RULES & REFERENCE GUIDE

The legend of Terrmuta is a game about wits, cunning and

force. The aim of the game is to gain full domination over
Terrmuta. Commanders will use their full arsenal to take
each other out or team up to take out the biggest threat. A
clever commander would first think about massing armies,
increasing their borders and protecting them by setting up
fortifications before going into attack.

Equipment:
1 Game board.
1 Biome board.
32 Dice (16 Attack dice, 16 Defence dice).
40 Commander trait cards (28 Positive, 12 Negative).
50 Biome cards.
4 Unit decks (35 cards per deck).
Each deck contains: [9x Basic infantry, 3x Healer, 3x General, 3x
Infiltrator, 3x Fodder, 3x Ranged, 3x Defender, 3x Siege, 3x Magic,
2x Hero].

4 sets of 40 tile armies.

4 Race capital cards.
30 Fortification/Outpost tiles.
4 sets of 30 banner tiles.
[30x Green region banners (Elf region banners). 30x Red region
banners (Monster region banners). 30x Orange region banners
(Dwarf region banners). 30x White region banners (Human region
banners).]

72 coins (18 Bronze coins, 36 Silver coins, 18 Gold coins).

1 Rule guide (This booklet).

Setting up the game:

This game is designed to be played with 2 - 4 players.
All decks must be shuffled and placed to one side for later
use.
Each Commander (Starting from a predetermined person)
[We suggest rolling a dice or flipping a coin, then going
anti-clockwise.] draws 2 trait cards from the respective
deck. These traits should be placed near the commander
to remind them of their abilities.
After each commander has done this the commander who
went first chooses his or her race and each other
commander will choose in the same order as before.
The starting commander then may choose any of the
available locations to start their empire on by placing their
capital biome card on the correct location on the biome
board. Other commanders do this too, in the same order
as before.
Each commander then places 3 basic infantry on their
capital region, gains 30g and draws 3 unit cards. NOTE:
Trait cards may change this.
Once every commander has their respective card decks
and units ready the game may begin.

Playing the game:

In turn order, each commander does the following stages:
Upkeep > Draw > Move > Attack > Build & Buy >
Calculation > End.

Upkeep: In this phase the commander must resolve any

effects or situations that are stated on cards. (E.g., paying
gold costs.)
Draw: The commander draws 1 card from their unit deck.
Move: The commander may move any units they control
to any adjacent applicable region.
Attack: The commander uses their units to attack the
opposing commanders units that are placed on adjacent
regions.
Build & Buy: In this phase the commander may do as
much of the following as they wish; play a unit card, build
a fortification, build an outpost, terraform a biome or buy
a region.
Calculation: This is the step in which the commander
works out the total amount of gold they have earned and
add it to their treasury.
End: Like the upkeep step, the end step also allows the
commander to resolve any effects that apply to them.
NOTE: Once a commander has finished a phase they
cannot go back to that phase.
The aim of the game is to explore, expand your territories,
amass an army and destroy your opponents capital.
Doing this will require both skill and luck to find the best
locations for battles and the right combination of units to
make an unstoppable force.

How each object works

The game board
The game board is where the main part of the game will

take place. It is on this board you will explore and conquer

the regions to be the best commander.
On the game board you will see various different symbols
and lines that are an important part of the game.
On the board game there is an illustration of an island, this
is Terrmuta. On this island you will see 30 different
numbered sections that have all been separated by boxes,
these are regions. This numbers on the regions represent
what region that is; this is important when it comes to
identifying the regions on the biome board. Every time a
unit moves onto a region that has not yet been discovered
that player reveals a biome card from the biome deck and
puts that card onto the respective region number that is
on the biome board. That player then reads out the
biomes 'Passive' effect then, if applicable, does what the
text says.
On some of the regions a small castle symbol can be seen,
these symbols represent starting locations for where
commanders may 'settle' and place their capital card on.
Placing the capital card on a region works exactly the
same as any other biome however you do not reveal a
biome card when starting here, you instead place you
capital tile onto the numbered region of the biome board.

