Tomb Raider Legends The Board Game

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Remark: This article describes the Board Game Tomb Raider Legends released in 2019. For information on the first Crystal Dynamics Tomb Raider game, see Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend.
Tomb Raider Legends

Tomb Raider Legends The Board Game is a Tomb Raider themed Board Game by Square Enix Products released on 21 June 2019. It was officially announced on 18 August 2018 on social media[1].

The box art is reminiscent of the Peru - Mountain Caves level from Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Anniversary.

Play as Lara Croft of the "Tomb Raider" series, navigating ruins, monsters, traps and natural disasters as you search for the hidden Artifact and ultimately, the exit. But beware - the other players are all trying to get the Artifact for themselves, and you will have to get past them to have any hope of making it out in one piece! Bravery and cunning will be required to prove that you and you alone are the true Lara Croft!
Rule Book

Overview

Please Note: The Rules described here are based on the GamesCom 2018 prototype and are subject to change. Also, they are not complete but are rather intended to give a short overview of the game to a person interested in buying it.

The game is playable by 3 or 4 players who are playing different versions of Lara Croft, each from a different Classic or LAU game. The Start Token determines who starts each round and is given to the person who most recently was on an adventure.

Lara has to find a way through six locations - five Area Tiles and one Climax Tile, chosen at random and only revealed on entering the area. For each location Lara has to reduce the Thread Level (marked on the bottom of each the Area Tile) to zero in order to be able to progress to the next and thus from start to finish. On her way Lara also is looking for an Artifact (the Scion); there is only one Artifact, as well as two Artifect Replicas. In order to progress from the Climax Tile to the Goal, thus finishing the game and becoming the true Lara Croft, one has to be in possession of the real Artifact - which means that there is a fierce competition between the different Laras who are trying to steal the Artifact from one another.

To progress through the areas, the player chooses three of his Action Cards and places them in the order he or she wants to play them on their character board. These actions include Explore, Rest, Assault, Steal, Action and Rush.

  • By exploring an area, the player gains Raid Cards that give special powers.
  • Steal can be used to steal Raid Cards from other players on the same tile as your Lara. As the Artifact and the Artifact Replicas are kept together with the Raid Cards, this is the only way to gain these when they are in possession of another player.
  • Assaulting another player deals an Injury to them and additionally allows them to steal a Raid Card OR the Start Marker.
  • Resting reduces Lara's injuries, injuries she may have gained from Assaults by other players, as a result of the Area Tile she currently is staying on, or from played Raid Cards. If Lara is injured it means that the player can hold less Raid Cards in his or her hand. Cards have to be discarded if the player holds too many of them, reducing not only the possibilities to use these cards efficiently during the game, but also the possibility to hide the Artifact from the other players among the stack.
  • Action can be used to reduce the Thread Level of the current tile by 2.
  • Rush can be played to move to the next area (if possible) and reduce the Thread Level by 1. (If the Thread Level is not 0 and the player can thus not move forward, the Thread Level of the tile Lara is standing on is reduced.) There are two Rush Cards in each Action Card deck.

Assault and Steal can only be played against players who are currently on the same tile. All Actions can be boosted with XP a player can gain e.g. through reducing the Thread Level or through Assault. This makes the actions more efficient, e.g. a boosted Assault enables the player to also steal the Start Token from a player.

Whoever reaches the goal first - with the Artifact in their possession - wins the game; only the holder of the Artifact can progress from the Climax Tile to the Goal.

