RULE BOOK - Derpy Games

RULE BOOK
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Introduction
NanoBot Battle Arena (NBBA) is a tile­based tabletop strategy game set in the distant future. Join the ranks of
scientists using microscopic robots called NanoBots to battle for glory in a petri dish called the Battle Arena. Most
scientists favor specific types of NanoBots known as Strains; each Strain has its own unique affinity and abilities.
Players can experiment with eight different Strains to face off against opponents.
Depending on the type of game play, NBBA can range from a small 15­minute game to an epic battle of
microscopic proportions. Combine additional game boxes to make the battles even GREATER! At its largest size
of 60 tiles per player with all 8 Strains in play, NBBA retains its fast pace and would only take a couple of hours to
play.
Strains
A box of NanoBot Battle Arena contains all 8 Strains of NanoBots. Each Strain favors a different strategy, and is
more suitable for different situations.
Blight: An infectious Strain known for its ability to corrupt and convert other NanoBots into allies. Inject noxious fluid into your
opponents’ NanoBots and watch them fester. There are some things water just can’t wash away!
Chronos: Manipulating time and space, this Strain frigidly controls the natural order. Made an enemy? Give them the cold
shoulder by preventing your opponents from using their Reaction Cards.
Echidna: Named after the ancient mother of all monsters, this Strain can grow to mythic proportions. Like a rampant weed,
cultivate your chain by placing extra NanoBots in the Battle Arena to overrun your opponents.
Ghost: Hauntingly mischievous, this Strain causes chaos by transporting NanoBots to new locations. Now you see it, now you
don’t! Whisk away your opponent’s NanoBots to disrupt their chain or to restore your own.
Inferno: With blazing claws, snip NanoBots to scraps. Nothing survives the fire! Permanently destroy NanoBots on the
beginning or end of an opponent’s chain and send them to the Scrapyard.
Relic: Modeled after prehistoric organisms, the Relic Strain is known for its hard shell. Fortify your NanoBots to ward against
other players’ Reaction Cards, but don’t get too comfortable. Opponents can slowly remove petrified defenses and attack.
Storm: Brace for impact! Bursting with electricity, these turbo­charged NanoBots are intimidating. Blast other NanoBots in your
chain’s path, and return them to an opponent’s Cache.
Vex: Through deception and illusion this Strain of NanoBot has become known as the most mysterious. Confuse your
opponents’ NanoBots to break or block their chain.
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Contents
120 NanoBot Tiles
96 Reaction Cards
8 NanoBot Strain Cards
1 Awesome Rulebook
Goal
Have the longest chain of NanoBots by the time any player runs out of tiles.
NBBA Terms
Scientists are the players in the game.
NanoBot Tiles are the tiny robots that each scientist uses to build a chain.
Strains are a specific types of NanoBots. Each scientist generally champions a particular Strain.
Reaction Cards are powers used by the competing scientists to influence the NanoBots. All Strains have an
affinity for specific Reaction Cards.
The Battle Arena is the petri dish in which scientists compete against each other. It refers to the central playing
area between all of the participating players where NanoBot tiles are placed.
The Deck is where players draw Reaction Cards at the end of his or her turn.
The Discard Pile is the area where Reaction Cards are placed once they have been used.
The Box lid is referred to as the “Scrapyard”. It is placed face down and used to hold all of the scrapped or
discarded NanoBot tiles. NanoBot scientists jokingly call this the “Box of Doom!”
Phases indicate the flow of a turn, and when a NanoBot tile or Reaction Card should be played. Larger scale
games have additional phases to allow for combos. Phases must be played in order.
Scrapping is removing a target NanoBot tile from play, and sending it to the Scrapyard.
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Game Pieces
NanoBot Tiles: Each box contains 120 NanoBot tiles with 8 Strains, and can seat up to 8 players. Tiles are always
played dark side face up. A tile is flipped over to its light side when it is targeted by a Petrify Reaction Card.
Petrified (light sided) tiles indicate that they are protected from other Strains’ Reaction Cards except the Relic
Strain. A NanoBot tile can be flipped over back to it’s vulnerable dark side if a Petrify Reaction Card is played
targeting a petrified tile. All tiles have five basic parts: the Base Edge, the Standard Edges, the Path Arrows, the
Strain Icon, and the NanoBot. The five basic parts are identical on both sides of a tile.
