FAQ — Goblin King Games

General Gameplay

Yes.
No (the same is true for two 40mm models and another intervening 40mm model).
Yes.
Yes. Open doors or are considered as Open Ground with the two walls either sided considered as Barriers. Models can squeeze through gaps between two items of terrain, or between an item of terrain and a friendly model, or between two friendly models, as long they can end the move with sufficient room for their base to be placed flat on the table without overlapping another model’s base.
You may not squeeze through gaps created by enemy models or enemy models and terrain.
Yes.
The active player (usually the player who just caused the model to be slain) places any moonstones the slain model was carrying in base contact with the model, displaying a depth value of ‘1’ and then removes the slain model from the board.
‘Place’ effects don't require a path of movement, unlike move effects, and so can be done over obstacles, barriers and other models.
Additionally, ‘place’ effects can be done nearest base edge to nearest base edge, unlike movements, and may therefore result in further repositioning.
Finally, as this isn't a movement it doesn't trigger abilities based on movement (such as ‘Quite Terrifying’).
The round symbol is a space for players to mark in a dot with a dry wipe marker once the ability has been used. In testing, we have found this a useful way of tracking abilities, for example if a weapon requires reloading or is ready to fire.
A 'medium' amount, split the table into a grid, avoid symmetrical layouts, and have a variety of terrain. Read Mick's article to find out more.

Combat

1. Choose a target for the melee attack which is in melee range and can have line of sight drawn to it
2. If the target has any abilities that trigger upon being targeted (such as ‘Look of Innocence’ on Natty or 'Foreboding' on The Duchess) they are resolved now
3. The attacker draws melee cards (equal to Melee Stat, plus / minus any modifiers - including +2 Melee Stat for being the attacker, always at least 1 card)
4. The defender draws melee cards (equal to their Melee Stat’ plus / minus any modifiers, always at least 1 card)
5. The attacker may ‘go for it’
6. The defender may ‘go for it’
7. If an ability which requires a players melee hand to be revealed (such as ‘Predictable Combatant’ on Loubard or ‘Seen It All Before’ on Old Calders), players reveal hand their hand now
8. Both players play a melee card facedown
9. Players reveal cards simultaneously
10. If an ability gives the option to change which melee card was played (such as ‘Two Heads are Better than One’ on Dim & Dimmer or ‘Perfect Form’ on Iris & Hellebore), players make that choice now (If both players have such an ability, the attacker chooses who has to choose first)
11. Both players may play any critical hits if they have them
12. The attacker may choose to upgrade to their Signature Move if applicable
13. The defender may choose to upgrade to their Signature Move if applicable
14. Resolve damage on the cards plus/minus any modifiers (if a character is slain here, do not remove their miniature from the table yet as their position may be relevant for resolving possible end-step effects)
15. If a character has an ability which is triggered off dealing Wds (such as ‘Spiteful’ on The Fencer) it is resolved now
16. Resolve any follow-up attacks or, if both players have follow-up attacks, instead return to Step 8 (In the rare case a character has a follow up attack but has been slain they do not get the follow up attack, similarly if a character has a follow up attack but their enemy has already been slain they do not get a follow up attack)
17. Resolve any end-step effects - the attacker chooses the order if the order of resolution is relevant
18. If a character was slain their miniature is now removed from the table
Yes. Attackers always draw their cards first.
In most cases this will make no difference but occasionally, such as after Young Jack has used his ‘Lucky’ ability, it could be important.
Yes, unless the ability specifically says otherwise, you are not restricted from targeting engaged models provided you can draw line of sight as normal.
Note however that intervening models (friendly and enemy) do block line of sight and do provide cover, so if there are intervening models between the active model and the target then the active model will have a reduced hand, or if the scene is so crowned that line of sight cannot be drawn at all then the target cannot be chosen.
The damage on the Signature Move is multiplied (x2 or x3 accordingly) as are any other effects printed on the Signature Move, including damage or wounds dealt, damage or wounds reduced, wounds restored, distances moved, stats modified, energy gained, energy lost. Any other numbers are not multiplied, including: ranges and area of effects in inches, Moonstones lost and gained, and numbers listed as criteria for effects to occur. If an effect states a character loses 'half' of their wounds or energy, then these are applied sequentially for each Critical Hit - halve, then halve again. You do not add two halves to make a whole.
Yes, unless specified otherwise in the effect, they still occur even if the controlling character died.
Yes. There is only ever one End Step, which occurs after damage has been dealt from both initial and follow up attacks. Any End Step effects from either the initial exchange or the Follow-Up attack happen simultaneously, after all damage has been applied.
Yes.
The Critical Hit rule only duplicates damage, so there is no reason to lay down duplicates if they do not deal damage.
However, holding duplicate defensive cards can be quite useful in its own right as it gives you information about what cards your opponent doesn’t have, allowing you to often make attacks you know can’t be defended.
In addition, Some Defences can be upgraded to Signature Moves which have damage values or other effects which can be multiplied with a Critical Hit.
A character who is Out of Range can never deal damage. While out of range, any damage reduction abilities printed on a signature move can still be applied by the defender. However, only End Step Effects that affect the Out of Range character themselves occur. The End Step Effects that affect the enemy character are ignored.
It should also be noted that unless an End Step Effect specifies otherwise, they still occur if possible, even if the character playing the ability was Slain during this round of Melee.

