Origins Battle Rules

Need to learn what the cards mean? Before starting, we would suggest reviewing the Card Overview Page (click here) to better understand how each character card is setup for gameplay.

PREFACE

Origins Battle is the simple, beginner, way to play Tribes of Wondervale.

Origins Battle is meant to be a game that can take anywhere from 2 minutes to 15 minutes. Our other gameplay mode, Ascension Campaign, is longer more strategic game. With that said, while not absolutely required to enjoy, strategy can certainly be at play in Origins Battle. How so? Deck building.

What is deck building? Deck building is the process by which you choose what characters to include into your deck. This is where you can really get the best out of your Origins Battle experience. Will you choose more defensive characters or more offensive power? What about health? How many different tribes? The combinations are endless. Can you master it? Find your favorites, build your tribe, and win the battle...

HOW TO WIN

To win, either:

• Your opponent has no characters left on the battlefield [see The Battlefield below], or…

• You defeat 5 of your opponent’s characters first.

WHAT YOU NEED TO PLAY

• 2 players.

• Each player must have a deck of 20-25 Tribes of Wondervale cards.

• Health counters (or other method to track health - feel free to choose any method you like: paper, plastic counters, phone app, etc.).

• One six-sided die (d6) per player (a phone app dice roller can also be used).

TO START

• Shuffle each deck.

• Both players draw 5 cards.

• If your initial draw has no apprentice character cards (easily identifiable as apprentice cards have no preceding unit in the bottom left corner of the card), reveal your hand to the other player, return the cards to the deck, reshuffle, and draw your hand again until you have a hand with at least one apprentice.

• Place 1 apprentice in battle position (typically at the front of your side of the table).

• Place up to 2 apprentices on your bench (immediately behind battle position on the table).

• Tip: players are encouraged to place at least one apprentice on the bench to avoid early defeat.

• Keep the remaining cards in your hand. 

• Both players roll a die, with the higher roll indicating who will go first.

THE BATTLEFIELD

Each player may have:

• 1 character in battle position.

• Up to 2 characters on the bench.

Characters in your hand are not in play.

TURN OVERVIEW

On your turn, do the following in order:

1. Draw 1 card (there is no maximum hand size).

2. Deploy (optional) — play, upgrade, and/or enhance a character [see below].

3. Action (optional) — attack or switch [see below].

4. End turn.

DEPLOY 

You may do any (and all) of the following:

• Play an apprentice character card from your hand to the bench (if space allows).

• Only apprentice characters may be played directly from your hand to empty spaces on the bench.

• Upgrade one of your characters [see Upgrading below].

• Enhance a character card (or unit) by attaching a matching tribe card to one of your characters on the battlefield [see Enhancement below].

You may also choose to do nothing.

UPGRADING

To upgrade a character (or unit):

• You must have the next version of a card that is in play in your hand (this relationship is indicated in the lower left corner of the character card in your hand). 

• The character you would place that card upon must have already survived one full turn.

• Guardian and champion character cards cannot be played from your hand without their preceding card already in play.

When a character upgrades:

• Replace it with the upgraded form (place on top of the preceding card).

• The characters health resets to the new card’s maximum.

• The upgraded character cannot attack during this turn.

• The combined grouping of cards is called a “unit.”

ENHANCEMENT

• A maximum of one tribe card per character card may be played on each character card. 

• Note: during a character upgrade, any previously attached tribe card remains attached to the unit.

• The tribe card must be attached to a character card of the matching tribe indicated on the card.

• When attached, the tribe card adds +50 to the characters (or units) health. 

• Enhancement may only be performed during the deploy step of your turn.

• Enhancement may be applied to apprentices, guardians, or champions, and remains attached while that character is still alive.

ACTION 

Choose one:

ATTACK

Attack with your character currently in battle position (see below).

SWITCH

Swap your character currently in battle position with one character currently on the bench or, in the event a character on your bench has not been damaged and is not enhanced, switch that character (or whole unit) with an apprentice card from your hand.

• Switching is free.

• Switching ends your action.

• You cannot switch and attack on the same turn.

• If you switch an undamaged bench character with a character in your hand and the bench character is upgraded all character cards within that unit are returned to your hand.

ATTACKING

RULES

• You may only attack the opponent’s character currently in battle position (bench characters cannot be attacked).

• Characters cannot attack on the turn they enter play or upgrade (characters become ready at the start of their next turn).

• Note: you cannot attack on the very first turn of the battle.

COMBAT

Do the following in order:

1. Both players roll a d6.

2. Add the following modifiers:

• Strength vs opponent’s tribe → +1 (shown as green on your character card)

• Weakness vs opponent’s tribe → −1 (shown as red on your character card)

3. Calculate scores:

• Attacker total = dice roll + offense on character card ± 1 strength/weakness

• Defender total = dice roll + defense on character card ± 1 strength/weakness

4. Hit or Miss

• If the attacker’s total is higher, the attack hits.

• If the totals are equal, or the defender’s is higher, the attack misses.

5. Damage

• On a hit, the defender takes damage equal to the attacker’s power on the character card.

• Subtract damage from health.

• Note: there are no counterattacks in Origins Battle.

DEFEATED CHARACTERS

• When a character’s health reaches 0, discard it.

• Immediately choose a bench character to replace it in battle position.

• If that player has lost their character in battle position and has no bench character, or has had 5 characters defeated thus far, they lose the game.

INTELLECT

• Intellect appears on cards.

• Intellect is not used in Origins Battle.

• Intellect is used in advanced version of Tribes of Wondervale, Ascension Campaign.