1. Objective of the Game

In Oathsworn: Into the Deepwood, you and your friends play as members of a free company of Oathsworn. The story part of each chapter takes you through a series of locations, while the encounter part pits your party against enemies in tactical combat. The goal is to survive the encounters and progress through the chapters of the campaign. The exact victory condition and scoring method are detailed in the official rulebook; consult the manual for full details about this section.

2. Setup (Preparation)

Follow these steps to get the game ready for a new chapter.

1. Free Company Composition
   • Create a group of 4 Oathsworn characters. Each can be a full character or a companion version.
2. Full Character Setup
   • Take the character board and place an HP die in the HP slot, set to its maximum (6 if starting a new chapter). If playing an encounter, set it to the HP recorded on the character sheet.
   • Place the character model and a character sheet. Name the character and record the REGEN and MAX ANIMUS values by checking the matching boxes on the tracks.
   • Place a tracker token on the REGEN slot equal to the value on the character sheet.
   • Place a number of animus gems equal to MAX ANIMUS on the reserve side of the animus track.
   • Take 3 iron and the starting item cards from the Chapter 1 Common Item deck. Place colored cubes on the MIGHT track as shown on the item cards. If the item has a DEFENSE value, place a tracker token on the DEFENSE slot equal to the total of those values; otherwise place a 1‑value token.
3. Companion Setup
   • Take the companion card and place an HP die set to its maximum (6 if starting a new chapter). If playing an encounter, set it to the HP recorded on the companion sheet.
   • Place 2 animus gems on the reserve side of the animus track.
   • Companions always have a maximum of 2 animus and never increase it.
   • Take 3 iron and the companion’s starting item cards. Place colored cubes on the MIGHT track and a tracker token on the DEFENSE slot equal to the total of the DEFENSE values plus 2; if none, place a 3‑value token.
4. Story Setup
   • Place the token tray, dice, MIGHT cubes, iron tokens, and card organizer 1 near the playing area.
   • Place the player and encounter MIGHT deck organizers near the board.
   • Place the free company bag nearby. The bag should contain a free company pad sheet, a backpack card (no item cards), 4 men‑at‑arms ally cards, and 8 player aid cards.
   • Take all ally cards from the bag and place them face‑up nearby.
   • Take the backpack card and all item cards from the bag and place them in a pile with the backpack on top.
   • Give each player 2 player aid cards.
   • Place the special rules board facedown at the side of the playing area. Do not look at it until instructed.
   • Place the time tokens and location tokens (numbered 1‑30) face‑up nearby.
   • Prepare the city event deck and deepwood event deck: shuffle cards 1‑6 from each deck into a new deck and place them face‑up; return the rest to the organizer.
   • Do not set up the game map, time track, or path card during this initial setup. You will be told when to do so during the story.
5. Archiving and Saving
   • When you finish a play session, archive any components that are no longer needed and place the remaining components in the appropriate save bags as described in the manual.

3. Game Flow (How the Game Advances)

The game alternates between a story part and an encounter part for each chapter.