Rules

Components

  • Main board
  • 15 tiles (1 Start tile, 1 Goal tile, 10 Area tiles, 3 Climax tiles)
  • 4 Lara miniatures
  • 4 Player boards
  • 28 Action cards (6 types, 7 cards per player)
  • 41 Raid cards (including 1 Artifact and 2 Artifact Replicas)
  • 1 Starting Player marker
  • 8 Threat/Experience markers
  • 4 Injury markers

Game Setup

General Setup

  1. Place the Start tile and Goal tile on the areas of the main board marked "Start" and "Goal".
  2. Place 5 Area tiles face down at random on the areas marked I-V on the main board and return the remaining 5 tiles to the box as they won't be used during this game.
  3. Choose one of the 3 Climax tiles at random and place it face down on the part of the main board marked "Climax" Return the remaining 2 Climax tiles to the box.
  4. Retrieve the Artifact and the two Artifact Replicas from the raid card deck. Shuffle them and place them face down on the Area tiles in spaces "III," "IV," and "V".
  5. Shuffle the remaining raid cards and put the deck face down somewhere easy to reach. Draw from this pile every time the game instructs you to "Draw a raid card."

Player Setup

  1. The player who most recently went on an adventure gets the Starting Player marker and places it in front of them. (It is fine to decide the starting player at random.)
  2. Each player places their respective player board in front of them.
  3. Each player places the Lara miniature matching the color of their player board on the start tile. This will be their Lara for the duration of the game.
  4. Each player draws 7 action cards with backs matching the color of their player board.
  5. Each player takes one threat/experience marker and places it on the part of their player board marked "Experience".
  6. Each player takes one injury marker and places it in the left-most circle marked "O" in the injury section of their player board.

Winning the Game

The player whose Lara is the first to reach the goal tile while in possession of the Artifact is the winner.
(Players cannot advance from the climax tile to the goal unless they have the Artifact.)
If you manage to elude the other players and make it to the goal tile, reveal the Artifact in your hand to end the game.

Game Progression

A "Round" is made up of the three steps described below. These repeat until the end of the game.
For more explanations about the "action cards", "tiles" and "raid cards," please consult the corresponding sections of this rule guide.

1. Selection of Actions

Each player selects three of their action cards and places them face down in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd action card slots on the right side of their player board. You may check which card is which until you reveal them to the other players. Any exhausted action cards cannot be placed back in the action card slots until they recover. For more information on action card exhaustion and recovery, see "3. End of Round" below.
After all players have finished placing their action cards, play proceeds to "2. Player Turns". Raid cards with the timing "After selecting actions" can be used at this time. Players who want to use these cards must announce that they want to do so just before the player with the Starting Player marker begins their first turn.

2. Player Turns

Proceeding in clockwise order beginning with the player with the Starting Player marker*, each player reveals the action card in their first action card slot and resolves its effect. Turns proceed according to the outline described in the lower right, with players revealing cards until all players have revealed their first action, then their second action (card in the 2nd slot), then their third action (card in the 3rd slot). From here, play proceeds to "3. End of Round".
* Even if a card or tile effect causes the ownership of the Starting Player marker to change, the current round proceeds as normal and changes to turn order will only take effect from the beginning of the next round.

3. End of Round

Action cards that were exhausted during this round are recovered (returned to your hand from the exhausted area of your player board), and all action cards revealed during this round are exhausted (placed face up in the "Exhausted" section of your player board). Lastly, starting with the player who currently possesses the Starting Player marker, all players draw 1 raid card.

Details

Action Cards

Action cards are placed in the action card slots of the player's board during the "1. Selection of Actions" phase of each round. They're revealed and resolved during "2. Player Turns", causing Lara to take a variety of actions. Action cards used during a round are exhausted during "3. End of Round", and cannot be used during the next round. Card effects, along with their boosted effects, are written on all cards.
Boosting Actions
When revealing an action card, you can spend three experience points (move the experience marker down three notches) to boost that action for a powered-up effect. Boosting can be done as many times as you like in a single round. (Once per action unless that action is repeated.)
*You cannot boost an action during its resolution. For example, you cannot boost a Steal action after already stealing a card in order to steal an extra card.