Arcane

1. Choose a valid target (if the arcane ability mentions a target)
2. If the target has any abilities that trigger upon being targeted (such as ‘Look of Innocence’) they are resolved now
3. The player who is using the arcane ability draws arcane cards (equal to their Arcane Stat minus the target’s Evade Stat, to a minimum of 1 card)
4. The resisting player draws six arcane cards
5. If an ability reveals resist hand cards (such as ‘Divine Intervention’) it is revealed now
6. The player using the arcane ability places a card face down
7. The resisting player may call “Bluff” or “OK”
8. There are three potential resolutions:
8.1. If the resisting player called OK: Resolve the ability with the called card (without revealing the drawn card, unless wanted) then the arcane action has ‘resolved’ (resolve abilities such as ‘Trickster’ after the ‘resolution’)
8.2. If the resisting player called “Bluff” and the active player was lying: The resisting player may replace the played card with a card from their resist hand, then resolve the ability with the played / replaced card, then the arcane action has finished resolving
8.3. If the resisting player called “Bluff” and the active player was telling the truth: Resolve the ability with the played card, then the player who played the arcane ability may choose a new target for the ability (if applicable) then return to step 6. with their original arcane hand
Yes. Attackers always draw their cards first.
In most cases this will make no difference but occasionally such as after Young Jack has used his ‘Lucky’ ability it could be important.
Targets must be declared before Arcane Cards are drawn as the target’s Evade stat and cover can affect the hand size drawn.
You always get to draw at least one card, no matter how many negative modifiers are applied.
Yes, a player can simply declare that they are not going to play a card. Their energy is wasted and the action ends.
Yes, Catastrophe cards can be played as normal.
All measurements are made horizontally. If you are in an Elevated Position you may also benefit from increased Range and Arcane (see the Elevated Positions rule in the Basic Rules or The Arising for a more in-depth explanation).

