Game Objective

In Thunder Road: Vendetta, you command a team of cars in a frantic race through dangerous roads. The goal is to accelerate, dodge hazards, ram opponents, and use machine guns (or even a helicopter) to win. You win the race if you are the first player to cross the Finish Line with one of your cars OR if you are the only player remaining on the road.

Setup

1. Road Assembly: Choose the rear road piece (The Parking Lot or The Road to Perdition) and place it on the table. Shuffle the remaining pieces and draw two: the first will be the middle road piece and the second the front road piece. Keep the Finish Line nearby.
2. Hazards: Shuffle the hazard tokens and place one face down on each hazard space of the three road pieces. On the starting piece, place tokens only in the spaces that correspond to the player count. The rest remain in a pile to the side.
3. Damage: Shuffle the damage tokens and place them face down in a pile.
4. Special Effects: Place the Special Effects dice (shot, crash, steering, stunt, and road) near the play area.
5. Teams: Each player chooses a color and receives: 1 command board, 3 dashboards, 3 cars, 1 helicopter, and 4 movement dice. The dashboards should be lined up and the cars positioned in the starting area, behind the rear piece.
6. Initiative: Everyone rolls their movement dice. The player with the LOWEST total will be the FIRST PLAYER. In case of a tie, reroll until the tie is broken.
7. Start: The first player rolls the road die and leaves it in plain sight of everyone.

Game Flow

The game is organized into rounds, and each round consists of turns. A round ends when each player has played three turns.

Start of the Round: All players roll their four movement dice. The first player of the round rolls the road die.

Turn Structure: On your turn, you must perform these four steps in this order:

1. ASSIGN a die to an operational car.
2. Activate a COMMAND (once per round).
3. MOVE that car.
4. FIRE with that car (if possible).

At the end of the turn, the used die is moved to the end of turn space on the car's dashboard, and the turn passes to the player to the left.

Actions and How to Play

Assign and Move

You assign a movement die to the center of the dashboard of an operational car. The value of the die indicates how many spaces the vehicle will move. The car must always enter one of the three spaces of its front arc (front-left, front, or front-right).

• Momentum: If you have no cars available to move, you may assign a die to the momentum of a car that has already moved (maximum twice per car). With momentum, the car moves exactly 1 space, regardless of the die value, and cannot use the road die bonus.
• Road Die: If a car starts and moves only through road spaces, it may gain additional movements equal to the value of the road die.

Commands (Once per round)

You may assign a movement die to a command on the command board before the car's movement:

• Air Attack (Any die): Position your helicopter in any empty space and fire (not allowed in the first round).
• Nitro (Dice 1-3): Increases the car's movement for the turn according to the die value.
• Drift (Dice 3-5): Allows you to pass through the first land vehicle encountered without causing a crash.
• Repair (Die 6): Removes one damage token from a car, making it operational again.

Firing

You can fire at land vehicles or wreckage located in your front arc. Roll the shot die; if the size indicated on the die matches the target's size (Small, Medium, or Large), the target takes damage.

Crashes and Terrain

• Crashes: Occurs when a car enters a space occupied by another land vehicle. Roll the crash die and the steering die to determine who moves and where. LARGER vehicles may request a single reroll of both dice.
• Terrain: Road spaces and off-road cost 1 movement; muddy spaces cost 2 movements. Impassable spaces eliminate the vehicle instantly.
• Hazards: Upon entering a space with a hazard token, resolve the effect (e.g., Mine causes damage; Wreckage creates an obstacle; Oil Slick moves the car via the steering die).

Vehicle Condition

• Operational: Cars with zero or one damage token.
• Inoperable: After the second damage token. The car stays facing the opposite direction, does not move or fire, but can be Repaired.
• Eliminated: The car is removed from the game if: it enters an impassable space, ends its turn in a helicopter's space, exits through the side/rear edges, or is on the rear road piece when it is removed.

End of Game and Scoring

The game ends immediately when:

• A car moves to the Finish Line.
• Only one player remains with operational cars.

Defeat Condition: A player is out of the match if all their cars are eliminated or inoperable.

The Final Piece: The Finish Line is added based on the player count:

• 2 players: The fifth piece is the final piece.
• 3 or more players: When the first player is eliminated, the current front piece becomes the final piece.

Tips for Winning

• Use Size to Your Advantage: Remember that Large [L] cars are more efficient in crashes and can reroll crash dice, while Small [S] cars are harder to hit with shots.
• Watch Your Positioning: Avoid ending your turn in the same space as any helicopter (even your own team's), as this will result in the immediate elimination of your vehicle.
• Damage Management: Use the Repair command (with die 6) to bring inoperable cars back into the game, preventing you from being eliminated due to a lack of operational vehicles.