The Land of Almokon — Core Set
by Graham Cranfield
The land of Almokon is ruled by the old and wise Emperor Manfred the Most Loved. Unfortunately, Manfred is dying — for he is old — and upon his death he knows his empire will crumble — for he is wise.
To maintain peace in Almokon, Manfred must decide, now, who is to wear the crown upon his passing. You are one of many Monarchs vying for his favour. Your ability to rule, to protect, and to grow your realm will determine whether you will be the next Emperor of Almokon.
Win: Be the first player to reach 21 Bounty Points.
Bounty Points are earned primarily by destroying enemy cards. Most cards have a Bounty value printed on them — the more valuable the target, the more Bounty it yields. Some card abilities also award Bounty by other means.
This box contains:
The battlefield is divided into zones. Where a card is located determines what it can do and what can target it.
The area directly in front of you. Your Monarch and Capitol begin here and remain here unless moved by a card effect. Characters, Improvements, Terrain, and Cults also enter play in your Realm unless a card effect specifies otherwise.
The area between the two Realms, divided into two sub-zones:
Wilderness — where land-based combat takes place. Land Units are always played directly into the Wilderness. Characters and Monarchs may also move here.
Open Sea — where naval combat takes place. Vessels and Sea Beasts are always played directly into the Open Sea.
Forge of Fists has no traditional turns. Players alternate taking one action at a time. After you take an action, your opponent takes an action, and so on.
On your action, choose one of the following:
Play a card from your hand by paying its AP cost. Cards enter play in the zone indicated at the top right of the card, as follows:
| Card Type | Enters Play In |
|---|---|
| Monarch | Realm |
| Capitol | Realm |
| Character | Realm |
| Unit (land) | Wilderness |
| Unit (Vessel / Sea Beast) | Open Sea |
| Improvement | Realm |
| Terrain | Realm |
| Cult | Realm |
| Event | Resolves immediately, then discarded |
| Item | Attached to a card in play |
Declare an attack with a ready Character, Unit, or Monarch in your Outland. See Section 7: Combat.
Pay the AP cost shown on a ready card to use its ability. Some abilities exhaust the card after use; others may be used repeatedly as long as the cost is paid. The card will specify which applies.
Gain 2 AP. This action is always available.
Rotate all your exhausted cards back to their ready position.
Move a ready Character or Monarch from your Realm to the Wilderness. That card exhausts on arrival unless it has INEXHAUSTIBLE. Movement to the Outland is permanent and one-directional — a card may not return to the Realm unless a specific card effect allows it.
Discard an Event or Item card from your hand to gain AP. The AP value is printed on the card — typically 3–4. The card's ability does not resolve when Liquidated.
Action Points (AP) are your primary resource. They accumulate and carry over indefinitely — unspent AP is not lost between actions unless changed by a card effect.
Exhausted: When a card exhausts, rotate it 90 degrees to indicate it has been used. An exhausted card cannot attack, activate abilities that require exhausting, or be moved until it is readied.
Ready: When a card is readied, rotate it back upright. The Ready All action readies all your cards at once.
Combat is initiated when you take the Attack action.
Declare one ready Character, Unit, or Monarch in your Outland as the attacker. It exhausts immediately on declaration.
Both the attacker and defender deal damage simultaneously equal to their Wrath values. This damage is subtracted from the target's Vigor.
If a card's Vigor reaches zero, it is destroyed and sent to its owner's discard pile. Its Bounty value is awarded to the player who destroyed it.
SALVO damage does not trigger return damage from the target.
You earn Bounty Points whenever you destroy an enemy card, or through certain card abilities. The Bounty value is printed on the card.
| Card Type | Bounty Value |
|---|---|
| Monarch | 12 |
| Capitol | 10 |
| High-value Characters / Units | 3–5 |
| Standard Characters / Units | 1–2 |
| Improvements | 1–4 |
| Tokens | 0–1 |
The first player to reach 21 Bounty Points wins immediately. This is checked after every combat resolution, card destruction, and any ability that awards Bounty.
Your ruler. Begins in your Realm. Has special abilities unique to them. Your Monarch may move to the Outland to fight. If your Monarch is destroyed, your opponent earns its Bounty value, but you do not lose the game.
Your seat of power. Begins in your Realm. Has special abilities and a high Vigor value. If your Capitol is destroyed, your opponent earns its Bounty value, but you do not lose the game.
Individuals who reside in your Realm. They provide abilities and may be moved to the Outland to fight.
