GAME MANUAL (BETA VERSION)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION .......................................... 4Component list ....................................... 4Game Components ................................. 4Officer sheet ........................................... 6

Action Points (AP) ......................................... 6Hit Points (HP)............................................... 6

WHO IS WHO IN HARD CITY .................... 7Officers .................................................... 7Civilians ................................................... 7Doctor Zero ............................................. 7Mutants ................................................... 7

GAME SETUP ............................................... 8GAME OVERVIEW ....................................... 10

Game round............................................. 10Event Phase............................................. 10Action Phase ........................................... 10Officer’s turn ........................................... 11

Movement ....................................................... 11

Opening Equipment Crates ......................... 11Escorting Civilians......................................... 11Shooting Attack ............................................. 12Aimed Shot ..................................................... 12Close Combat Attack ................................... 12Giving Equipment .......................................... 13Using Skills ..................................................... 13End of Officer’s turn ...................................... 13Skill cards ....................................................... 13

Doctor Zero’s turn .................................. 13Chaos cards .................................................... 13Basic Actions ................................................. 14

Spawn Mutants ............................................ 14Move Mutants ............................................... 14Attack with Mutants .................................... 14

Eliminating Officers ...................................... 14Ending the game .................................... 15

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INTRODUCTIONHard City is a semi-cooperative strategy game in a ‘new ret-ro’ setting. During the scenario-driven gameplay, one player takes the role of the evil mastermind Doctor Zero, while all the other players become brave Officers of the Hard City Po-lice Department, aiming to upset his wicked plans.

COMPONENT LIST

Rulebook

Game Board

Mutant Extermination Track

Extermination Marker

Victory Track

Order Victory Marker

Chaos Victory Marker

2(5) Scenario Sheets

28 Mutants Miniatures

4 Officer Miniatures

4 Officer Sheets

4 HP Markers

20 AP Markers

24 Skill Cards

Police Car token

3 Crashed Car token

8 Civilian tokens

24 Equipment Crate tokens

4 Attack Dice

4 I’m Out! tokens

36 Chaos Cards

9 It’s Not Over Yet! cards

8 Event Cards

5 Player Aid cards

4 Barrel tokens

Helicopter token

4 Manhole tokens

GAME COMPONENTSGame Board

Mutant Extermination Track & Extermination Marker

Placed next to the board, it is used to track the number of Mutants the Officers have managed to kill.

Victory Track & Order and Chaos Victory Markers

Placed next to the board, it is used to track victory progress.

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SPRINTER Once per turn, you can spend

1 AP to move 3 spaces (instead of 2).

Mutant Miniatures

Scenario Sheets Officer Sheets AP Marker

HP Marker

Skill cards

Barrel token

Manhole token

Civilian token

Attack dice

Equipment Crate token

I’m Out! marker

Truck tokenPolice Car

token

Chaos CardsIt’s Not Over Yet!

cards

Event cards

Officer Miniatures

Helicopter token

Crashed Car token

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OFFICER SHEET

JENNY TAKABURA

JENNY TAKABURA

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as Furious Nurse

MEDICAL TRAININGOnce per turn, If you are on a space with no active Mutants, you can spend 1 AP to make another Offi cer on the same space regain 1 HP.

Move: Shooting Action: Aimed Shot: Close Combat: Giving Equipment:

Action Reminder

Officer’s Name

Unused AP markers

Starting SkillEach Officer is unique and has a different Starting Skill. Used wisely, it may sometimes turn out to be the key to the whole team’s victory. An Officer can never lose this Skill.

Health Track & HP Marker

Action Points (AP)By default, each Officer has 5 Action Points, represented by the donut tokens on the Officer Sheet. When an Officer takes an Action, he or she spends the required number of AP and marks it by taking the given number of markers off the Sheet. AP are restored to the maximum in the Event Phase – the player places the markers back on the Officer Sheet. The number of AP may be changed as a result of some cards’ effects.

