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A two player tarot card battle game

Designed by Denman rooke

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a two player tarot card battle game.

Armed with arcane spells, two medieval
kingdoms meet on the battlefield for war.

Designed by Denman Rooke

Illustrations by Pamela Colman Smith (public domain)

What is needed to play?

1. A single 78 card tarot deck which includes both Major & Minor Arcana. One deck is used between both players.
2. A pen & paper to keep track of each player’s Life Total. Dice or anything else that tracks numbers can also be used.
Set up Opponent’s graveyard
1. Battlefield: The Battlefield is an Opponent’s castle
imaginary grid of 3 by 3 cards between the & Divine Sign
6
two players. 5
2. Deck of Fate: On the side of the
Battlefield place the Minor Arcana
suit cards (Pentacles, Wands, Cups, and
Swords) shuffled and face down into what 1 Battlefield
will be called the Deck of Fate.
3. Favoured Suit: During the Upkeep
phase, the Favoured Suit will be 7b Enemy territory
revealed and placed next to the Deck of
Fate. Troops of the Favoured Suit deal
Double Damage during Battle.
Deck of fate
Deck of
4. Deck of Divinity: On the other (Minor arcana)

2 Divinity
side of the Battlefield place the Major (Major arcana)

Arcana cards (The Fool, The Magician

etc.) shuffled and face down into what will 7c Front line 4
be called the Deck of Divinity.
5. Castle & Divine Sign: Each
player will draw one card from the Deck
of Divinity in the Upkeep phase. This is
placed in front of them to represent their
Castle. This card is also their Divine Sign
and can be cast as an arcane spell to 3 7a Your territory
Favoured suit
change how the game is played.
6. Graveyard: To the side of your
Castle is your Graveyard where you will
discard any of your Troops that die in
8
Battle.
Left lane Middle lane Right lane
7. Territories & the Front Line:
On the Battlefield, the row in front of
your Castle is Your Territory (A.), The
Your graveyard
row in front of your opponent’s Castle is
the Enemy Territory (B.), and the row
6
between them is the Front Line (C.).
8. The Lanes: The column in front of 5
the Castle is the Middle Lane, with the Your castle
& Divine Sign
Left Lane and Right Lane on either side
respectively.
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Key Terms
• Minor Arcana:
A tarot deck contains 4 suits: Pentacles, Wands, Swords, and Cups. Each suit has 14
cards: 10 numbered cards and 4 court cards. The numbered cards range from One
(or Ace) through Ten. The court cards are the Page, Knight, Queen, and King. These
four suits are collectively called the minor arcana and will be used as your troops
in battle and castle defence.

• Major Arcana:
In addition to the minor arcana, a tarot deck contains 22 cards without a suit called
the major arcana. These cards are numbered 0 through 21 and named after
archetypes starting with The Fool and ending with The World. These cards represent
your kingdom’s divine signs and can be cast as powerful arcane spells to turn the
battle in your favour.

• Troop:
A single Minor Arcana card on the Battlefield.

• Army:
A stack of one or several Troop cards in the same suit. An Army can be a single Troop card. The top of the
cards designates which way an Army is facing and attacking.

• Flanking:
Any Army who faces an adjacent enemy Army’s side becomes a Flanking Army. An
Army in the Left Lane or Right Lane can be declared as Flanking in the Actions
phase by turning it to face an adjacent enemy Army;s side in the Middle Lane.
Flanking Armies have Advantage which means any Damage they deal can kill the
receiving Army’s Troops before they have a chance to attack.

• Power:
The number designated on the Minor Arcana card. All court cards (Page, Knight, Queen, and King) have a
Power of 10. Power also represents how much Damage a troop can take before dying and going to the
Graveyard.

• Damage:
Damage is equal to the troop’s power. In battle, damage from opposing armies is applied simultaneously,
unless one army has Advantage.

• Advantage:
When an army has advantage, it deals damage before the enemy army during the Advantage Combat phase. The army
without advantage may lose troops before they have a chance to deal damage themselves.

• Initiative:
The term used to designate which player goes first in a round. This is determined by the highest Divine Sign that
was drawn during the Upkeep phase.

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How to win
Each player starts with a Life Total of 20. If a player reduces their opponent’s Life Total to zero or below they win.

Order of Play
1. Upkeep
Each player draws a Divine Sign from the Deck of Divinity and 5 cards from the Deck of Fate. Then, reveal a Favoured
Suit from the deck of fate. (Players do not have a maximum hand size.)

2. Actions
Starting with the player who has Initiative (drew the highest Divine Sign this round), take one of the following actions:

• Rally:
Play one card from your hand into one of the three Lanes in Your Territory only. A card can be played into any
empty space in Your Territory or on top of a card you control in Your Territory that shares the same suit. This is
called building up an Army. Each individual card is called a Troop. An Army can consist of one Troop.

