Wednesday, April 3, 2013

King of Monsters vs. The League of Righteousness!



Welcome. This board game is about comic book superheroes versus a monster from Kaiju style movies like Godzilla and Gamera. Here the King of Monsters is attacking the Isle of Righteousness which is the headquarters of the superhero team “The League of Righteousness.”

The leagues new Unobtanium Reactor has sent out waves of strange radioactivity that has attracted the King of Monsters to the island. The creature seems to be enraged by this radiation and seeks to destroy it at the source! Problem is that if the reactor is destroyed, it will cause a catastrophic chain reaction that could well destroy all life on our little blue/brown spinning marble.

The Island is separated into several zones that the King of Monsters will try to destroy while the League attempts to push the beast back into the primordial waters whence it came. The game uses two decks of Uno cards for resolution. Divide the decks into Action and Combat decks as listed below. Please try to keep the decks separate as one will belong to the Heroes and the other to the KoM (or King of Monsters).

Each Zone has unique properties that will aid the Heroes, but once the Zone is destroyed those benefits are lost and it therefore becomes more challenging for the Heroes to beat back the KoM.

Each Hero has a unique special power that, when used in conjunction with the other Heroes powers can make it much easier to beat back the KoM. This is a cooperative game for the most part with all 8 Heroes having to use their powers together to beat the massive beast.

Cards

This game runs off two decks of Uno cards. Divide the decks as follows.

Action Deck
· 8 Draw 2 cards
· 8 Reverse Cards
· 8 Skip Cards
· 4 Wild Cards
· 4 Wild Draw 4 Cards

Combat Deck
· 19 Blue 0-9 Cards
· 19 Green 0-9 Cards
· 19 Yellow 0-9 Cards
· 19 Red 0-9 Cards

Zones

Ocean: If the KoM is pushed back to this zone, the Heroes win!
  • Breakthrough Rating – 0
  • Color – Blue
  • Special Rules – If the KoM is pushed into this Zone the Heroes win!
Beach: This is the KoM’s starting zone. There are no objectives on this zone so he will only spend one turn here.
  • Breakthrough Rating – 0
  • Color – Yellow
  • Special Rules - None
Power Lines: The power lines from the Hydroelectric Dam feed Hero City. Once they are destroyed, the Heroes are forced to rely on power from the Unobtanium Reactor.
  • Breakthrough Rating – 15
  • Color – Green
  • Special Rules – The Power Lines entangle and enrage the KoM. In order to move into this Zone the KoM must draw one less card into its Combat Hand the turn it enters.
Motor-pool: The United Nations guard post keeps its tanks and artillery stored in the motor pool. As long as this Objective is alive Heroes can call upon these men and vehicles to help them in the fight.
  • Breakthrough Rating - 17
  • Color - Red
  • Special Rules – Since the UN soldiers are helping with the fight, all Heroes can choose to discard one Combat Card and draw a new one at any point in their Hero Phase.
Metrorail: This light rail system can be used to shuttle people and items to and from any zone in the game.
  • Breakthrough Rating – 19
  • Color – Blue
  • Special Rules – As long as the monorail is running, Heroes can transport to any Zone in one Turn by discarding a single card that matches the color of the destination Zone.

Airstrip: The airstrip can be used to call in air strikes.
  • Breakthrough Rating – 21
  • Color – Yellow
  • Special Rules – As long as the Airstrip is active any Hero can call in an air cover. This will cancel one “Skip” card per turn for a single Hero.
League of Righteousness HQ: The headquarters for our heroes. As long as this is not destroyed, new heroes can be called up to join the fight.
  • Breakthrough Rating – 23
  • Color – Green
  • Special Rules – The HQ is the nerve center of the League. It provides C&C support from sidekicks and second tier heroes. The HQ allows the Heroes to discard one Action Card result and re-draw once per Zone. Heroes that have been injured and removed from play may re-enter play from the HQ.
Science Lab: The science lab can be used to replenish special abilities and keep the heroes superpowers from dwindling.
  • Breakthrough Rating – 25
  • Color – Blue
  • Special Rules – The Science lab allows each Hero to store a single unspent Combat Card at the end of the Hero Phase. Set the card aside as it is not counted as part of your hand. This card can be discarded and replaced with a new card at the end of every Hero Phase. The Combat Card can be added to the Heroes hand whenever he/she tries to use a Special Attack. See Below.
Unobtanium Reactor: The Unobtanium Reactor had to be activated to power the city. Now that it is up and running it’s a powder keg waiting to blow!
  • Breakthrough Rating – 30
  • Color – Any
  • Special Rules – The Unobtanium Reactor does not confer any special benefit other than allowing every other Zone to function. If it is destroyed the game is over and the world falls into a nuclear winter. Life as we know it ends and the KoM rules over an irradiated landscape of death. Good times.
Heroes

