Rules

Welcome new and old players to the rules and how to play A.E.G.I.S.  It’s simple to learn and reading the field guild will explain base tactics and everything needed to understand the game.  For more experienced players, look here for more complex strategies and answers to more complex rules questions. These rules are close to final but any feedback is appreciated to help clarify and understand the game.

Final Rulebook Updated!

This version of the rulebook is the version being printed with the game!

Updates Include:

• Rules for 3 and 4 player
• Rules for 2 v 2 player
• Point Control Rules
• Updated Draft Rules
• Updated Combine Rondo Rules
• Updated ‘Mode Change Combining’ Rules
• Updated Diagrams
• Full glossary of all abilities in the Core Box

Rulings and Clarifications

• Q1: Does a successful radial Buff or Debuff Actions also affect the user?
• A1: A Robots Action will only affect itself if you see the “SELF” tag on the Action.  If there is no “SELF” tag, the user is not affected.
• Q1b: Can a robot ever hit itself without the “SELF” attribute?
• A1b: If the attacking robot has a splash radius on its attack, and is within that radius, yes, it will hit itself. Move back a step or two before throwing bombs!
• Q2: If a Buff or Debuff is successful, does it affect the robots for the next Action or all Actions they use until the start of your next turn?
• A2: A Buff or Debuff is active until the start of your next turn. So if a buffed robot shoots on your turn, and then somehow retaliates on an opponent’s turn, the buff would be on both of those attacks.
• Q3: Do Combine Attacks succeed automatically without having to roll dice?
• A3: Yes, Combine Attacks (indicted by the green “COMBINE” tag) succeed automatically without having to roll any dice or pay any energy.  The target must be legal, as normal. You also do not have to activate a Combine ability, it is always optional.
• Q4: Does Combining remove all Damage from the combining Robots? Or is the new robot damaged too because its components were?
• A4:  When a Robot Combines, it comes into play with with its full Integrity.
• Q5: When may a robot use Retaliate?
• A5: A robot may Retaliate after the opponent has completely resolved their attack. A dead robot can’t retaliate. You have to pay energy and roll dice to retaliate, as normal. You can retaliate on any legal target.
• Q5b: If my robot has Double Move, can I attack a robot, and then move away before that robot retaliates on me?
• A5b: No, retaliate triggers immediately after an attack resolves.
• Q5c: What if my robot with Double Move triggers retaliate, that robot shoots another robot with retaliate, and so on. Do I have to wait for all the Retaliate triggers to resolve before I get to move again?
• A5c: Yes, all retaliates need to resolve before your second movement happens.
• Q6: If a robot has Jet, how does it’s Movement Value work?
• A6: “Jet X” reads as “each Movement/Energy Point counts for X spaces”. So if a robot has Jet 3 and has a Movement Value of 3, it may move 9 spaces for 3 Energy. The Robot does not have to move its full Movement Value.  If a Robot has Jet 3, you may move it two spaces if you choose.
• A6b: The EXCEL-100 is a special case and has an ability that may increase its Movement Value.  If this happens the same rules apply for “Jet” so an increase of its Movement to 4 means, it may move 12 spaces for 4 Energy.
• Q7: How do “Pushing” and “Pulling” work?
• A7:  Pushing and Pulling are Actions that re-position Robots.  They move the target robot towards or away from the user of the push or pull action. The target must always be pushed or pulled in as straight a line as possible from or towards the user. If a robot 5 spaces away is pushed away for 2, it must end up in any spot that is 7 hexes away from the user. You can’t push/pull robots “around corners”. Robots that collide with terrain or other robots take damage. This damage is equal to half the number of spaces the robot could no longer move, rounded down. (A robot pushed for 3 into a terrain piece it was standing next to will take 1 damage. If it was pushed for 4, it would take to damage. If it was pushed into another robot, that other robot would also take the same amount of damage.)
• Q7b: If I’m pushing or pulling something from far away, and there are two “shortest paths towards the destination”, but one has a piece of terrain in the way, can I choose to collide that robot with that terrain instead of moving it along the clear path?
• A7b: Yes.