• March:
Choose an Army and move it into an adjacent valid space. A valid space is an open space on the Battlefield with no
other Armies or it can also be another Army you control in the same suit. Movement happens forwards, left, or right. You
cannot March backwards or diagonally. If the army had been declared as Flanking, return it to its upright position.

You may March part of an Army. To do this, pick the bottom most Troop in the stack which you want to March, and you
must March all the Troops above it on the stack. If you March an Army onto another Army you control in the same suit
you must place your marching army on the top of the stack.

• Flank:
If an Army of yours is to the left or right of an enemy Army in the Middle Lane it can be declared as Flanking by turning
it to face the side of the enemy Army. Flanking Armies have Advantage.

You may not undeclare a Flanking Army, however, if the army is moved in any way due to a march action, court card
ability, or Divine Sign, reset it to its upright position. It is no longer flanking the Middle Lane.

• Pass:
If you do not want to perform more actions, you may Pass. If both players Pass consecutively or if one player Passes two
turns in a row the Actions phase ends and Battle begins.

3. Battle
All Armies on the Battlefield facing an adjacent enemy Army deal Damage based on their total Power. Power is
the total number designated on the cards in the Army stack. With court cards having a Power of 10. The Army’s facing
direction is determined by which way the top of the card is pointing. Damage is only dealt to an enemy Army in front of your
Army, not to any Armies that may be Flanking its sides.

Damage is first applied to the Troop on top of an Army stack. When Damage is applied to a Troop and it matches or
exceeds its Power value, it dies. It is placed in the owner’s Graveyard. If there is any remaining Damage left from the
attack, apply it to the next Troop in the Army until all Damage has been dealt. If the Damage isn’t high enough to kill a
Troop on top of the stack, you cannot pass that Damage onto any Troops underneath it on the stack.

Battle happens in two stages:

1. Advantage Combat:
Starting with all Armies that have Advantage, deal Damage simultaneously. Damage resolves and any Troops that
receive enough Damage die and are sent to their Graveyard.

2. Standard Combat:
All remaining Armies on the Battlefield without Advantage deal Damage simultaneously. Damage resolves and any
Troops that receive enough Damage die and are sent to their Graveyard.

If an Army in the Middle Lane makes its way to the Enemy Territory, they deal their Damage to the enemy Castle,
affecting your opponent’s Life Total.

Once the Battle is over, return all Flanking Armies to their upright position in relation to who owns them.

4. Castle Defence
After Battle each player in turn can choose to discard any number of cards in their hand to release an arrow volley attack
from their Castle at any designated enemy Army in their Territory. The Favoured Suit bonus for the round applies to
Caste Defence Damage as well. So if you have enemy Armies in Your Territory, remember to hold onto some cards in
your hand for this phase.

And so ends the round. Start the next Upkeep phase.

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Minor Arcana abilities.

• Court cards
Minor Arcana court cards (Pages, Knights, Queens,
and Kings) are special. They all count as a Power of
10 but they also have special abilities that apply to any
Army they are in. (Use turn order to resolve any conflicts.)
• Page: At the end of Battle, you may March your
Army as a free action immediately.
• Knight: Can be played on the Front Line during
the Rally action and Armies with a Knight can
March two spaces.
(May not move past or over enemy Armies, only valid
moves for each space are allowed.)
• Queen: Enemy Armies do not receive the Favoured Suit bonus against this army.
• King: After the Actions phase and before the Battle phase begins you may choose to swap the King’s Army position
with another adjacent Army you control.
After doing so, if you have a valid target in the Middle Lane, you may declare the King’s Army as Flanking as a part of
the action. If the other swapped Army had been declared as Flanking, return it to its upright position.

• Ace: Aces are not court cards, they have a Power of 1. However, if an Ace is in an Army that has no
court cards, that Army has Advantage against enemy Armies.
(In the spirit of anti-royalist sentiment, this army can be referred to as ‘The People’s Army’.)

Deck of fate
• Favoured Suit
(Minor arcana)

Minor Arcana cards of the Favoured Suit deal Double Damage to any Army of a
different suit.

Favoured suit

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Major Arcana abilities.

• Divine Signs
At any point during the game, you may cast any of your major arcana divine signs as a free action to affect the game
for that round. Once it is cast, flip it face down. It cannot be cast again for the rest of the game.

Divine signs have priority against other actions in the game, so you can interrupt your opponent’s regular action to resolve
your divine sign. This can happen even after your opponent has declared their intention.