The League of Righteousness started as a Fantasy Football League run by The Linebacker back in the 1980’s. Later it grew into the largest collection of super powers known to man. The A list Heroes include:

Anvil – Genius, playboy, philanthropist, billionaire and Hero, Anvil is a symbol of super technological might. The Anvil suit is armed with sophisticated weapon systems, incredible physical strength and speed.
o Color – Yellow
o Special Rules – Anvil is incredibly powerful and can single handedly suppress an area with rockets, bullets, flairs and the Graviton Hammer. He can force the KoM player to replace any card on the Damage Location Chart with a random card from the KoM’s Combat Deck immediately after the Draw Phase.

Artemis – Once a Greek archeologist, Artemis discovered an ancient shrine that held the Sword of Artemis. The moment she touched the sword she was imbued with the power of the Ancient Goddess of the Hunt. All but invulnerable, able to fly and given superhuman strength and agility, she has become the most powerful female superhero in the world. Often known for activism in children and women’s rights she is a high profile Hero and high ranking member of the League.
o Color – Red
o Special Rules – Artemis is the goddess of the hunt. She can stalk prey and sense its weakness. During the Move Step of the Hero Phase, Artemis can look at any face down card on the Damage Location Chart.

Bamf – Bamf was marked by a Dark Lord of the Abyss, but managed to keep his faith and escape the evil to which he was bound. Now Bamf works hard to redeem himself and subdue his demonic nature.
o Color – Blue
o Special Rules – Bamf can move at incredible speeds and teleport. During the Move Step Bamf can move twice into any Zone on the board by discarding a card from his hand that matches the Zone moved into. He can also attack any Hit Location regardless of color.

Brick Dropper – Brick was a researcher in mood altering drugs. Experimenting on himself, he accidentally changed his brain chemistry to turn him into an unstoppable machine of destruction. Whenever he feels embarrassed, awkward or generally butthurt, he is imbued with incredible strength and stamina.
o Color – Green
o Special Rules – Brick is unstoppable. Whenever Brick is taken out simply put the model on its side in the Zone that he is in. Next turn, he automatically gets back up in the Hero Phase Move Step. He is also known for Dropping Bricks. If Brick is next to any building during his Fight Step he can Drop Bricks once per Turn. When he does so, he can choose any Combat Card that is currently damaging the Zone. He can then immediately search the Hero Combat Deck and place an identical card on the Damage Location Chart.

Dr. Ibis – Nobody knows the Doctors true name or where he came from. All that is known is that he is the master of the Arcane! Dr. Ibis has incredible powers unknown to mortal man.
o Color – Yellow
o Special Rules – Dr. Ibis is a master of the art of Magic and can bend reality. During the Clean Up Phase Dr. Ibis can look at the top card of either Action Deck and can choose to discard the card or keep it on top of the deck.

Dynamo – Once Dynamo was a Special Forces commando who volunteered for a special program run by the government. Treated with special Zeta energy, Dynamo was given powers and abilities far beyond that of a mortal man.
o Color – Red
o Special Rules – Dynamo is unstoppable. Whenever Dynamo is taken out simply put the model on its side in the Zone that he is in. Next turn, he automatically gets back up in the Hero Phase Move Step. Dynamo is a powerhouse and can put a Power Token on any face up card on the Damage Location Chart during his Fight! Step. This token gives that card a +1 to its value. He can do this once per Turn and can place multiple tokens on any card.

Science Ninja – The Science Ninja is a master of the Shinobi arts. On top of this he packs a grip of gadgets and technological marvels to increase his powers. He is also a gifted investigator and leader.
o Color – Blue
o Special Rules – After the Draw Phase, Science Ninja can allow any Hero to trade one card with another Hero due to his superior leadership skills. No Hero can trade more than once.

The Grey – The Grey is an alien from a fallen civilization. He has shape shifting and telepathic powers and has dedicated himself to preventing humans from destroying themselves like his people did.
o Color – Green
o Special Powers – The Grey can use his telepathic powers to help Heroes prevent catastrophe. Once per turn The Grey can change the numeric value of any card played by replacing it with the numeric value of a card played from his hand. The value is changed immediately but the card reverts back to its original value in the Clean Up Phase. Note this does not change the color of a card.

