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games:card:dragonrules

Rules

Turn Sequence

  1. Fire and acid damage from a previous breath weapon attack occur with 1 less damage card being drawn.
    • This continues for 3 turns from the initial attack, or until there are no cards meant to be drawn.
    • Dragons aren't flammable - and do not get ongoing fire damage. Only things constructed of wood do (ships, biplanes).
  2. Play a facing card for each rifleman unit facedown.
    • Rifleman facing cards are only turned over when they fire. They remain face-up for the remainder of the turn.
  3. Play three cards from your manoeuvre deck facedown - one of these card may hide a speed burst card if you have one.
  4. For each of the three rounds in the turn:-
    1. Turn over the first manoeuvre card - movement occurs simultaneously
      • In cases of conflict, draw a random damage card to determine whose dragon moves first. The lower number moves first. This usually means the higher number is in a position for a melee attack or boarding action.
  5. The dragon may choose to use its breath weapon once in this turn.
    • The dragon may not target dragons that overlap it, that are at a higher elevation level or that are more than 1 level of elevation away.
    • Dragons with Divine Wind may target a dragon 1 level above them.
  6. Riflemen may fire. Reveal their facing card for the remainder of the turn.
    • Riflemen may not shoot at targets that overlap the dragon they are riding on.
    • Riflemen may fire each round.
  7. Melee attacks
  8. Boarding actions

Manoeuvre Decks

Each player receives a deck appropriate for their dragon. Dragons that can hover also receive 3 hover cards. Dragons that are speedy receive 1 speed burst card.

Hover cards are played as normal when deciding on moves for the 3 rounds. A hover card cannot be played after a steep manoeuvre card.

Speed burst cards are played on top of a normal card. When turned over, it repeats whatever card it was played on giving the dragon an effective fourth round of movement. Speed burst cards may not be played on steep cards. No dragon may have more than one speed burst card in their deck.

Steep Manoeuvres

Some dragon choices and being hit with the water breath weapon or a melee attack will cause a dragon to have an unplanned steep manoeuvre. If this occurs, the normal rule of no two consecutive steeps comes into play. If the next card for their turn is a steep manoeuvre - it gets replaced with a straight card instead. The dragon has been confused and can't continue doing a complicated manoeuvre.

Breath Weapons

Any dragon that has a breath weapon - fire, acid, water, sonic or poison may breath once per turn only. A dragon may breathe on any of the three rounds in a turn, but a dragon cannot breathe on consecutive rounds (ie round 3 of the previous turn and round 1 of this turn) - there must be at least 1 round separating breaths. The arc of fire for a breath weapon is 90 degrees to the front without penalty.

A dragon may also breathe out to the sides for a coverage of 270 degrees, but if they do so it counts as a steep manoeuvre and the damage is less severe because of the angle of their neck.

Only the Divine Wind (sonic) attack may be used on targets at a level above the dragon. Any breath weapon may be used at targets below the dragon.

If there is one level distance, remove 1 card from the amount of damage done.

No dragon may hit a target that is two levels away.

Also - unlike machine guns on planes and riflemen, a breath weapon effects all targets along its targetting ruler. No dragon may shield another dragon from a breath weapon. A breath weapon attack may damage multiple targets if they overlap the ruler.

Number of damage cards drawn

Dragon SizeFront ArcSide Arcs
Short RangeLong RangeShort RangeLong Range
Light Weight2110
Middle Weight3221
Heavy Weight4332

Riflemen

Non-courier dragons have sufficient crew to fire rifles at passing dragons.

Riflemen may fire each round in a turn.

Light weight dragons have 1 unit, Middle have 2 and Heavy weight dragons have 3 units of riflemen. Take four facing cards for each unit.

Each turn the captain decides which side each unit of riflemen will be facing. They may face any of the 4 sides. Measure the arc of fire from the centre point of the card to the corners.

Riflemen may not shoot at targets that overlap the dragon they are riding on.

Riflemen may not shoot at targets that are at short range and one or more levels below them - the dragon is in the way.

  • Optional rule - Riflemen may be placed below the dragon, making 8 sides for them to be placed. A unit below the dragon may not shoot at targets that are at short range and one or more levels higher. Take an additional 4 below facing cards for each unit

A riflemen unit draws 2 damage cards at short range and 1 at long range. A level of elevation difference reduces the cards they draw by one. Riflemen may not shoot more than one elevation away.

Melee Combat

If a dragon on the same level as its target, has the same amount of climb counters and moves into that target's space so as to overlap bases (or cards) and the target is within the moving dragon's front 90 degree arc - it may make a melee attack.

Light weight dragons draw 1 card, Middle draw 2 and Heavy weight dragons draw 3 melee damage cards. If the dragon has a tail weapon, then each card does 1 extra damage.

Boarding

If the conditions for melee combat are met, but the player decides not to make an attack with their dragon - or if the moving dragon overlaps the other dragon with a side other than its front arc, the player may initiate a boarding action.

Each player draws a rifleman damage card for each of their rifleman units - ignore special damages.

  • Optional rule - If riflemen are in the rigging below a dragon, they cannot help in a boarding action.

The player with the highest card wins and 1 unit of riflemen is removed from the loser's dragon. If there are no riflemen left on the defending dragon, the captain is captured and the dragon flees the battlefield - remove it from play. If the attacking dragon no longer has riflemen, it must discontinue the boarding action. Dragons that have a spiked spine are harder to capture. If a defending dragon has a spiked spine, it's cards are +1.

While boarding actions take place, both dragons must play straight manoeuvres and remain parallel to each other (rotate the dragons until they are parallel). The dragons move as fast as the slowest dragon. The attacking dragon may discontinue the boarding action at any time by declaring it ended - moves continue as normal after that time.

The defending dragon may only discontinue if they have a dive card played. If this is part of the turn, both dragons move as normal - but the attacking dragon loses a unit of riflemen in the scramble to return back to their dragon.

games/card/dragonrules.txt · Last modified: 2013/03/19 18:14 by 127.0.0.1