The biome board

The biome board is where you will place all of the revealed
biomes. It is an easy way of keeping track on what biomes
have been revealed and where there locations are on the
map. Whenever a biome is revealed from the biome deck
it is placed on the biome board on the respective number.
Example: John moves a unit to region 29. Because there
is no biome on region 29 he reveals the top card of the
biome deck and places it on the slot marked '29' on the
biome board.

Attack dice
The attack dice is the dice that is to be rolled when
attacking an opposing army. An attack takes place after a
commander finishes his/her moving phase. To attack an
opposing army the attacking commander must control at
least one unit that is in range to attack an opponents
army (on an adjacent region). When an attack takes place
the attacker must take 2 attack dice (These are the dice
marked with swords) for the first unit that is attacking
then an additional 1 attack dice for each other attacking
unit that is able to attack.
Other factors will affect the amount of attack dice rolled in
attacks such as any unit or biome cards that may allow
you to roll additional or less dice.
After you have worked out the amount of dice needed to
roll and rolled them, you count up the amount of symbols
that can be seen from the side of the dice facing upwards
then that total is the amount of damage being dealt.

Defence dice
The defence dice is the opposite of its attacking
counterpart. This dice is to be rolled when defending
against an opposing army. A defence takes place when an
opposing commander declares an attack on one of your
armies. To defending against an opposing army the
defending commander must control at least one unit that
is capable of defending otherwise the attacking army will
automatically kill all the units unable to defend. When an
attack takes place the defender must take 1 defence dice
(These are the dice marked with shields) for each unit that
is able to defend.

Again, like attacking, other factors will affect the amount

of defence dice rolled such as any unit or biome cards that
may allow you to roll additional or less dice. Fortifications
and outposts are good examples of objects that allow you
to roll extra defence dice.
After you have worked out the amount of dice needed to
roll and rolled them, you count up the amount of symbols
that can be seen from the side of the dice facing upwards
then that total is the amount of damage being prevented.
Example: Andrew has decided to attack John. Andrew has
4 Basic infantry units he is attacking with and John has 2
basic infantry units that are being attacked. Andrew will
roll 5 attack dice and John will roll 2 defence dice. After
each commander has rolled their dice they will then count
up the amount of symbols on the dice. The commander
who has the highest total of symbols wins the fight.

Commander trait cards

At the beginning of the game each commander draws 2
trait cards and places them near them. These trait cards
will have certain abilities on them that will either help or
hinder the commander and make them change their play
style.
Commander trait cards are ongoing passive effects that
cannot be removed.

Biome cards
Biome cards are the cards that make up the biome deck
and can be identified by the text saying 'Biomes' on the
reverse of the card. There should be 50 in total (Excluding
the Capital cards).
The biome cards are an important part of the game as this
is the way you will be gaining extra benefits in your

regions. Biome cards come into effect when a commander

moves onto an undiscovered region. When this happens
the commander who moved onto this region takes the top
card from the biome deck and places it on the matching
number on the biome board. That commander then reads
the passive ability to see if it has any immediate affect.
At the top of a biome card you will see a name Example:
Strephyl Coast; this is known as the biome name. This
name doesn't affect gameplay and is there for both flavor
reasons and to identify the card better.
Below the biome name, past the card art, will be another
name Example: Coast; this is known as the biome type.
This name is more important as it helps identify what type
of biome it is. Different biomes have different effects and
some cards benefit from certain biome types.
Underneath the biome type will be a list of three abilities:
Passive, Control and Active. These abilities are essential to
make the biome work as intended and all activate when
certain criterion are met. The passive ability activates as
soon as the card is revealed and placed on the biome
board. This ability affects both players and stays in effect
until the card is removed from play.
The control ability doesn't activate until a commander
buys the region it is on. The control ability will only affect
the commander who controls the region. If a commander
were to take over this region, the new owner of the region
would get the control ability. The ability comes into effect
as soon as a commander controls the region.
The active ability is the hardest ability to activate, as it
doesn't come into effect until a commander both buys the
region and has a unit on that region. The active ability will
last as long as there is a unit on that region and will be
lost if that unit moves from that region. Like the control
ability, this ability will only affect the commander who

owns the region. If an opposing unit is on the region the

active ability won't be activated unless a card says
otherwise.
Terraforming the region with the biome on can remove the
biome from play. Terraforming a region means drawing the
top card of the biome deck, and replacing the desired
biome with the new one. The old biome is then shuffled
back into the biome deck.

