Legends of Australis isn’t too hard to pick up, but also goes incredibly deep once you start to learn combos and strategies. In brief, the rules of a typical game are as follows:
- Each player must have thirty cards in their deck, and they must have selected a Master card that is separate from the deck.
- Players each draw four cards and decide who goes first with a coin toss. Players can then take turns ordering Fighters onto the battlefield, conjuring Mystic Arts or using Assets.
- The loss of an entire unit means that player must surrender a Red Soil Token to the other player. Each player starts off with five, and they lose once all five are gone.
- Master cards can be sent to the front lines, but if a Master card has its life depleted, that player loses.
- Miracle cards can only be played once five turns have elapsed. Miracle cards may take the form of Fighters, Mystic Arts or Assets.
- Fighters must first be deployed to the front lines before they can initiate a battle, and must return to the base zone to be given Assets.
- At any point outside of battle, players may remove Fighters from the battlefield. These Fighters may only return if the deck is entirely depleted, after which a maximum of five form a new deck. This command can only be used once per game.
The game might sound a little confusing from just reading the rules, but we can assure you that the playing experience is far more dynamic! Once you factor in poison damage, desert resistance, BBQ rations, coolabah cavalry rushes, snap snag sales and the million other things, you won’t even have a moment to think about anything else as you pick your Master and fight for supremacy.
Watch this space for updates, because the creators have said that there are going to be some exciting new rules in the new sets, and we can’t wait to share them!