Smog TTH Rules

CREDITS EDITOR: Smart Max Corporation Ltd GAME DESIGN: Cedric Lemitre, Christophe Madura GRAPHIC DESIGN: Jeremie L’hostis, Christophe Madura GAME BOARD DESIGN: Christophe Madura, Geoffrey Stepourenko SPECIAL THANKS TO: Viktor Bauer, Frederic Bisseux, Sebastien Boudaud, Allan Carrasco, Murat Celebi, Gregory Clavilier, Thomas David, Sophie Ehrsam, Gabriel Feraud, Jacques-Alexandre Gillois, Yannick Hennebo, Victor Martins, Thomas Michelin, Stephane Nguyen, Guillaume Noblet, Sebastien Picque, Edgar Skomorowski, Rémy Tremblay, Romain Van Den Bogaert

RULE BOOK

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0

INTRODUCTION

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you open this booklet echoes a gloomy, thirteenth stroke of midnight... And there you are, transported to the year 1888, in s

London! No historian has ever dared to imagine the Victorian capital the way she offers herself to your gaze. Emanating night and day its nauseous breath of coal, filth and cheap opium, London is a monstrous creature that lives, breathes and feeds upon the bodies and souls of her weakest inhabitants. Fantastic setting of a ruthless struggle for power between the bold aristocrats of the Club, the sinister necromancers of the Cult, the genius Steamlords of the Mechazylum, the vengeful freaks of the Pit, the exalted gypsies of the Wheel, the mysterious Opiumancers of the Dragon and the enigmatic emissaries of the Embassy, London yearns for her sovereign. Since the infamous assassination attempt in Buckingham palace, she took refuge at Oberon’s court, leaving a gaping hole in the all-mighty monarchy. Enter the smog now and join the ranks of these extraordinary Ladies and Gentlemen, intrepid enough to challenge London’s nights... This chapter will help you take your first steps in Smog, the Thirteenth Hour. If you’re already

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SMOG - R U L E B O O K

familiar with miniature boardgames, you can now skip to the next chapter (1. BASICS).

0 . 1 OVERVIEW

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Smog, the Thirteenth Hour is a miniature board game for two players or more set in the 1888 Victorian capital, the theatre of fierce fights between the most extraordinary characters. Characters of Smog, the Thirteenth Hour are ideally materialized on the board by miniatures from the Smog, a Victorian Fantasy range published by Smart Max©. Each miniature from Smart Max© represents a fantastic character from the Smog universe. For more information about our little madnesses, visit www.smartmaxstore.com If Smog, the Thirteenth Hour is your first miniature experience, imagine a weird chess game where each piece is a unique character, with dreadful fighting skills and likely to cast magic spells. Each of these pieces is played turn after turn, until a player claims victory. More than a game, Smog, the Thirteenth Hour is an open door on your own imagination. After assimilating the rules, you’ll be able to create your own original adventures as well as design your own extraordinary Ladies and Gentlemen.

INTR O D U C T I O N

0 . 2 GOAL Most of the time, eliminating all of your opponent’s miniatures or a large proportion of them will bring you victory. The scenarios proposed in this booklet present different set-ups, including variant rules and particular victory conditions.

0 . 3 O P E NING THE BOX Smog, the Thirteenth Hour contains the following materials: • 8 Profile Sheets printed on playing cards • 8 playing cards with 8 character silhouettes, 8player counters, 8 miscellaneous counters. • 88 playing cards, called Action cards. They’re sorted into 3 types: -- 36 Close Combat cards -- 26 Marksmanship cards -- 26 Ether cards • 6 “blank” Profile Sheets printed on playing cards • A full-colour map as an introductory game board • The game box itself with an Initiative track and a Hand track printed inside the lid. • This rule booklet

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Profile sheets Characters from Smog, the Thirteenth Hour have individual proficiencies and abilities, summed up on their Profile Sheet. Each character has his dedicated sheet, where the following characteristics are printed: Inspiration, Action Points, Life Points, Close Combat, Marksmanship, Ether, Talent and Prestige. Jack Mk IV

Action point (AP)

3 6 10

Inspiration (INS)

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100

4

TALENT Clockwork Mekanism

Before the Main Phase ends, once all characters activated, you can sacriice 3 of Jack Mk4's LP : he immediately takes 1 additional Active Phase.

Close Combat (CC)

Prestige

Ether (ETH)

Life Points (LP)

Marksmanship (MS)

Talent


Character Silhouettes For your convenience, to help you discover the game immediately, some character silhouettes are included in the box, replacing the necessary miniatures to be used on the board. They are marked with a little triangle pointing toward the “front” of that character.

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The eight characters playable with this box are: • Miss Ticklenott, an impetuous and intrepid young Lady, always ready for adventure (The Club). • Cornelius Fauchelevent, her skilled and faithful but mysterious French butler (The Club). • Professor Sawbone, a renowned archaeologist back from his long journey in Africa (The Club).


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• M ister H onk , a particularly clever and emancipated giant gorilla, with a certain taste for fashion (The Club). • Jack Mk4, an automaton created by a mad scientist and fan of entomology; a real abomination (Mekazylum). • Doctor Proteus Treves, a misunderstood genius, banished to the depths of the underworld (The Pit). • Divio Juckal, who made a horrible deal with Mother Nature and became a bloodthirsty werewolf (The Wheel). • Piotr Goodenough, mere shadow of himself, a desperate zombie longing for conscious past (The Cult). Action cards The 88 Action cards are the core of the game system. The Action cards are used by players to make their characters do things. They all have 2 distinct parts, with 2 distinct names. The upper part is the Action part, the lower one is the Reaction part. There are 3 different types of Action cards: • Close Combat cards, to attack & defend in hand to hand combat. • Marksmanship cards, to fire ranged weapons & dodge shots. • Ether cards, to cast or counter spells.


Perfect Attack

Draw 1 CC card then play another Attack ; opponent characters can parry neither the Perfect Attack nor the Attack played directly afterwards.

Perfect Parry

Your character parries the opponent’s attack. Draw 1 CC card.

Perfect Fire

Draw 1 MS card then play another Fire ; opponent characters can dodge neither the Perfect Fire not the Fire played directly afterwards.

