Hobbies And Interests
Instructions
Have each player select a leader at the beginning of the game. At least one of those leaders must be from an opposing faction, though in a three-player game, one player must select an Autobot leader while the others must choose Decepticons to lead their forces.
Set up the other game pieces on the board. Place all leaders on their described starting location with one robot. Then, each player takes turns to place robots of his faction on the board's empty zones until all zones have been occupied. Afterwards, players continue to place robots in occupied zones that they control, by having at least one robot in them, until they have placed 30 robots total (excluding the leader). Set the other robots aside with each of their respective players. Shuffle the upgrade cards and set them aside. Lastly, the youngest player puts one of the robots he has that isn't in play on the first day of the day counter.
Begin the first round and subsequent rounds of play with the youngest player going first, and play passing down clockwise. A player must complete all phases in his turn before passing play to the next player. If all players have completed their turns, the round ends, and a new round begins, until six rounds have been played.
The first phase of each round is the Place Robots phase. Each player gains extra robots depending on the number of zones he controls, and the number of robots he already has, as well as if any player controls an open secret factory. Then, each player places the new robots in any zones he controls. Players can also play upgrade cards that allow them to place more robots.
Each player then enters the Morph phase and is given the opportunity to transform his leader from robot to vehicle mode or vice-versa. Some locations on the board can be shifted to allow or restrict access by playing upgrade cards.
Players then enter the Attack phase. Each player is given the opportunity to Attack, as many times as he can on his turn, by declaring an attack from one, two or three robots from a zone he controls against a neighboring zone controlled by another player. An attacker must have at least one non-attacking robot left behind in the zone to be able to attack successfully. If you have three robots in a zone, you can attack with one or two of them, but not all three. The defender can use one or two robots to defend and does not have to leave behind a robot for a successful defense. Both players can use their leader if he is in the right zone, with the leader counting as one robot. Players can also play any upgrade cards that improve their attack or defense.
Resolve the attacks. The attacker and defender each roll one die for each attacking robot. The attacker's highest die and the defender's highest die are compared, with the loser having to remove one of his robots from play. In the event of a tie, the defender wins. If more than one die was rolled by both players, then compare them as well and resolve by removing another robot from play. Leaders are only removed if they are the last robots in the attack or defense and their player loses. A player can keep attacking a zone if he still has robots to contribute to the attack. If all defending robots in a zone are removed, then the zone is captured. The attacker can move any number of robots from the attacking zone, leaving one behind, into the newly captured zone.
Players then enter the Call for Backup phase. Each player may move any number of robots from one zone they control to a neighboring zone they control. Each zone must still have at least one robot left behind.
Players then enter the Draw a Card phase. They may draw an upgrade card if they captured at least one zone that round. Players keep upgrade cards they have drawn hidden from other players.
Players win the game by wiping out all other enemy forces or by controlling the most zones at the end of six rounds. If players are tied for the number of zones controlled at the end of six rounds, the player who controls the Launch Pad wins.