The Game Turn

The Game Turn is divided in to 4 Phases. Setup, Draw, Rampage, Hero and Cleanup. Each Phase has several Steps. All together they make up the Game Turn.

A) Setup Phase.  In this phase the KoM player sets up his Damage Locations on the Damage Location Chart.  See image below


There is one Row per color and four Columns per Row. Attacks and other effects are resolved from left to right starting with Column one and ending with Column 4.  At the start of the game and again whenever the KoM moves to a new Zone the KoM player must place cards on the Damage Location Chart.  The KoM player will draw cards from the Combat Deck until four cards are drawn for each color.  Only the first four cards drawn for each color will be placed on the DLC all subsequent cards of the same color that are drawn are discarded.  Once all 16 cards are drawn the KoM player then places them on the DLC.  Cards must match the color of the Row they are placed in and are placed from lowest numerical value to highest starting with Column 1.  If the KoM moves into a new Zone, these cards are placed face down and not revealed to the Hero players.  If the KoM is pushed back into a previous Zone, the cards are placed face up.

B) Draw Phase.  All players, including the KoM player may first discard any cards and then draw up to a hand size of 5 from the Combat Deck, but may never end the draw phase with more or less than five cards exactly.

C) RAMPAGE! Phase.  The KoM goes on a rampage.  In this phase the KoM player follows these steps.

     1) Action Deck Step – Draw one card from the Action Deck
          a) Draw 2 Card:  If the Draw 2 Card is pulled draw 2 cards from the Combat Deck may only attack Heroes during his RAMPAGE! Phase.
          b) Reverse: This card reverses the order of the face down cards in a row on the Damage Location Chart.  The row that is changed corresponds to the Reverse card color drawn.  Hero attack cards that are placed face up on top of these cards are not re-ordered.
          c) Skip: The KoM may only attack Heroes this RAMPAGE! Phase.  The KoM also looses his Move Step during this RAMPAGE! Phase.
          d) Wild: The KoM player can choose to either place this as a fifth card on any Damage Location Row with a value of 9 or they may choose to keep it in their combat hand.
          e) Wild Draw 4:  Immediately draw four cards from the Combat Deck and add it to your hand.  Place this as a fifth card on any Damage Location Row with a value of 9.

     2) Fight Step!
          a) The King of Monsters can choose to damage the Zone or the Heroes and can attack any number of targets as long as he has the cards to do so.
          b) If the King of Monsters chooses to attack the Zone he must play any combination of cards and add their numerical value together.  This total is compared to the Breakthrough Rating of the Zone.  This may be done cumulatively over several Turns or in one Turn.  Wild Cards count as nines for damage.  Once the total damage value meets or exceeds the Breakthrough Rating of the Zone the Zone has been destroyed at the end of the Fight Step.
          c) If a Hero is attacked, the KoM must choose a card color that corresponds to the Hero.  Each Hero has a color value.  The Hero may then play a card of the equal value or of the same color.  In turn the KoM may play a card of the equal value or color (note color may change here but will still damage the Hero as long as the initial card of the attack was the correct color.) This goes back and forth with the player who played the last card being declared the victor.  If the KoM wins the Hero is taken out!  Once taken out the Hero must discard his hand and my re-draw up to five in the Draw Phase.  The Hero is taken out for the rest of the following HERO! Phase, but will recover at the beginning of the next Turns HERO! Phase starting in the League of Righteousness HQ and must spend cards in the Move Step of the HERO Phase to return to the fight..  (Rules on Hero zone movement will follow later on).

     3) Move Step!
          a) The KoM may move on to the next Zone if the following conditions are met.
               i) The KoM has destroyed the Zone objective.
               ii) The KoM does not draw a Draw 2 or Skip Card in the beginning of the Action Deck Phase.
               iii) The KoM must have a card in his hand that is the same color as the Zone being entered.

D) HERO! Phase. Now the Heroes get to beat on their invader.  Red Heroes go first.  Each Red Hero draws from the top of the Combat Deck.  The Hero with the highest number goes first and the Hero with the lowest number goes last.  Repeat then for Green, Yellow and Blue in that order.  Once we know who goes when, we can start whoopin radioactive monster butt!