The Base Edge is always reserved for the tile’s owner to play off of. Players cannot place a tile adjacent to an
opponent’s Base Edge.
The Standard Edges refers to the other three edges of the tile.
Path Arrows indicate the orientation of a tile, and specifies the direction of the line of sight of the NanoBot.
The Strain Icon indicates the Strain type, and which of the Reaction Cards the NanoBot Strain has an affinity for.
The NanoBot is the design in the center of tile. Most of the designs display the theme of the Strain’s powers.
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Reaction Cards: Reaction Cards are used to interact with NanoBot tiles. Each Reaction Card has five basic parts:
the Name, a Strain Icon, the Number of Charges, a Type, and a Description of the ability.
The Name identifies the Reaction Card.
The Strain Icon identifies which Strain of NanoBot has an affinity with the Reaction Card.
The Number of Charges identify the number of tiles, cards, or players that can be affected by the Reaction Card.
Charges can range from 1­3. A player may use the full number of Charges on a card, but may also choose to use
less if they so desire. Charges can be split between
different tiles, players, or cards to affect multiple targets.
The Type indicates how the card is used in gameplay. In
this edition, only ‘Power’ Reaction Cards are available. This
is the most basic type of Reaction Card, and can only be
played during a player’s turn. Once the card is used, it is
placed face up in the discard pile.
The Description is used as a reminder of how a card is
played. Further explanations of the Reaction Cards’ abilities
are included later in this rulebook.
Affinity: Each player has a Strain affinity. The Strain Icon on
a player’s NanoBot tile determines a player’s affinity. When
a player plays a Reaction Card that matches the Strain Icon
on his or her NanoBot, the card gains a +1 to its Charges. If a card is used against a player that has an affinity for
it, the card receives ­1 to the number of it’s Charges. EXAMPLE – Capt’n Kitteh is playing the Chronos Strain, and
has an affinity for Freeze Reaction Cards as indicated by the matching Strain Icon on the cards and on his tiles. If
Capt’n Kitteh plays a Freeze ‘3’ Reaction Card he gets a +1 to the card’s Charges, making the card a Freeze ‘4’. If
another player uses a Freeze ‘3’ card against Capt’n Kitteh, the card receives a ­1 to it’s Charges making the card a
Freeze ‘2’. The opponent can then use the two remaining Charges on the Freeze Reaction Card against Capt’n
Kitteh.
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Game Setup
Separate the Reaction Cards from the other additional cards included in the box, and set the additional cards
aside. Place NanoBot tiles into individual stacks of the same type of Strain.
Determine the Number of NanoBots Per Player: Each player will be designated a stack of a single Strain of
NanoBot tiles. This stack of tiles is called the Cache (pronounced like ‘cash’). A single box of NanoBot Battle
Arena comes with 15 tiles per Strain. Multiple boxes of NBBA can be combined to increase the number of tiles per
Strain. There are four divisions of gameplay based on the amount of tiles each player has in his or her Cache at
the start of the game.
15 tiles – Basic Division
30 tiles – Lightweight Division
45 tiles – Middleweight Division
60 tiles – Heavyweight Division
Determine the division of NanoBot battle that players would like to play by selecting 15, 30, 45, or 60 tiles per
player. Add tiles from additional boxes as needed. Depending on the number of tiles used, the rules and style of
play can change drastically.
Choose a Strain of NanoBot: Players may choose a Strain of NanoBot, or draw randomly from the deck until all
players have picked a Strain.
Separate Reaction Cards by the Number of Charges and Deal: Divide Reaction Cards into piles of Charge levels
of ‘1’s, ‘2’s, and ‘3’s. Place the three separated piles of Reaction Cards face down and shuffle individually. Deal
one card from the ‘3’s pile, two cards from the ‘2’s pile, and three cards from the ‘1’s pile to each player. Take the
remainder of the Reaction Cards and shuffle them together to form one deck. Place the deck face down in the
central playing area. This deck is
used for all of the participating players
to draw from. If a deck runs out of
cards, replenish the deck by shuffling
the discard pile face down and use
the pile as the new deck.