• Q8: What are the Rules for Tournament Play?
• A8: Build your team of 5 Robots with 2 Robots available as your “Sideboard.” Sideboards are public knowledge.  You may have 5 “Combined Robots” on your team.  The game begins with each of you secretly choosing a 5 Robot team for that round.  At the start of the Round, the teams are revealed.  Rounds are best 2 out of 3 wins, and in between rounds you may substitute in Robots from your Sideboard.  Each game always begins with two teams of five.
• Q9: Does the commander ability Rogue Decoy last until the start of your next turn or indefinitely?
• A9:  Rogue Decoy lasts until the start of your next turn.  You may then choose a new legal target or keep the same target at the end of the turn.
• Q10: If a non-damaging Action has Critical (ex. SALV-400’s Repair Rayfield) does the Critical affect the intensity of the effect the ability is applying or simply add 1 damage on to the attack?
• A10: Critical adds +1 to whatever the Action Power is. Critical Heal and Critical Energy Drain are Actions that can occur in the game.
• Q10b: If an Action has Aimed and Critical or Anti-Air, does Aimed cancel them because Aimed prevents damage alteration?
• A10b: No. Aimed never invalidates parts of the Action it is on, only outside buffs and debuffs from other sources.
• Q11: Do accuracy buffs and debuffs effect actions with Critical?
• A11: If a robot has Critical on an Action it always occurs if you roll a 6.
• Q12: Does the IKA-100s Move Target Action require they be moved three spaces in one direction/the same direction, or could you move it along any path?
• A12: The IKA-100s Move Target Action means you may move the target robot three spaces in any direction you choose, including around corners.  You may NOT move them into another Robot, into Terrain, or off the Board.
• Q13: If a unit with a Heavy ability is moved by another robot, can it still fire it’s Heavy weapon if it has not moved by itself?
• A13: Being pushed, pulled or moved by another robot or ability does not count as that robot moving itself, and therefor does not count against heavy.
• Q14: Does a robot with Cloaking active block line of sight?
• A14: Yes.
• Q14b: How do I hit Cloaked robots?
• A14b: Cloaked robots are still affected by radial(area of effect) damage that doesn’t target them. They can similarly be pierced through if a robot in front of them is shot with a Piercing action. Lastly, they can be damaged via collision if another robot is pushed into them.
• Q14c: My robot has Cloaking and is restrained. Can it move via cloaking?
• A14c: No, but you can still cloak to become untargettable.
• Q15: Can you target an empty space with a ranged Area of Effect (AoE) attack?
• A15: You can’t target an empty space with ANY Action. Actions with Range values always have to target a robot.
• Q16:  How does “Light” work?
• A16: The “Light” Action can essentially go anywhere in a robot’s activation. It may; Use the “Light” Action then move.  Use the “Light” Action then use another Action. Use the “Light” Action, move, then use another Action, etc.
• Q17: When a robot has received a damage buff and uses an attack with multiple successes, is each success buffed or simply the overall damage? (Would an ENDER-1000 that succeeds on all its shots deal 5 damage or 8 damage, for example)
• A17:  Damage Buffs and Anti-Air always add onto the total damage dealt.  In the ENDER-1000 example, 5 damage would be dealt (4+1). If a buffed robot misses all its dice however, no bonus damage is dealt.
• Q18: Are Area of Effect(Radial) Actions affected by Line of Sight?
• A18:  Sort of! Area of Effect attacks go through robots, but not terrain.
• Q18b: Is Detonator affected by Line of Sight?
• A18b: In the same way that Radial attacks are, yes.
• Q18c: Is Parting Shot affected by Line of Sight?
• A18c: In the same way standard single-target attacks are, yes.
• Q19: In Point Control, if I have a robot with Combat Drop and it’s off the board, can I bring a new robot in on an Entry Point?
• Q19: No, a Combat Drop robot off the board still counts as an ‘Active Robot’ in these cases. Basically, in any mode where you can have a cap of five robots at a time, count the face-up cards in front of you and not the pieces out on the board.
• Q19b: In 2v2 Point Control, how many points does my team need to win?
• A19b: 22, with it being at least two higher than the other team.
• Q20: In Combine Rondo, how does Etwal’s Magnificence ability work?