Perfect Dodge

Your character dodges the opponent’s fire. Draw 1 MS card.

Close Combat Card Marksmanship Card

Perfect Spell

Draw 1 ETH card then play another Spell ; opponent characters can counter neither the Perfect Spell nor the Spell played directly afterwards.

Perfect Counterspell Your character counters the opponent’s spell. Draw 1 ETH card.

Ether Card

The map The play mat printed on the poster represents the night view of a few dark streets in the White Chapel district. Some building interiors are also visible, as well as doors, windows and some street lamps. The Counters At the beginning of the game, each player will receive the 2 counters of his or her League. The Lid The 2 tracks printed inside the lid, where each player will place a counter of his or her own side, are the Initiative track, to know whose turn it is to play, and the Hand track, to indicate how many Action cards a player can have.

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1

BASICS

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previous chapter put you in contact with the game and its features. Here are the necessary concepts for understanding the game rules. They are defined in a more technical language. Reading the rules thoroughly in the indicated order will help you assimilate them simply and easily. Before starting a Smog game, players have to select a Set-up that comes with its victory conditions and special rules (Chapter 7). Players then install the game and deploy their forces on the board (Chapter 2). When playing your first game, follow the instructions of The Thirteen Strokes of Midnight. he

The game is made of a succession of Game Turns (Chapter 3). Each game turn has 3 phases: first a Draw Phase (to get new cards), a Main Phase divided itself into as many Active Phases as there are miniatures (to fight!), and an End of Turn phase (to manage some game effects). During their Active Phase (Chapter 4), a character will move, fight in hand to hand, shoot with guns, cast spells, etc... by spending Action Points.

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Attacking in close combat, firing with a gun or casting a spell are actions solved with the Action card system (Chapter 5). To defend themselves, characters will too use these Action cards. The rules presented in the booklet are designed for a 2 players game. Rules for 3 or 4 players games slightly differ (Chapter 6). At the end of these rules follow a FAQ section, a Glossary and a Summary of the major game elements on the back cover.

1 . 1 O F T HE CHARACTERS 16

Character: in Smog TTH, a character is a human or inhuman entity, represented on the board by a miniature whose abilities are summarized on a Profile Sheet. During the character’s Active Phase, he or she is called the Active Character. Miniature: a miniature represents a character of the Smog universe. On the board, it occupies one square and faces one of latter’s sides. A miniature is placed on the board during the Approach (2.3) and leaves the game when the character it represents is eliminated, usually because the character lost his or her last Life Point. Profile: should they be a melancholic zombie, a plenipotentiary from outer space, a young and pretty Opiumancer or a psychopathic

BASICS

Automaton, each Smog character is defined by a set of numbers called Characteristics, has a unique proficiency called Talent and a value called Prestige that represents its overall power. The whole of those parameters defines the profile of a character. A character’s profile is printed on a Profile Sheet. League: each player leads a group of characters of his choice called his League. Smog TTH is designed to confront Leagues gathering up to half a dozen characters. CHARACTERISTICS The characters of Smog have 6 characteristics: Action Points (AP), Close Combat (CC), Marksmanship (MS), Ether (ETH), Life Points (LP) and Inspiration (INS). The characteristics define each character’s aptitude to face the dangers of London’s nights. The Action Points (AP): this characteristic tells how many actions (movement, CC attack, spells, etc...) a character can accomplish in a turn during his or her Active Phase (3.2). The Close Combat (CC): a character with such a characteristic has weapons or physical abilities that enable him or her to attack opponents in hand to hand. A character’s CC represents the

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power of their blows, i.e. the amount of Life Points an opponent character loses when hit in Close Combat. The Marksmanship (MS): a character with such a characteristic has weapons or similar capabilities that enable him or her to attack opponents from a distance. A character’s MS represents the power of their shots, i.e. the amount of LP a target character loses when hit by the character’s Fire.

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The Ether (ETH): a character with such a characteristic possesses supernatural abilities to heal wounds, pass through walls, suffocate their enemies, summon fantastic creatures, etc... The higher their ETH characteristic, the better the character will both cast and counter Spells. For aesthetic purposes, CC, MS and ETH values of 0 are not noted on a profile sheet. So if there’s a little star printed on the Profile Sheet, it means the character has a “0” in this slot. A character cannot take an action if he has 0 in the related characteristic. The Life Points (LP): this characteristic indicates at any time the health level of a character. When they lose their last LP, they are out of combat and the miniature is removed from the game board. A character can never have more LP than his initial LP value.

BASICS

The Inspiration (INS): the Inspiration characteristic determines the tactical possibilities brought to his League by a character. By adding up together all the INS characteristics of the characters of your League, you obtain the maximum number of Action cards that you can have in hand at any time. THE TALENT Each Smog character has a unique ability called Talent. The effect and conditions of use of a Talent is described on their Profile Sheet. The Talent of a character allows him or her to do things that no other character will ever be able to do, so pay good attention to them! THE PRESTIGE The prestige represents the valour acquired by a character during his or her adventures, battle after battle and feat after feat. Characters with higher Prestige are relatively more powerful than ones with lower Prestige. Prestige values are essentially used before the battle while forming your League. During a game, it is generally not used.

1. 2 O F T H E GAME BOARD The game board represents the place where the action occurs. Miniatures are deployed on this board at the beginning of the game and

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move around on it. They leave the board when losing their last LP. The game board is divided into squares. Walls, doors, windows: most of the squares are bordered with walls, doors and/or windows. For aesthetic reasons, some of them do not seem to extend to the whole length of a side. Still, for game purposes, a wall, door or window always extends completely over the border of its square.

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Orientation: a miniature on the board occupies one and only one square at a time. Hence, two miniatures cannot occupy the same square. The front of the miniature must face one of the four borders of its square, thus defining the miniature’s orientation. Contact Zone (CZ): the Contact Zone of a miniature defines all the squares that a character can potentially attack in Close Combat. Every square that shares a common border with a miniature’s own square is in its CZ. But the CZ does not extend through wall borders nor window borders, still it does extend through door borders.

BASICS

Line of Fire: a Line of Fire between a firing character and their target is necessary to be able to attack from a distance with an MS card. The firer must “see” his target. Draw an imaginary line between the centre of the square of the firer to the centre of the square of his or her target; if this imaginary line does not cut through any door or wall, then a Line of Fire exists. It is possible to shoot through a window: window square borders do not block any Line of Fire.

