For Eric—I am devastated that you did not see this reach publication in your Earth life.

I love you, my brother.

2
 Table of Contents
CTHULHU WARS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
PRINTED COMPONENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
PLASTIC COMPONENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
SETUP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
GAME BASICS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Object of Game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Phases of Play . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
The Map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Units and Faction Pool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Gates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Special Abilities and Spellbooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Elder Sign Trophies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Faction Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
ACTION PHASE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
The Four Types of Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
The Seven Common Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Unlimited Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Ongoing Special Abilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
GATHER POWER PHASE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
DETERMINE FIRST PLAYER PHASE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
DOOM PHASE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
BATTLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Pre-Battle Abilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Combat Dice Calculation and Rolls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Post-Battle Abilities and Assigning Battle Results . . . . . . 38
Applying Battle Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Battle Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

3
 VICTORY: ENDING AND WINNING THE GAME . . . . . 50
RULE OMEGA: THE FINAL QUESTION . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
PLAYER TIPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
General Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Great Cthulhu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Crawling Chaos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Black Goat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Yellow Sign . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

TWO PLAYER RULES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

TWO PLAYER SET-UP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
CHANGES FOR TWO PLAYER GAMES . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
BALANCE ADJUSTMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
TIPS AND TRICKS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

EXPANSION PRODUCTS

ADDITIONAL FACTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
THE ANCIENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
OPENER OF THE WAY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
SLEEPER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
TCHO-TCHO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
WINDWALKER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

NEUTRAL MONSTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
DREAMLANDS SURFACE MONSTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
DREAMLANDS UNDERWORLD MONSTERS . . . . . . . . 88

TERRORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
COSMIC TERRORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

4
INDEPENDENT GREAT OLD ONES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
GREAT OLD ONE PACK 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
GREAT OLD ONE PACK 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
GREAT OLD ONE PACK 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
GREAT OLD ONE PACK 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
FACTION GREAT OLD ONES AS INDEPENDENTS . . . 95
DIRE CTHULHU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

MIXED AND MISCELLANEOUS EXPANSIONS . . . . . . . . 104

AZATHOTH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
MASKS OF NYARLATHOTEP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
BEYOND TIME AND SPACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
RAMSEY CAMPBELL HORRORS 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
RAMSEY CAMPBELL HORRORS 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
HIGH PRIESTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
UNIQUE HIGH PRIESTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
ALTERATE FACTION ACOLYTES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
COLOUR OUT OF SPACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
THE SHINING TRAPEZOHEDRON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
LOVECRAFT BUST FIRST PLAYER MARKER . . . . . . . . 131
BATTLE DICE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
CUSTOM DICE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

ADDITIONAL MAPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

DREAMLANDS MAP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
SHAGGAI MAP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
LIBRARY AT CELAENO MAP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
PRIMEVAL MAP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
YUGGOTH MAP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
6-8 PLAYER MAPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 5
 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
CORE RULES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
ADDITIONAL FACTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
NEUTRAL SPELLBOOKS (AZATHOTH) . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
NEUTRAL MONSTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
TERRORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
INDEPENDENT GREAT OLD ONES . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
ADDITIONAL MAPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

DESIGNER’S NOTES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

CREDITS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

6
The time would be easy to know, for then
mankind would have become as the Great Old
Ones; free and wild and beyond good and evil,
with laws and morals thrown aside and all men
shouting and killing and reveling in joy. Then
the liberated Old Ones would teach them
new ways to shout and kill and revel and enjoy
themselves, and all the Earth would flame with
a holocaust of ecstasy and freedom.

—H. P. Lovecraft
 CTHULHU WARS

P
rophets, philosophers and madmen all they’d finally completed their conflicting, yet
saw the end of the world coming; for eerily compatible agendas. The poisons, waste,
years they’d tried to warn us with their and irradiation had served to make the Earth more
indecipherable scrawling and conspiratorial hospitable to them, more to their pleasure. As the
whispers. The signs were obvious enough, and stars aligned to herald the return of the Old Ones,
in retrospect it would have been easy to know. their influence grew, hastening the sickness of this
In those dark days, mankind seemed to have a primitive planet.
death wish. Long had we been poisoning the air
we breathed, the water we drank, and the Earth Finally, the Wars. The alien horrors of the Old
from where our food came. Wars, famine, plague Ones barely had to lift a claw or tentacle. It simply
stretched cancerously across the globe—and death took a psychic nudge here, a rumbling emanation
followed inexorably behind. there. Mankind did the rest. Wars erupted, flowing
forth from the third world, and engulfing the
Certainly a few cared. Foolish kind-hearted souls streets of the first. Massacres on Main Street were
tried to stem the tide, tried to reverse the damage the norm. Strange new weapons were developed
we’d done to the planet, but it was all for naught… to attempt to stem the tide, but nothing prevailed.
for the Old Ones had other plans. They’d come Men, women, and children ran through the streets,
from the stars in the infancy of the world, when shouting, killing, burning and destroying. Blood
the Earth was nothing but chaos, magma, and flowed in ways unparalleled in human history.
churning elemental nonsense. Their inexplicable
agenda was never made clear, but eon by eon, The world burned with a holocaust of ecstasy and
epoch by epoch, they guided this doomed outpost freedom, as the Old Ones rose from their eons-
more to their liking. And by the end of the world, long slumber. For moments, all was silent, as if all
of existence held its breath.

Thus began the real battle…

9
 Printed Components

10
11
 Plastic Components

GREAT CTHULHU

YELLOW SIGN
12
CRAWLING CHAOS

BLACK GOAT
13
 Setup
PLACE THE MAP
The Map is in two pieces (Eastern and Western Hemisphere), and is printed on both sides. The two sides
have identical continental shapes, but the 5-Player side of the Map is divided into far more Land Areas
than the 3-Player side.
2-Player Game: Go to page 60 for modifications on how to set up Cthulhu Wars for two players.

3-Player Game: Place the game board so the 3-Player sides of each hemisphere are face-up. The map
will display 13 total Areas.

4-Player Game: Place the game board so that a 3-Player hemisphere is face up, and a 5-Player
hemisphere is face up. For your first games, we recommend that you use a setup in which the Eastern
Hemisphere is 5-Player, and the Western Hemisphere is 3-Player. In either case, the map will display 17
total Areas.

5-Player Game: Do NOT place both 5-Player sides face-up unless you are playing a five player game
(only possible if you have one of the Faction expansions). The 5-Player game displays 21 total Areas.

Recommended Setup for your first 4-Player Game

14
 Alternate Setup for 4-Player Game

SET UP TRACKS, TOKENS, AND DICE

‘‘ Place the Ritual of Annihilation Track for the appropriate number of players on one end of the
table (the remaining Ritual of Annihilation Tracks can go back in the box; they are not needed).
‘‘ Place the Ritual of Annihilation Marker pointed at the lowest number (5) on the track.
‘‘ Place the Doom Track next to the Ritual of Annihilation Track.
‘‘ Place the Gates and Dice in easy reach of all players.
‘‘ Place the 36 Elder Sign Trophy Tokens in the Cloth Bag and shake them up. Alternately, you may
simply turn all the Elder Sign Tokens face down on the table (with the Elder Sign on top), and mix
them up.
‘‘ Hand each player a Hint Card.

SET UP FACTIONS
Each player must select a Faction to be. If you want to choose randomly, you may place the Faction
Glyph tokens in a cup and draw them, but it does not violate the spirit of the game to simply select a
favorite Faction. In the latter case, disputes can be settled by permitting the younger players first choice.
Each player takes their Faction Card, their six Spellbooks, and all plastic pieces of their color. If
the Yellow Sign Faction is in play, that player also takes the 12 Desecration Markers; otherwise, the
Desecration Markers can go back in the box for this game.
Place each player’s Doom Marker on the zero space on the Doom Track. Each player then places their
Power Marker at the 8 space on their Power Track on their Faction Card.

15
 SET UP START AREAS ON THE MAP
Each player must check their Faction Card to find their Start Area. All players start with a Controlled
Gate and 6 Acolyte Cultists in the Area marked with their Faction’s Glyph. Place one of the 6 Acolytes
on top of the Gate, the other 5 simply in the same Area.

THE FIRST PLAYER

When Great Cthulhu is in play, his Faction’s
player is always the First Player. He takes the
First Player Token and sets it in front of him.
If Great Cthulhu is not in this game, choose
the First Player by any means you wish. (We
recommend going alphabetically by Faction
name—i.e., Black Goat is before Yellow Sign).
Note: The Windwalker Faction may never be
the First Player at the beginning of the game!

The First Player then places the First

Player Token with either the clockwise or
counterclockwise side face up—this determines
the direction of play. Throughout the game the
First Player token will change hands, and can
change direction as well.

Black Goat’s starting position

16
 Game Basics
OBJECT OF GAME
The player who has the highest Doom on the Doom Track and has placed all 6 Spellbooks onto their
Faction Card, wins the game. See Victory: Ending and Winning the Game on page 50 for more details.

PHASES OF PLAY
The Game is played out in four distinct Phases:

1. Action Phase
2. Gather Power Phase
3. Determine First Player Phase
4. The Doom Phase
After setup, play begins with the Action Phase and proceeds through each Phase, returning to Phase 1
after Phase 4. This cycle continues until the game end is triggered (see Victory: Ending and Winning
the Game on page 50 for more details). A typical game of Cthulhu Wars will last between four and six
cycles through these four Phases.

Each Phase has its own section detailing how to play through it.

THE MAP
The Map is divided into Areas. Each Area represents a coherent
part of the world and is defined as either ocean or land. Each
Area has its name printed on it. On the Earth Map, ocean Areas
consist of the North Pacific, South Pacific, North Atlantic,
South Atlantic, Indian Ocean, and Arctic Ocean. All other
Areas (including Antarctica) are land.

For most game purposes, there is no difference between

ocean and land. Any Units can freely Move into the ocean,
perform Actions there, and so forth. Occasionally abilities
may distinguish between ocean and land, (notably Y’ha Nthlei
and Submerge). In other Maps found in expansion products,
occasionally the term ‘sea’ is used instead of ‘ocean.’ In game
terms, a sea and an ocean are identical—any ability or text
referencing oceans is read to include seas as well.

Note that the Areas on the far right of the Map directly Note that the North Atlantic is directly adjacent to
the Pacific!
connect to those on the far left (because the Earth is round). You
can Move a Unit from the Indian Ocean directly to the South
Pacific.
17
 UNITS AND FACTION POOL
Each player has a Pool, in which he keeps not-yet-in-play Spellbooks and plastic figures (Units)
within easy reach. Set it up near your Faction Card. Feel free to read your Spellbooks. Yellow Sign’s
Desecration Markers are also part of its Pool.
Each Faction has 3 categories of Units: Cultists, Monsters, and Great Old Ones. In the Core Game,
the only type of Cultist is an Acolyte Cultist, and every Faction has exactly 6 of them. Each Faction has
more than one type of Monster, each with different characteristics. No Factions share the same type of
Monster with any other. Great Old Ones are individual beings, and thus every single Great Old One has
a name, and no two are the same.
You are limited by the number of figures in your Pool for each Unit. For instance, you can never have
more than 6 Acolyte Cultists, nor can you have more than 4 Deep Ones if you are playing as Great
Cthulhu. During play, if you have placed all Units of a particular type onto the Map, you cannot place
anymore until one is placed back in your Pool.

A Unit that is in your Pool is not considered to be in play, and vice versa. A Unit can be removed from
play and returned to your Pool by being Killed during a Battle, or by being Eliminated. Eliminations can
result from Actions, special abilities or as part of a Battle as well.

GATES
Each player starts the game with a Controlled Gate.
This means that a single Acolyte Cultist is on top of the
Gate. A Gate can never have more than a single Cultist
on top of it, Controlling it. Thus, a particular Gate is
only ever Controlled by a single Faction. A Gate can
also be Abandoned, which simply means that no Cultist
is on top of it. Monsters and Great Old Ones cannot
Control Gates, and are never on top of them (with the
exception of Black Goat’s Dark Young, when they have
The Red Sign Spellbook in play).
Throughout the game, more Gates will be Created. No
Area can ever have more than a single Gate in it. Gates
are highly valuable—they provide both Power and Doom
points, which enable you to win the game.

Controlled Gate

18
 SPECIAL ABILITIES AND
SPELLBOOKS
Sources of Special Abilities
Each Faction in Cthulhu Wars is strikingly different, and
one of the main ways this is so is due to unique special
abilities. These are derived from three sources:
1. Faction unique ability, found near the top of the
Faction Card, and available from the start
2. Spellbooks, which become available as they are placed
on your Faction Card during play
3. Each Great Old One has its own unique ability,
available while that Great Old One is in play
(found on the bottom left section of the Faction
Card) Abandoned Gate
Types of Special Abilities
Every Special Ability belongs to a category, shown in
parentheses next to its name, which governs when that ability takes effect. There are five basic types of
Special Abilities:
1. Actions: These are abilities you can use during the Action Phase (detailed on page 23).
2. Battle: These take effect only during a Battle (detailed on page 37).
3. Gather Power Phase: These abilities take effect each Gather Power Phase (detailed on page
32).
4. Doom Phase: These abilities take effect each Doom Phase (detailed on page 35).
5. Ongoing: This means the ability is always in effect and benefiting your Faction.
Spellbooks, Great Old One Special Abilities, and unique Faction abilities are optional to use. This
means that at the moment you would use the ability, or when the ability’s effect would do something
(including an Ongoing ability), you may choose for the effect to not take place. Because Special Abilities
are intended to help your Faction win, it is usually better to use them every chance you get. Occasionally,
however, circumstances arise (usually for a Battle ability) when you may not want that ability to take
effect.

Some abilities are not optional and they must take effect at the appropriate time, in which case it would
say on the text of the ability.

Special Note on Abilities

If a special ability targets an enemy Unit in an Area, the victim typically selects which of his Units is
targeted by the ability. There are some rare exceptions, which are stated in the text of the ability. If it
does not specify who chooses which Unit to be affected, then the owner of the Unit decides.

19
 Earning Spellbooks
Earning Spellbooks works a lot like a video game achievement. When you fulfill one of the requirements
written on your Faction Card, you must place a Spellbook from your Pool over that requirement slot. No
particular Spellbook is ever tied to any particular requirement slot. You may freely choose any Spellbook
to go over any slot. You never lose a Spellbook, even if the requirement is no longer true—once earned,
they remain on your Faction Card and are available to use throughout the game.
Example: Black Goat has a requirement which states “Have Units in 4 Areas.” As soon as her Faction
has Units in at least 4 Areas, she gains a Spellbook and places it on her Faction Card over that slot. Even
if on the very next turn someone drives her out of them so that her Units are only in three or fewer Areas,
she retains the Spellbook on her Faction Card for the rest of the game.

You can earn more than one Spellbook at the same time, if you meet all requirements at that time.
However, there are a few that can only be earned simultaneously if performed in a specified way, in
which case it will be explained on the Faction Card (for example, for two of Great Cthulhu’s and two of
Crawling Chaos’ requirements).

Each individual Spellbook Important Note: If you gain a Spellbook as part of or during a Battle
enhances your Faction significantly, (for example, Great Cthulhu’s requirements that require a Devour and/or
and therefore a major part of your
game strategy is tied to when and Kill in Battle), then you do not receive the Spellbook until the entirety of
in which order you obtain your the Battle is resolved. Hence you cannot use a Spellbook earned as a result
Spellbooks. of a Battle during that same Battle.

20
 ELDER SIGN TROPHIES
Elder Sign Trophy tokens symbolize the shattering of the bonds that once held the Great Old Ones in
check. They actually represent the destruction of Elder Signs, but for simplicity, we simply call them
“Elder Signs” instead of “Elder Sign Trophies” in most of the text.
Whenever you earn an Elder Sign, take an Elder Sign token from the Cloth Bag and (without revealing
it to other players), place it face down on or by your Faction Card. You may examine your own Elder
Sign tokens freely. All Elder Signs have either a number 1, 2, or 3 written on them. This indicates how
many Doom Points that Elder Sign is worth. There are 18 Elder Signs worth 1 point, 12 that are worth 2
points, and 6 that are worth 3 points.
Although the number on each Elder Sign represents how much Doom it is worth, you do not
immediately gain that Doom along the Doom track when you receive an Elder Sign. Rather, you decide
when to gain the Doom for each Elder Sign. To do so, you must reveal the Elder Sign(s) and then advance
your Doom marker along the Doom track the appropriate number of spaces. You may do this at any
time—during any of the four Phases of play, or even wait until the very end of the game to reveal and gain
Doom. It is typical for most Elder Signs to remain unrevealed until the end of the game, thus concealing
the true Doom totals of each player.
When you reveal an Elder Sign to gain Doom, do not place that Elder Sign back in the Cloth Bag. It is
gone for the rest of the game, and can never be re-drawn. Place it back in the box.

In the unlikely event that all Elder Signs have been earned by the players, when a new Elder Sign is
earned, simply give the player a Doom point instead—this would not be secret.

21
 FACTION CARDS
Your Faction Card contains a great deal of information.

A. Faction Name
B. Faction Portrait: A handy spot to place your Captured Cultists.
C. Power Track: Use your Power Marker to Track your current Power throughout the game.
D. Unique Ability: Every Faction has its own special ability, and is available throughout the game.
E. Setup Information and Faction Glyph
F. Cultist and Monster Information: Shows a silhouette and gives Cost and Combat for your
Cultists and Monsters, plus any notes. Next to the name is a number which is how many of that Unit
are available in your Pool.
G. Great Old One Information: Shows your Great Old One’s silhouette and Cost and Combat, plus
notes. All Great Old Ones have extensive notes, which describe how to Awaken that Great Old One
step-by-step, give the Combat formula for that Great Old One (if any), and describe the Great Old
One’s special ability.
H. Spellbook Requirements: Each of these six spaces has the requirement which must be met before
you may place a Spellbook in that slot.

22
 Action Phase
The Action Phase is when most of the game takes place. During the Action Phase, each player in turn
can move Units, cast spells, engage in Battle, and otherwise interact. This is where the Great Old Ones
destroy the world as they war with each other for dominance.
During setup the First Player should have been selected (always Great Cthulhu, if in the game). At the
start of the Action Phase, the First Player always goes first, and they will
take a single Action. When they finish, the next player in turn takes an
Think of the Action Phase as
Action. This continues around until every player has performed an Action. multi-sided chess: you have a lot
Then, the First Player takes a second Action, following around again. of options, but can only make a
single Action each time. Then,
Each Action performed will cost a certain amount of Power which must each other player gets a chance to
be spent before the Action occurs. To take an Action, simply lower your respond to it (if able)!
Power Marker on your Power Track the appropriate amount and then
perform the Action. If you do not have enough Power to perform that
Action, you cannot perform it, and must select a different Action.
You cannot take more than a single Action on your turn, and you cannot decline to take an Action if you
still have Power. You must choose an available Action to perform and spend the appropriate amount of
Power (usually 1–3 Power). If you still have Power and do not want to take an Action during the Action
Phase, you may voluntarily drop all your Power to 0.

If you have no Power left when it is your turn to take an Action, you
are skipped. You cannot even perform an Action which costs 0 Power.
Being the only player left with
However, if you are at 0 Power, and an ability or Spellbook provides you Power in an Action Phase is one of
with Power, you can participate in that Action Phase during your turn, the best things that can happen to
taking an Action as normal. you! You are the only player who
can take turns, so you perform
The Action Phase continues with each remaining player who still has Actions until out of Power, while
all the other players sit there
Power until all players are finally out of Power and no one can take any helplessly as you mess with their
more Actions. At this point the Action Phase ends. Play passes to the stuff!
Gather Power Phase.

23
 THE FOUR TYPES OF ACTIONS
There are four categories of Actions in Cthulhu Wars: Common, Unique, Spellbook Requirement, and
Unlimited Actions.

Common Actions
Never leave an Acolyte Cultist
alone on a Gate in a critical area Common Actions are available to all Factions. Any player may choose to
once Cthulhu has the Dreams perform one of seven Common Actions on their turn, detailed in page
Spellbook (a Unique Action)! Place 25.
a second Cultist in the Area if
possible. While this won’t prevent
Dreams, since you pick which
Unique Actions
Cultist is affected, Cthulhu has A Unique Action is one that is only available to your particular Faction. It
to pay a total of 6 Power in order
to steal the Gate. Or, guard your
can be from your Unique Faction Ability, a Spellbook you have earned,
Cultist with a Monster. If Cthulhu or your Great Old One’s Special Ability. Sometimes a particular Unique
Dreams him away, you can Capture Action has an additional requirement in order to perform it, even if it
his replacement.
is available. For example, Great Cthulhu’s Faction cannot perform the
Submerge Action (one of his Spellbooks), unless Great Cthulhu himself is
in play.
Likewise, you cannot perform a Unique Action unless you are able to do all parts of it. For example,
Yellow Sign cannot perform Zingaya to Eliminate an enemy Acolyte if there are no Undead in its Pool.

Spellbook Requirement Actions

These can be found on the Spellbook Requirement slots on your Faction Card. Most Spellbook
Requirements are not Actions, but they will begin with the words, “As an Action” or “As your Action”
when they are. Spellbook Requirement Actions only cost Power if it says it does, otherwise, it costs 0
Power. A Spellbook Requirement Action is always a discrete Action, and you cannot double it up with a
Common or Unique Action. For example, Crawling Chaos has the Spellbook requirement of “As your
Action, pay 4 Power.” If you spend 4 Power on a Common or Unique Action, this does not mean that
you have fulfilled that requirement. In order to fulfill it, you would have to spend 4 Power as your Action
on your turn, gain a Spellbook, and nothing else happens. Because you never lose a Spellbook you have
earned, you may only do a particular Spellbook Requirement Action once in the whole game.

When it is your turn to take your single Action, you must choose to
If you are not sure what to do on take a Common Action or an available Unique Action or a Spellbook
your turn, look at your Spellbook Requirement Action. You cannot take one of each—only a single Action
requirements. You cannot go far
wrong so long as you strive to
on your turn!
gain new Spellbooks, or try to set
yourself up for more Power on the Unlimited Actions
next Action Phase.
The fourth category, Unlimited Actions, allows you to break that rule.
Unlimited Actions are special in that you can perform them in addition
to performing your single Common, Unique, or Spellbook Requirement
Action. Like Common Actions, Unlimited Actions are not particular to any Faction, and are available
to all players. But like Unique Actions, they can sometimes have special requirements you must meet in
order to be able to perform them.
24
 THE SEVEN COMMON ACTIONS
Recruit Cultist Cost: 1 Power (Requires any of your Units)
The Recruit Cultist Action allows you to place a Cultist from your Pool
onto the Map. You must have one of your Units in the Area where you
Recruit the Cultist. This Unit can be any Unit type (another Cultist, a
Monster, or even a Great Old One). If you currently have no Units on the
Map, you do not need a Unit in an Area where the Cultist is Recruited. In
this way, you can return to play even if wiped off the Map.

You may only Recruit 1 Cultist per Recruit Cultist Action.

Summon Monster Cost: varies (Requires a Controlled Gate)

The Summon Monster Action allows you to place a Monster from your
Pool onto the Map. You must Control a Gate in the Area where you
Summon the Monster. Pay the Monster’s Cost (found on your Faction
Card), and place it in the Area.

You may only Summon 1 Monster per Summon Monster Action.

Sometimes an ability will allow you to place a Monster on the Map (such
as Yellow Sign’s Desecrate Action, or Cthulhu’s Devolve Spellbook).
These are not the Summon Monster Action, and so do not necessarily
require a Gate in the Area, and could allow you to place more than 1 at a
time, depending on the ability.
Awaken Great Old One Cost: varies (specific requirements apply)
Awaken Great Old One allows you to bring your Great Old One into play. Just as each Great Old One
itself is unique, the way you place each one on the Map from your Pool is also unique. Your Faction Card
has a series of steps (always at least two), that you must do in order to
Awaken it. All of the steps combined make up the Awaken Great Old One
Since a Great Old One can be
Action. “Killed” (after which they must
be re-Awakened), do not bring it
As with Cultists and Monsters, you can only Awaken a single Great Old out before you can protect it with
One per Awaken Action. Of course, most Factions only have a single other Units. Two exceptions are
Great Old One anyway. the King in Yellow and Cthulhu,
since they are (comparatively)
Once your Great Old One is in play, its Special Ability is now available to inexpensive to replace.
use. If your Great Old One leaves play (by being Killed in Battle), then
that ability is no longer available until you Awaken it again. Each time you
Awaken your Great Old One, you must follow the steps again.

25
 Create Gate Cost: 3 Power (Requires Cultist)
To Create a Gate in an Area, you must have a Cultist there, and there cannot be another Gate there—only
one Gate can ever exist in any Area. Pay 3 Power, and place the Gate. You may immediately place the
Cultist atop the Gate to indicate you now Control it. (Technically, this is a use of the Unlimited Control
Gate Action, detailed on page 29).

You may only Create 1 Gate per Create Gate Action.

Move Cost: 1 Power per Unit Moved

To Move Units from Area to Area, spend as much Power as you wish. For each Power spent, you may
move one Unit from its current Area into an adjacent Area. It does not matter where each Unit came
from or where it goes to: you can Move Units from different Areas into the same Area, or into different
Areas, or from the same Area into different Areas, or any combination you please.

Unlike Actions which place Units onto the Map from your Pool, you may Move as many Units as you
want per Move Action. However, each Unit may only Move once per Move Action.

Move Action

Before Move Great Cthulhu Moves 3 Units at once, in a single Move Action,
costing him 3 Power.

26
 Avoiding Capture by Monsters

Battle Cost: 1 Power (Requires Unit with at least 1 Combat)

To Battle another Faction, choose any Area in which both you and
an enemy Faction have at least one Unit. If more than one enemy
Faction has Units present, you must choose only one Faction to fight.
All other Factions in the Area are merely idle bystanders.

In the Battle, each side will roll dice equal to their Combat total and
inflict results on each other. Combat total is determined by totaling
the Combat of each of your Units (found on your Faction Card) in
the Battle. You must have at least 1 Combat on your side in order to
declare a Battle. You may still declare a Battle on an enemy who has 0
Combat.
Frank has a Cultist Controlling a Gate in South
America.
You may only Battle once, in one Area, per Battle Action.
Battle has several other rules and characteristics, all of which will be
detailed on page 37.

Capture Cultist Cost: 1 Power

The Capture Cultist Action is a means of removing enemy Cultists
from the Map, and then Sacrificing them to your Great Old One
later to gain Power. A Captured Cultist has been Eliminated, and is
therefore no longer in play. However, unlike a normal Elimination,
it does not immediately return to its Faction’s Pool until the next
Gather Power Phase (providing the Faction who Captured it with 1
Power). To signify that it is neither in play, nor in its Faction’s Pool,
when you Capture a Cultist, place it on your Faction Card.
To Capture an enemy Cultist, you must have a Monster or Great
Old One in the same Area. However, the enemy Cultist you wish to Guy Moves two Deep Ones and a Cultist into the
Area.
Capture cannot have a protector in the same Area. Cthulhu Wars has
a pecking order of protectors. Great Old Ones outrank Monsters,
which in turn outrank Cultists. A Great Old One can Capture an
enemy Cultist, unless the target is protected by its own Great Old
One in the Area. A Monster can capture an enemy Cultist, unless the
target is protected by its own Monster (or Great Old One). Cultists
cannot capture Cultists. Note that even a single Monster protects
a Cultist against any number of enemy Monsters who may wish to
Capture it.

You may only Capture 1 enemy Cultist per Capture Cultist Action.
If there is more than one Cultist in the Area, the player whose Cultist
is being Captured chooses which one is Captured. (Thus, you need
not allow a Cultist Controlling your Gate to be Captured, unless they
are the last remaining Cultist in the Area).
Frank, on his next turn, simply Summons a single
Monster (a Nightgaunt) at his Gate, which is
27
enough to protect his lone Cultist from being
Captured by Guy’s Monsters.
 Avoiding Capture by a Great Old One

Rich has three Undead and a Cultist in Europe. Angela moves Cthulhu into Europe.

On the next turn, Rich must Move his Cultist out of the Area, Move his own Great Old One into the area, or drive away or Kill Cthulhu in a Battle.
Otherwise Cthulhu could Capture a Cultist.

Your Monster or Great Old never protects another Faction’s Cultist from Capture by a third party. Only
a Cultist’s own Faction’s Monsters and Great Old Ones can protect it.
Note that even if a Cultist has a Combat rating, or a Monster has a Combat of zero, the latter can still
Capture the Cultist. Capture is not Battle, and Battle abilities do not apply.

REMEMBER: Monsters with Combat 0 are surprisingly useful. They can protect Cultists from being Captured by other
Monsters, they can Capture Cultists themselves, and they can be taken as casualties in Battle, sparing more expensive
Units.

28
 UNLIMITED ACTIONS
Unlimited Actions are special in that they are the only type of Action you may perform beyond your 1
Action allowed on your turn. They can be performed either before or after your Action, so that a turn in
the Action Phase can be expressed in three chronological steps, like this:
1. Take any number of Unlimited Actions (including 0).
2. Take a single Common, Unique, or Spellbook Requirement Action (must be exactly 1).
3. Take any number of Unlimited Actions (including 0).

Special Note
The Yellow Sign Faction has 2 Spellbooks, named “The Screaming Dead” and “He Who is Not to be
Named,” each of which reads in part, “…Immediately after, you may take a second, different Action.”
These Spellbooks allow you to take two (non-Unlimited) Actions in a row. However, you may not
perform an Unlimited Action between the two Actions from this Spellbook, as it says “Immediately.”
The use of one of these Spellbooks would make up the entirety of step 2 above.
There are two Unlimited Actions available to players: Control or Abandon Gate, and Unlimited Battle.

