Setup
- Place the gameboard in the middle of the table.
- Separate the cubes by their color and place them next to the board. Place the Multiplier tokens next to the corresponding colored cubes.
- Each player chooses a Hero taking the figure and player mat corresponding to their choice. Each player places their Hero figure on the Palace.
- Shuffle the Relic cards. If a player choses Artemis they will randomly take two Relic cards. They will choose one to keep and will place it face up in front of them. They will get to use this Relic for the rest of the game. The other will be added to the rest of the Relic cards.
- Four Relic cards will be randomly drawn and turned face up. Players will find the corresponding Relic tokens and place them next to the gameboard. The Relic cards and tokens that weren’t chosen are returned to the box.
- The chosen Relic cards are added to the rest of the Hero cards. The Hero cards are shuffled to form the draw deck.
- Place a Tracker token on the 20 space on the Defense track (left side of the board).
At this point the players will have to choose which enemy they will be playing against. The game recommends that you play your first game against Ares. You can choose one of the other two villains though. Most of the setup is the same, but there are a few steps that will change depending on what enemy was chosen.
- Take the mat and mover corresponding to the villain the players chose.
- Players will flip the enemy mat to the side corresponding to the number of players. The number of players supported by each side is shown in the bottom right corner.
- Depending on whether you want to play the normal or hard difficulty you will place a Tracker token on the Health track on the right side of the board. For the normal game place the Tracker on the number shown along the left side near the top of the villain mat. For the harder game place the Tracker on the number shown under “Difficulty” in the bottom right corner.
- Shuffle the deck of cards corresponding to the enemy you chose. Place this deck face down on the table next to the board.
- Give each player a reference card for the chosen villain and the Round Phases.
- The components not used for your chosen enemy are returned to the box.
These are the setup instructions that are specific to the various villains.
Ares
Place a Blessing token on each of the Monument and Temple spaces on the board. Take out the Sword of Hephaestus card and choose one player to take it for the game. The player who is given the card will keep it for the rest of the game as they try to collect the Blessing tokens spread around the board.
The Cheetah
Find the four Artifact cards from The Cheetah’s deck and set them aside. The rest of The Cheetah’s deck will be shuffled.
Circe
Place one Magic Beacon (purple cube) on the gameboard for each player in the game. The location of each Magic Beacon is chosen by drawing one of the cards from Circe’s deck.
As there are five players in the game five Magic Beacons are placed out on the board.
Playing the Game
The game is broken down into rounds with each round consisting of five phases.
- Start of Round
- Strategize Together
- Battle Begins
- Take Actions
- End of Round
The players will keep playing rounds until either they win or lose the game.
Start of Round
In this phase the chosen enemy will perform actions that will help them defeat the players. This phase will depend on the villain that was chosen. Some rules that apply to all of the villains are as follows:
When a villain card says deploy an obstacle, you will take the corresponding number of cubes of the color shown and place them on the location(s) mentioned. You can only place one Blockade on each road though. If all of the cubes of one type ever run out, replace the cubes with a Multiplayer token as the number of cubes are unlimited.
When a card instructs you to Replace cubes, you will take the cubes off the board and exchange them for the color mentioned on the card.
Ares
Draw the top card from the Ares deck and place the Ares marker on the location mentioned on the bottom of the card. This card is then discarded.
The players have drawn a villain card to move Ares. The bottom of the card says Palace so Ares is moved to the Palace.
You will then add cubes to Ares’ current position. If there are any Warriors (white/clear cubes) on Ares’ current position they will be replaced with Corrupted Amazon cubes (purple). If there are no Warriors on the location you will add two Servants of War (orange cubes) to the location.
Player will then draw additional cards one at a time and take the actions listed on the card. You will ignore the location shown on the bottom of the card. After you take the action from the card, you will discard it. The number of cards that you will draw depends on the number of players:
- 2 players – one card
- 3 players – two cards
- 4-5 players – three cards
For this Ares’ card the players will deploy two orange cubes to Ares’ current position. All of the purple cubes will also move one location closer to the Palace.
If the Ares’ deck ever runs out of cards, you will shuffle the discard pile to form another deck.
The Cheetah
Place a Lycanthrope (orange cube) on The Cheetah’s current location. This action won’t be taken in the first round as The Cheetah is not on the board yet.
Draw the top card from The Cheetah’s deck and move The Cheetah to the space indicated on the card.