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Suggested Number of Communal Decks By Divisions and Players
When playing with multiple decks, place each deck in easy to reach locations around the edge of the Battle Arena.
Deal the initial player hands from the decks closest to each player by splitting the deck into ‘1’s, ‘2’s, and ‘3’s as
usual. Player’s should place discarded Reaction Cards in a discard pile by the nearest deck. If a deck runs out of
Reaction Cards, shuffle the discard pile face down into a new deck.
2­8 Players – 15 tiles Basic Division – 1 deck
2­4 Players – 30 tiles Lightweight Division – 1 deck
5­8 Players – 30 tiles Lightweight Division – 2 decks
2­4 Players – 45 tiles Middleweight Division – 2 decks
5­8 Players – 45 tiles Middleweight Division – 3 decks
2­4 Players – 60 tiles Heavyweight Division – 3 decks
5­8 Players – 60 tiles Heavyweight Division – 4 decks
Quick Play Check List
Players should have a stack of a single Strain of NanoBots called the ‘Cache’ in front of them.
Each player should have a hand of six cards consisting of: three ‘1’ Reaction Cards, two ‘2’ Reaction Cards,
and one ‘3’ Reaction Card.
The rest of the Reaction Cards should be shuffled into a communal deck, and placed in a central area that all
the players can reach. A space next to the deck should be reserved for a discard pile.
The box lid, called the “Scrapyard”, is placed outside of the playing area for tiles removed from the Battle
Arena.
Choosing Who Plays First
Reveal cards from the top of the Reaction Card deck until a card with a player’s chosen Strain Icon is revealed.
The player with that Strain goes first. Place the revealed cards face up in the discard pile. Turns rotate to the left
(clockwise).
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Gameplay
Phases by Division: Depending on the number of tiles in a division, phases will change. Some players enjoy
smaller and quicker games, while others enjoy larger more indepth games. Phases must be played in order.
­15 Tile Game Phases­
Phase 1: Play 1 tile
Phase 2: Play 1 Reaction Card
Phase 3: Draw 1 Reaction Card
­30, 45, and 60 Tile Game Phases­
Phase 1: Play 1 Reaction Card
Phase 2: Play 2 tiles
Phase 3: Play 2 Reaction Cards
Phase 4: Draw 3 Reaction Cards
Tile Phase
The First Turn and Placing NanoBots: When placing the first tile, place the tile (dark side face up) in the center of
the playing area in any orientation. All tiles played from a Cache are always played dark side face up, and can be
facing in any direction. Sometimes through a turn of events, all the NanoBot tiles can be wiped out of the playing
area. If there are no NanoBots in the Battle Arena, the next player to place a tile, places it in the center of the
playing area in any orientation.
NanoBot Tile Placement Proximity: Tiles must be placed immediately adjacent to other tiles to form a square
grid. Tiles cannot be placed diagonally, and must be placed aligned to and touching other tiles in the Battle Arena.
Placing NanoBot Tiles in a Legal Location: Direction and orientation are an important part of NanoBot Battle
Arena. In a Tile Placement Phase, a player places a NanoBot tile from his or her Cache into the Battle Arena.
Each tile has a Base Edge to indicate a protected edge that only the owner of that tile can play off of. The tiles also
use the Arrow Path to indicate the progressive direction of the chain, and the line of sight of the individual tile. A
‘Legal Location’ means that tiles are always placed adjacent to other NanoBot tiles anywhere in the playing area
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except the Base Edge of an opponent’s tile. Tiles do not always need to be placed in a continuous chain or even
near the rest of a player’s NanoBots. Different situations call for different tile placements, and even some Reaction
Cards require a tile to be placed a certain way. The Base Edge must be placed adjacent to a Standard Edge of the
same Strain to count as continuous. Two Base Edges facing each other count as two separate chains since each
has a different direction. The final score of each game is based on the length of a chain that each player builds.
The longest continuous chain wins.
