Card Tactics is (supposed to be) a challenging game. Not only your team of heroes and items will enable different strategies, but events will also “mess up” with the course of the adventure. Learning the enemy’s skills and patterns is the key to success- and that takes some time. Experience, strategy and the ability to anticipate the enemy’s actions will exponentially raise the chances of victory.

Objective: Win five increasingly-difficult combats using chosen heroes. Items and events will add options and unexpected challenges. The game ends if at any point all heroes reach zero health.

Components: 66 playing cards, 56 tokens and 2 dice.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use a skill when its range ( ŵ ) doesn’t reach any (viable/desirable) target? What about using the movement ( ŷ ) option without using the skill’s description (attacking, etc)?

No. Moving must occur either before or after following the skill’s description (for example, you can attack and move, or move and attack- or in the Dagger’s case, move, attack and then move again). The only exception is if the skill’s description tells you to Pull or Push self and, being Restrained that can’t be done- which will end the skill’s effect (description) prematurely, ending that unit’s action.

When should the Counter effect be applied and how does it interact with other tokens?

The Counter is a tricky but powerful effect. An example: Ranger (has the Counter token) is attacked by Orc. The Orc rolls a total of 10 on its attack and applies any extra effects (Bleed, Restrain etc). Two possible outcomes: A) If Ranger survives the attack (and is not Stunned) will take Orc's attack result (10) and use against it (Orc - with a chance for a Critical Hit but no special effects) and discard the Counter token or; B) If Ranger didn't survive the attack it will be defeated and discard the Counter token alongside any other tokens it had (defeated units cannot Counter).

What happens when the Ranger attacks a Pixie? Both their quirks ask for/enable re-rolls.

There's three possible ways of going about it, and it's up to you to decide which one to use (your choice will make the game slightly harder or easier for that encounter): 1) they negate one another; 2) Ranger (can) re-roll first, then Pixie or; 3) Pixie re-rolls then Ranger has the option of rerolling.

Credits

Card Tactics (2021) by Gui de Souza Rocha + Illustrations by Victor Costa Box art by Guilherme “Frodo” + Text review by João Ricardo Rodrigues Icons and manual design by Aline de Souza Rocha + Thanks to all the awesome folks that helped make this project come true by playtesting, giving feedback and/or overall support (it’s been a long road since 2016) Special thanks to Sacha Zaporski, Neimar May, Everton Elvio Koser, Gustavo “Scary”, Massami “Sky”, Daniel Romao and the SaskGameDev community

1. 1. Make 3 stacks of items, one for each rarity (Common, Rare, Unique – shuffle each one individually);
2. 2. Make an Event stack (shuffle);
3. 3. Make a boss/enemy Challenge stack starting by piling the cards face down in the following order (shuffle each group of cards individually but don’t look at them):
   • + 3 Unique Enemy cards, then;
   • + 1 Unique Boss card;
   • + 2 Unique Enemy cards;
   • + 1 Rare Boss card;
   • + 5 Rare Enemy cards;
   • + 1 Common Boss card;
   • + 5 Common Enemy cards;
   • Discard unused Enemy/Boss cards.
4. 4. Choose 3 heroes and draw 3 Common items (see Items). Discard 1 of the items and the heroes not chosen;
5. 5. Position the heroes on the Combat Area and add health ( Ź ) tokens to the same amount number on the hero’s card.

Combat Area

Also referred to as “Combat”, consists of an imaginary horizontal line separated in the center: the three spaces on the left are the hero side, while the three spaces on the right side are the enemy side (bosses follow the same rules). Each occupied space counts as 1 (one) for measuring range. No space can ever be left empty between the center and a unit or between two units; when that happens, all units are Pulled (does not count as movement, see example). Heroes can never enter the enemy side and vice-versa.

Self, Unit, Hero, Enemy and Ally (terminology)

Self refers to the unit that is acting. Unit refers to any hero, enemy (including boss) card. Ally refers to other cards of the same type as the one that is acting, but not including the card itself (for example: Orc Chieftain’s War Drums skill affects “allies”, meaning all enemies except Orc Chieftain).

Skills are represented by the flag-like blocks of text on hero, item and enemy cards. Each card has up to two skills available. When using a skill, follow its description applying each effect in order, separated by a period (“.”). If an instruction cannot be completed (for example, moving a unit that is Restrained), stop the skill immediately (ignoring any further phrases on the text right below the skill’s name) and end that unit’s action. That means units might be stopped from using a portion or all the effects on their skills if under the right conditions.

Quirks are represented by the first block of text below a hero, item or enemy illustration on their cards. Quirks are effects that will take place based on specific conditions, sometimes during another unit’s action. Since heroes, items and enemies can have quirks, all of them should be paid attention to when in game. Item quirks will only take place when such an item is used.

Attacking, Hit and Critical Hit

When attacking ( ư ), choose a target then roll the two dice and add any numeric value attached to it (example, ư +1 adds one to the roll) and ž+ or ž- tokens to the result. If it is equal or higher than the target’s ź, it loses 1 Ź (hit). If the result is equal or higher to DOUBLE the target’s ź, it instead loses 2 Ź (critical hit). “On hit/critical hit” includes extra effects beside losing Ź, and sometimes instead of losing Ź.

Some attacks target more than one unit. If an attack has more than one target, roll once and resolve each target in order from closest to the attacker, then second closest etc.

Losing or Recovering Health, and Defeat

Use Ź tokens to track the amount of health each unit has left. Heroes or enemies with zero Ź are defeated. Hits and critical hits make a unit lose Ź. When a unit is healed, they recover a given number of Ź. The initial Ź value on the card cannot be surpassed.

