Discover the Exciting World of Edge of Darkness!

Welcome to the thrilling universe of Edge of Darkness, where danger lurks at every turn. In this game, you will face numerous challenges as you navigate through a world filled with mystery and adventure. Your goal is to make strategic decisions, gather resources, and battle against the forces of darkness that threaten to engulf the realm.

The Basics

If you’re new to Edge of Darkness, don’t worry! I’m here to guide you through the game’s rules and mechanics. It’s easy to get started and dive right into the action. You’ll soon be immersed in a world of peril and excitement.

The game is played over a series of rounds, where you’ll take on the role of a powerful guild leader. Your objective is to protect the city of Aegis from the deadly threats that emerge from the shadowy regions known as the Dark Blight. To achieve this, you’ll need to recruit allies, research powerful artifacts, and train your guild members to become formidable fighters.

Gather Your Forces

Creating a strong guild is crucial to your success. Each guild member possesses unique abilities and strengths that can give you an edge in battle. By carefully selecting and developing your team, you can ensure that you’re ready to face any challenge that comes your way.

Remember to strategically assign your guild members to various locations within Aegis to maximize their contributions. This careful placement will allow you to gather valuable resources, unlock powerful upgrades, and fend off the dangerous foes that threaten the city.

Venture into the Darkness

Exploring the Dark Blight is a perilous undertaking, but it’s necessary if you want to protect Aegis. As you venture deeper into this mysterious realm, you’ll confront powerful creatures and encounter ancient artifacts. But be warned – the darkness is relentless and will test your resolve at every step.

Equip your guild members with powerful artifacts and enhance their abilities to withstand the forces of evil. Make wise choices as you navigate through the darkness, for each decision you make will have consequences. Will you risk it all for a chance at greater rewards, or will you play it safe and protect what you’ve already gained?

A Thrilling Adventure Awaits

Edge of Darkness provides an immersive and challenging experience for players seeking a taste of adventure. With its deep strategic gameplay, beautiful artwork, and captivating narrative, you’ll find yourself drawn into a world where each decision carries weight and every move matters.

So gather your guild, summon your courage, and embark on a journey into the unknown. The fate of Aegis lies in your hands, and only you can stand against the edge of darkness.

This is what you will find in the box:

– 1 Game board

– 2 optional Extension boards

– 4 Player boards (one per Guild)

– 37 Location boards

– 1 Threat tower

– 1 Threat bag

– 75 Threat cubes

– 40 Agents

– 1 First Player marker

– 1 Round marker

– 28 Allegiance slips

– 17 Neutral Starter cards

– 16 Guild Starter cards

– 50 Card Sleeves

– 286 double-sided Card advancements

– 32 Aegisian Coins tokens

– 48 Player Aid tokens

– 8 Reference cards

– 37 Randomizer cards

– 1 Scoring pad

– 28 Reputation tokens

– 26 Influence/Goodwill tokens

– 4 Defense tokens

– Player Handbook

– Rulebook

Now, let me explain what this game is all about. The objective of the game is to…

Welcome to the world of Edge of Darkness! As a player, I become the leader of a powerful Guild in the city of Aegis. This city is situated right on the edge of the Forsaken Lands, an eerie place teeming with demons and monsters. It’s up to me to defend Aegis and earn prestige, influence, and wealth along the way.

Edge of Darkness is no ordinary game – it’s a card-crafting adventure! What does that mean? Well, it means that all players, including you, will be using the same deck of cards. But here’s the really exciting part: through our actions, we’ll actually be modifying those cards within the deck!

Now, let’s talk about winning. At the end of the game, the player with the most Victory Points reigns supreme as the champion.