Players will then draw a number of cards and take the actions listed on the cards. You will ignore the location shown at the bottom of the card. The card will be discarded after the action is performed. The number of cards that will be drawn and whose effects will be applied depends on the number of players:
- 2 players – one card
- 3 players – two cards
- 4-5 players – three cards
Whenever the The Cheetah’s deck runs out of cards you will shuffle the discard pile to form a new deck. Before you do this one of the artifact cards that were set aside at the beginning of the game (chosen randomly) will be added to the deck before it is shuffled.
Circe
Draw the top card from Circe’s deck and move Circe to the location printed on the card. This card will then be discarded.
Place one Pig Amazon (green cube) on Circe’s current location.
The players will draw a number of cards and perform the actions printed on them. The number of cards that will be drawn depends on the number of players:
- 2 players – one card
- 3 players – two cards
- 4-5 players – three cards
When the Circe deck runs out of cards you will shuffle the discard pile to form the new draw pile.
Strategize Together
In this phase the players will be able to openly discuss their strategy for the rest of the round. They can discuss all face up cards and which areas of the board that each player should focus on.
The phase begins with each player being dealt two Hero cards face up. If someone chose Philippus they will have three cards dealt face up to them.
Each player is then dealt three Hero cards face down to form their Battle Plan. If a player chose Nu’bia they will be dealt five cards face down. These cards cannot be looked at until the next phase.
Here are the cards that were dealt to Diana. They will use the knowledge of the two face up cards to determine what they should focus on for the rest of the round.
If a player is dealt a Relic card they must immediately decide whether they will discover it or whether they will pass on it. See the Relic section below for more information.
If the Hero deck ever runs out of cards you will shuffle the discard pile to form a new deck.
Players that have a Hero ability that doesn’t immediately go into effect will have to choose during this phase whether they are going to use it. Using the Hero ability is optional as you can choose not to use it during some rounds.
This is the situation currently facing the players. The players must come up with a strategy on how they are going to deal with all of the cubes placed out on the board.
Battle Begins
Once this phase begins players can no longer discuss strategy.
Each player will pick up all of the Hero cards dealt to them. They will get to choose three of these cards and place them face down on the three spots of their player mat. These three cards will determine what actions that the player will take in the next phase. The order that you place the cards is important because you will take the actions in the order in which you played the cards.
Once a player has chosen their three cards they will discard their remaining Hero cards face up to the discard pile.
Hero Cards
Your actions in the game are determined by the Hero cards that you are dealt and play. Each Hero card has two key pieces of information. Some cards have some text written in the middle of the card which outlines an ability. When you play one of these cards you will get to take the corresponding ability if you meet the requirements. Each Hero card has a set of Emblems along the bottom as well. These Emblems are used to take various actions in the game. For each card that is played the player will be able to use only one of the Emblem types.
Some cards in the game will allow players to double the value of their Emblems for a card. This effect can only be applied once. For example you can’t double an Emblem and then double it again.
Here are examples of two different Hero Cards from the game. The Nimble card could either be used for three footprint or two star Emblems. The Steadfast card is worth two footprint or star Emblems. If it was played as the third card it will be worth twice as many Emblems.
The Emblems in the game will give you various abilities in the game. Some abilities are available against any enemy (basic actions) and others are specific to one of the enemies (special actions). Players may perform the same action multiple times with one card if they have enough Emblems, but they may not perform two different types of actions. You also can choose not to use all of the Emblems of the type you chose.
Basic Actions
In order to move your character around the board you will have to spend footprint Emblems. For each footprint you can move to an adjacent location. To move between locations you must use the roads printed on the board. You can’t move through a road though that contains a Blockade.
This player has played a card featuring two footprint Emblems so they could move up to two spaces away.
Star Emblems are used to acquire Warriors (clear/white cubes). To acquire Warriors you need to currently be on a location that features a star symbol. For each Warrior Emblem you can recruit one Warrior. For more information about Warriors see the corresponding section below.
This player played a three star Emblem card so they recruited three Warriors.
Special Actions
These actions depend on which villain you are facing.
Ares
For each three book Emblems you can remove one Corrupted Amazon (purple cube) from your current location.
As this player played a card featuring three book Emblems they will be able to remove one of the purple cubes.
For each two sword Emblems you can remove one Servants of War (orange cube) from your current location.
This player played the Bold card. If they played it for their first action they can use it for four swords which will eliminate two orange cubes. If they played it for their second or third action it will be worth two swords which will eliminate one of the cubes.
