BattleBoard Rules
BattleBoard is played on a chess board set diagonally (like a baseball diamond) between two players. The corner space in front of a player is their King space.
At the start of the game, the cards are mixed facedown in a box or bowl set next to the board. When cards are drawn from the card pool, it is done blindly. When cards are returned to the card pool, the entire pool is shuffled slightly, making sure to keep all cards facedown. There are two types of cards: Battlers and Magic.
Battlers move about the board and engage in Battle. A player wins the game if one of their Battlers enters their foe's King space. Each Battler card has two numbers: An Attack number in red on the left of the card and a Defend number in blue on the right of the card. Each Battler will also have a special ability.
Magic has special abilities that effect the game in various ways, as do the special abilities of each Battler.
To start the game, each player draws one card from the card pool, comparing both cards to decide who will take the first turn. If one player has a Battler card and the other player has a Magic card, the player with the Battler card will take the first turn. If both players have Battler cards, compare the Attack numbers of both Battlers; The player whose Battler has the higher Attack number will take the first turn. If there is a tie between the Attack numbers, compare the Defend numbers of both Battlers; The player whose Battler has the higher defend number will take the first turn. If both players have Magic cards, they both draw again. After it is determined which player will take the first turn, return all drawn cards to the card pool.
The player who goes first draws six cards which they keep as their hand (held in hand with their blank backs to the opposite player). The player who goes second then draws sux cards which they keep as their hand. Both players then place three of their cards facedown, one in each of the three spaces adjacent to their respective King space. The first player then takes their first turn, after which the second player takes their turn; Both turns equal a round. Players continue to take turns alternately until the game ends.
The first part of a player's turn is the Draw phase. The player draws one card from the card pool and adds it to their hand.
The second part of a player's turn is the Place phase. The player may place one of their cards facedown from their hand into any space that is next to their King space and does not already have a card in it (A player therefore cannot place a card on their first turn). A facedown card is inactive; It is not identified as a Battler or Magic yet, and cannot use it's special ability. A player can look at their own inactive cards at any time.
The third and final part of a player's turn is the Move phase. During this phase, a player may make any of their cards active by turning them face up to reveal the card as Battler or Magic. An active card's special ability goes into effect once it becomes active. During the Move phase, the player can also move his cards any direction on the board, though a player cannot normally move one of their cards into their own King space. When a card moves, it moves to a space next to the space it is in; Both spaces must share a line between them which the card crosses to get to the other space (as in, no diagonal movement, just side to side). An inactive card can move one space, though it cannot move into a King space. If an inactive card moves into the same space as another card, it becomes active, which also happens if an inactive or active card moves into it's space. An active Battler can move one space; If it moves into a foe's King space, the player who the Battler belongs to wins the game. An active Magic cannot move normally. When moving, a player may only have one of their Battler cards and one of their Magic cards in the same space at the same time, and no more than one Battler and/or one Magic card in each space.
If both players have Battlers in the same space, they do Battle. The player who moved their Battler into the space compares their Battler's Attack number to their foe player's Battler's Defend number. If the Attack number is greater than the Defend number, the foe player's Battler is discarded to the card pool. If the Attack number is less than the Defend number, the player's Battler is discarded to the card pool. If both the Attack and the Defend numbers are equal, both players' Battlers are discarded to the card pool.
A player may activate, move, and Battle with their cards in any order during the Move phase, though a card cannot normally activate more than once a turn, move more than once a turn, or Battle more than once a turn. After a player has activated, moved, and Battled their cards all they can (or wish to) in the Move phase, their turn ends and it becomes the other player's turn.
Special abilities are individual rules on the cards that override the normal rules and effect gameplay in unique ways. The following list describes all the aspects of the special abilities of the cards, and how they are applied to the rules to effect gameplay:
Special Activation - This ability and it's respective card becomes active in a different way than normal, either from a player's hand or while facedown and inactive on the board, sometimes triggered by a specified condition, sometimes triggerred by a player's choice.
Special Movement - This ability either increases the number of spaces a card can move in a turn, allows a Magic card to move like a Battler card, or moves a card to a specified space on the board.
Attack Effect - A specified Battler's Attack number is increased or decreased. No Attack number can go above 10 or below 1. If one of these abilities comes with a specified condition, the increase or decrease ceases to be once that condition is no longer being met. Unless stated otherwise, any increase or decrease ends when the card with this ability is discarded or returned to a player's hand.
Defend Effect - A specified Battler's Defend number is increased or decreased. No Defend number can go above 10 or below 1. If one of these abilities comes with a specified condition, the increase or decrease ceases to be once that condition is no longer being met. Unless stated otherwise, any increase or decrease ends when the card with this ability is discarded or returned to a player's hand.