Getting Started

1. First Game Prep: Before we start our first game, let’s get everything ready. I need to put sleeves on all the Starter cards (Citizen and Patrician). I’m going to use one sleeve per Guild to hold all 7 of their Allegiance slips. This will keep them organized and easy to find. From now on, I can leave the starter cards sleeved. If any sleeves tear during play, don’t worry, we have extra sleeves included in the game.
2. Now, let’s set up the game. I’m going to place the Game board in the middle of the table. If we have enough space, we can add one or both Extension boards to make the game even more exciting. Next, we should add Coins, Influence, and Reputation tokens to their respective spots on the board. These spots are marked to show us where to place each token.
3. Alright, it’s time to choose our Guilds. Each player can pick a Guild that they like. Once we’ve chosen our Guilds, we need to take the corresponding Player board that goes with our Guild. This board will help us keep track of our progress and resources throughout the game.
4. To start the game, each of us gets some game pieces and cards. I get 7 Allegiance slips, 4 Guild Starter cards, 10 Agents, 10 Player Aid tokens, 1 Defense Track token, and 2 Reference cards. I also have 4 Influence and 5 Coins tokens that I place on my Player board. Here’s how I set up my Player board:
   • I put 4 of my Agents in the Trained Agents pool.
   • The other 6 Agents go to the right of my Player board.
   • I place the Allegiance slips and 4 Starter cards on the left side of my Player board.
   • I put my Coins and Influence in the corresponding coffers (5 and 6).
   • I place my Defense Track token on the top spot of the Defense track.
5. To start, you’ll need to set up the Threat tower by placing it within reach of everyone playing.
6. Next, grab the bag and add all 15 black Threat cubes. Then, each player should add their 15 colored cubes to the bag, keeping in mind that for a 3-player game, there will be a total of 60 cubes in the bag. After that, every player should randomly draw 2 cubes from the bag and place them in their Threat Zone on their Player board. Lastly, take 4 more cubes at random and drop them into the tower. If you’re playing with fewer than 4 players, make sure to leave out the colored cubes of any Guild(s) not being used. Keep them in the game box as they won’t be used.

When playing Edge of Darkness, it’s important to understand the different types of cards you will encounter.

There are 17 Neutral cards in the game, which are divided into two categories: Citizens and Patricians. Both types of cards have their own unique abilities and requirements.

The Citizens cards are available to all players. Some of these cards have specific player requirements listed on their Blight side. Keep in mind that these requirements determine when and how you can use these cards during the game.

To determine which Neutral cards to include in your game, you need to take into account the number of players. With 4 players, all 17 Neutral cards are needed. With 3 players, remove the cards that have a “4” indicator. And with 2 players, remove the cards that have both a “3” and a “4” indicator. These cards can be safely stored in the box, as they won’t be used in the game.

Game Play

Edge of Darkness is played in a series of rounds, starting with a prologue followed by eight rounds. Each round consists of two phases: the Assembly Phase and the Action Phase.

During the prologue, each player will draft two advancements from the available options and sleeve them into their Guild Starter cards. These advancements will give you special abilities and strategies to use during the game.

Once the prologue is completed, the game moves on to the rounds. In each round, players take turns in clockwise order, beginning with the first player. First, the Assembly Phase takes place, followed by the Action Phase.

During the Assembly Phase, players can acquire and upgrade cards from the town, purchasing advancements from the Market District or summoning faction members from the Summoning House. This phase allows you to strengthen your guild and prepare for the upcoming challenges.

After all players have completed their Assembly Phase, the game moves on to the Action Phase. In this phase, players take turns performing actions based on the cards they have acquired and the strategies they have developed. This is where you will interact with other players, complete quests, and make strategic decisions to advance your guild’s goals.

Once all players have finished their Action Phase, the round is over and the game progresses to the next round. This cycle of rounds continues until the game ends.

After the 8th round, we’ll tally up the scores and see who has the most Victory Points to win the game (check out “Game End” on page 17).

The Beginning

The beginning of the game is a bit different and it gives everyone a head start.

In the beginning, the first player gets to choose an advancement and put it onto one of their four Guild Starter cards.

Remember: You can use the effect of the advancement you chose, but some effects can only be used in the regular rounds. This means you can’t do things like return Agents, draw cards, gain Battle Strength, hunt threats, claim Allegiance or manipulate the cards in the tower. However, there are still plenty of other effects you can use. For example, you can gain Coins, Influence, or Reputation, place Agents, and train Agents.

Sleeving Updates: Choose Your Advancements Wisely!

Hey there! Did you know that you don’t have to stick to the top advancement in the stack? You have the flexibility to pick any advancement you want! However, keep in mind that if a specific advancement slot is all filled up, it’s off the table. And remember, don’t cover up an advancement that’s already been sleeved. Now, here’s a cool trick: you can actually cover Citizens and Patricians with top-slot advancements, but only if they’re available! But wait, there’s more. If you find yourself with only a Citizen or a Patrician slot left in your hand, you can opt out of sleeving altogether! How convenient is that?

