Hero Realms is a strategy and deck building game for 2 to 4 players, from 12 years old. Players play as a hero whose objective is to reduce his opponent’s life points to zero. To do this, he must use his cards and acquire new ones.

Material

• 1 pack of 144 cards,
• 1 booklet of rules.

Set-up

• This set-up is designed for a 2 player game.

Personal deck

• Set aside the cards with the symbols , , and .
• Sort the remaining cards by type: Fire Gems, Short Sword, Daggers, Rubies and Gold Coins.
• Set the pile of Fire Gems cards aside.
• Each player will form a personal deck consisting of : 1 short sword, 1 dagger, 1 ruby and 7 gold coins.
• Return the remaining cards to the box.
• Shuffle your personal deck and place it face down in front of you.
• Make room for the discard pile.

Market Deck

• The cards with the symbols , ,  and will form the market deck.
• Form a pile, shuffle it and place it face down between the players.
• Draw 5 cards and line them up, face up, next to the market deck.
• These 5 cards form the market.

Fire Gems Deck

• Place the Fire Gems deck at the left end of the marketplace, face up.

First Player

• Designate who plays first.
• The first player draws 3 cards from their personal deck. This is their hand.
• The second player draws 5 cards.

Health Cards

• Each player starts the game with 50 health points.
• You can write down your score on a piece of paper.
• Each player is also given 2 Health Point cards that they can use to keep track of their score: a tens card and a units card.

Example:

27 points.

How to play?

• Take turns playing clockwise.
• A round consists of 3 phases:

              -Main phase,

              -Discard phase,

              -Draw phase.

Main phase

• During the main phase, you can perform an action at any time and as many times as you want.

Playing a card

• To play a card from your hand, place it face up in front of you.
• Playing a card is free.
• There are 3 types of cards you can play: Actions, Items and Champions.

Action and Item cards

• To play an Action or Item card, place it face up in front of you.
• An Action or Item card remains active until it is discarded.

Champion Cards

• Mobilising a Champion card means entering the game in an upright position.
• To play an Activate ability, turn the card sideways. This action can be done at any time.
• The defence value indicates how much damage a card can take in one turn before being stunned.
• Champion cards can only be removed once stunned or sacrificed.

• Some Champion cards have a “Guard” ability symbolised by a black shield.
• When a guard is mobilised, it protects you and your champions. 
• As long as a guard is mobilised and has not been stunned, you cannot be attacked.
• Beware! A guard does not protect you against the effects of certain abilities.

Playing abilities

• The primary ability of a card is activated the moment it is played.
• Other abilities can be activated at any time during the main phase.
• If an ability gains you gold or combat, the resource gained will be a reserve that you can use at any time during the main phase.

• If an ability gains you health, add it to your health point immediately
• Some abilities have more than one effect, so it is up to you to decide which one to use.

Ability to Activate

• This ability is symbolised by .
• It can be activated at any time during the main phase.
• To do so, turn the card aside.

Ally Ability

• The Ally ability is indicated by a faction symbol in the text box.
•  The Ally ability can be activated at any time during the main phase if you have a card of the same faction in your hand.
•  You can activate multiple Ally abilities during your turn, but an ability can only be activated once.

Sacrifice ability

• A Sacrifice ability is symbolised by in the text box.
•  When a card is sacrificed, it is placed in the Sacrifice Zone, to the right of the Marketplace deck.
• If a card is sacrificed outside the Sacrifice ability, its effect does not apply.
• Caution! If a Fire Gems card is sacrificed, it is returned, face up, to the Fire Gems pile.

Acquiring Cards

• Some abilities allow you to acquire gold.
• Gold earned during the game is placed in your reserve and can be used to acquire new cards.
• The cost of a card is shown in the upper right corner.
• You can buy cards from the market, either one of the 5 visible cards or from the Fire Gems deck.
• To acquire a card, pay for it by discarding the required amount of gold.
•  Any card purchased must be immediately discarded and replaced by drawing from the market deck. It is not played immediately.

Combat

• Some abilities allow you to acquire fights
• Battles won during the game will be placed in your reserve and can be used to attack your opponent or his champions.
• You can attack as many times as you like during the main phase.
• To attack an opponent, remove as many battles from your pool and deplete their health points.
• To attack an opponent’s champion, remove the battles from your pool.
• If the strength of the attack is equal to or greater than its defence value, the opposing champion is knocked out and goes into its owner’s discard pile.
• Be careful! Some abilities allow you to stun a champion without fighting.
• Caution! If an opponent has a guard, he and his champions cannot be attacked. You must first stun the guard.
• If an Activate ability allows you to have a Fight, it first goes into the reserve and cannot be used immediately.

Discard Phase

• Any cards discarded or acquired from the market are added to the personal discard pile, face up.
• During this phase you must discard :

           – Any gold you have left,

           – All your remaining battles,

          – All your Action/Object cards in play,

          – All unused cards in your hand.

• Unlike Action or Item cards, Champion cards are not discarded.
• You must mobilise all your champions. To do so, return them to their upright position.
• Anyone can look at their own or their opponent’s discard pile.

Draw Phase

• Draw 5 cards and add them to your hand.
• If during the game your deck is empty, shuffle the discard pile to form a new deck.

End of the game

• The game ends when there is only one active player left.
• The last survivor wins the game.

Variations

Set up

• If you are playing with more than 2 players, the set-up is as follows:

             – The first player draws 3 cards.

             -The second player draws 4 cards.

             -The rest of the players draw 5 cards.

The game

Hydra

• Form 2 teams of 2.
• Health points: 75 points per team.
• Each player has :

             -A personal deck,

             -A hand,

             -A play area,

            -A reserve,

            -A discard pile.

• Warning! The cards of a teammate do not trigger the Ally ability.
• Starting hand:

             – Team 1: 3 cards.

              -Team 2: 5 cards.

• A team plays one round and all 3 phases together.
• Members of the same team can work together to stun an opponent.
• Members of the same team can also pool their gold to buy a card.
• As soon as a team member mobilises a guard, its members and champions cannot be attacked.
• Emperor
• Form 2 teams of 3.
• Bring a second box of Hero Realms or use a hero deck.
• Emperors sit opposite each other, surrounded on either side by their commanders.
• Health points:

            -Commanders: 50 points or whatever is listed on the Hero deck.

            -Emperors: 60 points or what is indicated on the Hero deck +10.

• Starting Hand:

           -The first team has a hand of 3 cards.

           -The second team has a hand of 5 cards.

• First player starts, play clockwise.
• A commander can only attack the commander sitting in front of him.
• However, the emperor can attack any player.
• Once the commander in front of him is eliminated, he can attack the emperor.
• When a commander is eliminated, he can put any card in the emperor’s discard pile.
• A player may pay 1 gold to move a card from his discard pile to his teammate’s discard pile.
• As soon as the emperor is eliminated, his team loses the game.