Range (written in [ ] beside the skill’s name) indicates which unit(s) can be targeted by a particular skill (from a hero or item). Enemies do not use range, instead describing the target on their skill’s text. Range is represented by the archer icon ŵ followed by a number (0 for self, 1 for adjacent, 2 for two spaces afar to either direction etc. 1-2 means one OR two etc). Range does not discriminate heroes from enemies.

Items

Keep drawn items below the Combat Area (alternatively, keep non-Exhausted items in hand). There’s no limit of items carried on a given playthrough. Any item can be used by spending a hero’s action (on that particular hero’s time to act on a round), unless stated otherwise. Follow the item’s description including its own quirk and skill (if the item has more than one skill available, choose only one of them to use). Like heroes and enemies, items that are not Discarded after use are Exhausted (unless stated otherwise), and become available again on the next round.

Positioning and Movement

Movement happens by Pulling (going towards the center of combat) or Pushing (going away from the center of combat). This happens as part of a skill effect (for example the Guardian’s Shield Bash will Push the target on a hit) used by a unit or against it. When present in a skill’s flag, each boot icon ŷ indicates that one Push/Pull can be made by that unit (for moving), making allied units switch positions; movement in this manner can happen before or after acting on its description (for example, the Pyromancer can Move before OR after using Fire Punch).

Starting a new phase ends the previous one. Heroes start the game on the Camp Phase. During Camp they can use certain items and move (change positions) at will. After leaving Camp, go to the Event Phase, drawing an Event card and following its description. Then proceed to the Combat Phase.

After combat, if at least one hero is not defeated, enter the Treasure Phase, then back to Camp (repeating the process again from the start until the combat involving the Unique Boss is completed).

Order of Game Phases: Camp > Event > Combat > Treasure > (repeat)

Camp Phase

Upon entering Camp, any defeated hero comes back with 1 Ź. During the Camp Phase heroes can freely change positions and may be able to use specific items (check items description). No tokens (except Ź ) are carried over at the end of this phase. When done, move to the Event Phase.

Event Phase

As soon as leaving Camp, draw an Event card and follow its description. Then enter the Combat Phase.

Combat Phase

# Start: Reveal the top three cards from the Challenge stack, adding them to the enemy side of the Combat Area in the following order: Closest to the center, second closest to the center and third closest to the center. Add the appropriate number of Ź tokens to each enemy (or boss) based on the Ź value on each card. Follow combat rules respecting the round order (see next step);

# Round actions (alternates between hero and enemy side of Combat):

• 1. Select and execute an action for the farthest hero from the center that hasn't acted yet (see step 3 below). After acting, Exhaust that hero (and any used item that was not Discarded) by rotating its card 90 degrees. An Exhausted card stays rotated and cannot be used again until the end of the round unless stated otherwise;
• 2. Perform the action for the farthest enemy/boss from the center that hasn't acted (see step 4 below), based on its current position. Exhaust the enemy card after performing its action;
• 3. Perform one action for each unit (hero or enemy), switching acting sides and always using the farthermost unit from the center that hasn't acted yet, until all heroes and enemies have been Exhausted;
• 4. When all heroes and enemies have been Exhausted, the round ends. Rotate all the Exhausted cards back to their original orientation and start a new round;

# During each hero’s time to act, choose one: use hero skill, use item or Skip action. Be mindful of the ŵ (Range) of each skill, as it indicates which units can be affected by its description. Also be mindful of tokens like Stun or Restrain that directly affect the heroes (and enemies) capabilities;

# During each enemy’s (or boss) time to act, follow their card descriptions depending on which position they currently are (if 3rd closest to the center of combat, use second skill; otherwise use first skill). Note that after only two enemies are left in combat, none of them will be able to use their second skill. Be mindful of their quirks and use them accordingly;

# The two basic movement types are Pull (going towards the center) and Push (going away from the center). Pull(2) or Push(2) refers to doing it twice. Units switch positions when moving. Heroes always stay on their side of combat, and the same goes for enemies;

# If a hero is defeated (reaches zero Ź ), set aside that card (for enemy or boss, discard it). As heroes/enemies are defeated, the remaining units are automatically pulled towards the center;

# The combat ends when at least one hero is undefeated and all enemies are defeated. When that happens, move to the Treasure Phase. If all heroes are defeated, end the game immediately.

Treasure Phase

After successfully ending a combat, draw items from their respective stacks accordingly:

- If a boss was present in the latest combat: 1 Common, 1 Rare and 1 Unique item;

- Otherwise: 2 Common items and 1 Rare item.

Endgame Condition

The game ends in victory when the heroes successfully defeat the Dragon and other enemies present in the fifth combat (which might leave zero to three cards left on the Challenge stack). The game can end prematurely if in any combat all heroes are defeated.

I’ve beaten the Dragon, what now?

First off, congratulations! Besides playing again with different heroes and facing a new Challenge stack, you’re encouraged to create your own game setups. Some ideas: survival mode, without camp between combats; cooperative mode with other player(s), competitive mode against other player(s) etc. It might demand some tweaking, but Card Tactics’s mechanics are built to be flexible outside the “standard” setup found in this manual. Oh, and please reach out and share new and challenging ways of playing you do create!

Order of Game Phases: Camp > Event > Combat > Treasure > (repeat)

Combat Phase

• - Alternates between hero and enemy side;
• - Farthest (non-Exhausted) unit from center acts;
• - Heroes’ action: use skill, use item or skip action. Exhaust card(s) after use;
• - Enemies’ action: use skill based on position. Exhaust afterwards;
• - Before, during and after acting with a unit, check quirks and tokens (on all units) that might affect the action.

Tokens and Special Effects

Attacking, Hit and Critical Hit

When attacking ư , choose a target then roll the two dice and add any numeric value attached to it as well as any ž modifiers. If equal to or higher than the target’s ź value, it hits (critical hit if double or higher).

Range

Movement