View the rulebook in the Starter Kit here.
If you have rules questions, please ask them on the Legacy’s Allure subreddit or discord.
Contents
- Introduction
- Unit cards
- Ability cards
- Item cards
- Phases and victory condition
- Drafting phase
- Battle phase
- Combat
- Damage types
- Abilities
- Buffs and debuffs
- Modifiers
Introduction
Welcome to Legacy’s Allure, a customizable, card-based wargame designed for 1v1 play. In each game, you will choose what powerful warriors, beasts, and mages you wish to command on the battlefield in order to outplay your opponent. The game is won by the attacking player if they are in control of the central hex at the end of the seventh round, otherwise the defending player wins. In order to play a game with a friend, you’ll need the following:
- 1 map
- 2 decks (one for each player), also known as “kingdoms”
- Several dice or tokens to track damage, mana, and other status effects
Each kingdom is led by a single hero and has 160 gold worth of units, abilities, and items. In competitive play, you will draft an 80 gold army from this kingdom in the drafting phase and then use it against your opponent in the battle phase. Newer players are encouraged to start with the 50 gold premade armies in the Getting Started Guide, however. Before we discuss these phases, let’s learn about the three types of cards in a kingdom.
Unit Cards
There are two types of unit cards: hero and non-hero units. They look very similar, except hero unit cards do not have a gold cost. Each kingdom is a led by a single hero. This hero’s kingdom can only have units that belong to that hero’s faction unless certain items or abilities allow otherwise. Let’s go through each part of a unit card:
- Top line states the unit’s name and gold cost (unless it is a hero).
- Mana. A unit starts the battle with this amount of mana and cannot exceed this amount of mana.
- Color. The color of the card will indicate the unit’s faction.
- Ability text. Any built-in passive and active abilities are stated here. Flip the card over for keyword definitions and other helpful information.
- Bottom line states up to four numbers that refer to the hero’s basic properties.
- Power. This determines how much damage this unit deals during combat.
- Attack Range. This determines the distance (in terms of hexes) at which the unit can deal combat damage.
- Movement. This determines the distance (in terms of hexes) the unit can move on the battlefield.
- Health. A unit starts the battle with this amount of health and cannot exceed this amount of health.
Ability Cards
Ability cards state what abilities a hero has available in any given battle. Ability cards must be drafted like any other card. Let’s cover each part of an ability card:
- Name and Level. Not all abilities have levels.
- Gold Cost. states the ability gold cost.
- Owning Hero. Only that hero can use this ability.
- Ability text. This states the passive and/or active abilities granted by this ability card. Flip the card over for keyword definitions and other helpful information.
Ability cards are not placed on the battlefield even though they are considered part of the battle. They are open information and may be referenced by any player at any time. Ability cards do not affect the battlefield after the owning hero is dead.
Item Cards
Lastly, let’s look at item cards. Like ability cards, item cards affect only the hero, act as reference cards, and do not affect the battlefield after the owning hero is dead. Unlike ability cards, items do not correspond to factions. They can be used by any hero as long as the gold cost is paid and the slot requirement is met. Item cards also have a number in the middle that refers to the inventory slots consumed by the item. A hero cannot use more than 3 inventory slots worth of items.
Phases and Victory Condition
Each game of Legacy’s Allure has two phases:
- Drafting phase. This is where each player chooses what units, abilities, and items will be used in battle.
- Battle phase. This is where each player utilizes their units, abilities, and items to seek victory.
Victory is achieved for the attacking player only if they control the central hex at the end of the 7th round. Otherwise, the defending player wins.
Roll a die to determine who is the attacking player. The high roller is the attacking player.
Drafting Phase
- The attacking player selects any number of cards from their kingdom and places them onto the battlefield (if the card is a unit) or next to the battlefield (if the card is an item or ability).
- A player may only place units on the two rows of hexes closest to them.
- The defending player also selects any number of cards, so long as the selected cards cause their in-play gold total to match or exceed the attacking player’s gold total.
- A player’s hero card counts for zero gold.
- Players go back and forth choosing cards in this way until both have hit the 80 gold army limit or announce that their army is complete.
- Place a mana counter on all units that have mana. Mana is usually tracked with blue six-sided dice.
- Place a +1 Shield buff on the center hex. The first unit to end their turn on this hex receives the +1 Shield buff.
Battle Phase
Let the battle begin! In this phase, players take turns performing a single action with one of their units, starting with the attacking player. The three types of actions a player can choose from include:
- Move. Move a unit up to X hexes away from its original location, where X equals that unit’s movement.
