Today’s special article is part of the Custom Rules series. Click here to see other custom rules we’ve put together!

When Embergard was first released, the world had tons of opinions on every change. As we’ve settled into the game, most of these have either been addressed, or accepted. But you know what’s remained missing and forgotten? “Where are my Multiplayer Rules?” 

Papa James said ‘that’s something we would like to work on soon’, but it’s been more than 6 months with no news on the multiplayer front. While I’ll continue to cross my fingers and hope for a well-designed and robust multiplayer rules document sometime down the line, in the meantime it might be just about Fine-I’ll-Do-It-Myself o’Clock.

The biggest limitation to 3 and 4 player games in Second Edition is the fact you play on a single 2-player board these days, without the ability to realistically combine multiple. They can’t physically touch on the edges! There’s dead space around the outside with no incomplete hexes, and no obvious way to zipper the hexes together even for abstract thinkers. Three player games also leave an extra ‘unused’ territory/board half. What a mess! No wonder the game launched with no multiplayer rules.

Without an intuitive way to port the old multiplayer rules in, it looks like it fell to the wayside. That said, Spent Glory and the Seattle gang have come up with a solution: Stagger Hexes now operate as ‘tunnels’ between boards in a new multiplayer game mode. A fighter can step onto a stagger hex, and ‘tunnel’ into a stagger hex on the other board with an additional hex of movement.

Let’s delve into the mines with a few of our closest frenemies and see just how multiplayer free for all battles might look in second edition.

Click here to see some updates to the rules for Spitewood, as well as community-proposed modifications to round length and more

Custom Rules: Embergard Multiplayer Free-For-All

Board Setup

For Multiplayer games of Embergard, you will use two separate game boards. One will be the ‘open’ side with no blocked hexes, while the other will be using the blocked hexes side.

First, determine the number of players for your game.

If 3 players, each player has a home territory, the fourth quadrant counts as neutral territory for all players. During deployment, players can place fighters in their home territory OR in a starting hex in the neutral quadrant (The Scrum).

If 4 players, all quadrants are chosen by roll off priority, you only have your own territory to deploy in. There will be no Scrum territory.

Players roll off using the standard roll off rules. The winner of the roll-off chooses one board they wish to play on, and orients that board to determine their home territory. The second place finisher of the roll off must select the other board, and orients it as they wish, selecting their home territory. Then, the third finisher in the roll off selects their territory of the two remaining territories. If there is a fourth player, they must select the remaining territory as their own. If there are only three players, the remaining territory becomes The Scrum, and is neutral territory for all players. 

Roll Off Modifications

As there will be multiple players rolling off at every roll-off step, a modification must be made to the hierarchy of roll offs. Two players who tie may need to roll off again, especially in situations such as the board setup where you must determine first through last finisher. If one player clearly wins or loses the initial roll, they do not need to roll again, but those tied will enter a roll off with one another to determine the complete standings. An example is below.

In this example. Player 2 in red wins the initial roll off as swords beat hammers. They will pick the first board and territory in the opening board setup phase, or would choose to go first or last at the start of a round. For start-of-round roll-offs, the sequence would end here. See the Initiative and Turn Order section later in this document. For board setup, the roll-off would continue for the remaining players.

In the opening roll-off, players 1 and 3 in purple and yellow, respectively, have tied. Since this is for the board setup phase, they will roll off against each other to determine second place, and therefore who will orient and occupy the second board.

Both have rolled swords again, and so must roll off again. Player 2 does not need to join this roll-off despite swords being ‘tied’ with their initial roll; they have already been determined the roll-off winner. Players 1 and 3 perform their roll-off again, this time being won by player 3 with a crit. Player 3 will be the second finisher, despite their crit being superior to player 2’s original swords, as player 2 has already been declared the roll-off winner in the opening roll-off.

Token Placement

Token placement follows the usual rules for a given board. Both boards will have Treasure tokens 1-5 placed on them, and each territory must have at least 1 token with at least two hexes between each, as per the current WHU rules.

In a four player game, each board will resolve their token placement as usual, with the player who oriented the board and chose their territory first being the second player to place tokens, placing only two of the five total. 

In a three player game, the board with two players will operate under the normal setup rules. The second board, with only one player, will treat the sole player as the one to place two tokens. The other three tokens will be placed by the players on the first board. The first and final tokens will be placed by ‘the third finisher’ in the roll-off (the one who did not orient either board). The remaining third token will be placed by the other player (the first or second finisher) who does not possess a friendly territory on that board.

Fighter Placement

Fighter placement will operate similarly to the standard rules in a four-player setup, with the players who placed the last feature token placing the first fighter on a starting hex in friendly territory. However, as this is a multiplayer game, all four players will need to be aware of positioning on both boards (see The stagger ‘Tunnel” section later in the document). As such, the first fighter will be placed by ‘player 4’ – the one who did not get to choose their home territory. Next, a fighter will be placed by ‘player 3’, the remaining player who did not orient a board. The third fighter is placed by ‘player 2’ – the player who oriented the remaining board, and the last fighter will be placed by ‘player 1’, the first fighter to choose a territory. Players will alternate in this same order until all fighters are placed.

