IMPERIUM OF MAN
INTRODUCTION
Solo card and dice game.
Theme: Galactic Scale WH40K.
You are the Human Empire surrounded on all sides by terrible Foes.
VICTORY
You win if at the end of your turn, there are no enemy units in play.
Your score is the number of turns it took to accomplish this.
A lower score is better.
DEFEAT
If you are ever reduced to zero Empire Points you automatically lose.
EMPIRE POINTS
Use tokens to represent Empire Points (EP).
This is a measure of territory controlled by the Human Empire.
You start the game with 20 EP.
You gain 1 EP per turn. Your total can be higher than 20.
If you lose all your EP you lose the game.
FOES
There are 6 Alien Foes: Chaos, Eldar, Tyranids, Orks, Necrons, and Tau.
There is also 1 Internal Foe: Rebel Worlds.
FOE SECTOR CARDS
There is one Large Sector card for each of the 7 Foes.
The card should have a picture of the Foe plus its name and
special ability information.
During play an enemies units are kept on its Sector card.
FOE SPECIAL ABILITIES LIST
Foe: Ability: Notes:
Chaos: Corruption: When Chaos kills an Empire unit, Chaos gains 1D6 units*
Eldar: Skilled: The Eldar get a +2 Modifier to all Battle Dice rolls.
Orks: Numerous: Space Orks get a +2 Mod to Spawn rolls.
Tyranids: Infiltration: Genestealers get Double Battle rolls.
Necrons: Tough: Battle rolls against them are at -2.
Tau: Shooting: Tau are Ranged Specialists, they get First Strike.
Rebels: Traitors: No Special Ability
* = This is called the Corruption Roll
RANDOM ALIEN FOE TABLE
1D6 Foe:
1 Chaos
2 Eldar
3 Orks
4 Tyranids
5 Necrons
6 Tau
ENEMY UNITS
There is a common pool (bank) of enemy units.
Use counters or wooden cubes as Enemy Units.
Each Enemy Unit has a Strength of 1.
If you want to get fancy, each foe can have his own color cubes.
STRENGTH RATINGS
A Units Strength is how many Battle Dice it rolls in combat plus
how many hits it takes to kill that unit.
DICE
Lots and lots of six and ten sided dice are needed.
EMPIRE UNIT CARDS
These represent Units of the Human Empire.
There are six types. Each has a strength rating.
There are 10 copies of each of the 6 card types in the Empire Unit Deck.
EMPIRE UNIT DECK CARD LIST
Name: Strength Abbreviation Notes
Planetary Defenses 1 PD -
Imperial Guard Army 2 IGA -
Space Marine Chapter 3 SMC -
Armored Core 4 AC Heavy
Titan Legion 5 TL Heavy
Battle Fleet 6 BF Heavy
DAMAGE MARKERS
These are placed on Empire Unit cards.
If the number of markers on a card is equal to or greater than the modified
Strength of the Unit, the Unit is destroyed (discarded).
TERMINOLOGY
Foes = Interchangeable with the term Enemies.
Units = Troops: Represented by Cubes for Foes and Cards for Humans.
First Strike = This unit makes its battle rolls before opponents do. This could
eliminate opposing units before they get to attack. If units with First strike
oppose each other, their attacks will be simultaneous.
Fronts = Empire Unit cards are individually assigned to specific Sector cards.
So for example there is a Tyranid Front, a Rebel Front, etc.
EMPIRE TECHNOLOGY DECK
The empire starts out at a disadvantage, but if it can hold on it will
gain enough technologies with which to overpower its Foes.
These mostly give bonuses to certain Unit types.
The Empire gains one Tech per turn.
The Tech Deck contains 1 copy of each card listed.
SETUP
Shuffle the Decks.
Place the 7 Foe Sector Cards out in the middle of the table.
Draw 2 Tech Cards.
TURN SEQUENCE
Each turn has 10 Phases:
1 Spawn Phase
2 Event Phase
3 Tech Phase
4 Recruit Phase
5 Implement Phase
6 Reserve Phase
7 Deploy Phase
8 Battle Phase
9 Rebuild Phase
10 End Phase
SPAWN PHASE
Each Foe gains 1D6 Units.
