The Siege of Hexfall

1. Game Overview

Players: 2–4

Play Time: 30–45 minutes

Recommended Age: 10+

The Siege of Hexfall is a fully cooperative board game in which players play the role of Heroes defending the land of Hexfall from an ever-growing monster invasion. Monsters emerge from arcane portals and relentlessly advance toward Villages and Heroes. Players must coordinate movement, manage risk, and make sacrifices to seal Portals and defeat the Monster Boss.

There is no Monster player. All monster actions are controlled by the game rules.

In order to balance out the difficulty when playing with fewer than 4 players, keep all the Heroes in play even if it means one or more players play two Heroes.

2. Objective

Heroes Win If:

• All Portals are sealed AND
• The Monster Boss is defeated

Heroes Lose If:

• Two Villages are destroyed OR
• All Heroes are defeated

3. Components

3.1 Board Components

• 19 Modular hex tiles:
• 3 Portal tiles
• 3 Village tiles
• 3 Ruin tiles
• 10 Plain tiles

3.2 Structures

• 3 Portal towers
• 3 Village buildings
• 3 Ruin structures

3.3 Heroes

• Warrior miniature (Yellow Meeple)
• Ranger miniature (Blue Meeple)
• Mage miniature (White Meeple)
• Barbarian miniature (Red Meeple)

3.4 Monsters

• 8 Monster Grunts (Small Black Meeples)
• 4 Monster Brutes (Medium Black Meeples)
• 1 Monster Boss (Large Black Meeple)

3.5 Tokens & Markers

• 12 Health tokens (Hearts)
• 32 Small health rings
• 8 Large health rings
• 3 Portal Shards

3.6 Die

• 1 six-sided die (d6)

4. Setup

1. Shuffle the hex tiles and place them face down in the center of the play area.
2. Players work together to arrange the hidden hex tiles into any connected shape they choose. The board may be built randomly or designed by the players, as long as all tiles are connected.
3. Once the board layout is complete, flip all hex tiles face up and reveal the battlefield of Hexfall.
4. Place the matching structure on each special tile.
5. Place 1 Portal Shard on each Ruin tile.
6. Each player selects one Hero and places their miniature on any Village tile.
7. Place 1 Monster Grunt on each Portal tile.

See "Map Configurations" in the side menu for alternate methods for setting up the game.

5. Heroes

5.1 Hero Stats

Heroes begin the game at full Health.

5.2 Hero Abilities

Shield Wall (Warrior): Once per round, reduce incoming damage by 1.

Ranged Shot (Ranger): The Ranger may attack a Monster on an adjacent tile without moving.

Arcane Seal (Mage): The Mage is more effective at sealing portals, succeeding on a roll of 4-6 and only takes 2 damage on a failed seal. With a Portal Shard the Mage can seal a Portal using an Action.

Mage’s Last Stand (Mage):If the Mage dies during the game the following happens:

• Final Seal: Seal one open Portal anywhere on the board.

Rage (Barbarian): When the Barbarian takes damage, place 1 Rage marker on their base (maximum 2). Each Rage marker grants +1 Attack. At the end of the Barbarian’s turn, remove 1 Rage marker.

6. Round Structure

1. Monster Phase
2. Hero Phase
3. End of Round

7. Monster Phase (Game Controlled)

Current Difficulty: Normal

There are four steps per monster phase as described below. It is recommended that one player resolve all monster actions, one step at a time with other players helping track or making suggestions as appropriate.

Step 1 – Spawn

• If no Portals are sealed, each open Portal spawns 1 Grunt.
• If one Portal is sealed, each remaining open Portal spawns 1 Brute instead.
• If two portals are sealed the Boss spawns at the remaining portal or the nearest ruin to the portal that was most recently sealed. Only the Boss spawns this turn but future rounds brutes will continue spawning at open portals.

Step 2 – Target Priority

1. Closest Hero
2. Closest Village

Monsters will always target a Hero first unless there is a village closer. If a Village and a Hero are the same distance from the monster will target the Hero. If two players are an equal distance from the monster than the player may choose who the monster will target.

Step 3 – Move

Grunts and Brutes move 1 tile toward their target. The Boss moves up to two tiles toward its target. If there are multiple paths to the target, the players decide which route the monsters will take.

Step 4 – Attack

• Monsters attack if on the same tile as their target.
• Resolve Monster attacks in the following order: Grunts → Brutes → Boss.
• If multiple Monsters and multiple Heroes are on the same tile, each Monster attacks once. Heroes may choose how to assign Monster attacks among Heroes on that tile. When the Boss attacks multiple Heroes, roll one attack for all.
• The Boss moves up to 2 tiles per Monster Phase and attacks all Heroes on its tile.
• Villages take 1 damage per attacking grunt, 2 damage from attacking brutes, and 3 damage from the attacking Boss. Monsters do not roll for attacks but automatically deal damage to villages.

