How to Play Panomachea

Release 1.2Panomachea is a battle, card-capture game for 2-5 people ages 10 and up.Players are randomly dealt hands of Fighter Cards and Tyche Cards with the goal of capturing as many of their opponents’ cards as possible.Before we start, here are some terms you’ll see get tossed around a lot.Game: a series of Battles after which all points are tallied and a winner determinedBattle: Fighter Cards and Tyche Cards are dealt according to the number of players. A Battle consists of playing Rounds until the players run out of Fighter Cards. At the end of each Battle the cards are shuffled and dealt again, and the points are tracked by the Dealer.Round: an instance where all players play a Fighter Card and the winning card on the field captures the others. The number of Rounds in a Battle is equal to the number of Fighter Cards dealt to each player (for example, a Battle with 4 players has 8 Rounds).

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Set Up & Deal

At the start of the game, one person is to be designated the Dealer. The Dealer will distribute all the cards at the start of the game but also manage a number of game elements, like randomly dealing a new World Card when necessary or placing Tyche cards in the Burn Pile after they are used.The Dealer can remain the same person between Battles or rotate depending on the preferences of the players. The Dealer can also be a spectator who is not otherwise participating in the game.Depending on the number of players, here's how the Dealer deals.

Panomachea has three types of cards, Fighter, Tyche and World Cards.

The World Cards are not dealt to the players. Instead the Dealer shuffles the World Card and randomly deals one to sit at the center of the Field. The Dealer will do the same each time a Tyche Card calls for a World Change or a Fighter Card of a suit different than the current World wins the Round.

Players should generally keep their Tyche Cards and Fighter Cards separate. The area in front of a player usually has three stacks: Fighter Cards, Tyche Cards and Bank (the cards a player has captured from others by winning a Round).

Figure 1 - With four players, 8 Fighter Cards and 4 Tyche Cards.

The Four Suits

There are four different suits in Panomachea, and each Fighter belongs to one of the suits.The primary feature of a suit is that each has a World Card that boosts their Power Level by 3. The Power Level is the number in the bottom left corner of each Fighter Card. The higher number, the more powerful the card. For example, Hephaestus has a Power Level of 13.

But when the World Card Erebos is on the Field, he gets a +3 boost and his Power Level becomes 16.Each suit has a World Card that boosts its Power Level, and the cards correspond in color.

Fighter Cards

Each Fighter Card is a character with a Power Level and a connection to a suit. The Power Levels range from 2-15, but a World Boost, Tyche Cards or the Special Abilities of other Fighter Cards could make that number go up or down. Pay close attention to the Special Ability at the bottom of the card. It can give you an unexpected advantage against other, more powerful cards.You'll also see an icon (like the little crown) that indicate the Fighter's Class. This is related to scoring, not battle. So see more about that in the Scoring section.

Playing a Round

A Battle consists of as many Rounds as there are Fighter Cards dealt at the start. So in a given Round, each player will only play one Fighter Card from his hand. The card with the highest Power Level once all boosts (or "drains" which is used here to mean any effect that reduces a Power Level) and Special Abilities are accounted for. See the Special Abilities section for a fuller explanation of individual abilities beyond what is written on the cards.Each player must play a card in order, rotating clockwise around the table. Typically, the player to the left of the Dealer plays first. Playing first in a round is the most difficult. You must lead and put down a card that all other players will be able to see and respond to. The person who "goes first" in the Round is called the Vanguard. And the Vanguard Role rotates clockwise around the table at the start of each new Round. So if there are four players, each person will be Vanguard 25% of the game.If you have the collectible Vanguard Coin, you can keep track of the Vanguard Role by sliding the coin to the next player at the start of each Round. But it's also easy enough to keep track of with a simple "it's your turn."

If the Vanguard Role sounds tough, don't worry. There are methods built into the game to help a player navigate the Vanguard Role. Mostly through the use of Tyche Cards. Tyche Cards are designed to change your fortune, and each player can play up to 2 Tyche Cards per Round during his turn before or with a Fighter Card. As soon as a Fighter Card is down and the player's hand has left it, that player's turn is over.

Figure 2 - A randomly chosen World Card is placed at the center by the Dealer. Players keep their Tyche Cards and Fighter Cards separate.

Figure 3 - In this example, the Vanguard (who goes first) plays his card covered by the Deception Tyche Card so other players cannot see his card.
The second player throws out a low level sea card, accepting a loss on the round.
The third player plays a PL 9 Achilles, which rises to PL12 with the World Boost.
The final player has nothing to beat Achilles and tosses out a low level Beast card.