Playing with a Friend: 2-Player Games

If you’re playing with just one other person, each of you will get a total of 3 advancements. Here’s how it works: the first player picks an advancement, then the second player gets to choose two, and then the first player gets another chance to pick two more. Finally, it’s the second player’s turn to grab their third and final advancement. Fair and square, right?



7. First, I’ll take one of each advancement that I didn’t choose, and I’ll put them in sleeves on different Neutral Citizen cards in the Discard pile. This way, I’ll have one copy of each advancement sleeved on either a Neutral card or one of my own cards.
8. Next, I need to choose one of my Guild Starter cards that hasn’t received an advancement yet. I’ll place it in my Guild Hall on my Player board. As for the other three cards, I’ll put them in the Discard pile along with the Neutral cards from the setup.

Alright, here’s how you get started with the game. First things first, let’s set up the playing area. You’ll need a deck of cards for this game, but the deck size depends on how many players there are. If there are four players, shuffle all the cards in the Discard pile to form a deck of 26 cards. For three players, use 21 cards, and for two players, use 15 cards. Once you’ve shuffled the deck, place it City side up on the “deck” space of the board. Oh, and a little tip: when shuffling, make sure you do it under the table or look away from the deck so you don’t accidentally cheat!

Now that we have our deck ready, it’s time to start the game. Take the top 5 cards from the deck and lay them out one by one into the 5 open spaces in the Street. Each card will show a different City or a special event. Let’s see what surprises await us!

Let the Rounds Begin

Every round has two phases, and here they are:

The Assembly Phase

First, we have the Assembly Phase. This is where all players get to take cards from their Guild Hall and add them, City side up, to their hands. It’s an exciting time to plan and strategize your next moves.

Important: When I take cards from my Guild Hall, I get all the cards from my Guild Hall, even if it’s more cards than I can hold in my hand. Important: I should always keep my hand City side up on the table, so that the other players can see it. There’s no limit to how many cards I can have in my hand.

Now, let’s go through the steps of the game:

1. I take turns with the other players.

2. Each turn, I can draft cards from the Street. The goal is to have a hand of 3 cards. If I already have 3 or more cards in my hand, I don’t need to draft any more. For example, in the first round, I will be drafting 2 cards because I drew 1 card from my Guild Hall.

That’s it! I just need to follow these steps and I’m good to go. Have fun playing!

I’m pulling cubes at random from a bag. I look at the sum of all the cube icons shown at the bottom left of the slots on my cards. Based on that sum, I place the cubes in my Threat Zone. If the bag runs out of cubes, I take the ones that were set aside and put them back in the bag. Then, I keep pulling cubes.



Here’s how it works: You have three cubes in your hand. So, you randomly draw three cubes from the bag, and you place them in your Threat Zone.

Once a player has collected the correct number of cards, all the cards in the Street slide to the right to fill in the empty spots. Then, new cards are drawn from the top of the deck one at a time to replace the empty spaces.

Now, your Assembly Phase turn is done, and it’s the next player’s turn. The Assembly Phase continues until each player has had a turn. Once that’s done, it’s time for the Action Phase.

Drafting Cards

Drafting means choosing cards from the Street to add to your hand. You must always draft the rightmost card from the Street, unless you decide to spend Influence to skip cards.

When you draft cards, you have the option to pay Influence to skip one or more cards and choose the next available card(s) instead.

If you want to skip a card, you need to place one Influence token on it. You can place tokens on all the cards you want to skip. Afterward, you can draw the first available card(s) in the Street that you didn’t skip until you have a hand of three cards. But remember, if you don’t have any Influence, you can’t skip cards. Skipping cards is totally up to you!

You can also skip a card that another player has already skipped. The skipped card will keep accumulating Influence until someone finally chooses it. You have the option to skip between zero and five cards. If you decide to skip five cards, you’ll simply choose cards from the top of the deck instead. However, the top card of the deck can never be skipped.

If you choose a card that already has Influence tokens on it, you get to keep those tokens. But, you have to flip them to their Goodwill side and place them in the Reputation coffers on your board. These tokens are no longer considered Influence.

Remember: You can’t use Goodwill as Influence. At the end of the game, every four Goodwill tokens you have will count as one Victory Point.



Example: Let’s say you are choosing 3 cards and you want the 2nd, 5th, and 6th cards (yes, the 6th card on top of the Deck is available). What you do is you put 1 Influence on the 1st, 3rd, and 4th cards in the Street. Then, you draw the remaining cards.

