Heroscape Underground Bastion of Utgar

Heroscape underground is a set of simple rules for fighting Heroscape

battles in an underground environment. It is really just a set of expanded
scenario rules and is derived almost exclusively from Mageknight Dungeons.

In heroscape Underground each player sends in their teams of figures and

attempt to exit from their opponent’s entrance on the opposite side of
the map. The player who collects the most glyphs, and escapes from the
exit, wins.

Setting Up

There are a few more steps to follow when setting up for a game of HSU.
In addition to building a map either free form or from a scenario, players
will need to do the following:

Build a Denizens Deck – This is easy, just take all of your Utgar army
cards and place them in a stack nearby. Whenever a player is asked to draw
from this deck he will close his eyes and pick a random card from the middle
of the deck, and then reshuffle.

Place wandering monster tokens- Place a wandering monster token face down,
as close to the centre of each room on the map as possible.

Players take turns placing doors- Each player may place three doors on
the map anywhere in a hallway or at the end of a hallway. No door may be
placed in or adjacent to a player’s entrance hall.

Draft a team- Players each draft 200 -250 points of forces from the
remaining cards for dungeons numbering 6-8 rooms/caverns. Larger dungeons
will have more caverns and so add 50 points for every 2 caverns in excess
of 8. Dragons and other units that have a height of 9 or more may not be
drafted. Once drafted, place your team on one of the entrance areas. Your
opponent places his figures on the opposite entrance area that is a
matching colour on the scenario map. I suggest that players play forces
from opposing Generals if at all possible for theme. Otherwise, just
consider your team to be mercenaries.

Prepare order markers- In HSU there may be times when opposing players
may both have order markers on the same unit card. Players should mark
their order markers so that they do not get their order markers mixed up.

Rules pertaining to being Underground

Doors- Doors are found in various areas of the underground. Players place
the doors at the beginning of the game and all doors begin the game closed.
A closed door blocks movement and LOS. To open or close a door, costs an
adjacent figure 2 movement points. Engaged units that wish to open a door
will be subject to a passing swipe unless they have the disengage ability.
Doors represent a pathway into a tunnel, and may not be flown or leaped
over. All doors have a height of 8, and any figure taller than 8 may not
pass through a door.

Empty Space- Any area of empty space on an underground map is considered

to be impassible and also blocks LOS. Imagine that the empty areas are
really solid rock and that the map areas are really tunnels and chambers
underground. Players may want to use a piece of string when determining
LOS. Stretch the string from the attacker’s sight dot to the hit zone
of the target. If any part of the string crosses and empty space, then
LOS is blocked.

Caverns/ Rooms- Large open areas in the map are considered cavernous rooms.
Figures in a cavern may use fly ability if they have it and may maneuver
to high ground etc. just like they were above ground.

Tunnels- Tunnels connect areas of the underground and prevent flying due
to the cramped space. Most tunnels are just one or two spaces wide, and
are represented on the map by sand hexes.

Drop ability- The Drop ability that is employed by the Airborne Elite is
not used in HSU.

Summon Ability- The summon ability requires the summoning figure to have
LOS to the summoned figure.

Bonding- In order to activate the bonded unit, at least one figure in the
squad must have LOS to the bonded hero.

Mindshackle- Figures captured by Mindshackle immediately become

denizens.
Traps- The rules for traps were while passing over the trap, roll an attack
Die on a skull take a hit and remove the trap. On a miss, the trap stays
but the figure passes safely over. Flyers could ignore them but we had
rules on doorways that would not allow flyers to move through a door flying
so they had to test for traps if a trap was opposite the doorway they were
moving through.

Glyphs
Players take turns placing glyphs. Glyphs are placed randomly face down
on any cavern space chosen by the players but may not be placed in the
cavern adjacent to their entrance zone. No cavern may have more than one
glyph. Continue placing glyphs until there are no more glyphs or until
all caverns have one glyph. Glyphs remain face down until a non-denizen
figure moves onto it. Figures may carry some glyphs around and can drop
them in an adjacent space at any time. When a hero figure is destroyed
or the last figure in a squad is destroyed, any Glyph that was being carried
is placed on the last space occupied by the figure. Glyphs that have been
dropped by a figure may be moved onto by denizens, and are then discarded.
Glyphs work just a little differently in the underground:

Glyph of Astrid- A hero or squad that lands on this glyph has found a
powerful artifact. Place the glyph on the figures card. All figures
belonging to that card receive the +1 attack. If all the figures belonging
to this card are destroyed, place the glyph in the spaced once occupied
by the last figure destroyed.