• A20: Etwal’s ability in Combine Rondo only triggers off of destroyed Basic Robots, and robots made up of Basic Robots. If you start with another Level 3 on the board and it blows up, Etwal’s robots get no bonuses. If you make said level 3 robot mid-game out of a Level 2 and a Level 1 that you started with, and then it blows up, Etwal will count just that one Basic robot it was made up from and get +1/+1/+1.
• Q21: In Combine Rondo, Aroz-Ell-Sol seems very strong. Is this game mode balanced for that?
• A21: Combine Rondo is a very casual-style, “for-funsies” game mode and can be wildly swingy and explosive by the nature of having several robots on the board that can’t exist together in normal games. If there is a lack of fun, House-rule it out of the game, or shoot it a lot.
• Q22: Mode Change Combining. Can I combine an A robot with an EI robot to make an AI robot?
• A22: Yes, assuming that the Make (Robot Name) requirements are met.
• Q22b: Can I then combine that AI robot with a G to make an AEGI robot?
• A22b: Yes, it still counts as having that E robot inside it.
• Q22c: Could I combine that AI robot with a G to make an AEI robot?
• A22c: No, even though there’s an A, E and I in there, the two robots you’re actively combining have to make something that matches their letters.
• Q22d: Okay but can I combine that AEGI big guy in A22b with an S to make an AS robot?
• A22d: No, you can’t combine into anything that’s smaller than the largest part.
• Q22e: Okay last one: Can I combine an AG robot with a different AG robot to make another AG robot?
• A22e: Yes sure. As long as the robot name requirements are valid.
• Q23: Can I combine into the same combined robot twice in one game?
• A23: No.
• Q24: Variant Robots. Can I have a SSM-3000 and a SSM-3000 Sunset Mode on the board at the same time?
• A24: No. Any robot that shares a single piece, like most variants do, can’t coexist with their normal version at the same time.
• Q24b: Can I make Sunset Mode after my normal SSM-3000 is destroyed?
• A24b: No, for the same answer as Q23. Variant robots count as the same robot as what they are a variant of.
• Q25: For the promo card ELL-GEL-ION Awakening, how does its “Scrap Awakening” ability work?
• A25: This robot essentially works the same as Scrap Combining, but with no restrictions. If you have an A-Class robot on the board and can still make 7 Energy, it can combine with destroyed E, G, and I robots, replacing the Assault bot on the board with this new robot. You can also make this robot normally, or by having two adjacent robots on the board combine along with destroyed robots. (For example, an A robot and an EG robot are adjacent, and your ION is destroyed, you can combine into ELL-GEL-ION Awakening by meeting the normal combining requirements.)
• Q26: Is combining an “Action”?
• A26: No, it’s a sort of “special Action”. It doesn’t interact with things like Retaliate, Disarm or Overload.
• Q27: How does the promo card AROZ-ELL-GEL-ION-SOL’s “Sol Inheritor” ability work?
• A27: When you combine into that robot, you get to choose up to three robots that share a name with it. This can be an “AROZ” or an “AROZ-IDA”, as long as a piece of the name contains an AROZ, ELL, GEL, ION, or SOL Make. After these robots are chosen, AROZ-ELL-GEL-ION-SOL can use the Actions of those robots until it is destroyed, as if it were a card with multiple different Action boxes on it. It doesn’t inherit any Passive abilities or other aspects of its components.
• Q28: Ultrasalvo. If I use Ultrasalvo and let my other robot with an X-cost Action attack for free, what happens?
• A28: You attack for free, but you only roll as many dice as you could with your remaining energy. 6 remaining energy? Roll 6 dice for free.
• Q29: Ultrablitz. This ability lets my other bots move for free. Can I use this ability, move my other robots for free, and then activate them and move normally?
• A29: Yes.
• Q29b: My other robots are restrained, can Ultrablitz make them move?
• A29b: No. Restrain stops robots from moving under their own power. Blitz-like abilities allow robots to move but don’t make them move, like Push/Pull/Move attacks.
• Q30: Machineless Commanders. Can I choose not to bring my machineless commander into a match / “unequip them”?
• A30: No, but you can equip them onto another valid robot and have that robot in your sideboard. (Only relevant mostly for official organized play.)

Ye Olde 2014 Rulebooks:

These rulebooks are for the 2014 version of the game! Check out their archival goodness.

Rulebook 2.03 PDF

Rulebook 1.01 PDF

Version 1.01 published on February 8th, 2014