Special Battle - A Battler or Magic card can make a special attack to engage in Battle in a different way to the normal Battle rules.
Effect Card - An ability that effects a card effects both active and inactive cards. An inactive card does not normally become active when effected by this ability; If an inactive card is revealed face up due to one of this ability, it goes back to being facedown and inactive after the ability is done taking effect.
Effect Battler - This special ability only effects Battlers, both active and inactive, although only active Battlers can be specifically targeted, with inactive cards only being effected if the ability states that it effects all Battlers on the board and/or in a player's hand.
Effect Magic - This special ability only effects active Magics, both active and inactive, although only active Magics can be specifically targeted, with inactive cards only being effected if the ability states that it effects all Magic on the board and/or in a player's hand.
Draw Card - The player draws a card (or cards) from the card pool and either adds it to his hand or uses is it for another effect before discarding it back to the card pool.
Draw Battler - The player draws a card until they get a Battler card, discarding any Magic card drawn.
Draw Magic - The player draws a card until they get a Magic card, discarding any Battler card drawn.
Discard Card - A card is discarded to the card pool from the board or a player's hand, often as part of it's own ability. A card may also be prevented from being discarded.
Discard Battler - An active Battler is discarded from the board or an inactive Battler is discarded from a player's hand.
Discard Magic - An active Magic is discarded from the board or an inactive Magic is discarded from a player's hand.
Look Effect - A player may look at a card (or cards) in another player's hand or facedown on the board.
Take Effect - A Battler or Magic is taken from the control of one player and given to the other player to control, either into the player's hand or onto the board.
Place Effect - A player may place extra cards in addition to the one card they can place during their turn, or they may place cards in spaces other than the spaces next to their King space. Or, a player may be limited in placing cards during their turn or a specified card may be limited from being placed.
King Effect - An ability that can move a player's card (or cards) into their respective King space, change the location of their King space, or is triggerred by a foe's King space.
Special Defense - A Magic card with a designated Defend number that is Battled as though a Battler and is discarded from losing a Battle. Such a Magic card treats a tie as a loss in Battle. a foe's Battler that enters the same space as a Magic card with this ability may normally choose not to engage it in Battle.
Special Attack - A Magic card with a designated Attack number can attack as though a Battler.
Alter Battle - This ability can change a Battle result into a loss, win, or tie.
Lose Turn - A player loses their next turn or their current turn ends.
Return Card - A card is returned to a player's hand.
Card Condition - An ability that takes effect in conjunction with another card.
Space Limitation - More than one Battler, Magic, or inactive card can be in the same space. Or, a specified card cannot be allowed in a designated space.
Corner Condition - An ability that involves a corner space refers to any of the 4 spaces that make up the corners of the chess board, including the 2 respective King spaces of each player.
Cancel Ability - A specified card's special ability can no longer be used to effect gameplay.
Retreat Effect - This ability allows a Battler to move in retreat to an adjacent space after losing a Battle instead of being discarded. If there is no adjacent space available that the Battler could normally move to, the Battler is discarded. If any Battler avoids being discarded due to this ability, they must retreat from the same space as the Battler that won the Battle or else be discarded as normal.
Choose Condition - A player must make a choice between Battler or Magic in regards to how a special ability will take effect. Other choices may include various ways an ability will take effect or which cards get effected.
Ignore Ability - A specified special ability of a card (or cards) does not take effect for a designated amount of time in turns or rounds. Once the duration ends, the ability immediately takes effect.
Avoid Battle - A Battler or Magic is immune to normal Battle rules, and can be in the same space as a foe player's Battler without engaging in or being engaged in Battle.
Time Limitation - An ability that only lasts a designated number of turns or rounds.
Special Inactivation - A specified active card (or cards) becomes inactive again.
Off Board - A specified card (or cards) is placed to the side of the board; It is still considered part of the game.
Range Limitation - An ability that only effects cards within a designated number of spaces, which does not include the space the respective Battler or Magic is in unless specified. When range is being determined, move rules for a Battler (or moving Magic) are counted if it the term 'move' is used int he ability's description. Otherwise, diagonal spaces may be counted within the range without move restrictions.
Give Effect - A player must give one or more of their cards to the other player.
Unavoidable Attack - Allows a Battler to engage in Battle regardless of other special abilities.
Optional Choice - Any special ability that offers more than one choice for how it takes effect normally has it's options decided upon by the player that controls the card with the special ability, unless specified otherwise.
Any time two special abilities directly conflict each other (as in, they cannot be resolved in conjunction), resolve the tie by drawing cards in the same way the first player was determined at the start of the game, unless an ability specifically says it ignores another ability. Whichever player wins the draw gets to choose how the special ability conflict is resolved, with one ability being chosen to take effect instead of the other.