How to Play

Tash-Kalar: Arena of Legends

2-4 players 30-30 min 7.1 Board Game Geek Rating

Magical summoners battle in an arena by strategically placing minions to form patterns. Creating these formations allows players to summon powerful beings with unique abilities like destruction or conversion. Victory comes through completing arena quests or entertaining crowds by eliminating opponents and summoning legendary creatures in this tactical pattern-matching game.

Published 2013

Tash-Kalar: Arena of Legends

Get Ready

Setup the game with these step-by-step instructions before diving into your turn.

1
Place the board
Put the board in the center of the table; use the side with marked center squares for Advanced mode, the other side for Deathmatch variants
2
Prepare legend and flare decks
Shuffle the legendary beings deck and the Flares deck, place them beside the board
3
Choose player colors
Each player selects a color and takes the corresponding cards and tokens
4
Shuffle personal decks
Each player shuffles their own deck of cards
5
Select starting player
Choose who will go first
6
Draw starting hands
Each player draws 3 cards from their deck, 2 legendary beings, and 1 Flare
7
Set up task board (Advanced)
Shuffle task cards and reveal them one by one until you have 3 non-advanced tasks of different categories; shuffle any set-aside cards back into the deck
8
Reveal next task (Advanced)
Flip the top task card as the "next task"; if three of four revealed tasks match type, put the top card on bottom and flip another
9
Start with empty board
No tokens are placed on the board at game start
10
Set up scoring track (Duel)
Each player places one common token per color on the zero space, common side up
11
Place initial tokens (Duel)
The second player places one common token of each color on diamond-marked spaces
12
Set up individual scoring (Battle)
Each player sets up their own scoring board and places one token from each opponent on zero, heroic side up
13
Place starting tokens (Battle)
The player to the right of the starting player places three different-colored common tokens on spaces touching different diamond symbols
14
Position teammates
Teammates sit opposite each other across the board
15
Share token sets
Teammates have their own decks but share one set of tokens
16
Rotate bottom cards
Each player rotates the bottom six cards of their deck 90 degrees
17
Share legendary cards
One teammate draws two legendary cards, the other draws none

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

1
Take your actions
Perform two actions on your turn; the starting player only gets one action on their first turn
2
Place a common token
Place one of your common tokens on any empty square as one action
3
Handle token shortage
If you have no tokens to place, pick up one of your common or heroic tokens from the board and place it as a common token
4
Summon a creature
Spend one action to summon a creature by matching a pattern on the board
5
Discard and draw
Spend one action to discard a drawn creature card and optionally return additional cards to deck bottom; this action may only be done once per turn
6
Match pattern for summoning
Show that tokens on the board match the card's pattern; patterns may be rotated, mirrored, or flipped
7
Place summoned token
Place a token of the rank shown on the card into the space marked with white border in the pattern
8
Destroy lower tokens
When placing a token in a space with an equal or lower rank token, that token is destroyed
9
Cannot summon on higher rank
If the target space contains a higher rank token, you cannot summon that creature
10
Handle token shortage during summoning
Use a token already on the board if needed, either from the summoning location or from outside the pattern
11
Execute card effects
After placing the new token, resolve all effects on the card then discard it
12
Call a Flare
Before any action, you may call a Flare without spending an action
13
Meet Flare criteria
To call a Flare, opponents must have more upgraded tokens (top) or more total tokens (bottom) than you by the indicated amount
14
Resolve Flare effects
If you meet the top criteria, resolve the top effect; if bottom, resolve bottom effect; if both, resolve top then bottom
15
Perform actions in any order
Actions may be taken in any sequence; multiple tokens may be placed and multiple creatures summoned per turn
16
Use all actions
You must use all available actions each turn
17
Gain extra action
Some effects grant an additional action to perform that turn
18
Draw extra card
Some effects let you draw an extra card at turn end beyond the normal hand limit
19
Move tokens
Movement always goes to adjacent spaces; moving into an occupied space destroys that token
20
Execute basic movement
Basic movement can only enter empty spaces or spaces with lower rank tokens
21
Execute combat movement
Combat movement can enter empty spaces or spaces with equal or lower rank tokens
22
Perform jumps
Jumps work like movement but spaces need not be adjacent
23
Upgrade tokens
Flip common tokens to heroic side; replace heroic tokens with legendary tokens
24
Downgrade tokens
Flip heroic tokens to common side; replace legendary tokens with heroic tokens
25
Destroy tokens
Remove targeted tokens from the board
26
Convert tokens
Replace an enemy token with your own token of the same rank
27
Claim tasks (Advanced)
At turn end, claim exactly one completed task if conditions are met; replace with next task card
28
Track destroyed tokens (Duel/Battle)
Keep enemy tokens destroyed during your turn beside the board
29
Score destroyed tokens
At turn end, score 2 points per legendary, 1 per heroic, and 1 per pair of common tokens destroyed
30
Score summoning legendary (Duel)
Gain 1 point each time you summon a legendary being
31
Give opponent points for Flares (Duel)
When you call a Flare, your opponent gains 1 point
32
Choose comparison opponent (Battle)
Select which opponent to compare against when calling a Flare
33
Use improvised summoning (Battle)
Once per enemy color per game, flip that color's token on your scoring board and use one of their tokens as if it were yours for one summoning
34
End turn by drawing
Draw cards until you have 3 creature cards, 2 legendary cards, and 1 Flare
35
Pass control
Before or during any action, pass control to your teammate by handing over legendary cards
36
Teammate completes effects
Your teammate finishes any ongoing effect resolution
37
Teammate places tokens only
Your teammate uses remaining actions only to place common tokens, not to discard, summon, or call Flares
38
Return control
After teammate uses all actions, control returns to you for scoring and drawing

Winning

How to claim victory.

1
Trigger game end by deck depletion
The game end triggers when any player draws their last card from their deck
2
Trigger game end by points (Advanced)
The game end triggers when any player has 9 or more points at the end of any turn
3
Trigger game end by points (Duel)
The game end triggers when any player reaches 18 or more points
4
Trigger game end by points (Battle)
The game end triggers when any player reaches 12 points in one color (3 players) or 10 points (4 players)
5
Play final round
Once triggered, every player completes one more full turn including the triggering player
6
Concede the game
In two-player or team games, either side may concede at any time; conceding is not allowed in Battle mode
7
Calculate final score (Advanced)
Add points from completed tasks plus 1 point for each of your legendary tokens currently on the board
8
Determine winner (Advanced/Duel)
The player or team with more points wins
9
Determine winner (Battle)
Each player's final score equals their lowest-scoring color; higher scores beat lower scores
10
Break ties (Battle)
Compare second-lowest scoring colors; for four players, compare remaining colors if still tied
11
Break remaining ties
Compare number of upgraded tokens on board, then total tokens on board
12
Accept unbroken ties
If still tied after all tiebreakers, the tie stands
13
Trigger by rotated cards
The game end triggers when a player draws their last non-rotated card; rotated cards may still be drawn if needed

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