When you do that, the 3rd and 4th cards in the Street will slide down into the 2nd and 3rd positions, respectively. The top 2 cards from the Deck will then be placed in the 4th and 5th spots, respectively.

Depleted Deck

So, here’s the deal: the deck is considered “depleted” if the only cards left in it are in the Street, and that means there are 6 or fewer cards left. I know, it’s confusing, but stay with me.

If this happens while it’s my turn, I get to decide if I want to shuffle all the cards in the Discard pile back into the deck right away, or if I want to wait until the end of my turn. Usually, it’s better to wait until the end of my turn to shuffle.

Now, here’s the important part: at the end of my turn, if the deck is depleted, I have to shuffle the Discard pile and put it back on the Deck space. And if the Street needs more cards, I have to refill it, too.

Hold on, though! Pay attention to this: because the cards are double-sided, when I shuffle, I should either do it under the table or look away from the deck. Don’t want any cheating going on!

Action Phase

During the Action Phase of Edge of Darkness, a lot of things happen. This is when the players take their turns one after another, starting with the player who has the First Player marker. When it’s your turn, here’s what you need to do:

First, you drop the cubes into the tower. This is mandatory, and all the cubes you placed on your cards during the Assembly Phase should be dropped at once. They should all come out and land in one of the three cube trays. If a cube gets stuck, just shake the tower a little until it falls into a tray.

Next, you handle any Blight attacks that may occur. Resolve these attacks if there are any.

Then, you sleeve any advancement onto a card in your hand. You can also use the abilities of locations or resolve effects of contacts in your hand, including the contact on the advancement you just sleeved.

Finally, you discard any cards you no longer want or need.

Remember, this phase is where most of the action happens in Edge of Darkness. So make sure you follow these steps to keep the game moving forward and enjoy all the exciting gameplay it has to offer!

Important: Please ensure that you don’t drop the cubes in your Threat Zone they will be dropped in the next round.

Note: The cubes should be dropped randomly into and out of the tower. Please don’t try to drop them in a way that will cause a specific outcome.

When you drop these cubes, there is a possibility of a Blight attack. If this happens, the attack is resolved immediately. Sometimes, there won’t be an attack, and you can continue with your turn.

Now, let me explain the rules for resolving Blight attacks. These attacks are triggered when a certain number of cubes, based on the number of players, are in a single tray at any time during the game. Here are the thresholds for each player count:

– 2 Players: 6 or more cubes

– 3 Players: 7 or more cubes

– 4 Players: 8 or more cubes

So here’s what happens: when this condition is met, the card connected to the tray goes on the offensive. And here’s the twist – the attack targets the player or players who have the most cubes of that specific color in their trays. Simple, right? Well, let’s dive a bit deeper.

If only one color has the highest number of cubes, the attack is directed at the player with that color. However, if multiple colors are tied for first place, things get interesting. In that case, every player holding the tied colors becomes a target of the attack. But wait, there’s more. If the notorious black cubes are leading or tied for first place, everyone is in the firing line.

Note: When a card attacks, it attacks as a unified menace that combines all the risks associated with it, instead of each individual risk.

Note: When multiple players are targeted by the same threat, it affects each player with its full force. Whether one player successfully defends against the threat or not has no bearing on the damage inflicted on other players. If needed, resolve attacks in a clockwise manner, starting with the current player.

Note: If multiple cards attack on the same turn, handle each attack one by one, from left to right.



You’re probably wondering what’s so special about the Gilded Leaves. Well, let me tell you. This game takes the classic cube puzzle and turns it on its head. It’s a game that challenges your logical thinking and problem-solving skills, all while being lots of fun.

So, what makes the Gilded Leaves so unique? It’s the way the cubes are designed. Each cube is adorned with a different pattern, and the challenge is to arrange the cubes in such a way that no two patterns of the same color are next to each other. Sounds simple, right? Well, think again.

The Gilded Leaves adds an extra twist to the traditional cube puzzle. You see, some patterns are more common than others. In fact, there are more green cubes than any other color. This makes it even trickier to find a solution. You’ll have to really use your brain power and strategically position the cubes to solve the puzzle.

But don’t worry, you’re not alone in this quest. The Gilded Leaves comes with a handy guide that provides step-by-step instructions and tips to help you on your journey. It’s like having a puzzle-solving guru right by your side, ready to lend a helping hand.