Combat cards played directly into the Outland. Land Units enter the Wilderness. Vessels and Sea Beasts enter the Open Sea.
Buildings and structures in your Realm. Improvements provide abilities and ongoing effects.
The landscape of your Realm. Terrain cards are Neutral — they belong to no faction and may be included in any deck. They provide passive effects but cannot attack or defend.
Faction-aligned cards that provide realm-wide effects. Only one copy of any Cult may be in play per player at a time, though multiple different Cults may be in play simultaneously.
One-time effects played from your hand. After resolving, an Event is discarded. Events may also be Liquidated for AP instead of played for their effect.
Attachments that enhance other cards. An Item must be attached to a legal target when played. The card type the Item may attach to is specified on the Item itself. If the attached card is destroyed, the Item is also destroyed.
Announce when declaring this attacker. This card gains +X Wrath and its Vigor is reduced to 1 until the end of combat.
Look at the top X cards of your deck. Put one into your hand. Shuffle the remaining cards back.
This card may be played as an Item attached to a friendly Vessel. While attached, add this card's Wrath and Vigor to the Vessel's. If the Vessel is destroyed, so is this card.
At the beginning of your turn, add X Growth counters to this card.
Rotate a card 90 degrees from its ready position. An exhausted card cannot be used for actions that require exhausting.
Search your deck and hand for the specified card and put it into play in the Outland without paying its cost. Forge does not trigger "when played" effects but does trigger "when this card enters play" effects. The Forged card enters ready.
While this card is in a zone, all attacks directed at that zone must target this card. If multiple Guardians occupy the same zone, the attacker chooses which to target. Guardian only protects cards within its own zone.
Gain AP equal to the number of Growth counters on this card, then dispose of this card.
Before playing a card with Imbue, you may discard any number of Characters from your hand. Reduce the card's AP cost by the total Wrath of all discarded Characters. The cost may be reduced to 0.
Cards with Inexhaustible do not exhaust and cannot be exhausted.
When a card with Kinship attacks, other cards you control that share at least one subtype with the attacker may activate. Each activating card adds its Wrath to the total attack damage. Only the declared attacker takes return damage and exhausts.
This card may only be included in a deck whose Monarch shares the same faction. It cannot be used as a Foreigner card.
To activate this card's ability, you must first exhaust another friendly Character or Unit in the same zone as this card. This card then exhausts as normal.
When this card destroys any enemy card in combat, it may immediately declare one additional attack. It exhausts after this follow-up attack.
Rotate a card from its exhausted position back upright.
Cards with Reflex may be played in response to an enemy playing a card or activating a card ability. Cards with a Reflex ability may activate that ability in response to the same. The card or action must be paid for like any other card or action, but playing or activating it does not consume your next turn.
Look at the top X cards of your deck. Return them to the top in any order.
This Unit enters the Outland ready rather than exhausted, and may attack on the same action it is played or Forged.
Exhaust this card to deal X damage to any target in any zone. SALVO ignores zone targeting restrictions. SALVO damage does not trigger return damage from the target. Guardian still applies — SALVO must target a Guardian if one is present in the target zone.
When a card with Truce is played, you may immediately take two additional non-combat actions before your opponent responds.
Search your deck for the specified card, add it to your hand, then shuffle your deck.
Only one copy of this card may be in play per player at a time. You may include up to 3 copies in your deck.
Cards in your hand with Veto may be played in response to an enemy playing a card or activating a card ability. Cards with a Veto ability may activate that ability in response to the same. The card or action must be paid for like any other card or action, but playing or activating it does not consume your next turn. The Veto cancels the target enemy action. Any AP the enemy spent on their action is lost.
A legal deck consists of your chosen Monarch, your chosen Capitol, and exactly 40 playable cards. Your Monarch and Capitol must be from the same faction.
Each deck has one Main Faction determined by your Monarch. You may include:
The five factions are arranged in a Pentagram of Power. Each faction is aligned with its two neighbours:
| Faction | Aligned With |
|---|---|
| Conquest | Community and Diplomacy |
| Community | Conquest and Creed |
| Creed | Community and Trade |
| Trade | Creed and Diplomacy |
| Diplomacy | Trade and Conquest |
Bicara Township (Diplomacy): Your deck may only contain Main Faction and Neutral cards. No Foreigner cards are permitted.
Rahasa (Diplomacy): In addition to your standard 12 Foreigner slots, you may include up to 6 cards from a completely unaligned faction. These 6 slots are separate from and do not consume your standard Foreigner limit.