Capital cards
Capital cards are special biome cards that are to be placed
onto the biome board at the start of the game. The capital
cards represent each commanders starting region. When
the capital card is placed onto the biome board each
commander will then instantly own that region.
To marked an owned region place a banner tile of that
commanders colour onto the biome on the biome board.

Unit decks
There are four unit decks in the game consisting of the
four different races; Elves, Dwarves, Humans and
Monsters. Each of these decks consists of mostly the same
cards with the variation being in the different Heroes each
race has.
Each unit deck consists of 35 cards with the following
being in each: 9x Basic Infantry, 3x Healer, 3x General, 3x
Infiltrator, 3x Fodder, 3x Ranged, 3x Defender, 3x Siege,
3x Magic, 2x Hero.
The unit decks are a vital part of the game as this is where
each commander will draw there unit cards that they will
deploy onto the game board. Starting at the top left of the
card is the name of the card. This part of the card helps
identify what race each card belongs to and adds flavour

to the card. To the right of the name is a coin that is

bronze, silver or gold; this coin represents the value of the
card and how much you must pay to play the card. Further
down on the card is a small box containing a colour; this
identifies what colour the race is that the card belongs to.
Below this is another text box that shows what race the
card is followed by what type the card is. This is an
important part of the card as this will help identify any
abilities that card may be receiving from other cards. The
abilities of the card are in the main text box on the card.
The abilities of the card will tell the commanders what
each card is capable of; every card has an ability with the
exception of the Basic Infantry units. Card abilities affect
every card that is on the same region as it. After the card
ability in the same box is what priority the unit is. A higher
priority means that if a fight is lost the winner must
choose a card that has a higher priority; this helps protect
cards with a lower priority. Finally at the bottom of the
card is a block of flavour text that shows some lore into
the story of Terrmuta.

Unit tiles
The unit tiles are used to represent the locations each unit
is deployed. When you play a unit card you find the
respective unit tile and place that tile onto the region that
unit was deployed. Each region may only have up to 8 unit
tiles on it.
If you have no more unit tiles for a card in your hand you
cannot play that card until a tile becomes available for the
card.

Outpost/fortification tiles
Outpost/fortification tiles are tiles that are placed onto the
biome board to represent which regions have outposts or
fortifications built upon them.

The outpost/fortification tiles are doubled sided allowing

the commander to just flip over the tile if the decide to
build an outpost from a fortification. There is 30
fortification/outpost tiles in total.

Banner tiles
The banner tiles allow each commander to mark on the
biome board which regions they own. Each commander
will have a colour of banner assigned to them depending
on which race they chose. Banner tiles are only placed
onto the regions that commander controls. A banner tile is
instantly placed onto that commanders capital when the
game starts. There are 30 banner tiles for each of the 4
races.

Coins
There are 3 different types of coin in the game; bronze
10G, silver 30G and gold 50G. Each of these coins
represents how much they are worth. When a commander
gets enough coins to trade up to the next tier of coin they
must do so. Coins are important for playing unit cards,
buying regions and various other things. Coins are usually
spent on the Build & Buy step and are earned on the
calculation step. They are also used to activate some
abilities of cards as an additional cost. There are 72 coins
in total with 18 bronze, 36 silver, and 18 gold. When a coin
is earned it is taken from the bank and placed with that
commander into that commanders treasury. When a coin
is spent it is put back into the bank. The bank is the name
of the location where all the coins are. The treasury is the
name of each commanders coin location. When there is no
more coins available commanders must wait for more to
come available to them to earn.
Working out Gold earned: To work out how much gold

is earned during your calculation phase you must follow

this formula: (10g per inhabited region + 10g from every
outpost you own + any cards that state a gold reward).

