Blood Wars Rules

Design: Steven Schend

Development: Lester Smith

Art: Tony Diterlizzi

Typed in by littlemute from the lands of BGG

V 1.0, 4/9/2017

Introduction
Throughout eternity, the lords of the nether domains have fought an endless Blood
War. Leading infernal hordes, they have battled back and forth across reality's lower
planes, each seeking to seize sufficient territory to become supreme. And behind the
scenes, they have plotted and schemed, endeavoring to win through intrigue what
they could not gain through combat.

Now the war has overflowed the nether realms and spills across all the planes of
existence. In the Blood Wars card game, you guide your own warlords and legions in
a bid for dominance. The first player to seize enough battlefields for supremacy wins
the game!

Core Concept
The Blood Wars game is an expandable card game of intrigue and combat. Each
deck contains a random mix of cards representing battlefields, warlords, legions and
elements of fate. Players use their warlords, legions and fate cards to seize
battlefields. The winner is the first player to capture enough battlefields to match a
preset number of victory points.

Any number of players can compete in a Blood Wars game session, from two to
infinity, though four or five is optimum. By collecting new cards, players can tailor
their decks to their own tastes, shaping the game to the style of play they prefer.

Card Diagram
All of the Blood Wars cards us a single design, though details differ from card to
card.

Challenge box: Lists Alignment (by letter and color), combat strength (CS), or
Intrigue Strength (IS), and a random result (RR).

Battlefields list victory points rather than CS or IS.

TYPE: Identified as a warlord, battlefield, legion or fate.

ICON: Identifies the home plane of a legion, Warlord or Battlefield, or the type of
fate card (acolyte, Item, Orders, Spell and Support).

TITLE: The card's name

Illustration: Warlords are framed in a shield shape, legions in an oblong and all
others in a square.

Activator: A symbol indicating if use of a special power requires the card to be

flipped, discarded or sent to the dead book (removed from play) when used.

Deck Construction:
A Blood Wars deck can be played right out of the box, but there is a great deal of fun
in tailoring your own deck. Modified decks can range from 40 to 100 cards. The
chart below tells how many cards of each type a deck can contain. Note that some
of types are limited by maximum total combat strength, Intrigue strength or Victory
points in a deck. Also, a deck can only have three copies of any particular card.

[[Typist note: this is where the game breaks down for a new player—horrifically
stringent deck building rules! This should have been a board game and not a ccg.
To make a deck, you have to check 15 different ‘constraints’ before it’s OK to
play with it. It was 1995 after all…]]

Deck
Size 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Number Allowed

Card Type
Warlord 3 to 5 3 to 6 3 to 7 3 to 8 3 to 9 3 to 9 3 to 9
Max IS 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
Legion 10 to 20 10 to 25 10 to 30 10 to 35 10 to 40 10 to 45 10 to 50
Max CS 120 150 180 210 240 270 300
Battlefield 5 to 12 6 to 15 7 to 17 8 to 20 9 to 22 10 to 25 11 to 27
Realm 0-2 0-3 0-4 0-5 0-6 0-6 0-6
Layer 0-2 0-3 0-4 0-5 0-6 0-6 0-6
Site/Town 0-2 0-3 0-4 0-5 0-6 0-6 0-6
Max VP 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Fate 0 - 15 0 - 20 0 - 35 0 - 30 0 - 35 0 - 40 0 - 45
Acolyte 0 - 10 0 - 12 0 - 14 0 - 16 0 - 18 0 - 20 0 - 20
Item 0 - 15 0 - 20 0 - 35 0 - 30 0 - 35 0 - 40 0 - 45
Artifact 0 -1 0-2 0-3 0-4 0-5 0-5 0-5
Magical 0-3 0-4 0-5 0-6 0-7 0-8 0-8
Other 0 - 15 0 - 20 0 - 35 0 - 30 0 - 35 0 - 40 0 - 45
Orders 0-3 0-4 0-5 0-6 0-7 0-8 0 -9
Spell 0 - 10 0 - 12 0 - 15 0 - 17 0 - 20 0 - 22 0 - 25
Support 0-8 0 - 10 0 - 12 0 - 14 0 - 16 0 - 18 0 - 20