Making a chain of NanoBots: In order to build a chain of NanoBots, players must place their NanoBots adjacent to
their own tiles, and all tiles must connect by the Base Edge touching a Standard Edge. Chains cannot be made
from multiple Strains of NanoBots. Two of the same edges touching do not count towards the final length of the
chain. Progressively connect the Base Edges to the Standard Edges forming straight, looping, or zigzagging lines
to create a chain. The longest chain of consecutive tiles wins the game. Think of your chain like an army of
NanoBots in a conga line: one can’t follow the other if they’re not facing the right way! A single tile that is not
continuous in a chain counts as a chain of 1 NanoBot.
Competing for a space: When two players find their NanoBots trying to overtake the same space, the first player
able to take the space can do so (even with Blink or Grow Reaction Cards).
Floating NanoBot Tiles: Due to different Reaction Cards, NanoBot tiles can be left floating in space independent
from larger chains. This is a standard part of NanoBot Battle Arena, and it happens all the time. Continue to place
tiles in the usual grid format adjacent to any tile in a legal location. Tiles can be placed adjacent to floating
NanoBots.
Chains of 1: Tiles in a chain can have their orientation changed or can be left independently floating. A single
NanoBot tile that is facing the opposite direction in a chain or that is independently floating in the Battle Arena still
counts as a chain of 1 tile.
Forked Chains and Colonies: NanoBots can form forked chains or have colonies of multiple chains independent
of each other. Only the longest colony or portion of a forked chain counts towards the final score.
Building a Looping Chain: Some cards remove tiles from the beginning or end of a chain. If the chain loops
without a start or finish where all the tiles feed into each other, that chain cannot be affected by these attacks. If a
chain is looped at the end of the game, it does not count as an infinite number. For the final score, add the total
number of NanoBots in the loop.
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Reaction Card Phase
There are two possible actions to take during a Reaction Card Phase:
Play a Reaction Card: The player can use a Reaction Card from his or her hand. Once the card is played, it is
placed face up in the discard pile. Cards are drawn at the end of the turn to replenish a player’s hand. Players
should always have a hand of six cards at the end of their turn.
OR
Discard a Reaction Card: A player can elect to discard a Reaction Card instead of playing one. Discarding means
that the Reaction Card is played, but the player does not activate its ability, and places it into the discard pile. The
player cannot play an extra Reaction Card after discarding. The player draws back up to six cards at the end of the
turn as usual. EXAMPLE: In a Lightweight game of 30 tiles, players must play his or her phases in the order of: one
Reaction Card, two NanoBot tiles, and two cards. In a standard turn, Capt’n Kitteh will first discard one of his cards,
play two tiles, play two Reaction Cards from his hand, and then draw back up to six cards.
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Reaction Card Charges: It is not required to use the maximum number of Charges on a Reaction Card. Also, the
Charges can be broken up among multiple targets (cards, tiles, or players) unless the card states otherwise.
Melding Charges: In the Lightweight Division and higher, it is possible to meld charges of Reaction Cards.
Melding allows a player to increase the range of a line of sight attack. In this edition, this rule only applies to Surge
Reaction Cards. When two cards with the same name are played consecutively by the same player, the Charges
can be combined for a higher potency. EXAMPLE: If a Surge ‘2’ and a Surge ‘3’ are played together, a player can
attack up to five tiles in a direct line of sight. Affinity is treated as normal. EXAMPLE: When melding two Reaction
Cards, a player playing the Storm Strain has an affinity for Surge Reaction Cards, and would receive a total of +2
Charges when melding two Surge cards. When an opponent melds two Surge cards and attacks a Storm Strain
player, the total amount of Charges is reduced by ­2 since there are two Reaction Cards being melded.
Not Enough Reaction Cards: When a player has too few cards in his or her hand, the player must attempt to play
Reaction Card Phases in order to the best of his or her ability. A player cannot skip over a Reaction Card Phase,
and must play a card in his or her hand. If the player has no cards or runs out of cards in his or her hand, then the
rest of the Reaction Cards to be played are skipped for the turn. EXAMPLE: In a Lightweight game of 30 tiles,
Capt’n Kitteh’s opponents have used a Freeze ‘3’ Reaction Card and a Freeze ‘1’ Reaction Card against him. The
opponents randomly chose four of Capt’n Kitteh’s cards in a hand of 6. The cards are not revealed, and are set
aside. Capt’n Kitteh only has two cards left in his hand for his turn. Lightweight Division games require that a player
must play his or her phases in the order of: one Reaction Card, two NanoBot tiles, and two cards. Capt’n Kitteh will
first play one of his cards, play two tiles, and play the last card in his hand. Since he has run out of cards, he will
have to skip playing a Reaction Card at the end of his turn. The four cards affected by Freeze return to Capt’n
Kitteh’s hand before the draw phase, and he draws two cards to have a hand of six.