This is the Spawn Roll.
Roll separately for each Foe.
Place the Units on the Sector Cards.
EVENT PHASE
Roll once on the Event Table.
EVENT TABLE
1D10 Event: Notes:
1 Chaos Roll on the Chaos Event Table
2 Ork Waaarg! Orks gain 1D6 extra Units
3 Tyranid Swarm Tyranids gain 1D6 extra Units
4 Hold Back One Random Alien Foe does not attack you this Turn
5 Truce Eldar or Tau do not attack you this turn. Your Choice
6 Alien War 2 Random Alien Foes attack each other this turn and not you
7 Research Draw 1 extra Tech card this Turn
8 Surplus Draw 1 extra Unit card this Turn
9 Warp Storms Chaos cannot attack you this Turn
10 Rare Event Roll on the Rare Event Table
RARE EVENT TABLE
1D10 Event: Notes:
1 Necron Awakening Necrons gain 1D10 extra Units
2 Allies Like Alien War, but you pick Foes. 1 must be Eldar or Tau
3 Eldar Craftworld Eldar Gain 1D6 extra Units
4 Experimentation Put 1 extra Tech card into play this turn
5 Dark Eldar Raids Put 1 Damage Marker on all your Units
6 Mutant Psyker Cult Rebels gain 1D6 extra Units
7 Pax Imperium Rebels cannot attack you this turn
8 Webways Eldar get First Strike this Turn
9 Minor Race Allies Tau gain 1D6 extra Units
10 Emperors Psykic Shield 2D6 Chaos Tokens cannot Attack this Turn
CHAOS EVENT TABLE
1D10 Event: Notes:
1 Eye of Terror Chaos gains 1D6 extra Units
2 Black Crusade Chaos gains 2D6 extra Units
3 Daemon Prince Chaos gains 1D10 extra Units
4 Heresy Discard a SMC or Heavy Unit card in play
5 Khorne Chaos Units get +2 to rolls on Battle Dice this turn
6 Nurgle Discard 1 random Unit Card opposing Chaos
7 Slaanesh Chaos gets +3 to Corruption Rolls this turn
8 Tzeentch Attack rolls vs. Chaos Units are at -2 this turn
9 Lost & Damned Discard a IGA card in play
10 Warpspace Lose 2 EP
TECH PHASE
Roll once on the Tech Table.
If the Tech deck runs out, shuffle the discard and draw from it.
TECH TABLE
1D10 Result:
1-3 Draw no Tech cards
4-6 Draw 1 Tech card
7-9 Draw 2 Tech cards
10+ Draw 3 Tech cards
RECRUIT PHASE
Roll once on the Recruit Table.
If the Unit deck runs out, shuffle the discard and draw from it.
If you have less than 10 EP get a -1 to the roll.
If you have more than 24 EP get a +1 to the roll.
RECRUIT TABLE
1D10 Result:
1-2 Draw 5 Unit cards
3-6 Draw 6 Unit cards
7-9 Draw 7 Unit cards
10+ Draw 8 Unit cards
IMPLEMENT PHASE
Put one Tech card into play.
Its effects are permanent.
RESERVE PHASE
You may move 1 Unit card from any 1 Front to any other Front.
DEPLOY PHASE
Assign each of the Unit cards you drew this turn to a Front.
Each Foe has their own front next to their Sector card.
Each Unit goes to one Front of your choice.
A Front may have Multiple Unit cards stationed there.
BATTLE PHASE
Resolve each of the 7 Fronts in any order you like.
Each unit gets a number of Battle rolls equal to its modified strength.
A Battle roll is 1D10. A modified roll of 6+ will cause a Hit.
All Foe Units have 1 Hit so 1 Hit will destroy 1 Foe Unit.
Empire Unit Cards have Multiple Hits equal to their Modified Strength.
Every time a Unit is hit place a Damage Marker (DM) on it.