Icons & Activators

Show here are icons used on cards for the Blood Wars card pack and the first two
Escalation Packs (later Escalation packs will add a few new icons, such as one for the
elemental plane of water)
Turn Sequence Summary

0: Pre-Game Phase

Set the stage: choose game length (number of VP)

Muster In: Choose Mustering Period (number of challenge-less turns)
Collect forces: Draw six cards, minimum one warlord
Seize Initiative: Draw RR for first Acting Player

1. Opening Phase
a. Reinforcements: Draw two cards into Command hand
2. Assembly Phase (skip first turn)
a. Troop formation: Put legions and fate in battle hands
3. Action Phase (skip during mustering period)
a. Challenge: reveal battle field and type of challenge. Conduct
according to Combat or Intrigue summary
b. Rally: If challenge fails, acting player may challenge again.
4. Resolution Phase
a. Induct new warlords: add warlords to the table regroup: Unflip
warlords and battle hands
b. Cull the weak: reduce command hand to seven cards
5. Victory Phase
a. War report: Acting player wins if he possesses sufficient VP: otherwise
player to the left becomes the new acting player

Intrigue Summary
1. Flex Political Muscle: Acting player presents his challenger
2. Dissenting Opinions: Other players declare warlords in aid or
opposition, starting at the Acting players right.
3. Power Caucus: Use Warlord's intrigue powers, then Legions, Use Fate.
4. The Ballot: Draw hidden Ally (RR) for each side. Compare sides' total
IS
5. Bloodless Coup: Successful Challenger takes the Battlefield, His allies
draw cards in payment
6. Loss of Status: Unsuccessful Challenger is flipped: his legions and fate
are returned to the command hand. Opposing allies draw cards in
payment.
7. Lying Low: Flip warlords used on both sides of Challenge, with their
Battlehands.

Combat Summary
1. Invest the Field: Acting player presents his Challenger, adds Fate
cards to Battle hand

2. Defender Rouses: Determine Defender--first choice to Acting Player's

right. Add fate to battle hand.

3. Conduct Battle:
a. Use Warlord's powers
b. Use Legion Powers
c. Compare CS totals
 4. Spoils of War: Successful defender draws RR number of cards into his
Command Hand as payment for defending. Challenger takes
battlefield if his CS exceeds total of Defender's CS+ Battlefield's VP

5. Lying Low: Flip Warlords used on both sides; discard their battle
hands.

Turn Sequence
0. Pre-Game Phase
Set the stage: Players agree upon a game length. Choices are : conflict
(short to 13VP), Battle (medium, to 19 VP), or Campaign (long, to 25 VP).
Muster In: Players agree upon a Mustering Period: an initial number of turns
during which no Challenges can be made. Choices are 2 turns, 4 turns, 6
turns.
Collect forces: Each player shuffles his deck and draws 6 cards from it to
begin his Command Hand (The hand used in all but Combat).

Any player who draws no Warlords discards his entire Command hand and
Draws 6 new cards, repeating as necessary until he has at least 1 Warlord.
Seize Initiative: Determine the first Acting Player by drawing and discarding
the top card from each deck. The player who drew the highest RR becomes
the Acting Player and takes his turn first. After his turn, play progresses
clockwise.

Each Acting Players turn consists of the following phases, in order.

1. Opening Phase
Reinforcements, Draw 2 cards into the Command Hand. ( If the draw deck is
depleted, shuffle the discards to make a new draw deck.)

2. Assembly Phase
(Skip this phase during the first turn)
Place Legions and Fate cards to build or augment Battle Hands, subject to the
following rules:
General Rule: Battle Hands can only be assembled under Warlords currently
on the table and not flipped.

Legion formation: Up to 4 Legions can be stacked under each Warlord, if their

alignments (see Special Notes) and the Warlord's all match in at least one
letter-first letter to first letter, or second to second. Up to 6 can be stacked if
they match the Warlord's alignment exactly.

Fate Formation: Fate cards can be stacked in each Battle Hand as well, as
long as they do not exceed the number of legions in the stack.

Resource Exchange: Any number of cards can be exchanged from Command

Hand to Battle Hand, Battle Hand to Command hand, or Battle Hand to Battle
Hand, subject to the stacking limits above.