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Miniatures do not block any Line of Fire either. Friendly and opposing miniatures are ignored when drawing a Line of Fire: in constant action, characters offer no protection to the other characters that they could partially or totally hide. When the shooter opens fire, they are considered absent: only the firer, their target and the scenery are taken into account. Visual Field:A character’s Visual Field contains all the squares where he can potentially interact with Ether cards.

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• A character in the Contact zone of any opponent has an extremely limited Visual Field, reduced only to the characters in his own Contact Zone. • A non-active character (a character who’s not being actually activated) has a Visual Field that extends to the 180° in front of him, and contains all the squares that can be reached with Line of Vision. A Line of Vision is exactly like a Line of Fire except that it is not blocked by doors. • An active character (who is being actually activated), if in no enemy Contact Zone, has the same Visual Field as a non-active character except it’s extended to 360°.

BASICS

1 . 3 O T H ER CONCEPTS Each player has to keep in mind two very important values that evolve during the game: they are the Initiative and the Hand. To easily update these numbers, each player uses his or her counters on the Initiative track and the Hand track. Initiative: The Initiative is equal to the total of AP characteristics of all the characters in a League; only count APs of inactivated characters still in play. The Initiative diminishes each time a character ends his or her Active Phase. The player with the highest Initiative is called the Active player. During the Main Phase, the Active Player activates one character of his or her choice. The privilege of experience: If both players share the same Initiative at the beginning of the

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game, the one born closer to 1888 become the Active Player. If both player share the same Initiative score during the game, the Active Player remains the same.

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Hand: determined at the beginning of each game turn, a player’s Hand is equal to the total of the Inspiration characteristics of all the characters in his or her League; only count characters still in play at the beginning of a turn. The Hand indicates the maximum number of Action cards a player can have in hand, at any time. Moreover, the Hand can never exceed 13 cards, and if during the game this limit number should be overcome, the player should immediately discard enough cards to get back to 13 cards in hand. Counters Counters are used to indicate the value of the Initiative and the Hand on their track.

1 . 4 T H E I MPERIAL EDICT Endowed with an iron will and extraordinary powers, Smog characters are exceptional beings, able to bend and break the rules by which London commoners must abide.

BASICS

When an Action card or a Profile Sheet breaks a rule of this booklet, the effect of this card or sheet always prevails. Examples: • A character can normally be activated only once per game turn (see Chapter 3 and 4). Still, when Jack MkIV’s Talent “Clockwork Mekanism” is used, the player can activate his psychopathic automaton a second time during the same turn! • A character with an MS score equal to 0 cannot normally use MS cards to Fire at an enemy. But with the help of the Queen of Hearts’ Ring artefact, a character gains 1 in MS and thus can attack from a distance! • A player cannot normally have more than 13 cards in hand. Thanks to the “Fortune Telling” spell, he or she draws 4 cards and discards 2 (assuming the character casting that Spell has 2 in ETH), and then find themselves having 15 cards in hand. Yet, “Fortune Telling” does not make a player’s Hand higher, so the player must discards two more cards to come back to the normal maximum hand size of 13.

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2

GETTING STARTED

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2 . 1 P R EPARATION

the game board between players on a flat surface. Sort the Action cards depending on their face: Close Combat, Marksmanship and Ether. Make three separate face-down decks with them: a CC deck, an MS deck and an ETH deck. Leave some empty space next to each deck for its discard pile. Each player now takes the counters of his League, one for the Hand track, another for the Initiative track. lace

2 . 2 SET-UP At this point, Players choose a Set-up, as defined in Chapter 7. For your first game, “The Thirteen Strokes of Midnight” is recommended, respecting Her Royal Majesty’s choice: one player takes the silhouettes of Miss Ticklenott and Mister Honk, the other player takes Jack 4 and Piotr Goodenough.

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2 . 3 T HE APPROACH Players take their miniatures in front of them, along with their Profile Sheets. Then they calculate their Initiative to determine the Active Player (it is the sum of all their characters’ AP) and calculate their Hand (the sum of all their characters’ Inspiration). Before the first game turn, players must now deploy their miniatures on the board:

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• The Active Player announces which character he or she intends to deploy. • Then he or she draws as many cards as the Inspiration of this character. he or she can draw those cards from any deck, but must first announce how many cards he or she wants do draw from which deck. • He or she places then the chosen character on the board in an empty square of their own deployment zone, as defined in the set-up. • Finally, he or she diminishes their Initiative score by as many points as the PA value of the character just placed on the board, and moves his or her Initiative counter down the track. Now an Initiative change is checked, and the Active Player will repeat the above steps. Remember that the Active Player changes when their Initiative gets lower than his or her opponent’s.

GETTI N G S TA RT E D

Example: Thomas and Alice begin a Smog game that takes place around Mad Hatter’s Park. Thomas has an Initiative score of 23 and Alice 17. So Thomas goes first and decides to deploy Proteus Treves. This character has an Inspiration value of 3, so Thomas can draw 3 cards; he announces his intention to draw 1 Ether card and 2 MS cards then draws them. Proteus Treves has 6 AP, so he places the monstrous doctor of the Pit in his deployment zone and reduces his Initiative score by 6 points, moving accordingly his Initiative counter on the track. Now Thomas and Alice both have an Initiative score of 17, so Thomas is deploying the next miniature on the board. If Proteus Treves had had 7 AP, the Thomas Initiative would have dropped to 16, thus letting Alice become the Active Player and deploy her own first miniature.

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3

GAME TURNS

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Smog game is structured in game turns. After the Approach ends, game turns will follow one another. During each game turn, players will draw new Action cards, move all their characters and make them fight. Once a turn ends, a new one begins. At the beginning of the turn, before doing anything else, players update their Initiative and Hand scores. Each player adds up the AP value of his or her characters still on the board and adjusts the counter on the Initiative track. In the same way, each player adds up the Inspiration value of all his or her characters still on the board and adjusts the counter on the Hand track. Then the game turn is split up into 3 Phases as follows : • First the Draw Phase is resolved; players get rid of the cards they do not wish to keep in hand then draw new cards. • During the Main Phase, Active Phases follow one another during which players can move their characters and make them fight, shoot and cast spells.