Hit Points (HP)Hit Points represent the Officers’ health and stamina. At the beginning of the game, each Officer has the maximum num-ber of HP marked on the Officer Sheet. If during the game the number of HP goes down to zero, the Officer is knocked down and eliminated from the game until the end of the current round. He or she also gets an It’s Not Over Yet! card.

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WHO IS WHO IN HARD CITYOFFICERSThese brave men and women of the Hard City Police Department are the last hope for saving the city and its inhabitants from the mutant invasion. In order to succeed, they will have to cooperate and wisely use their skills as well as resources.

Officers are the characters whose roles are taken by some of the players in the game. Each Officer is activated (has his or her turn) once per round and performs Actions allowed by the number of AP he or she has. When an Officer receives damage, his or her HP is lowered. When an Officer’s HP goes down to zero, he or she is eliminated until the end of the current round.

CIVILIANSCivilians appear in some Scenarios. They are the terrified citizens who were on the city streets when Doctor Zero’s mu-tants attacked. A Civilian may only change his or her space on the board if escorted by an Officer or as a result of a special rule or a Chaos card. Each Civilian only has 1 HP. If a Civilian gets at least one damage, he or she is killed, which means that the token is removed from the board.

DOCTOR ZEROA former boss of the great Zero Corp, one of the most influential companies in the area. Now an evil master-mind, attempting to take over Hard City (and then the whole world!) by send-ing his terrifying mutant minions to the streets. One player always is Doctor Zero in the game. He takes his turn after each Officer’s turn, may play an Instant card from hand and then must take one Action.

MUTANTSThey are the citizens of Hard City who were unlucky enough to be exposed to Doctor Zero’s deadly Mutagen. They are his obedient slaves now.

Mutants may move up to 2 spaces on the board. One damage dealt to a Mutant stuns it, two or more damage (or one damage to an al-ready stunned Mutant) immediately kills it. Sometimes Mutants may also have special rules described in a particular Scenario.

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1. Choose the Scenario you would like to play.

2. Decide which player will become Doctor Zero. The remain-ing player(s) will be the Police Officers.

3. Shuffle the Chaos, It’s Not Over Yet! and Event decks separately. Place all the decks near the player controlling Doctor Zero.

4. Unfold the game board in the middle of the table. Then take an appropriate Scenario Sheet, draw a card from the Event deck and set up the board according to the grid on the back of the Scenario Sheet. The number on the Event card determines which grid you should use. Then shuffle the Event card back into the deck.

5. Place the Order marker and the Chaos marker on the on the corresponding starting spaces of the Victory track.

6. Place the Mutant Extermination Track near the board and place one Extermination marker on it (space 0).

7. Depending on the number of players, the players who con-trol the Officers choose which Officers will take part in the game. One player always is Doctor Zero, all the remaining players are the Police Officers.

� In a two-player game, one player is Doctor Zero, the other player controls 4 Officers,

� In a three-player game, one player is Doctor Zero, the other players control 2 Officers each,

� In a four- and five-player game, one player is Doctor Zero, the other players control one Officer each (only three Officers take part in a four-player game).

8. The players controlling the Officers choose their charac-ters and take the appropriate Officer sets (miniatures, Officer Sheets, HP and AP markers, Skill cards) - one for each player.

9. Place the HP marker and 5 AP markers on the corre-sponding spaces on each Officer Sheet. Officers start the game with maximum HP.

10. Shuffle each of the Officers’ Skill card decks separately and place them next to respective Officer Sheets.

11. Place Equipment Crate tokens face down next to the game board.

GAME SETUP

Draw a card, and then prepare the board according to the drawn number diagram below. Then player that controls Dr Zero places 7 Mutants anywhere on the board exept spaces with Crashed Car and Civilians. When this is done, the Offi cers enter the board in the Police Car from the selected edge in a straight line. Each Mutant on the spaces they moved through

are stunned, and all Mutants on the spaces Police Car stops are killed. Afterwards Offi cer are placed on spaces adjacent to the Police Car doors. Now you can start the fi rst turn!