Note: Legion and Fat cards in a battle hand are hidden from view of all opponents.
They are normally revealed only during a Combat Challenge
(see below).

3. Action phase
(skip this phase during the mustering period)
Challenge: The Acting Player presents the Battle-field to be taken, playing it
from his Command Hand onto the table and declares the type of challenge to
be made-Intrigue or Combat. Each type of Challenge follows its own,
distinctive procedure as detailed under the appropriate heading below.

Rally: The Action Phase may be repeated any number of times - with a new
Battlefield, new challenger and new Defender(s) each time- until the Acting
Player either captures a battlefield or decided not to issue any further
Challenges.

Note: A Player may only capture one battlefield per turn.

Intrigue Challenge:
Flexing political Muscle: The Acting Player chooses a Challenger from among
his unflipped Warlords.

Dissenting Opinions: Beginning to the Acting Player's right, and proceeding

counter-clockwise, each other player may choose one of his unflipped
Warlords in the same way, to aid or oppose the Challenger. Opposers are
termed "Defenders."

Power Caucus: Beginning with the Challenger and proceeding counter-

clockwise, each warlord involved in the conflict has a chance to use his
Intrigue Power. Then any Legions with Intrigue Powers in the players'
Command Hands may activate those Powers (See "legions Powers" under
Special Notes) again beginning with the Challenger and proceeding to the
right. Players may also play Fate cards from their Command hands at any
time during this step.

The Ballet: The Defender with the highest IS and the Challenger each draw
one card from their decks as a "hidden ally" adding it's RR to the total IS for
their side.

Bloodless Coup: If the Challenger's side's total IS exceeds the Defender's

side's total IS, the battlefield is won; the acting Player puts it in his Victory
Pool. Allies of a victorious challenger each draw a number of cards equal to
the number of Warlords involved on their side of the Challenge and add them
to their Command Hand as payment for their help.

Loss of Status: If the Challenger's side's total IS is less than or equal to the
Defender's side's total IS, the battlefield is discarded. Any Legions and Fate
in the challengers’ Battle Hand are returned to the player's Command Hand,
and the Challenger is flipped. The Defender and his allies each draw a
number of cards equal to the number of Warlords involved on their side of the
Challenge, adding them to their Command Hand. This is their reward fro
thwarting the Challenge.

Laying Low: Flip all Warlords used on both sides (along with the Battle Hands
they lead).
Note: if a Warlord is discarded or sent to the Dead-Book for any reason during an
Intrigue Challenge, discard their entire Battle hands the he leads.

Combat Challenge
Invest the Field: The Acting Player chooses a Challenger from among his
unflipped Warlords. He removes from his Command Hand any Fate cards he
wishes to devote to the coming battle and places them into the Challenger's
Battle Hand (note: Fate cards in the Battle Hand may exceed the normal
stacking limits at this point.) Then he sets aside his Command hand and picks
up the Battle Hand.

Defender Rouses: Beginning with the player to the Challengers right and
proceeding counter-clockwise, players have the opportunities to oppose the
Challenge. The first to declare his intent to do so chooses a Defender from
among his unflipped Warlords (unlike Intrigue, Combat uses only one
Defender). He removes from his Command Had any Fate cards he wishes to
devote to the coming battle and places them into the Defender's Battle
Hand(note: Fate cards in the Battle Hand may exceed the normal stacking
limits at this point.) Then he sets aside his Command Hand and picks up the
Battle Hand.

Conduct Battle: Combat proceeds as follows:

Warlord Powers: Most Warlord Combat Powers are designed for use at the
very beginning of the Challenge. The Challenger has the option to use his
Combat Power first, then the Defender may use his. But some special
Combat Powers may be used at other times in the Challenge, as indicated on
their Warlord’s Card. When a Combat Power is used, flip the Warlord and
place his card on the table. (Note: Flipped Warlords count as 5 IS, should a
card refer to their IS.)

b. Legion Powers: (see "Legion Powers" under special Notes.") Legion combat
powers are played in alternating sequence. First the Challenger has the option
to use one Legion's Combat Power from his Battle Hand. Then the Defender
may use one from his. The Challenger can then use a second Legions’
Combat power, followed but the Defender, and so on, until neither side has
any remanding that they desire to use. When a Combat Power is used, flip
the Legion and place its card on the table, Flipped legions count as 1 CS
rather than their normal CS. Combat Strength Comparison: The challenger
and Defender each add up the CS of all Legions and Fate in their battle hands
and compare them (counting flipped Legions and Fate as 1 CS each). The
high total is victorious, though the Defender wins any ties.