Control or Abandon Gate Cost: 0 Power

If you have a Cultist in an Area with an Abandoned Gate (no enemy Cultist on top of it), this Unlimited
Action moves your Cultist onto the Gate to Control it. This means that when you Create a Gate, you can
immediately Control the Gate. Also, if on your turn you have a Cultist in an Area with an Abandoned
Gate, then you can Control it freely, as part of your turn, no matter what other Action you may be
taking.
You can also use this Unlimited Action to take a Cultist off a Gate, Abandoning it, and placing the
Cultist in the same Area. Normally you would not Abandon a Gate. However, if your 1 Action during
your turn were to Move a Cultist on a Gate to another Area, you would be Abandoning the Gate
first as an Unlimited Action, then performing the Move Action as your turn. Another common use
of Abandoning a Gate would be when Black Goat has the Red Sign Spellbook in effect. They might
Summon a Dark Young, Abandon the Gate in the Area with their Cultist, and then Control the Gate with
the newly-Summoned Dark Young, all in the same turn (they took the Summon Action as their Action,
followed up by the two Unlimited Actions of Abandon and then Control Gate).

You can perform the Control or Abandon Gate Action as many times as you like on your turn. However,
it cannot be the only Action you perform. You still must perform a single Common, Unique or Spellbook
Requirement Action.
Note that Unlimited is not the same as anytime, it must occur on your turn. You cannot Control an
Abandoned Gate with a Cultist except when it is your turn to take an Action. If two players both have
Cultists in an Area with an Abandoned Gate, the first player to take an Action will be able to Control the
Gate.

29
 Unlimited Battle Cost: 1 Power (Requires 6 Spellbooks)
If you have 6 Spellbooks on your Faction Card, you can perform Unlimited Battle. Each Unlimited
Battle you perform still costs 1 Power, allowing you to initiate as many Battles as you wish before and/or
after your single Common, Unique, or Spellbook Requirement Action.
You can still perform Battle as a Common Action if that is all you want to do on your turn. Unlimited
Battle is simply an option for you, once you have 6 Spellbooks.

Since Battle can be either Common or Unlimited when you have 6 Faction Card Spellbooks, you can first
perform a Battle, and then decide whether it was Common or Unlimited. (You might do this so that after
seeing the results of the Battle you can then choose to do a single Common Action or another Unlimited
Battle somewhere else, for example.)

There is an important restriction on Unlimited Battles, however: you can still only initiate one Battle
per Area on your turn. You also cannot declare a Battle as a Common Action in an Area, and then do an
Unlimited Battle in the same Area: only one Battle total per Area on your turn. If, as a result of a Battle
you performed, your Units are retreated to another Area, you can then do an Unlimited Battle in that
new Area, and so forth. However, if they are then retreated back into the original Area, they can’t initiate
a Battle there because of the 1 Battle per Area rule.

ONGOING SPECIAL ABILITIES

Ongoing special abilities are not Actions, but can take effect during the Action Phase. Because they are
not Actions they do not have a Power Cost, and you can still do them (at the appropriate time) even when
you are out of Power. The rule about your turn being skipped when out of Power only applies to Actions.
It does not apply to Ongoing or other types of abilities!

Between Action Effects

A few Ongoing abilities use the words “After any player’s Action...” or “At the end of any player’s
Action…” You can choose to use these abilities, just as written, after another player’s Action, but before
the next Action takes place!
These can even be used in the middle of another player’s turn, if they are performing Unlimited Actions.

If more than one player wants to use such an ability after a player’s Action, and there is a dispute over
who chooses to use their ability first, resolve it by turn order (i.e., the First Player goes first).

30
 Ongoing Ability During a Player’s Turn

Before Zoran’s Turn. Zoran has 6 Spellbooks and it is his turn. First, he performs the
Move Action and moves several of his Monsters into an Area
containing 2 of Ben’s Units, both of which are Cultists.

Ben has the Devolve Spellbook. Fearing that Zoran will declare an Zoran can still choose to Battle Ben, since it is his turn and he has
Unlimited Battle after Moving into the Area, Ben uses the Devolve the option to perform Unlimited Actions. But he may no longer
Spellbook immediately after Zoran’s Move Action, to replace one want to do so now that Ben has a Monster of his own! 31
of his Cultists with a Deep One.
 Gather Power Phase
After the Action Phase, every player is out of Power. In the Gather Power Phase, all players earn Power
anew, placing their Power Marker on the new total along their Power Track. Each player performs the
Gather Power Phase simultaneously. (If this is the first game for anyone, it is best to go through it player
by player).

HOW TO EARN POWER

‘‘ Earn 1 Power for each Cultist you have in play.
‘‘ Earn 2 Power for each Gate you Control.
‘‘ Earn 1 Power for each Abandoned Gate on the Map (each player gains 1 Power per Abandoned
Gate).
‘‘ Return all Captured Cultists to their owner’s Pools, and earn 1 Power for each Cultist you return.
You may not choose to keep a Cultist—they must be returned during the Gather Power Phase.
‘‘ Check for special abilities and Spellbooks that provide Power during the Gather Power Phase.
Example: Rich has two Controlled Gates and three Cultists in play. He also has Captured one enemy
Cultist. He gets 3 Power from his Cultists, and 4 Power for his two Controlled Gates. A Gate on the Map
is currently Abandoned, so he gets 1 Power from that source (as do all other players). He must sacrifice
the Captured Cultist, which gets him an additional 1 Power. His total Power should be set to 9.

Non-Cultist Units such as Monsters and Great Old Ones do not (with rare exceptions) produce Power.
Only Cultists can produce Power! Also note that Factions often have some special way to gain Power
during the Gather Power Phase. This differs per Faction and might require a particular Spellbook.
The Power Track goes to 20, but you may have more than 20 Power. If a player reaches 21 or more
Power, you need to keep track of it by other means. The easiest is to “wrap around,” so that if your
Power is 23, you would place your Faction Marker on the 3 space, and just remember that it is really 23.
Then, when it hits the 0 space, immediately place it on 20 instead (when you are at 21 Power, represented
by a ‘1’ on the track, and you spend 1 power, move it to 20, rather than 0, or else you would be giving
yourself a free extra Power!)

MINIMUM POWER RULE

At the end of the Gather Power Phase, after everyone has recorded their Power on their Power track,
check for the Minimum Power rule: if your Power is less than half that of the player with the most Power,
increase your Power to be half of that player’s Power total, rounding up. Thus, at the end of the Gather
Power Phase, all players will have a Power total in a range between the highest player’s and half of the
highest.
Example: After a disastrous turn, Rich finds himself with a total of 4 Power at the end of the Gather
Power Phase. Fortunately, Angela has 13 Power, which is also the highest total, so Rich sets his Power to
7 (half of 13, rounding up).
Once everyone has recorded their new Power total and checked for the minimum Power rule, play passes
to the Determine First Player Phase.
32
 Determine First Player Phase
During this Phase the First Player is selected. The First Player Token is given to the player who has the
most Power. If two or more players are tied for most Power, then the player who had the First Player
Token last round decides which of the tied players receives the First Player Token. (They can choose
themselves, if they are involved in the tie.)

After the First Player is determined, they take the First Player Token and set it in front of them. They
choose whether to have the clockwise side face-up, or the counterclockwise side. Whichever side they
select determines the order of play, starting with them, during all Phases until the next Determine First
Player Phase. (If you have a special First Player figure from one of our Kickstarter campaigns, simply
point it in the direction you want play to proceed!)
If the same player is the First Player consecutively, they still choose anew each time whether to set the
First Player Token clockwise or counterclockwise.

Once the First Player and the direction of play have both been determined, play passes to the Doom
Phase.

33
34
 Doom Phase
When the game ends, the player with the highest Doom (and all 6 Spellbooks) will win. The Doom Phase
is the primary time when players’ Doom advances. Also, this is often the Phase during which the game’s
end will trigger (though not always).
The Doom Phase has two steps to complete in turn:

1. Doom Track advancement (simultaneously)

2. Rituals of Annihilation (in player order)

DOOM TRACK ADVANCEMENT

Advance each player’s Doom Marker on the Doom Track a number of spaces equal to her Controlled
Gates. For instance, if they Controls two Gates, they advance two spaces. This can be done
simultaneously. No one gets Doom for Abandoned Gates.

RITUALS OF ANNIHILATION
Starting with the First Player and proceeding in player order, each player chooses to perform a Ritual of
Annihilation or not. Each player gets the chance to do one and only one Ritual of Annihilation.

To Perform a Ritual of Annihilation

1. Spend Power equal to the current position of the Ritual Marker on the track (this ranges from 5 to
10).
2. Advance the Ritual Marker one step up the Ritual of Annihilation track (this usually increases the
cost for later players).
3. Advance your Doom Marker on the Doom Track one space per Gate you Control (doubling your
Doom increase based on Gates this Doom Phase).
4. Gain one Elder Sign Trophy Token per Faction Great Old One you Control in play.
Example: Rich is First Player and has three Controlled Gates and Nyarlathotep on the Map. At the start
of the Doom Phase, he advances his Doom Marker three spaces, for his three Gates. All other players also
advance, according to their Gate total. During the Ritual of Annihilation step, Rich decides to perform
a Ritual of Annihilation. The Ritual Marker is in the 5 space, so Rich pays 5 Power (and advances the
Ritual Marker to the next space, which shows a “6”). Rich now advances his Doom marker another three
spaces (for his three Gates), and receives an Elder Sign for Nyarlathotep, his Great Old One. This Doom
Phase he advanced a total of 6 spaces on the Doom Track, plus he received an Elder Sign. The next
player to perform a Ritual of Annihilation must pay 6 Power, since Rich advanced the Marker. If he had
not performed the Ritual of Annihilation, he would have 5 more Power entering the Action Phase, but
would be missing out on those three extra Doom Points and Elder Sign.
35
 Instant Death
If the Ritual Marker is on 10 and a Ritual of Annihilation is performed, the Ritual marker moves to the
“Instant Death” space. This means that at the end of this Doom Phase, the game will end, and victory
will be determined. See the section titled Victory: Ending and Winning the Game on page 50 for more
details.

Players who have not yet had a chance to perform

a Ritual of Annihilation when the Ritual Marker
is advanced to “Instant Death” may still choose
to perform one when it is their turn to choose.
The cost remains at 10 for all subsequent Rituals.
Remember, in the Doom Phase, each player gets
exactly one chance, in player order, to perform a
Ritual, and this is true even in the Doom Phase in
which “Instant Death” is reached.

SPECIAL EVENTS AND

ABILITIES
Some Spellbooks, special abilities or even Spellbook
requirements take effect during The Doom Phase.
Usually these occur when it is your turn to perform
a Ritual of Annihilation (whether you do so or not).

Examples include Black Goat’s Blood Sacrifice

Spellbook, and the two Doom Phase Spellbook
requirements that Great Cthulhu fulfills. Some
Map events also occur here (available in expansion
products). Additional examples abound, such as
acquiring Neutral Monsters and Terrors.

If you can use multiple abilities or events, you can choose which order to perform them. Example: the
Tcho-Tcho can Awaken Ubbo-Sathla in the Doom Phase by sacrificing a High Priest, and can also
be forced to Sacrifice all their High Priests for Elder Signs with Tablets of the Gods if they perform a
Ritual of Annihilation. They can choose to Awaken Ubbo-Sathla first, and then perform the Ritual (and
sacrifice all remaining High Priests), or perform the Ritual first, when they also sacrifice all their High
Priests, and then not be able to Awaken Ubbo-Sathla!

Once the all players have advanced the Doom track for their Controlled Gates, had a chance to perform
a Ritual of Annihilation, and performed any special abilities, play passes again to the Action Phase, to
repeat the cycle of Phases.

36
 Battle
Battle is perhaps the most complex of all events in the Cthulhu Wars game. It is an Action, initiated by a
player, as described in the Action Phase section (see page 27). A Battle takes place in a single Area, and
involves only two Factions, no matter what other Units may be in the Area. The Faction which initiates
the Battle must have at least 1 Combat among its Units in the Battle. Even though Battle can be an
Unlimited Action (when you have 6 Spellbooks on your Faction Card), a Battle may only ever occur once
per Area on a given player’s turn.

All Units in the Battle Area, from both Factions who are Battling, must participate in the Battle..

After the Battle Action has been paid for by the player who initiates it, the Battle proceeds through the
following steps:

1. Pre-Battle Abilities
2. Combat Dice Calculation and Rolls
3. Post-Battle Abilities and Assigning Battle Results
4. Applying Battle Results

PRE-BATTLE ABILITIES
The first step is to use (or choose not to use) any Pre-Battle Spellbooks or abilities. As with all abilities,
Pre-Battle abilities are optional unless the text says otherwise. Because they are not Actions, they do not
require Power to use (unless the text says otherwise). Some require a particular Unit type to be present in
the Battle to take effect, while others merely require one of your Units to be in play (but not necessarily
in the Battle itself ).
The Faction who initiated the Battle (the attacker) uses all of her Pre-Battle abilities first, in any order
desired. The Faction being attacked (the defender) then chooses to use any desired, in any order. This
means that all of the attacker’s Pre-Battle abilities take effect before any of the defender’s are chosen
and used. If the attacker refrains from using a particular ability, they cannot then use it after the
defender has chosen and used any Pre-Battle abilities.
Some Pre-Battle abilities Eliminate, Kill, or otherwise remove a Unit from the Battle. If this happens,
that Unit does not participate for the remainder of the Battle, including the remainder of the Pre-Battle
segment. For example, if Great Cthulhu is in a Battle, and his Faction is the attacker, Great Cthulhu may
use his Pre-Battle ability Devour to Eliminate an enemy Monster or Cultist. If the Eliminated Unit had
an ability (whether Pre-Battle, Post-Battle, or anything that would affect the Battle), it cannot be used,
because that Unit is no longer in the Battle.

However, if that Eliminated Unit had already used its ability, and the ability generates an affect
throughout the rest of the Battle, the effect remains. For example, Crawling Chaos can initiate a Battle,
use its Flying Polyp’s Invisibility to “exempt” Great Cthulhu’s Shoggoth, and then even if Cthulhu

37
 Devoured that Flying Polyp, the Shoggoth would remain Invisible and “exempted” throughout the rest
of the Battle. The Flying Polyp itself would be removed, of course.

If all Units of one Faction are somehow removed during Pre-Battle, you do not need to go on to the
next step! The Battle is over—and no further abilities can be used. For example, if Great Cthulhu initiates
a Battle against Crawling Chaos, and Cthulhu Devours Crawling Chaos’ sole Unit, the Battle would end.
Crawling Chaos could not even use Seek and Destroy, as the Battle is immediately over. Had Crawling
Chaos initiated the Battle, he could use Seek and Destroy first, of course.

COMBAT DICE CALCULATION AND ROLLS

After all Pre-Battle abilities on both sides have taken effect, it is time to
calculate Combat and roll dice. Each Unit has a Combat rating (listed on
the Faction or Loyalty Card), which represents how powerful that Unit
Because Pre-Battle abilities may
modify the Combat totals, don’t is in Battle. Some have 0 Combat, and some require a simple calculation
add the numbers up until all Pre- (such as Yellow Sign’s Monsters, and many Great Old Ones). Your
Battle abilities have taken effect! Faction’s Combat in the Battle is equal to the sum of all your Units’
Combat involved in the Battle. For example, if you are playing as Crawling
Chaos and have an Acolyte and 2 Hunting Horrors in the Battle, your
Combat would be 0 + 2 + 2 for a total of 4 Combat.

After determining Combat totals, both sides roll that many dice. You can roll simultaneously, or take
turns.

After rolling, count up the number of sixes you rolled. These are Kill results. Then, count up the number
of fours and fives you rolled. These are Pain results. Any rolls of 1, 2 or 3 are misses and do not count as
Battle results. In the next segments these results will be assigned to Units and then applied.
There are a few abilities that are written as simply Battle abilities (instead of Pre- or Post-Battle). These
abilities would modify this segment. For example, Opener of the Way’s Channel Power Spellbook allows
him to re-roll dice that did not roll a Kill or Pain result.

POST-BATTLE ABILITIES AND ASSIGNING BATTLE RESULTS

After totaling the Battle results for each side, players must assign the results the enemy rolled to their
own Units.

First, assign only the rolled Kill (6) results, but not the Pain results (4 or 5). Kills are always assigned first.
If there are Kills rolled in excess of the Units, ignore them.

When assigning the Kill results, players may choose to use any Post-Battle abilities they have available.
Post-Battle abilities typically add to, subtract from, or in some way modify the Battle results or how they
are assigned. Post-Battle abilities can also add a third type of result: an Elimination. If a Post-Battle
ability adds an Elimination, it must be assigned at that point (alongside the Kills). As with Kills, excess
Eliminations are ignored.

38
Post-Battle abilities are unlike Pre-Battle abilities in that if they add or assign a Kill, Elimination or
otherwise remove a Unit from the Battle, they do not prevent that Unit from using its own Post-Battle
abilities. In other words, both sides may always use all Post-Battle abilities they have available during this
segment.

There are a few Post-Battle abilities that can be used even when you are not involved in the Battle (in
which case it always declares this on the text of the ability). This is the only way a Faction not directly
involved in a Battle can participate. A key example is Black Goat’s Necrophagy Spellbook which reads
that you can use it even when you are not involved in the Battle.

After assigning all Kills and Eliminations, it is time to assign the Pains (rolls of 4 or 5) to your Units. As
with Kills and Eliminations, if there are excess Pains rolled, ignore them. In the next and final segment of
Battle, Kills will remove a Unit from play, and Pains will force them to retreat to adjacent Areas.
Post-Battle abilities that modify Pains may be appropriate to use when assigning Pains, rather than (or in
addition to) when assigning Kills. For example, Windwalker’s Eternal ability could be used at this point,
rather than when assigning Kills. Also, Crawling Chaos’ Harbinger can be activated both when a Kill and
a Pain is assigned. Also, Yellow Sign’s Vengeance is used when assigning Kills, Eliminations, AND Pains.
In either case, all Kills and Eliminations must always be assigned before any Pains are.
Importantly, once a Post-Battle ability has been triggered (whether during the assigning of Kills OR
the assigning of Pains), its effect takes place, no matter what happens to the Unit which has the ability—
whether that Unit is also or later Killed, Eliminated, etc. In other words, Post-Battle abilities do not
retroactively prevent other Post-Battle abilities from having taken place, even though they may modify
the assigning of Battle results due to already used Post-Battle abilities. (see the Battle Examples on page
40 for how some Post-Battle abilities may interact in this way).

Note that many Post-Battle abilities are triggered by Kills or Pains. These are specific results, meaning
that if an Elimination occurs, it would not target that ability. For example, Windwalker’s Cannibalism
requires an enemy Unit to be Killed, not Eliminated (such as via Devour, Abduct, etc.). Sleeper’s Demand
Sacrifice does not protect against Eliminations, only actual Kills, etc.

APPLYING BATTLE RESULTS

After all Battle results have been assigned, they need to be applied to their
respective Units. Eliminations and Kills remove the Unit from the Map to
If you are the attacker in a Battle,
be returned to their Faction’s Pool. As with assigning results, Eliminations and receive several Pains, a good
and Kills must be applied before Pains. Both sides can remove Eliminated tactic may be to Pain those Units
and Killed Units at the same time. to all the Areas around the Battle
Area to completely surround
After all Eliminations and Kills have been applied, it is time to apply Pains. your enemy and force an extra
Elimination!
Pained Units are retreated and moved to Areas adjacent to the Battle Area.
As with assigning results, you choose where your own Pained Units are
retreated to. They do not need to all go to the same Area, but can be split
up among multiple Areas if desired.
The player who initiated the Battle (the attacker) applies all her Pains first, followed by the defender.
39
 You cannot retreat a Pained Unit to an Area containing any Units belonging to the Faction you just
Battled. If there are no such adjacent Areas, such that none of your Pained Units can be retreated, then
select a single Unit among them and Eliminate it. The other Units remain in the Battle Area as if they
were not Pained. This Eliminated Unit can be a Great Old One!

During the application of Battle results there are some Post-Battle abilities which may take effect.
Most Post-Battle abilities affect the assigning of results, but not all. A key example is Crawling Chaos’
Madness (which also has the feature that it can be used even when Crawling Chaos is not involved in the
Battle). Crawling Chaos’ Madness ability allows him to direct where each Unit is Pained to, rather than
the Faction owner.

BATTLE EXAMPLES
Simple Battle Example

Angela initiates a Battle against Frank in East Africa. She has two Frank rolls 2 dice. Angela rolls 2 Pains and no Kills, while Frank
Byakhee, three Acolyte Cultists, and the King in Yellow. Frank rolls a Kill and no Pains. Angela chooses to Kill one of her
has two Acolyte Cultists. Angela’s Byakhee gives her 1 more die Byakhee, and Frank must retreat both Cultists out of the Area.
than the number of Byakhee in the Area, while her Cultists and
the King have Combat ratings of zero, so she rolls 3 dice. Frank
is playing Black Goat, and his Frenzy Spellbook is in play, so his
Cultists each have a Combat of 1.

40
Complex Battle Example 1

Rich initiates a Battle against Angela In the Pre-Battle segment, Rich’s Rich then rolls 12 dice (6 for
in East Africa. He has Cthulhu, a Shoggoth Absorbs one of his own Cthulhu, 2 + 3 for the “Absorbent”
Shoggoth, two Deep Ones, and three Deep Ones, and Cthulhu Devours Shoggoth, and 1 for his remaining
Cultists. She has the King in Yellow one of Angela’s Units. She chooses Deep One), and Angela rolls her 3
and five Undead. an Undead (she had no choice really, dice (the amount she gets for having
because the King cannot be picked for 4 remaining Undead in the Battle after
Devour, as a Great Old One). Cthulhu Devoured one). Rich scores 1
Kill and 5 Pains, while Angela rolls 1
Kill and 2 Pains. Rich assigns the Kill
to one cultist, and Angela assigns the
Kill to an Undead.

Frank, as the Black Goat, chooses Rich assigns the 4 Pains against him Now Crawling Chaos steps in. He
to use his Necrophagy Post-Battle (2 from Angela, and 2 from the Ghouls) has the Madness ability, and so
ability to send 2 Ghouls into the Area. to everything except the Cultists on his he gets to choose where all Units
Rich must add 2 Pains to the results Gate. Angela assigns Pains to all her retreat. He decides to retreat Cthulhu
against him (all of Angela’s Units will Units (ignoring all additional Pains). First, and sends Cthulhu to Arabia,
already be Pained from Rich’s dice 1 green Cultist to West Africa, the
results). Deep One to the Indian Ocean, and
the Shoggoth to the South Atlantic.
(No Yellow Sign Units were in any
of these Areas). Since East Africa is
now entirely surrounded by Cthulhu’s
Units, the Yellow Sign is unable to
retreat any Units, and must Eliminate
one of her Pained Units. She chooses
an Undead, and so the King and 2
remaining Undead stay behind, along
with Cthulhu’s Cultist, who is now en
prise, vulnerable to the King to be
Captured!
41
 The following Battle Examples include abilities from expansions.

Complex Battle Example 2

Grant initiates a Battle with 2 Leng There are no Pre-Battle abilities, Now that the Kill has been assigned,
Spiders and an Acolyte against Spencer so they both roll their dice. Grant Black Goat, who is in the game and has
who has Hastur and an Acolyte. scores 2 Pains. Spencer rolls 1 Kill. the Necrophagy Spellbook, decides to
Spencer, using Hastur’s Vengeance send in both of her Ghouls, adding 2
ability, assigns the Kill he rolled to one Pains to both Grant and Spencer.
of Grant’s Leng Spiders, rather than
Grant’s Acolyte.

Grant, with his 2 Leng Spiders’ The 2 new Pains scored against Grant
Bloodthirst ability, decides to turn all send his remaining Leng Spider and his
4 Pains scored against Spencer into Acolyte to an adjacent Area.
2 Kills. Spencer must lose both his
Acolyte and Hastur.

42
Complex Battle Example 3

Anthony has Shub-Niggurath with a Fungus With no Pre-Battle abilities, they both roll
and initiates a Battle against David who has 2 their dice. Anthony rolls 1 Kill and 1 Pain.
Gnoph-Keh. David also rolls 1 Kill and 1 Pain. Anthony
chooses his Fungus to receive the Kill, and
David must assign his to one of the Gnoph-
Keh. The Gnoph-Keh’s Berserkergang ability
is now activated when a Kill is assigned to it,
which Eliminates an enemy Monster or Cultist.
However, there are no enemy Monster or
Cultists to assign it to (the Fungus is already
assigned a Kill, and Shub-Niggurath is a Great
Old One).

Anthony initiated the Battle, and so he first

Pains Shub-Niggurath to an Area, followed
by the remaining Gnoph-Keh, who is Pained
elsewhere by David.

43
 Complex Battle Example 4

John is playing as Black Goat and has There are no Pre-Battle abilities, so both The Gnoph-Keh’s Berserkergang ability
Cthugha and 2 Acolytes with Frenzy, and roll dice and each scores exactly 1 Kill, is triggered, meaning John will have to
initiates a Battle against Andrew who has and no Pains. Andrew must assign the also assign an Elimination to his other
2 Gnoph-Keh. Kill to one of his Gnoph-Keh, while John Acolyte (since Cthugha is immune, as a
takes the Kill upon his Acolyte. Great Old One).

However, after Andrew assigned the After applying both Kills and the
Kill to his Gnoph-Keh, John decides to Elimination, the Gnoph-Keh is now the
“spare” the Gnoph-Keh with Cthugha’s only unit with a Pain, and is Pained to an
Fire Vampires ability, and gain 1 Power adjacent Area by Andrew.
by reducing the Kill scored against the
Gnoph-Keh to a Pain instead. Since the
Berserkergang ability was triggered via
the Kill assignation, which created an
Elimination, the use of Fire Vampires
does not retroactively nullify the
Berserkergang’s use, even though the
Gnoph-Keh is now only going to receive
a Pain.

44
Complex Battle Example 5

Lincoln has Yig and an Acolyte who is Both roll their dice, and Lincoln rolls a Kill
poisonous via the Snakebite ability, and a and 2 Pains. Joey rolls 1 Kill only. Lincoln
Serpent Man. Joey has an Acolyte and a assigns the Kill to his Acolyte, while Joey
Starspawn with the Regenerate Spellbook. assigns the Kill to his Starspawn.

Post-battle abilities now occur, and Lincoln’s With a single Pain and a single Kill assigned
Acolyte adds a Kill result to Joey’s total to it, the Starspawn is merely Pained out of the
results. Joey must now choose whether he Area (due to Regenerate).
will apply the second Kill to the Starspawn,
or to save the Starspawn and Kill his Acolyte.
He decides on the Cultist, and so the Pain is
applied to the Starspawn (the other Pain that
Lincoln rolled is ignored, as there are no Units
to assign it to).

45
 Complex Battle Example 6

Bruce has a lone Nyarlathotep and initiates a Bill has no Combat, but Bruce rolls a single
Battle against Bill who has the King in Yellow Pain. Bill assigns this Pain to his Undead to
with an Undead. prevent Bruce from gaining any benefit for
Paining a Great Old One (via Harbinger).
Black Goat, however, is in the game with a
Ghoul and sends it into the Battle via her
Necrophagy Spellbook, adding a Pain to both
sides.

Nyarlathotep is now Pained, but there is

also a Pain against the King in Yellow, and so
Nyarlathotep’s Harbinger ability takes effect.
Bruce decides to gain 2 Elder Signs, and then,
via Madness, Bruce decides where the King,
the Undead, and Nyarlathotep are all Pained
to.

46
 Complex Battle Example 7

Arthur has Gobogeg, 3 Leng Spiders, There are no Pre-Battle abilities, so Since Gobogeg is Pained, his
and a Formless Spawn, and initiates a dice are rolled. Arthur rolls 2 Kills and Threnody ability then causes all Units
Battle against Alice who has 6 Acolytes 2 Pains. Alice rolls 1 Pain. Alice assigns (on both sides) without a result to
and a Gug. the 2 Kills and 2 Pains all to Cultists. receive a Pain. Alice’s remaining 2
Arthur assigns the Pain to Gobogeg. Acolytes without results and her Gug
will all receive a Pain, 5 in total.

Arthur then uses his Leng Spiders’ Now all the Units are Pained, except
Bloodthirst to turn 4 of those Pains the last Acolyte and Gug.
into 2 Kills (this is two uses of the
Bloodthirst ability, which he can do
once per Leng Spider in the Battle).
Alice has 2 of her Acolytes receive
those Kills, and she now only has a
single Pain to assign (since four of
them went away), which she puts on an
Acolyte. Her sixth Acolyte and her Gug
end up with no Battle results assigned
to them at all. However, 4 of her
Acolytes ended up being Killed. Had
Arthur chosen to use his Leng Spiders’
Bloodthirst ability before Gobogeg’s
Threnody ability, then there would have
been fewer Pains for him to turn into
Kills with Bloodthirst!

47
 Complex Battle Example 8

Adam has a Spawn of Yog-Sothoth Adam initiates a Battle, and rolls Since Adam has Unlimited Battle, he
and an Abomination, and all 6 no Battle results. Dave rolls 2 Pains. chooses to spend 1 Power to Battle
Spellbooks on his Faction Card (thus The Spawn of Yog-Sothoth and the Greg.
he has Unlimited Battle as an option). Abomination both get Pained to
Dave has an Elder Thing. (Greg has a another Area, and then promote (via
Shantak and a Y’Golonac in a different Million Favored Ones) into 4 Mutants
Area.) and a new Spawn of Yog-Sothoth,
respectively. They are Pained into an
Area that contains Greg’s Shantak with
Y’golonac.