1. Story Part
   • Read the story entry for the current chapter using the Companion App or Story Book.
   • Move the free company marker to the indicated location, remove the location token, and place it on the next available space of the time track.
   • Resolve any event cards (city or deepwood) drawn as instructed.
   • Apply any time track effects (immediate, end of story, or end of encounter) based on the token placed.
   • When instructed, place a location token and move the free company marker there, following the same token‑placement rules.
   • When instructed to choose a location to go to, pick a location that has a location token on it. Move the marker there, remove the token, and place it on the time track.
   • When instructed to gain a clue, take the corresponding clue token and place it near the time track.
2. Encounter Part
   • Follow the encounter setup steps from the Encounter Book (placing the encounter board, HP dice, stage cards, etc.).
   • Choose a lead Oathsworn; they take the first turn in each round.
   • Proceed through the encounter phases as described in the Sequence of Play section of the manual.
3. Turn Structure During an Encounter
   1. Refresh Phase (skip if ambushed)
      • Each Oathsworn and ally regenerates animus equal to their REGEN value.
      • Companions always regenerate 2 animus.
      • Move any ability cards from cooldown 0 back into the hand.
      • Companions remove all cubes from their archetype card.
   2. Oathsworn Phase (skip if ambushed)
      • Starting with the first player and going clockwise, each player may take one turn.
      • On a turn, a player may make one move action and play up to one ability card. Both are optional.
      • Companions may make one move action and either attack or activate a special ability.
      • Players may use any number of item cards and combat tokens in any order.
      • Item cards have an animus cost that must be paid before activation.
      • Injury cards in hand must be played before movement or ability cards on the first turn of the round.
   3. Encounter Phase 1
      • Draw the top face‑up stage card and resolve its effects.
      • Choose a target for the stage card following the detailed targeting rules.
      • Perform any enemy movement and attacks as specified by the stage card.
      • Activate minions if instructed.

4. Actions and How to Play

Below are the core actions available to players during the encounter phase.

• Move Action
  • Spend any amount of animus (moving it from the available area to the reserve area).
  • For each animus spent, you may move to any adjacent hex that does not contain an obstacle or another character.
  • Some items or abilities allow free movement as specified.
  • Fire tiles remove the tile and cause 1 HP loss; water tiles cost 2 movement and are not removed.
• Ability Card Play
  • Choose the effect on the card you wish to play.
  • Pay the animus cost shown in the top left corner.
  • Resolve the card’s effect.
  • Place the card on the cooldown position indicated by its cooldown value (0 = below board, 1 = left, 2 = above, 3 = right).
  • After playing an ability card, all other cards in that cooldown position battleflow to the next lowest cooldown position.
  • Items can be battleflowed by other cards and still provide their MIGHT and DEFENSE even when on cooldown.
• Item Card Use
  • Pay the animus cost before activation.
  • After resolution, place the item on the cooldown position shown on the card.
  • Item abilities do not cost animus and are single‑use; after use, turn the item facedown.
  • Some items have alternate abilities for companions.
• Combat Token Use
  • Combat tokens may be used during the story or encounter to reset MIGHT decks or for other effects.
  • During an attack, you may use combat tokens for REDRAW or EMPLOYED X3 to upgrade MIGHT cards.
  • When an attack misses, you gain any one combat token of your choice and regain all REDRAW and EMPLOYED X3 tokens spent.
• Attack
  • Choose how many MIGHT cards to draw: one card of each color on your MIGHT track plus any number of white cards.
  • If you draw 2 or more blanks, the attack misses and does no damage.
  • Otherwise, sum the values of the drawn cards to determine damage.
  • Apply criticals: for each critical symbol drawn, draw another card of the same color and add its value; repeat if another critical appears.
  • Apply any REDRAW or EMPLOYED X3 upgrades before drawing.
  • Divide the total damage by the target’s DEFENSE and round down to determine HP loss.
• Companion Actions
  • Companions spend animus and have a set number of actions per round.
  • They may move 2 hexes, perform an attack, or refresh MIGHT decks by spending 2 animus or battleflow tokens.
  • Companion archetype cards provide two abilities that can be used once per round.
  • Companion items have passive MIGHT, range, and DEFENSE even when on cooldown.
• Ally Actions
  • Ally models replace an unconscious Oathsworn and act like companions.
  • They regenerate 2 animus per round and use the alternate combat token rules.
  • Some allies have a once‑per‑encounter ability that consumes a MIGHT cube.

5. End of Game and Scoring

The campaign ends when the free company completes all chapters or fails to meet the survival condition.

• If at any point the free company has fewer than 4 available Oathsworn, the campaign is failed.
• During the Tally Level, Loot and Losses steps, mark a tick on the knockout track for each Oathsworn that went unconscious.
• Unconscious Oathsworn receive an injury card and lose an additional item.
• At the start