Spoils of War:
Defender: If victorious, the Defender draws and RR and then draws that
many cards from his draw pile to his Command Hand in payment for
defeating the Challenger. If the Defender is defeated, he receives nothing.

Challenger: If the Challenger is victorious, he subtracts the Defender's CS

total from his and Capture the Battlefield if the remainder equals or exceeds
its VP rating. The captured Battlefield is placed in his Victory Pool. If the
 challenger is defeated, or if his total CS is less than the total of the Defender's
CS total plus the Battlefield's VP, he receives nothing.

Lying Low: Both Challenger and Defender are flipped and placed back beside
the player's other warlords on the table. Their Battle Hands are discarded.
Note if a Warlord is discarded or sent to the Dead-Book for any reason during
a Combat Challenge, discard the entire Battle Hand that he leads.

Resolution Phase
Induct new Warlords: The Acting Player may take any Warlords from his
Command Hand and place them on the table. (if a Warlord is marked
"unique" the player must state so and read the name aloud. If another player
already has that Warlord in play, the Acting Player must return the card to his
Command Hand).

Regroup: Any flipped Warlords the Acting Player has are now turned face up,
along with their battle hands, ready for use again.
Cull the Weak: The Acting Player discards, if necessary to reduce his
Command Hand to 7 cards.

Victory Phase:

War Report: If the Acting Player possesses Battlefield VP equal to or exceeding that
chosen for the game length (see "pre game phase,' above), he wins. Otherwise, he
announces that his turn is finished, the player to his left becomes the new Acting
Player and the game continues.

Note: A player's Victory Pool, hence VP total is open to view by all players at all
times.

General Notes

The following notes explain some special rules and concepts that span the game.

Alignment
Alignment is a designation of personal values, consisting of the ethical divisions of
Lawful (L: in blue), Chaotic, (C: in red), Neutral (N: in split blue and red), and the
moral divisions Good (G: in white), Evil (E: in gray) and Neutral (N: Split White and
Gray). Together these create nine different combinations, such as Lawful Good (LG:
in blue and white) or Chaotic Evil (CE: in red and gray).

Fate
Fate cards can be played at any time, even during another player's turn. The only
restriction to this rule concerns items and support played during a Combat
Challenge, which must be played with the legions using them. In effect, Items and
Support are assigned to specific legions. A single legion can be assigned only one
Item or Support card. If the Item or Support card has an Alignment listed on it, it
may e assigned only to a legion whose alignment matches the Fate Card's in at least
one letter.
After being played, Fate cards are discarded, unless otherwise noted on a particular
card.

Warlord Powers
While most Warlords have either a Combat Power or an Intrigue Power (in some
cased both), a few warlords have a "personal power." Personal Powers are general
effects that operate even outside of a challenge, such as a particular Warlord's ability
to hold units of varied alignment within a single battle Hand.

Legion Powers
Some Legions have unique powers that are explained on their cards. But many have
Powers shared by other Legions of similar alignment.

Definitions of those Powers follow:

Combat Powers: Playable during a Combat Challenge.

Berserker: (Chaotic) Discard to send one opposing Legion to discard.
Cutter: (Neutral) This Legion can hold two Fate cards in a Battle Hand (even outside
of Combat) and when totaling Combat Strength.
Guardian: (Lawful) Allows the Challenger to claim a Battlefield if his CS total exceeds
the Defender's but not by enough to capture the Battlefield normally.
Horde: (Evil) Does not count toward a Battle Hand's 4 or 6 Legion stacking limit
(even outside of combat). Also can exceed the limit of 3 identical cards per deck.
Martyr: (good) This Legion counts as two Legions against Powers that force a
discard. When the first discard is forced, flip the Martyr; when the second is forced,
discard it.
Shock Troop: (any) This Legion scan be added to a Battle Hand as "last-minute
recruits" as Fate cards can, exceeding the normal limit of 4 to 6 Legions.
Spirit: (Any) These Legions are not discarded at the end of Combat: they return to
the Warlord's Battle Hand instead. But they can be sent to discard by Fate cards and
various powers.