Character Specific

Melee Attacks initiated in this way may 'Go For It' by discarding the required energy from the controlling character (e.g. Danica, Wendigo or Silvertongue).
Spiteful causes the owner of the ability to regain a Wd immediately after causing one or more Wd’s to an enemy as a new game step. The ability cannot be used if the owner was already slain in the previous step, for example in Melee where Wd’s to both parties are resolved simultaneously. However, it can be used after initial Wd’s are scored but before any follow-up attacks are made.
Yes, if Doug performs a Harvest Action on a stone with a depth value of say ‘2’ and manages to flip a 2 or 3, then he gains possession of the stone. Getting a moonstone to 0 or less while in base contact and performing a Harvest Action is the requirement to gain possession.
To give another example, the Jackalope reduces a moonstone’s depth value by 2 instead of 1 on the first Harvest Action they make in a turn, so they too could also gain possession of a stone that was showing a value greater than 1 at the start of the action.
Note that Boulders ‘Stone Song’ is not a Harvest Action and so only ever drops a stone to a minimum of 1, and so can never result in him gaining possession even if he was in base contact at the time, since it’s an Arcane Ability and not a Harvest Action.
All numeric values are multiplied by the number of cards played. In the case of Ribald's ‘Short Fuse’, if two High Guards are played and upgraded then all models within 2" (including Ribald!) suffer 6 Magical Damage and are moved 2" directly away.
Yes you can – it’s one of a number of abilities in the game that let you overload on energy. Basically the term ‘gains’ allows you to exceed the usual maximums, while ‘restore’ only allows you to get back up to your usual maximum but not exceed it.
The airships have no Melee Range and so cannot declare Melee Attacks and cannot deal Dmg when attacked. If they are attacked in Melee they only ever receive one Melee Card. Note that since they have no Melee Range, they do not engage enemies but they can be engaged while 'Up, up and Away' is absent. Grounded Airships can perform harvest actions as normal.
In this situation, just like any other arcane ability, you can replay the ability with the remaining cards in your hand, selecting a new target if you wish (provided you have LOS to them). There is no need to reload as this is all going on within a single action, and represents a single shot. Hitting multiple targets (should you choose this option) could be thought of as representing a ricochet from the rifle or the natural spread of blunderbuss shot.
Yes, Boris can 'spend' (0) energy to let each one of them take a Jog action during his activation.
Yes, the Bunnies are always friendly to Boris and so Danica can use her energy to have bunnies perform actions (excluding Jog, as normal for Puppeteer).
There is nothing stopping Danica from using Boris’s ‘Summon Murder Bunny’ ability. The Bunny will be friendly to Boris, so Danica can go on to force it to take actions by spending her energy during her activations. At all other times it is a normal Bunny, friendly to the Boris player's troupe and able to take actions during Boris's activation as normal.
If Danica uses her energy to summon a Jackalope via Boris’ Summon the Jackalope ability, then the Jackalope is placed in base contact with Boris but is a permanent member of Danica’s troupe for the remainder of the game! This can be done even if there is already a Jackalope in the Boris player’s troupe since during the Summon the Jackalope action that Jackalope will not be considered friendly to Boris. However for the same reason, the action cannot be taken if there is already a Jackalope in the Danica player’s troupe. A Jackalope added to Danica’s troupe in this was does not prevent Boris from using the Summon the Jackalope ability again in his own activation. If the Danica player does not have a suitable model to represent the Jackalope then they cannot take this action.
No, the removed card belongs to the player, rather than the character. It is simply placed besides the character to avoid mix-ups and confusion, since if the character is slain it is returned to the deck.
This is perfectly allowed, the card is removed and placed besides Danica’s stat card. The Danica player can now make use of the card during any arcane action for the remainder of the game, or until she is slain, as normal.
Yes, area effects always include the active model that originated the effect, unless the phrase 'other models' is used.
Flintlock can only use his Shoot Musket Ability once before needing to use his Reload ability. The reload ability resets the Musket to be used again.
In this situation, just like any other arcane ability, you can replay the ability with the remaining cards in your hand, selecting a new target if you wish (provided you have LOS to them). There is no need to reload as this is all going on within a single action, and represents a single shot – hitting multiple targets should you choose this option could be thought of as representing a ricochet from the rifle.
No, during the action Gotchgut is controlled by the Mind Controlling player and since ‘Bodyguard’ is Gotchgut's ability, it is the Mind Controlling player's decision whether to use the ability of not.
Yes. Reaction Steps are not Step actions (or 'Actions' at all) and so are unaffected by the ‘Bag of Gold’ rules.
Characters can move through the gap no matter how small it is. The only way to prevent it it to place the two wooded patches touching so that there is no gap. Note that it is not usually possible to Step through very small gaps, as bases will end up overlapping, but Jog actions will usually be fine.
All states and effects are cleared when a character is slain and all energy is removed. The re-animated character is in all ways a ‘fresh’ instance of the character.
For example, if a weapon was 'unloaded ' when the character was slain or has previously exploded, the character previously gained energy, jogged or has a stat modification etc.
Shabroon's ‘Goblin Luck’ ability allows him to cause a Catastrophe result on a target model. Any targets of the Catastrophe are chosen by the Shabroon player, but they must be valid targets of the arcane ability that the Catastrophe belongs to. In the case of Belladonna's ‘Drop of Nightshade’, the ability only targets enemies within 1", and so in order for Shabaroon to use ‘Goblin Luck’ against Belladonna's ‘Drop of Nightshade’ Catastrophe she must have an enemy within 1". If she does, then ‘Goblin Luck’ can be used to Slay both Belladonna and the Enemy model (which will be a friendly model of Shabaroon in a 2-player game).
First discard 3 energy from Silver Tongue to pay for the ability and select a target (Friendly or Enemy). Then select an action that is available to the target that would cost them (1) energy, for example a Step, Melee Attack, Harvest (non-weaklings) or an Arcane or Active ability printed on the target character's card, such as ‘Shoot Musket’. Now take that action as if the target were the active model and you its controller. The target counts as friendly during the action, so you could make a character Melee Attack a character that is normally friendly to them. The target of ‘Mind Control’ does not discard energy to take the action, however abilities which are ‘Once per turn’ or ‘Once per game’ are considered used (and cannot be chosen by the Silver Tongue player if already used).
The only time the Arcane Deck is shuffled is immediately after an arcane action has been resolved. Since ‘Lucky’ is an active ability, there is no shuffling.