This is the official rules for the digital version of /TACTIC/ meant to be used with the Tabletop Simulator. Get the mod here: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=286696150

Introduction

You boot up your trusty 56k modem and prepare to surf the Interwebs as is your custom every Friday. Dialing in your favourite website, you are excited to see your online friends… but disaster strikes! Instead of a peaceful home page, you come to see your website the ruins of a battlefield. You must rally your fellows and strike back at the aggressors. Take charge of your subordinates as you strike a decisive blow to the opposition.

If you knock out the enemy’s main user, they instantly log out, giving you the victory! But your connection is in a similar predicament, as one false move would spell the end for your conquest.

 

GOAL

The goal of the game is to kill the enemies’ King Unit while protecting your own. To do so, move your Units and use their skills and abilities to turn the tide of battle.

 

SET UP

1. Each player gets 6 BitCoins. These are only used during the building phase, so they do not need to be physically tracked.

2. Decide who goes first.

3. All players choose a Faction they want to play, then they simultaneously place their King Unit on a Crown Space (the space with the crown)  in their Build Zone (the spaces bordered by a coloured line)..

4. The player who is going first places one Unit from their faction on the board in their Build Zone and then deducts the correct amount of BitCoins from their balance. Units cost 1 BitCoin unless otherwise noted. Players can have multiple copies of any Unit, aside from any King. To do this, simply have the host duplicate that Unit.

5. Proceed clockwise around the table until everybody has spent all their Bitcoins. Any unused BitCoins are useless.

 

GAMEPLAY

Players can move and attack with as many Units as they wish, and in any order.

Units can move one square in any of the eight possible directions (Up, Down, Left, Right and Diagonally), as long as there is no Unit already in that spot. Some abilities modify this behaviour, such as how far a Unit can move or preventing another unit from moving.

Units can attack in 4 directions (Up, Down, Left and Right) and can only attack Units next to them. When you attack with a Unit, you Cache the attacking Unit. Cached Units cannot perform any actions until they are un-Cached at the start of your turn. Again, some abilities may modify this behaviour by allowing Units to attack from further away or on the diagonal.

 

When a Unit is attacked, append their title with the amount of damage it has. If a Unit’s damage reaches or exceeds their HP, that Unit is immediately removed from the board.

 

Note: Yes, you can attack your own Units, which may be used in some tactical situations.

Units with a Range ability can attack from further away. (See Ability List for more information on different Abilities.)

 

ABILITIES

Abilities are special characteristics attached to certain Units. They come in two flavours, Activated and Passive.

Passive abilities are abilities like Heal, Dash, and Range are always active and do not have to be “turned on” to work. A Unit with Heal will always Heal allies when attacking them.

Activated abilities, like PUSH, are activated by the player. Some activated abilities Cache the Unit using them. Remember a Cached Unit cannot perform any action.

 

CACHING

Whenever you attack or use certain abilities, you Cache a Unit by turning it at a 90‘ angle. This is a visual representation of a Unit being unable to perform any other actions that turn.

 

A Cached Unit cannot perform any actions. Some abilities will still be activated, like Regenerate or Barbs, as they are Passive Abilities.

 

 

GLOSSARY

Abilities – Are special characteristics attached to certain Units. They come in two flavours, Activated and Passive.

Activated Abilities – Cache abilities, like Push, are activated by the player. A Unit must be un-Cached to use an Activated Ability. Some Activated Abilities will Cache a Unit after use.

Passive Abilities – Passive abilities are abilities like Heal, Dash, and Range. These abilities take effect based on conditions. Heal, for example, takes effect whenever the Unit attacks an allied Unit, while Regenerate takes effect at the start of your turn.

Adjacent – A Unit being “adjacent” to another means that a Unit is next to another Unit, in any direction, without any spaces between them.

AT – The Attack power of a Unit. When a Unit attacks another, place that many Damage Counters on the attacked Unit.