Game mechanics
Drawing cards
A commander is to draw the top card of his or her deck at
the beginning of each of their turns with the exception
that the commander who goes first doesn't draw a card.
There are various cards that allow commanders to draw
cards at different points in the game and some cards that
allow more than one card to be drawn. A commander may
not draw a card from any other commanders deck unless
instructed to on a card.
Each commander can hold a maximum of 6 cards in their
hand and if their hand exceeds this when it comes to their
next end step they must discard 2 cards into their used
pile.

Used pile
The used pile is where each commander puts their cards
after playing them or discarding. This allows the
commander to then shuffle the used cards back into their
deck if they run out or a card instructs them too.

Moving
On their turn, each commander has an opportunity to
move any deployed units they currently control on to any
adjacent regions to that unit. Moving allows the
commander to move around and explore the other regions
to find a good location to defend or to get to the
opponents capital.

Moving costs gold when moving onto regions that you

don't control, the further away from the capital or nearest
outpost the units move the more gold it costs. The gold
cost increases by 10g for each region further away your
units travel from the nearest outpost or the capital.
Moving onto a region your opponent controls will cost
double the amount it would usually cost to move onto that
region. Movement cost must be paid for each unit that
moves even if they are all in an army.
You cannot move onto a region that is inhabited by enemy
units unless you attack them units and succeed in which
you will move onto that region. You also may not move
onto a region that has 8 units already on it unless a card
allows you to. Other cards may also disallow you to move
your units onto a specific region.

Attacking and defending

To attack with your army you must declare what units you
are attacking and what army you are attacking with. If you
declare an attack you must attack with all the units on the
region the army is on and your opponent must defend with
all the units that are being attacked. When fighting each
commander works out the amount of dice they should be
rolling by checking the amount of units they have and the
abilities of cards to see if they should be rolling more or
less. After both commanders have the correct amount of
dice needed to be rolled, they both do so then count up
the symbols on their dice. A broken shield icon counts as 0
shields likewise a WHOOSH counts as 0 swords. After they
have the total number they rolled they then add any
modifiers they may have from dice. At this point a
commander may choose to reroll any dice if he/she has
access to a reroll option, if not then the commander with
the highest number wins the fight and chooses which unit
he/she wants to kill. The winning commander may only
choose from the highest priority units unless they cannot

be chosen for some reason. After the winning commander

has killed a unit, the losing commander then has to
redeploy all his/her other units onto any outpost or capital
they control. If the winning commander was the attacking
commander they move his/her army onto the region that
the other commander was defending for free. If the
defending commander was the winning commander then
that commander doesn't move the units anywhere.
If a commander chooses a unit to kill then for some reason
that unit becomes an invalid target, the commander
chooses another unit to kill instead.
Example: Bruce wins the fight against Craig. Craig had 1
Fodder unit, 1 Basic Infantry, 1 Defender and a Healer.
Craig then uses the Healer to protect his Fodder unit.
Bruce can now choose to either kill the Basic Infantry unit
or the Defender unit.

Priority
The priority order is the order in that units will be killed in
battle. When a commander is choosing what unit to kill
they must choose from the units that have the highest
priority. If none of the units with the highest priority are
valid targets then that commander can choose from
whatever the highest valid priority is. Some cards allow
the priority order to be reversed so units with priority 3
become higher priority than those with priority 1.