- By default, units cannot move through other units.
- Attack. Attacking is the primary way in which you’ll deal damage during the battle phase. See the Combat section for more details.
- Use active ability. Pay the cost of the ability, if there is one, and then do what the ability says. Ranged abilities are not blocked by other units.
Every unit has one action each round, by default. After a unit has used its action, it becomes exhausted. This is indicated on the map by turning it clockwise 90deg. Once all units that can act are exhausted, the round ends. At the start of the next round, units are refreshed (by turning them counter-clockwise 90deg), status effects are updated as necessary, and the player who last performed an action in the previous round acts second in the new round.
Other important points about actions:
- Players will frequently not have an equal number of actions to use per round. That means that one player might complete all of their actions, whereas the other player has many actions remaining. When this happens, the player with the remaining actions gets to take multiple turns one right after the other.
- Players may also skip a unit’s action in lieu of moving, attacking, or using an ability. When they do this, that unit still consumes an action. Skipping an action does not count as performing an action. Consequently, a player can skip actions to ensure that they act first in the next round.
Lastly, although units can occupy the same hex as other units during a turn (e.g., while moving through a hex or during melee combat), units cannot occupy the same hex as other units at the end of the turn. Any action that results in this situation is considered illegal.
Combat
- Combat includes attacking and retaliating.
- Combat begins when a unit attacks an enemy unit.
- Whenever a unit attacks, it deals damage equal to its power to the defender, minus any reductions.
- There are two kinds of attacks: melee and ranged.
- Melee attacks require that the attacker is adjacent to the defender and has at least 1 movement point remaining. The movement point is necessary because the attacker must move into the defender’s hex when attacking.
- If a melee attacker kills a defender, the melee attacker remains in the defender’s hex.
- If a melee attacker does not kill the defender, the defender pushes the attacker back to the adjacent hex from which the attack was initiated.
- If a melee attacker does not kill a defender, the defender retaliates.
- When a unit retaliates, it deals damage equal to its power to the attacker, minus any reductions.
- Ranged attacks require that the defender is within the attacking unit’s attack range.
- Ranged attacks follow the shortest possible path to the target. If multiple shortest possible paths exist, the attacker chooses the path.
- Ranged attacks are not blocked by other units.
- The defender does not retaliate.
- Melee attacks require that the attacker is adjacent to the defender and has at least 1 movement point remaining. The movement point is necessary because the attacker must move into the defender’s hex when attacking.
Damage Types
Damage, which is usually tracked with a red six-sided die, comes in three types: physical, magical, and pure. Their sources and counters are as follows:
- Physical damage is dealt during combat unless otherwise specified. Physical damage is reduced by Armor.
- Magical damage is dealt by abilities unless otherwise specified. Magical damage is reduced by Magic Resist.
- Pure damage is dealt by units with certain special abilities. Pure damage is guaranteed damage and cannot be reduced by any effect.
Abilities
Abilities come in two types: active and passive abilities.
- Active abilities
- Active abilities are always written in this format in the ability text section of a card: [Ability Name] – [Ability Cost]/[Ability Range]: [Ability Effect]
- Active abilities consume an action when used.
- Passive abilities
- Passive abilities are always written as a keyword or a sentence in the ability text section of a card.
- Passive abilities are always in effect and do not require an action in order to be used.
Buffs and Debuffs
Many abilities result in status effects that can be referred to as buffs or debuffs.
- A buff is any status effect placed on a unit by one of its allies, excluding exhaustion, damage, and mana.
- A debuff is any status effect placed on a unit by one of its enemies, excluding exhaustion, damage, and mana.
- Buffs and debuffs are tracked using a physical component, usually a colored die or token:
- White dice are usually used for buffs.
- Black dice are usually used for debuffs other than Burn or Poison.
- Yellow dice are usually used for Burn counters.
- Green dice are usually used for Poison counters.
Modifiers
Some items and abilities modify the numerical value of properties and abilities. The format of the modifier determines whether the value is stacking or non-stacking. Numerical values stack when an ability grants “+X Property” but not when an ability grants “Property X”. In the latter case, the higher value always takes precedence. Examples:
- If a unit with Armor 1 gains +1 Armor, it now has Armor 2.
- If a unit with Armor 1 gains Armor 1, it still has Armor 1.
- If a unit with Armor 1 gains Armor 2, it now has Armor 2.