Adam rolls 1 Kill. Greg rolls 1 Kill as Before Adam can promote (via Adam’s 3 remaining Mutants promote
well. Adam chooses a Mutant to be Million Favored Ones), Y’golonac’s into Abominations. Adam wants to
Killed, and Greg selects Y’golonac. ability Orifices allows him to replace Battle Greg again, in the hopes he
his Killed Y’golonac with a surviving can get a Kill on Greg’s Shantak and
enemy Monster. Greg selects the transfer Y’Golonac back, but cannot
Spawn of Yog-Sothoth, and hands do an Unlimited Battle in the same
Y’golonac’s Loyalty Card to Adam, Area twice on his turn, so Adam
who is sad. It happens in this order, remains sad.
because Million Favored Ones reads
that it takes effect after all Pains are
also resolved, which has not happened
yet. Orifices needs only a Kill to occur.

48
 Complex Battle Example 9

Alex is playing as the Tcho-Tcho, and Both sides roll exactly 1 Kill. Alex takes Since Alex’s Acolyte has the Snakebite
has Yig, an Acolyte, and his High Priest. the Kill on his Acolyte, and Joey takes ability, it adds a Kill to the total results
He initiates a Battle against Joey who his upon an Abomination. against Joey, who assigns it to Keziah
is playing as Opener of the Way with Mason.
2 Mutants and the Unique High Priest
Keziah Mason.

Now that Keziah Mason has been Since Alex’s High Priest takes a Kill, In the end, Alex’s High Priest is Killed,
assigned a Kill, her Daemon Heroine which has the Tcho-Tcho Spellbook while Yig and his Acolyte are both
ability is triggered, which will then add 2 of Martyrdom, all other Kills against Pained. One of Joey’s Abominations and
Kills scored against Alex. the Tcho-Tcho Units are transformed Keziah Mason are both Killed, leaving
into Pains (even the rolled Kill already his other Abomination the only Unit
assigned to Alex’s Acolyte since remaining in the Area. (He doesn’t have
Martyrdom applies to all Kills that were the Million Favored Ones Spellbook yet,
assigned). However, the Snakebite so it doesn’t promote into a Spawn of
ability that triggered an extra Kill on Yog-Sothoth.)
Joey has already taken place, so it is not
removed from Keziah Mason—otherwise
a paradox would occur! Post-Battle
abilities that are triggered can modify
the assignings of results, but do not
retroactively prevent other Post-Battle
abilities from having taken place; in this
case, Yig’s Snakebite.

49
 Victory: Ending and Winning the Game
There are two ways that the game’s end is triggered: by a player reaching 30 or more Doom, or by the
Ritual of Annihilation track reaching Instant Death.

When a Faction reaches 30 or more Doom along the Doom track, the game will end. Since Doom
increases most often during the Doom Phase, it normally ends during the Doom Phase, and if so,
complete the entire Doom Phase before declaring final victory. However, a player could reveal Elder
Signs during the Action Phase, for example, and if these new Doom points increase his total to 30 or
more, the game will end at the end of the current player’s turn (even if it is not the turn of the player who
revealed those Elder Signs and caused it to go over 30).

The game can also end during the Doom Phase when the Ritual of Annihilation marker reaches the
Instant Death space. All players who have not had a chance to perform a Ritual of Annihilation may still
do so. At the very end of that Doom Phase, the game will end, even if no one has reached 30 or more
Doom points.

No matter how the game’s end was triggered, all players may reveal all their Elder Signs before finally
declaring victory.

When the game’s end is triggered, and after adding everyone’s Elder Signs to their Doom totals, the
player with the most Doom AND with 6 Spellbooks on their Faction Card is the winner. If the player
with the most Doom does not have 6 Spellbooks, whoever has the most Doom among those with all 6
Spellbooks on their Faction Card is the winner.

If two or more players have the most Doom, and both have all 6 Spellbooks, the game ends in a draw.
Both players rejoice in their shared victory!

If the game ends and no player has all 6 Spellbooks, then humanity wins! All Great Olds Ones, Monsters
and evil Cultists are sucked back through the collapsing Gates. (Yay!) But all players lose together.

50
 Rule Omega: The Final Question
We have sought diligently to cover all possible rules questions, and to make the game as true to Lovecraft
as we can. But we are mere mortals, and as such, subject to error.

If you come across some ability or Spellbook conflict, and cannot find the answer in one of our FAQs (or
our website FAQ online), we recommend that the players in the game vote on the desired outcome—the
owner of the game should probably get a bonus—like their vote counts for double. In the end, Cthulhu
Wars is your game. If you feel compelled to add house rules to cover such issues, please do so with our
blessing.

Player Tips
GENERAL TIPS
The play can be divided into two main periods—the early game and the late game.

Early Game
In the first two to three Action Phases players should try to acquire Spellbooks, build up a power base,
and Summon at least a minimal army. Be choosy about when you Awaken your Great Old One, because
this generally leaves you weak for the rest of that Action Phase. Battle in the early game is opportunistic,
based on attempts to take Control of enemy Gates or fulfill Spellbook requirements.

Late Game
This starts once you have your Great Old One out and three to four Spellbooks under your belt. You
still need to finish up your last Spellbooks, but you can now afford a Ritual of Annihilation once in a
while. Remember that the earlier you do your Rituals, the cheaper they are (and the more expensive your
enemy’s become). At this point, the purpose of Battle changes. You now seek to reduce your enemies’
Gates so they are less effective at Rituals. If one player surges ahead in Doom Points, get the other
players to work with you against them. If you are the player who surges ahead, try to break up such
alliances.

51
 PLAYING GREAT CTHULHU
Your Spellbooks and abilities, even unused, cast
a baleful influence on your enemy’s activities. Regeneration
Submerge, Dreams, and Y’ha Nthlei all cast a pall With this, Starspawn inure your army to harm,
over the map hindering your opponents. making them the flip-side to Absorb’s massive
damage output. Cthulhu accompanied by two
In the early game, you get Spellbooks quickly. Get Starspawns is well-armored even against enemy
Cthulhu out on Action Phase two or three, even if Great Old Ones.
he is vulnerable to an enemy attack. After all, you
can re-Awaken him cheaply and gain one Elder Cthulhu’s Faction is focused on destruction. Of
Sign. It is far easier to get your two “Kill/Devour” all Factions, your Units are the most effective
Spellbooks once Cthulhu takes the field. in a fight. On the other hand you are limited in
obtaining Elder Signs, so you need to use your
In the late game, use Submerge to strike critical combat strength to ruin your enemy’s bases and
enemy Areas. With Regeneration or Absorb plus keep them from taking the lead.
Cthulhu’s Immortal ability, you can hurl your
forces into Battle with impunity. Cthulhu only Submerge
rolls six dice, but an Absorbent Shoggoth gives A critical Spellbook in the late game. Once
you heft, plus Cthulhu’s Devour ability is better Cthulhu’s army submerges, not only is he safe
than a free Kill. from harm, but other players react in desperation.
If you attack an Ocean Area, you can Submerge
Absorb
again after the strike.
Turns Shoggoths into major combat dice. You
only need one Shoggoth per attack, so long as he Y’ha Nthlei
has “food” available. Remember that Cultists and
Deep Ones are also useful to soak up hits so you Like Dreams, this inhibits the enemy. Your foes
may not want to Absorb them all. are less likely to conquer your Ocean Gates, and
you don’t care as much if they do.
Devolve
Keep a Deep One in your Pool to render you
immune to Capture. Just Devolve a threatened
Cultist immediately.

Dreams
This means that your enemies dare not leave a
Cultist alone on a Gate. You may not often use
Dreams vs. experienced players, but it affects their
behavior throughout the game.

52
 THWARTING GREAT
CTHULHU
Cthulhu has strong Units, but not many of them.
Each loss is a setback for him. When he hurls
his might against an Area he is going to win,
but you can mitigate this by not putting all your
eggs in one basket. Killing Cthulhu himself isn’t
particularly effective (unless you are Crawling
Chaos, since Harbinger then gives you two Power
or Elder Signs), because soon he’ll be back at
R’lyeh, ready to Submerge and make your life hell.

GREAT CTHULHU:
EPILOGUE
“It was gargantuan. A mountainous form
rising from the sea, surrounded by lesser
monstrosities that oozed and dragged
themselves toward us with distorted
limbs, tentacles, and pseudopods. When
we heard that the Pacific Islands were
empty, we didn’t understand. We still
thought in human terms. We hadn’t
considered that the colossal Thing had
been eating, scouring the islands of life.
And now it was here, hungry again.”
—David Mendiola

53
 PLAYING CRAWLING CHAOS
In the early game, focus on safety and power- Crawling Chaos is all about opportunism;
building. Use Flight to set up bases in inaccessible striking at the weak and vulnerable. While some
Areas. Nightgaunts with Abduct discourage other Factions have a faster start on attaining
enemies from attacking your Cultists—at least Spellbooks, Crawling Chaos is often the Faction
they’ll need to send more than one Monster. You that completes his collection first. Your Units are
won’t need Nyarlathotep himself for a while, and not mighty in Battle, and your Spellbooks are
he is stronger later in the game anyway. Your most defensive in nature. You are good at harassment,
awkward Spellbook requirement is often “Capture and debilitating foes over time.
a Cultist”, so look for any chance to pull this off.
Invisibility
In the late game, everything changes.
Nyarlathotep now has a huge combat ability (up Safely place an invulnerable Flying Polyp in an
to twelve dice), and instead of fearing Battle, you enemy Area. Also good to cancel obnoxious Units
should seek it. Smite their Great Old Ones for the such as Starspawn.
Harbinger bonus. You can perform Rituals more
safely than other players, because you can restore Madness
the Power imbalance with Thousand Forms, so you Your signature Spellbook. It is not immediately
are not left as vulnerable afterwards. destructive, but over the course of the game, your
enemies’ Units scatter inconveniently and it takes
More than any other player, you can hit an enemy time and energy to restore the situation.
where he is weak. As a result, if one player has
surged ahead, the rest may try to convince you Seek and Destroy
to save the day. Go ahead and save the day, but
Now your Gates are protected across the world
be sure to exact promises and tribute from the
from weak-to-medium attacks, since you can
others. For instance, “Before I strike, I want you
throw in a two-dice Monster at will. While on the
to evacuate your Gate in South America.” Promises
offensive, your attacks are cheaper, since your
are not binding in Cthulhu Wars, so make sure you
Horror joins in for free. Also gives Nyarlathotep
“see the money” before taking whatever Action
extra meat shields in case he is ambushed.
you see fit.
Thousand Forms
Abduct
Early in the round, it forces enemies to give up a
In the early game, this protects Gates from enemy Power advantage. Late in the round, it boosts you
Monsters. In the late game it is not as good, as when they are most vulnerable. Combined with
you often need your Nightgaunts to soak up Harbinger, you can achieve a surprise Power surge
enemy Kills. It can sometimes be combined with that makes your foes whine.
Invisibility to pick off a good Monster.

Emissary of the Outer Gods

Less useful when Great Old Ones are out, but it
does keep expensive Nyarlathotep safe from cheap
attacks. Remember to use a Pain to retreat him
somewhere safe!
54
 THWARTING CRAWLING
CHAOS
Crawling Chaos Units are excellent at staving off
weak raids, but less effective against a major attack.
Therefore take the gloves off and hit him with
everything—as the Germans say, Klotzen, nicht
Kleckern!
Nyarlathotep is terrifying, but if you do Kill him,
it is a major setback, and Crawling Chaos may take
a whole Action Phase to recover. His Cultists have
no real defensive capability, unlike other players
(Cthulhu has Devolve, Yellow Sign Passion, and Black
Goat Frenzy), so they are vulnerable.

There is not much you can do about his Power drain

abilities. Just suck it up and remember that it may be
better to let your own Power drop rather than give
him an undeserved boost.

CRAWLING CHAOS:
EPILOGUE
“The uncertainty is the worst. No one
looks up. I remember when we could see
the sun. You can’t now, because They
blanket the sky. No one wants to look up,
and They know that. Everyday we live
with the knowledge that it might be your
last day. The only warning is a slither of
sucking wind, flapping of wings, or the
brush of something utterly alien on your
skin. Then you’re gone. I see fewer and
fewer friends as time passes. How long
before it is my time?”

—David Mendiola

55
 PLAYING BLACK GOAT
In the early game, the most common mistake
a novice Black Goat player makes is to initiate Necrophagy
diasporas of Cultists to immediately achieve the Use with impunity, as Ghouls are cheap (free, after
“Have Units in X Area” Spellbooks—but your Thousand Young). In a small battle, it can clean
enemies will move in once you are helpless from out an entire Area, allowing your Ghoul to Recruit
lack of Power. Build up at a sedate rate. Ensure a Cultist and take the Gate. Teleporting Ghouls
that when you move Units into an Area they have around the world also helps meet Spellbook
support and protection, and in general use cheap requirements.
Monsters to occupy Areas for Spellbook purposes,
rather than Cultists. Thousand Young is best used As befits a fertility cult, Black Goat’s emphasis is
defensively, for instance when an enemy moves on on occupation and expansion—sort of like a fungus
one of your Gates, reactively Summon a heap of infection. Unlike other Factions, you tend to
trouble for him. Create a stronghold where you be geographically restricted. You are not deadly
can Summon Shub-Niggurath safely. in Battle (in fact, you have no battle Spellbooks
except Frenzy), but you have plenty of cheap
In the late game, you can sadly annoy other
throwaway Units, so you are resilient. As you hole
players. Ghroth slows and cripples rivals. Battle
up in your homeland, your abilities let you target
becomes common, so Necrophagy can occur
enemies by remote Control. This is your true
multiple times in a single Action Phase. Avatar
strength.
steals weak enemy bases with prejudice—teleport
to the spot, and they must send someone to your
homeland. You can then Capture their Cultist or, if
Blood Sacrifice
the Gate is Abandoned, Recruit your own Cultist Lets you earn an Elder Sign every Doom Phase.
to take it over. As a bonus, it puts Cultists back in your Pool,
so you can Recruit them for use with Avatar or
The enemy often comes to you, in an attempt Necrophagy Gate-stealing.
to stop the hurting, so sit tight. If you do need
to strike at a distance, you have Avatar. You may Ghroth
not have as many Gates as other, more mobile,
A complex Action, requiring timing and
Factions, but you can make up for this—even
preparation, but worth the trouble. Some players
with just two Gates plus Shub-Niggurath, Blood
focus on Ghroth as a central strategy. Others
Sacrifice nets you two Elder Signs and four Doom
keep it as an occasional treat. Both techniques are
Points per Doom Phase if you Ritual.
effective.
Frenzy
Red Sign
Excellent both defensively and offensively. If a foe
moves a Monster into an area, hoping for a cheap Gives you potentially more baseline Power than
Capture, declare Battle, and Pain him right back any other Faction, plus Gate-Controlling Units
out. that can’t be Captured. Remember, when you
Summon a Dark Young under Red Sign, you can
place it right on the Gate (replacing the Cultist
who Summoned it).

56
The Thousand Young
Its utility is obvious, but it contains subtle touches.
For instance, Summon a single Ghoul for zero
Power, in effect marking time while seeing what the
other players do. It is also demoralizing for a foe to
launch a mighty attack on you, destroying three or
four of your Units, only to have you Summon your
lost Units right back at trivial cost.

THWARTING BLACK GOAT

Black Goat is hard to dig out once settled in.
However, they are easy to fend off in the first place,
as their offensive Action is limited. Their Monsters
are feeble, and have other tasks to perform besides
fighting. This means that their main tools for
conquest are Avatar and Necrophagy, and both
involve starting out weak in the target Area. React
vigorously to drive them back.

Once they are established, they are hard to stop,

because they gets extra Power from Red Sign, and
extra Elder Signs from Blood Sacrifice. At some BLACK GOAT: EPILOGUE
point, you may need to go take out one of their “You can’t rest these days. We have
citadels. Luckily, all three of the other Factions can nowhere to simply lie down. Our streets
pull this off with their Great Old Ones, properly are overrun with beasts, loping with cloven
used. Don’t make the mistake of trying to extirpate hooves and jackal grins. The skies are no
Black Goat entirely—you will fail, and if you keep
better, filled by flying abominations,
focusing on them, other enemies may surge ahead.
Remember: Don’t try to cure the Black Goat
dripping with fungus. I hear they take
infection, just keep it contained. your brain. I don’t know what they do
with it. Eat it? They say not. Something
worse. But whatever you do, don’t go into
the newly-grown woodlands. You’ll find
Them there, giant horrors all mouths and
tentacles. And at the center, stands the one
who made Them. No,
my friend, stay out of
the forest.”
—David Mendiola

57
 PLAYING YELLOW SIGN
In the early game, be aware that you earn your double-Actions: either the King or Hastur
Spellbooks more slowly than other players, can move, and then you can do something else
but concentrate on them. Awaken the King useful. In the late game, Hastur’s signature
in Yellow soon (in the first Action Phase). move is to use He Who Is Not To Be Named
It’s easy to send the King in Yellow to North to enter an enemy’s space, then Shriek of the
America after Desecrating Europe or Asia, Byakhee to give them a bodyguard, and then
but occasionally it’s wiser to get into Africa declare Battle (Unlimited with six Spellbooks)
early and even harsh on enemies by Capturing to assassinate any other Great Old One.
Cultists with the King, or spreading Zingaya. You are constrained by strange rules, and
Many players prefer to migrate straight to seem to be playing your own separate game.
Africa or America after Awakening the King, However, in doing so, you do plunge the other
and save the Desecration of Europe or Asia for players into a living nightmare. You leave a
last. trail of scattered Units across the map, forcing
foes to spend an inordinate amount of time and
The King in Yellow, despite its lack of
energy to expunge your traces. You have no
Combat, is a terror. It moves quickly around
real home base, but are nomadic, leaving ruin in
the board with its Undead bodyguard, and its
your wake. You get Actions more quickly than
ability to take a second Action (with Screaming
other players, and can often do two things on
Dead) means you can Move into an enemy
the same turn, which gives you a flexibility no
area and immediately use Zingaya, Capture a
one else has. Your Units are weak, but usually
Cultist, or Shriek additional Byakhee there in
free, and numerous, which makes you resistant
preparation for devastating effect. You don’t
to loss. In effect, you can’t dish it out, but you
spend much Power on Summoning Monsters
sure can take it.
(most are generated via Desecration attempts),
so focus on other priorities. Remember to He Who is Not to be Named
leave a trail of Monster “breadcrumbs” behind
you, so they can suckle Power from your The basic function is to assassinate an opposing
Desecrations. Even if an enemy moves into the Great Old One, but it has other uses which
area to attack you, this will cost them 2 Power become obvious with experience. Remember the
(one to move, one to Battle), so a rearguard’s extra Action does not have to involve Hastur.
Elimination is no tragedy. Plus it puts your
Monster back into your Pool to be recalled Passion
upon the next Desecration or Zyngaya. Can actually “resurrect” you when out of
In the late game, you need to finish remaining Power. It also hinders the foe. (i.e., they may
Spellbooks. Usually you have few Gates, so choose to attack someone else, rather than give
you rely on Third Eye or your two Great Old you Power).
Ones for Elder Signs. Thanks to Vengeance,
Screaming Dead
when Hastur rolls into Action, you can ensure
an enemy Great Old One will die. By this time You’ll use this a LOT, so don’t put it off. It
you should be getting significant Power from needn’t be the first Spellbook you acquire, but
Feast, to be used for Rituals or other purposes. it shouldn’t be the last either.
With Hastur, you now have two choices for
58
 the Map. You can’t spend all your time attacking
Shriek of the Byakhee these, but do it when convenient.
Flexible, and gives both defense and offense.
Shriek when an enemy invades, or after Screaming Yellow Sign is constrained by his need to Desecrate
Dead or He Who is Not to be Named to give your certain Areas. If you can keep him out of, say,
Great Old Ones oomph. Africa or the Americas, you stop their progress.
This is easier said than done, but each turn you
Third Eye delay their advance, the more desperate they get.
Once you finish earning Spellbooks, Third Eye
keeps you interested in Desecrating. In effect, you
get an Elder Sign for 2 Power (one to move and
one to Desecrate), plus at the same time you earn a
potential power source and a new Monster. It’s the
best bargain in the game!

Zingaya
The biggest problem with Desecration is
mustering the troops. With Zingaya, you not only
get a Unit, but your enemy is down a Cultist.

THWARTING THE
YELLOW SIGN
If you are playing against Yellow Sign, remember
their Monsters are puny. Because they are also
numerous, you need to attack them more than
once to knock out an area, but at least you don’t
have to fear serious losses. Third Eye is terrifying,
but they need both their Great Old Ones out, plus
YELLOW SIGN: EPILOGUE
enough Monsters to succeed at Desecrating. This “I’ve done horrible things. I killed
gives you many tools to stop them. lifelong friends. Parents. Children. Why,
you ask? Because … the King in Yellow.
One of Yellow Sign’s oddities is that they tends He whispered … secrets and portents. It
to have too many Cultists sitting around in just made sense. Don’t worry, my victims
Europe—he is benefited by losing a few of them didn’t stay dead. They are a gift to the
early game, so he can use the King to bring them Unnamed One and so they follow, like
forth around the world. So if you want to cause the the others. So the
most damage, don’t hit Europe, strike at the King
King in Yellow has
itself. You are unlikely to Kill the King, but just
scattering their zombie army really hurts.
his entourage as he
spreads his message.”
Yellow Sign has plenty of weak pseudo-bases (in —David Mendiola
the form of Desecration Tokens) scattered round

59
 Two Player Rules
Cthulhu Wars requires a number of sizable changes to make it an effective two-player game. First, ensure
that you and your opponent are familiar with the basic set of multiplayer rules. You do not need any
components or expansions beyond the base game to play 2-Player.

TWO PLAYER SET-UP

‘‘ Use the 3-Player side of the Map.
‘‘ Use the 4-Player Ritual of Annihilation track.
‘‘ Take an unused Faction’s Doom Marker and place it at 0 on the Doom Track. This marker becomes
the Decay Marker.
‘‘ Most expansions can be used. With the multiplicity of options available in Cthulhu Wars, however,
it is likely that some combinations of expansions and Factions may lead to inequity. Please be aware
of this.

CHANGES FOR TWO PLAYER GAMES

General Rules
When a Unit is Eliminated or Killed, the opposing player gains Doom equal to that Unit’s Power cost!
However, when a Unit is replaced by another, no Doom is gained.

‘‘ Example 1: Black Goat Eliminates 2 Cultists for their Spellbook requirement. Their enemy gains
2 Doom.
‘‘ Example 2: A Shoggoth absorbs a Cultist for Battle. Their enemy gains 1 Doom.
‘‘ Example 3: When Opener of the Way Replaces a Spawn with Yog-Sothoth, or Promotes monsters
with Million Favored Ones, no Doom is gained by the enemy.
‘‘ Example 4: Cthulhu Devolves an Acolyte into a Deep One, no Doom is gained by the enemy.
Some Units have variable Power costs. In this case, the Doom gained is equal to the average of the Unit’s
different Power costs added together, whether or not the Power benefit is currently in effect. Always
round up the final total.
‘‘ Example 1: Cthulhu’s Power costs are 10/4, so Killing him is worth 7 Doom.
‘‘ Example 2: Black Goat’s Units have a Power cost which is potentially 1 less due to Thousand
Young. Therefore, Ghouls have an average Power cost of (1+0)/2, or 0.5, which means they still give
the opponent 1 Doom when they die. The same goes for the other Black Goat Units, all of which
end up giving the opponent Doom equal to their baseline cost, due to the rounding factor.
‘‘ Example 3: Windwalker’s Gnoph-Kehs have a Power cost of 4/3/2/1, which when averaged is 2.5,
so killing a Gnoph-Keh is worth 3 Doom.
Units which are able to avoid death by means of Abilities or Spellbooks still provide Doom to the enemy
which “Killed” them, but only half as much (rounded up).

60
 ‘‘ Example 1: If Rhan-Tegoth uses Eternal to avoid dying, the enemy gets 3 Doom for “Killing”
him.
‘‘ Example 2: If Nyarlathotep avoids death by Emissary of the Outer Gods, the enemy still gets 5
Doom for “Killing” him.
‘‘ Example 3: Regenerating Starspawn who takes a single Kill and thus avoids death gives the enemy
2 Doom (half their cost of 3).

Action Phase
Most Actions are unchanged. Some, however, are adjusted.

At the Start of Your Turn

Before taking your turn, you must pay Power equal to the position of the Decay Marker on the Doom
Track. This marker starts at 0, and then starts to increase when the other player runs out of Power, in
effect penalizing you for taking multiple Actions in a row.
Unlimited Battle
When Unlimited Battle is unlocked for a player (by possessing 6 Spellbooks on their Faction Card), the
other player also immediately gains Unlimited Battle.

Voluntarily Dropping to 0 Power

You cannot voluntarily drop to 0 Power, if you have more than 1 Power. You must perform an Action on
your turn.

Running Out of Power

If you are out of Power (or, for Windwalker, if you are Hibernating), when it would be your turn to take
an Action, increase the Decay Marker by 1. Then the other player takes their turn.

Example: Rich has 1 Power left, while Frank has 10. Rich decides to Recruit an Acolyte, going down to
0 Power. Frank then takes his turn, Moving 1 Unit. Now Frank has 9 Power. Rich is out of Power at the
start of his turn, so he bumps the Decay Marker up to 1. Frank now pays 1 Power for Decay, then takes
another Action (declaring Battle, for 1 Power). Frank is now down to 7 Power. Rich is still out of Power,
so he bumps the Decay Marker up to 2. Now Frank, before taking his next Action, pays 2 Power for the
Decay Marker. His Action is to recruit a Cultist, for 1 Power. Now Frank is down to 4 Power. Rich on his
“turn” moves the Decay Marker to 3. Frank pays 3 Power and then has 1 Power left for what is his last
Action.

Gather Power Phase

‘‘ Return the Decay Marker to the 0 spot on the track at the start of Gather Power.
‘‘ Gain Power per normal rules.

Determine First Player Phase

‘‘ Unchanged

61
 Doom Phase
‘‘ You do not gain Doom for simply Controlling Gates!
‘‘ The Ritual of Annihilation still produces Doom equal to your Controlled Gates (plus an Elder Sign
per Faction Great Old One in play).

BALANCE ADJUSTMENTS
Some of the normal rules and Spellbooks from Cthulhu Wars need adjustment for the two-player version.

‘‘ When rolling the die for Ghroth, Thousand Forms, and Dread Curse of Azathoth, the effects are
halved (round up).
Example 1: If a 1–2 is rolled for Thousand Forms, only 1 Power is extorted. If a 5–6 is rolled, 3
Power is extorted.
Example 2: Ghroth Eliminates 1 Cultist on a roll of 1–2, and 2 Cultists on a roll of 3–4
(assuming Black Goat has 4 Fungi From Yuggoth in 4 Areas).
Example 3: Dread Curse of Azathoth doesn’t halve the results; instead the number of dice are
halved. Thus, if Opener of the Way has three relevant Monsters in play, he rolls 2 dice (instead
of 3).
‘‘ Opener of the Way’s Gate Spellbook requirement for 12 Gates is reduced to 10 (as noted on the
Faction Card).
‘‘ Yog-Sothoth’s Combat is always 4.

TIPS AND TRICKS

The damage from the Decay Marker is significant, and changes the game flow significantly. Early game
strategies that work in Cthulhu Wars multiplayer may no longer be effective in the two-player version.
However, rest assured that new strategies have arisen to meet the challenge, and the game has as much
depths, aggression, and chicanery as before. Have fun exploring!

Keeping your Great Old One alive is even more important than before, because his death gives the
enemy a major Doom boost. Some Spellbooks become more important—Ghroth, for instance, is now one
of the mightiest weapons available to Black Goat.
Also, choosing when to NOT using abilities can become a critical decision. For example, Yellow Sign
may not always want to use Passion’s Power gain (since it’s not always beneficial).

We recommend against using Bokrug, Servitors of the Outer Gods, the Dhole, or the Library of Celaeno
map for the two-player game. That said, it’s your game and you can do as you please.

62
 Additional Factions
New Factions can dramatically change the gameplay of Cthulhu Wars. With the core game’s Earth Map,
you may play with one of these as a fifth Faction (or with all of them with a 6–8 Player Map expansion), or
you may replace any or all of these with any of the core game’s Factions. Every combination is interesting
and different! These have been painstakingly balanced with great care through hundreds of playtests
over several years.
On average they tend to entail more complexity than the core game Factions, but not always.

63
 The Ancients
COMPONENTS

DOOM MARKER POWER MARKER FACTION TOKEN

FACTION CARD (1)

Extinction (Ongoing) Festival (Ongoing)

Brainless (Ongoing)

Yothans now cost 3 to Summon. When Reanimated now cost 1 to Summon. Un-Men now cost 0 to Summon.
Festival (Ongoing) a Yothan is Killed or Eliminated, it is Festival
They(Ongoing)
can only Move, Capture, or
Festival (Ongoing) When you Summon an Un-Man,
removed permanently from the game, declare Battle if they share an Area also select an enemy to gain 1
and placed back in the box. with your non-Reanimated Unit. Power. This is not optional.
Un-Men now cost 0 to Summon. This is not optional. Un-Men now cost 0 to Summon.
Un-Men now cost 0 to Summon. This is not optional.
When you Summon an Un-Man, When you Summon an Un-Man,
When you Summon an Un-Man,
also select an enemy to gain 1 also select an enemy to gain 1
also select an enemy to gain 1
Power. This is not optional. Power. This is not optional.
Power. This is not optional.

