How to Play Thunderstone: Wrath of the Elements

Object of the Game

In Thunderstone: Wrath of the Elements, you lead a band of heroic adventurers into the treacherous halls of Dreadwatch Keep, facing monsters, traps, and the terrifying Guardian. Your goal is to gather heroes, spells, and weapons from the village of Brelingaard and retrieve the hidden Thunderstone deep within the dungeon. Victory is achieved by earning the most Victory Points (VP) from defeated monsters, collected Thunderstones, and other cards in your deck at the end of the game.

Preparation (Setup)

Setup follows the base Thunderstone rules with these adjustments:

1. Sort Randomizer cards into Village, Monster, and Hero piles (include both base game and expansion cards).
2. Shuffle each Randomizer deck separately. Draw from the Monster Randomizers until you reveal three different Monster cards plus any Dungeon Feature Randomizers (e.g., Traps or Guardians).
3. For each Dungeon Feature drawn, shuffle the matching Trap/Guardian cards and add one to the Dungeon Deck.
4. If the Horde Monster is drawn, build a separate Horde Deck (ordered by Health, 3–12).
5. Shuffle all selected Monster and Trap cards together. For each Guardian, count 10 cards from the deck, shuffle the Guardian with them, and place at the bottom.
6. Add the Thunderstone by shuffling it with 10 cards and placing them at the deck’s bottom.
7. Reveal the top three cards to form the Dungeon Hall. Replace any Traps drawn (resolve their effects) until only Monsters remain.
8. Populate the Village using Village Randomizers and give each player their starting Party Deck (2 Militia, 2 Torches, 2 Iron Rations, 2 Daggers).

Flow of the Game

Players take turns choosing one of three actions:

1. Visit the Village: Use card effects, buy new cards, level up Heroes, then discard and draw 6 new cards.
2. Enter the Dungeon: Use Dungeon Effects, attack a Monster (resolving combat and penalties), then refill the Dungeon Hall.
3. Rest: Destroy one card from your hand, then discard and draw 6 new cards.

Special Rules:

• Traps: Resolve immediately when revealed (before Breach Effects). Most are destroyed afterward.
• Guardians: If a Guardian reaches Rank 1, it breaches to Rank 0, attacking the Village continuously until defeated.
• Horde: Placeholder cards are replaced with escalating-strength cards from the Horde Deck.

Actions and How to Play

Visit the Village

1. Reveal your hand and use Village Effects (optional).
2. Total gold from revealed cards.
3. Buy one card (cost ≤ total gold).
4. Level up Heroes using XP.
5. Discard all cards and draw 6 new ones.

Enter the Dungeon

1. Reveal your hand and use Dungeon Effects (e.g., equip Weapons).
2. Declare which Monster (and rank) to attack.
3. Resolve battle:
   • Calculate Attack Value (adjust for Light Penalties).
   • Resolve Battle Effects.
   • Defeated Monsters go to your discard pile; undefeated ones return to the deck’s bottom.
   • Refill the Dungeon Hall and resolve Breach/Trap Effects.
4. Discard all cards and draw 6 new ones.

Rest

Destroy one card from your hand, discard all, and draw 6 new cards.

End of Game and Scoring

The game ends when the Thunderstone reaches Rank 1 (collected or not). Players tally VP from:

• Monsters, Heroes, and other cards in their deck (printed VP values).
• Horde cards: VP = total number of Horde cards in deck (max 5 VP each).
• Thunderstone: 1 VP (Stone of Agony) or variable (other versions).

The player with the highest VP wins. Ties are broken by Thunderstone holders.

Tips for Winning

• Balance your deck: Combine Heroes, Weapons, and Spells to handle diverse threats (e.g., Magic Attack for immune Monsters).
• Watch for Guardians: Prioritize defeating them to avoid continuous penalties and unlock the Thunderstone.
• Use Traps strategically: Some traps affect all players—time your Dungeon visits to avoid them.

Note: For advanced variants (Epic Campaign, Dungeon Crawl, etc.), consult the manual for setup adjustments.