For each three footprint Emblems you can remove a Blockade from a road connected to your current location.
There is a Blockade in the road next to this player’s location. They have decided to use the three footprints from the card they played to remove the Blockade.
Finally you can spend four Emblems of any type to attack Ares if you are in the same location as him. For each four Emblems you will deal one damage to Ares which will be marked by moving the Tracker down one space on the right side of the board.
This player has played a card that features four footprint Emblems. They will use this card to deal one point of damage to Ares.
The Cheetah
For each three book Emblems you can remove one Wounded Amazon (purple cube) from your current location.
This player played a card with three book Emblems in order to remove the Wounded Amazon.
For each three sword Emblems you can remove one Lycanthrope (orange cube) from your current location.
This player has played a card featuring three sword Emblems in order to remove the Lycanthrope from the board.
For each two sword or footprint Emblems you can remove one Hunting Party (green cube) from your current location. You can only use sword or footprint Emblems (not both) for this action.
This player has played a card where they could either use two sword or footprint Emblems in order to remove the Hunting Party from the board.
For each four Emblems of one type you can deal one damage to The Cheetah’s health. You will reduce the Health track by the amount of damage dealt. A Lycanthrope (orange cube) will then be placed on your current location. You will then draw the top card from The Cheetah’s deck and move The Cheetah to the corresponding location shown on the card.
These two players decided to team up to attack The Cheetah. If they use the footprint Emblems they can deal two points of damage. The Cheetah will then move to a different space and leave a Lycanthrope on this location.
Circe
If a player uses three book Emblems they will remove all of the Magic Beacons from their current location.
This player has used three book Emblems in order to eliminate the two Magic Beacons from their current space.
For each three swords you can move a Wolf Amazon (orange cube) to an adjacent location. If you perform this action multiple times you can move multiple Wolf Amazons to different neighboring locations, you can move a Wolf Amazon multiple spaces, or you can do a combination of both.
This player is using three sword Emblems in order to move this Wolf Amazon to an adjacent location.
For each two swords you can move a Pig Amazon (green cube) to an adjacent location. If you perform this action multiple times you can move multiple Pig Amazons to a neighboring location, you can move a Pig Amazon multiple spaces, or you can do a combination of both.
This player played a card featuring four sword Emblems. They could either move one of the Pig Amazons two locations away or both Pig Amazons to a location one space away.
To deal damage to Circe you can use any type of Emblem. The number of that Emblem you need to deal damage though depends on how many Magic Beacons there are on the board. You will need four Emblems plus three Emblems for each Magic Beacon currently on the game board. After dealing damage to Circe you will move the Health Tracker down the corresponding number of spaces.
These two players have decided to team up to attack Circe. As there is one Magic Beacon on the board the players have to use seven sword Emblems in order to deal one damage to Circe.
After dealing damage you will place a number of Magic Beacons based on the number of players. Draw a Circe card for each Magic Beacon in order to figure out which location to place them on.
Teaming Up
When two players are on the same space and are using the same Emblem type they can choose to combine their Emblems to perform the chosen action together.
These two players have teamed up to attack Ares. They will combine either the sword or star Emblems from their cards which will total more than the four Emblems needed to deal one damage to Ares.
Take Actions
Once all of the players have chosen their three cards, play passes to the Take Actions Phase. At this point players may once again freely communicate and discuss all played cards.
Players will then begin by flipping over the first card that they played. The players will then take an action based on the card that they played. The order that the actions will take place in is determined by the players.
For their first card the Diana player has played Bold. As they played it as their first card it will be worth either four sword or four star Emblems.
After all of the players have taken their first action, players will flip over their second card and take the following action. This will continue again with the players third card.
End of Round
After the players have taken all of their actions the End of Round Phase will conclude the round. The End of Round Phase will depend on the enemy that the players are fighting.
If the players haven’t won or lost the game at this point another round will be played.
Ares
You will lose one Defense for each region that has at least one Servants of War (orange cube).
There are two locations with orange cubes on the gameboard so the Heroes will lose two Defense.
You will lose two Defense for each Corrupted Amazon (purple cube) that is in the Palace.
There are three purple cubes in the Palace so the Heroes will lose six Defense.
You will lose three Defense for each region that features five or more Obstacles (Corrupted Amazons, Servants of War).
This location features six obstacles so the Heroes will lose three Defense.
You must follow this process in order as you can end up losing multiple points from the same cube. You will move the Tracker down one space on the left track for each point of Defense lost. If your Defense ever reaches zero, all of the players will lose the game.