In a three player game, fighter placement order will look quite similar to this, save for the omission of player 4, who does not exist. However, an important caveat exists – the fourth territory is known as The Scrum, and not only is neutral territory for all players, it is also eligible for fighter placement for all players. Players may place a fighter in any starting hex in their own territory, or any unoccupied starting hex in The Scrum. Players alternate placing fighters until all fighters are placed with one additional condition; each player must have at least one fighter in friendly territory. Players may not place all of their fighters in The Scrum. A player may choose to place no fighters in The Scrum.

Initiative and Turn Order

Players roll off again. The winner of the roll-off may choose to either go first or last for the round. All other players draw an additional power card. Play works clockwise around the table; either the player who chooses to go first goes first, or the player who is clockwise from the roll-off winner goes first when the winner chooses to go last.

Always remember; you pass to the left hand side, mon.

The Stagger “Tunnel”

The defining feature of the Spent Glory multiplayer rules is the Stagger Tunnel. 

• You can only travel between the boards through Stagger Hexes. 
  
• It takes one hex of movement to travel from one Stagger Hex to another.
  
• Stagger Hexes on one board can ‘tunnel’ into either Stagger Hex on the other board. You can not tunnel from one territory on a board to the other territory on that same board.

• Fighters performing Stagger Tunnel movements will be staggered and given a stagger token as usual, unless the fighter has Fly. A fighter who can not be staggered (via an Upgrade or other source) may still travel through a Stagger Tunnel. Fighters who are already staggered may still travel through a Stagger Tunnel.
  
• A fighter occupying a Stagger Hex can ‘block’ the path for another fighter, as the hex is occupied. Fighters with Fly or who otherwise can move through occupied hexes may still tunnel in this circumstance, but cannot end their movement in the occupied Stagger Hex.
• A fighter occupying a Stagger Hex can be attacked from stagger hexes on the opposite board as though they were adjacent. A fighter who is attacked while occupying a Stagger Hex can be driven back as usual (unless that model can not be driven back).
  
• For any cards or abilities that operate based off of adjacency, a fighter occupying a Stagger Hex is considered to be adjacent to every other Stagger Hex. If any of those Stagger Hexes are also occupied by a fighter, those fighters are considered adjacent.
  
• For any cards or abilities that operate based off ‘within x hexes’, fighters on the other side of a Stagger Tunnel and occupying a Stagger Hex can considered ‘within’ however many hexes are specified within the ability. The ‘within’ caveat does not extend past the second Stagger Hex.

• Should a melee attack trigger overrun, the attacking model can then occupy the new Stagger Hex. Cards such as Duelist allow the attacker to ‘push through the tunnel’ as well.
  
• A ranged attack may originate from one board and hit a fighter who is occupying a Stagger Hex on the other board. You must count the distance of both stagger hexes in the chain. 
  • In Figure 3, Fighter D could attack Fighter A with a range 2+ attack
    
• You cannot ‘shoot through’ Stagger Hexes. Any fighter not occupying a stagger hex cannot be targeted by an attack from the board they are not occupying. Similarly, Cyreni’s Hammertide cannot pass beyond the Stagger Tunnel’s ‘exit’ as a straight line cannot be reasonably determined. They can choose to hit a fighter occupying a Stagger Hex on the opposite board, however, should their Hammertide pass through a Stagger Hex. In this instance it would terminate there and not also continue ‘over’ the tunnel and beyond on the originating board.
  • In Figure 3, if Fighter C was Cyreni of the Abyss, she could Hammertide any of the other three fighters. Her Hammertide could NOT hit any other fighters on the leftmost board.
    
•  Cards that place a fighter in ‘an empty Stagger Hex’ (such as Canny Sapper or Tunneling Terror) may choose any open Stagger Hex on either board.

Underdog

While there are multiple players, there can only be one Underdog. As an example, even if a player is a ‘relative’ Underdog to their target, they cannot benefit from the additional attack die on Determined Effort unless they are in fact the game’s overall Underdog. 

Cards and the Power Step

After a player’s action, it is their turn to play power cards as is usual in the Underworlds Rulebook. The multiplayer exception to this is that only one other player – the one who is due to play next (the player to the active player’s left) – can play cards in the power step as well. Play will pass clockwise from the active player, and so the clockwise/left player (whose turn it is about to be) can play power cards in preparation for their turn. They can then play cards again after their turn. The two players whose actions bookend a given power step alternate playing cards and passing until both players pass, and then it is the clockwise player’s action. The other player(s) can not play cards in that power step nor use any warscroll abilities that take place in a power step, save for any appropriate reaction cards where the window’s conditions are met. 

Players themselves are never eliminated from the game. Even if every fighter in a given warband is slain, that warband’s player does not forfeit their turn. In a scenario where ‘only two players remain’, those two players do not alternate power steps like a usual 2-player game. The ‘eliminated’ players still receive their power steps, can take the Focus action, and have the opportunity to score Objectives despite having no models on the field of play.