6 SPELLBOOKS

6 ACOLYTE CULTISTS

3 REANIMATED 3 UN-MEN

64
4 CATHEDRALS

3 YOTHANS
65
 “The blue light!—the blue light! . . .” muttered
the object, “always down there, before there were
any living things—older than the dinosaurs—always
the same, only weaker—never death—brooding and
brooding and brooding—the same people, half-man
and half-gas—the dead that walk and work—oh,
those beasts, those half-human unicorns—houses
and cities of gold—old, old, old, older than time—
came down from the stars—Great Tulu—Azathoth—
Nyarlathotep—waiting, waiting. . . .”
- H. P. Lovecraft; The Mound

66
 SETUP
The Ancients do not have a Glyph on the Map. Instead, they set up in any Area that contains no other
Glyph or game symbol, unless it is related to Movement in some way (also you may still place in an Area
containing one of Yellow Sign’s three Spellbook Glyphs, if desired). This means they cannot start in
another Faction’s Start Area on any Map.

Here are the specific rules per Map:

‘‘ Primeval Map - they may not set up in an Area with a Glacier Glyph.
‘‘ Dreamlands Map – they may not set up in an Area with a Citadel. However, they may set up where
there is a Tunnel.
‘‘ Yuggoth Map – they may not set up in the Slime Sea, the Slime Sea Overlook, anywhere on the
Green Pyramid, nor the Laboratory, since all these Areas have markings.
‘‘ Library of Celaeno Map – they may not set up in a Special Collection room (they may still set up in
an Area with a Stairwell or Archway).
‘‘ Shaggai Map – they may not set up on the Worm That Gnaws in the Night Area (but who would
want to?)
Ancients set up before the Tcho-Tcho, Windwalker, and Opener.

THE CATHEDRALS
As the Ancients, when you perform the Create Gate Action, you may construct either a Cathedral OR a
Gate. As with Gates, you must have a Cultist in the selected Area. A Cathedral can be placed in the same
Area as a Gate, following these restrictions:
‘‘ Only one Cathedral can be placed in Areas containing:
‘‘ Only one Cathedral can be placed in Areas containing:
‘‘ Only one Cathedral can be placed in Areas containing:
‘‘ Only one Cathedral can be placed in Areas that do not contain any of these:
Unlike a Gate, you do not “Control” a Cathedral. It simply belongs to you always, even if you have no
Units in an Area. It is not a Unit, and does not participate in any Battles.

PLAYING THE ANCIENTS

The Ancients represent the decadent humans who dwell underground in the cavern of K’n-Yan. Sensing
the doom of the surface world, they have emerged to seize the opportunity for power. Uniquely, they are
not led by a Great Old One.
Obviously, you must focus on constructing Cathedrals, but you must balance Cathedral-creating with
Gate construction and an army. You need sufficient combat effectiveness to place Cathedrals without
much interference. You’ll need a Monster to protect your Gate, so Mindless or Festival are good first
Spellbooks, but Extinction is terrifying. Unholy Ground can protect you if your foes go for early Great
Old One strategies.

67
 Don’t pay full price for creatures – always get their spellbook first, despite any perceived disadvantage.
You’re far better off in the long run.

Because you don’t have a Great Old One, you get major power savings in the early game, but this is
ultimately negated by your need to spend 12 Power on Cathedrals. This is spread over time, so you never
lose a whole Action Phase to an awakening (unlike other Factions). And of course your indestructible
Cathedrals earn extra Power, eventually reimbursing their cost.

Your great weaknesses are that you have no Great Old One, and you must travel around the Map. You
must build strategies based around this. Please notice that with Yothans, you have more battle dice than
any Great Old One.
You have opportunities for diplomacy with other players. They typically want you to place your Cathedral
in Areas with their Controlled Gates. You also have the Un-Man Power gift you can use to your advantage.

Festival • Not only gives you a useful Monster, but lets you do social engineering. Abuse this authority.
Just remember Un-Men are not actually free.

Brainless • Reanimated need to be placed properly, and are inflexible. Because they’re so cheap, it’s
often worth Killing them in place of a Cultist – a Reanimated Pained off by itself is nigh-worthless.

Extinction • Your other Units are cheap, so protect your Yothans with foresight.
Worship Services • As with Festival, use and abuse this to your advantage by offering to build
Cathedrals in Areas where other players will return a favor.

Consecration • Not needed until you are ready for Rituals of Annihilation.
Unholy Ground • An excellent defensive Spellbook in the mid-to-late game. Often better as a threat
than a reality.

THWARTING THE ANCIENTS

You can’t get rid of Cathedrals, but you need not make it easy to build them. Fortunately, the Ancients
player usually telegraphs his intentions with a Cathedral construction team. When he starts giving you
extra Power via Un-Men or Cathedrals, use some of that Power to prepare against the Ancients. When
he marches into a new Area, it is easy to drive him out – or at least to force him to spend on an attack to
drive you out. By hitting his Gates, you deny him the Doom he needs in the late game. He doesn’t have
any reliable good means of earning extra Elder Signs till late game, so if you keep pace with Gates, you
should be able to actually keep ahead in Doom.

68
 Opener of the Way
COMPONENTS

69
 PLAYING OPENER OF THE WAY
Opener of the Way is probably the weirdest declare more than one Battle on a turn. This is
Faction of them all. Your Faction is delicate and huge for you.
requires precision, but has unparalleled flexibility.
In fact, your Faction begins with an important Channel Power
strategic decision—where to start! More than A handy spell for obvious Don’t only use Million
any other Faction, you must react on the fly to reasons. Your Faction is Favored Ones to get
other players’ actions. You always have something often Power-hungry, so save big Units out—you can
always purchase them
effective you can do, but it differs depending on it for special occasions. outright.
the situation.
Dragon Ascending
Keep a Mutant with your Cultists—if someone
enters your Area, this is a perfect opportunity to Choose the right time and this can reverse
Battle and promote with Million Favored Ones! the course of play. Remember that using this
This also puts Cultists back in your Pool to be Spellbook is NOT an Action, which means you can
Recruited by Monsters placed via They Break do it even if you are out of Power.
Through.
Dragon Descending
Though Yog-Sothoth really costs 10 Power to If you wait until the perfect moment, you might
Awaken (6 for him and 4 for the Spawn you give not get its benefits—seize the day.
up), he is flexible because you can pay on the
installment plan: Summon a Spawn one turn, then Dread Curse of Azathoth
Yog-Sothoth the next. Everyone else has to pay Pester enemies with death from the sky. Enemy
for their Great Old One all at once. Don’t forget Units are often in the same Area as Gates, and you
you can Summon Monsters through him. can drive them out with Dread Curse while your
Units stay behind.
Beyond-One is best in the early game. You not
only steal a Gate, but Move long distances and Million Favored Ones
escape threats.
A core ability you’ll want early.
Summon a Spawn of Yog-Sothoth early, despite
the huge cost, so you can bring out your Great Old They Break Through
One at the right time (usually once two to three
others have taken the field). You won’t dominate Possibly your Spellbook most hated by Enemy
the game in the beginning—you must grow over players.
time, by promoting Units and re-designing the
map’s Gate structure. Movement is not cheap
for you, so use Beyond-One and They Break
Through as affordable alternatives.

Use numbers to swamp an Enemy once you’ve

built up. Do not fear to “promote” a Spawn
of Yog-Sothoth into as few as two Mutants.
Remember once you have six Spellbooks, you can

70
 THWARTING OPENER OF
THE WAY
Opener of the Way’s Monsters are expensive, so he
tries to promote them rather than to Summon. If
you can Kill a Monster in each Battle, it becomes a
losing proposition for him. He is also restricted by
his need to share territories to earn Spellbooks. Turn
this to your advantage by setting up traps—Areas
where you can counter with overwhelming force.

OPENER OF THE WAY:

EPILOGUE
“At first we thought it was a disease. We
even tried to treat it. People, seemingly at
random, developed disgusting deformities.
But those people couldn’t be treated.
They didn’t want to be treated. They
lashed out and, in their anger, became
more and more monstrous. Near the
end, fire came from the skies, destroying
cities, farmland, countryside. Finally, It
appeared. It was bigger than human words
and seen all around the world, by everyone
at the same time. Impossible? That word is
now useless. We pretend to hope it won’t
find us, but hiding hasn’t worked yet. No,
it simply hasn’t gotten around to all of us.”
—David Mendiola
71
72
 Sleeper
COMPONENTS

73
 PLAYING SLEEPER
Your Faction is not particularly interested in
combat, and instead your Units debilitate your Burrow
foes outside of Battle. You are not the quickest Spectacularly useful. Doubled up with Lethargy,
Faction to gain the lead, but can be lethally petty. you can save Power like crazy.

In the early game, try to build up your power base. Capture Monster
Summon cheap Monsters the first Action Phase, so Even for the most inexperienced player, the
you can start to spawn better ones via Death From advantages are clear.
Below. Do not discount the usefulness of Cursed
Slumber, especially early game. Cursed Slumber
In the late game, ability accumulation bears grim Gives you a smaller Map
fruit for your foes. With Tsathoggua on the Map, footprint, plus you can use Sleeper gets the
you can spend Action after Action in Lethargy. its cancellation to teleport a equivalent of a two to
three Power boost every
If your foes don’t react, you’ll be the last player Gate anywhere on the Map. turn via his free Monster
with Power left, and use it to march Tsathoggua Then Cursed Slumber a new from Death From Below.
(cheaply, using Burrow) to Capture Monsters. Gate from your home base Do not discount this.
Even though Tsathoggua’s Combat is low late in and set up a Gate factory.
the Action Phase, a couple of Formless Spawns let
you inflict Kills. Demand Sacrifice either protects Demand Sacrifice
you from retribution or makes your opponent They’ll spend the Doom point when facing
pay for it. If you Move with a Wizard, you can use Tsathoggua, but otherwise, you can act with
Energy Nexus to run away before any fight. impunity.

Ancient Sorcery Energy Nexus

Again, too many choices to list them all. To name This Spellbook has SO many different
just one possibility—copy Cthulhu’s Faction ability ramifications and possibilities we can’t list them all!
to replace a dead Tsathoggua on the cheap (plus Just two possibilities—use Cursed Slumber to Move
earn an Elder Sign). a threatened Gate off-map, or to fulfill one of
Sleeper’s Spellbook requirements and immediately
gain the Demand Sacrifice Spellbook to use in that
very Battle!
You have a spellbook requirement that gives
another player 3 Power—use this to bribe or bully
your opponents into doing your will.

74
 THWARTING SLEEPER
The Sleeper is weak in Battle until he has two or more
Formless Spawn out. Take advantage of his early
feebleness. Unfortunately, with Demand Sacrifice,
he is hard to Kill. Sometimes you just have to suck up
giving him an extra Elder Sign. To suppress Sleeper,
take Actions that force him to spend Power and lose
his late-turn advantage. For instance—Killing two
Formless Spawn costs him six Power to restore. Of
course, Killing Tsathoggua is always a treat. Without
giving him an Elder Sign, you can Eliminate his
Cultists outside of Battle (using Dreams, Zingaya
or just plain Capture). He usually does not have
many Gates, and they are often ill-protected, so it is
effective to strike at his Gates, even if you can’t Kill
him, but merely Pain him away.

SLEEPER: EPILOGUE
“The end came unexpectedly. I always
thought it would be zombies or aliens
or nuclear weapons. Instead, it was this
ooze. It was as if the earth itself was
falling apart, bleeding black tar. You
couldn’t fight it any more than you could
fight the ocean. Slowly, but surely, the
ooze dragged us from our homes, from
our families. It dragged us to that awful
beast’s waiting maw. I can still see it,
every time I close my eyes.”
—David Mendiola

75
76
 Tcho-Tcho
COMPONENTS

77
 SET UP PLAYING THE
The Tcho-Tchos do not have a Glyph on the
Map. Instead, they set up after all other players in TCHO-TCHO
an Area with any Faction Glyph that is currently The Tcho-Tcho is an exciting new human-
unused. controlled Faction. Representing the psychically
advanced, but ethically repulsive Tcho-Tcho tribe,
Please note that the Tcho-Tchos can set up in their Great Old One, Ubbo-Sathla, is a tool and
one of Windwalker’s starting Areas, in which case slave rather than an object of worship!
Windwalker is forced to set up in the other one.
We do not recommend doing this if you can avoid Your Faction faces numerous decisions throughout
it, though, because it gives Windwalker an instant the game, and requires planning. Should you
Spellbook (for having a Gate in another start Area). accumulate High Priests or expend them to gain
In an 8-player game, this is unavoidable, but does immediate Power? Which enemy Start Areas
not prove a real advantage for Windwalker due to should you target? It is almost impossible to gain
the nature of 8-player games. all of your Spellbooks until the fourth Action
Phase at the earliest, so in what order do you take
If you are using the High Priest expansion, replace them? Your choices affect not only you, but other
one of the Tcho-Tcho’s six starting Acolytes Factions who will be vying to discourage your
with a High Priest. (Thus, they will start with a attention.
Controlled Gate, five Acolyte Cultists, and a High
Your only Spellbook available in the first Action
Priest.) The purpose behind this is that with the
phase is the one for removing your starting Gate
inclusion of High Priests, the other factions have
(not necessarily recommended). Since you’ll need a
been boosted in strength. Hence the Tcho-Tchos
High Priest to Awaken Ubbo-Sathla, one of your
need a slight nudge too. This also gives them some
Actions should always be to recruit a High Priest.
early-game flexibility. (Note that the Tcho-Tchos
You now have to choose between trying to create
do not get an extra High Priest in their Pool with
a Gate or recruiting a second High Priest for your
this—they still only have 3).
first round’s activities. Remember that having an
If Opener of the Way is in play, place Opener’s extra High Priest lets you jumpstart your second
Faction Glyph token in his starting Area (The round with 12+ Power (by sacrificing him), giving
Tcho Tcho need to know where it is for their you a slight leg up on the other players, even those
Idolatry Spellbook). who have two Gates.
You are weak defensively at first, but enemies are
Also please note that if you are using the Unique typically reluctant to attack an Area containing
High Priest rules (available from Petersen Games), your High Priests (due to Martyrdom). If they
the Tcho-Tchos may only have one such High don’t send in Great Old Ones, you can often
Priest. You will need to distinguish him or her handle riff-raff with Proto-Shoggoths.
somehow from your other two “generic” High
Priests. In the first Doom Phase take your first Spellbook
for Awakening Ubbo-Sathla. If you take
We have included Tcho-Tcho Brain Cylinder Hierophants as your reward, you’re set up for 6
tokens in case you play a game on the Yuggoth free High Priests over the rest of the game.
map (or are using a homebrew version using the
Laboratory token included with that Map).

78
 You have a major Power advantage in the early
game, because you normally spend 0 Power on
your Great Old One. You can use this offensively
not only to capture or build Gates, but to place
your Units in enemy Start Areas to harass them.
As the game goes on, your Faction loses steam,
so you eventually are fighting a rear guard action,
clinging to your remaining Gates as long as
possible. This is the time to finally get Tablets
of the Gods, start churning through your High
Priests, and stacking up those Elder Signs.
Properly using and recycling High Priests is key to
your success.

Be sure to keep a sharp eye out and notice when

people are performing Rituals of Annihilation, so
you can seek your Sycophancy reward.

Hierophants
Should be your first Spellbook about 90% of the
time.

Idolatry
Useful both for escaping an enemy as well as
massing for an attack.

Martyrdom
A significant defensive boost for you. Not always
useful as your first Spellbook.

Soulless THWARTING THE

An excellent protective Spellbook, and the Tcho-
Tchos’ signature ability. TCHO-TCHOS
The Tcho-Tchos are strong at first, but then hit a
Tablets of the Gods wall. Appropriate Actions on your part can reduce
Best in the late game, though its effects do add up their Map footprint. You know exactly where
over time. It lets you get an Elder Sign for what they are headed: your home Area! Your Monsters
amounts to 3 Power, an excellent bargain. can attack them effectively—even non-Combat
Factions such as Yellow Sign and Black Goat
Terror have Monsters which can fight mere Tcho-Tchos.
Ubbo-Sathla is usually not dangerous until the
Transforms the puny Proto-Shoggoths into an 4th turn or so, so don’t be frightened off by its
effective Battle Monster. presence.
79
TCHO-TCHO: EPILOGUE
“At first we thought them laughable
primitives. Our obvious technical and
educational superiority made us pity them.
As they moved among us, they were true
to their ancient law ‘Another’s sorrow is
thy joy.’ It took time to realize that our
religious, business, and political leaders
were being targeted disproportionately,
dying to mysterious tumors, poisons,
and fanatic assassins. Meanwhile, their
agents whipped up frenzied mobs among
the hopeless and homeless, and spent
ominously vast quantities of money on mass
amnesties of prisoners. Gangs of criminals
terrorized the population. Anyone on the
streets ran the risk of being kidnapped or
murdered. Wild hordes broke into homes,
plundered and raped. Then came the next
step—the Tcho-Tchos emerged openly,
and began to round us up to sacrifice to their
foul deities. It is now clear they share no
empathy with the rest of humankind. Our
so-called “superiority” in law, medicine,
and engineering were useless against the
arcane science they practiced—they were
nothing if not practical. Were any of them
ever human mentally? They are in my
hotel. I hear screams and gunshots, though
no police are left. Who is shooting? I hear
footsteps in the corridor—not all of them
human.”
—Sandy Petersen

80
 Windwalker
COMPONENTS

81
 PLAYING WINDWALKER
As Windwalker, you are a late bloomer. Your
Spellbooks are not always useful in the early game, Arctic Wind
and you have no good movement abilities until It is useful for marching Special Rule for
you Awaken Ithaqua. As the game progresses your your unstoppable horde to Windwalker
Units become cheaper, your strength increases victory. The Windwalker Faction
dramatically, and an array of powerful options may never be the First
Player at the beginning
appear. Berserkergang of the game!

Hibernate every other Action Phase—if you do it Best when you have a lot of
every Phase, you are not actually getting a Power Gnoph-Kehs, so they are
advantage. Do the math. It can be tempting to cheap to replace.
Hibernate with a lot of Power in the bank, hoping
for a super Phase next time, but if your enemies Herald of the Outer Gods
are high on Power too, this is risky. When other
Simple and reliable. Combine with your Power
players have their Great Old Ones out, you should
advantage from Hibernate to pull ahead every turn
be able to bank on 2 to 4 extra Power every other
if you dare.
Action Phase via Hibernate.

Gnoph-Kehs are expensive initially, but you must Cannibalism

start producing them to get the cost down. Before Take this Spellbook early, to
Battling is common, you may need to Summon a start your Wendigo army. It Not sure what to do
Wendigo or two—later, they should be the product also acts as a damage shield— with the extra Power
of other people’s fights. While Ferox lets you leave so long as you score a Kill
from Hibernate? When
in doubt, summon a
Cultists alone more-or-less safely, you still need to in a fight, you can instantly Gnoph-keh!
beware Cthulhu’s Dreams. replace one loss!
Your Great Old Ones are inexpensive and useful.
Remember that you can Awaken Rhan-Tegoth Howl
without a Gate, at either pole. This is a nasty Useful for clearing out an Area to capture a Gate,
surprise for an Enemy who thought himself safe or removing an Enemy Great Old One’s protective
(particularly in light of Rhan-Tegoth’s resistance guard.
to injury).
Ice Age
In the late game, bring out Ithaqua to advantage,
and your Spellbooks start to kick in. This is when Useful to defend a vulnerable Gate or to lock
Ice Age is most valuable, plus your army is large down an Enemy Area in preparation for an
enough to take the field. You lead one of the invasion.
few forces that can take on even Great Cthulhu.
Generally as Windwalker you bank on one
gigantic turn in which you achieve massive success,
controlling five to six Gates by the end, then using
your Power advantage to perform a massive Ritual
of Annihilation on the following Doom Phase.

82
 THWARTING
WINDWALKER
When you face Windwalker, take action early, while
he is still accumulating his Spellbooks and armies.
Seek an early lead in Doom points, and spread your
empire far and wide, so he can’t cripple you with one
big attack. The harder you harass him in the early
game, the later he comes into his glory, and that’s
good for you.
It may seem like a smart move to preemptively seize
a polar Area, but usually all this ends up getting you
is a Great Old One in the face. Rhan-Tegoth is a
particularly knotty problem—you can’t Kill him, and
you don’t want him to stay.
Like Cthulhu, Windwalker has a huge nigh-
indestructible army, but a weak periphery. However,
unlike Cthulhu, Windwalker is expensive to play so
keep him Power-starved, to make him easier to deal
with.

WINDWALKER: EPILOGUE
“They came from the North, with fur and
claw. We were confident in our weapons,
guns, tanks, aircraft. We tried to fight
back and, at first, we held on. Little
by little, they overcame us. They kept
getting stronger, and our armies melted
away. When the impossible juggernaut
appeared, indestructible and unrelenting,
all hope seemed lost. We fled, choosing
to hide, rather than fight. We hoped that
would keep us safe, that maybe they’d
stay in the cold. But then we heard it—the
sound that brought the winter. We heard
the Howl.”

—David Mendiola
83
84
 Neutral Monsters
Neutral Monsters are Monsters in every way, except that they do not belong to a Faction from the start,
and they have an inherent ability (rather than a Spellbook to provide them with one). They can be played
with any combination of other expansions—on any Map, and with any Factions.

You may purchase the ability to Summon a Neutral Monster during the Doom Phase. You may only
earn one Neutral Monster type per Doom Phase; however, there is no total limit to how many Neutral
Monster Loyalty Cards you obtain.

When it is your turn to perform a Ritual

of Annihilation, simply lower your Doom
by 2 points. You may still perform a Ritual
if you wish. When you spend the Doom
points, choose a Neutral Monster Loyalty
Card from among those available and place
it by your Faction Card, adding the figures
into your Pool. When you take the card, you
usually get a free Monster that can be placed
immediately.

Once you earn a Neutral Monster Loyalty

Card, you keep it for the rest of the game.
From then on, only you may Summon and
Control its associated Neutral Monsters.

85
“There were scenes of old wars, wherein Leng’s almost-humans fought
with the bloated purple spiders of the neighbouring vales.”
—H.P. Lovecraft, The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath
 Dreamlands Surface Monsters

87
Dreamlands Underworld Monsters

88
 Terrors
Terrors are a new type of Unit only found in some expansions.

Terrors are Summoned like Monsters, with a Summon Terror Action, requiring a Controlled Gate. They
are equal to Monsters in their ability to Capture Cultists. That is, Monsters can protect Cultists against
Terrors (and vice-versa), and Great Old Ones can still Capture a Cultist protected by a Terror. However,
being a separate Unit type, they are not vulnerable to abilities which specifically target Monsters. You
may purchase a Terror’s Loyalty Card during the
Doom Phase.

You may purchase only one Loyalty Card per Doom

Phase, so you may not gain a Neutral Monster in the
same Doom Phase as a Terror.
When it is your turn to perform a Ritual of
Annihilation, sacrifice 2 Doom and 2 Power. You
may still perform a Ritual if you wish. When you
spend the Power and Doom, choose a Terror
Loyalty Card and place it by your Faction Card,
placing the figure on the Map as instructed.

Once you earn a Terror Loyalty Card, you keep it

for the rest of the game. From then on, only you
may Summon and Control that Terror.

89
 Cosmic Terrors

90
 Independent Great Old Ones
Independent Great Old Ones are very similar to
Faction Great Old Ones. They have an inherent SPELLBOOK
ability, are Awakened to bring into play, and have Each Independent has its own Spellbook to be
a Spellbook which only goes on its Loyalty Card. earned. When the requirements are met, place
They are very powerful, as with Faction Great the Spellbook on the Loyalty Card and reap its
Old Ones, and can amplify your Faction’s abilities benefits so long as you Control the Independent.
greatly—as well as disrupt enemy plans! Because This does not count as one of the Spellbooks on
many new and surprising strategies open up when your Faction Card for any purpose (you cannot
you involve the use of Independent Great Old place it on your Faction card), it does not unlock
Ones, we recommend not playing with them until Unlimited Battle, and does not count for winning
you’ve had a few games of Cthulhu Wars under the game!
your belt.
The rules below govern all Independent Great Old DOOM PHASE
Ones. When you do a Ritual of Annihilation, do NOT
gain an Elder Sign for any Independent Great
AWAKENING Old Ones you Control. In the original release of
Cthulhu Wars, we did not specify this rule, and in
Take its Loyalty Card and place the figure on the
playtests originally included Independent Great
map, under your Control. Add its Spellbook and
Old Ones as providing Elder Signs when you
any tokens to your pool. There is no limit to how
Ritual. This leads to particular balance issues that
many Independents you may Control. You may use
prove problematic. Therefore, ONLY Faction
an Independent to help Awaken another one.
Great Old Ones provide Elder Signs when you
perform a Ritual of Annihilation. (Great Cthulhu
DEATH still gets an Elder Sign when Awakening any Great
If your Independent Great Old One is Killed, Old One, however).
place its Loyalty Card, figure, unused tokens, and Note: For your first game with Independents, we
Spellbook back in the general Pool (tokens already recommend using one fewer Independent than the
on the map remain there). If you had earned number of players.
its Spellbook, it “falls off ” the Loyalty Card,
and is no longer in effect. If this Independent
is Awakened again, even by the same player, the
Spellbook must be earned again.

91
Great Old One Pack 1

92
 Great Old One Pack 2

93
Great Old One
Pack 3

Great Old One Pack 4

94
 Faction Great Old Ones as
Independents
These are Loyalty Cards, Spellbooks,
and abilities designed by Sandy so that
all the Faction Great Old Ones may be
used as Independents as well. We do
NOT recommend using any of these as
Independents when a player is using them as
a Faction in play.

95
96
97
98
99
100
 Dire Cthulhu

How to Awaken Dire Cthulhu (Cost 6):

1) Your Controlled Gate is in an Area with your

Great Old One.

2) Pay 6 Power, and place Dire Cthulhu in the

Area containing the Gate.

3) Gain 1 Elder Sign

Combat: 3

Lord and Master (Ongoing): When you Awaken

an Independent Great Old One (except Dire
Cthulhu), gain 1 Elder Sign.

DIRE CTHULHU FIGURE (1)

Nuclear Chaos (Action:

Non-Euclidean Cost 0)
(Post-Battle)
If Each
Dire Cthulhu
player rolls 1d6. The player(s)may
is in a Battle, you withassign
the Kill 3 enemy Units in a single Battle.
some or
highest allgains
roll of the
thatBattle
muchresults
Power.you inflict to
The player(s)
any Factions with Units in the Area,
with the lowest roll gains that many Elder Signs. whether
or
Younotmay those
chooseFactions
to add are participating
or subtract in die
1 to your the
Battle.
roll If anyseeing
after resultsallare assigned
results. toSpellbook
Flip this a Faction not
participating
face down (it in cannot
the Battle, none
be used of that
again Faction’s
this Action
Battle
Phase).abilities or Spellbooks
Flip it face up again duringmayGather
be used. The
Power.
affected Factions still select which specific Units
of theirs receive each Battle result.

SPELLBOOK (1) LOYALTY CARD (1)

101
 “Yog-Sothoth knows the gate.
Yog-Sothoth is the gate.
Yog-Sothoth is the key and guardian of the gate.”

—H.P. Lovecraft, The Dunwich Horror

 Mixed and Miscellaneous
Expansions
These expansions can fall into multiple categories—some include Independent Great Old Ones, as well
as Neutral Monsters. Some add entirely new elements, and some are merely to replace die cut pieces with
fancier plastic elements to jazz up the look and feel of the Cthulhu Wars experience.

104
“Outside the ordered universe is that amorphous blight of nethermost confusion which
blasphemes and bubbles at the center of all infinity—the boundless daemon Azathoth,
whose name no lips dare speak aloud...”

—H.P. Lovecraft, The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath

105
 Azathoth

106
107
 Unlimited Battle, winning the game, and any other
BASICS rules or abilities that reference Spellbooks on your
The Azathoth Expansion is not a playable Faction. Faction Card (such as Nyarlathotep’s Combat
Instead, it has Neutral Units and Spellbooks, rating, or the Moonbeasts’ ability for example).
available to any player. Players can individually
access Azathoth itself, its Monsters, and its Remember, Azathoth’s own Spellbook, Nuclear
Spellbooks. One player may have one Neutral Chaos, is NOT a Neutral Spellbook—it can only
Spellbook, while another receives a different one. be placed on Azathoth’s Loyalty Card by the
They are mix-and-match. Similarly, two players player who controls Azathoth. It is never placed on
may each control a different Monster type. a player’s Faction Card.

AZATHOTH ITSELF
Azathoth is an Independent Great Old One, and
as such is governed by the same basic rules for all
Independent Great Old Ones as detailed on page
91.

NEUTRAL MONSTERS
The 4 Neutral Monsters in the Azathoth
expansion are governed by the same basic rules for
all Neutral Monsters as found on page 85.

NEUTRAL SPELLBOOKS
These Spellbooks are a unique type of gameplay
item. To earn one, simply take it instead of your
normal Faction Spellbook when you achieve a
Faction Spellbook requirement.

Example: Black Goat Awakens Shub-Niggurath

for the first time, which fulfills one of her
Spellbook requirements. Instead of one of her
own Spellbooks, she picks one of the Neutral
Spellbooks (in this case, the Mao Ceremony).
Once you take a Neutral Spellbook, no one else
can earn it. You retain that Spellbook throughout
the game (exception: Recriminations). This DOES
mean that you will NOT have access to one of
your normal Spellbooks in this game, so choose
wisely.

A Neutral Spellbook counts as one of your 6

Spellbooks on your Faction Card for purposes of

108
 AZATHOTH: EPILOGUE
“Everything you’ve been told about the nature of the universe is a lie. There was never any
intent behind the formation of the constellations, nor placing Earth among them. Neither
are the cold physics of the Big Bang Theory accurate. The truth is somewhere between, yet
having little to do with either.
When well-meaning physicists begin talking about cycles of expansion and contraction,
they draw near the truth. Theologists have a nugget of understanding when they discuss an
all-knowing, all-caring ‘god’ (or ‘gods’) responsible for the formation of matter. But both
are yet off the mark.
At the center of the universe is indeed a consciousness; an impossibly vast, monstrously
cruel force that at once creates, and yet does not understand creation. It sloughs off galaxies
to fend for themselves. It shudders and suns dim. When it dreams, worlds die in holocausts
of madness and terror.
It is the center of all things, it is the creator and destroyer of reality.