BitCoin – A digital currency that is used to buy Units at the start of the game. The board states the amount of starting BitCoins on them. There is no way to spend or earn BitCoins after the game has begun, so spend them all at the start! (You don’t need to actually spend real-life BitCoins to play)

Build Zone – The area on the board where Units may be placed. Note that there are two spots (called Crown Spaces) where a King may be placed. After choosing where the King will start, the other vacant Crown Space may be used for other Units.

Caching – Caching refers to when a Unit has performed all possible actions  and cannot do anything. All units Cache themselves when they attack, and some do so when they use Abilities. At the beginning of your turn, you un-Cache all Units you control.

Combat Range – This refers to the area at which a Unit can perform attacks. Usually, this is one square up, down, left and right, but some abilities may modify this.

Crown Space – This is a space on the board where a King is to be placed at the start of the game. The current board has two Crown Spaces for each player. Once a King has been placed, all Crown Spaces under that player’s control lose all significance and are simply normal Build Zones.

Damage Counter – Due to the digital nature of this game, there are no physical damage counters. Instead, the primary label of Units are modified to reflect how much damage they have. Some abilities refer to moving, removing or placing damage counters. In this case, simply add or subtract from the damage value.

HP or Hit Points – The maximum number of Hit Points that a Unit has. If the damage on a Unit reaches or exceeds the HP stat of the Unit, that Unit is killed and immediately removed from play.

King – This is the most important Unit in the game. If this Unit dies, that player instantly loses the game and removes their pieces from the board.

Unit – Units are the individual tokens on the board. Their HP, AT and Abilities are kept track of through the use of labels.

 

ABILITY LIST

This section explains all the abilities and provides answers to some possible questions that may arise.

 

Dash X: “This unit can move X extra spaces.”

Simply put, this Unit can move further in one turn. This movement must be performed as one action, with no interruptions between. You do NOT have to move in a straight line (you can move forward, then diagonally).

 

Heal X: “If this unit attacks an ally, instead of dealing damage, remove damage counters from that unit equal to this unit’s AT + X.”

Note: Remember how Units can attack allies? Units with Heal use that to their advantage. When a Unit with Heal attacks a friendly Unit, they heal that Unit instead of doing damage. The amount healed is calculated after any ability modifiers, then the value after Heal is added to that number. Thus, if a Unit would do less/more damage than usual, it will heal less/more. This includes abilities like Armor which reduces damage received. If a Unit has fewer damage counters than the amount healed, simply remove all damage counters. Units cannot be “overhealed” or buffed due to a unit with Heal.

 

Range X: “This unit can attack units from an extra X spaces away, as long as there is no unit between the attacking and attacked unit.”

 

This ability modifies the Combat Range of the unit to include extra spaces. This Unit can attack any Unit in the new Combat Range, but cannot attack over other Units, unless otherwise specified.

 

Armor X: “Adjacent units that attack this unit have their damage reduced by X. This applies to Allies with Heal.”

Whenever a unit with Armor is attacked by an adjacent unit, reduce the damage dealt by the Armor amount. This only affects units that attempt to damage this unit while adjacent. This also reduces the amount of HP healed from allies with Heal.

 

Fireball: “Once per turn this Unit may deal one (1) damage to an adjacent unit.”

This Unit can deal extra damage before it attacks to an adjacent unit. This ability can only be activated if the Unit is un-chached. This is not considered an attack, but it is a damaging ability, so it is affected by Armor but does NOT cause Barbs to activate.

 

Badger: “This unit can only attack diagonally”

This unit cannot attack Up, Down, Left or Right, but instead attacks on the diagonals. The Combat Range of this unit is 1 square diagonally. For example, a Unit one square up from this Unit is NOT in Combat Range.

 

 

Protection: “This unit cannot be damaged unless an enemy unit is adjacent to this unit.”

This unit cannot be damaged, for any reason, unless there is an enemy adjacent to it. As long as there is an enemy next to this unit, it can be damaged. An enemy trying to attack this unit from range will succeed if an enemy is adjacent, even if the adjacent enemy is not itself attacking.

 

Push: “ Push a unit that is in combat range one square in any direction – as long as the destination is empty.”