Divine signs can be saved for use later in the game and do not have to be used in the round in which they were drawn.
You may use multiple divine signs in the same round.

O • The Fool: Reuse one of your previously cast divine signs.

I • The Magician: You may choose the favoured suit by discarding a card from your hand in the desired suit onto the
favoured suit stack. Cannot be cast if Wheel of Fortune or The Moon has been cast this round.
II • The High Priestess: Choose one army. During this round you may choose which troop(s) in the enemy army to
deal damage to instead of having to deal damage to the top card of the army stack first.
III • The Empress: Choose an army, it cannot be flanked for the rest of this round.
IV • The Emperor: You may swap the positions of two adjacent armies you control.
V • The Hierophant: For the rest of this round, your opponent’s court cards lose their special abilities. Treat them as if
they are simply a 10 of their suit. They still count as court cards in relation to an Ace’s special ability.
VI • The Lovers: Swap the position of one of your armies with an adjacent enemy army in any direction. Your army
cannot attack the enemy castle this round.
VII • The Chariot: You go first this round ignoring the divine sign initiative rule.
VIII • Strength: You may give one of your armies double power this round.
IX • The Hermit: Look at your opponent’s hand. You may choose a card and swap it with one from your hand.
X • Wheel of Fortune: You may change the favoured suit by revealing a new card from the Deck of Fate until a
different suit is played. Cannot be cast if The Moon has been cast this round.
XI • Justice: You may decide that there is no favoured suit this round.
XII • The Hanged Man: You may kill one of your troops to deal double its power as damage to another army
anywhere on the battlefield. You may choose which troops to damage first in the army stack. If applicable, the
favoured suit bonus deals double damage.
XIII • Death: You may kill one troop on the battlefield.
XIV • Temperance: When your opponent casts their divine sign spell, you may cast Temperance to cancel it.
XV • The Devil: You may bring one troop from your graveyard back to your hand.
XVI • The Tower: You may prevent your opponent from casting any minor arcana cards during the castle defence
phase.
XVII • The Star: During battle, choose an army of yours that is flanked. They may deal damage to any of the armies
attacking them. Divide the damage as you choose.
XVIII • The Moon: When a new favoured suit is revealed you may choose to revert it back to the favoured suit of
the previous round. Put the discarded favoured suit on the bottom of the favoured suit stack.
XIX • The Sun: Change the suit of any army on the battlefield for the rest of the round.
XX • Judgement: Rally up to 3 non-court card troops up to a total power of 10 from your graveyard into your
territory.
XXI • The World: Choose an army, it gets advantage this round.

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Battle Example
1. A Flanking Army:
Player 1’s (P1) army of Swords is flanking Player 2’s (P2) army of Wands. Since the army of Swords is flanking, it has
advantage. It will deal 13 total damage (10 from the Knight +3). 10 damage is first applied to the Knight of Wands as it is on top
of the army stack and so it dies and is sent to the graveyard. The 3 remaining damage is not enough to kill the 6 of Wands
and so is disregarded. P1’s army of Swords is also flanked due to P2’s army of Pentacles in the right lane facing its side.
The army of Pentacles with a power of 8 does not deal enough damage to the Knight of Swords with a power of 10 so
nothing happens. With flanking armies done with advantage combat, they are returned to their upright position in relation
to who owns them.
2. Standard Combat:
Two armies are facing each other, P1’s army of Cups with a power of 15 (10 from the Page +5) and P2’s army of Wands.
Since P1s army of Swords killed the Knight of Wands during advantage combat, this army is now only the 6 of Wands and so
has a power of 6 for standard combat. Wands, however, is the favoured suit this round and so will deal double damage
of 12 to P1s army of Cups. Simultaneously, P1s army of Cups deals 15 damage to P2’s army of Wands. P1’s army of Cups
receives the 12 damage first on the 5 of Cups and so that troop is sent to the graveyard. The remaining 7 damage is not
enough to kill the Page of Cups with a power of 10 and so is disregarded. P2’s army of Wands is decimated with the damage
of 15 and so the 6 of Wands is sent to the graveyard. After battle with the middle lane front line now open, P1 may
choose to march the Page of Cups army as a free action into the front line because of the Page’s court card ability.
3. A One Man Army:
Player 2
Armies are best composed
of multiple troops to boost
their total power. However, an
army can consist of just one
troop.
4. Behind Enemy Lines:
P2’s army of Pentacles is in
P1’s territory. In the castle
defence phase P1 will be able
to discard minor arcana
cards from their hand to deal
direct damage to P2’s army of
Pentacles. For their sake, let’s
hope they saved cards with
Flanking Army enough power. Like battle,
1 any damage is first dealt to the
troop on the top of the army
stack. Once the top troop on
the stack is killed, the remaining
damage may continue to the

2 Standard combat next troop on the stack until all

damage is dealt and as many
troops are killed as possible.
5. P1’s Divine Signs:
P1 has 2 divine signs available
to them this round. The Empress
3 One man army
Behind enemy lines 4 & Judgement. Judgement is
numbered 20, but The Empress,
numbered at 3, was drawn this
round. Comparing The Empress
with P2’s divine sign, The
Hermit numbered at 9, P2 would
have had initiative and gone
5 Divine signs & Initiative
first in the actions phase this
Player 1 round.

