Game Setup (for 2-4 Player Competitive)

1. After assembling the Realm Map (see Assembling the Evergreen Forest), give each player:

A. 4 Health Trackers, 2 Ammo Trackers, and 1 Mana Tracker.

B. 4 Unit Tokens in their chosen color.

2. Separate the Unit Cards into their individual class decks:

Fighters (), Wizards (), Rogues (), and Beasts ().

3. Shuffle each deck under the table and randomly deal each player 1 Unit Card from each class. Each player places their cards in a row in front of them, with the normal side facing up ("Solo Enemy" side facing down).

4. On the Unit Cards, place a matching tracker on the highest value of each track:

C. A Health Tracker () on each unit’s health track.

D. An Ammo Tracker () on the ammo tracks of the Fighter/Rogue.

E. A Mana Tracker () on the mana track of the Wizard.

5. Players then place their Unit Tokens onto starting locations:

F. The first player (either the youngest or determined randomly) selects any 4-space starting location within the Realm and places one of their unit tokens on each space with a star.

G. Player setup is continued clockwise until all players have chosen a starting location.

In a two-player game, players use 2 starting locations:

they place 2 of their units onto one and then place the other 2 in the starting location diagonally opposite of the first location.

6. Shuffle the Tactic Cards and deal each player 2 Tactic Cards face-down. Each player secretly chooses 1 to keep in their hand and discards the other (H) face-down. The discarded cards are collected and, without being revealed, shuffled back into the Tactic Card deck. The deck is then placed face-down within reach of all players.

7. Place the 10 Weakened Tokens and 3 Action Dice within reach of all players.

8. Place the Control Card ("CONTROL" side up) near the Realm and place the 3 Flag Tokens on the “START” space of the card.

The first player is now ready to begin the game!