Amoeba Wars
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Setup
- Roll dice. High roller plays first. Play passes to the left.
- In order, each player chooses a color and places 1 monitor, 2
dreadnoughts, 2 cruisers and
2 scouts
on one of the home systems on the boards edge.
- Place 1 doomsday machine on Saestor.
- Place 1 amoeba on each of the seven central systems.
- Conduct 4 amoeba attacks
- Shuffle the Power Card deck and deal
3 cards each player
- Variant
- More chaos, less balance
- Deal 1 Special Power Card
to each player - these modify the basic rules and may be used
throughout the game
Round Sequence
- Play Power Cards - Beginning with the
starting player from the previous turn and continuing clockwise, each
player plays one power card face up.
- Then, take individual turns
- Turn order is based on the numbers on the Power Cards: high
card plays first, then play in descending order.
- Power Play Phase:
use your own Power Card, then each lower
ranked card in order.
- Build Phase: build ships
- Attack Phase: attack adjacent systems as often as desired
- After all attacks, get 1 Free Move: move any number
of ships
(leaving at least 1 ship behind) from one system to an adjacent system
(both under your control)
- Discard your played power card and refill hand to 3 (or 4 if
you occupy a central system). When the power card deck is empty,
shuffle the discard pile to create a new draw deck.
- Play passes to player to your left.
- Repeat above until someone wins.
- Variant (by William Donnell AKA
warbear2 on BGG):
- Power Play Phase:
in turn, each player plays Power Cards.
Then,
each uses his own Power Card and those with lower numbers (as above).
- Build Phase:
in turn, each player builds ships (may be
simultaneous).
- Attack Phase:
in turn, each player moves/attacks.
Building Ships
- A players resources total is the sum of resource values of all
systems they control.
- Build any combination of ships according to production value
(numbers on chits), with total value less than or equal to total
resources.
- Scouts - 1
- Cruisers - 2
- Dreadnoughts - 3
- Battleships - 4
- Monitors - 5
- may not move/attack
- may not build in a system that already has another monitor
- immune to amoebas
- Subject to availability - may not exceed tokens supplied.
- May place new ships on any controlled home system or any system
linked to one
through a chain of friendly
systems. If you control no home systems, you may not build ships
Attacking
- Empty Systems (i.e., no other ships)
- NOTE: If your original home
system is empty, you may re-enter or hyperjump into it without having
to attack.
- May attack from one system to any adjacent system (except Saestor)
- Choose up to 5 ships to attack (note: must have at least 1
non-attacking ship in the attacking system)
- Attack Strength = d6 + (# attacking ships)
- System Strength = d6 + (# planets ... Saestor counts as 6)
- Outcome
- Attack Strength > System Strength: you win
- Move 1 of the attacking ships into system, removing any
amoebas
present.
- May also move additional ships from attacking systems (but
must leave at least 1 ship behind)
- Attack Strength = System Strength: you win, but lose 1 of the
attacking ships
(2 if amoeba present)
- Attack Strength < System Strength: you lose - remove 1 (2
if amoeba present) of the attacking ship(s) of your choice
- Occupied Systems
- May attack from one system to any adjacent system
- Attacker chooses a single ship to attack (Monitors may not
attack)
- Defender chooses a single ship to defend
- Each ships total Strength = d6 + ship strength (#pips on token)
- Outcome
- Attacker Strength > Defender Strength: you win
- defender destroyed
- move attacking ship and any others
in attacking system into defending system (except again, must leave at
least 1 ship behind)
- Attacker Strength = Defender Strength: both ships destroyed
- Attacker Strength < Defender Strength: you lose - remove
your ship
Power Cards
- General Information
- Use each card individually (e.g., may not add hyperjump points
from 2 different cards)
- Use of played Power Cards is optional, except for Cards saying
"Must Use" (38-44) which must be used when encountered.
- Some Cards say "each spacelord may use only his card in power
play) - if played, players use only their own Card and not
lower-numbered Cards
- Acquire Ships
(various combinations)
- Subject to availability (may not exceed tokens
supplied)
- Place the indicated ships (from your supply) in any friendly
system connected to a home system you control. This is the only way to
ever place 2 monitors in the same system.
