Moonstone core rulebook

 So, this skirmish game won two game of the year awards, and I heard some positive things about it from members in a gaming club in Flanders.

Yet I kept off the boat, until one of my gaming buddies, Vincent, tossed it up if anyone was intrested.

Being the gullible little gaming otaku that I am, I immediatly grabbed a box of 3 figures (that's enough for the small games, you need two boxes for a full game) even before he had his models, and downloaded this free core ruleset to have a look.  I had no idea what faction I picked (I do now, Leshvault) just going by the looks, but that is for a small YouTube clip one of these weeks when I unbox my warband set.

The core rules PDF numbers 20 pages, in colour, and starts with the introduction for this 2-4 players skirmish game, set in the world of Tauber.  The full rules, when I get my hand on them, will also receive some attention here of course, as those will have the lore and all instead of this framework booklet.

The game plays on a 3 by 3 gaming area (so I will get round to use my 4 by 4 mats again), 3 to 6 models per player with their cards, the Arcane Deck and the Melee Deck.  These are included in the starter sets, but also downloadable for printing.  Small blue disks for energy, and some dice.  The latter bein 7 d4's for being the Moonstones (I might grab some more flashy ones from Etsy for this) and a six sided dice for each player.

A summary is then provided for all the terms used in the game, your usual suspects but at times with other names then in other games, so that's always handy to know what they mean in the rules.  We then get to look at how a character card is "made up" an what you can find where on it, and for what it is needed.

In the starting a game we see how to set up a board, and choose your forces.  Some figures can be used in a single faction, some in two different ones from the three factions in game.  A game with the full 6 characters and 2 players is stated to last about 1.5 to 2 hours.  Then the unique mechanic comes: growing the Moonstones.  I order to do that, you drop the d4 onto the board from a height (BEFORE placing your miniatures, better safe than sorry) and where they scatter is their location, the number they show being how deeply dug in they are.

The troops are then deployed, and whomever has the most stones dug up at the end of the game, which lasts 4 turns, is the winner.  In case of equal stones, a sudden death rule is implemented, the game lasting until the moment one player has more stones then the other.

A turn consists of three faces: Replenish (where you do your upkeep and energy restoration), Activation (the "gamey phase") and Discard (removing unused energy).  Initiative is determined every turn with a roll-off and a modifier for the player with the highest score at the beginning of that turn.  In the Activation phase, models can take actions, chosen from a variety of options, and each with an energy cost.  When your energy pool for that turn is empty, they can't activate anymore.

The Arcane deck is explained, which is used for certain abilities, BUT a catastrophe can occur, and that is never a good thing!  Playing Arcane cards for abilities is accompanied by a game of bluff, where you state your card and the opponent must guess you are lying or not.  If he guesses correctly, he resists your ability and can replace it with a card from their hand instead, even a Catastrophe, so be wary and bring your best poker face.  

On a terrain level, the game uses some simple mechanics (and an elegant solution for models wanting to push through a hole, but their bases being to big, even though they could do it realisticly) and how they effect movement and line of sight.  There are modifiers for cover, as well as rules for being pushed or falling off terrain pieces.

Digging up moonstones also affects your movement rate, as you are hauling around a large chunk of rock.  The Melee deck is then shown, and how it is used.  Both attacker and defender choose one of the moves on the card, then reveal them and this shows how well it does against each other, any damage modifiers, possible critical hits and even the possibility of totally cancelling out the opponents attack.

And those are the core rules for Moonstone, a game that bring LOVELY miniatures to the table in a fairytale-esque setting, with a system that relies not only on tactics, but also on a good amount of bluffing with cards.

It looks fun for sure, and I'll hopefully get to try this out in the not all to far future (aka, a few months from now, got to paint my figures first).