The heroes have lost their last Defense so the players have lost the game.
If the players reduce the enemy’s Health to zero they will win the game.
The players have successfully reduced the enemies health to zero so they have won the game.
There is one caveat to this though for Ares. At the beginning of the game one of the players was given the Sword of Hephaestus card. Throughout the game this player is tasked with going around the board collecting the Blessings. When a player ends their action on a location featuring a Blessing they will pick it up and add it to the card.
After they have acquired all of the Blessings the sword is powered up and can be used. In order to defeat Ares the player controlling the Sword of Hephaestus has to deal the last point of damage to Ares. This can be accomplished by teaming up with another player to deal the last point of damage.
This player has acquired all of the Blessings for the Sword of Hephaestus so they are able to defeat Ares.
The Cheetah
For each Wounded Amazon (purple cube) that is on the board, the players will lose one defense.
For this Wounded Amazon left on the board the players will lose one Defense.
For each location that has a Lycanthrope (orange cube), place a Wounded Amazon (purple cube) on the location.
As there was a Lycanthrope on the board, a Wounded Amazon is placed on the same location.
For each Hunting Party (green cube) on the board, the top card from The Cheetah’s deck is discarded.
As there are three Hunting Parties on the board, The Cheetah will discard the top three cards from their deck.
In addition to losing if your Defense is eliminated, there is an additional way to lose to The Cheetah. If a third artifact is added to The Cheetah’s deck (the deck is going to be reshuffled for the third time), the players immediately lose the game.
The Cheetah has added three artifacts to their deck so the players have lost the game.
Circe
For each location with a Wolf Amazon (orange cube) you will lose one Defense. You will ignore the first location with a Wolf Amazon.
For each location with a Pig Amazon (green cube) you will lose one Defense. You will ignore the first location with a Pig Amazon.
For each location with both a Wolf Amazon (orange cube) and Pig Amazon (green cube) you will lose three Defense.
At the end of the round the heroes will lose the following Defense. There is a Wolf Amazon on three of the locations so they will lose two Defense. The players will lose one Defense due to a Pig Amazon being on two locations. Finally the players will lose three Defense for the Watchtower as there is both a green and orange cube on the space.
Circe will be defeated if the players reduce her health to zero.
Relics
Relics are special items that will help you in the game. Whenever a Relic card is revealed in the game the player who is dealt the card must immediately decide whether they are going to Discover or Pass By the Relic.
When the player chooses to Discover a Relic they will find the token for the corresponding Relic and place it on the location indicated on the card. The Relic card will be set aside for when a player collects the Relic. The player will not draw a card to replace the Relic card.
This player drew the Amulet of Harmonia Relic card. They chose to discover the Relic so the corresponding token will be placed in the Woods.
If a player decides to Pass By a Relic they will discard the card and draw a new card to replace it. If you choose this action the Relic will come into play when it is drawn again.
When a player ends their action on the same location as a Relic token they have the opportunity to recover the Relic. Once a player recovers a Relic they will place the corresponding card in front of themselves and remove the token from the board. Once a player has taken a Relic it stays with them for the rest of the game.
This player ended their action on the same space as a Relic so they will have access to the Relic for the rest of the game.
Warriors
Throughout the game players will be able to acquire Warriors (white/clear cubes). Warriors are usually acquired by using star Emblems on a space featuring the star symbol. Warriors are unlimited so if the cubes run out you can replace them with the corresponding Multiplier tokens.
Warriors will be first placed on the space where they are acquired. When a player that is on a space with a Warrior(s) moves to another location, they can take any or all of the Warriors on their current space with them.
Mala’s special ability allows players to place Warriors on the board. They can place one Warrior on two different spaces which feature one of the players’ playing pieces (this includes the player playing as Mala).
Warriors basically act as wilds when performing Special Actions. A player can use as many of the Warriors on their current space as they want. Each Warrior that is used will add one to the Emblem type that the player chose to use for their action. Warriors can only be used as the Emblem that the player choose to use, and can’t be used for an Emblem not shown on the card. Once a Warrior is used it will be returned to the supply.
This player has decided to use a Warrior along with their three book Emblems in order to get to four Emblems and deal one damage to Ares.
If Wonder Woman: Challenge of the Amazons sounds interesting to you check out our review to see my thoughts on the game.
Buy Wonder Woman: Challenge of the Amazons online: Amazon