It is Azathoth.

Madmen and sorcerers call out its name in reverential fear. They reach out to the Blind Idiot
God, hoping for secrets of power, immortality, wealth. What they receive is petulance, rage,
and nightmares made real. They listen to the piping of the cavorting demons, hoping to
hear a whisper of Azathoth’s truth, and come away mind-blasted shells.
Still Azathoth plays on. Unknowingly it creates universes, and moments later destroys
them. Moments of its unquenchable insanity have no corresponding measure in our own
time. Then there’s the real secret. The universe we inhabit, the reality we think we know…
it’s not even the first one. Countless times has it been created and resorbed by Azathoth.
Countless times have beings warred, Battled, loved, died. Has it been the
same universe, created and destroyed over and over? Have you lived this
same life a million times? Made the same mistakes throughout eternity?
No one knows. Except Azathoth, who cares not.”

—Ben Monroe

109
 Masks of Nyarlathotep
This expansion contains four of Nyarlathotep’s Thousand Forms! While any Faction may obtain their
Loyalty Card, Crawling Chaos gets a special advantage in doing so (while simultaneously providing a
benefit to other Factions for game balance). There is a new type of Cultist, a new Terror, and two Great
Old Ones!

How to Obtain the Dark Demon Loyalty Card: How to Obtain the Dar
In the Doom Phase, when it is your turn to In the Doom Phase,
perform a Ritual of Annihilation, you may pay perform a Ritual of A
2 Doom to obtain this Loyalty Card, then place 2 Doom to obtain this
your Faction color’s Dark Demon anywhere on your Faction color’s D
the Map. Each other Faction permanently loses the Map. Each other F
an Acolyte from their Pool (or from the Map, if all an Acolyte from their P
are in play); place that Acolyte in the box for the are in play); place that
rest of the game. Each other Faction takes the rest of the game. Each
Dark Demon of their color to add to their Pools. Dark Demon of their co
Crawling Chaos: If Crawling Chaos obtains this Crawling Chaos: If Craw
Loyalty Card, it is the same as above, except it Loyalty Card, it is the sa
costs 0 Doom instead. Also, each other Faction costs 0 Doom instead.
gains 1 Elder Sign when they permanently lose gains 1 Elder Sign when
their Acolyte to the box for the rest of the game. their Acolyte to the box
Cost: 1 Co
Combat: 0 Com
The Summons (Ongoing): Any Faction with a The Summons (Ongoi
Dark Demon in its Pool cannot take any Action Dark Demon in its Poo
except Recruiting the Dark Demon. (You can except Recruiting the
still choose to drop your Power to 0 and take no still choose to drop you
more Actions this Action Phase instead). more Actions this Acti
Metamorph (Ongoing): Dark Demons are a new Metamorph (Ongoing):
type of Cultist. However, they produce 0 Power type of Cultist. Howeve
during the Gather Power Phase. They are like during the Gather Pow
normal Cultists in every other way. They are normal Cultists in eve
Recruited, rather than Summoned (so a Controlled Recruited, rather than S
Gate is not needed). They may Create and Control Gate is not needed). The
Gates, and are worth 1 Power when Captured. Gates, and are worth
They can be targeted by any Spellbook or abilities They can be targeted by
that reference Cultists (but not Acolytes). that reference Cultists

DARK DEMON LOYALTY CARD (1)

110
Masks of Nyarlathotep

DARK DEMON FIGURE (9)

111
 Masks of Nyarlathotep
How to Awaken the Bloated Woman: Awakening: Take its Loyalty Card
Crawling Chaos: figure on the Map, under your Co
1) Pay 3 Power, and place the Bloated Woman at Spellbook and any tokens to you
your Controlled Gate. Then each other Faction gains is no limit to how many Independ
1 Elder Sign. (You do not need a Great Old One in Control. You may use an Indepen
the Area).
Awaken another one.
All other Factions:
Death: If your Independent is
1) Your Controlled Gate is in an Area with your Great
Old One. its Loyalty Card, figure, unused
2) Pay 4 Power, and place the Bloated Woman in the
Spellbook back in the general
Area containing the Gate. already on the map remain th
Combat: 1 had earned its Spellbook, it “f
Loyalty Card, and is no longer in
The Velvet Fan (Post-Battle): After any Battle involving
the Bloated Woman, choose one Killed or Eliminated Independent is Awakened again,
enemy Monster or Cultist and place it on this card; it same player, the Spellbook mus
is considered out of play. If the owner later Recruits or again.
Summons that Unit, the Power cost is paid directly to
you. There is no limit to the number of Units you may
have on this card. When the Bloated Woman herself Spellbook: Each Independent h
is Killed or Eliminated, Units on this card stay here Spellbook to be earned. When the
(no one is paid the Power when they are Recruited or are met, place the Spellbook on
Summoned while she is out of play, but the next player Card and reap its benefits so
to Awaken her will benefit).
Control the Independent. This do
as one of your “Faction” spellb
purpose (you cannot place it on
card).
Doom Phase: When you do
Have all 6 Faction Spellbooks. Annihilation, do NOT gain an Elde
Independent Great Old Ones you
Note: For your first game with In
we recommend using one fewer
than the number of players.

BLOATED WOMAN BLOATED WOMAN

SPELLBOOK (1) LOYALTY CARD (1)

BLOATED WOMAN FIGURE (1)

Crawling Chaos: In the Doom Phase, when it is
your turn to perform a Ritual of Annihilation, pay
2 Power to obtain this Loyalty Card, then place
the Shadow Pharaoh at your Controlled Gate.
Terrors are Summoned like Mon
Each other Faction then gains 1 Elder Sign. Summon Terror Action, requiring
Gate. They are equal to Mons
All other Factions: In the Doom Phase, when it ability to Capture Cultists. That
is your turn to perform a Ritual of Annihilation, can protect Cultists against Terro
pay 2 Doom and 2 Power to obtain this Loyalty versa), and Great Old Ones can s
Card, then place the Shadow Pharaoh at your Cultist protected by a Terror. How
Controlled Gate. separate Unit type, they are not
abilities which specifically target M
Cost: 4 may purchase a Terror’s Loyalty Ca
Doom Phase.
Combat: 2
You may purchase only one Loya
Hebephrenia (Ongoing): Gates may not be Doom Phase, so you may not ga
Controlled by any Faction in the Shadow Monster in the same Doom Phase
Pharaoh’s Area. When the Shadow Pharaoh
enters an Area, any occupying Unit immediately When it is your turn to perform
Abandons the Gate. (Yog-Sothoth himself is Annihilation, simply sacrifice 2 Doo
unaffected). 2 Power. You may still perform a
wish. When you spend the Powe
choose a Terror Loyalty Card and pl
Faction Card, placing the figure o
instructed.

Once you earn a Terror Loyalty Car

for the rest of the game. From then
may Summon and Control that Terr

SHADOW PHARAOH
LOYALTY CARD (1)

SHADOW PHARAOH FIGURE (1) Awakening: Take its Loyalty Card

figure on the Map, under your Co
Spellbook and any tokens to you
How to Awaken the Haunter of the Dark: is no limit to how many Independ
Crawling Chaos: Control. You may use an Indepen
1) Pay 5 Power, and place the Haunter of the Awaken another one.
Dark at your Controlled Gate. Then each other
Death: If your Independent is
Faction gains 1 Elder Sign. (You do not need a
Great Old One in the Area). its Loyalty Card, figure, unused
Spellbook back in the general
All other Factions:
already on the map remain th
1) Your Controlled Gate is in an Area with your had earned its Spellbook, it “f
Great Old One. Loyalty Card, and is no longer in
2) Pay 6 Power and place the Haunter of the Dark Independent is Awakened again,
in the Area containing the Gate. same player, the Spellbook mus
Combat: Equal to your enemy’s total earned again.
Spellbooks (including those for any Independent
Great Old Ones). Spellbook: Each Independent h
Fly to the Light (Post-Battle): If the enemy scored Spellbook to be earned. When the
TheNuclear
Shining Chaos
Trapezohedron
(Action: Cost
(Pre-Battle)
0) exactly one Kill, it must be applied to the Haunter. are met, place the Spellbook on
If he scores 2 or more kills, you can apply the Kills Card and reap its benefits so
Each player rolls 1d6. The player(s) with the normally. This is not optional. Control the Independent. This do
highest roll gains that much Power. The player(s)
In a Battle involving the Haunter, your
with the lowest roll gains that many Elder Signs. as one of your “Faction” spellb
Youenemy musttoroll
may choose addaor
die for each
subtract 1 toof hisdie
your purpose (you cannot place it on
Units
roll present
after in results.
seeing all the Battle. Each
Flip this roll of
Spellbook card).
6 Eliminates
face down (it cannot1 be
Unit
used(his choice).
again this Action
Doom Phase: When you do
Phase). Flip it face up again during Gather Power.
As an Action, pay 1 Power. Annihilation, do NOT gain an Elde
Independent Great Old Ones you
Note: For your first game with In
we recommend using one fewer
than the number of players.

HAUNTER IN THE DARK FIGURE (1) HAUNTER SPELLBOOK (1) HAUNTER LOYALTY CARD (1)

112
 Beyond Time and Space
This new expansion includes the Hound of Tindalos, the first Terror unit designed for Cthulhu Wars. It
also contains two new Neutral Monsters: the Wamp and Voonith.

WAMP FIGURE (4)

Pay 2 Doom to obtain this Loyalty Card, then Pay 2 Doom to obtain this Loyalty Card, plus Pay 2 Doom and 2 Power to obtain this
choose an enemy to place all 4 Wamps in any place 1 Voonith at your Controlled Gate.
You may purchase the ability to Summon a You may purchase Loyalty Card,
the ability tothen placeathe Hound of
Summon
Area or Areas without a Gate. Tindalos
Neutral Monster during the Doom Phase. You Neutral Monster during theat any Gate
Doom Phase. (even
You one you don’t
Cost: 3 Control).
may only earn one Neutral Monster type per may only earn one Neutral Monster type per
Cost: 1
Doom Phase; however, there is no total limit to Doom Phase; however, there is no total limit to
Combat: 1
how many Neutral Monster Loyalty Cards you how many Neutral Monster Loyalty Cost:
Cards 4you
Combat: 0 obtain. obtain.
Vicious (Post-Battle): Combat: 4
Crypt Dweller (Doom-Phase): When it is your Ifturn
a Voonith is in a aBattle
to perform Ritualin which
of you score no When it is your turn to perform a Ritual of
Choose an enemy to place all Wamps from your Kills,lower
Annihilation, simply instead score
your Doom 1 Kill.
by (If2 two Vooniths are Chronophage
Annihilation, simply lower your (Ongoing):
Doom by 2
Pool into any Area or Areas without a Gate. in the
points. You may still Battle
perform and you
a Ritual rollwish.
if you no Kills, you score 2 Theperform
points. You may still Houndacannot
Ritual ifperform
you wish.the Move Action
(You can instead Summon Wamps normally). When you spendKills).
the Doom points, choose a When you spendbythe Doom
itself. Thepoints,
Hound choose a free whenever
Moves for
Neutral Monster Loyalty Card from among those Neutral Monster Loyalty
you Move Cardany
fromother
among those
Unit. In doing so, the
available and place it by your Faction Card, available and place
Hound it by your Faction
teleports directlyCard,
from an Area with
adding the figures into your Pool. When you take adding the figuresa into your Pool. When you take
Gate to another Area with a Gate – neither
the card, you usually get a free Monster that can the card, you usually get a free
of which Monster
need to bethat can
Controlled by you (or
be placed immediately. be placed immediately.
anyone).
Once you earn a Neutral Monster Loyalty Card, Once you earn a Angles
Neutral Monster
of TimeLoyalty Card,
(Ongoing):
you keep it for the rest of the game. From you keep it for the rest of the game. From
The Hound cannot be assigned a Kill in
then on, only you may Summon and Control its then on, only you may Summon and Control its
Battle. However, if a Hound is ever in an
associated Neutral Monsters. associated Neutral Monsters.
Area without a Gate (due to being Pained
to such an Area, or the Gate itself being
destroyed or moved, etc.), it is Eliminated.
It can also be Eliminated if it cannot be
Pained due to Enemy presence in adjacent
Areas (per normal Pain rules).

WAMP LOYALTY CARD (1) VOONITH LOYALTY CARD (1) HOUND OF TINDALOS
Spellbooks F.indd 211 10/13/16 10:16 AM

LOYALTY CARD (1)

113
 Beyond Time and Space

HOUND OF TINDALOS
FIGURE (1)

VOONITH FIGURE (2)

114
 Ramsey Campbell Horrors 1

115
Ramsey Campbell Horrors 2

116
 High Priests

117
 PLAYING WITH HIGH PRIESTS
The High Priest is a new type of Cultist, and belongs to the Faction of its own color. He is Recruited,
like an Acolyte. He generates 1 Power during Gather Power, can Create and Control a Gate, and can be
Captured. Each Faction has only a single High Priest available. Because the High Priest is Recruited,
rather than Summoned, a Gate is not needed. The High Priests benefit from all Spellbooks or abilities
that reference Cultists (but not Acolytes).

Tips and Tricks

‘‘ Sacrifice him during Gather Power to ensure you are First Player.
‘‘ Recruit your High Priest in the first Action Phase. Then Sacrifice him to enable you to Awaken
your Great Old One (and still have Power remaining) in the second Action Phase.
‘‘ If your High Priest is alone on a Gate, and an enemy threatens to Capture him, on your turn
Summon a Monster and then immediately Sacrifice the High Priest. He is safely removed from the
Map and your new Monster is not only paid for, but can help defend the Area.
‘‘ Sacrifice him when the other players are out of Power to “resurrect” yourself. Now you have 2
Power left to spend on Actions while they have none.

‘‘ Sacrifice him to permit a Ritual of Annihilation at a critical time.

118
 Unique High Priests
The Unique High Priests are an additional set of rules for your High Priests, adding 8 unique abilities.
To play with the Unique High Priests rules, you need the regular High Priest miniatures.

When you Recruit a High Priest, you may choose for him or her to be a regular High Priest (with the
Unspeakable Oath ability), or to be one of the named, Unique
High Priests. (The Unique High Priests do NOT have the
Unspeakable Oath ability).

When your High Priest is

Killed or Eliminated, the
next time he is Recruited,
you can again choose for
him to be normal or unique.
However, once you have
selected a Unique High
Priest, that is the ONLY
one you may Recruit during
that game. Once a player has
selected a Unique High Priest by
Recruiting him or her, no other
player may Recruit that particular
one (even if it is not currently in
play, because the High Priest is dead
or that player has Recruited him anew
as a normal High Priest).

This is not a physical product. You can

download the eight Unique High Priests
from
www.PetersenGames.com.

119
120
121
122
123
“Asenath, it seemed, had posed
as a kind of magician at school;
and had really seemed able to
accomplish some highly baffling
marvels. She professed to be able
to raise thunderstorms, though
her seeming success was generally
laid to some uncanny knack at
prediction. All animals markedly
disliked her, and she could make
any dog howl by certain motions
of her right hand.”

—H.P. Lovecraft, The Thing on

the Doorstep
 Alternate Faction Acolytes

OPENER ACOLYTE FIGURE (6)

BLACK GOAT ACOLYTE FIGURE (6)

SLEEPER ACOLYTE FIGURE (6)

125
YELLOW SIGN ACOLYTE FIGURE (6)

CTHULHU ACOLYTE FIGURE (6)

126
 WINDWALKER ACOLYTE FIGURE (6)

CRAWLING CHAOS ACOLYTE FIGURE (6)

127
 Colour Out of Space
The rules for the Colour Out of Space are presented below, and you can also download them in PDF
form from www.PetersenGames.com

We do not recommend playing with these rules in every game. The grey Gates can be used to replace the
regular die cut tokens from the core game.

128
 The Shining Trapezohedron
The Shining Trapezohedron contains plastic representations and miniatures of things that are otherwise
die cut punchboard tokens in various other products of the Cthulhu Wars game system.

130
 Lovecraft Bust
First Player Marker
Use this in place of the First Player token found in the core set. When you are the First Player, simply
point him in the direction you want play to go.

“Thro’ the ghoul-guarded gateways of slumber,

past the wan-moon’d abysses of night,
I have liv’d o’er my lives without number,
I have sounded all things with my sight;
And I struggle and shriek ere the daybreak,
being driven to madness with fright.”
—H.P. Lovecraft, Nemesis

131
 Battle Dice
Use these in place of regular six-sided dice during Battle. This image is for a Kill, this image
is for Pains.

Custom Dice
Use these in place of regular six sided dice for various abilities and events in Cthulhu Wars.

132
 Additional Maps
As with additional Factions, new Maps can dramatically change the gameplay of Cthulhu Wars. Each
one adds new plastic figures and new rules that only apply to that Map. As with the Earth Map in the
Core Game box, they all handle play from 2–5 players, and can be used with any of the Factions (core or
additional), as well as any combination of other expansions desired.

They all add complexity, though some more than others, and can affect game length somewhat.

133
 Dreamlands Map
COMPONENTS

134
 SETUP AND MAP BASICS
The Dreamlands Map has a Surface and an Underworld, each with the normal 3- and 5-Player sides.
Setup the game for your player count, with one of the Surface sides, and one of the Underworld sides.
For your first 4-Player Dreamlands game, we recommend using the 5-Player side where the majority of
players start. Usually this will be the Surface.

Place the Bhole in the Vale of Pnath on the Underworld side. Place the Zoogs next to the Surface, within
easy reach.

The Dreamlands Map is flat, rather than a globe. Therefore, the Surface and Underworld have edges and
corners, and Units cannot move around from one edge to another.

All the Areas with Sea in their name (or in parentheses) count as Oceans or Seas for any game text
referencing Oceans or Seas. We realize that the Underworld “Seas” are not necessarily water. But they
have liquescent aspects (pitch, fungus goop, and Bholes swim through a canyon filled with bones called
the Vale of Pnath), so they are considered ocean-like in biogeography.

TUNNELS
Moving Between the Maps
Four Areas on each board are marked with a Tunnel Glyph. Areas with a Tunnel Glyph are
adjacent to the Area with the matching Tunnel Glyph on the other board. For example, a
Unit in Zura can directly Move to the Ruins of Karoth. (So, for example, since Crawling
Chaos’ Units may Move 2 spaces, Nyarlathotep in Zura could Move to the Ruins of Karoth,
and then to another, adjacent Underworld Area, such as the Tower of Koth or Vale of
Pnath). Tunnel Glyph

A Unit in a tunnel Area that is Pained can retreat through the Tunnel to the other map, because they are
adjacent for every purpose.

Players using other, Movement type, abilities to travel may do so between the two boards
freely. For instance, Shub-Niggurath can Avatar to either side, Crawling Chaos’s Hunting
Horrors can use Seek and Destroy to either board, Cthulhu can use Submerge to hit both
boards, etc.

Keen-eyed players may notice that the Gates and passageways do not have a direct one-
to-one correspondence to the geography of the two boards. This is how things are in the
Dreamlands.

CITADELS (VICTORY)
The Dreamlands Map provides an alternate source of victory. Each board has 4 Citadels.
If a single player Controls Gates on all 4 Areas with a Citadel on a single board, he Citadel Glyph
immediately wins, regardless of whether he has 6 Spellbooks on his Faction Card or not (or

135
 the most Doom points). You must Control a Gate at all 4 Citadel Areas on a single board—Surface OR
Underworld, and not merely some from each, in order to win.

If no player ever Controls Gates at all 4 Citadels of a single board, the game ends and victory is
determined normally.

If Opener of the Way is in play, Yog-Sothoth’s presence in a Citadel Area DOES counts as Controlling a
Gate in that Citadel Area—even if another Faction Controls the normal Gate in such an Area, Opener of
the Way could win the game by simply Controlling 3 normal Gates in the other 3 Citadel Areas!
Citadels are numbered. Some Citadels have more than one number—these Citadels are especially
attractive to pesky creatures. The numbers control Bhole and Zoog activity.

THE BHOLE (UNDERWORLD)

The Bhole is a gigantic creature that normally dwells peacefully in the Vale of Pnath. Over-stimulated
by the clash of forces that is Cthulhu Wars, the Bhole ravens forth to feast upon the otherworld energies
released by the Factions and their Great Old Ones.

Bhole Activation and Attack

At the end of each Doom Phase, after all players have had a chance to perform a Ritual of Annihilation
(or not), check for the Bhole’s Activation and Attack.

If the Bhole is in an Area containing a Gate, it remains in place and destroys the Gate, as well as
Eliminating any Controlling Unit. The Bhole does not affect anything else in that Area. This
Elimination counts as an enemy Eliminating your Unit (so, for example, Yellow Sign can benefit from
Passion).

If the Bhole is not in an Area with a Gate, roll 1 six-sided die and move the Bhole to the Underworld
Citadel labeled with the appropriate number (even if the designated Citadel lacks a Gate). For example,
on a five-player map, when a 1 or a 2 is rolled, the Bhole goes to the Sea of Pitch. On a 3, it is sent to the
Vaults of Zin. If the Citadel the Bhole enters contains a Gate, that Gate is immediately destroyed, along
with any Controlling Unit. The Bhole does not affect anything else in that Area.
If Opener of the Way is in play, and the Bhole attacks the Area with Yog-Sothoth, it destroys and
Eliminates Yog-Sothoth! (Sometimes it’s not beneficial to be coterminous with all space and time). It
does this in addition to destroying the normal Gate in the Area.

How to Defeat the Bhole

Any player may initiate a Battle against the Bhole (with a Unit in the same Area).

The Bhole has a Combat rating of 6.

A single Kill result destroys the Bhole (though it will return on the next Doom Phase!)

136
A Pain always sends the Bhole to the Vale of Pnath, regardless of the presence of other Units (it may not
be Eliminated due to being surrounded). Crawling Chaos’ Madness Spellbook cannot send the Bhole
elsewhere, nor can Units who Battled the Bhole be Pained to the Vale of Pnath (if the Bhole is Pained). If
the Bhole is already in the Vale of Pnath, it ignores the Pain.

The Bhole is a Terror Unit type. Additionally, while Spellbooks and abilities can be used in Battle against
it, they can only affect your own Units. For example, you cannot use Windwalker’s Howl to send the
Bhole out of the Battle Area, nor does Demand Sacrifice have any effect on the Bhole’s dice results.
The Bhole costs 0 Power, has no Spellbooks or Doom, and has no Power of its own, or any other
normal feature of a Faction for all purposes such as calculating the Combat of Tsathoggua, Ithaqua,
Nyarlathotep, etc.

The Bhole Respawns!

If the Bhole is Killed, a new Bhole re-appears in the Vale of Pnath at the end of the Doom Phase! A
newly-spawned Bhole does not immediately roll to Move onto a Citadel, but is merely placed and stays
in the Vale that Doom Phase. However, it does destroy a Gate and any Controlling Unit if there is one in
the Vale of Pnath when it reappears.

This means that when Killed the Bhole goes to the Vale of Pnath for one Doom Phase, giving players a
short grace period (as there is no Citadel in the Vale of Pnath).

ZOOGS (SURFACE)
Zoogs are small, mischievous creatures, native to the forests of the Dreamlands. When Cthulhu Wars
erupts, the clever Zoogs seize their opportunity to make their mark and torment your Cultists to
distraction.
The Zoogs are Monsters, and can thus be affected by any Spellbooks or abilities targeting or referencing
Monsters.

Zoog Activation and Effects

At the end of the Doom Phase, after rolling for the Bhole, roll 1 die for each Zoog that is not in play
(remember, at the start of the game, no Zoogs are in play, so roll 6 dice in the first Doom Phase). Then,
place a Zoog on the Surface Citadel for each number rolled. Zoogs already on the Map simply remain
in their Areas. Do not roll for them. For example, if there are 3 Zoogs not in play, roll 3 dice. If their
numbers are 1, 6 and 6, then place a Zoog at the Surface Citadel marked with a 1, and place the other 2 in
the Surface Area with the Citadel marked with a 6.

Any Controlling Unit on a Gate in a Citadel Area with Zoogs must immediately come off that Gate,
which is now Abandoned. Zoogish pranks and other shenanigans render that Gate impossible to Control
until the pests are abated.
Units may not Control Gates in Areas that contain one or more Zoogs. Before your Cultist (or Dark
Young) can Control a Gate in a Zoog-infested Area, you must rid the Area of Zoogs. To do this, you’ll
need appropriate Spellbooks or to engage in Battle.
137
 Yog-Sothoth is not affected by Zoogs! He always
counts as a Controlled Gate in a Citadel Area even if
Zoogs are there as well.

How to Defeat the Zoogs

Like the Bhole, Zoogs may be Battled.

Zoogs have 0 Combat, and so never roll any Combat

dice.

Each Kill result Kills a Zoog.

Each Pain result likewise Eliminates a Zoog, but

also Pains one of your Units in the Battle. This does
not count as a Kill. It just means the Zoog vanished
into the underbrush. As with normal Pain rules,
you cannot be Pained to an Area containing Zoogs.
(Windwalker’s Howl Eliminates a Zoog, but does
not reflect back a Pain, as it is not a Pain).
Remember, since Zoogs are Monsters they can
be Killed, Pained, or Eliminated by appropriate
Spellbooks and abilities.
If a Zoog is somehow moved to an Area that is not a
Citadel, it is instead Eliminated from the Map.

Regardless of your efforts, all Killed and Eliminated

Zoogs return to the Map in the next Doom Phase.

138
“Ninety aeons ago, before even the gods had danced upon its pointed peak, that mountain
had spoken with fire and roared with the voices of the inner thunders. Now it towered
all silent and sinister, bearing on the hidden side that secret titan image whereof rumour
told. And there were caves in that mountain, which might be empty and alone with elder
darkness, or might—if legend spoke truly—hold horrors of a form not to be surmised.”

—H.P. Lovecraft, The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath

“The Spiritualists were the first to sense their
arrival, though they mistook them for something
far more benign. Soon it was clear that all the
new supernatural phenomena - poltergeists,
demonic-possessions, and hauntings were
under someone’s, or something’s, control –
all part of a larger plan. When they finally
revealed themselves, they proclaimed that they
were humans, like us, simply more spiritually
developed. But centuries of meddling with
the Outside had tainted them, body and soul.
Soon we learned that, to them, “lesser” humans
were disposables for their pleasure, to be used
horribly and then discarded. It may have been
better if they had wanted us for slaves, instead
of toys.”

~Sandy Petersen

140
 Shaggai Map
COMPONENTS

5 WORM DEGRADATION DICE

SHAGGAI MAP BOARDS (2)

PRINTED ON BOTH SIDES

15 ERADICATION TOKENS 6 WORMS OF GHROTH MINIATURES,

SMALL, EACH WITH A NUMBER (FROM
1-6) ON THEIR BASE
141
 SETUP AND MAP BASICS
Millennia ago, the fabled world of Shaggai was destroyed. This Map represents the struggles and events
around that disaster, in which entities of cosmic power feast off of the catastrophe, while seeking to avoid
their own oblivion.

Setup the Maps the same way you would with the Cthulhu Wars Earth Map. All Ocean Areas have the
words “Ocean Belt” in their title. The Oceans are organized in a single band around Shaggai’s equator.
The First Player places any of the Worm of Ghroth figures in the Worm that Gnaws in the Night Area
(marked with the icon).

WORMS & ERADICATION

After all other Doom Phase events:

DEGRADE WORMS – Roll Worm Degradation dice equal to the number of players – i.e. in a 5 player
game, roll 5 dice. Each Worm whose number corresponds to a rolled result is removed from the map &
replaced with an Eradication token. If no worm matches any rolled result, no Eradication tokens are
placed.

For example, in the first Doom phase, then in a 4 player game, four dice would be rolled. If the starting
Worm has a 3, and one or more dice turned up as “3”, then that Worm would be Eradicated.
In each newly-Eradicated Area:

I. Remove any Gate, Cathedral, or other game marker (such as the Ice Age marker). If a removed Gate
was Controlled by a player, that player earns 1 Elder Sign. A removed Cathedral provides 1 Doom to
the Ancients’ player.

II. Eliminate all Units. The owners receive 1 Power per Unit Eliminated. Each Faction Great Old One
that is Eliminated also provides its owner with 1 Elder Sign. (Since Yog-Sothoth counts as a Gate, he
provides 1 Power and 2 Elder Signs if removed).

PLACE NEW WORMS – Beginning with the Starting Player, each player places one Worm either
adjacent to the Worm that Gnaws in the Night Area, or adjacent to any already-Annihilated Area. Only
one Worm can be placed per Area. If the supply of Worms, or legal areas, runs out by the time this
segment gets to a particular player, that player doesn’t place a Worm.

WORM EFFECTS

The Worms of Ghroth

Aside from being replaced by Eradication tokens at the end of the Doom Phase with its attendant
effects, The Worms by themselves do nothing. They are merely harbingers of a possible Eradication.
The Worms cannot be Battled, Eliminated or interacted with in any way.
142
 The Cosmic Power
A player Controlling a Gate in an Area containing a Worm can tap into the Cosmic Power. As an Action,
you can place any Spellbook by simply spending 6 Power in place of the printed requirement (this
includes Independent Great Old One Spellbooks). Thanks to the Cosmic Power, you need never fear
Eradication depriving you of a potential Spellbook. It’s usually cheaper to earn Spellbooks the old-
fashioned way, though.