With its beautiful design and challenging gameplay, the Gilded Leaves is the perfect game for puzzle enthusiasts of all ages. Whether you’re a seasoned pro or just starting out, this game will keep you entertained for hours on end.



I have some exciting news for all the players of Gilded Leaves and Carnival of Shadows! The game is about to get even more intense, as a fierce battle is about to erupt. It seems that green and red cubes are in a tie for the top spot, making them the prime targets for attacks.



Every player gets attacked because black cubes are tied for the highest number.

Once an attack is dealt with, the attacking card is thrown away (if it’s yours, it goes to your Guild Hall), and a new card is revealed (taken from the bottom of the deck and put in its place with its Blight side showing).

It’s possible for the deck to run out of cards at this point, but there are still empty spaces in the tower.

As always, you have the option to shuffle the Discard pile and refill the deck right away. This also allows you to immediately refill the cards in the tower. Alternatively, you can wait until the end of your turn.

If you choose to wait, the tower will be refilled at the end of your turn, after the deck is refilled. Remember, you never put cards from the Street into the tower.

Dealing with Damage



When the Blight side of the card strikes, it’s not just the individual threats on it that attack you – the whole Blight is coming for you. It’s like a team effort, with all the threats combining their powers to take you down. So, the Damage you take is the total of all the Damage from each threat on the card.

Now, let’s talk about what happens when an attack hits you. First, the cubes associated with the card go off to the side. They pile up there until there are no more cubes left in the bag, at which point they all go back into the bag.

Next, if a threat successfully deals 1 or more Damage to you, you’ll move your token on the Defense track down one space. This track is on the right side of your Player board, and it keeps track of how well you’re defending yourself.

For example, let’s say two cards attack and both of them hit you. In that case, you’ll move down 2 spaces on your Defense track.

Here’s an example to make it clearer:

Damage = 2+3 = 5.

If you can’t defend against all the Damage, you’ll drop down 1 space on your Defense track.

Remember: It doesn’t matter how much Damage the attack deals – if you can’t defend against all of it, you’ll lose 1 space on your Defense track.

When you encounter dangerous situations in the game, like an attack from a threat, certain location boards, such as the “Watchtower” and “The Citywatch,” can help you minimize the damage you take. By reducing the damage, you can avoid suffering the full effects of the attack.

Here’s something important to remember: if you successfully reduce all the damage caused by an attack, you have successfully defended yourself against the threat! In fact, you even earn 1 Reputation for your successful defense. No need to move your Defense Track token down a spot.

Another important thing to note is that your Battle Strength doesn’t actually reduce damage. It’s only useful for defeating threats when you decide to “hunt” them.

Let’s talk about some other actions you can take in the game, like sleeving an Advancement, using abilities, and resolving effects. Some of these actions are mandatory when the situation calls for it, while others are optional.

Once I drop the cubes and deal with any Blight attacks, it’s time to sleeve an advancement. Sleeving advancements is an important step in the game and should usually be done before using abilities or resolving effects. However, there may be times when it’s better to wait until later in the turn.

In addition to sleeving advancements, I can also use the abilities of locations and resolve effects of contacts in my hand. The great thing is that I’m never forced to resolve a contact effect or use a location ability. It’s completely up to me. I can choose to resolve some, all, or none of them.

When it comes to resolving these abilities and effects, I can do so in any order I want. For example, I can resolve an effect on contact A, then use the ability of location B, and then resolve the effect of contact C. The order is entirely up to me. And the best part is that location abilities and contact effects on my Guild cards, as well as Neutral cards in my hand, don’t cost anything to resolve.

If you want to deal with the effects on cards in your hand that belong to someone else, you need to give them 1 Coin for each effect you want to deal with. Keep in mind that you have to give them the Coin before you can deal with the effect.

For instance, let’s say you don’t have any Coins. In that case, you can’t deal with an effect on another player’s card, even if that effect would give you Coins.



My Rewritten Version:

Imagine you are playing as the Gilded Leaves (green) player, and you want to deal with the contact effects on this card. In order to resolve both effects, you will need to pay the Carnival of Shadows (red) player 2 Coins.

But wait, there’s another option. You can choose to only resolve the bottom effect. In that case, you would only need to pay them 1 Coin.

How to Use Player Aid Tokens



Hey there! Let me tell you about player aid tokens. They may not have any specific rules, but they sure can come in handy when it’s time to get organized during your turn.