Intrigue Powers: Playable during an Intrigue challenge.

Advocate: [Neutral] When discarded, guarantees the player the reward of a
victorious ally.
Aide: [Good] When discarded, adds its CS to the Warlord's IS total.
Diplomat: [Lawful] When discarded, doubles the RR of ts side's Hidden Ally card.
Parasite: [Evil] This Legion, when discarded, subtracts its CS from an opposing
Warlord's IS
Terrorist: [Chaotic] When discarded, forces an opponent to discard from his
Command Hand a number of cards equal to its CS.

Fate and Power Interactions

In general, when a card is played immediately in response to another card, the later
card affects the earlier one. But some cards preclude another from being played
(Example: A Fate card that ends Combat precludes the play of further Combat
Powers in that Challenge)

Sending cards to the discard or Dead-Book

When a Fate or Power causes the discard of an opposing card of a particular CS "or
less," the opponent must discard the card closest to that CD, but not over it.
(Example: To discard of a "Legion of 5 CS or less" from a Battle Hand containing 3
legions - of 3CS, 4CS and 8CS, discard the 4CS card). If a Fate or Power causes the
discard of a card of "at Least" a particulare CS, the opponent must discard the card
closest to that CS, but not under it. (Example: to discard of a Legion of at least 6 CS
from a Battle Hand containing 4 Legions - of 4CS, 5CS, 7CS and 8CS - discard the
7CS card). Cards sent to the Dead-Book follow the same proceedure.

Advanced Rules

The following rules are standard, not optional, but come into effect primarily through
rare cards.

New Fate Cards

New fate cards are introduced in the first Escalation Packs of the Blood Wars game.
These cards modify the stacking of Battle Hands and their use in combat.

Fate: Support Cards: Like an item card, a Fate: Support card attaches to a Legion
and adds to its CS in battle. However, it differs from an Item in that it can be
discarded in place of the Legion it is assigned to, whether that Legion is being
discarded because of a Combat Power used on it, a Fate card targeting it, or simply
because Combat is over. In the last case, the Legion returns to the Battle Hand
beneath the flipped Warlord.

Fate: Acolyte Cards: A Fate: Acolyte card allows a player to make a Legion follow a
particular leader, stacking in that leader's battle hand. This allows certain classes of
Warlords-namely Avatars and Factols [see below]-to stack 6 Legions of varied
alignments into their Battle Hands.

Note: An Acolyte card does not count against the Legion's one Fate card limit: this, a
player can stack on Acolyte card and on other Fate card with a Legion.

Note: Some Acolyte cards work exactly like a standard Legion that has an Acolyte
card attached. These Acolyte: Legions have no need for a Fate card in order to stack
under their particular Avatar or Factol.

Avatars & Realm Powers

Some Warlords are marked as "Avatars". These are deities using their avatar forms
to participate in the Blood Wars. Unlike most Warlords, Avatars have two powers to
choose from during a Challenge: the first a combat, intrigue or personal power, and
the second a special Realm Power. To gain the Realm Power, an Avatar's home realm
(noted on both the Battlefield and the Warlord card) mst be conquered and placed in
the player's victory pool.

Factols & Factions in the Blood Wars

Introduced with the "Factions & Factols" escalation pack, Warlord: Factols allow
players to use the factols (Warlords) and the Factions (Legions) that operate out of
the city of Sigil. Factols can stack six Legions of varied alignments if they are
members of that Warlord's Faction.

[[Final Typist note: I typed this up because at Gencon one year (2002?) I was
talking to Zev from Zman games and he mentioned how much he loved Blood Wars,
but it must be played 3+ players and never 2-player. Since he was ‘the man’ for
Shadowfist for many years (which was the best CCG), I heeded this advice and I
pulled out my old cards.
If anyone has a better set of rules for teaching this game and wants to use this as a
base- DO IT, I do not have enough experience with this game to do it myself; I just
typed these straight from the rulebook. -littlemute]]