Figure 4 - After the last player puts down his Fighter Card, the Vanguard player of this Round removes the Deception card, revealing Hephaestus underneath. At PL 13+3, he takes the Round.

Tyche Cards

Tyche Cards can be played during the Round prior to or with a player’s Fighter Card. In most cases, a player can play multiple Tyche cards if desired, but the limit per round per player is 2.Here's each Tyche Card and its effects.

Ambrosia can be played with a Fighter Card to boost its Power Level. Every Ambrosia added is a +3 to the power of the Fighter Card.Text

Worlds Away can be played to change the World Card at the center of the Field of Battle.When the card is played, the other three World Cards are shuffled and the Dealer deals one of those three to replace the currently active World Card.This can greatly shift the balance of power in a round by changing the suit receiving a Power Level boost.

Theft allows the player to steal a banked card from an opponent (one that the opponent has previously captured). The player can steal from any opponent, and draws blindly from that opponent’s banked cards.The stolen card then becomes part of the player’s Active Hand (cards available for play) and can be used in a round normally, including the round in which the card was stolen (so you can play the card immediately if you want).However, stealing a card means you also have to give one up. So after a player uses Theft and draws a card from the opponent's bank, he can look at the card and either give it to the Dealer for the Burn Pile (if he doesn’t want it) or burn one of his other cards in order to keep the stolen card.

Zephyr also changes the World Card using an identical process to Worlds Away. But Zephyr also has a second effect.At the time Zephyr is played, all the other cards currently on the Field of Battle are blown back into the hands of their respective owners.This essentially starts the round over (the Vanguard Role does not change. The same player again goes first). However, none of the cards blown away by the Zephyr can be used again in that round (except Tyche Cards and any Fighter whose Special Ability will leave them unaffected).

Deception is ideally used in either the Vanguard Role or in the second position, as it allows the player to lay down a card without showing which card has been played.The player instead covers the Fighter Card with the Deception card and is under no obligation to reveal it until the end of the round when all other players have played their own Fighters.

Oracle is one of two Tyche Cards that can only be played by the Round's Vanguard.When played, all the opponents must choose a card of their own and lay them down simultaneously. Then, after seeing all the cards played by the opponents, the player who invoked the Oracle card can play last.Oracle hijacks the Round, and no other Tyche Cards can be played by any player after the Oracle has been invoked.

Chaos can also only be played in the Vanguard Role.When the Chaos card is played, all players draw a Fighter Card blindly from the opponent to his left and lays that card down, face down, for the opponent. Then the cards are revealed, and whatever will be, will be.No other Tyche cards can be played in a round after Chaos has been invoked.

Ending the Round

Once each player has put down a Fighter Card, the highest Power Level accounting for all boosts, drains and special abilities wins the Round.The winner takes all the Fighter Cards on the Field and places them in his Bank (a stack separate from his hand of Fighter Cards and Tyche Cards).All Tyche Cards used during the Round are taken by the Dealer and placed in the Burn Pile, not to be used again until the next Battle (when all cards are re-dealt).The World Card does not change automatically at the end of a Round. It only changes if forced to do so by a Tyche Card during the Round or if the winning Fighter Card is of a different suit than the World Card. If so, the World Card is replaced by the World corresponding to the winning suit. All other changes to the World Card are random.After the Round is over, the Vanguard Role shifts to the next player and the new Round begins (unless the Fighter Cards have run out).

Special Abilities

Special Abilities are written at the bottom of each Fighter Card. Some are unique, some are common. Here's some of the common phrases you'll see.Steals Victory
When ATHENA “Steals Victory” from ZEUS, it means that ZEUS must be the winner of the Round (have the highest Power Level overall) in order for the ability to take effect.When ZEUS wins, whether boosted by Ambrosia, a Beast Card, or any other circumstance, that victory is transferred to ATHENA. If ZEUS does not win, the ability has no effect.This applies the same to all cards with “Steals Victory” abilities.