This section includes additional information regarding each card.
Rush
Advance to the next tile and reduce its threat level by 1.
  • When entering a tile using Rush, don't forget to reduce its threat level by 1.
  • Each player gets two Rush cards.
Explore
Draw 1 raid card.
Boost: Draw 2 raid cards.
  • You can draw a raid card when you are on the start tile.
Assault
Choose a Lara in the same area as you and steal 1 raid card from her OR gain the Starting Player marker.
Boost: Choose a Lara in the same area as you, steal 1 raid card from her AND gain the Starting Player marker.
  • "Gain the Starting Player marker" works even if the Player who currently has the marker has their Lara on another tile.
  • When boosting this action, even if your opponents uses Repel, you can still gain the Starting Player marker from them.

Action
Reduce the threat level of your current area by 2.
Boost: Reduce the threat level of your current area by 2 and draw 1 raid card.
  • If the threat level is at 1, reduce it by 1.

Steal
Choose a Lara in the same area as you and steal 1 raid card from her.
Boost: Choose a Lara in the same area as you and steal 2 raid cards from her.
  • You can steal a raid card when you are on the start tile.
  • If you boost a Steal action and your opponent uses Repel, you cannot steal any cards.

Rest
Increase your experience by 1 and heal 1 injury.
Boost: Increase your experience by 1 and heal all injuries.
  • You can heal injuries even if you are at maximum experience.
  • You still gain experience even if you cannot heal any injuries.

Tiles

Reveal the tile when the first Lara arrives.


There are two rules when moving between tiles:

  1. "The first Lara that enters a face-down tile flips it face up."
  2. "If the tile you are currently on still has threats remaining, you cannot advance to the next area or climax tile."

Furthermore, the first Lara to reach the tiles placed in the areas marked "III," "IV," or "V" adds the face-down raid card (this is either the Artifact or one of the two Artifact Replicas) on those tiles to their hand before resolving any effects from turning the tile face up.

Entry Effect

When a player's Lars reveals a face-down tile by moving onto it, that Lara receives the effect written here (on the edge where the entry happened). Entry effects only occur once when the tile is revealed. Unlike finish effects, it is not possible to trigger entry effects again.

Threat Level

By moving the threat marker placed here, you can track a tile's threat level. When a tile is revealed, the marker is placed on top of the number of a different color on that tile. (If you enter a tile using Rush, don't forget to reduce this threat level on the revealed tile by 1.)

Fixed Effect

Certain tiles also have fixed effects, which are written here (just above the thread level bar). Players' Laras will receive this effect for as long as they are in this area.

Finish Effect

The player whose Lara eliminates a tile's threat (reduces its threat level to O) by performing an action or using caid cards receives the effect written here. Even if a tile's finish effect was already triggered, if a raid card increases the threat level again, you can eliminate the threat a second time to trigger the finish effect again.



Pre-release History

Social Media Promotion

The game was first teased on social media on 17 August 2018, one day before the actual announcement[2].

On 19 August 2018 an image of the Scion was posted on social media[3], with the instructions to download an image and find the hidden clue in the title. Adjusting the colour curves using an image manipulation program like GIMP or Photoshop reveals a message in the "Artifact" heading of the image: "See it first at GamesCom Hall 5.2 Booth E19".

  • Original Image

  • Manipulated Title

GamesCom 2018

Members of the 2018 GamesCom Official Fansite Program's Ambassadors had the opportunity to play a prototype of the game at the booth of Square Enix Products on Wednesday 22nd, after a short introduction by Fabian Weber. Reactions were overwhelmingly positive.

UK Games Expo

It was available for pre-sale at the Square Enix booth during UK Games Expo, from 31 May to 2 June 2019.

Gallery

  • GamesCom 2018 Prototype

  • GamesCom 2018 Prototype


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References

  1. ↑ https://twitter.com/SQEX_Merch_EMEA/status/1030861985645252612
  2. ↑ https://twitter.com/SQEX_Merch_EMEA/status/1030424072667189248
  3. ↑ https://twitter.com/SQEX_Merch_EMEA/status/1031088435577217024
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