In addition, when you Control a Gate in an Area with a Worm, you may bypass Area restrictions on
Awakening or Summoning your Units by paying 2 extra Power (all other Awakening or Summoning
requirements must still be met). For Example, Cthulhu need not be Awakened to only the Area with his
Glyph, so long as you pay 2 extra Power and Control a Gate in the Area with a Worm. Note: you need
not actually Awaken Cthulhu to the Area with your Gate and the Worm; he can be placed in ANY Area!

By Controlling a Gate in an Area with a Worm, the Cosmic Power also allows the Ancients’ Cathedrals to
be placed in a similar way. For example, you can Create a second Cathedral in an Area with this: by
paying 5 Power instead of 3. This also means the Ancients can earn Spellbooks via substitution. For
example, if you do not yet have the Spellbook requirement fulfilled which requires you to place a
Cathedral in an Area with this: , you can place a second Cathedral in an Area with this in order
to fulfill that Spellbook requirement.

Eradication Token Effects

Once an Eradication token is placed no Units or gameplay pieces may be Moved or placed into
Eradicated Areas. These Areas are completely gone. Spellbooks and abilities that involuntarily move
enemy Units may not move them into an Eradicated Area (or Pained there, etc.).

Moving Through Eradication

If you have Units adjacent to an Eradicated Area, you may Move through that Area, in effect “skipping
over it” to another Area adjacent to it. One of the Units making the Move is Eliminated when you do
this (so don’t Move a single Unit over an Eradicated Area!). You can Move any number of Units over any
number of Eradicated Areas, from multiple Areas, and yet only lose 1 Unit total for that entire Move
Action.

Movement-like abilities and Spellbooks which let you relocate without passing through Areas do not
cause you to lose a Unit. Thus, Submerge or Avatar do not cost a Unit to use, even if travel originates in
an Area surrounded by Eradication tokens. However, Move-like abilities which do not “teleport” (such
as Screaming Dead) do force the user to Eliminate a Unit.

143
 It is a 3 player game, and The Worm that Gnaws, Haddathic Residue, and the Ocean Belt: Orange are all Eradicated.

Windwalker wants to Move his army in the Lower Pole to the Ocean Belt: Red (using Arctic Winds). So he picks up his Army, pays the
1 Power for movement, and skips over both Eradicated Areas in his way, landing in the Ocean Belt: Red.

144
 KILL

Because he had to skip over an Eradicated Area (actually two, in this case) he must lose a Unit en route,
and so selects a Wendigo to be Eliminated.

He also had a Gnoph-keh in the City of Doom. He could have Moved it for 1 more Power and landed it in the Ocean Belt:
Yellow. He doesn’t need to lose that particular Unit, because it is all part of the same Move Action, and he already Eliminated a
Unit for this Move. This is true even though the City of Doom Unit did not join up with his main army. Note that even if the City
of Doom Unit were to Move across a completely different Eradicated Area, he would still only lose 1 Unit for his entire Move (of
course, it could be the City of Doom Unit, in which case his main army moving from the Lower Pole wouldn’t lose anything).

145
The World’s End (fewer than 2 Areas per player)
It is possible for a Shaggai game to reach the point that the world is basically falling apart, and it becomes
difficult to win. If the total of non-Eradicated Areas ever reaches fewer than 2 per player (e.g., less than 6
Areas in a 3 player game), then the game immediately ends, and the player with the most Doom points wins,
so long as he has all 6 Spellbooks.

If the game ends, and no player has all 6 Spellbooks, then no one wins. Shaggai’s final catastrophe ruins it
for everyone.

146
 Library at Celaeno Map
COMPONENTS

147
 SETUP AND MAP BASICS
The Library at Celaeno Map consists of two levels, the Lower Floor and the Upper Floor. Each of these
is a separate board, and they should be kept near each other in play, but do not need to be adjacent. They
do not connect normally, as the Library is not a globe. Therefore, the two levels have edges and corners,
and Units cannot move around from one edge to another.

As with other maps in Cthulhu Wars, use the 3-Player sides for a 3-Player game, use the 5-Player sides
for a 5-Player game, and use one 3-Player and one 5-Player side for a 4-Player game.

There are 4 Upper Floor Areas which have square slots on them, named Barrier of Naach-Tith, Guardian
Under the Lake, Larvae of the Outer Gods, and Yr and the Nhhngr. Place each corresponding Library
Tome in its slot.
If Opener of the Way is in the game, it CANNOT start in any of those four Areas with the Library
Tomes.

The Librarian and Custodian figures begin off-Map.

Part of the library is flooded, which makes these Areas Seas. In all cases these are labeled either with the
word Sea in their name, or in parentheses as (Sea). Any Sea Area is an Ocean or Sea Area for all game
purposes. Note, for example, that the word “Lake” in the name does NOT denote an Ocean or Sea
Area—it must include the word Sea or Ocean.

THE STAIRWELLS AND ARCHWAYS

Stairwells
Certain Areas boast Stairwells and are are lettered A-F on each floor. These Areas are
adjacent to the matching Area on the other level. For instance, in the 3 Player side of the
Lower Floor the Chamber of Apkallu contains Stairwell D. It is therefore adjacent to the
Area of Barrier of Naach-Tith which is marked with a D on the Upper Floor (for both 3 and
5 player sides).
A Unit in a Stairwell Area that is Pained can go through the Stairwell to the other Floor,
Stairwell
because they are adjacent for every purpose.

Archways
Several Areas contain an Archway. These are similar to Stairwells, except that they are not
lettered A-F. For purposes of the Move Action and movement type abilities, each Archway
Area is adjacent to EVERY OTHER Archway Area on both Floors of the Library.
However, unlike the Stairwells, the Archways are NOT adjacent when being Pained or
Retreated.
Archway

Players using other movement type abilities to travel may do so between the two boards
freely. For instance, Shub-Niggurath can Avatar to either side, Crawling Chaos’s Hunting Horrors can
use Seek and Destroy to either board, Cthulhu can use Submerge to hit both boards, etc.
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 THE LIBRARY TOMES
Spontaneous Gate Creation
At the start of the first Doom Phase, place a Gate in each of the four Areas where the Library Tomes
were placed during setup (unless a Gate is already present).

This Gate creation only happens once. If one or more of these Areas is missing its Gate in later Doom
Phases, nothing happens.

The Library Tomes

The Library Tomes themselves act as additional Spellbooks you can have. However, they are not placed
on your Faction Card and do not count towards having 6 Spellbooks (for Unlimited Battle or winning
the game).
When you Control a Gate in an Area with a Tome, take that Area’s Library Tome (if it is still on the Map)
and place it by your Faction Card. You may now use its ability like any Spellbook.

Overdue Library Tomes

If you lose Control of a Gate in a Library Tome Area, then that Area’s Library Tome is now Overdue.
This does not affect your use of the Tome—it remains next to your Faction Card, and you can keep using
its effects.
However, having an Overdue Library Tome means you are now vulnerable to the Librarian’s vengeance
(see The Librarian on page 149).

SILENCE TOKENS
At the start of each Doom Phase, all players take 1 Silence Token. If a player still has a Silence Token
after the Action Phase (when the Gather Power Phase starts) he must discard it. Therefore, a player can
never have more than a single Silence Token at a time.
On your turn, as an Action, you may spend 0 Power, discard your Silence Token, and do one of the
following:

‘‘ Activate the Custodian

‘‘ Activate the Librarian, if an enemy player has an Overdue Library Tome
Note: You may also discard a Silence Token to unflip certain Library Tomes, or to cancel the effects of
the Barrier of Naach Tith.

THE CUSTODIAN
When you Activate the Custodian, you may place or Move it to any Area (or keep it in the same Area).
Then roll the Agony die. If the Custodian stays in the same Area without Moving, add +1 to the Agony
die’s final total.

149
A number of Units in the Custodian’s Area equal to the Agony die’s total must be Moved to The
Oubliette. If more than one Faction is present, the Activating player gets to choose how many Units
must go from each Faction (up to the Agony die’s total), but the affected players get to choose which
Units are moved. The player who Activated the Custodian can be affected as well, if he chooses a number
of his own Units. If there are fewer Units in the Area than the Agony die’s roll, then just Move all Units
present to the Oubliette.

Example: The Yellow Sign spends 1 Silence Token to Activate the Custodian in the Black Chamber.
There are 3 Factions present—Great Cthulhu (with Cthulhu plus 2 Cultists), Crawling Chaos (a
Nightgaunt and 2 Cultists), and The Yellow Sign (King in Yellow alone). A 2 is rolled, which is increased
to a 3 because the Custodian was already in the Black Chamber and didn’t Move. The Yellow Sign selects
himself as one of the victims, and happily evacuates his King to The Oubliette. He decides that Crawling
Chaos must Move the remaining 2 units, and that means Cthulhu need Move none. Crawling Chaos
chooses to Move his 2 Cultists, leaving his nightgaunt behind.
No player may take Control of an Abandoned Gate in the Area inhabited by the Custodian. If the
Custodian is sent to an Area with a Controlled Gate, the Gate may remain Controlled (for the time
being). If you Create a Gate in an Area with the Custodian, it must remain Abandoned, until the
Custodian leaves!

Additionally, the Custodian cannot be Battled by players. It is immune to all Spellbooks, abilities, and
other effects. The only interaction it has with a Faction is when it is Activated by a player using a Silence
Token. It is not any Unit type.

THE LIBRARIAN
A player may only Activate the Librarian if at least one enemy Faction has an Overdue Library Tome.
If so, the player spends a Silence Token and places or Moves her to any Area containing at least one
Unit from an enemy Faction that has an Overdue Library Tome. Then roll the Agony die. As with the
Custodian, if the Librarian stays in the same Area without moving, add +1 to the Agony die’s final total.

If more than one enemy Faction with an Overdue Tome is in the Area, the Activating player divides up
the Agony die’s total between them.

Satisfying Agony
Each victim must satisfy all the Agony assigned to him by choosing from the following options:

‘‘ Satisfy one Agony for each of your Units in the Area you choose to Eliminate.
‘‘ Satisfy one Agony for each 1 Doom you choose to lose.
‘‘ Satisfy one Agony for each Overdue Tome you return to its slot.
If the victim does not have enough collective Units, Doom and Overdue Tomes to satisfy the Agony
assigned to him, then the remaining Agony can be ignored.

150
 When an Overdue Tome is replaced due to satisfying Agony, and there is a Faction currently Controlling
its respective Area’s Gate, then that player immediately takes possession of the Library Tome.

Note: The only way a player can replace a Library Tome back to the Map is by Satisfying Agony
inflicted by the Librarian. You cannot otherwise voluntarily replace it, nor are you ever forced to do so (if
you always choose to lose Doom or Units instead).
Example: It is the start of the Action Phase, and two Tomes are Overdue. Cthulhu has one of the
Overdue Tomes, and Black Goat has the other. The Librarian is currently at The Oubliette.

Sleeper pays a Silence token, but does not Move the Librarian, leaving her at The Oubliette, where
Cthulhu has 4 Units. Sleeper rolls a 3 on the Agony die, but since the Librarian did not Move, the result
is actually a 4. Cthulhu decides to lose 1 Unit, lose 2 Doom, and return his Tome. This satisfies all 4
Agony.

As with the Custodian, no player may take Control of an Abandoned Gate in the Area inhabited by the
Librarian. If the Librarian is sent to an Area with a Controlled Gate, the Gate may remain Controlled
(for the time being). If you Create a Gate in an Area with the Librarian, it must remain Abandoned, until
the Librarian leaves!

Additionally, the Librarian cannot be Battled by players. It is immune to all Spellbooks, abilities, and
other effects. The only interaction it has with a Faction is when it is Activated by a player using a Silence
Token. It is not any Unit type.

“I had the book that told the hidden way

Across the void and through the space-hung screens
That hold the undimensioned worlds at bay,
And keep lost aeons to their own demesnes.

At last the key was mine to those vague visions

Of sunset spires and twilight woods that brood
Dim in the gulfs beyond this earth’s precisions,
Lurking as memories of infinitude.
The key was mine, but as I sat there mumbling,
The attic window shook with a faint fumbling.”
—H. P. Lovecraft

151
 Primeval Map
COMPONENTS

153
 SETUP AND MAP BASICS
Setup the Maps the same way you would with the Cthulhu Wars Earth Map. One of the 4-Player Map
configurations has 9 Glacier Glyphs. The other has 11. These are so you can have a more or less “icy”
game. Try both and see which you prefer. None of the Glaciers start on the Map.
The Primeval Map significantly changes the layout of the world. Continents include Atlantis,
Hyperborea, Lemuria, and Mu. One huge continent runs all the way from Lomar, at the North Pole, to
Antarctica, while Hyperborea, Lemuria, and Mu are continental islands, like modern-day Australia.
The Ocean Areas are all Areas with the word “Ocean” in them, and no others.

THE GLACIERS
At the end of the first Doom Phase (after everyone has had a chance to perform a Ritual
of Annihilation or not), place a Glacier in each player’s Start Area (whether it has a Glacier
Glyph on it or not). Remove any Units Controlling any Gates (they stay in their respective
Area) and place the Glacier onto the Gate. Note: If Windwalker is in play, do not add one to
Windwalker’s other Start Area—only the Area he actually starts in.
On all subsequent Doom Phases, at the end of the Doom Phase (after everyone has had a
chance to perform a Ritual of Annihilation or not), the First Player must select 2 Areas on
Glacier Glyph
the Map that have the Glacier Glyph. These Areas cannot already have a Glacier in them.
Place a Glacier in each of the 2 Areas. If there is a Gate in an Area, the Glacier goes on top of
it, removing any Controlling Unit (who remains in the Area).
Once all Areas containing Glacier Glyphs possess Glaciers, no more Glaciers need be placed. The
remaining Areas are safe.

If Opener of the Way is in play, Yog-Sothoth is never covered by a Glacier even if he is in an Area with a
Glacier Glyph and that Area is selected during the Doom Phase.

Effect of Glaciers
During Gather Power, Gates in Areas occupied by Glaciers are considered Abandoned. So, for example,
if 4 Gates are occupied by Glaciers, all Factions would get 4 Power for these.

Once placed, Glaciers are permanent, and can never be moved or removed from the Map. If someone
ever Creates a Gate in an Area already containing a Glacier, then the Glacier is immediately placed atop
that Gate—the Unit which Created the Gate never has a chance to Control it.
You’ll notice the Power from all the Abandoned Gates with Glaciers supercharges your Faction. This is a
Power-rich Map!

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“Ocean is more ancient than the mountains, and freighted with
the memories and the dreams of time.”
—H.P. Lovecraft
 Yuggoth Map
COMPONENTS

157
158
 SETUP AND MAP BASICS
Set up the Map the same way you would with the Cthulhu Wars Earth Map. Place the
Watcher Token at 12 on the Doom Track, with the dark (asleep) side up.

If the Opener of the Way Faction is in play, it may NOT set up on any Area marked with the
Yellow Sign’s Chevron glyph (comprising the Laboratory, Slime Sea Overlook, and all of the
Watcher Token Green Pyramid Areas). It may set up in any other unoccupied Area.
The Yuggoth Map represents the (former) planet of Pluto, where alien horrors have
established a base. It contains some special Areas—the Laboratory, Slime Sea Overlook, and
the Green Pyramid in particular (the latter comprises multiple Areas—the Pyramid Slopes and
the Watcher Postern).
Chevron Glyph Ocean Area names all end in the word “Sea.” Hence, the Nitrogen Sea, Polar Sea, etc. are
Ocean Areas for every game purpose.

Note that the Slime Sea Overlook is a Land Area, despite the word sea appearing in the name.

THE LABORATORY
A player that Controls a Gate in the Laboratory Area can perform the Surgery Action. If
Opener of the Way is in play, Yog-Sothoth can perform the Surgery Action when in the
Laboratory Area, and if a different Faction Controls a normal Gate in the Laboratory at the
same time, both Factions may perform Surgery.

Surgery (Action: Cost 1)

If you Control the Laboratory Gate, Eliminate up to 4 of your Cultists in play and replace
them with an equal number of Brain Cylinder tokens in your Faction’s Color.

Laboratory You must place them in the same Area(s) as the Cultists they replace - they can replace your
Cultist on a Gate, immediately retaking Control of that Gate. You can also swap out Cultists
that are not on the Map, but still in play (such as some of Cthulhu’s Cultists which are Submerged, or
Sleeper’s Acolyte that is on a Cursed Slumbering Gate. (Those guys are just having really bad dreams).

Brain Cylinders
Brain Cylinders are a new type of Cultist. They cannot be Recruited normally. Nor can they be placed on
the Map due to special abilities which place Units (such as Yellow Sign’s Desecrate).

They cannot use the Move Action, but may perform any other game Action, in addition to all Cultist
functions—i.e., they earn Power during Gather Power, Control and Create Gates, and permit the
Recruitment of Cultists in their Area.
To Move a Brain Cylinder, one of your other Units must Move with them. Your Brain Cylinders
accompany your other Unit(s) for free in a Move Action. A single Unit can carry multiple Cylinders.
You can also bring Brain Cylinders along using a movement like ability, so long as that ability allows
you to bring other non-specific Units along. For example, you can relocate them with Submerge, but
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not Screaming Dead, Seek and Destroy, Necrophagy, or Shriek of the Byakhee because the latter
four specify specific Units that can are moved. Something that modifies the Move Action, such as the
Shantaks’ Horror Steed ability, would allow it to bring any number of Brain Cylinders (in addition to an
Acolyte or High Priest).
As Cultists, they benefit from any Spellbooks or abilities that affect Cultists (for example, Black Goat’s
Frenzy provides them with 1 Combat). They are NOT Acolytes, however, and so the ability must specify
Cultist (or Unit) to affect a Brain Cylinder.
Brain Cylinders have 0 Combat like all Cultist, and their cost is 0 for all game purposes.
Brain Cylinders cannot be assigned Pain results in Battle. Because of this, they tend to be left behind
in Areas as their owners are driven away in Battle. They are also immune to Pain-like retreats, such
as Windwalker’s Howl or Pains inflicted by Opener’s Dread Curse. They can still be assigned Kills
(remember, all Kills must be assigned before any Pains are, so Brain Cylinders cannot help you avoid Kills
or Eliminations in Battle).
Important: In addition, Brain Cylinders by themselves do NOT prevent a Unit from being Pained into
their Area in a Battle. Brain Cylinders by themselves cannot surround and therefore Eliminate an enemy
Unit.
Capturing a Brain Cylinder is like Capturing any other Cultist and follows the same rules. However,
when a Cylinder is Captured, you may choose instead to “Convert” it into a Cylinder of your own
Faction Color, leaving it on the Map. Four Cylinders is a hard limit for each Faction, so if you already
have four Brain Cylinders in play, and Capture a fifth, it cannot be Converted, but must be placed on
your Faction card for Sacrifice in next Gather Power.
Note: A special bonus Laboratory token is included in this Expansion. This is not for the Yuggoth Map
itself (as there is already a Laboratory Glyph on the Yuggoth Map). This is for players to experiment
with in their own house rules, permitting them to access the Laboratory Area, the Surgery Action, and
Brain Cylinders on other Cthulhu Wars Maps! We suggest a hard rule that no player may have a Start
Area in the Laboratory’s Area (including Opener of the Way).
Alternately, you may play a variant in which Yuggoth has 2 Areas in which you can perform the Surgery
Action! If you use the token on Yuggoth, we suggest not putting it on the Slime Sea Overlook nor
anywhere on the Green Pyramid.
This token is purely for player experimentation and Petersen Games has not extensively tested these
variants to ensure game balance!

THE SLIME SEAS

The Faction that Controls the Gate on the Slime Sea Overlook takes this Loyalty Card and is allowed to
perform the new Call Slime Mold Action.

If Opener of the Way is in play, Yog-Sothoth may perform the Call Slime Mold Action by being in the
Slime Sea Overlook. However, if there is also a normal Gate in the Overlook, and it is Controlled by a
different Faction, then Yog-Sothoth CANNOT perform the Call Slime Mold Action. Only 1 Faction
at a time may be able to perform the Call Slime Mold Action, and the normal Gate in the Overlook takes
precedence over Yog-Sothoth.

160
 Call Slime Mold (Action: Cost 0 or 1)
If you Control the Gate on the Slime Sea Overlook, place a Slime Mold in any Slime Sea
Area. If no Slimes are in play, this costs 0; if at least one Slime is in play, pay 1.

Slime Molds have a Combat of 2.

Slime Mold Slimes are Monsters. They cannot be Summoned, however. They are placed on the Map
via the Call Slime Mold Action, which can only be performed by the player who Controls
a Gate in the Slime Sea Overlook.
They cannot use a Move Action to go to the Slime Sea Overlook (but may be Pained
there, or arrive via other means such as Great Cthulhu’s Submerge, or Shub-Niggurath’s
Avatar, so long as it is not a Move Action).
They have no inherent ability.
No Slime Mold
Slime Molds are Controlled by the Faction which Controls a Gate in the Slime Sea
Overlook. If this Gate changes Control to another Faction, all Slime Molds in play change
allegiance. If the Gate is Abandoned, the Slime Molds become neutral.
It is possible to declare Battle against neutral Slime Molds without affecting any other Faction. The
Slime Molds do fight back—roll dice for them and mark losses normally. If a neutral Slime Mold is Pained
(or Retreated) and Madness is not in effect, their attacker chooses where they are Pained to, following
normal Pain rules. Neutral Slime Molds can also be affected by other abilities targeting a Monster (or
Unit). For example, Tsathoggua may use Capture Monster on one, and Shub-Niggurath may Avatar with
a neutral Slime Mold.

Special Note: Although you may not Summon Slime Molds (you may only “Call” them), Black Goat’s
Fertility Cult will allow it to Call as many Slime Molds as desired, and in conjunction with Summoning
other Monsters. The Slime Molds must still appear in the Slime Sea, even when Fertility Cult is used in
their creation, of course.

Two special bonus Slime Tokens are included in this Expansion. These cannot be used on the Yuggoth
Map, or it would lead to confusion. Place each one in a separate Area on another Map expansion (or on
the earth map). The “No Slimes Allowed” Area is where you can perform the Call Slime Mold Action
if you control a Gate there. The other Area is where the Slimes must appear when Called. All the same
rules for Slimes apply. These tokens are purely for player experimentation and Petersen Games has not
extensively tested this variant to ensure game balance!

161
 THE GREEN PYRAMID
The Slopes of the Pyramid and Watcher Postern
The Green Pyramid consists of 2-4 Areas, depending on the side of the Map you are using.
All are specially marked. One mark in each Area is the die roll result on which the Watcher
appears. The other mark is a symbol showing that Controlled Gates on the Pyramid earn 1
additional Power during Gather Power. Therefore, Controlled Gates on any Green Pyramid
Area (including the Watcher Postern) produce 3 Power each Gather Power Phase instead of Dice
2. (Yog-Sothoth produces 3 Power if he is in a Green Pyramid Area during Gather Power).

Abandoned Gates on the Green Pyramid still only produce 1 Power for all Factions.

The Watcher
The Watcher of the Green Pyramid is a hideous abnormality, a monstrous fellow to the
Great Old Ones. It dwells in the abysses beneath the Green Pyramid. Activity on Yuggoth
periodically brings forth the Watcher, to ravage and destroy. +1 Power if you
Control a Gate in
The Watcher Awakens this Area

After all players have had a chance to perform a Ritual of Annihilation (or not) during the
Doom Phase, if there is a Controlled Gate in any Green Pyramid Area at the end of the Phase, roll 1 die.
If the result equals the number printed on an Area with a Controlled Gate, the Watcher Awakens. Flip
the Watcher token to the lit-up (Awakened) side, and place the figure on the Watcher Postern (regardless
of which number was rolled).
Yog-Sothoth’s presence in a Green Pyramid Area counts for Awakening the Watcher, even if a normal
Gate is not Controlled in the same Area.

Also, if any player’s Doom marker passes over the dark Watcher Token, flip it to the lighted (Awake) side.
Thus, when a player first reaches or exceeds 12 Doom, the Watcher Awakens, if it is not already Awake.
If a player’s Doom reaches 12 during an Action Phase (due to turning in Elder Signs, for example), the
Watcher won’t Awaken until the following Doom Phase.

The Watcher Decays

If the Watcher is already Awake before the Doom Phase begins, roll 1 die and decrease the Watcher
Token’s position on the Doom Track by that many spaces. If it Decays to 0, remove it from the Map, it is
Killed. In this way, the Watcher gradually dwindles and eventually vanishes, even if no players inflict Kills
on it in Battle—though it may re-Awaken later!

Never Decay the Watcher on the Doom Phase in which he Awakens (and never re-Awaken the Watcher
in the same Doom Phase it reaches 0).

Action Phase—The Watcher Attacks

If the Watcher is Awake at the start of the Action Phase, then it will Attack. This occurs before the First
Player takes a turn.

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 The Watcher Attacks once per player. The First Player controls its first Attack, followed by the next
player, and so forth, until each player had had a chance to control it once, or the Watcher has been
destroyed.
Controlling the Watcher
On each Watcher Attack, the controlling player must Move the Watcher into an adjacent Area of his
choice that contains Units of any player’s Faction. If no adjacent Area contains a player’s Units, the
Watcher may be teleported to any Map Area that contains any player’s Units. The Watcher may never
remain in the same Area.

Immediately after Moving, the Watcher initiates a Battle with Combat dice equal to the Watcher Token’s
position (initially 12). It Battles EACH Faction in the Area separately and independently, in the order
chosen by the controller. For example, if 2 Factions, including the controlling player’s Units, are in
the Area, the controller can choose to have himself attacked second, hoping the Watcher will have lost
strength by the time it gets to him. If the Slime Molds are neutral, it does not attack them. All of these
Battles in the same Area against each Faction count as a single Watcher Attack.

The defending Faction rolls normal Combat dice against the Watcher. Each Kill drops the Watcher
Token down 1 point on the Doom Track. The Watcher is immune to all Pain.

The Watcher is a Great Old One. Additionally, while Spellbooks and abilities can be used in Battle
against it, they can only affect your own Units. For example, you cannot use Windwalker’s Howl to send
the Watcher out of the Battle Area, nor does Demand Sacrifice have any effect on the Watcher’s dice
results.

The Watcher costs 0 Power, has no Spellbooks or Doom, and has no Power of its own, or any other
normal feature of a Faction for all purposes such as calculating the Combat of Tsathoggua, Ithaqua,
Nyarlathotep, etc. As a Great Old One, however, the Watcher can provide Nyarlathotep with 2 Elder
Signs for scoring a Kill against it—it is immune to Pains, so Nyarlathotep must actually score a Kill (and
no, multiple Kills against the Watcher do not provide Nyarlathotep with additional Elder Signs!).
Once the first Watcher Attack is complete, the second player takes control of the Watcher for the next
Attack (which again, includes both a Move and a Battle). This continues until all players have controlled
the Watcher once (or until it has been destroyed). At that point, the First Player takes his first normal
turn. During the rest of the Action Phase any player may initiate a Battle against the Watcher. It will roll
its Combat dice and ignore all Pains as normal.
When the Watcher’s Token drops to 0 on the Doom track (even if it
Since the Watcher first Awakes on reaches 0 due to the Watcher Decay in the Doom Phase), it is removed
the Watcher Postern, and it must from the board, and the Watcher Token is flipped back to the dark,
Move into an adjacent Area with
Units, you might at first feel safe sleeping side. It is then placed back at the 12 on the Doom track. It will
by having a Gate on the Watcher re-Awaken if another player’s Doom marker reaches 12, or via the die roll
Postern itself. Be aware that the as normal.
Watcher may simply return to the
Postern on its very second Attack!

163
 Extended Watcher Example

In a four-player game, Rich foolishly In the following Doom Phase, a 2 is Rich is the First Player, but he is also
Created a Gate on the 1 and 2 Area of rolled. The Watcher appears on the the only player with Units on the Green
the Green Pyramid. Watcher Postern. Pyramid, so he is forced to Move the
Watcher into his own Area, where he
has a Cultist, a Deep One, and Great
Cthulhu. The Watcher now rolls 12
Combat dice. Rich rolls 7 Combat dice
(Cthulhu’s Devour ability is useless on
The Watcher). Cthulhu gets 1 Kill, and
lowers The Watcher to 11 (The Watcher
ignores any Pains). The Watcher got 2
Kills and at least 1 Pain, so the Cultist
and Deep One are Killed, and Cthulhu is
Pained.

Angela, who is Crawling Chaos, uses Now Angela (next player in turn order)
Madness to Pain Cthulhu to an adjacent Moves The Watcher to the Area (The
Area (The Twin Desolations) where Frank Twin Desolations) whence Cthulhu was
has his Yellow Sign Units. The First Watch Pained, which also contains Frank’s
Attack is over. Yellow Sign Units. Angela, having a beef
with Rich, decides that The Watcher will
attack Cthulhu first. So, The Watcher rolls
11 dice against Cthulhu. Cthulhu gets 2
Kills, and the Watcher’s Combat drops to
9. Cthulhu, sadly, is Killed.

165
 Before The Watcher can be controlled Angela, using Madness, Pains Hastur, the Frank is the next player in line. However,
by the next player, it has to Battle all the King in Yellow, and the Byakhee to the the only Area with Units adjacent to The
Factions in the Area it is in. So now it Methane Sea. Watcher is the Methane Sea where his own
attacks Frank’s Yellow Sign Units. He has Yellow Sign Units were just Pained. Sadly,
Hastur, the King in Yellow, 3 Undead, a he now must Move The Watcher there and
Byakhee, and 2 Acolytes, who roll a total Battle. It now rolls 7 dice and gets 1 Kill
of 11 dice (the Ritual of Annihilation track and 2 Pains. Frank opts to lose his Byakhee
is at 7). The Watcher rolls 9 dice. Frank and Angela Pains his Units right back to
gets 2 Kills dropping The Watcher to 7. the Twin Desolations. At least he rolled 2
The Watcher gets a whopping 5 Kills and Kills with his Units, dropping the Watcher
3 Pains. Frank lets his 3 Undead and 2 to 5.
Cultists be Killed (and he gains 1 Power,
since he has the Passion Spellbook).