+7 when played with (name of Beast Card)Some Fighter Cards receive a special boost from a particular Beast (Beasts can be played with a Fighter only AFTER they have been captured. See the Beast Bank Section for an explanation). Rather than simply adding together the Power Level of the Fighter and the Beast Cards, the ability replaces that effect.These are also the only circumstances where a Fighter Card can use a Beast Card of a different suit.Unique Abilities (that probably require more explanation)AJAX
+5 When Player has 2 or fewer Fighter CardsIf a player is still holding AJAX when he has two or fewer Fighter Cards left in the hand (including AJAX) then his Power Level is boosted +5.ARES
Prevents Worlds Away from Being PlayedOnce Ares has been played and is on the Field of Battle, no Worlds Away Tyche Card can be played until that Round is over.ATLAS
Cannot be blown from the Field by ZephyrZephyr blows all cards back into the hands of their respective players, the World changes randomly and the Round effectively starts over. Atlas is immune to this. He does not return to hand even if the player would prefer to have him back and play a different card.If ATLAS is hidden under a Deception Card, the Deception Card is blown back to the hand, revealing ATLAS...and leaving him there.CASSANDRA
Removes any Deception Card on the FieldWhen CASSANDRA is played, any Deception Card currently active is removed, revealing the card beneath. That Deception Card goes to the hand of the player who deployed CASSANDRA, and can be used again.If another Deception Card is played while Cassandra is on the Field it will suffer the same fate.HADES
If Hades wins all players are dealt a new cardIf the HADES card wins a round (and does not have victory stolen from him) each player will be dealt a random card from the Fighters that were not used during the original deal. This lengthens the Battle by one Round.HELIOS
Also gets Location Boost from OuranosHELIOS gets +3 boost when Erebos (Fire) is the active location like any Fire suit card, but also receives the same boost from Ouranos (Sky) just like any Sky suit card.HERMES
Can be replayed after Zephyr with no delayWhen Zephyr blows all the cards from the Field, none of the Fighters blown from the Field can be played again during that same Round. HERMES is the exception. He can be played again immediately if the player desires.NIKE
Neutralizes Location Boost for the RoundNIKE removes any boost effect from the World Card, regardless of which World is currently active.POSEIDON
Double Boost from AmbrosiaAmbrosia gives any other Fighter Card a +3 Power Level boost, but POSEIDON receives +6. That means that if played with two Ambrosia cards (the maximum possible with the two Tyche card limit per round per player) he receives a +12 boost.

Beast Bank

One general ability for all Fighter Cards is the ability to be paired with Beast Cards that have been been captured by the player (only captured Beasts can be used this way, Beast Cards in the player’s hand can only be deployed as standard Fighters).This is called the Beast Bank. The player can take any Beast card from his Bank of captured cards and pair it with a Fighter Card of the same suit (the Fighter and Beast card must be the same suit unless an individual ability indicates otherwise) and add their Power Levels together.For example, if I play PERSEUS (PL 9, Hero, Sky) and I have the SPHINX (PL 5, Beast, Sky) in my Bank, having been captured in a previous Round, I can play the two cards together, boosting PERSEUS to a PL of 14.If PERSEUS wins the Round, the other players’ cards will be captured and go into the Bank, except the SPHINX is “burned” and goes to the Dealer’s Burn Pile.If PERSEUS still loses the Round, the winner of that Round will capture both PERSEUS and the SPHINX.So each time you use a Beast from the Beast Bank, you’re sacrificing the points of that Beast card for a chance of more points by winning the Round.A Beast Card is indicated by the paw print symbol in its bottom left corner.

Scoring

Each Player calculates his score at the end of the game when all Fighter Cards have been exhausted.Each Fighter Card has a symbol on it that corresponds to a certain point number.Basileus Card (Crown with confetti)
4 PointsImmortal Card (Crown)
3 PointsHero Card (Helmet)
2 PointsBeast Card (Paw)
1 PointTyche Cards left in the hand at the end of the game are worth -2 points (they deduct points). It’s wisest to use all your Tyche cards prior to the end of the game.Each player's score can be recorded at the end of the Battle and as many Battles as desired played for a full Game. Highest score wins.

Unusual Happenings (& How to Handle Them)

This list is currently being updated as problems come up.

In the case of a tie, the players involved go into a Sudden Death mode. The Fighter Cards on the Field remain where they are, and the tied players secretly select a Fighter Card from their hand.They lay down the Fighter Card simultaneously, and whoever has the highest Power Level (with the World Card and the Special Abilities of those cards still having an effect) wins the Round.The player who wins Sudden Death captures all the cards as he normally would, but the cards used for the Sudden Death are burned and replaced by a Fighter Card dealt randomly from the deck by the Dealer. Otherwise the number of Fighter Cards each player has in his hand will become unequal.