You push a unit 1 square in any direction that contains an open space. The pushed unit must be in Combat Range, not just adjacent. This does not work if there is a unit behind the target, and you cannot push the target off the edge of the board. No damage is dealt, and you cache this unit afterwards.  You can push the target in any direction, you do not have to push the target away from this unit. The target can be an ally or an enemy.

 

Swap: “ This unit swaps positions with another adjacent unit.”

Swap this unit’s position with any adjacent unit’s position. The targeted unit can be an enemy or ally. This unit is cached afterwards, but not the target.

 

Annoy: “All adjacent enemies’ AT is reduced by one (1), to a minimum of one (1). (A unit regains it’s AT when it is no longer adjacent to an Annoyer)”

All enemies that are adjacent to this unit have their AT reduced by 1. It does not matter if the unit is not attacking this unit, or if the unit is healing an ally, all adjacent enemy units have their AT reduced by one. If an enemy moves away, this reduction immediately ends.

 

Regenerate: “At the beginning of your turn, remove one (1) damage counter from this unit.”

This is a passive ability that takes affect at the start of your turn. This is a healing ability blocked by Burn.

 

Command: “When this unit attacks another unit, the attacked unit attacks another unit, as per the Commander’s choice.”

When this unit attacks another unit, even an ally, that unit immediately performs an attack on another unit. The target does not have to be un-cached in order to attack. The player who controls the unit with Command makes the choice as to who that unit attacks. The unit cannot perform activated abilities like Sacrifice or Push, but any passive effects like Range, Heal and Badger are in effect. The attack occurs as if the target’s player issued that attack, so abilities like Heal will take effect. Also some units cannot be damaged by allies. This ability still activates if the unit attacked by a unit with Command would die as a result of the initial attack.

 

Flame: “When this unit dies, it deals two (2) damage to an adjacent unit, and one (1) damage to all other adjacent enemies.”

When this unit dies, the person who controls this unit chooses an adjacent unit. 2 damage is dealt to that unit while 1 damage is dealt to all other units, even allies. The unit is still technically “there” when considering abilities like Armor and Protection.

 

Sacrifice X: “ Remove this unit from the game to deal X damage to one (1) adjacent unit.”

Instead of attacking you sacrifice this unit and it immediately deals X damage to an adjacent unit. The unit is still technically “there” when considering abilities like Armor and Protection. The target can be any adjacent unit, even if that unit is not within combat range.

 

Double Strike: “This unit can simultaneously attack two (2) different units.”

Instead of only attacking one unit, this unit can attack 2 different units. These attacks are happen simultaneously but are considered one attack with regards to Barbs.

 

Spite: “This unit gains +1 AT for every damage counter on this unit.”

For every damage counter on this unit, it gets more attack power. It doesn’t matter where the damage came from. If this unit has damage counters removed, it’s AT is lowered.

 

Burn: “If this unit is damaged, no other unit on the board may have damage counters removed for any reason. Units with Heal act as though they did not have heal. This unit cannot be damaged by allies.”

If there are any damage counters, from any source, on this unit, then no other unit on the board can be healed or have damage removed from them. This does not prevent abilities like Protection or Armor from working, but it does prevent Heal, Regenerate and Drain from having an affect on other units. However, allies with Heal CAN heal this unit. But, if there are two or more units with Burn activated, then no unit can be healed. Also, no allied unit can damage this unit for any reason.

 

Drain X: “Once per turn, you may transfer X damage counters from this unit to another unit in combat range. This counts as healing this unit, but is not considered an attack.”

You can only activate this ability if you have at least X damage counters on this unit. You cannot transfer damage to allies that cannot be damaged by other allies. This is not reduced by Protection or Armor. This ability cannot activate (even the damaging aspect) if a unit with Burn has any damage on it. This is not a cache ability, but can only be performed if the unit is un-cached, and can only be performed once.

 

Aura of Pain: “At the beginning of your turn, this unit deals damage equal to the number of damage counters on this unit to all adjacent units.”