It is now Chris’s turn to Move The Angela, sad that neither Hastur nor the
Watcher. Though he could Move the King in Yellow were Killed by The Watcher,
Watcher west, he is feeling devious and decides to split them up and Pain one to
decides to Move The Watcher back to the the Ammonia Sea and the other to the
Twin Desolations to attack Frank for the Nitrogen Sea, so they are vulnerable. All
third time. This time, The Watcher rolls no players have taken a turn Moving and
Kills with his 5 dice, but it does Pain both Attacking with The Watcher. It now stays in
Hastur and the King in Yellow. Frank scores the Twin Desolations where it last Moved.
a Kill, dropping The Watcher to 4. The players now begin the rest of the
Action Phase, starting with Rich, who is the
First Player.

166
“It traced strange pictures on the quivering air—
Half-memories that had always filled my eyes—
Vast towers and gardens; curious seas and skies
Of some dim life—I never could tell where.
But I knew that through the cosmic dome
Those rays were calling from my far, lost home.”
—H.P. Lovecraft, Fungi from Yuggoth
 6-8 Player Maps
These Maps work similarly to the normal Maps for the Core Game and each Map expansion, but
expanding the Areas to accomodate 6, 7, or 8 players. They do not come with the plastic pieces you need
to play on an expansion Map—you will still need the regular 3–5 Map box to use the corresponding 6–8
player version.

169
170
 Frequently Asked Questions
Core Rules
Q. How much Power does the Crawling Chaos get for Killing or Paining Cthulhu?
A. He receives 2 Power, since that is now half the cost to Awaken Cthulhu (since, obviously, he
has been Awakened once). Of course he could just take 2 Elder Signs instead. I would.
Q. Yellow Sign’s Undead and Byakhee have Combat values that change depending on how
many are present in the area. If an Undead or Byakhee is exempted via Invisibility, since
it is still “present” does it affect the Combat of the remaining Units?
A. An invisible Unit does not count as being “present” in the Area for this purpose. If you have
two Undead in an Area, and one is turned invisible, the remaining Undead rolls zero dice, not
one. The intent is that Invisibility is supposed to be useful.

Q. Regarding Crawling Chaos’s Madness Spellbook, must he obey normal restrictions on

retreating Units (I.e., not into an area containing Units of the Faction just battled)?
A. Yes, he must obey normal retreat rules. He also does not get to choose WHICH Units
retreat, only their destination. Also note that with Madness, Crawling Chaos can retreat players
in either order, i.e., retreating the Defender first.
Q. Black Goat has a Spellbook requirement “Share Areas with all enemies”? Do the
enemies all have to be in the same Areas with your Unit(s)?
A. No. For example, in a three player game versus Cthulhu and Yellow Sign, if you have a Unit
in an Area with Cthulhu’s Units and also have a Unit in an Area with a Yellow Sign Unit, this
requirement is immediately fulfilled. Note that this requirement can be met during an enemy’s
turn.

Q. When Crawling Chaos’s Thousand Forms or Black Goat’s Ghroth abilities are used, can
a player insist on taking part of the loss, even if the other players don’t want him to?
What if a player has no Power or no Cultists—can he “disagree” with the division?
A. In the first case, this would count as a disagreement which needs to be resolved. In the
second—if a player refuses to, or cannot contribute to the effect, he does not participate in
further negotiations, and his agreement is immaterial.

Q. If a Ghoul is already in the target Area, but is not participating in the Battle (due to
Invisibility), can it stay there and use Necrophagy?
A. Yes! An Invisible Ghoul is “not involved” and thus could react via Necrophagy!
Q. Since Nyarlathotep cannot be Eliminated due to being surrounded (when he has
Emissary of the Outer Gods and is not Battling an enemy Great Old One), can he still
“soak” up that Elimination to protect his other Units?
A. Yes!

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Q. If the Black Goat Faction is in a Battle, and uses Necrophagy, can the Ghoul that was
sent to the Battle also take the Pain that it added?
A. No, the newly-called Ghoul cannot be chosen to take the extra Pain.
Q. When Yellow Sign takes the Screaming Dead or He Who is Not to be Named Action,
does he have to pay the normal Power cost for his second, subsequent Action?
A. Yes! For instance, if he moved using Screaming Dead, and then immediately attempted a
Desecration, this would cost him 3 Power total (or 2 Power, if Third Eye was in effect).

Q. What happens when Crawling Chaos uses Thousand Forms, and the number rolled is
higher than the sum of all other players’ power?
A. Crawling Chaos gets Power equal to the die roll.
Q. If I fail a Ghroth roll, is the free Acolyte (of any Faction) that is placed optional?
A. No. Abilities themselves are always optional (unless stated otherwise on their text), but if
you choose to use an Ability, you must then do what it says—once you choose to use Ghroth,
and you fail the roll, you cannot simply decide to not live with the consequences! You knew
what you were getting into when you joined with Black Goat’s cult! Basically, a failed Ghroth
is still intended to be a good thing—usually Black Goat has Acolytes in their Pool, but if not,
then use this to place an enemy Acolyte in an Area with your Monsters so you can Capture it!
Or, help a potential ally—perhaps even request they do something for you on their turn, in
return for giving them a free Acolyte.

Q. Similar to the question above, but what if I want to use Ghroth, but there are NO
Acolytes in any Faction’s Pool to be placed (in case of a failed roll)?
A. Then of course nothing happens if you fail! This is not similar to abilities such as Zingaya
in which you cannot use the ability, if there are no Undead in your Pool to replace the enemy
Acolyte with. With Ghroth, chance is involved - you could Eliminate enemy Cultists (which is
the main purpose of Ghroth). To be clear, the free Acolyte with Ghroth is a compensation you
cannot refuse, as explained in the previous question, because you cannot normally choose to
fulfill only part of an ability. But having no Cultists to place does not prevent you from trying a
Ghroth roll.

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 Additional Factions
OPENER OF THE WAY
Q. How does Key and the Gate Work?
A. Opener gets two Power for Yog-Sothoth during Gather Power. He also gets one Doom
point for having Yog-Sothoth on the Map during the Doom Phase. If he performs a Ritual of
Annihilation, he gets a point for Yog-Sothoth as a Gate (plus an Elder Sign for Yog-Sothoth as
a Great Old One).
As a Gate, Yog-Sothoth can always Summon Monsters in his Area. Unlike other Gates, he can
co-exist with a normal Gate, plus he is never Abandoned. Cultists do not Control him nor can
they ride him. He cannot be Moved with The Beyond One as if he were a Gate.
Q. Does Yog-Sothoth provide Power to Cthulhu via Y’ha Nthlei if he is in an Ocean?
A. Yes, because Yog-Sothoth is an Enemy-controlled Gate in the Ocean!

Q. If Yog-Sothoth is in the Area where Ithaqua is Awakened, do you have to replace Yog-
Sothoth (as the Gate) with Ithaqua?
A. If Yog-Sothoth is the ONLY Gate in the Area, then yes. If there is another available Gate,
then you must replace THAT Gate with Ithaqua instead.

Q. Can I use Beyond-One to teleport a Gate to an Area containing Yog-Sothoth, since he

is, after all, a Gate as well?
A. Despite this fact, yes you can Beyond-One to Yog-Sothoth’s Area.
Q. Do enemy Great Old Ones still cancel Beyond-One if the Gate in question is not
Controlled by their Faction? And do enemy Independent Great Old Ones still cancel it
too?
A. Yes and yes.

Q. If an Opener of the Way Unit in an Area is turned invisible by a Flying Polyp, does it
count as “participating in a Battle” for the purpose of getting promoted by The Million
Favored Ones?
A. No. The Invisibility Spellbook states that the Unit “takes no part in the rest of the Battle.”
This includes all Post-Battle abilities and effects.
Q. If I have a Mutant and an Abomination eligible to promote via The Million Favored
Ones, but I do not have an Abomination figure in my Pool, can I first promote the
Abomination, then the Mutant (now that an Abomination figure has returned to the
Pool)?
A. Yes. You can cycle Units through your Pool in this way to promote them.
Q. If I promote a Spawn of Yog-Sothoth into 2 or more Mutants via The Million Favored
Ones, and that Spawn was Pained in the Battle, are all of his Mutant “progeny” Pained?
A. Million Favored Ones happens after all the Pains and Kills are applied, so the Spawn first

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 retreats into a neighboring Area, THEN shatters into multiple Mutants. This also means that if
a Spawn is Eliminated by a Pain result because it was surrounded by its opponent, you do not
get the Mutants.
Q. If Windwalker’s Howl is used to retreat one of Opener’s Monsters, can it still promote
via Million Favored Ones?
A. No, they do not participate in the rest of the Battle, and so cannot use their Abilities.
Q. How do Battle abilities interact with Dread Curse of Azathoth?
A. Dread Curse is not considered a Battle, despite the fact that Combat dice are rolled. It
cannot be combined with Channel Power or any other Pre-Battle, Battle, or Post-Battle effects
(such as Regeneration, Necrophagy or even Madness).

Q. Do you select the targets of Dread Curse of Azathoth?

A. The victim selects the targets; you just choose which results apply to which Faction. Thus,
if you rolled a Kill and two Pains, you could apply the Kill and a Pain to one Faction, and the
remaining Pain to another.

Q. Vis-a-vis Dread Curse of Azathoth, where do Pained Units retreat?

A. After the victim selects which Units are Pained, Opener of the Way selects which adjacent
Area each Unit retreats to. He can include Areas containing Opener of the Way Units (these
Units cannot be Eliminated by being surrounded).

Q. Can the Dread Curse of Azathoth be used to attack Units that are not Controlled by
any Faction, such as Zoogs on the Dreamlands Surface Map, or Abhoth’s Filth tokens
after Abhoth has been Killed?
A. No, because that Spellbook requires you to apply the Combat results to particular Factions.
In the case of Abhoth, once he is back in play, the Filth tokens may be targeted, but the Zoogs
are never under the Control of a particular Faction, so they can never be targeted.

Q. Can I use Channel Power more than once in the same Battle?
A. Yes. You can keep re-rolling misses (rolls of one, two or three), paying one Power per re-roll,
until you run out of Power or all the dice score results.
Q. Can I use Dragon Ascending even if I am out of Power?
A. Yes, because it is not an Action—it is simply an effect that you can apply at any time.

Q. If I use Dragon Ascending during Gather Power, who becomes the First Player?
A. You will be tied for most Power with another Player, and so whoever was previously First
Player chooses.
Q. To Awaken an Independent Great Old One, you need a Controlled Gate and your own
Great Old One. Does Yog-Sothoth, by himself, fulfill both these requirements?
A. No, because Yog-Sothoth is not, technically, a Controlled Gate.
Q. Chaugnar Faugn’s Miri Nigri ability gives Gates 3 Combat dice. Does this apply to Yog-
Sothoth?
A. Yes! For example, if there are 4 Enemy Faction Great Old Ones on the Map and Opener
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 Controlled Chaugnar Faugn, then Yog-Sothoth’s Combat would be 11 (8 + 3). However, if
Opener also Controlled a normal Gate in the same Area as YogSothoth, you still only add 3 to
your Combat in that Area, not 6. The ability reads “in an Area” which means you only get the
Combat bonus once per Area, rather than once per Gate.

Q. If Sleeper uses Cursed Slumber to remove a Gate from the Map, does that lower the
count towards Opener’s two Spellbook requirements which require 8 or 12 Gates to
exist on the Map, respectively?
A. Yes, it lowers the count. A Gate on Sleeper’s Faction Card is not on the Map.

Q. Can Sleeper use Cursed Slumber to place a Gate from his Faction Card onto the Area
containing Yog-Sothoth, but lacking a normal Gate?
A. Yes.

SLEEPER
Q. If I have Energy Nexus, and I have 0 Power, can I still do an Action that Costs 0 (Or, I’m
Hibernating via Ancient Sorcery)?
A. Yes! Using Energy Nexus does not require it to be your turn, so the rule that your turn is
skipped when at 0 Power (or Hibernating) doesn’t apply.

Q. If my Serpent Man returns to the Map during the Doom Phase (Ancient Sorcery) to an
Area with Windwalker’s Ice Age token, do I pay 1 Power?
A. No, because returning the Serpent Man is not an Action—it occurs during the Doom Phase.
Q. How does Demand Sacrifice interact with the Leng Spider’s Bloodthirst?
A. Any Pains converted into Kills become single Pains. I recommend against using Bloodthrist!

Q. Can I use Lethargy forever? Thus preventing the game from ending?
A. We recommend defenestration as the quickest solution to such a player. More seriously
Sleeper cannot use Lethargy if no one else is active, just go ahead and finish out the Action
Phase.

Q. How does Ancient Sorcery affect Great Cthulhu or Yellow Sign?

A. Ancient Sorcery doesn’t affect the targeted Faction at all. However, I think what you mean
is “how does Sleeper benefit from using Ancient Sorcery on Great Cthulhu or Yellow Sign?”.
The answer in the first case is that a Unique Ability that names a specific Great Old One allows
Sleeper to apply that ability to Tsathoggua. Thus, if Ancient Sorcery affects Great Cthulhu,
Sleeper can re-Awaken Tsathoggua for 4 Power (and earn 1 Elder Sign). With regards to Yellow
Sign, during Gather Power, Sleeper gains 1 Power for each Area containing one or more of his
Units plus a Desecration token (which, admittedly, had to be created by Yellow Sign).

Q. If a Serpent Man uses Ancient Sorcery on Crawling Chaos, giving Sleeper the Flight
ability, can this be combined with the Burrow Spellbook?
A. Yes. Sleeper’s Units are able to fly while burrowing. Tsathoggua is not from this part of the
universe.

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Q. What does it mean that an Action must originate in the Battle Area when using Energy
Nexus?
A. It means the Action, if tied to Map Areas, must begin there. So, for example, you can
only use it to Move OUT of the Area (Burrow would apply), and not into it. You could only
use Ancient Sorcery if the Serpent Man comes from that Area. You could Recruit, Summon,
Awaken, or Capture a Cultist or Monster in that Area. In a multi-Area situation, such as using
Mother Hydra’s Zygote Action, then at least one Recruited Cultist must be placed in that
Area. If it is not tied to a Map Area, then you may do it (such as one of Sleeper’s Spellbook
requirements which are Actions). You could even do Lethargy if you wanted, but when you
think about it, it doesn’t really make the most sense strategically.
Q. Can I do the Battle Action with Energy Nexus?
A. Yes. This results in an immediate Battle, with you as Attacker, which would be followed by
the already-declared Battle, between whatever Units remain. You can only do 2 total Battles
in a row (i.e., you cannot “chain” Battles together into an infinite loop using Energy Nexus).
However, you could use Energy Nexus to perform an Action other than Battle before the
Energy Nexus Battle which will happen before the originally declared Battle.

Q. Can I use Energy Nexus even if the Battle in the Area was not declared against me (or
by me)?
A. Yes, because it is an Ongoing ability, which simply requires a Battle to be declared in the
same Area as your Wizard. For example, if two other Factions Battled in an Area containing a
Wizard, Sleeper could immediately Recruit a Cultist. If all the Units involved in the Battle were
Killed and Pained out, then Sleeper could take Control of an abandoned Gate on his turn,
without having to use up his next turn’s Action to Recruit a Cultist there!
Q. Can I perform Unlimited Actions in addition to my one Action when using Energy
Nexus?
A. You may Abandon and/or Control a Gate in addition to your 1 Action, but may not do an
Unlimited Battle (1 regular Battle is okay).

Q. Do Battle abilities still apply to a Battle if Energy Nexus removes all Units of one side
so that a Battle does not really take place? For example, what if a single Monster
declares Battle on Sleeper, and Tsathoggua simply uses Energy Nexus to Capture
Monster? Or, if Sleeper simply Moves all of his units out of the Area?
A. Although Energy Nexus takes place prior to Pre-Battle, follow the same rule as to what
happens when all Units of a side are removed during Pre-Battle. The Battle ends, no dice
are rolled, and no abilities (including Pre-Battle!) can be used at all. The Power is paid for to
initiate the Battle, but no Battle actually takes place!

Q. Does Demand Sacrifice protect against Eliminations?

A. No, only Kill results.

Q. Does Tsathoggua have to be personally involved in a Battle to use Demand Sacrifice?

A. No. So long as Tsathoggua is In Play, Demand Sacrifice applies to all Battles against
Sleeper’s Units.
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 Q. Can the Opener of the Way use They Break Through to Summon a Monster onto the
Cursed Slumber Gate?
A. No. The Gate and Cultist under Cursed Slumber are immune to Enemy abilities.
Q. Can Sleeper choose to Eliminate his Cultist on a Cursed Slumber Gate to satisfy losses
inflicted by Ghroth (or any similar ability)?
A. Yes, but he doesn’t have to, even if it is the only Cultist he has left (since it is protected from
all enemy abilities). If he DOES choose to lose it, the Gate becomes Abandoned and now
provides Power to all Factions. It can still be returned to the Map by Sleeper in a later Action
for 1 Power.

Q. If a Cursed Slumber Gate has a High Priest on it, can that High Priest be sacrificed for
Power and if so, what happens to the Gate?
A. Yes. The Gate becomes Abandoned, as described in the previous answer.
Q. If I have acquired the Ghast Neutral Monsters, how and when would I spawn them via
Death from Below?
A. They would count as a 2 cost Monster, since that’s their cost. If you chose to spawn them,
you would only get 1, so it is probably preferable to get some other Monster, if available, with
Death from Below.
Q. If Sleeper uses Cursed Slumber to remove a Gate from the Map, does that lower the
count towards Opener’s two Spellbook requirements which require 8 or 12 Gates to
exist on the Map, respectively?
A. Yes, it lowers the count. A Gate on Sleeper’s Faction Card is not on the Map.

Q. Can Sleeper use Cursed Slumber to place a Gate from his Faction Card onto the Area
containing Yog-Sothoth, but lacking a normal Gate?
A. Yes.
Q. If I Move a single Shantak who brings along a Cultist (using the Horror Steed ability),
does Burrow give me a refund of 1 Power?
A. No. Burrow gives you a refund based on spending two or more Power during a Move
Action, not on Moving two or more Units. In this situation, you would have to pay and Move at
least one more Unit to benefit from Burrow.
Q. How does Demand Sacrifice interact with the Leng Spider’s Bloodthirst?
A. Any Pains converted into Kills become single Pains. I recommend against using Bloodthirst!

TCHO-TCHO
Q. How does Soulless interact with Gla’aki’s Green Decay and the Yithian’s Possession
abilities?
A. Soulless makes the base reward 0, rather than 1 Power. Gla’aki’s Green Decay modifies
that reward to be an Elder Sign (meaning, it overrides Soulless, by replacing the base reward
entirely from Power to an Elder Sign). The Yithian’s Possession adds to whatever the base

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 reward is (whether 1, 0, or an Elder Sign). Thus, a Yithian who Captured a Soulless Tcho-Tcho
still provides 1 Power at least.

Q. What if the Tcho-Tcho has no Controlled Gate when you have the Hierophants
Spellbook, and you earn a Spellbook?
A. Place the High Priest anywhere on the Map you have Units. If you don’t have Units, place it
anywhere on the Map. You’re probably going to lose this game.

Q. In an 8 player game, it seems like the Tcho-Tchos are forced to appear in one of
Windwalker’s start Areas. Is this really so?
A. Yep.
Q. When performing the Spellbook requirement of “Remove my Controlled Gate in my
Start Area” can I remove Yog-Sothoth?
A. Of course not. He is not your Controlled Gate.
Q. Do I benefit from Martyrdom if my High Priest is Eliminated in Battle (such as by being
Abducted or Devoured), but not actually Killed?
A. No. Martyrdom only takes effect if the High Priest is actually Killed.
Q. Give me an example of how Tablets of the Gods works.
A. If the Tcho-Tchos have this Spellbook, and do a Ritual of Annihilation, then they MUST
Eliminate all of their High Priests, turning them in for Elder Signs. Their only element of choice
in the matter is whether they perform the Ritual in the first place. Or they could sacrifice their
High Priests for the Power reward, and only then do the Ritual.
Q. Can I use Terror to have some of my Proto-shoggoths reduce enemy combat, while the
rest roll 2 dice each?
A. No. All Proto-shoggoths must “vibrate” the same way—so if you have 4 in an Area, you
can either roll 8 dice, or roll 4 dice and subtract 4 from the enemy dice total—no Mister In-
Between. (and if the enemy’s reduction goes to below 0, he still just rolls 0. No negative
Combat ratings!)

Q. If the Tcho-Tcho Recruit a Unique High Priest, are they affected by the various abilities
of the Tcho-Tcho regarding High Priests (Hierophants, Martyrdom, Tablets, etc.) and can
they be used to awaken Ubbo-Sathla?
A. Yes to all—the Unique High Priest acts as your other two “regular” High Priests in every
way, EXCEPT it cannot use the normal “Unspeakable Oath” ability, they can only use their own
ability on their Loyalty Card.

Q: How does Sycophancy interact with Sleeper while using Ancient Sorcery?
A. Because the Tcho-Tcho Sycophancy unique ability applies to the entire Doom Phase,
Sleeper can use Ancient Sorcery to gain its benefit throughout that Doom Phase. In such a
case, simply return the Serpent Man to the Map at the very end of the Doom Phase so you
remember, rather then when it is Sleeper’s turn to perform a Ritual (or not), which is normally
when you use abilities in the Doom Phase.

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 Q. With the Hierophants Spellbook, do the Tcho-Tcho get to place a free High Priest when
they earn an Independent Great Old One’s Spellbook too?
A. No, that is not the intent. It should read “Faction Spellbooks.” Otherwise it would be too
gross.

WINDWALKER
Q. If my Serpent Man returns to the Map during the Doom Phase (Ancient Sorcery) to an
Area with Windwalker’s Ice Age token, do I pay 1 Power?
A. No, because returning the Serpent Man is not an Action—it occurs during the Doom Phase.
Q. How does Windwalker’s Hibernate interact with Crawling Chaos’s Thousand Forms?
A. Despite the fact that Windwalker is not an active Faction when hibernating, he does
participate in the negotiations for how much Power is lost, and may choose to lose Power due
to Thousand Forms.

Q. Normally when a Faction with 0 Power gains Power by some means, it re-enters the
Action Phase sequence. What happens if Windwalker under Hibernation gains Power?
A. You gain the Power, but remain under the effects of Hibernation and may take no Actions.
You may only spend Power when given the option via Spellbooks or abilities. For example, you
can do so to keep Rhan-Tegoth from being Killed or Pained with his Eternal ability.
Q. Gnoph-Keh cost depends on the number of Gnoph-Kehs in the Pool. Please give a
precise breakdown.
A. If no Gnoph-Kehs are on the Map, Summoning one costs four. With one on the map (and
three in the Pool) Cost is three. With two each in the Pool and on map, the third will cost
two, and the final Gnoph-Keh only costs one. Remember that a Gnoph-Keh Captured by
Tsathoggua is not in the Pool, and thus decreases the cost!

Q. If I have no Wendigos in my Pool, and a Wendigo is Killed in Battle, can I immediately

re-spawn it via Cannibalism (assuming I’d Killed an Enemy Unit in that same Battle)?
A. Yes. Obnoxious, eh? It also works with Cultists.
Q. If both Cannibalism is used, and Black Goat’s Necrophagy is then immediately used in
that same Battle, could the newly placed Acolyte or Wendigo be Pained out?
A. No, because that particular Acolyte or Wendigo did not participate in the Battle.
Q. How does Rhan-Tegoth’s Eternal ability interact with abilities such as Nyarlathotep’s
Harbinger or Cthulhu’s Spellbook requirement which needs a Kill to fulfill?
A. Rhan-Tegoth’s Eternal ability only remove the effect of a Kill or Pain on Rhan-Tegoth itself,
not the effect such a result has on other abilities and Spellbooks. In other words, Nyarlathotep
can still gain Power or Elder Signs and Cthulhu can still earn a Spellbook even when Eternal is
being used.

Q. If Cthugha rolls a Kill on Rhan-Tegoth, but the latter uses Eternal to cancel it, does
Cthugha still have a chance to spare Rhan-Tegoth too?

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 A. No, Eternal takes precedence—if Windwalker chooses to remove the Kill or Pain from Rhan-
Tegoth, Cthugha cannot spare him.

Q. What does it mean in the description of Ice Age when it refers to “any Action ending in
the Ice Age Area”?
A. if the Action affects Units that finish the turn in the Area, or does something to the Area
itself. For example, Units can Move OUT of the Area for no extra cost. But moving INTO
the Area costs an additional Power (not per Unit, just for the whole Move Action). For other
examples, if Yellow Sign tried to Desecrate the Area, it would cost plus one Power. If Cthulhu
emerged from Submerge in the Ice Age Area, he would pay plus one Power (but not if he left
the Area via Submerge). Great Cthulhu’s Devolve is not an Action, so it is still free, though
using Dreams would cost him four. Black Goat’s Avatar would cost plus one Power as at least
one Unit will be ending that Action in that Area (even if the Unit ending up in that Area is
not a Black Goat Unit). Opener of the Way’s Units can Promote after Battle and Sleeper can
use Death From Below in the Ice Age Area free of cost, as these are not Actions. If Sleeper
declares Lethargy while Tsathoggua is in the Ice Age Area, it costs one Power. If you use a
multiple-Area Action, such as if you used Mother Hydra’s Zygote, and placed at least one
Recruited Cultists there, it would cost plus one.

Q. Controlling or Abandoning a Gate is defined in the rules as an Unlimited Action that

costs 0 Power. Does this mean it costs 1 Power to Control or Abandon a Gate if the Ice
Age marker is in the Area?
A. No. These are the only two Actions (Controlling a Gate and Abandoning a Gate) exempted
from Ice Age’s Power tax. Unlimited Battle still costs +1 Power to initiate.
Q. Can Crawling Chaos Units fly over (but not land in) an Ice Age Area without spending
extra Power?
A. Yes. They are not ending their Action in that Area!
Q. If Yog-Sothoth is in the Area in which you Awaken Ithaqua, can Yog-Sothoth be the
Gate you replace with Ithaqua?
A. If Yog-Sothoth is the only Gate in the Area, then yes. If there is another available Gate, then
you must replace THAT Gate with Ithaqua instead.

Q. Who determines where the Unit is retreated to when Howl is used?

A. The victim decides which of his Units is retreated, and which adjacent Area it goes to.

Q. If Windwalker’s Units completely surround an Area before a Battle, and Windwalker

uses Howl, is the retreated Unit Killed (as per the rule that surrounded Units must
receive an extra Elimination if they cannot be Pained)?
A. No. It may retreat to an Area containing Windwalker’s Units, because Howl does not inflict a
Pain.
Q. Can Units retreated due to Howl still use their Battle Abilities that have not yet
been activated (such as promoting Units via Million Favored Ones or Nyarlathotep’s

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 Harbinger)?
A. No, they do not participate in the rest of the Battle, and so cannot use their Abilities.

Q. Can Howl be used on Map enemies such as Zoogs, Bhole, the Watcher, etc.?
A. Although Howl works on any Unit, rather than the typical specification of a Monster or
Cultist, it does not work on the larger Map enemies such as the Bhole, Watcher, Librarian
or Custodian. It would, however, work on Zoogs and neutral Slimes. (In the former case, it
Eliminates it but does not reflect a Pain back, and in the latter, you choose where the Slime is
sent to).

Q. Does Crawling Chaos’ Madness ability allow him to choose where victims of Howl are
retreated to?
A. No. Howl is not a Pain, but a Retreat.
Q. Can Windwalker’s Howl retreat a Brain Cylinder on the Yuggoth map?
A. No. Brain Cylinders turn off their sensors, so they don’t hear the Howl.

Q. If you have Herald of the Outer Gods, do you still advance the Ritual of Annihilation
marker up when paying the 5 Power?
A. Yes.
Q. During the Action Phase, if a Player reveals his Elder Signs and causes the game to end,
does Windwalker still get to fulfill his Spellbook requirement which states “Take this
Spellbook at any time”?
A. Yes. Treat this Spellbook requirement similar to how every player may always reveal Elder
Signs at the moment the game ends. This means that Windwalker could also immediately turn
in all the Elder Signs he might receive from fulfilling that Spellbook requirement. No one said
Windwalker played fair!
Q. If one of Windwalker’s Gnoph Kehs has been captured by Sleeper via Capture Monster,
how does this affect the Summoning cost of the next Gnoph Keh?
A. A Gnoph Keh on Sleeper’s Faction Card is not considered to be in your Unit Pool. For
example, if you had one Gnoph Keh In Play and one on Sleeper’s faction card, then the next
Gnoph Keh would cost you two power to Summon, because two are currently in your Unit
Pool.

THE ANCIENTS
Q. If more than one enemy Great Old One are in a Battle against me, and I invoke Unholy
Ground, can I remove two Cathedrals to kill two Great Old Ones?
A. Yes.
Q. Can Rhan-Tegoth avoid Unholy Ground’s Kill by spending 1 Power as per his Eternal
Ability?
A. No, because Unholy Ground produces an Elimination, not a Kill.

