Eight cards. Thirty life. No mercy. Pick in secret, reveal together, and bury your rival.
Learn in 60 secondsQuick Start
- Setup: 30 life each. Both players hold the same 8 cards.
- Each turn: secretly pick 1 card, then reveal together.
- Combat: attacks roll D6s. Swift Strike hits first. Block stops all damage. Parry steals 1D6 and deals its face value back.
- Cycles: played cards stay face-up. When all 8 are spent, take them back and begin a new cycle. Life carries over.
- Winning: drop your rival to 0 life to win. Both hit 0: draw.
The goalObjective
Bring your opponent's life total to zero before yours reaches zero.
Before the first turnSetup
- Each player assembles their opening hand of 8 cards: Overhead Swing, Swift Strike, Final Assault, Block, Recover, Power Charge, Copy Cat, and Parry.
- Each player sets their life total to 30. Six D6s set to 5 is the easiest way to track it, but any arrangement totaling 30 works.
You are ready to play.
Turn structureHow to Play
- Choose. Each player secretly chooses one card from their hand and plays it face down.
- Reveal. Both players reveal their cards at the same time.
- Roll. Each player who played an attack card rolls their battle D6s now, adding any stored Power Charge D6s.
- Parry interception. Each player who played Parry chooses one D6 from an opponent's attack roll — after the roll, but before the attacker discards or makes any tie-break choices. Parry deals damage equal to that D6's face value to the attacker, then that D6 is removed. The attack resolves without it.
- Resolve. All remaining effects happen simultaneously, with two exceptions:
- Swift Strike damage resolves before all other effects — but after any Parry interception, and it can still be prevented by Block. If both players' Swift Strikes (or a Swift Strike and a Copy Cat copying one) meet, they resolve at the same time as each other.
- Parry interception (step 4) always happens before damage is calculated, which is how it catches even Swift Strike.
- Played cards stay face up off to the side where both players can see them. That ends the turn.
The arsenalThe 8 Cards
Overhead Swing
Roll 2D6, discard the lowest, deal the rest. Pairs with Power Charge — add the charge D6s, still discard only one.
Swift Strike
Roll 1D6, deal it — before everything else (after Parry). Can finish a rival before Recover resolves. Block stops it.
Final Assault
Roll 1D6 and triple it. Stack it with Power Charge for a telegraphed one-shot — if the rival saw it coming, that's on them.
Block
Prevent all damage this turn — including Swift Strike and Parry. The only clean answer to a charge-stacked attack.
Recover
Roll 2D6, gain that much life — even past 30. Simultaneous with damage, so it can save you. Not from Swift Strike.
Power Charge
Bank a D6 in front of you. It rides along on your next attack — mandatory, even into a Block. They stack.
Copy Cat
Become whatever your rival played — timing included. Double Copy Cat: nothing happens. Copying a charge banks one too.
Parry
Steal one D6 from their attack roll, deal its face value back, remove it. Catches everything — even Swift Strike.
Tap any card to view it up close.
From the designerDesign Notes
Why is Final Assault + stacked Power Charge allowed to one-shot?
It's a fair finisher, not a flaw. Charges are public, the setup costs two dead turns, discards are public so both players can always see whether Block or Parry are still live — and Recover is uncapped. If you walk into it, you earned it.
Why three defensive cards?
Each has a clean role: Block stops everything including stacked attacks, Parry turns single attacks back on the attacker, Recover gains life. No buffs needed.
Take it to the table
Print the sheet twice — each player needs one full 8-card set. True-size 2.5×3.5″ cards, backs included for duplex printing. The extra Quick Start is a spare.
Get the $5 print-and-play PDF