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• Finally, an End of Turn phase takes place ; some persistent effects are resolved and players check if victory conditions are met.

3 . 1 D RAW PHASE During this game phase, players draw the Action cards they will use during the Main Phase. Starting with the player with the lowest Initiative score, each player follows these steps:

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• First of all, the player can discard up to 3 cards from his or her hand. • Then he or she declares how many CC cards he or she wishes to draw, and draw those cards but cannot look at them yet. • Then he or she does the same thing with the MS cards, announcing how many he or she wants to draw and drawing them without looking at them either. • He or she does the same again with Ether cards. • Finally, he or she looks at their cards. • At no point during the Draw Phase a player can have more cards in his or her hand than their Hand score indicated on the Hand track. Skip the Draw Phase of the first game turn, players already have in their hands the cards they drew during the Approach.

GAM E T U R N S

A soon as a deck is empty, the discard pile of this deck is shuffled and a new deck is thus built. If it does not contain enough cards, the player draws cards until the deck is empty, then the discard pile is shuffled into a new deck and the player draws the cards he or she misses. Example: At the beginning of the 2nd turn, Lena has the lowest Initiative score, she’s not the Active Player. Her characters give her a Hand score of 12. Her League is made of a bully, two characters with ranged weapons and two Etheromancers. She has 4 cards left in hand, and decides to get rid of 2 of her Fire cards that she estimates to be inappropriate to the tactical situation, leaving her 2 cards in hand: she can now draw a maximum of 10 cards. One of her distance fighters being engaged in close combat, she announces her intention to draw 5 CC cards, 2 MS cards and 3 ETH cards. Lena then draws those cards, for a total of 12 cards in hands; her maximum. With a higher Initiative, it is now her opponent’s time to draw cards.

3 . 2 M AIN PHASE The Main Phase is made of many Active Phases following one another. The Active Player (the one with the highest Initiative score) plays the first Active Phase.

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The Active Player designates one of his or her characters: that character becomes the Active Character. Once chosen, the Active Character takes an Active Phase, during which his or her AP are spent to move, attack, fire or cast spells. Each character can only take one Active Phase per game turn.

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Once the Active Phase of a character ends, the Initiative of the Active Player is reduced by a number of points equal to the AP value of the character he or she just activated, moving down the counter on the Initiative track. The player with the highest Initiative becomes (or stays) the Active Player and a new character becomes the Active Character. Active Phases follow one another until every character in play has been activated once. The Main Phase then ends.

3 . 3 E ND OF TURN This short game phase concludes the game turn. Its purpose is to resolve any persistent effects generated during the Main Phase and check victory conditions. Resolution step: some cards or character ’s Talents may have over time effects. These per-

GAM E T U R N S

sistent effects are indicated with the card being placed as a reminder next to the affected character’s sheet. During the resolution step, the Active Player applies the eventual persistent effects generated by his or her own characters one by one, removing the reminder cards and putting them in the appropriate discard pile if necessary. Then the other player repeats the same procedure with his or her own persistent effects. Examples: 1. Miss Ticklenott is armed with a mysterious gun that spits a corrosive substance. When she wounds an opponent from a distance with a Fire, the MS card is placed on the victim’s Profile Sheet as a reminder. During the Resolution step, that character loses 1 LP unless his or her player discards an ETH card. The MS card used as a reminder is then put in the MS deck’s discard pile. 2. During her Active Phase, Liminatsa Blàs could successfully cast the “Opiate Torpor” spell on opposing Sergeant Hyde, diminishing his AP characteristic for the duration of the turn. As a reminder, the ETH card was placed next to the victim’s character sheet. At the End of Turn, the reminder ETH card is put back in the appropriate discard pile and the effect of the Spell stops.

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3. Major Dreadful ran out of ammunition while firing with his gun. The “Empty!” card was placed next to his character sheet as a reminder. This effect is permanent, so it is not removed during the Resolution step. Victory step: if a player is in position to claim victory as indicated in the Set-up, he or she can do it now and at no other moment. If nobody has won yet, the End of Turn ends. Once the Resolution and Victory steps taken, the game turn ends and a new one starts.

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4

ACTIVE PHASES

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his or her Active Phase, a character can spend as many Action Points as its AP characteristic. Each action costs a certain amount of AP: uring

• • • • • •

Move action (4.1) Close Combat action (4.2) Fire action (4.3) Clear action (4.4) Reload action (4.5) Ether action (4.6)

1 PA 1 PA 1 PA 3 PA 1 PA 1 PA

Except for the Move action that can be taken as many times as the character’s AP allow him or her to, a character can take each of those actions only once per turn. Once all their Action Points spent or whenever the Active Player wishes, the Active Phase of the character ends.

4 . 1 M O VE ACTION Subtle tactical moves to take advantage of the surroundings are of vital importance for those who aspire to survive London’s turbulent nights.

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All characters are able to move. Moving costs 1 AP but does not necessitate spending Action cards. A character can only move in one of the 8 squares around him, adjacent or diagonally. During his or her Active Phase, a character can take as many Move actions as his or her AP allow. Furthermore, a character can pass diagonally between two characters of his or her League or between a character of his or her League and some terrain feature (a wall or a doorstep for example), or between a character of his or her League and an opponent character. It is also possible to move between two squares separated by a door. However, a character cannot pass diagonally between two opponent characters nor between an opponent character and a terrain feature. It is also impossible to move between two squares separated by a wall or a window. 4.1.1 Engagement The engagement is a move into an opponent’s Contact Zone that allows to engage him or her in Close Combat. That move is only possible if the Active Player has at least one CC card left in hand and if the character will have at least 1 AP left after his or her move. The Active Player must spend this character’s next AP to play a CC

ACTI V E P H A S E S

card and attack one of the opponents he or she engaged with. When engaged by an opponent, a character must immediately be reoriented to face the newcomer, except if he or she is already engaged in Close Combat. Entering CZ without engagement: a character can move into a square in opposing Contact Zone(s) without having to do an engagement. To do so, before the character moves, the Active Player must discard one CC card. Then, when entering the square, no opposing character will be turned to face the newcomer, as there is no engagement. 4.1.2 Disengagement The disengagement is a move out of a close combat, to leave the opponent’s Contact Zone(s). When announcing a disengagement, the Active Player discards one CC card per opponent his or her character is engaged with, then moves the miniature. Disengagement cannot be used to directly enter an opposing Contact Zone again: the disengaged character must first move to a square out of opponent’s CZ. Once the Active Character is disengaged, the character(s) he or she was engaged in CC with can be reoriented by their player(s). They have to face an adjacent opponent if there are any.