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Q. Can I use Unholy Ground to Eliminate the Watcher of the Green Pyramid or Azathoth?
A. No. Unlike other Units, the Watcher just loses 1 from his strength when he is “Eliminated”,
and Azathoth loses 1 die from his Combat.
Q. If I remove Cathedrals via Unholy Ground, where can I rebuild them?
A. When replacing a removed Cathedral, you must obey Cathedral placement rules. For
example, if you removed a Cathedral from a particular Yellow Sign Glyph’s Area, and all your
other Cathedrals were in play, you could only rebuild it in an Area with that same Yellow Sign
Glyph.
Q. If I have Reanimated in an Area by themselves, can I use them to take actions besides
Move, Capture, or Battle?
A. Yes, if such Actions are available to you.
Q. Do Reanimated need to be accompanied by another Unit to Move?
A. No. They simply need to start their Move in an Area with another friendly (non-Reanimated)
Unit.

Neutral Spellbooks (Azathoth)

Q. How does Undimensioned interact with unusual locations, such as Cthulhu’s Units that
are currently Submerged, or Sleeper’s Gate with a Cultist that is in Cursed Slumber?
A. Undimensioned specifies that you may only rearrange Units among your Areas. So, you
could not swap out a Cultist who is Cursed Slumbering with one from the Map, or change
which Units are currently Submerged with Cthulhu since these are not Areas. (When Cthulhu
is submerged he uses incalculable geometry such that even beings which are temporarily
dimensionless cannot reach him).
Q. Do Units from my Faction need to be involved in a Battle in order to use Shriveling?
A. Yes.

Q. If Shriveling is used on one of Black Goat’s Monsters, and Black Goat has the Spellbook
Thousand Young, how much Power does Black Goat receive?
A. The Thousand Young Spellbook changes the cost of each of Black Goat’s Faction Monsters,
so Shriveling would grant Black Goat the reduced cost to Summon. For example, Black Goat
would receive zero Power when a Ghoul is Shriveled.
Q. How many points does the owner get when her Gnoph-Keh is shriveled?
A. When a Gnoph-Keh is shriveled, calculate the cost it would take to Summon it at that
moment, not how much it would cost to resummon it. This means that if Windwalker had all
four Gnoph-Kehs on the board at the moment of Shriveling, it would grant him zero Power.

Q. Why is The Mao Ceremony worded cumbersomely, reading “after the minimum Power
rule, but before Determine First Player”?
A. Because it is always the very last Power to be added—even after the half Power rule. This
is the only ability in the game which must take place at that moment. To be clear, when Mao

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 Ceremony is In Play, first all players tally up their Power, then the half Power rule occurs, and
finally Mao Ceremony can be used LAST. (By the way, High Priests can still be sacrificed for two
Power at any moment, Mao Ceremony notwithstanding).
Q. What does Recriminations mean when it says you may replace a Spellbook with any
available Spellbook?
A. You may replace the selected Spellbook with one of your own Faction Spellbooks or
another Azathoth Spellbook from the Pool. You may NOT use Recriminations in conjunction
with any Independent Great Old One Spellbooks—only with Spellbooks which can be placed
on your Faction Card.

Q. If I am playing Opener of the way, and use Recriminations to swap out Dragon
Ascending or Dragon Descending after I have flipped them face-down, do they flip face-
up again? Could I take those Spellbooks again (using Recriminations) and re-use them?
A. While you could take them back onto your Faction Card, you cannot unflip them.
The Spellbook states “flip it face down to indicate that it cannot be used again”. This is
categorical. It also works this way with Crawling Chaos’ Thousand Forms, which won’t unflip
until the following Gather Power phase.
Q. If I use Recriminations to remove another neutral Spellbook from my Faction card, does
that Spellbook go to the general Pool from where anyone can now earn it, or does it
remain in my own Spellbook Pool that only I can draw from?
A. It goes back to the general neutral Spellbook Pool. If a neutral Spellbook is not currently on
your Faction card, then any Faction may earn it.
Q. How many points does the owner get when her Ghast is shriveled?
A. Two, since that’s how much a single Ghast costs to Summon.

Q. What happens when you use Recriminations on a Spellbook that contains a Moonbeast?
A. The Moonbeast is removed with the Spellbook (costing nothing to do so) and follows
normal rules for returning it to the Map.

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 Neutral Monsters
Q. How does Demand Sacrifice interact with the Leng Spider’s Bloodthirst?
A. Any Pains converted into Kills become single Pains. I recommend against using Bloodthirst!

Q. Can Black Goat Summon Neutral Monsters at the same time as her Faction Monsters?
A. Yes. She may Summon any number of Monsters at once, so long as they are hers to
Summon.
Q. Can Yellow Sign spawn Neutral Monsters as the result of a Desecration Attempt?
A. Yes, so long as it costs two or less.

Q. How does Mind Control (the Elder Thing’s ability) work?

A. In an Elder Thing’s Area, Cthulhu can’t Devour. He can still use Submerge and Y’Ha Nthlei,
as those are Spellbooks, not Great Old One Special Abilities. The exact use of an Elder Thing
obviously differs for each Great Old One. And yes, it also works on Independent Great Old
Ones (but not their Spellbooks, only Special Abilities). Nyarlathotep can’t use Harbinger,
Azathoth can be Killed with one Kill result, and so forth. Shub-Niggurath can’t Avatar out of an
Area containing an Elder Thing. However, she could use Avatar to enter an Area containing an
Elder Thing, because she is not in the Area at the moment she uses her Avatar ability. And, the
player controlling Bokrug could lose his Loyalty Card!

In some cases, Mind Control cancels a Great Old One’s ability over the whole map. For
example—if Tsathoggua is in an Elder Thing’s Area, then he can’t use Lethargy. If Ithaqua is in
an Elder Thing’s Area, then Ferox is not in effect for any of his Cultists (of course, if an Elder
Thing is merely in the same Area as one of Windwalker’s Cultists, but NOT in Ithaqua’s Area,
Ferox is still in effect). Likewise, Abhoth could put a Filth Token in an Elder Thing’s Area, so
long as Abhoth himself does not share an Area with an Elder Thing. Sometimes Spellbooks
are affected, even though they are not directly negated by an Elder Thing. For example: The
King in Yellow can’t Desecrate, which means that his Third Eye Spellbook can’t be used either
(and a similar effect happens to Cthugha and Ghatanothoa when they have their Firestorm or
Execration of Mu Spellbooks, respectively).
Q. Is there any way to get rid of the Servitor of the Outer Gods Loyalty Card once it has
been given to you?
A. No.
Q. If I have been given Servitors of the Outer Gods, can I still gain non-Servitor Monsters
by means other than Summoning?
A. Yes. For example, Windwalker can use Cannibalism to place Wendigos, Opener of the
Way can promote Units via Million Favored Ones, and Yellow Sign can Recruit via Desecration
attempts. The Servitor of the Outer Gods’ ability only affects normal Summons.
Q. Can I use Black Goat’s Fertility Cult ability to simultaneously Summon all the remaining
Servitors in my Pool, as well as other Monsters?

184
 A. Yes, you can Summon other Monsters in conjunction, so long as no Servitors remain in your
Pool at the end of this Action.

Q. If the presence of Servitors of the Outer Gods reduces my combat total to less than
zero, what happens?
A. Just leave it at zero. That’s bad enough.
Q. What if I have both Star Vampires and Servitors of the Outer Gods in the same Area,
reducing my overall Combat dice to less than what the Star Vampires’ would normally
roll, or even reduced to zero. How do I roll my Star Vampire dice “separately”?
A. Just go ahead and roll your Star Vampires’ total Combat dice. In this case, you will actually
get to roll Combat dice, even though your total is theoretically zero. However, if your total dice
is technically zero, you cannot Declare Battle yourself. Weird, I know. But you’re dealing with
multiple realities and alternate dimensions already, if Elder Things and Servitors are In Play.
And yes, in this case, the Combat results of the Star Vampires still DO apply in the Battle, as
usual.

Q. When a Star Vampire rolls a Kill or a Pain, in addition to the Doom point or Power that
is drained from the target, is the Kill or Pain inflicted on the Enemy?
A. Yes, you always add the Star Vampire’s Combat results to the Battle (even if, as in the above
question, you technically have zero Combat dice). However, if the Enemy has no Power (or no
Doom points), the Star Vampire’s drain does nothing.
Q. What if my Star Vampires roll more Kill and/or Pain results than there are Enemy Units
in the Battle?
A. You still get to take the Doom and/or Power from your Enemy, even if some of the Battle
results are not applied to Enemy Units (unless, of course, your Enemy doesn’t have enough
Doom or Power to take). This also means, for example, that if Rhan Tegoth uses his Eternal
ability when fighting your Star Vampires, you still get to take the Doom or Power if a Kill or
Pain was initially assigned to Rhan Tegoth! Likewise, if your Star Vampire rolls a Kill against
Nyarlathotep when he is protected by Emissary of the Outer Gods, you get a Doom point, but
the Kill is reduced to a Pain (as per Emissary).

Q. If Yellow Sign Recruits a Dimensional Shambler (or Moonbeast) while attempting a

Desecration, where does the Shambler appear?
A. Sadly, in the Area, as the Desecrate ability says. This also applies to Moonbeasts.

Terrors
GREAT RACE OF YITH
Q. How does the Tcho-Tcho’s Soulless interact with the Yithian’s Possession ability?
A. Soulless makes the base reward 0, rather than 1 Power. The Yithian’s Possession adds to
whatever the base reward is (whether 1 or 0). Thus, a Yithian who Captured a Soulless Tcho-
Tcho still provides 1 Power at least.

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 Independent Great Old Ones
ABHOTH
Q. Can you combine placing Abhoth’s Filth with Black Goat’s Fertility Cult? Or Sleeper’s
Death from Below? Or Yellow Sign’s Desecration?
A. YES to all!

AZATHOTH
Q. When I Control Azathoth, can I modify the Nuclear Chaos die roll to be 0 or 7?
A. Yes!

Q. Can Azathoth absorb more than one Kill result in a single Battle?
A. No.

Q. How much Power can Nyarlathotep get when he Pains or Kills Azathoth in Battle
(under Harbinger)?
A. Zero. Technically, Azathoth costs 0 Power to Awaken. The one die plus two Power you pay
to Awaken him is a loss, not a cost. So all Nyarlathotep can get when fighting Azathoth is two
Elder Signs.
Q. What happens when Azathoth is surrounded by Enemy Units he just Battled, and he
receives a Pain?
A. Treat it as if he received a Kill and roll a die.
Q. What happens when Azathoth is chosen to receive a Kill as a result of Dread Curse of
Azathoth (since no Battle abilities apply)?
A. Azathoth’s special ability is Ongoing, not a Battle ability, so just reduce his Combat by a d6.
(Yog-Sothoth can’t use Azathoth’s own curse against him, you cadaverous fool! But because
Azathoth is the Blind Idiot God, he can still harm himself somewhat).

CHAUGNAR FAUGN
Q. If I have a Controlled Gate and only Units with 0 Combat, can I declare Battle due to
Miri Nigri?
A. Yes! Although Miri Nigri does not technically add 3 Combat to a particular Unit (such as
how Absorb operates), the fact that you will roll Combat dice means you can initiate Battle
even if all you have is a single Cultist (on that Gate) in the Area.
Q. Chaugnar Faugn’s Miri Nigri ability gives Gates 3 Combat dice. Does this apply to Yog-
Sothoth?
A. Yes! For example, if there are 4 Enemy Great Old Ones on the Map and Opener Controlled
Chaugnar Faugn, then Yog-Sothoth’s Combat would be 11 (8 + 3). However, if Opener also
Controlled a normal Gate in the same Area as YogSothoth, you still only add 3 to your Combat

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 in that Area, not 6. The ability reads “in an Area” which means you only get the Combat bonus
once per Area, rather than once per Gate.

CTHUGHA
Q. If Cthugha rolls a Kill on Rhan-Tegoth, but the latter uses Eternal to cancel it, does
Cthugha still have a chance to spare Rhan-Tegoth too?
A. No, Eternal takes precedence—if Windwalker chooses to remove the Kill or Pain from Rhan-
Tegoth, Cthugha cannot spare him.

EIHORT
Q. Can Brood be moved via Cursed Slumber, since it’s not really a “movement like”
ability?
A. No, you may not use Cursed Slumber on a Brood, as you can go to another Area on the
map! Brood are already in a terrible slumber…

GLA’AKI
Q. How does the Tcho-Tcho’s Soulless interact with Gla’aki’s Green Decay?
A. Soulless makes the base reward 0, rather than 1 Power. Gla’aki’s Green Decay modifies
that reward to be an Elder Sign (meaning, it overrides Soulless, by replacing the base reward
entirely from Power to an Elder Sign).

Unique High Priests

Q. If I Awaken The King in Yellow (as an Independent Great Old One) via Lavinia Whateley,
do I get a 1 Power refund?
A. Yes
Q. How do I calculate Awakening Cthugha, when I have Lavinia Whateley?
A. Lavinia Whateley reduces the cost to Awaken Cthugha himself, not whichever Great Old
One Cthugha will replace as part of Awakening him. So, for example, if you have Hastur and
want to Awaken Cthugha, the cost would be calculated by starting with 6, subtracting 3 (per
Lavinia), and then again subtracting 10 (the nominal cost to Awaken Hastur). The result would
be negative 7. Then, per Cthugha’s Awakening requirements, you gain Power equal to the
result if it is negative, so you would GAIN 7 Power by Awakening Cthugha using both Hastur
and Lavinia Whateley.

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 Additional Maps
DREAMLANDS MAP
Q. Do I win as Opener of the Way if I control 4 Gates at Citadels, including Yog-Sothoth
but only in 3 of the Citadel Areas (e.g., I Control Gates in Citadel Areas numbered with
one, two and three, and Yog-Sothoth itself is also in Citadel three, but I do NOT control
a Gate in the Area of Citadel four)?
A. No. You must Control Gates in all four Areas, not simply Control four Gates among the
Citadel Areas, you cheater. In this situation, just Move Yog-Sothoth to Citadel four and you
would win.
Q. What happens if I fight three Zoogs, and roll two Kills and three Pains? How many of
my Units are affected by the reflected Pains?
A. First remove the Killed Zoogs. Only one remains, so it is Pained (and removed), and one of
your Units is likewise Pained. Remember, Kills always take effect before Pains.

Q. How does Black Goat’s Necrophagy interact with the Zoogs?

A. If two ghouls teleport via Necrophagy to a Battle in which Zoogs have participated, two
Units of the original Attacker are pained as normal, and two Zoogs are likewise Pained (and
removed), and both ghouls are Pained by the Zoogs as well (the original Attacker receives
Pains due to Necrophagy, but not additional Pains as a result of the Zoogs being Pained by
Necrophagy—those Pains are reflected back on the Ghouls themselves).

Q. Can Cthulhu count Zoogs which are Eliminated by Pain results as Kills for the purpose
of his spellbook requirements?
A. No. As stated previously, Pains Eliminate Zoogs from the map, but do not Kill them.
Q. Can Opener of the Way’s Dread Curse of Azathoth be used to attack the Bhole or
Zoogs?
A. No.
Q. Can Shub-Niggurath use her Avatar ability to switch places with a Zoog?
A. Yes. Even though Avatar specifically works on Faction Monsters, Zoogs are all identical, so
it doesn’t matter which one in the given Area is chosen to swap places with Shub-Niggurath. If
the Zoog is sent via Avatar to an Area that is NOT a Citadel, then the Zoog is Eliminated from
the Map.
Q. Can Zoogs be captured via Sleeper’s Capture Monster?
A. Of course.

Q. Does the Shantaks’ Horror Steed ability allow it to Move freely between the two
maps?
A. Yes.

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 LIBRARY AT CELAENO MAP
Q. If the Custodian moves my Units to The Oubliette, and an Abandoned Gate is there,
can I immediately occupy it?
A. Only when it is your turn to take an Action.
Q. To Battle the player who currently has the Barrier of Naach Tith Tome, must I release a
Captured Cultist from that Faction?
A. No. You can release a Captured Cultist from any Faction to bypass the Barrier.
Q. What if I want to Battle the owner of Barrier of Naach Tith, and I don’t have a Captured
Cultist, a Silence Token, nor an Elder Sign?
A. You can’t declare Battle on that Faction. Do something else.
Q. One of the options for Yr and Nhhngr says you gain 2 Power, but the Action itself costs
1 Power. Is this basically a net gain of 1 Power?
A. Yes.
Q. If the Librarian or Custodian are Activated in the same Area several Actions in a row,
do they keep adding +1 more to their roll, accumulating over time?
A. No. They just get a maximum of +1 to their roll.
Q. Is it an Action to flip a Library Tome face up (by discarding an Elder Sign; releasing a
captured Cultist, or discarding a Silence token)?
A. No, you can do it at any time.

PRIMEVAL MAP
Q. I think the map layout for Primeval Earth is interesting, and I would like to try playing it
in a normal game of t, without the Glaciers. Would this work?
A. It’s your game. Give it a try!
Q. If Opener of the Way uses Beyond-One to Move a Gate from a Glacier-infested Area to
a clear Area, does the Glacier travel with the Gate?
A. No. The Glacier is removed from the Gate in this case. If a Gate is Moved to where there is
a Glacier, the Glacier immediately pops on top of it.

Q. How do the Glaciers work with Cursed Slumber?

A. Since you can only use Cursed Slumber with a Controlled Gate, then you may not use it in
an Area already containing a Glacier. However, if you place a Cursed Slumbering Gate back on
the Map onto an Area with a Glacier, then the Cultist must immediately step off the Gate.

Q. Can Opener’s They Break Through Spellbook be used to Summon Monsters at a Gate
covered by a Glacier?
A. Yes. They Break Through permits you to Summon at Abandoned Gates.
Q. In the first Doom Phase, do I add a Glacier to the Start Areas of factions who were not
in this game?
A. No.
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 YUGGOTH MAP
Q. Can Cthulhu get his Kill Spellbook requirements from scoring a Kill on The Watcher?
A. Yes! (But not for Devour, since that doesn’t affect The Watcher).

Q. I have two Units in an Area, one of which is a Brain Cylinder. In Battle, the enemy rolls
one Kill and one Pain. What are my options?
A. Kills are always assigned first. If you assign the Kill to the Cylinder, it dies, and the other Unit
is Pained. If you assign the Kill to the other Unit, then the Pain is ignored.

Q. Can Windwalker’s Howl retreat a Brain Cylinder?

A. No. Brain Cylinders turn off their sensors, so they don’t hear the Howl.

Q. Does Black Goat’s Frenzy affect Brain Cylinders?

A. Yes. This represents them casting spells, planning strategy, or cheering others on.

Q. How does Yellow Sign’s Passion Spellbook apply to Brain Cylinders?

A. When a Brain Cylinder is either directly Captured or Converted to an Enemy Brain Cylinder,
Yellow Sign gains 1 Power if Passion is in play (his Cultist has been lost!). Of course, Yellow
Sign does not gain 1 Power when removing his own Acolyte in order to replace it with a Brain
Cylinder.
Q. How does Ghatanothoa’s Mummify ability affect Brain Cylinders?
A. Brain Cylinders are immune to Mummify. They are only brains, which are not affected by the
mummification process according to Lovecraft. Also, Mummify specifies Acolyte Cultist, you
noob.

Q. If a Battle takes place on the Slime Sea Overlook, and the Gate’s Controller is Pained or
Killed, can his enemy retreat into an adjacent Area containing only Slimes?
A. Yes, because the Slimes are now neutral!
Q. How is the Watcher affected by Elder Things?
A. The Elder Things’ Mind Control ability has no effect on the Watcher.

Q. Can Opener of the Way’s Dread Curse of Azathoth be used to attack the Watcher or
neutral Slimes?
A. No.
Q. Can Shub-Niggurath use her Avatar ability to switch places with a neutral Slime Mold?
A. Yes. Even though Avatar specifically works on Faction units, Slime Molds are identical, so it
doesn’t matter which one in the given Area is chosen to swap places with Shub-Niggurath.
Q. Does the Watcher count as an enemy Great Old One for Windwalker’s Hibernate
ability? Does he prevent Opener of the Way from using The Beyond One?
A. Yes to both, but only when it is Awake. He is always considered an enemy Great Old One.

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 SHAGGAI MAP
Q. Does Crawling Chaos avoid losing a Unit with his Flight ability when “skipping” over
Eradicated Areas?
A. No. He must lose a Unit to trace over such Areas, though skipping over an Eradicated
Area doesn’t count as Moving over an Area for Flight, so he can Move over three Areas, for
example, if one of them were Eradicated.
Q. Does Yellow Sign get his Passion Power when his cultists are Eradicated?
A. Yes.

Q. Does Yog-Sothoth give Opener two Elder Signs if he gets Eradicated?

A. Yes, because he is not only a faction Great Old One but also a Gate. You’d also get 1 Power,
since he is a Unit.
Q. Can Windwalker use Cosmic Power to pay 8 Power and summon Ithaqua “on top of”
Yog-Sothoth, thus killing the latter?
A. Only if Yog-Sothoth is the only Gate in the Area. Otherwise, Windwalker must destroy the
physical Gate.

191
“He spoke very gently of
how human beings might
accomplish—and several times
had accomplished—the seemingly
impossible flight across the
interstellar void. It seemed that
complete human bodies did not
indeed make the trip, but that the
prodigious surgical, biological,
chemical, and mechanical skill
of the Outer Ones had found
a way to convey human brains
without their concomitant physical
structure.”

—H.P. Lovecraft
 Designer’s Notes
M
any years ago, I wrote an unusual tabletop
roleplaying game named Call of Cthulhu,
which proceeded to change my life. I
expected it to be a minor cult game, that a
few would love, and others ignore. I certainly
never expected it to become as well-known
as it did, spawning numerous spin-offs and
imitations. It transformed me from a humble
graduate student into a full-time game
designer.

In Call of Cthulhu, I created a pattern for gamers to use to interact

with the loathsome monsters from Lovecraft’s tales—basically,
heroic investigators facing off against the creepy monsters and
cultists. This proved to be a powerful concept, and pretty much
every single Lovecraftian game since then followed this example—
Arkham Horror, Dark Corners of the Earth, even Pandemic:
Reign of Cthulhu. But all of these games, including my own,
ended before the Elder Gods return to power. You never get to
see Cthulhu with all his “toys”—telepathic visions blanketing the
earth, mountains of protoplasm rising from the sea, et cetera.
I made a few tries at running a roleplaying campaign set in a “post-Cthulhu-holocaust”
world, but these were abortive. But the concept fired my imagination, and kept lurking in my
mind for decades.

The years of 2011–2012 was a dark time in my life. I had left my job to become partner at a
tiny, ultimately-failing game company, and had been without gainful employment for almost
two years. I had tried to use crowdfunding to get support for a Cthulhu phone game, and it
utterly failed. My partner, Rob Atkins, convinced me to try to launch a tabletop boardgame.
I was doubtful, but gave it a shot. My theory was that it might make a couple hundred
thousand dollars for myself and my partners, and perhaps set up some sort of small cash cow
as supplemental income. In the meantime I sought employment elsewhere.
It was my belief that this crowdfunded game I was working on would be the very last game
that I, Sandy Petersen, would ever create entirely from my own mind. I had full expectations
of working on other people’s assignments for the rest of my life. (I’m not complaining—this
is typical for a game designer. We rarely get to pick the topics of our games.) So, as my last
personal game ever, I pulled out all the stops. I wanted this to be the ultimate Lovecraft
game. I wanted the best art, the coolest plastic figures (all in 28mm scale so I could use them
in Call of Cthulhu), asymmetric strategy (my favorite play element), colorful, fast-moving
and of course, finally emphasizing my theme of post-Cthulhu-holocaust. But if Cthulhu is
rising to take over the world, who can stop him? Only other Great Old Ones.

This became my theme. As I said, my wife and I were out of cash at the time, and needed this
to support us. As believers, we prayed for the project’s success. The game flowed out of my
mind and into reality at an amazing pace. No other game I’ve worked on went this smoothly.
My artist, Richard Luong, knew nothing about Lovecraft, but proved ideal for the task of
illustrating Lovecraft’s creations. All went well.
Then, we launched it. By this time my hopes were higher. I was now hoping for as much as
$300 –400k gross. This was my swan song and I was excited to see how it did. Well, it earned
well over a million dollars, vastly exceeding my hopes, dreams, prayers, and expectations.
It also turned out to be a monstrous game to create, requiring our factory to invent new
processes, and the million dollars we earned was barely enough to cover our costs!
In the end, I am grateful to all who believed in me. Everyone who bought this game. It
turned my swan song into a phoenix—a new rebirth for me. The success of Cthulhu Wars
launched my new company Petersen Games, and now we have several games under our belt,
mostly designed by me. We intend to keep moving forward and try to surprise our fans
pleasingly. Thank you for your support.
—Sandy Petersen
 Credits
DESIGN CULTISTS
Sandy Petersen
Art Direction, Game Layout & Illustration—
PRODUCTION Rich Fleider

Robert Atkins Producer—Ben Donges

ART Biz Dictator—Ian Starcher

Richard Luong
Project Director, Manufacturing, Rulebook
Copy, Editing—Arthur Petersen

Balance and Playtesting—Lincoln Petersen

Additional Art Layout—Penny Amaris

Customer Support and Sales—James Frashure

Additional Support—Spencer Petersen

Marketing—Ed Healy

Social Media and VF Support—Pit Lanrezac

Samurai Cop—H. Cody Hallet

Rulebook Layout—Liz Courts

195
 SCULPTING HORDE
Master Resin Casting Dark Young, Elder Thing, Nyogtha
Fenris Games Andrew May

Shub-Niggurath Acolyte Cultist, Mutant, Undead, Ghast,

Kev Adams Byakhee, Gnoph Keh, Servitor of the Outer
Gods
Ubbo-Sathla Stephen May
Peder Bartholdy
Flying Polyp, Ithaqua, Formless Spawn
Custodian, Satyr, Eihort Neil McKenzie
Arnaud Bellier
Father Dagon, Mother Hydra, Wendigo
Gate, Power Marker, Glacier/Ice Age, Filth, Gary Morley
Brood, Brain Cylinder
Ian Brumby Slime Mold, Leng Spider, Gnorri, Abhoth,
Abomination, Nightgaunt, Cthulhu, Ghast, Ghatanothoa, Wizard, Serpent Man, Zoog,
Starspawn, Deep One, Fungi from Yuggoth, Bhole, Star Vampire, Dimensional Shambler,
Hunting Horror, Gug, Shantak, Bokrug, Spawn of Yog-Sothoth, Tcho-Tcho High
Gobogeg, Byatis, Y’Golonac, Gla’aki Priest, Tcho-Tcho Acolyte, Proto-Shoggoth,
Jo Brumby Insects from Shaggai, Dhole, Tulzscha,
Quachil Uttaus, Gla’aki
Mutant, Moonbeast, Rhan Tegoth Tim Prow
Sonny Bundgaard
Daoloth
Great Race of Yith James van Schaik
Fancagne Didier
Watcher of the Green Pyramid
Librarian Damien Sparkes
David Drage
Web Token
King in Yellow Tidal 4
Chaz Elliott
H. P. Lovecraft First Player Marker (with
Azathoth, Yog-Sothoth, Nyarlathotep, Lantern) Kickstarter Exclusive
Ghoul, Nightgaunt, Atlach Nacha Ernst Veingart
Mark Evans
Doom Marker, Elder Signs, Ritual of
Yig Annihilation Marker, Desecration Markers
Ed Fortae Derran Viss
High Priest, Chaugnar Faugn, Cthugha Asenath Waite
Yann Hoaru Kev White

H. P. Lovecraft Bust First Player Marker Tsathoggua

Philip Hynes Jason Wiebe
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 PLAYTEST BRAIN
CYLINDERS
Chuck Bartholomew, Frank Bauroth, Kyle
Beasley, Sasha Begovic, Jazcek Braden, Jonathan
Cohen, David Coon, John Coon, Peter
Dannenberg, Mike Davis, Ben Donges,
Patrick Fenn, Angela Fleider, Rich
Fleider, Brad Gaffney, Nick Gaffney,
Pat Guarino, Ell Hamilton, Aaron
Harvey, Jared Harvey, Joseph Harvey,
Brian Hehmann, Guy Hoyle, Mike
Junio, Fabian Kuechler, Chris Lemens,
Andrew Lucio, Shovaen Patel, Arthur
Petersen, Grant Petersen, Lincoln
Petersen, Spencer Petersen, Greg
Robertson, Paul Slusser, Jessica Watkins,
Lori Wilson, Pedro Ziviani.

SPECIAL THANKS FROM

BEYOND TIME AND SPACE
Ameliazoth, Henry Akeley, Donovan Albanesi, Ben Ayerbach,
Lloydy Boy, Craig Brown, Sean Brulet, Anthony Callison, Randolph
Carter, Alex Celler, Squirrel Eiserloh, David Evans, Gearbox Software, Eric
Glasgow, Ian Guistino, Susan Guistino, Vance Hampton, John Hannasch, Cyran J. Harrington, Ken
Harward, Jason Harvey, Seth Harvey, Michelle Harvey, Justin Hoeger, Jerry Howland, Mike Langlois,
Joey Larsen, Michelle Larsen, Hector-Xavier de Lastic, John Raymond Legrasse, Cora Lemens, Tara
Lemens, Reed Little, Andrew Lucio, Tiffany Lucio, Johnny Lundell, Ryan Medeiros, Dave Mendiola,
Mius, Justin Moe, Chris Mortin, Christopher Musgrave, Jeff Okamoto, Dan Pepin, Deborah Petersen,
Elizabeth Petersen, Wendy Petersen, Ben Pope, Brian Pope, Aaron Porter, Rayden Porter, Rylee Porter,
Andrew Olson, Kolby Reddish, Greg Robertson, Stephen Robertson, Graham Robinson, Robot
Entertainment, Eric Saxton, Adam Starks, Ryan Stelly, Jordon Trebas, Wilbur Whateley, Jim Wilson,
and Naomi the Pup of Tindalos.

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