The Rules of Engagement

How to Play

Take on the role of a Soulbound — a powerful Guild Leader seeking to overthrow the others. Two players, ten Fame, one winner. Read the essentials here, or scroll to the embedded rulebook below for the full text.

◇ In Sixty Seconds ◇

The Whole Game

Two players. Each represents a Soulbound Guild Leader.
Race to 10 Fame. Earned by claiming Areas or defeating Leaders.
Deploy Units into 5 shared Areas. Claim them for Fame. Attack opposing Units and Leaders.
Draw 2 cards at the end of every turn. Six-sided dice recommended.

◇ Components ◇

The Four Card Types

Every card in Eminence is one of four types. Your set is anchored by one Leader.

Example Leader card — High Seer Valtor — Leader

The character you represent. Every Unit in your set must share the Leader's Race or Class. If your Leader is defeated, the opponent gains its Fame value.

Example Area card — Arvandor Sanctuary — Area

Locations both players compete to control. Areas give rewards and Fame when Claimed. Five Areas sit between the players each match.

Example Unit card — Adept Pyromancer — Unit

Creatures that attack and defend. Deploy them into Areas to fight for control. Each Unit has Power, Defense, Health, and a Level cost.

Example Support card — Berserker Brew — Support

Items, skills, and spells. Some attach to a Unit as gear. Some resolve as an effect. Support must share a class with your Leader or at least one Unit in your set.

◇ Table Layout ◇

Your Side of the Table

Every player has the same five personal zones, plus the shared row of Areas between the two of you.

Leader

Face up on your left. Provides always-on effects and can Cast Spells.

Cache

Near your Leader. Stow cards face down to protect them. If you hold 3+ cards in Cache, you may play one at reduced cost (as if 1 level lower).

Guild Hall

The center of your side. Face-down cards here are how you pay for card levels — exhaust as many as the card's level. Face-up cards played here (once per turn) work like early resources.

Bank

Your deck, face down on the right. You draw from here.

Crypt

Your discard pile, next to your Bank. Defeated Units and spent cards go here.

Between the two players sit five Area cards, numbered 1 through 5. This is the shared battlefield.

◇ Before the First Turn ◇

Setting Up a Match

Randomly determine the first player. Rolling dice is recommended.
Set up the five shared Areas. The first player flips the top two of their Area cards into slots 2 and 4. The second player flips the top three of theirs into slots 1, 3, and 5. This 2/3 split is the game's tempo balance — nobody skips a draw.
Set aside your unused Area cards as your Plots pile. This pile only matters in best-of-three play.
Place your Leader face up to your left, leaving space next to it for your Cache.
Shuffle the rest of your cards (Units + Support) into your Bank. Place it face down on your right, leaving space next to it for your Crypt and space between the Bank and Leader for your Guild Hall.
Draw 7 cards from your Bank into your hand.
Mulligan. Set aside any number of hand cards face down. Draw that many replacements from the top of your Bank. Then shuffle the set-aside cards back into your Bank.

◇ The Rhythm of Battle ◇

A Single Turn

Players alternate turns starting with the first player. Every turn has three phases.

I

Start Phase

Resolve start-of-turn effects.
Refresh all your exhausted cards (turn them upright).

II

Main Phase

Take any of the actions listed below, in any order, as many times as you want. Costs are paid first.

III

End Phase

Put up to one card from your hand face down into your Cache.
Resolve end-of-turn effects.
Draw two cards.

◇ Main Phase ◇

What You Can Do

On your turn, take any of these actions in any order. Costs are paid before the action resolves.