When this unit’s controller’s turn starts, all units with Aura of Pain deal damage to all adjacent units simultaneously, before the player can move any units. This ability damages allies as well as enemies. The damage is reduced by Armor.

 

Sprinkle Dust: “Once per turn, you may remove one damage counter from an adjacent unit.”

Similar to Fireball, this ability allows the unit to heal allies (or enemies). It can target units on the diagonal, and this unit can move after using this ability. This ability cannot target itself. This ability is blocked by Burn. This is not a cache ability, but can only be performed if the unit is un-cached, and can only be performed once.

 

Taunt: “Adjacent enemies cannot move and must attack this unit if able.”

Whenever an enemy unit is beside this unit, it cannot move. That unit cannot perform a standard move action, and it must attack this unit if able. In the picture, the Knight has Taunt, so neither the Eagle nor the Bear can move. Because it is possible for the Bear to attack the Knight, it MUST attack the Knight. The Eagle, however, CANNOT attack the Knight, so it is free to attack the King.

Barbs: “When an adjacent unit is attacked, this unit deals 1 damage to the attacking unit, after combat.”

When an adjacent unit attacks an ally, it is dealt 1 damage AFTER the attacking unit has dealt damage. This ability only affects units that are adjacent to the unit with Barbs, not the attacked unit.

 

Weaken: “This unit gains -1 AT for each damage counter on it. This ability cannot be disabled or lost in any way.”

This unit’s AT is decreased by 1 for each damage counter. This unit cannot have it’s AT reach negative numbers. If it would, its AT becomes 0 instead. This ability is unaffected by any other ability that attempts to disable it.

 

Pity: “When this unit is attacked, this unit deals 1 damage to all adjacent units.”

Whenever this unit is attacked, by an ally or enemy, all adjacent units are dealt 1 damage. This is affected by modifiers like Heal, so a unit with Heal would damage enemies and heal allies. This ability is only triggered on attacks, other damage sources like Flame, Bomb or Aura of Pain do NOT trigger this ability.

 

Check: “All adjacent undamaged units have -2 AT.”

All units that are adjacent to this unit receive -2 AT. If this would make the AT negative, it is 0 instead. If a unit ever becomes damaged, or is no longer adjacent to this unit, this debuff is lost. This effect applies to all units, allies and enemies.

 

Feedback: “When this unit attacks a unit, it deals 2 damage to all units that share an ability. This does not affect units with King.”

Whenever this unit attacks a unit, this unit then deals 2 damage to all units that share an ability with the attacked unit. Units with Armor will have the damage reduced if they are adjacent to this unit. This ability can hurt allies, and can be activated by attacking an ally. Units with King are not affected by this ability, and it cannot trigger when attacking a unit with King.

 

Feel the Pain: “This unit gains +1 AT and +1 HP for every damage counter on adjacent units.”

This unit gains HP and AT for each damage counter on adjacent units, allied or enemy. If this unit’s HP falls below the amount of damage on this unit, it is immediately destroyed. This can happen if an adjacent unit is healed, killed or moves away from this unit.

 

Reverberate: “When this unit attacks an enemy, the target deals one (1) damage to all of its adjacent allied units. Units damaged this way also damage adjacent units. A unit cannot deal damage this way more than once per turn.”

Whenever this unit attacks an enemy, that enemy will deal one damage to all of its allies. This starts a chain reaction where all units damaged by this ability will deal damage to adjacent units. Units with Heal will not heal allies, and Armor will reduce this damage. In the picture, the Chain uses attacks the first Hydra, making it damage all adjacent units. The other Hydra is damaged, so it damages all adjacent units. Because the Striker has Armour 1, it does not take any damage, so it does not damage other units. The chain is effectively stopped by the unit with Armour.

 

Equalize: “All adjacent units now have 2 AT. No other units can change the AT of said units.”

Adjacent units have 2 AT, no if’s, and’s or but’s. Abilities like Annoy will not lower ATs, and abilities like Feel the Pain only affect HP of the adjacent units. When a unit is no longer adjacent, it regains its original AT.