When it’s your Action Phase, you can use these tokens to keep track of the effects and abilities you’re resolving. It helps to stay organized and on top of things!

But these tokens aren’t just useful during your turn. They can also be used when it’s not your turn to plan out your sequence of abilities and effects. This helps save time and keeps the game moving smoothly.

What Are Effects and Abilities?

If you want the full list of abilities, effects, and threats for each location board, you can find it in the Player Handbook (p.19). But let me give you a quick overview of the symbols used on them.

Agents



Hey there! Let me explain what this icon means. When you see this icon, it represents Agents who have received training. If the icon is labeled with “untrained,” it means those Agents are positioned to the side of your Player board and have not been trained yet.

This icon can come up in different situations. For instance, on contact effects, threat rewards, or location abilities, if the icon appears without a number, it means you have one Agent available. However, if the icon is accompanied by a number (positive, negative, or zero), it represents that specific number of Agents you can use.

Sending out your Agents



Dispatching trained Agents of your Guild is when you send them to a specific location linked to the effect or ability you’re using. It’s as simple as taking your Agents from your pool of trained Agents and placing them at that location. The number next to the icon tells you how many Agents you can send. You can have as many Agents as you want at the same location.

Remember: Make sure you send your Agents to the correct location for the ability or effect. For example, if you dispatch Agents because of the University Professor contact, they must go to the Guildmark University location. This rule is important to understand the game.

Important: Only trained Agents from your Guild are allowed to be dispatched.



Let me tell you about something really cool called the Citywatch in a game called Edge of Darkness. The Commander of the Citywatch allows me to send up to 2 trained Agents from my Guild to the Citywatch. It’s like having my own little team!

But don’t worry, my Agents always come back. They’re not gone forever! I can just bring them back whenever I want.

Isn’t that awesome? I love being able to send my Agents on missions and have them return safely. It makes the game even more exciting!



Hey there! Let’s talk about this cool icon I’ve got here. This icon is all about bringing back your trained agents from a specific location related to the action or ability you’re using. So, what you wanna do is take your agents from that location and put them in your Trained Agents pool. The number that comes after the icon tells you how many agents you can bring back.

Remember: When using a special ability or resolving an effect, you need to return your Agents from the location where the ability is being used or the effect is being resolved. For example, if the War Council location’s ability is being used, you must return your Agents from there. If the Millhollow Landowner contact’s effect is being resolved, you must return your Agents from the Millhollow Farm Town location.

Keep in mind: Even after returning your Agents, you can use them again later in the same turn if you have an ability or effect that allows you to do so. This strategic management of your Agents can lead to exciting and powerful combinations!

Train Your Agent



Hey there! Let’s talk about this cool icon that you see here. It’s all about training your Agents and getting some sweet Victory Points in return. Here’s how it works:

If you have any untrained Agents left, you can choose one of them and move them from the side of your Player board into the Trained Agents pool. This means they are now ready to rock and roll!

Now, here’s the exciting part. At the end of the game, your trained Agents are going to help you score some Victory Points. The more trained Agents you have, the more points you’ll get. So don’t forget to train them up!

Claim Allegiance (of A Neutral Card)



Hey there! Let me explain what these icons mean. This particular icon represents claiming the Allegiance of a Neutral card. Don’t worry, I’ll break it down for you. When you claim Allegiance to a Neutral card, it means that you are aligning yourself with that card. Cool, right? And here’s how it works. If you still have any of your Guild’s Allegiance slips left, you can take one of them and put it on a Neutral card. Now, which Neutral card you claim the Allegiance of is always specified, so keep an eye out for that information. It could be mentioned in the Street or in your hand, for example.

Now, here’s something important that you need to know. At the end of the game, the cards with your Guild banner, also known as your Guild cards, are worth Victory Points. So make sure to keep track of those!

Remember: You can only claim the Allegiance of a Neutral card. Once a card has an Allegiance slip on it, it can’t change sides throughout the game. So choose wisely!

Battle Strength

This cool icon you see here is Battle Strength. It’s like a power meter that you can boost up with different effects and abilities. There’s a bunch of ways to gain Battle Strength, but the easiest is by recruiting Citizens. Each Citizen gives you 1 Battle Strength. Pretty simple, right? But here’s the thing: Battle Strength doesn’t do anything on its own. It’s just a number that you need to hunt threats. And if you don’t use the Battle Strength you have, it disappears when your turn is over. So make sure you use it! When you see this icon with no number next to it, it means you get 1 Battle Strength. But if there’s a number before it, like a 0 or a plus or a minus, then it means “that amount of Battle Strength.” Got it? Awesome.