Play a card into your Guild Hall. Face down (locked, used to pay levels), or pay its level and play it face up. Only once per turn.
Deploy a Unit from your hand face up into an Area. The Unit cannot be exhausted this turn. Cost: pay the card's level.
Play a Support card from your hand as its effect instructs. Cost: pay the card's level.
Cast a Spell using your Leader or a Unit. Using the Leader: pay the spell's level. Using a Unit: exhaust the Unit if its level ≥ the spell's level, or pay the spell's level if the Unit isn't exhausted. Defeated Leaders can't cast spells.
Move a Unit from your Guild Hall to any Area, or from an Area to your Guild Hall or an adjacent Area. Cost: exhaust the Unit.
Claim an Area to gain Renown there. Cost: exhaust one of your Units in that Area to gain +1 Renown. When the Area's [Renown] cost is met and the Area is Uncontested (no opposing Units), you can take it — move all Units out to the Guild Hall or an adjacent Area, then place the Area card near your Leader and gain its Fame value. Remaining Areas condense inward.
Activate a [Renown] effect of an Area where you have at least one non-exhausted Unit. Cost: exhaust the Unit and spend the Renown indicated on the icon.
Activate a Skill on one of your cards in an Area. Cost: exhaust the card. If the effect has a [LVL] cost, also pay that level.
Attack with one of your Units in an Area. Cost: exhaust the Unit. Combat resolves as below.

Paying a card's [Level]

Exhaust as many face-down cards in your Guild Hall as the card's level. Face-up Units in your Guild Hall count as two face-down cards for cost purposes.

◇ When Units Meet ◇

Combat, Step by Step

Damage resolves simultaneously. Nobody strikes first.

Declare your target. Attack an opposing Unit in the same Area, or attack the opposing Leader.
Declare Support attachments. Announce any of the attacker's attached Supports you're activating.
If you targeted the Leader: the opponent may exhaust one of their Units to block the attack for the Leader.
If the target is a Unit: the opponent declares any of that Unit's attached Supports they're activating.
Resolve damage simultaneously. Each side takes damage equal to the other side's attack value, reduced by any defense value that applies. A defense value applies if its gem is white or the same color as the attack's gem.

When a card's Health reaches zero, it's defeated. Defeated Units go to the Crypt. Defeated Leaders are handed to the Player who defeated them — the winner gains that Leader's Fame value.

◇ Victory Conditions ◇

How the Match Ends

You gain Fame in exactly two ways:

Claim an Area. You gain its Fame value.
Defeat a Leader. You gain its Fame value.

The first player to reach 10 Fame wins. If all five Areas are claimed before either player hits 10, the game ends and the player with the most Fame wins.

◇ Terms of Art ◇

Keywords & Terminology

Terms you'll see on cards and hear at the table.

Fame

The win condition. First to 10 wins. Only gained by claiming an Area or defeating a Leader.

Renown

An in-Area resource. Earned by exhausting your Units in an Area via the Claim action. Spent to activate an Area's [Renown] effects or to take the Area.

Uncontested

An Area with no opposing Units in it. Required condition to Claim an Area.

Exhausted

A card that has already acted this turn. Rotate it sideways. Refreshed at your next Start Phase.

[Deploy]

An effect on a Unit card that triggers when the Unit is played from your hand into an Area.

[Precision]

A dice roll before attacking. On a 6, the attack deals double damage.

[Overwhelm]

When your Unit destroys another Unit, any excess damage from the attack is dealt to the opposing Leader.

[Critical]

Bonus damage triggered on a critical hit.

Guild Hall

The center zone of your side of the table. Face-down cards here are used to pay level costs. Face-up cards here work like early plays (once per turn).

Cache

A zone near your Leader for stowing cards. Protected from being discarded. If you have 3+ cards in Cache during your turn, you may play one from it at reduced cost (as if 1 level lower).

Bank / Crypt

Your deck and discard pile. Draws come from the Bank; defeated Units and spent cards go to the Crypt.

Plots pile

Your unused Area cards, set aside during setup. Only comes into play during best-of-three matches.

◇ Competitive ◇

Best-of-Three Format

Tournament play. Two-out-of-three wins the match.

First Player Rotation. The player who lost the previous game chooses who goes first in the next.
Area Rotation. After each game, fill the new Areas from the remaining Plots pile.
Sideboard. Up to 10 additional cards you can swap into your Bank between games.
Tiebreakers. If Fame is tied after game three: most remaining Areas under your control wins. Still tied: most Units in play wins.
Sudden Death. If the final game stalemates, both players stop drawing and play only from their current hand until a Leader is defeated or the last Area is claimed.

◇ For the Purists ◇