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If the Active Character cannot be moved, he or she is considered cornered. That character cannot disengage. A character is cornered when he’s totally surrounded by walls, windows, miniatures or board edges. 4.1.3 Orientation During a Move action, as long as the Active Character is not engaged in Close Combat, he or she can be reoriented by his or her player.

4 . 2 C L O S E COMBAT ACTION 40

Very few are the foolhardy that wander around White Chapel at night without a strong cane or a well sharpened blade. For 1 AP, a character can take a unique CC action during his or her Active Phase. To do so, the Active Character must be engaged in Close Combat and the Active Player must have at least one CC card in hand. When such conditions are fulfilled, the Active Player can play a CC card. A character with a CC value equal to 0 cannot take any CC action. There are two types of Close Combat: the duel and the mêlée. • A duel is a Close Combat between only two characters. Their miniatures are in each


other’s Contact Zone, and face each other. If a character engaged in a duel is removed from play, his or her opponent can immediately be reoriented. • The mêlée is a Close Combat between a character and at least 2 opponents. The miniature of the former is in the Contact Zone of both his or her opponents, and face one of them. The opposing miniatures are all facing him or her. When an Active Character with numerical advantage in a mêlée attacks with a CC action, he or she can play any CC card and yet consider that it is a High, Straight or Low Attack, whatever the text on the card. Whatever the orientation of a miniature in a mêlée, a character can attack the character of his choice amongst those in his or her Contact Zone. Such a character engaged in a mêlée is immediately reoriented to face another opponent if the character in front of him is removed from play. Example: Allan’s Baron Mantes and Little Alice characters both are in Close Combat with Victor’s Canopic Beast. Allan becomes the Active Player, and he knows that only a head wound can defeat the monstrous zombiecrocodile because of its “Sacred Pin” Talent. Allan

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only has Straight and Low Attacks in hand, but he still can attack to the head with a High Attack due to his numerical advantage. Allan thus plays a Straight Attack announcing that it is a High Attack. If Victor wants to save his Canopic Beast, he must now parry this High Attack.

4 . 3 F IRE ACTION Even though prohibited, firearms are very popular. Amongst the weirdest and rarest ones, those using Ether are particularly sought-after... at least by those who can afford them! 42

For 1 AP, a character can take a unique Fire action during his or her Active Phase. To do so, the Active Character must have Line of Fire to his or her target and the Active Player must have at least one MS card in hand. In these conditions, the Active Player can play a MS card. A Character with an MS value equal to 0 cannot take any Fire action. A character engaged in Close Combat cannot take a Fire action either. Deadly but unreliable, ranged weapons remain basic and often experimental, so it is not rare that they stop functioning or run out of ammunition in the heart of battle. When his or her weapon is Jammed or Out of Ammunition, the MS characteristic of a character is reduced to


0, thus preventing him or her from shooting with a Fire action. Firing at a character engaged in close combat: Smog characters are Ladies and Gentlemen who never use their ranged weapons toward allied characters engaged in Close Combat. Taking a Fire action against a character engaged in duel or in a mêlée with a character of your League is forbidden.

4 . 4 C L EAR ACTION Clearing a jammed weapon costs 3 AP and requires that the Active Player discards 1 MS card. The reminder “Malfunction” MS card is then removed from the profile sheet and goes to the MS deck discard pile. The character ’s weapon now functions normally again, he or she recovers his MS characteristic, and can take a Fire action if he or she did not already this turn. Clearing a jammed weapon is not a Fire action. A character cannot clear a Jammed weapon more than once per turn.

4 . 5 R E L OAD ACTION Reloading a weapon costs 1 AP and requires that the Active Player discards 1 MS card. The reminder “Empty!” MS card is then removed

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from the profile sheet and goes to the MS deck discard pile. The character’s weapon now functions normally again, he or she recovers his MS characteristic, and can take a Fire action if he or she did not already this turn. Reloading a weapon is not a Fire action. A character cannot reload a weapon Out of Ammunition more than once per turn.

4 . 6 E T HER ACTION

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Ether mastery is a rare gift. That is, on the surface, because flaunting such dispositions has a tendency to drastically shorten your life line. Especially if you’re not as good as you pretend to be... For 1 AP, a character can take a unique Ether action during his or her Active Phase. To do so, the Active Character must chose a target in his or her Visual Field and the Active Player must have at least one ETH card in hand. In these conditions, the Active Player can play an ETH card. Etheromancers can target themselves with Spells. A Character with an ETH value equal to 0 cannot take any Ether action.

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ACTION CARDS

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ction cards are the core of Smog’s combat system.

5 . 0 T H E A C TION-REACTION P R INCIPLE Action cards are almost exclusively used when a character performs a CC action, a Fire action or an Ether action. Each card is divided in two parts: an action part (Attack, Fire or Spell) on the upper half of the card and a reaction part (Parry, Dodge or Counterspell) on its lower part. The action part is played by the Active Player, whose character has to spend 1 AP to take an action as we have seen in the precedent chapter. But the reaction part can be played by both active and inactive players, as an answer to an opponent’s action or reaction; a reaction does not cost any AP to be played. Action cards can be played one after another until no player wants to play any more, and are then resolved according to the cards.

