champion cannot be activated with this card. Combat Units may only attack enemy units in adjacent spaces (exception: Archers, Crossbowmen, and the Mighty Cannon.) The number of Combat Dice which an attacking unit can roll is shown on each unit's base. This is that unit's Combat Value. For each Skull that is rolled, one hit is taken by the defender. Shields and Blanks are ignored. The defender immediately rolls for defence with dice equal to their own Combat Value. For each Shield rolled, one Skull that had just been rolled is ignored. Skulls and Blanks are ignored. Any hits that were not cancelled out are counted as successful hits. The defender must place one Skull token on their unit's base to show the hit. As soon as a unit takes at least three hits, it is immediately destroyed and removed from the game. (Exception: the Ogre Champion more later.) The same unit can be attacked several times in one turn. However, they defend for each attack separately. Note: A unit that has one or two Skull tokens on it still rolls at their entire Combat Value until they are destroyed! Units in Ditches that attack across a fortified side of that ditch roll one combat die less. In addition, the defending unit rolls on die more for defence. Exception: Archers and Crossbowmen attack across a fortified side of a ditch at regular Combat Value. Players attacking or defending across the open sides of a ditch do so at regular Combat Value. Any unit may attack or defend across a hedge. Units may only not move through hedges. Archers and Crossbowmen can only attack or move, not both. However, Archers have an attack range of 1 or 2 spaces; Crossbowmen have an attack range of 1, 2, or 3 spaces. They may shoot over units, terrain features, and even the Tower to shoot an enemy unit. Each side has two Battle cards that allow a charge to take place. Each unit may roll one extra die for any attack it makes that turn. The Mighty Cannon and Ogre Champion The Imperial's Mighty Cannon is its most powerful weapon. Due to its weight, it can only move or attack, not both. It moves and defends like regular units, but it attacks differently.

Use the Target tile on the enemy unit that you are targeting. If that unit is adjacent, it is immediately destroyed. However, the Canon can suffer damage to itself for the close-range attack. Shuffle the remaining Cannon tiles. If the first one drawn shows the Explosion tile then the Cannon is destroyed! If it shows a Bouncing Cannon Ball, then the Cannon takes 1 hit. If it shows a Flying Cannon ball, there is no damage taken. If your target is further away, you must lay a path of Cannon tiles from the Cannon to the targeted unit. You must choose a path that uses the least amount of spaces to reach the target. If the target is more than 8 spaces away it cannot be targeted. The Cannon can target units on top of the Tower and the Tower itself. To fire the Cannon, shuffle the 9 Cannon tiles face-down. Then turn them over, one at a time and place each one face up on the adjacent tiles from the Cannon to the target. The spaces can be empty or occupied. React to each tile as it is turned over. If the tile shows a Flying Cannon Ball, the attack continues over that hex and no damage is made to anything within that tile. If the tile shows a Bouncing Cannon Ball, any unit in that space takes 1 hit token of damage. Terrain features and the Tower are not damaged by a bouncing cannon ball. The attack continues to the next hex. If the tile shows an Explosion, it destroys any unit on that space (if any.) This is where the shot falls, so no more tiles can be placed on the battle mat. No terrain feature (except for the Tower) is damaged by an Explosion. If you successfully lay a path of Flying or Bouncing Cannon Balls to your target, then flip over the Target tile to reveal an explosion. The target is eliminated from the battlefield. Cannon tiles are removed immediately after the attack. These tiles are reshuffled back into the pile and used again for the next Mighty Cannon attack. Each time the Ogre Champion Battle card is turned over, he may move and attack several times in a special way. As usual, both moving and attacking are optional. The Ogre has a small deck of six cards made up of three Move and three Attack cards. These are turned face-down, shuffled, and drawn one at a time by the Chaos Army player. Each time a Move card is pulled, the Ogre may move to one adjacent space. Each time an Attack card is drawn, he may attack any one enemy unit in any adjacent space. When the Ogre is hit in combat, the unit's ability to move and attack are reduced. For every Skull token the Ogre accumulates, the Chaos army player draws one less Ogre Champion card from the six he holds. Once the Ogre has 6 hit tokens on it, it is eliminated immediately and removed from play. The Tower Any unit that can move on top of the Tower rolls one extra Combat die when attacking or defending. Units attacking an enemy unit on top of the tower roll one less Combat die. A unit on top of the tower must be eliminated before an enemy unit can move onto the Tower. If an Explosion tile is turned up on a unit on top of the Tower, the unit is eliminated and the Tower is damaged. Each time the Tower is hit with a Cannon Explosion, it takes one Rubble token. When the Tower is hit for the third time with an Explosion tile, it is removed from the game. Bouncing Cannon tiles do not damage the Tower but damage any unit on top of the Tower with one hit point. Battle Scenarios Battle Scenarios are found on Pages 20-25. Follow the setup instructions for each scenario if playing in this manner. Each Scenario is worth a set number of points for the win. After playing all five scenarios, players add up their points to determine an overall winner. Units that were not destroyed by the end of a current campaign become Elite units and receive an Elite token. Elite units may roll one extra combat die when attacking and defending in future rounds. See pages 26-27 for descriptions of Battle Cards Compiled by Adam Allett (freechinanow) Version 1.0 Oct. 2011