Grokk’s Codex

Rules Reference

Search game terms, actions, phases, and official quick-reference definitions.

61 entries

Common Game Terms

Absorb: When a unit absorbs damage, it suffers damage instead of the original target. Absorbed damage cannot be absorbed a second time.
Action points (AP): The resource used by a unit to perform actions.
Activation: A unit's turn.
Ally: Any unit on the battlefield from your warband or the warband of any teammate is an ally.
Ally you own: An ally that belongs to your warband.
Attack: An action that deals damage.
Banish pile: A player's banish pile is a collection of faceup cards. Banished cards are placed in their owner's banish pile. Cards in a banish pile have no specific order and may be looked at by any player at any time of the game.
Banished: Cards that are banished are placed on their owner's banish pile.
Battlefield: A surface with clearly defined boundaries where the game takes place. Deployed units and items are placed on the battlefield. Anywhere outside of the battlefield is a tall obstacle.
Bidding: During a bid, one or more players choose a card to bid and place it facedown. Once all players who must/wish to bid have done so, all players reveal their cards, and the player with the highest cost card wins. Then, all bid cards are banished.
Cancel: An effect that stops another spell or ability without applying its effects.
Charge: An action that allows a unit to move and attack.
Damage: Damage dealt is damage suffered.
Deck: A player's deck is their collection of shuffled, face down cards that they draw from.
Deploy: The act of placing a unit on the battlefield.
Deployment Zone: The region where units may be deployed onto the battlefield.
Discard a card: Whenever an effect orders a player to discard a card, they must place that card on their discard pile without resolving its effects.
Discard pile: A player's discard pile is a collection of faceup cards consisting of: spells played, units defeated, items destroyed, and cards discarded. Cards in a discard pile have no specific order and may be looked at by any player at any time of the game.
Draw a card: A player draws the top card from the designated deck.
Echo: The resource spent to play cards.
Enemies: Any unit on the battlefield that is not an ally.
Engaged: Units that are within 1" of an enemy are considered engaged.
Equip: The act of placing an attachment on a unit.
Faction: A card's faction represents its allegiance and determines which decks it may be included in.
Hand: A player's hand is the collection of cards available for them to play. A player's hand is hidden from all other players.
Health: A unit's health is their maximum health minus the damage they have suffered.
Ignores: When an effect is ignored, it does not apply to the target that is ignoring it. If the target ignores an effect, it must ignore the effect as a whole (including being used as a reference point for that effect).
Initiative: A player with initiative may choose which player deploys first, which player begins the action phase, and which player claims relics first. They also choose which player resolves all their concurrent triggers first.
Legacy: Legacies bring powerful abilities to your warband. These abilities are always available during the game.
Mastery: The resource players must collect to win the game.
Move: An action that physically moves the model on the battlefield.
Natural roll: An unmodified die roll.
Nearby: Within 1" and in LoE.
Passive abilities: Abilities that do not require spending AP.
Perform: An action is being performed from after it is declared until its final step.
Play: Refers to actively using a card, usually by spending echo and revealing the card from your hand. Played units and attachments are placed on the battlefield while played spells are placed on the discard pile.
Prevents: Prevented damage is not suffered.
Rank: A card's rank limits how many of them you may include in your deck. Cards are always one of four possible ranks: Basic, Elite, Unique, and Legendary.
Recover Health: When a unit recovers health, it will recover up to as much as possible, as described on the effect. To recover health, remove damage tokens equal to the amount recovered.
Redirect: An effect that redirects, changes the target of another ability or effect.
Reduce: When damage is reduced, it is subtracted from the original value.
Reinforcement: A deployment nearby an ally already on the battlefield.
Relic Deck: A shared collection of shuffled, facedown relic cards.
Relic Display: A shared collection of faceup relic cards.
Repeat: When a spell, ability, or effect is repeated, after resolving it entirely, begin reading and resolving it a second time from the start of its text. New targets may be chosen for the repeated spell/ability/effect. Repeating a spell does not count as playing it again.
Retaliation: A reactive melee attack.
Round: A round consists of four phases: Refresh, Deploy, Action, and End.
Seeker: The leader of your warband. Seekers are not shuffled into your deck, but instead are placed on the Seeker zone.
Shift: An action that allows a unit to move without provoking retaliation.
Side Deck: Cards in your side deck may be added or swapped with cards from your deck before games.
Source: Refers to where an effect originates from. An attack, an enemy, an ally, a spell. Any game component referred to by an ability or spell could be a source of an effect.
Target: The chosen recipient of an action, ability, or effect.
Terrain Piece: A specific terrain object, part of an encompassing set. All terrain pieces from the same set are subject to the same terrain card effects.
Unit: A unit is a model on the battlefield. It always has a corresponding unit card.

Basic Actions

Move (1AP): Move up to your movement value. Provokes retaliation.
Attack (1AP): Melee or ranged. Die + accuracy compared against the target's defense.
Charge (2AP): Must have Line of Sight. Move up to twice your movement value, then make a melee attack. Provokes retaliation.
Shift (2AP): Must have Line of Sight. Move up to your movement value. Does not provoke retaliation.

Icon Reference

Accuracy: Added to the die roll to determine the total attack value.
Power: The damage dealt on a hit or a graze.
Range: How far a unit can attack.

Round Structure

1. Refresh Phase
- Draw cards, gain echo, refresh units
- Bid for initiative
2. Deploy Phase
- Player A deploys
- Player B deploys
3. Action Phase
- Alternate activations
4. End Phase
- Claim relics
- Check for victory