- Crashed car

- Civilian

- Flammable barrel

LEGEND

SETUP

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Mutant Extermination Track

Skill cards

Mutants available for Doctor Zero to spawn

Victory track with Chaos and Order markers

Officer sheets

HP marker

Scenario-specific tokens

It’s Not Over Yet! / Event / Chaos cards

I’m Out! markers

Attack dice

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Hard City is a scenario-based game, so the Scenario you have chosen determines much of the gameplay. It tells you what the goals for both sides of the conflict are, how to set up the board, and what special abilities are available. However, the general structure of the game and the round sequence are always the same.

GAME ROUNDThe game is divided into several subsequent rounds.

Round sequence:

1. Event Phase

� Event card is drawn and resolved

� Doctor Zero draws Chaos cards to hand

� Officers restore AP

2. Action Phase

� First Officer’s turn

� Doctor Zero’s turn

� Second Officer’s turn

� Doctor Zero’s turn

� Third Officer’s turn

� Doctor Zero’s turn

� Fourth Officer’s turn (skip in a four-player game)

� Doctor Zero’s turn (skip in a four-player game)

EVENT PHASEEach round starts with the Event Phase.

1. Draw a card from the Event deck and place new elements on the board in accordance with the grid on the card. Each Event card contains symbols and numbers, whose exact meaning is described on the Scenario Sheet. These sym-bols may, for example, tell you where Equipment Crates appear or where frightened Civilians enter the board.

2. Doctor Zero draws as many Chaos cards as Officers take part in the game (3 or 4).

3. Officers restore their Action Points (AP) to the maximum (in most cases, it’s 5 AP).

ACTION PHASEAfter the Event Phase, the Officers and Doctor Zero take their turns alternately, until Doctor Zero takes a turn after the last Officer has been activated.

During each Officer’s turn only one Officer is activated, and the players who control the Officers collectively decide which one. During activation, an Officer spends his or her AP to take Actions. An Officer does not have to spend all AP, but each Officer may only be activated once in a round, so all unused AP are lost.

GAME OVERVIEW

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During Doctor Zero’s turn the player may either play one cho-sen Action card from hand and apply its text, play any card to perform two Basic Actions, or draw a card from the Chaos deck.

OFFICER’S TURNIn a single turn one chosen Officer is activated and may take any number of available Actions until he or she has any AP. When spending AP, take an appropriate number of AP mark-ers off the Officer Sheet to mark how many AP are still left. Besides special Actions available for particular Officers (such as their Starting Skill or Skills gained during the game), each Officer may take the following Basic Actions (each Action may be taken more than once):

Movement [1 AP]The Officer spends 1 AP and moves by 1 or 2 spaces (also diagonally) on the board. The Officer can move through spac-es with other Officers or Civilians. He or she cannot move through spaces with Obstacles (components which fully oc-cupy some spaces on the board, such as the Police Car or the Chrashed Car). The Officer can also move onto or out of a space with a Mutant. When the Officer leaves a space with any number of Mutants which are not stunned (see below), he or she loses 1 HP (regardless of the number of Mutants on the space).

Opening Equipment Crates [Free]During the game Officers may get extra Equipment thanks to Equipment Crates which appear on the board and may be

opened before, during or after Movement. In order to open an Equipment Crate (and take the token off the board and place it face up near the Officer Sheet), an Officer must be on the same space as the Crate. If an Officer moves by one space and enters a space with a Crate, he or she may open the Crate and continue Movement. An Officer may also start his or her turn on a space with a Crate, open it first and then take oth-er Actions, or finish Movement on a space with a Crate and then open it. Opening a Crate does not cost AP. After opening a Crate and taking the token, the Equipment shown on the token may be used by the Officer (but only once - discard the token after using).

Escorting Civilians [Free]Some Scenarios feature Civilians as an important element of the gameplay. Civilians do not move on their own, but they may be escorted by Officers. When an Officer leaves a space with a Civilian, he or she may escort one Civilian. During

OBSTACLES

Components which fully occupy some spaces on the board, such as the Police

Car or the Chrashed Car. Obstacles cannot be moved onto or through, unless special

rules state otherwise. Mutants cannot be spawned on Obstacles. When an Equipment

Crate or a Civilian is supposed to appear on an Obstacle during the game setup or the Event Phase, the players controlling the Officers collectively decide on which space adjacent to the Obstacle it appears.