- Activate Doomsday
Machine:
move one of the Doomsday Machines one space in any direction; if none
on the board, create one at Saestor and move.
- Berserk Doomsday Machine
(Must Use): same as Activate Doomsday Machine, except the chosen
machine moves twice (if it survives the first move) in random directions
- Double Space Amoeba
Attack (Must Use): same as Space Amoeba Attack, except make a
second attack after the first is resolved.
- Hyperjump: one
at a time, move
your ships (up to indicated point value) to any location on the board
except Saestor. After all jumps are made, any ships in unfriendly
systems must immediately attack until they are wiped out, or they
capture the system.
- Laser Beam Attack:
make a free attack against a single target ship (other player or
Doomsday Machine); this is conducted the same as ship
combat, with laser strength 2 being used as attack ship
- On
Strike (Must Use): no ships are produced in the Build Phase.
Also, all players reveal their Power Cards simultaneously in the next
Power Card Phase.
- Provoke an Amoeba:
target a single amoeba; that single amoeba attacks
- Successful Ambush by a
Space Amoeba: place an amoeba on any system occupied by 0 or 1
player ships and no other amoeba - the ship is destroyed
- Space Amoeba Attack
(Must Use):
roll a d6; all amoebas on systems with that many planets attack
- Zap a Space Amoeba:
remove a target amoeba from one of the outer systems
Amoeba Attacks
- When randomly determining which amoebas will attack:
- Roll a d6
- Amoebas on systems containing that many planets will attack
(flip token over to mark)
- Note: Saestor attacks on rolls of '1'
- For each attack, roll a d6: all systems adjacent to amoeba with
that many or fewer planets are successfully attacked:
- Remove 2 player ships (if any are present) from the system.
Note that the Doomsday Machine(s) may coexist with amoebas
- If the system is empty of player ships, place a new amoeba there
- Home systems are NOT affected by amoebas (I think??)
Numbers of Players
- 2
- Setup
- Discard the 0 Power Card
- Divide initial ships (plus an extra monitor) equally between
home systems at opposite ends of the board
- Power Cards
- Hand size increased to 6
- After each player has played a card, they play cards again
(total 4 cards out)
- Need to control 5 inner systems before attacking Saestor
- 3
- Discard the 0 Power Card
- Need to control 5 inner systems before attacking Saestor
- 4
- Discard the 0 Power Card
- Need to control 4 inner systems before attacking Saestor
- 5 or 6: Need to control 3 inner systems before attacking Saestor
Winning the Game
- Capture Saestor
- The first player to occupy Saestor wins immediately (Saestor's
defense
strength is 6).
- Before attacking Saestor, you must occupy a minimum
number of the central systems, depending on the number of players
--- OR ---
- Eliminate all other players
- Any time a player is reduced to 1 ship per system, and controls
no home systems, they are eliminated
- Their ships remain on the board until later attacked and
destroyed
Special Powers Cards
- Amoebas Eat Only One of Your Ships in Battle
- Hyperjump Three Space Ships Each Turn.
- Hyperjump as described for the Hyperjump Power Card
- Choose any of your ships except monitors
- May either combine with a played hyperjump card, or use it as
the first play of your Power Play
- New Ships May be Placed in Any Friendly Solar Systems
- In Power Play or Build Ships Phases, place ships in any
friendly system (does not have to connect to a home system)
- Only eliminated from game if every ship is destroyed
- Send Ships Lost in Battle to Time Warp (2)
- All enemy ships
removed from board during your Power Play or Attack Phases go to the
Time Warp
- During the Build Phase
- players may not build ships of the same type as any of their
ships in the Time Warp
- to build ships from the Time Warp to the board, players must
pay 1 additional production point
- You Have Special Monitors
- Your monitors can move and attack just like
other types
of space ships
- You may have any number of monitors in the same solar system
- You May Place Your Power Card Down at Any Time
- When playing Power Cards, instead of following turn order you
may play your card at any time
- The 44 Power Card
overrules this special power
- You May Use up to Six Space Ships to Attack Space Amoebas and
Empty Solar
Systems