# of Braves: Hearty soldiers join your troops.
Record their number.
for 1 player
10,000: It is the estimated number of Persian
soldiers from the Achaemenid Empire who threaten your
kingdom. Sparta is in danger and its troops are already
fighting another battle. You are a Hero. To save your city,
you will only have to deal with your own means. How?
First enroll the bravest men of the city and then go
to Athena's Temple. There you'll be given the White
Sword, a lengendary weapon to give heart to your troops
while there are so few of you and the enemy is so
numerous.
Try to get some Favors from the Gods.
Eventually leave the city to the Black Mountains,
and find a place called « The Throne ». That is the lair
where the Persians are hiding.
And now the hardest is to come: defeat the enemy!
Components
- 9 Event cards
- 16 tiles : 8 City, 8 Outdoor
- A pawn for your Hero
- You may also need a few additional tokens.
SETU P
a) Shuffle the Event cards into a facedown stack.
b) Shuffle the Outdoor tiles into a facedown stack
and place the Toward the Mountains tile on top of it.
c) Set aside the Main Square and shuffle the City
tiles into a facedown stack.
d) Place the Main Square tile on table and your
Hero on it: this is your Starting tile.
e) On a piece of paper, record your number of
Braves (10), your Morale (3) and your Favor (1).
Also note the number of Persian soldiers (10,000),
and the starting time: Morning.
T urn S eq uence
1) Move your Hero on a new tile (see 2) or on an
already explored tile (see 3).
Your Hero moves from tile to tile through the ways
shown with the Greek letters. To go from a tile to the
other, the two Greek letters must match.
2) Draw a new tile and lay it next to your Hero. The
two Greek letters must match. If the letter won't match or if
you don't want to follow that rule, see Open up a New
Path.
3) If your tile is an Ambush, resolve it (see Fight
Resolution). If not, go to 4).
4) Draw an Event card (if there are no cards left,
see Time Passes) and follow the instructions according to
your current time:
Favor: You can add 1 Favor to your score OR
choose an Item.
To choose an Item, draw the next card, select one
of the two Items shown on top corners, record it and
discard the card. If you draw the Black Curse (see Items),
it descends upon you: you cannot choose any Item nor
draw any other card during this turn.
Ambush: see Fight Resolution.
5) Once your Event card is resolved, apply the
effect of the Tile if any (see below).
6) Discard the card, a new turn begins.
F rom the City to the B lack M ountains
Special City tiles:
ð In Athena's Temple, you'll be given the White Sword
for 3 Favors.
ð At the Market, you can buy one of the two Items shown
on the card for 1 Favor.
ð At the Agora, you can enroll 20 Braves for 1 Favor.
To go out of the City, you must reach the City Gate.
Once there, lay the To the Mountains tile next to the City
Gate, lining up the 2 yellow arrows.
Once outside, have a swim in the Enchanted Lake
to regain 1 point of Morale. On a Hard Pass, you lose 5
braves. But most important, try to find The Throne.
The Throne is the Persian troops hideout. When
you draw this tile, do not draw any Event Card and make a
quick decision: Stay or Run away.
If you stay, see Final Combat.
If you run away, move your Hero one tile
backwards, and lose 1 Morale point. A new turn begins.
T imes P asses
The game starts in the Morning. Each time the
Event cards stock is empty, time passes: Morning gives
way to Afternoon, Afternoon gives way to Night.
Reshuffle the deck and note the new time.
Be careful: if you haven't reached The Throne
before you draw the last card of the third period of time
(Night), you lose the game!
 F ight R esolution
There are two types of fights: Ambushes and the
Final Combat.
Ambushes: compare your number of Braves with
the number written on the card or tile.
If you have as many or more, you win the fight and
get 1 Favor.
If you have fewer, you lose the fight and 10 Braves.
Whether you win or lose, the fight is resolved and
the adventure goes on!
N.B.: when you are alone and fall into an ambush,
nobody can notice you and you avoid the ambush. Go on
as if nothing had happened.
Final Combat: If you decide to remain on The
Throne, the Final Combat takes place.
First, exchange your Favors for Morale points. 3
Favors will give you 1 Morale point.
Then shuffle all the cards and stack them facedown.
The Final Combat is divided into several turns. At each
turn one side alternatively attacks the other: e.g. one turn
the Persians attack you, next turn you attack them etc.
The Persians attack first.
To resolve a turn, draw a card:
When the Persians attack you, substract the
number of Braves shown under the Green Helmet
from your records.
When it is your turn to attack the Persians,
substract the number shown under the Red
Helmet from the number of Persian soldiers.
Record the new scores.
As soon as the pile of cards is empty,
shuffle and stack them again: a new round begins and the
Persians attack first.
If you lose all your Braves, the fight is not lost yet.
But now, each time you draw a card to resolve a Persian
attack on you, you lose 1 Morale point.
If your Morale score goes down to 0, you lose the
fight and the game.
If you manage to bring the Persian troops to 0, you
win the Final Combat and the game.
O pening up a N ew P ath
Sometimes, you may not be able to lay the tile you
have drawn. This is most unlikely but it may happen. Or
you may think that it would be useful to open up a new
path some other place. In both cases, lay your tile next to
another of the same type (City next to City, Outdoor next to
Outdoor), and open up a new path wherever you want by
laying a token on it.
Opening up a new path costs 1 Morale point.
W in or Lose the G ame
You lose the game if your Morale points go down to
0 OR if you cannot reach The Throne before you draw the
last of the Night cards OR if you lose the Final Combat.
You win if... There's indeed only one way to win:
totally defeat the Persian army with the White Sword!
Items
Record the Items that you find on your way. Most of
the Items can be used only once, but you can carry several
copies of them. Yet 3 Items (the Shield, the Bow and the
Flag) can be used as many times as you want, but you can
carry only one copy of each.
The Heralds: When you use the Heralds, have a
look to the card or tile you'll draw next. If you don't
want it, place it under the stack a draw a new card
or tile.
The Ring allows you to cancel a card. Discard
the cancelled card and draw a new one.
The Ring and the Heralds can combine. In that case, you
can have a look to the 2 next cards or tiles and rearrange
them as you like.
The Bow: You start each Final Combat fight, even
the very first one.
The Shield: With the Shield, substract 5 to the
number of Braves you have to lose during the
Final Combat (does not work for the Ambushes).
For example, if the number of Braves you lose is 50, you
only lose 45.
The Horse: Rather than moving your Hero to the
next tile, move him as far as you want and stop on
a previously explored tile or on a new one. Draw an
Event card only when you stop and only apply your current
tile effects, if any.
The Flag: Each time you enroll some Braves,
add 5 more.
The Lightning allows you to destroy 100 Persian
troops. If you use 2 Lightnings together, you defeat
300 enemy troops, 3 Lightings: 500 troops etc. (+
200/extra lightning). The Lightning can be used to avoid
an Ambush.
The Hand gives you 2 Morale points.
The Black Curse: If you want an Item and The
Black Curse comes out, the Curse descends upon
you. Add 500 Persians to the enemy and do not
draw any other card.
10,000 in my Pocket
A game by Pak Cormier,
inspired by Zombie in my Pocket,
by Jeremiah Lee.
December 2009.
English version by Ivy Colin.
Morale + 1
You lose 5 Braves.
 A priestess blesses
you. You win 1 point
of Morale.

10 Braves help you

for 1 favor.

You meet a centaur. You

lose 1 point of Morale.
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