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Rule details & Clarifications

Flanking Details
When an army is declared as flanking and turned to face the enemy army’s side, they also expose their side to any
oncoming enemy armies. So, if there is an enemy army in the same lane adjacent and facing the side of your flanking
army, they are now flanking your army. Any army who is facing towards the side of an adjacent enemy army is
flanking and has advantage whether declared in the actions phase or not.
What happens when a flanked army moves?
If you have an Army flanking an enemy army, and your opponent’s army then Marches or in some way is removed,
reset your army to it’s default upright position. It is no longer flanking the middle lane.
Passing Details
If a player passes in the actions phase, they may choose to perform a different action once it’s their turn again. The
actions phase only ends if both players pass consecutively or if one player passes twice in a row.
Who decides what armies fight first?
In the Battle phase, damage happens simultaneously, so deciding which fight happens first doesn’t really matter. For
example, a player can’t use a Divine Sign to change the favoured suit in between battles of the same combat stage.
What happens with a stalemate or draw?
If the game results in a draw or a stalemate due to each player running out of cards or troops on the battlefield, the
player with the highest life total wins. If there’s a tie, the player with the least amount of troops in their graveyard wins.
If it’s still a tie, the player with the least amount of used divine signs is the winner. If it’s still a tie, the game is a draw.
What happens when both players get to zero Life Total or below at the same time?
If both players get to zero life total or below at the same time refer to the rule above about breaking ties. It does not
matter if one player dealt more damage to the other player or not. Both players’ life totals are at zero.
What happens when the Deck of Fate runs out?
If the Deck of Fate runs out of cards, shuffle the favoured suit cards to make a new Deck of Fate. If the Deck of Fate
runs out of cards while dealing and the cards have been dealt evenly between the two players there is no favoured suit
this round. If the Deck of Fate cannot be dealt evenly the remaining card becomes the favoured suit. If there is no
favoured suit due to the Deck of Fate running out of cards, The Magician can add a favoured suit for the round.
What happens when the Deck of Divinity runs out?
If the Deck of Divinity runs out of cards, there’s no more divine signs to draw. Continue on with the rest of the round.
Initiative is now decided by whomever has the highest number divine sign that has not been cast. If all divine signs
have been cast, check for the highest numbered divine sign among those which have been cast.
Divine Sign Order Conflicts
If both players have divine signs they want to cast at the same time, the player with initiative determines who’s Divine
Sign goes first. This may be decided after a player has revealed what Divine Sign they want to cast.
What happens when two Armies with Advantage attack each other?
If two armies attacking each other both have advantage (through use of the Ace’s special ability or casting The World as
a divine sign spell), they would deal their damage simultaneously to each other during the advantage combat stage.
Strength & the Favoured Suit
If a player casts the divine sign of Strength which doubles an army’s power, and the army is also of the favoured suit,
it would stack, and so deal quadruple damage against enemy armies of a different suit.
Temporary Suit change clarification
When a player temporarily changes the suit of an army with a Divine Sign, that army cannot receive troops of the
temporary suit to its stack. The rule of stacking an army with only the same suit references the suit printed on the card.
Using Court Cards in turn order
In the case both players want to use court card abilities, use turn order to resolve. For instance the player with Initiative
chooses one King’s Army to swap, then the other player chooses one King’s Army to swap. Then back to the first player etc.

Thanks
A special thanks to Caitlyn Rooke for playtesting & feedback, but most of all for being my wonderful partner & life collaborator.

A big thank you to the following people for playtesting & feedback on the beta iterations of the rulebook: Manuel Correia,
Darren Kearney, Simon Kenny, Bram Dingelstad, Florian Gaehtgens, Alex Tsotsos, Govinda Grings, 1GAM Galway, and the
Break My Game group & community.

Thanks to all the people who downloaded the rulebook, shared it with their friends, and donated. Hopefully you found it
enjoyable, but may this revised edition of the rulebook improve your BATTLE of TAROT games even more.

And a final thanks to the ghost of Pamela Colman Smith for her fantastic illustrations that inspired this game.

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