Domains

Seeing as this game mode uses two boards, there can exist two Domains in effect, though only one per board. When a player plays a Domain card, they must specify which of the two boards it is in effect for. The domain has no effect on the other board. If a second player plays a Domain and chooses the other board, both are in effect simultaneously, but only on their respective boards. Should the second player choose the board that already has an active Domain, it will override and discard the original Domain as usual.

Bounty

Normally, in a game of Warhammer Underworlds: Embergard, a slain fighter awards Bounty to the opponent regardless of how they were slain. In the Stagger Tunnel Multiplayer mode, each warband has multiple opponents. As such, Bounty for slain fighters will be awarded to the warband who slew the fighter, whether that was through an attack or power card effect.

Should a fighter be slain as a result of their own controlling player’s power card (such as through Sunder the Realm, Sudden Collapse, Desperate Rage, Scream of Anger, Fault Lines, Volcanic Eruption, or Misfortune), no player is awarded bounty. The fighter is removed from play as usual.

End Phase

End Phase scoring follows the same order as the turn sequence: the player who went first scores first, discards and draws up their new hand, and then the end phase passes clockwise until all players have completed their sequence.

Always remember; you pass to the left hand side, mon.

Objective Card Scoring Conditions

If a card specifies a broad condition, it must be true across both boards. All opposing warbands are considered enemy fighters. As an example, the card Strip the Realm requires that no Treasure Tokens be held by enemy fighters – in a Multiplayer game this means none of the opposing fighters from any warband can hold any Treasure tokens. A player does not score Strip the Realm if one opposing warband holds no Treasure Tokens while another enemy warband does hold a Treasure Token. Similarly, a card such as Stay Close can only score if there are no fighters in Edge Hexes on either board. Stay Close does not score if one board has no fighters in edge hexes while the other does.

Cards that specify a numbered Treasure token can be met by tokens on either board. If a player is attempting to score “Hold Treasure Token 5”, they may do so by holding either Treasure Token 5 on either board – they do not need to hold both.

Continuing the Game

After the first End Phase, players roll off again to determine priority for the second round. In this version of the multiplayer rules, players will complete all three battle rounds, and each round will consist of all 4 activations. Do not use the truncated number of rounds or activations from first edition multiplayer rules. Remember, there is only one Underdog, so only they win any tiebreakers for priority. In the second and third battle rounds, the roll-off winner chooses whether to play first or last, the other players draw a power card, and play progresses clockwise as it did in the first battle round.

Determining the Winner

The winner of a game of Multiplayer Free-for-all Underworlds follows the same method as outlined in the standard rulebook. The player with the highest Glory Total at the end of the Third End Phase wins the game. All other players are considered to have lost the game. Horseshoes and Hand Grenades, people.

Tiebreakers follow the usual method outlined in the Warhammer Underworlds rulebook. While there are ten total Treasure Tokens on the board, a tiebreaker comparing highest combined Treasure total is resolved as usual, simply adding them up in total across both boards. It is possible for the only two surviving fighters to both be holding a different Treasure Token 5. In this case it would be a True Tie between those two fighters’ controlling players, assuming they were tied for the lead in Glory total.

Variant Rules

For those among you who find even this goofy game mode too boring, you can certainly play Multiplayer games with any one or more of these further twists:

Networked Tunnels: You can “Tunnel” to ANY stagger hex, including the other one on the same board your tunnel initiated in

The Walls Have Eyes: You can shoot through stagger hex tunnels, Hammertide through them to models not occupying the stagger hex, and so on.

Glory Sprint: The first player to hit a prespecified glory cap wins: we suggest 15.

Unto The End: The player who controls the last model standing wins regardless of glory. The game will not end until this condition is met; play 10 rounds if you need.

Trophy Taker: The game ends when the first player is tabled (all of their fighters are out of action), whatever warband has the glory lead in that moment is the winner. Do not progress to the End Phase.

Slaughterhouse: All fighters slain in the Scrum territory award double bounty to the warband that slew them. A fighter normally worth 0 bounty would award 1 bounty if slain in the Scrum.

Mario Party: If you’re straight wildin’ you could even theoretically do 5 or 6 players with a third board, 7-8 with a fourth, and so on but this gets a little ridiculous.

Wrap

Huge thanks to Generic Hero/John D. for being my sounding board through this design. As both an engineer-type professional and a multiplayer enthusiast he was great for providing ‘end-user’ perspective as well as tightening up my delivery and logic.

This article was part of the Spent Glory Custom Rules series. Click here to see other custom rules we’ve put together!

What do you think? What modifications do you have to these proposed multiplayer rules? I would love to hear any and all feedback you have, as well as stories from your test games as we give these custom rules a trial together. Never again does your third wheel have to sit out a game and watch from the sidelines. Until next time, I hope you enjoy Spending Glory with multiple friends in the Embergard!