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Movement, an Officer can leave a Civilian on any space or take a Civilian with him or her (move onto a space with a Civilian and, in the same Movement Action, move to another space, taking the Civilian with him or her).

Shooting Attack [1 AP]If an Officer is on a space with no Mutants which are not stunned, he or she may take a shot. The Officer may choose any space with Mutants, but with no Civilians or Officers (and not the space he or she is currently on). Any space on the board that meets these requirements may be targeted – the line of sight is not blocked by miniatures or terrain elements, unless stated otherwise in the Scenario. Then the Officer rolls

2 Attack Dice at once (unless other rules state otherwise). The results on the dice determine the outcome of the Attack. Add up the damage rolled on both dice. Then the Officer free-ly distributes the total damage among all Mutants on the targeted space. A single wound stuns a Mutant (knock the miniature over, the Mutant cannot do anything until it regains

consciousness), while dealing two damage to a Mutant (or one damage to a stunned Mutant) means the Mutant is killed (the miniature is taken off the board).

Aimed Shot [2 AP]Precise Shot is not considered a Shooting Attack Action, but it is similar to it. Apply all the requirements of a regular Shooting Attack, but don’t roll the dice. Deal two damage to a single Mutant on the targeted space instead.

Close Combat Attack [1 AP]If an Officer is on the same space as a Mutant which is not stunned, he or she only has two options. The Officer may ei-ther leave the space and lose 1 HP, or attack the Mutant(s) on this space. Close Combat Attacks may be performed on any space with the Officer and at least one Mutant, even if other Officers or Civilians are on it. In a Close Combat Attack the Officer only rolls 1 die. As a result of such an Attack, one can only stun Mutants (they do not get killed in Close Combat).

Example: If an Officer deals 2 damage in a Close Combat Attack, he or she may stun up to 2 Mutants (if there are that many on the space), but cannot kill any of them.

I’M OUT!

If during a Shooting Attack an Officer rolls <!> on two or more dice, it means that he or she is out of ammo. After resolving the Attack and dealing damage (if any), place the I’m Out! token on this Officer’s Sheet. The Officer cannot perform Shooting Attacks or Aimed Shots until he or she removes the I’m Out! token. Spend 1 AP to reload the gun and remove the I’m Out! token.

ATTACK DICE

Each Attack Die has several pos-sible results of a roll. These in-clude damage (1 or 2), blank (no effect) and <!>. During the game you will be using a different num-ber of dice, depending on the type of Attack, Equipment used or the character performing the Attack.

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Giving Equipment [1 AP]If there are two or more Officers on the same space, the active Officer may spend 1 AP to give his or her Equipment token to another Officer on this space. There is no limit on the number of Equipment tokens one Officer can carry.

Using SkillsEach Officer has a Starting Skill printed on the Officer Sheet, but during the game Officers may also earn new Skills. In some cases using a Skill may require spending AP, their rules are explained on particular Skill cards (or Officer Sheets for Starting Skills).

End of Officer’s turnAfter a single Officer finishes taking Actions, take all of his or her unused AP markers off the Officer Sheet. This Officer will not be able to take any more Actions this round (unless a special rule allows him or her to do so).

Skill cardsEach Officer has his or her own deck of cards with unique Skills. In order to get new Skills, the Officers must kill a total of 10 Mutants. Then draw two cards from each Officer’s Skill deck and choose one per Officer to keep (each Officer gains one Skill). Place each chosen card next to the respective Of-ficer Sheet. Shuffle all the other cards back into appropriate Skill decks. Officers can immediately start using their new Skills.

The number of Mutants killed is marked on the Mutant Exter-mination Track. After a Mutant is killed, move the Extermina-tion marker one space forward. After 10 Mutants are killed,

move the Extermination marker back to “0”. Officers may get more than one Skill during the game.