Reaction Card Explanations
Freeze (Chronos Strain) can temporarily remove random cards from a player's hand until the beginning of his or her next draw
phase. When you play a Freeze Reaction Card, you may choose up to its Charge value in random cards from any of your
opponent's hands. These cards are not revealed, are placed face down on the table, and may not be played. They are returned
to their owner's hand before their draw phase.
Petrify (Relic Strain) can flip over or unflip any tile. When you play a Petrify Reaction Card, you may choose up to its Charge
value in friendly or enemy tiles, and flip them over. Other Strain’s Reaction Cards may not affect a petrified tile.
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Infect (Blight Strain) can replace an opponent’s tiles with your own. You may replace up to the Charge value of your opponents’
tiles immediately adjacent to a chosen tile of your own. Any newly placed tiles keep the same orientation as the replaced tiles.
Infect cannot travel diagonally, or down a chain. All tiles chosen to be infected from a single Reaction Card are infected
simultaneously. Tiles replaced by the Infect Reaction Card are scrapped.
Blink (Ghost Strain) can move a NanoBot to a new legal location. When you play a Blink Reaction Card you may move tiles equal
to its Charge value. Each tile must be picked up and replayed one at a time. Tiles cannot be swapped. The same tile may be
picked up and replayed multiple times. The NanoBot must keep the same orientation. Tiles can be blinked into a competing space.
You can voluntarily Blink your opponent’s tiles to one of your Base Edges.
Burn (Inferno Strain) can destroy a NanoBot from either end of any chain. Multiple chains can be burned in one turn. NanoBots
forming a loop cannot be burned.
Surge (Storm Strain) returns tiles in the line of sight (the direction of the Path Arrows) of your adjacent NanoBot to their owner’s
Cache. All tiles in a single line of sight are returned at the same time. The tiles closest to the attacking NanoBot tile are returned,
and tiles cannot be skipped over. Surge cannot be extended past an empty space or a petrified tile. Surge Charges can be
broken among multiple attacking NanoBots to Surge from different directions.
Grow (Echidna Strain) can place additional tiles in a player’s turn.
Pivot (Vex Strain) can rotate tiles to any orientation; there is no limit to the amount of rotations.
The End Game
Finishing the Game: Once any of the players runs out of NanoBots in his or her Cache, the game ends
immediately. When the last tile is played from a player’s Cache, phases in the turn do not continue and the game
simply ends. The longest chain of NanoBots wins. Note: When dealing with forked chains or colonies, the longest
portion or independent chain of tiles is the final score for a player.
Ties: In event of a tie for the longest chain, the player with the least amount of NanoBots in his or her Cache wins.
If those players are still tied, the players add the total number of Charges on each of the Reaction Cards in his or
her hand. The player with the largest sum of Reaction Card Charges in his or her hand wins. If the sum of the
Charges in both player’s hands are equal, the game is a tie. Cards affected by Freeze are not counted towards the
final sum of Reaction Card Charges.
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Strategies
∙ Build zigzagging chains. It’s like running from a rhinoceros!
∙ Blink tiles into your chain so that you can Infect them later.
∙ If a player is about to run out of tiles, use a Surge Reaction Card on his or her NanoBot tiles to extend the game.
∙ Keep the orientation of tiles in a chain in two uniform directions. That way the tiles can easily fit back into a
chain if they are moved.
∙ Save your larger cards for the end of the game (especially Grow ‘3’).
∙ Great opening moves are to discard a Blink ‘1’, or use a Petrify ‘1’.
∙ If you discard a Reaction Card with a ‘1’ Charge level, you have a 50% chance of drawing a higher power
Reaction Card.
∙ Pivot the Base Edges of two tiles to face each other in the middle of an opponent’s chain in order to completely
break his or her chain.
∙ Petrified tiles on the beginning and end of a chain will protect a player’s chain from Burn Reaction Cards.
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