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5 . 1 CC CARDS

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CC action: when a character takes a Close Combat action, the Active Player plays a CC card. The upper half of the card indicates where the Attack is located (High to the head, Straight to the chest or Low to the legs). The opposing character can defend: his or her player then plays a CC card as an answer to the Attack. He or she plays the reaction part of the card (lower half), which has to indicate the corresponding High, Straight or Low Parry location. If he or she does, the Attack is Parried, causing no LP loss. If the opposing character doesn’t defend, either because he or she can not or does not want to, the attacked character loses an amount of LP equal to the attacker’s CC value. Riposte: the riposte is a particular reaction that follows an opponent’s Attack. Some CC cards allow a riposte in their reaction part. A riposte has a double effect: first it is an effective defence that can Parry (High, Straight or Low as indicated on the card) an Attack; second, it allows an Attack in return! As it is an Attack, the Active Player can defend too, and play a CC card using the reaction half. If he or she also plays a riposte, then the opposing riposte is parried and a new Attack is launched. That

ACTI O N C A R D S

succession of ripostes has no other limit that the available cards in the players’ hands. Counter-attack: the Counter-attack is a particular reaction that follows an opponent’s Attack. Some Action cards allow a Counter-attack in their reaction half. Attempting a Counter-attack is risky, as a defender trying to Counter-attack will do an Attack before the original Attack of the Active Player is resolved. If the Counter-attack is not Parried, then the first Attack will be, but if the Counter-attack is Parried, then the original Attack will not! As for ripostes, it is also possible to try a Counter-attack against a Counterattack. As long as players have cards to play and Counter-attack, they can play them in reaction to one another. As soon as a Counter-attack is parried, the preceding attack is not, causing the character that tried to Counter-attack to lose LP. Example: File X spends 1 PA to attack Mekali and plays a Straight Attack. Mekali answers with a Counter-Attack (a High Attack in reaction) on File X. For now, File X’s Attack is not resolved.

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File X gets a chance to defend and he too answers with a Counter-Attack! Thus neither the first Straight Attack nor Mekali’s High Attack are yet resolved. Mekali then plays a High Parry & Riposte.

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• The first effect of this defence is to Parry File X’s Counter-attack. As a consequence, Mekali’s Counter-attack played before is not parried, and File X loses an amount of LP equal to Mekali’s CC characteristic. As Mekali’s Counter-Attack was not parried, the initial Straight Attack played by File X at the beginning is now parried! • The second effect of Mekali’s High Parry & Riposte is a High Attack against File X. And the latter doesn’t have the appropriate Parry! He loses again an amount of LPs equal to Mekali’s CC characteristic. This example shows clearly that there is a risk in each attack, and that Attacks dealt in reaction can be extremely dangerous: File X has been hit twice by Mekali yet the former was the Active Character! Some CC cards generate other specific effects beyond Attack, Parry, Riposte and Counterattack. These additional effects are directly described on the cards.

ACTI O N C A R D S

5 . 2 MS CARDS Fire action: when a character takes a Fire action, the Active Player plays an MS card. The upper half of the card is used, indicating the range of the Fire. This range must be superior or equal to the distance between the firer and his or her target. The targeted character can avoid the ranged attack: his or her player plays a MS card in answer to the Fire card, but uses the reaction part (lower half) which indicates if the Fire is Dodged or not. • If the Fire is Dodged, the target does not lose any LPs and the Active Phase continues. • If the Fire is not Dodged, the target loses as many LPs as the firer’s MS value. Extended range: if a target is particularly far, the firer can extend the range of his or her Fire: the Active Player discards as many MS cards as he or she wants, adding up their range value to the original MS card’s range. Only the range of these additional MS cards is used, no text nor any other effect applies. Some MS cards generate other specific effects beyond actually hitting the target or avoiding a Fire with a Dodge. These additional effects are directly described on the cards.

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5 . 3 ETH CARDS Ether action: when a character takes an Ether action, the Active Player plays an ETH card. The upper half is used, describing the effect of the Spell. Each Spell is particular and its effects are detailed on the ETH card itself. An opposing character who has the original Spell caster in his or her Visual Field can try to weave a Counterspell: the player attempting the Counterspell then plays an ETH card as an answer to the Spell, but uses the reaction part of the card (lower half) which indicates if the opponent’s spell is Countered or not. 50

• If the Spell is Countered, nothing happens and the Active Phase continues. • If the Spell is not Countered, then the effect of the spell is applied, as described on the ETH card. Ether mastery: if the ETH characteristic of the designated character to attempt the Counterspell is strictly inferior to the ETH of the Spell caster, the Counterspell must be reinforced; the player of the character attempting the Counterspell must discard 1 ETH card per point of difference between the ETH values of the Spell caster and Counterspell weaver. If a player doesn’t have a Counterspell in hand OR if confronted with a stronger opponent

ACTI O N C A R D S

he or she can’t reinforce the Counterspell OR if no character has the original Spell caster in their Visual Field, then no Counterspell is weaved and the Spell effects are applied. Example: Victor’s Ambassador Nail attempts to suffocate Mark’s Mei Leung with a “Deadly Curls of Smog” Spell. Mei Leung has Ambassador Nail in her Visual Field. Mark plays «Objection» but the Ambassador (ETH 2) is more powerful than the young and pretty Opiumancer (ETH 1). Mark then discards 1 ETH card (2 - 1 = 1) to reinforce her Counterspell, foiling the mysterious Plenipotentiary’s Spell. Artefacts Some ETH cards have an Artefact in their reaction half. An artefact is generally an item created by Etheromancers, like a potion, an elixir an amulet, a talisman, a sacred weapon, a little Automaton... Even if present in the reaction part of the ETH card, playing an artefact counts as an Ether action and costs 1 AP. Nonetheless, Artefacts cannot be Countered as they are not Spells. All characters can play artefacts, even those with an ETH value of 0. Once an Artefact is played, the ETH card is placed next to the Profile Sheet of the Active Character.

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Examples: 1. Liz plays the “Elixir of the Faeries” on her Divio Juckal. The impetuous lycanthrope spends 1 AP then places the Artefact card next to his Profile Sheet. The Artefact has a negative effect as long as it is in play (-1 to Divio’s Inspiration) but Liz knows that henceforth, she can sacrifice it anytime and send the card to the ETH deck discard pile, allowing the werewolf to regain 3 LP.

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2. Lena plays the “Queen of Heart’s Ring” on her Cornelius Fauchelevent. Miss Ticklenott’s faithful butler spends 1 AP and Lena places the Artefact card next to Cornelius’ Profile Sheet. The MS value of her character immediately increases by 1 point. Lena can choose to discard the ring at any time restoring Cornelius’ original MS characteristic and allowing her to draw one card from the MS deck.

