nanobot battle arena rules

NANOBOT BATTLE ARENA RULES
These rules are for 15 tiles per player
NOTE: Box sets can be combined for additional tiles per player, or to add more players
Goal: Make the longest chain of NanoBots before anyone runs out of pieces.
Game Pieces:
NanoBot Tiles – The tiles have two sides - one dark and one light side. The NanoBot tiles are always played darkside face up. The tile is flipped to the light side when an Aegis card is played to indicate that it is protected from
other factions’ Reaction Cards. The card can be flipped back to the dark side, if an Aegis Reaction Card is played
again targeting a protected tile.
Reaction Cards - Reaction Cards generally have a power level number on the face of the
card. The number indicates the amount of tiles or players the card affects. Sometimes,
Reactions Cards do not have a power level, and have a symbol instead of a number. All
Reaction Cards have a Faction icon to indicate the cards Faction Affinity.
Game Map (Optional) – Game maps provide a grid to track space and distance between
pieces. Some maps have obstructions that stop players from placing on certain spaces
making gameplay more intense!
Getting started: Separate NanoBot tiles by faction. NanoBots have a unique faction indicated by a symbol on their
tile and card. Players may choose a faction of NanoBot, or draw randomly from the deck until all players have
chosen a faction. Each player should have 15 NanoBot tiles of their chosen faction. It is possible to play with 15,
30, 45, and 60 tiles per player. Different rules apply for playing with more than 15 tiles.
Separate ‘Reaction Cards’ into face down power level piles of 1s, 2s, and 3s (the numbers on the face of the
cards). Reaction cards with a symbol get placed in the 1s pile. Place separated piles facedown and shuffle
individually. Deal one card from the 3s pile, two cards from the 2s pile, and three cards from the 1s piles to each
player. Take the remainder of cards and shuffle into one deck. Place the deck face down in the playing area.
Note: There are alternate rules for deck building, where each player has their own deck.
Reveal cards from the Reaction Card deck until a player’s faction is revealed. The player with that faction goes
first. Turns rotate to the left (clockwise). Place the revealed cards in a discard pile.
Set the box lid aside to discard NanoBot tiles into later. The first player places a tile (dark side face up) in the
center of the playing area, and then plays a Reaction Card. The tile can be facing any direction.
Turns: Each player’s turn is divided into two parts: placing NanoBot tiles and the Reaction Card phase.
Placing NanoBots: Tiles are always placed adjacent to other
NanoBot tiles anywhere in the playing area except the gray arrow
side of an opposing faction. The side with the gray arrow is always
reserved for ONLY that tiles owner to play off of. The tile
placement phase always comes first. In the placement phase, a
player places a NanoBot tile of their chosen faction in any direction
of an adjacent side of almost ANY tile in the playing area. The side
with the gray bar is the direction that the NanoBot is facing, and is
the front of the player’s chain. That side is always reserved for
only that player to place a NanoBot. The gray arrow must be
placed adjacent to another tile of the same faction, and the gray
bar must face into one of the three other sides of the tile in order to
count as a chain (see image).
Playing Reaction Cards: The second part of a player’s turn is the Reaction Card phase. The player can use one
‘Reaction Card’ from their hand and then draw a new card to keep a hand of six cards. Players must ALWAYS
have a hand of six at the END of their turn. If a player doesn’t want to play a card or can’t, the player can discard a
Reaction card and draw a new one. The player cannot play a Reaction Card after discarding, and their turn ends.
Making a chain of NanoBots: In order to have a chain of NanoBots, players must have the NanoBot’s tile adjacent
to their own piece and all tiles must connect to one of the other sides of another tile via the front side (i.e. Tiles
cannot be facing each other to count). Think of your chain like an army of NanoBots in a conga line: one can’t follow
the other if they’re not facing frontward!
If two NanoBots are competing for the same space, the first player able to take it can do so.
Affinity: The faction of chosen by a player is called their “Affinity”. It grants them +1 to using ‘Reaction Cards’ with
the same faction as their tiles. Opponents lose -1 when using a card with player’s Affinity color against them.
Finishing the game: Once a player runs out of NanoBots, the game ends. No reaction phase is played after the
placement of a player’s final NanoBot; the game simply ends. The longest chain of NanoBots wins.
Ties: In event of a tie for the longest chain, the player with the least amount of NanoBots in their tile pile wins. If
those players are still tied, the players total the numbers of the cards in their hands. The player with the largest
sum wins.
Floating Pieces and forked chains: Due to different Reaction cards, NanoBot tiles can be left floating in space
autonomous from larger chains. NanoBots can form forked chains or have multiple chains, but only the longest
chain counts towards the final goal.
Reaction Card Powers:
Player’s do not need to use the maximum number of charges on a Reaction Card.
Freeze (Chronit Faction) Reaction Card affects the player who played it, but they can decide to end the affect if it
reaches them.
Aegis (Relic Faction) Reaction Cards flip or unflip any tile base. Other color cards may not affect a tile with a white
base.
Infect (Blight Faction) cards can only infect NanoBots immediately to the four sides, and NOT diagonal of
the player's own NanoBots. Infect cannot travel down a chain of NanoBots, and only affects tiles that a
player’s tiles are immediately touching.
Blink (Ghost Faction) cards move NanoBots to a new valid location, but the NanoBots still face the same way.
Burn (Inferno Faction) cards destroy NanoBots from EITHER end of any chain. Different chains can be burned in
one turn. NanoBots forming a circle cannot be burned.
Charge (Siege Faction) returns NanoBots in the path of an adjacent tile (The direction the tile is facing) to
their owner. The charge effect ends when it reaches an empty space or a flipped (light side) tile.
Grow (Echidna Faction) cards add additional tiles that turn.
Twist (Vertigo Faction) can rotate tiles completely around, there is no limit to the amount of turns.
RULE MODIFICATIONS
5+ PLAYER GAMES
Be sure to combine the cards from all the boxes used to play.
MODIFICATIONS FOR 30, 45, and 60 TILES PER PLAYER GAMES
Combine decks from all the boxes
30 Tiles Per Player Game
Player’s place one additional tile per turn, and play one additional reaction card per turn.
45 Tiles Per Player Game
Player’s play one reaction card at the beginning of their turn, place TWO tiles, and then play two Reaction Cards.
60 Tiles Per Player Game
Player’s play one reaction card at the beginning of their turn, place THREE tiles, and then play two cards.
HAVE FUN, AND BREAK ALL WHO OPPOSE YOU!