DOCTOR ZERO’S TURNAfter a single Officer finishes his or her turn, Doctor Zero acts. He takes Actions according to a different set of rules than the Officers, and uses a special deck of cards. At the beginning of each round Doctor Zero draws as many Chaos cards as there are Officers taking part in the game (3 or 4), and then uses them in his turns to take Actions.

Chaos cardsThe Chaos deck contains 3 types of cards. These are:

� Instant cards, each round – before taking any Actions – Doctor Zero may play one such card;

� Action cards, which may be played instead of using the Basic Actions (apply the text on the card, but do not use the symbols at the bottom);

� Reaction cards, which may only be played at the moment specified on the card (for example, “Bite” may only be played after an Officer has rolled “!” in a Close Combat Attack). Doctor Zero draws a Chaos card after playing reacton card.

In his turn, Doctor Zero may play one Instant card, then he must take one of the three actions:

� Draw one Chaos card to hand.

� Play an Action (but not Instant or Reaction) card from hand and apply its text.

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� Play any chosen card from hand and take 2 out of 3 Basic Actions shown on the bottom (without applying the text).

Basic ActionsEach Chaos card has three symbols and values at the bottom. These are: the number of new Mutants spawned, the Mutants’ Movement and the number of Mutants’ Attacks. While playing a card, Doctor Zero either applies its text or chooses two out of three Basic Actions and performs them as many times as the numbers on the card say in any order (any type of Chaos card may be used this way).

Spawn MutantsIf Doctor Zero chooses this Action, he may place as many new Mutants in his Spawn Zone (specified on the Scenario Sheet)

as the number on the card says. Mutants may be spawned on any space with no Obstacles (Mutants may even be spawned on spaces with Civilians, Officers or other Mutants), but you cannot spawn two or more Mutants on the same space in a single turn.

Move MutantsDoctor Zero moves as many Mutants as the number on the card says. Each Mutant may be moved up to 2 spaces (also diagonally). A single Mutant cannot be moved twice in the same turn. Instead of moving one Mutant, Doctor may choose a stunned Mutant that will regain consciousness – bring the miniature back to the upright position.

Example: Doctor Zero plays an Action card that allows him to move 3 Mutants. He decides that one Mutant will move by two spaces, while two stunned Mutants will regain consciousness.

Attack with MutantsAn Attack may only be performed by a Mutant on the space with a Civilian and/or an Officer. A Mutant deals one damage per space it is on. The players controlling the Officers decide whether the damage goes to an Officer or to a Civilian on this space - and to which one, if there is more than one. If the damage is dealt to an Officer, he or she loses 1 HP – mark it on the track on the Officer Sheet. If the damage is dealt to a Civilian, he or she is killed and the token is immediately taken off the board. A single Mutant may only attack once per turn.

Eliminating OfficersAt the beginning of the game, each Officer has the maximum number of Hit Points marked on the Officer Sheet. If during

InstantImmediately play another card. Use two of the

Basic Actions as usual, but add 1 to their values.

Take the city!

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Name of card

Type of card

Effect

Basic Actions

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DOCTOR ZERO’S BASIC ACTIONS

Spawn Mutants

Move Mutants

Attack with Mutants

the game the num-ber of HP goes down to zero, the Officer is knocked down and eliminated from the game until the end of the current round. Knock the miniature over and leave it on its space.

Nobody and nothing can affect an eliminated Officer. Doctor Zero draws two cards from It’s Not Over Yet! deck, chooses one and gives it to the player controlling the eliminated Of-ficer. The player places this card next to his or her Officer Sheet in order to remember about its effect. An eliminated Officer returns to play at the beginning of the next round. Bring the miniature back to the upright position. A single Of-ficer may be eliminated more than once during the game, so he or she may have more than one It’s Not Over Yet! card.

ENDING THE GAMEThe exact winning conditions are always described on the Scenario Sheet. The game usually ends when either of sides reach 7 Victory Points, but the rules of earning these points may differ for each Scenario.