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3 AND 4 PLAYER RULES Privilege of experience: during 3 or 4 player games, rules are the same, except that occasionally, multiple players might be eligible to do the same thing at the same time. In these situations, “the privilege of experience” (see 1.3) applies and the oldest of the tied player decides who goes first. Example John, Paul, George and Ringo are playing a Smog game. During the approach, John, Paul and George both have an Initiative score of 31, Ringo has only 29. Because he’s born in 1940 before Paul and George, John decides that he will go first and place his “Jaybee the Ripper” (AP 4) on the board, diminishing his initiative to 27 on the Initiative track. Paul and George are still tied, so the privilege of experience applies again and Paul (Born 1942, George is born 1943) decides that George will place a miniature on the board. He couldn’t have chosen John or Ringo because they’re not Initiative-tied with him. Firing at a character engaged in close combat: Remember this rule (4.3)? Well, Smog characters are really Ladies and Gentlemen, so no character is allowed to Fire at a target if the latter is engaged in close combat, regardless of the adversary.

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7

SET-UPS 7 . 0 S E T- UP SPECIFICS

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set-ups are based on the following model: ll

SET-UP NAME Synopsis: a short introduction to define the atmosphere. Assembling a League: here is indicated how many Prestige points players are granted to choose their characters and build their League. “Her Royal Majesty’s choice” is the recommended exact list of characters that players should use for their first games; their Profile Sheets and silhouettes are included in the game box. Deployment area: with or without the help of a little plan of the introductory map, here are described the squares allowed for deployment during the approach.

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Victory conditions: here is explained the objective of the game. Special rules: some set-ups include special rules that affect the whole game.

7 . 1 T HE THIRTEEN S T R O K E S OF MIDNIGHT

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Synopsis: when you wander by night too far and too deep into the White Chapel district, when the smog is thicker than a blood pudding, when your thoughts are blurred by the toxic capital, you never know who you will meet at the next corner... upon the thirteenth stroke of midnight. Assembling a League: players agree on a Prestige limit and build secretly their League. No one can have more than six characters nor less than two. Two hundred is a fair Prestige limit for this set-up. “Her Royal Majesty’s choice”: Miss Ticklenott and Mister Honk, opposed to Jack 4 and Piotr Goodenough, who’s talent is active as long as Jack Mk4 is alive even though there are no other Cult members on his side. Note that the good guys get the benefit of the League bonus of The Club, and no one gets any High Prestige draw-

S E T- U P S

back, as the two opposing sides are worth the same amount of Prestige Points. Deployment area: the deployment area of a player is made of all the squares on one border of the map except the two in each corner. His opponent follows the same rule but on the opposite side of the map. The first player to place a miniature on the map during the approach determines which map border is his or hers, thus the opposed border is his or her opponent’s. Victory conditions: eliminate at least half of the Prestige value of the opposing League to claim victory. If both players are in position to claim victory at the end of a turn during the Victory Step, then the player with the highest Prestige value League on the board wins. In case of a tie, the privilege of experience rule applies. Special rules: no special rules for this set-up. Instead, here are the possibilities of a game variant with 3 or 4 players. Only the deployment area will differ, as indicated on the plan (ABC for 3 players, 1234 for 4 players).

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7 . 2 THE THRILL O F THE HUNT

Synopsis: it is crucial to capture an old enemy. He is a key figure who has the information you absolutely need! It is not time to get a blind revenge or payback. Something big, something awful and ugly has already started, and you want it to stop! Assembling a League: one player is the hunted and chooses 1 miniature. The opponent is the hunter and can choose as many miniatures as he or she wants with a total Prestige value of 3 times his opponent’s. “Her Royal Majesty’s choice”: Divio Juckal is hunted by Miss Ticklenott, Cornelius Fauchelevent and Mister Honk.

S E T- U P S

Deployment area: the hunted player can place his miniature in any square on one of the two short borders of the map. The hunter places his or her miniature in any squares on the opposing border. Victory conditions: the hunted wins if he can escape or if he kills all the hunter’s characters. The hunter wins by capturing the hunted. Special rules: • Bad situation: the hunted player must place his or her miniature first during the approach, even though he’s very unlikely to be the Active Player at the beginning of the game. • Capture: the hunters are trying to capture their prey alive, so each time damage is inflicted to the hunted character it’s reduced to 1 LP loss no matter the conditions. When the hunted should lose his last LP, his AP is permanently diminished by one point instead. If the hunted has no more AP to lose that way, he is instantly captured and the hunter wins. • Escaping the herd: in order to escape, the hunted character must be standing in a square adjacent to the border of the map at the opposite side from where he or she began the game. If in such a position during

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the Victory step, he or she escapes and the hunted player wins the game.

7 .3 T R A P P ED BY THE SPIRITS Synopsis: it was probably not such a good idea to have a little spiritual experience around the Ouija board... at White Chapel in the middle of the night! Some treacherous spirit warned the enemies, and now they’re waiting for you hidden in the smog.

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Assembling a League: one player is surrounded and chooses 1 or 2 miniatures to assemble his or her League. The opponent then chooses any number of miniatures for twice the total Prestige value of the surrounded opponents. “Her Royal Majesty’s choice”: Professor Sawbone and Mister Honk are trying to survive from Jack Mk4, Divio Juckal and Doctor Proteus Treves. Deployment area: the surrounded characters must be deployed in squares leaving at least 3 empty squares from the border of the map. The opponent can deploy his or her characters in any square on the border of the map. No character can be deployed with a Line of Fire to an opposing miniature nor less than three squares away from any opponent.

S E T- U P S

Victory conditions: if during the victory step of the fourth turn there is still a surrounded character alive, the surrounded player wins the game. If all surrounded characters are eliminated before that, then the opponent wins the game. Special rules: no special rules for this set-up.

7 . 4 T H E ASSAULT Synopsis: this is too much! Now it’s time for a final clash. Everyone grabs their best weapon and gets ready for the fight, because there is only one way to find out who will dominate the White Chapel district, and you don’t want to be on the losing side. Assembling a League: players secretly assemble a League of 4 to 8 characters with a total Prestige value of between 200 and 300. Players can agree on a higher range for total Prestige value (for example 400 to 500), though over 500 Prestige value Leagues might lead to a long and encumbered game. “Her Royal Majesty’s choice”: All 4 Club characters against all the other 4 characters. Deployment area: the first player to deploy a character during the approach chooses a border of the map and can place his or her miniature on

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any square on that border. The opponent must deploy on the opposite border squares. Victory conditions: players only win by totally annihilating their enemies. When only one player’s miniatures remain on the board, then he or she wins the game.