Glyph of Gerda- A hero or squad that lands on this glyph has found a
powerful artifact. Place the glyph on the figures card. All figures
belonging to that card receive the +1 Defense. If all the figures belonging
to this card are destroyed, place the glyph in the spaced once occupied
by the last figure destroyed.

Glyph of Valda- A hero or squad that lands on this glyph has found a
powerful artifact. Place the glyph on the figures card. All figures
belonging to that card receive the +2 move. If all the figures belonging
to this card are destroyed, place the glyph in the spaced once occupied
by the last figure destroyed.

Glyph of Dagmar- A hero or squad that lands on this glyph has found a
powerful artifact. Place the glyph on the figures card. The player
controlling this card receives a +8 to initiative. If all the figures
belonging to this card are destroyed, place the glyph in the spaced once
occupied by the last figure destroyed.

Glyph of Ivor- A hero or squad that lands on this glyph has found a powerful
artifact. Place the glyph on the figures card. All figures belonging to
that card receive the +4 to range if they had a range greater than 4. If
all the figures belonging to this card are destroyed, place the glyph in
the spaced once occupied by the last figure destroyed.

Glyph of Kelda- The figures have stumbled upon a healing wellspring. Only
figures with one or more Wound Markers may stop on this Glyph. When one
of your figures stops here, remove all Wound Markers from its Army Card,
and discard this glyph.

Glyph of Erland -When one of your figures stops here, you may “summon”
any other figure (yours or your opponent’s) in LOS, by moving it to a
space adjacent to the figure on the Glyph. The summoned figure does not
receive a leaving engagement roll if it was engaged. Note: If there is
no empty adjacent space, you can’t use the Summon power. This glyph stays
in play on the spot it was revealed.

Glyph of Mitonsoul-Your team has unleashed a terrible curse. For each

figure that you control on the battlefield, roll the 20-sided die. If you
roll 1, the figure is destroyed. If you roll 2 through 20, the figure is
safe. Discard this glyph after rolling for all of your figures.

Glyph of Brandar- A figure, who moves onto a Glyph of Brandar, has sprung
a trap. Roll one red attack die. If you roll a skull the figure receives
one automatic wound marker. Discard the glyph after the trap is sprung.

Playing the game

Placing orders- Players each roll a d20. The highest roller places an order
marker on any card that he controls or any active denizen card or on any
unrevealed wandering monster token that does not already have an order
marker on it. The players alternate placing orders until all orders have
been placed. A player may not place orders on a Denizen card if the figures
for that card are on the same cavern or tunnel area as the player’s own
forces UNLESS there are opposing figures in LOS of the denizen figures.
Roll initiative- Players roll to see who goes first. The highest roller
begins by revealing his 1st order marker, and activating that card or
wandering monster token. Players alternate until all order markers have
been revealed.

Activating a wandering monster token- When a player uses an order marker

that was placed on a wandering monster token, he is able to move the token
up to 4 spaces ignoring penalties for elevation as if the token had the
fly ability. If a token moves to a space that is in LOS of any non-denizen
figure, remove the token. Randomly draw a card from the denizen deck and
place the corresponding figures on or as close as possible to the space
where the token was revealed. If a token is revealed in this manner the
activation is over once the figures are placed and the units do not get
to attack or move any further.

Activating a denizen card- When you activate an order marker on a denizen

card you treat that activation as if you controlled those figures with
the following rules and exceptions:

-Denizens may not attack other denizen figures.

-Denizens engaged with your figures when activated MUST make an attack,
and may not disengage.
-Denizens may not reveal glyphs or wandering monster tokens.
-Denizens may not intentionally harm themselves by stepping in lava or
jumping off cliffs or disengaging.

Activating a Hero or Squad- When you activate a card, use all the normal
rules for Heroscape, with the added rules in this document. During an
activation if any figure moves to a space that allows LOS to an unrevealed
wandering monster token, momentarily pause your activation and allow your
opponent to place the wandering monsters as described above.

Total destruction of a team- If a player’s entire hero team is destroyed

he is not out of the game. However, he must remove the #3 order marker
from his set of markers and may not use it for the rest of the game.

Winning the Game

Play continues until there are no longer any hero figures left on the map
and only denizens. Remember that the goal is to get as many figures off
your opponent’s entrance with as much loot as possible. Once play is over,
the side who made it off their opponent’s entrance carrying the most
glyphs wins the game. If both players have the same amount of glyphs then
add up the point value of the surviving figures. The player with the most
points worth of surviving figures wins. As you will see it is possible
that no player is victorious as the caverns can be quite treacherous. Never
fear there are heroes throughout time who may rise again for the challenge.