Terraforming

Terraforming biomes are a way of cycling through different

biomes to find the ones you want or need. To terraform a
region you need to move at least one Basic Infantry unit
onto the region you wish to terraform then pay 50g to
terraform that region. Terraforming a biome can only be
done in your Build & Buy step.
Terraforming a region means drawing the top card of the
biome deck, and replacing the desired biome with the new
one. The old biome is then shuffled back into the biome
deck.
To terraform a biome you must control the region that the
biome is on, you cannot terraform regions you don't
control.
If the revealed biome has a passive ability that requires
the commander to pay additional gold to buy that region,
they can ignore that effect since they already control that
region. If an opposing commander attempts to buy that
region they must also pay the additional cost. Discoverer
effects still are counted even if the biome is terraformed.
Terraforming a region destroys any fortifications or
outposts that where on that region.

Buying regions
Buying regions allows the commander to expand his/her
empire and control more regions. Buying regions has
many benefits such as travelling for free, controlling
biomes and being able to build fortifications and outposts.
To buy a region a commander must move a unit onto the
desired region then pay the gold cost for that region.
Regions costs change depending on the location. Regions
adjacent to your capital cost 30g to buy, regions then cost
+ 20g for each region between the one your buying and
the capital. (The regions between are measured in the
quickest route to the capital). Some cards may change the
price of a region; make sure to include this when working

out the region costs.

A commander must first buy all the regions adjacent to
his/her capital before being allowed to expand further.
Once all the regions surrounding that commanders capital
have been bought then that commander may start buying
other regions that are adjacent to regions he/she control.

Building fortifications
To build a fortification a commander must have a unit on
the region that they want to build the fortification on and
pay the gold cost of 30g. Building a fortification grants an
extra 3 defence dice when that region is being attacked. If
a region has an outpost already built on that region a
fortification cannot also be built on that region unless you
choose to remove the outpost. Building a fortification on a
region with a outpost on it is a good way to free up an
outpost slot so it can be built in another place. There is no
limit to the amount of fortifications you can have but you
may only have one per region. If you lose a region to a
successful attack the fortification on that region is also
lost. If an opponent moves onto an uninhabited region
with a fortification on then that fortification will also be
destroyed. Certain cards may change the cost of a
fortification.

Building outposts
To build an outpost a commander must have a unit on the
region that they want to build the outpost on and pay the
gold cost of 50g + 10g for each region it is away from the
nearest outpost/capital you control. Building an outpost
allows that commander to deploy their units on the region
with the outpost. The outpost also grants an extra 2
defence dice when that region is being attacked. If a
region has a fortification is already built on that region an
outpost may be built with a 10G reduction in price
however the fortification will be destroyed. There is a limit

on the amount of outposts you can build depending on the

amount of commanders in the game. If there is 2
commanders each may build up to 5 outposts, 3
commanders may build up to 4 outposts and 4
commanders can build up to 3 outposts. If you lose a
region to a successful attack the outpost on that region is
also lost. If an opponent moves onto an uninhabited region
with an outpost on then your units may not be deployed at
that outpost.
If a commander is on a region with an outpost they don't
control on then they may choose to either pay 30G to
destroy that outpost or, if eligible, they can buy that
region and gain the outpost on it for free. This outpost will
count as a free outpost if they have already exceeded
their capacity but if they then lose an outpost but still are
at maximum capacity they may not build another. Certain
cards may change the cost of an outpost.

Rules and references

General Rulings
Rulings on cards overrule this booklet.
An Inhabited region is a region that has one or more units
on it.

Biome and region Rulings

You can only buy regions that are adjacent to other
regions you control.
You must buy all the regions adjacent to your capital
before expanding to buy other regions.

Card Rulings
The player who goes first skips his/her first draw phase.
Some cards that have abilities that cost gold to activate

can be used on the opponents turn.

The cards in each deck are to remain face down and not to
be looked at unless instructed otherwise. If you accidently
reveal a card that shouldn't be seen, shuffle the deck.

Outpost and Fortification Rulings

An outpost costs 50g + 10g for each region it is away from
the nearest outpost/capital you control. Card abilities can
reduce the cost of this.
A fortification costs 30g. Card abilities can reduce the cost
of this.

Commander Trait Rulings

If the 'Average Joe' card is drawn, then shuffle any other
traits you have back into the trait deck.