     1) Move Step – A Hero can move from Zone to Zone.  The Hero must discard a card that matches the color of the Zone being entered.  A Hero can do this as many times as he/she has cards.
          a) Draw 2 Card:  The Hero has the choice of drawing two cards from the combat deck and loose the rest of the HERO Phase or the Hero may allow the KoM to draw two cards.  If the KoM draws two cards the Hero may continue with his/her HERO Phase.
          b) Reverse: This card reverses the order of the face up cards in a row on the Damage Location Chart.  The row that is changed corresponds to the Reverse card color drawn.
          c) Skip: Lose the rest of the Hero Phase.
          d) Wild: The Hero can place the wild card face up on any Damage Location immediately.  The Wild card matches all colors and has a value of 9.
          e) Wild Draw 4:  Immediately draw four cards from the Combat Deck and add it to your hand.  The Hero can attack any Location that turn without having to shift Locations.

     2) Fight Step!
          a) The Heroes can attack the KoM using their fabulous superpowers.  They can attack the Location that matches the Heroes color.  They can discard a Combat Card from their hand to move one Location up or down as many times as the Hero has cards to discard.
          b) The Hero can make a normal attack on the Location by placing a Combat Card whose color matches the Location color face up on top of the first unoccupied Location from left to right.  Only a single face up card can be placed in each Column of the DLC.  If the Hero has more cards to play, they can spend cards to move Locations and place as many cards in their hand on as many Locations as they can.  Otherwise, they can save cards to power up for a “Special Attack”.
          c) Once all the cards in a Location have been covered by an attack card a Hero can choose to do a Special Attack to disable that Location. A Hero cannot do regular attacks on a Location Row in the same turn as he/she does a Special Attack.
               i) First the Hero must determine if the location has been weakened enough to be able to be taken out.  Starting from left to right compare the face down card with the face up card.
                     (1) If the face up card is of higher or equal value compared to the face down card, the cards are then removed from play.  Continue on to the next column.
                     (2) If the face down card is higher than the face up card, the Heroes have failed to damage that Location column and all face up cards are removed.  All remaining face down cards are then shifted to the next left most open position.  The card that was formerly face down remains face up.
                     (3) If all the cards are removed from play, the Location has been defeated.
               ii) Once the Location is defeated a Hero can try a Special Attack.  Special Attacks are handled as follows.
                     (1) The KoM player draws a card from either his hand or the top of his Combat Deck.
                     (2) The Hero must then match either the color or the number on that card.
                     (3) Both sides keep playing cards from their hands until one side cannot match.  (Note:  The KoM player is not restricted by Disabled Locations for the purposes of this fight.) The last side to match being the victor.  If the Hero wins, the Location is Disabled.
                     (4) If the Hero fails to match then the Location automatically replaces the left most card face up on that location with a card from the KoM’s Combat Deck.
               iii) If a location is Disabled the KoM player cannot use that color card for any actions including Damage and Attack.  Once the KoM can no longer play any color cards, it is moved back one Zone.  Once moved back it replaces all its Hit Location cards lowest to highest just as described in the Setup Phase, but all cards are placed face up so the Heroes can see them and is automatically considered to have drawn a Skip card on its next Action Card Step removing a card from a Location determined randomly but pulling a Combat Card for a color.
          d) When the KoM is down to the last Location Card, it goes into a FRENZY!!  The KoM player immediately draws one card per active Hero.  The KoM player can then.
               i) Play any or all of the cards he can against the Zone and resolve that damage immediately.
              ii) Attack any Hero or Heroes with whatever cards he can.  Follow up cards can be of any color but the initial attack must be of a color the KoM can use.  Resolve immediately.
              iii) Discard entire hand to draw one card from the Action Deck.  If a Wild card is drawn it can be placed on any of the left most positions on the Damage Location Chart with a value of 9.  If a Wild Draw 4 is drawn the Wild Draw 4 card is placed anywhere on the Damage Location Chart with a value of 9 and the KoM player can draw 4 cards from the Combat Deck and resolve damage as in steps i and ii above.

E) Clean Up Phase
  1. All Combat Decks are shuffled.
  2. Any Hero in the Hospital is now healed and ready to start next Turn.
  3. If a new Hero is being drawn from the Hall of Righteousness his model is placed there at this time.
  4. All cards on the DLC are moved to the left most unoccupied position.
This is the end of the Turn.  If the KoM has not moved into a new Zone skip the Setup Phase and move on to the Draw Phase.

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