Go on the Hunt

Use unresolved cards to get your agents back or activate street effects

Throughout the game, you might encounter turns where the cards in your hand don’t offer any clear advantages. Don’t worry, though! There are a few choices you can make during your Action Phase turns to handle these situations.

One option is to discard a card to get one of your Agents back. During your Action Phase, if there’s a card in your hand that you haven’t resolved any effects on, you can choose to discard it. By doing so, you’ll be able to return one of your Agents from any location back to your Trained Agents pool. You can repeat this action multiple times on your turn.

It’s important to note that, other than effects with the special symbol, this is the only way to get your Agents back to your Trained Agents pool once they’ve been placed on a location.

Another option is to discard a card in order to gain an effect from the street. This means that by discarding a card, you can activate a specific effect from one of the cards in the street area. Each card in the street has a unique effect that can help you in the game. Keep in mind that the discarded card doesn’t have to match the effect you want to activate.

By having these options available to you, you’ll have more flexibility in how you approach your turns and make the most out of the cards in your hand. Don’t hesitate to use them strategically to gain an advantage in the game.

During your turn, you have the option to discard two unresolved cards from your hand. This means you didn’t activate any of the effects on those cards. If you choose to discard them, you can select one effect from any of the cards in the Street and activate it as if it were in your hand. Keep in mind that if the effect belongs to another player’s card, you still have to pay them 1 Coin.

You can perform this action multiple times during your turn. It’s important to note that when you discard a card from the Street, you don’t draw it or get rid of it. Instead, you simply activate one effect on the card, treating it like it’s in your hand. You don’t have to resolve the entire card, only one of its effects.

However, if you happen to draw the same card later in your turn using a “draw 1 card” effect, you cannot activate the effect on the card again, since it’s already in your hand.

Remember, this action is mandatory, so you must discard two unresolved cards if you have any.

Once you’ve finished everything you wanted to do during your Action Phase, it’s time to get rid of all the cards in your hand.

• If you discard a Neutral card, it goes to the Discard pile on the Game board.
• If you discard one of your cards, it goes to the Discard pile on the Game board.
• If you discard another player’s card, it goes to that player’s Guild Hall on their Player board instead of the Discard pile.

Keep in mind: regardless of when you’re told to discard cards, this rule always applies. Your cards only go to the Discard pile when you discard them from your hand. Otherwise, they go to your Guild Hall.

For instance, if one of your cards is in the tower as a threat and gets discarded because it attacked or was hunted and defeated, that card will go to your Guild Hall instead of the Discard pile.

Wrap Up the Round

After everyone has finished their turn, the round comes to an end. Pass the First Player token to the player on your right (going counterclockwise), and move the Round marker forward to the next spot on the track.

Then it’s time to start the next round. Once you reach the end of the 8th round, the game is officially finished.



The End of the Game

The game comes to a close once the last round is finished. Before we calculate the scores, I gain 1 Goodwill for every card I have in my Guild Hall or on the Street.

Next, let’s organize all the cards so that they are in front of each player. This includes the ones in the tower. Now it’s time to award additional Reputation:

1. If I have the most Reputation tokens, I earn 2 Reputation points.
2. If I have the most trained Agents, I earn 2 Reputation points.
3. If I have the most Guild cards, I earn 2 Reputation points.
4. If I am the highest on the Defense track, I earn 2 Reputation points.

If there is a tie in any of these categories, all the tied players receive 1 Reputation point instead.

Lastly, let’s calculate the Victory Points for each player:

• Trained Agents: I get 1 point for each trained agent.
• Reputation: I earn 1 point for each reputation I have.
• Slots filled on your Guild cards (including Citizens / Patricians): Each filled slot on my Guild cards gives me 1 point.
• Defense Track: Look at the Defense Track token to see how many points I have.
• Tokens: Every Coin, Influence & Goodwill token is worth 1/2 a point each.

Remember: Winning the game will give you 1/4 point.

If I have the most Victory Points, I will be the winner. If there’s a tie, we will use the following tiebreakers:

1. Whoever has the most Guild cards.
2. Whoever has the most trained Agents.
3. Whoever has the highest combined total of Coins and Influence.

If the scores are still tied, the tied Guilds will join forces to rule the city and share the victory.