A fight is played on a board of 13 by 9 tiles, cut from the ground where the strays met you: its paths, shallows, water and rock all count, and so does high ground where a board has it. The duo starts on one side and the strays on the other, 5 tiles apart.
Rounds and phases
- A round has two phases: the strays' phase, then the duo's phase. The strays always go first.
- In the first round the strays walk in and telegraph what they will do next.
- From the second round on, at the start of the strays' phase each stray's telegraphed attack fires, then the stray moves, maybe uses a bonus skill, and locks its next telegraph.
- In the duo's phase the hero and the companion act, each when ready, in any order.
The turn timer
Each side's phase lasts at most 30 seconds. Anyone who hasn't finished when it runs out simply passes. When only the companion is left to act and its model isn't connected, the phase closes after 10 seconds instead, so an absent model never holds up a fight.
Your budget each phase
Every fighter gets, each phase:
- Movement: a number of tiles that depends on the fighter (4 for the heaviest, 6 for the quickest). You can split it around your action.
- One action: an attack, a heal, a super.
- One bonus action: a shield, a dash of extra movement, a shove.
- One reaction: held, and hidden from the other side until it triggers. Everyone can hold an opportunity attack; the Penitent can hold Flowing Guard instead.
| Fighter | Tiles a phase |
|---|---|
| Tidecaller | 5 |
| Cindle | 6 |
| Penitent | 5 |
| Driplet | 5 |
| Gloomcap | 4 |
| Sellsword | 4 |
| Mossle | 4 |
| Nookle | 6 |
| Pebbling | 4 |
| Ranger | 5 |
| Skreel | 6 |
| Stripple | 4 |
| Thornhorn | 4 |
| Tussle | 4 |
Moving
- Movement goes in eight directions, and a diagonal step costs the same as a straight one. Skill ranges count the same way.
- Entering ground or a path costs one tile of movement; shallows cost 2. Water, deep water and rock block the way. Climbing up a level costs 1 more.
- You can pass through your ally but not stop on it, and never pass through a foe.
- Leaving a foe's reach provokes its opportunity attack: 5 damage, once a round. Pushes, dashes, leaps and Nook Slip never provoke.
Hitting
There is no to-hit roll. Every hit does its skill's damage plus a few modifiers, then a small luck of up to 10% either way, rounded down, so most hits land exactly as the preview says.
| Modifier | Damage |
|---|---|
| Ranged hit from higher ground (shots also reach 1 tile further) | +2 |
| Melee on a flanked target (one of your side on its far side) | +2 |
| Melee on a prone target | +2 |
| Lightning on a soaked target | +2 |
| A shot at a target in cover (rock beside it, on your side) | −3 |
| Enraged strays, from round 5 | +2 a round, adding up to +10 |
Shields soak up damage first, but never more than 50% of any one hit. A held Flowing Guard takes 3 off a melee hit and strikes back for 6.
Area skills hit foes only. Lines, cones, dashes and bursts never hurt your own side; single-target skills and shots hit what you aim at.
Telegraphs
A stray's telegraph is public: everyone sees what it will hit and where. You have one phase to answer it.
- An area telegraph (cone, line, burst, dash) hits the tiles it locked, so step out of them. If the stray was pushed, the heading turns with it.
- A telegraph aimed at one fighter follows that fighter: the stray walks to the nearest spot it can fire from, provoking opportunity attacks on the way.
- Root it, and it can only fire from where it stands, so the attack fizzles if you moved away. Shove it out of reach, or take it down first.
Shoves and splats
Some skills push. Everyone has Shove: a bonus action that pushes a foe next to you one tile in any direction you choose. Shield Bash and Sod Kick push further, also any way you choose. Other pushes go straight away from you; a negative push pulls the target toward you.
- Pushed into shallows or water: soaked and knocked prone (water stops it at the edge).
- Pushed into deep water: also swept away for 5 damage.
- Pushed into rock, the edge of the board, a barrel or another fighter: a splat, 3 damage.
Spirit and supers
Spirit powers the supers. Everyone starts a fight at zero and gains it by fighting: 12 for every ten damage you deal, 10 for every ten you take, and 10 when your skill cashes in something your ally set up this round (soaked for lightning, prone for melee, rooted for a shot, moss for fire). A super costs 60 Spirit, and the duo's supers unlock at level 8.
How a fight ends
- Down every foe and the fight is won. Each fight also names its goal in a chip over the board: rout (down them, or break the pack until every stray left runs), hold (stay standing to the end of a round), or break out (reach the glowing exit tiles once they open). See encounters.
- From round 5 the strays enrage: their hits do +2 more damage every round, up to +10.
- After round 10, the side with the larger share of its HP left wins on its feet.
| Round | Strays' hits |
|---|---|
| 5 | +2 damage |
| 6 | +4 damage |
| 7 | +6 damage |
| 8 | +8 damage |
| 9 | +10 damage |
| 10 | +10 damage |
Steps, plans and the preview
Each turn is a short list of steps: move to a tile, use a skill at a tile or a fighter, hold a reaction, end. A turn is all or nothing: if one step is illegal, none of it happens and you are told which step and why. Every skill shows a preview first: the damage, where a push lands, and what statuses and surfaces it leaves. The model's view also lists up to 6 ready-made full turns it can send as they are (for model pilots).