There are three different guard types in the basic game. Seven in the advanced game (bow equipped versions of guards and the Roving guard).

• Setup
  • The guard on the Vault Map Tile is always a Wandering guard (red meeple). This guard isn't placed until the vault map tile is entered by a thief for the first time. The player of that thief is now responsible for moving the guard for the vault.
  • Guards start the game as either Bored (if a Stationary guard) or Interested. Place a status counter under each one to show their status.
• Movement
  • If a guard enters an Extinguished Torch hex, remove the Extinguished Torch counter, the guard has relit the torch.
  • Guards have keys and may freely move through any Special Hex.

• If a guard hears a noise (e.g. from a Thief using the Run card) it will change to Alert status if it is Distracted, Bored or Interested.
• If a guard ever spots a thief, it will change to Pursuing status. see Line of Sight
• If a guard investigates (moves into the same hex as) a Thief Marker:
  • If the Thief Marker matches the location on that thief's Location Dial - the thief is caught and out of the game.
  • If the thief is not there:
    1. but a thief is within line of sight, that thief is spotted and then pursued,
    2. but another Thief Marker is within line of sight, the guard will begin moving to investigate that Thief Marker
    3. and there is nothing within line of sight the guard changes to Returning status.

• A guard's line of sight is measured in a straight line from the centre of the hex the guard is in.
• It extends past every map tile unless it hits a wall or if it is limited by a status that shortens their line of sight (e.g. Distracted or Bored).
• All guards normally look down the row of hexes in their immediate front. If on a higher Status - this line of sight expands to a 3 hex side (180 degree) arc to their front, but does not include hexes they can only partially see (i.e. they must be able to draw an uninterrupted line to each of the 6 corners of the hex).
• A guard has line of sight into a Special Hex but not through it to the hex on the other side.

In this example - the Wandering Guard at F2 is Distracted and has no line of sight at all a thief could stand next to this guard and not be seen. the Patrolling Guard at D3 is Alert and can see off the map tile to the top left (hexes B2 and C3 etc) also the full hexes of B3 (which is a Special Hex), C4, C5, C6, D4, D5 and E6. The guard can only see parts of the hexes B5, C7, E5, E7 and F6 and so cannot spot a thief in those hexes. The guard cannot see through the Special Hex and so cannot spot a thief at A4 either. the Stationary Guard at E4 is Bored and can only see 2 hexes. It can only see hexes F4 and G5.

Guards may have the following status

Distracted	A player has played the Art Guard Card on a Bored guard. The guard does not have a line of sight to anything until the next Resources Phase. Then change the guard back to its normal status. If the guard was a Stationary type, roll to see which direction they now face. If Patrolling on a 1-3 towards the star, 4-6 towards the shield.
Bored	The default for a Stationary Guard. The guard's line of sight only extends 2 hexes.
Interested	The default for Patrolling and Wandering Guards. The guard's line of sight is a single row of hexes in front of them extending until stopped by a wall.
Alert	The guard is actively looking around. Line of sight is a 180 degree arc that includes the front three hex sides and all full hexes within that arc.
Pursuing	The guard has the same line of sight arc as an Alert guard, and has spotted a thief. The guard moves two hexes each Guards Movement Phase towards the nearest visible Thief Marker. When the guard reaches the marker, see Catching Thieves below.
Returning	The guard has failed to catch the thief and is returning via the shortest route back to their regular spot or the nearest hex of their patrol route. The guard has the same line of sight arc as Alert and Pursuing and moves 1 hex each Guards Movement Phase until it reaches its destination. Then it returns to its default status for its type

• If the guard has a bow and spots a thief no matter what the status the guard is currently in, the thief is shot and loses a wound. The guard with the bow then changes status to Pursuing as normal. If a thief loses three wounds, they are killed.
  • A guard with a bow never runs out of arrows and may wound multiple thieves at the same time if it spots more than one.

Guard with Bow	Any of the standard guard types may have a bow (white lightning meeple). Whenever this guard spots a thief, it will shoot them, causing 1 wound. The player discards a wound counter. The guard will then change to Pursuing status as normal.

• Medium Difficulty: The single guard for every map tile is now armed with a bow. No special Bow Markers are used as all default guards now have a bow.
• Hard Difficulty: Choose an additional guard armed with a bow to go on your map tile. The type of bow guard must be different to the first guard for that tile. Place a white lightning marker next to the guard that has the bow.

• The Roving guard starts the game with the status of Alert.
  • This guard is placed on the Vault Hex on the Vault Map Tile at the beginning of the game facing the nearest Thief Marker if any are visible.

Roving Guard	The Roving guard (white meeple) starts on the Vault Hex (the crown icon) on the Vault Map Tile at the beginning of the game. Each Guard Movement Phase the Roving guard moves 1 hex towards the closest Thief Marker if any have been revealed. If no Thief Markers are on the map, the Roving guard remains stationary. Roving guard default status is Alert.

• Place the Roving guard on the Vault Hex at the start of the game. The Roving guard never has a bow.

The undead may haunt unused parts of the Black Keep.

• Undead ignore guard cards that would effect guards.
• Undead do not re-light extinguished torches. They simply move over the counter and keep going.
• Undead are slow. When Pursuing they only move 1 hex.
• Undead are not interested in capturing thieves. If an undead ever enters the same hex as a thief, it causes 1 wound
• You cannot Pick Pocket the undead.

• After all guards have been placed, roll the die for each guard. On a 5 or 6, the guard is undead.