A Unit with more DM than Hits is destroyed (discarded).
DM cannot be spread out evenly; they must be assigned to
just one unit at a time.
If all the Defending Empire Unit cards at a Front are wiped out and there
is still damage remaining, it will spill into the Imperium: For every
such DM lose 1 Empire Point.
Attacks are simultaneous: All units get to make their attacks and
apply their damage. The exception is Units with First Strike.
First Strike units make their attacks first and apply the damage before
the other side gets to respond.
After making the Battle rolls it is possible the Front will be empty or
still occupied by units from one or both sides.
REBUILD PHASE
Remove 1 DM from one Unit on each Front.
Gain 1 Empire Point.
END PHASE
Keep track of Turn number.
Max hand size is 5 Tech cards. Discard excess cards.
CANNOT ATTACK RULE
If a Foe or Foes cannot Attack you this turn, you cannot attack them.
TECH DECK CARD LIST
Card Name: Notes:
Hive Worlds Get +1 to Recruit Table Rolls
Forge Worlds Get +1 to Recruit Table Rolls
Agri Worlds Get +1 to Recruit Table Rolls
Rogue Traders Get +1 to Tech Table Rolls
Grey Knights 1 SMC each turn gets +3 to Battle Rolls vs. Chaos
Blood Angels 1 SMC each turn gets Double Battle Rolls
Space Wolves 1 SMC each turn gets +2 to Battle Rolls
Raven Guards 1 SMC each turn gets First Strike
Ultramarines SMC get +2 to Battle Rolls vs. Tyranids
Cadia Gate PD and IGA get +1 Hits vs. Chaos
Shield Worlds PD get +1 Hits
Librarians SMC get +1 to Hit on Battle Rolls
Primarch Returns Use as a Strength 7 SMC Unit. Discard if Killed
Astronomican Gain 1 extra Reserve Move per turn
Navis Nobilite Gain 1 extra Reserve Move per turn
Inquisition Rebels get -1 to Spawn Rolls
Emperors Tarot Reroll 1 target Dieroll per turn
Adeptus Mechanicus Remove 1 extra Damage Marker per turn from 1 Unit
Imperial Assassins Gain 2 First Strike Attacks per turn
Adeptus Telepathica Gain 1 extra Reserve Move per turn
Imperial Cult Subtract 2 from your final Score
Adeptus Arbites Rebels get -1 to Spawn Rolls
Sisters of Battle 1 IGA each turn gets +3 to Battle Rolls vs Rebels
Imperial Saboteurs 1 Target Spawn roll per turn is at -1
Drop Ships SMC get First Strike
Commissars IGA get +1 to Hit on Battle Rolls
Endless Regiments IGA get +1 Hits
Storm Troopers IGA get First Strike
Ogryns IGA get +1 Battle Roll each per turn
Artillery AC get First Strike
Exterminatus Destroy all units at 1 Front then discard
Battleships BF get +1 Battle Roll each per turn
Cruisers BF get +1 to Hit on Battle Rolls
Escorts BF get +1 Hits
Squats IGA get +2 to Battle Rolls vs. Orks
Imperial Aircraft One non-BF unit per turn gets First Strike
Deathwatch Get +1 to Tech Table Rolls
Emperor Titans TL get +1 Battle Roll each per turn
Warlord Titans TL get +1 Hits
Scout Titans TL get First Strike
APC Support IGA & SMC get +1 Hits if at same front as an AC
Void Shields Negate 1 Hit per turn on up to 2 Heavy Units
Super Heavy Tanks AC get +1 Hit
Terminator Marines SMC get +1 Hit
Dreadnaughts One SMC per Front gets +1 Strength
Chaplains SMC get +1 Battle Roll each per turn
Apothecaries Remove 1 extra DM per turn from 1 SMC per Front
MULTIPLAYER VARIANTS
One Tech - Player each have their own alternate universe Imperium, however, they
all share the same tech deck.
Many Generals - Each General is in charge of one or more Fronts. They must
compromise on picking Techs and sharing Unit cards.
LINKS
Lexicanum