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Special rules: • Traitor! (optional rule): before assembling their League, players can agree that there might be a traitor on one side. After players reveal their League to each other, the player with the higher Prestige value is betrayed by one of his or her own characters! The Approach is then played normally but before the first turn begins, the betrayed player proposes two of his miniatures and his opponent chooses one of them as the traitor. That character then becomes part of the other League. “Her Royal Majesty’s choice”: Piotr Goodenough becomes the traitor.

S E T- U P S

7 . 5 H I G H PRESTIGE D R AWBACK In addition to the set-up rules, if players’ Leagues have different Prestige value at the beginning of the game, these modifications apply for the remainder of the game: • During a 2, 3 or 4 player game, a player with the least Prestige value augments his or her Hand by 2 points, with an effective maximum of 15. • During a 3 or 4 player game, the player(s) whose League are of a lesser Prestige value than the player(s) with the highest Prestige value have their Hand score augmented by 1 point, to a maximum of 14. This rule doesn’t cumulate with the precedent one. Whatever the conditions, if all players’ Leagues have the same Prestige value, the Hand size is not modified.

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GAME SUMMARY SET-UP • Choose a scenario • Check special rules and victory conditions • Assemble a League

A PPROACH First calculate Hand and Initiative (place counters on tracks) then • Highest Initiative League chooses 1 miniature • Place miniature on deployment area • Announce types and draw cards equal to character’s INS • Move down Initiative counter on track • Check for Initiative change • Repeat until every miniature is deployed.

G AME TURN First Calculate hand and Initiative (except turn 1) Draw Phase (reversed Initiative order) • Discards up to 3 cards

• • • •

Announce and blind draw CC cards Announce and blind draw MS cards Announce and blind draw ETH cards Look at drawn cards

Main Phase / Active Phases • Highest Initiative League chooses 1 miniature • Activate chosen miniature • Move down Initiative counter on track • Check for Initiative change • Repeat until every miniature is deployed. End of Turn • Resolve persistent effects / Remove reminder cards • Check victory

A CTIONS Move action Close Combat action Fire action Clear action Reload action Ether action

1 PA 1 PA 1 PA 3 PA 1 PA 1 PA

Unlimited Once per turn Once per turn Once per turn Once per turn Once per turn

F.A.Q. CC cards specify Attacks and Parries to the head, chest or legs, is it different from High, Straight or Low Attacks? No. A High Attack aims the head, a Straight Attack the chest and a Low Attack the legs. The “Enraged Riposte” specifies that the opponent’s Attack is not parried, but the rules says that a riposte is first a Parry then an Attack. Does this card allows me a parry anyway? No. As indicated in the “Imperial Edict”, when a card rule contradicts the basic rule, the card rule always apply. When playing the “Enraged riposte”, your character does not parry and thus looses LP, then he is granted an Attack with CC+1. Does the “Ambushed Fire” allows my character to fire at someone who’s firing at him? No. Ambushed Fire is only played during an opponent’s Active Phase to Fire at a character that takes a Move action. Your character must have the moving character in his Line of Fire, as any other Fire.

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My character only has 1 LP left and is attacked in CC, can I play a defensive fire? Yes. The Defensive Fire is resolved first, like a Counter-attack, and the opponent can play a MS card in reaction to Dodge the Defensive Fire. Where can I find reminder cards? There are no such cards. But when one of the following card is played successfully, place it next to the Profile Sheet of the affected character as a reminder:

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• “Malfunction” as a Jammed weapon reminder • “Empty!” as an Out of Ammunition reminder • “Distortion” as an ETH = 1 reminder • “Aegis of Absinthe” as an LP + X reminder • “Vigour of Absinthe” as a CC + X reminder • “Opiate Torpor” as an AP - X reminder • “Phantasmagoric Alley” as a Ethereal reminder • “Chimaera’s Vivacity” as an AP + X reminder • “Artefacts” as a reminder of themselves

CONTENTS 0. INTRODUCTION . . . . . . 7

5. ACTION CARDS . . . . . 45

0.1 OVERVIEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 0.2 GOAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 0.3 OPENING THE BOX . . . . . . 9

5.0 THE ACTION REACTION PRINCIPLE . . . . . 45 5.1 CC CARDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 5.2 MS CARDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 5.3 ETH CARDS . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

1. BASICS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 1.1 OF THE CHARACTERS . . 16 1.2 OF THE GAME BOARD . . 19 1.3 OTHER CONCEPTS . . . . . 23 1.4 THE IMPERIAL EDICT . . . 24

2. GETTING STARTED . . 27 2.1 PREPARATION . . . . . . . . . 27 2.2 SET-UP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 2.3 THE APPROACH . . . . . . . 28

3. GAME TURNS . . . . . . . 31 3.1 DRAW PHASE . . . . . . . . . . 32 3.2 MAIN PHASE . . . . . . . . . . . 33 3.3 END OF TURN . . . . . . . . . . 34

4. ACTIVE PHASES . . . . . 37 4.1 MOVE ACTION . . . . . . . . . 37 4.2 CLOSE COMBAT ACTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 4.3 FIRE ACTION . . . . . . . . . . . 42 4.4 CLEAR ACTION . . . . . . . . 43 4.5 RELOAD ACTION . . . . . . . 43 4.6 ETHER ACTION . . . . . . . . 44

6. 3 AND 4 PLAYER RULES . . . . . . . . 53 7. SET-UPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 7.0 SET-UP SPECIFICS . . . . . . 55 7.1 THE THIRTEEN STROKES OF MIDNIGHT . . . 56 7.2 THE THRILL OF THE HUNT . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 7.3 TRAPPED BY THE SPIRITS . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 7.4 THE ASSAULT . . . . . . . . . . 61 7.5 HIGH PRESTIGE DRAWBACK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

GAME SUMMARY . . . . . 64 SET-UP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 APPROACH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 GAME TURN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 ACTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

F.A.Q. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

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Smog TTH Rules

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