7.1 Optional Rule: The Overseer (Player-Controlled Monsters)

For a more challenging, competitive experience, one player may take on the role of the Overseer instead of playing a Hero. The Overseer controls all Monster actions directly, replacing Steps 2–4 of the Monster Phase with the choices below. This requires at least 3 players (1 Overseer and at least 2 Hero-controlling players); a Hero-controlling player may still play multiple Heroes as normal.

• Spawn (Step 1): Locations and quantities are unchanged. If more than one eligible spawn point exists, the Overseer chooses where each Monster spawns.
• Target Priority (Step 2): Removed. The Overseer freely chooses each Monster's target — any Hero or Village — each phase. This includes the Ancient One, whose hunted Hero the Overseer selects directly, ignoring the Hunt roll in Section 7.1.
• Move (Step 3): Movement distances are unchanged (Grunts and Brutes move 1 tile, the Boss and Ancient One move up to 2 tiles), but the Overseer chooses the direction and path for each Monster.
• Attack (Step 4): Attack order and damage are unchanged. When multiple Heroes share a tile with an attacking Monster, the Overseer chooses which Hero is attacked.

Monster Stats: The Overseer's Monsters use the same Attack, Defense, and Health values shown in the Difficulty table above — the Overseer gains no bonus stats, only control over their actions.

Winning and Losing: The Overseer wins if the Heroes lose (see Section 2). The Heroes win under the normal victory conditions.

Suggested Difficulty: Because a thinking opponent is naturally more dangerous than the fixed Monster rules, it's recommended Heroes play on Easy or Normal difficulty when facing an Overseer, especially for a first game.

8. Hero Phase

Heroes may act in any order. Each Hero takes one turn per round.

1. Move – Move up to 2 adjacent tiles. Movement may be taken at the start or end of a player’s turn, or split before and after an action, provided the total movement is limited to two adjacent tiles.
2. Action – Choose one:
   • Attack (see section 8.1)
   • Loot a Ruin (see section 8.3)
   • Seal a Portal (see section 8.2)
   • End Turn

8.1 Attack

1. Attacker rolls 1 die and adds their Attack value.
2. Defender subtracts their Defense value.
3. Remaining value is dealt as damage (minimum 0).
4. Remove Health rings accordingly.

8.2 Sealing a Portal

Any Hero standing on a Portal tile may attempt to seal it instead of attacking.

While holding a Portal Shard, a Hero seals a Portal on a roll of 4–6. If a sealing attempt fails while holding a Portal Shard, the Hero only takes 2 damage. If a Hero fails an attempt and does not have a Portal Shard they take 5 damage. A Hero may hold only one Portal Shard at a time. If they gain another, they must immediately give one to a Hero on the same tile or discard it. Once a Portal Shard is used to successfully seal a Portal, it is removed from the game.

When a Portal is sealed, each player gains 5 Health Points up to their maximum.

8.3 Loot a Ruin

Ruins contain Portal Shards that aid in sealing Portals and grant power-ups. A Hero may Loot a Ruin by moving to a Ruin tile and using their action to pick up a Portal Shard. Each Ruin may be looted only once. Doing so will grant the Hero one of the following power-ups, determined by rolling the die:

• 1 - Strength: +2 Attack
• 2 - Shield: +2 Defense
• 3 - Vitality: +3 Health each round (Only up to maximum HP)
• 4 - Endurance: Extra action every round
• 5 - Speed: +1 movement every round
• 6 - Luck: Reroll any die once every round

When a Hero is defeated, any Portal Shard they carried is dropped onto their tile. As an action, a Hero may pick up a Portal Shard dropped by a fallen companion and roll for a power-up as described above.

10. Hero Defeat

• When a Hero’s Health reaches 0, they are defeated and removed from play. If the Mage dies, activate Mage's Last Stand (see section 5.2)
• The remaining Heroes may continue as long as at least one Hero remains.

11. Difficulty Adjustments (Optional)

See the Map Configurations page from the side bar for some ideas on how to arrange your map.

12. Design Notes

• Cooperative strategy
• Tactical positioning
• Risk vs. reward decisions
• Physical clarity through 3D components

13. End of Game

If the Heroes seal all Portals and defeat the Boss, Hexfall is saved.

If two Villages fall or the Heroes are defeated, Hexfall is overrun by the Monsters.

Thank you for playing The Siege of Hexfall.

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