The Village Must Stand is a cooperative and solo village-defense game, inspired by the fast Song of Blades and Heroes engine. It is a complete game: you need no other rulebook to play it.

This book holds every core rule — activation, movement, combat, morale, magic, the village, and the wave engine — plus the traits and spells the supplied profiles use (§8). Two companions carry the rest: the Hero Compendium gives each hero's profile, lore, and unique signature ability, and the Bestiary & Wave Generator gives the enemy roster and their Alpha Rules. A signature ability is printed with its hero rather than repeated here.

The book has three parts. Part One — Learn the Game (Ch. I–III) teaches the rules every model uses: read it once before your first game. Part Two — Play the Game (Ch. IV–VII) follows the order of play at the table: set up, start a wave, fight it, end it. Part Three — Reference (Ch. VIII) holds the trait, spell, and glossary tables for lookup during play.

Two to four heroes defend five village buildings from a series of enemy waves. The Town Hall must survive. If it is destroyed, the players lose immediately. If it remains standing when the final wave ends, the players win. For a harder game, the players also lose if every hero is Defeated at the same time; Defenseless heroes do not trigger this rule.

Every game follows the same loop:

1. Start a wave (Ch. V): calculate its budget, build Enemy Groups, resolve wave-start abilities, and deploy both sides.
2. Fight the wave (Ch. VI): heroes and enemies take alternating turns until no enemy remains.
3. End the wave (Ch. VII): resolve fires, gain Supplies, place an Opportunity, then repair, upgrade, and prepare defenses in the Council Phase.

Sequence of Play

You need 2–4 hero models, enemy models from the Bestiary, five village buildings, terrain, a ruler marked at 3", 6", and 9", at least three D6s, and tokens for Integrity, Supplies, fire, Defenseless models, Opportunities, Barricades, Traps, and Wounds.

Use a Short measure of 3", Medium measure of 6", and Long measure of 9". Measure from any point of one base to any point of another base. A profile gives a model's Quality (Q), Combat (C), traits, and sometimes a ranged attack, spell, or signature ability.

Quality is the number a die must equal or exceed to succeed; lower is better. A natural 1 always fails and a natural 6 always succeeds. Combat is added to a combat die. Unless a trait says otherwise, a model has Medium movement.

Rules terms are introduced where they first matter. For lookup during play, use the Glossary in §8.3.

3.1   Rounds, turns, and activation

A round contains one hero turn and one enemy turn. At the start of a side's turn, all of its models become Active. The side then activates its models one at a time:

1. Nominate one Active model — or end the turn instead.
2. Roll one, two, or three activation dice and compare each die with the model's Quality. Each success gives one action.
3. Resolve the model's actions, then mark it Activated.
4. Continue with another Active model — unless the roll caused a turnover, which ends the side's turn.

A model that fails one activation die without turnover is still Active and may be nominated again later that turn. A Hero treats one activation die as an automatic success; it also automatically passes a one-die Quality check.

Example — activation: A Q3+ hero rolls two dice: 4 and 1. The 4 succeeds and the 1 fails, so the hero has one action and the turn continues. If the dice were 2 and 1, the hero would take no action and the hero turn would end.

Group activation. Up to five models within Long distance of a friendly Leader, and within Long of each other, may activate together on a single roll. Roll once using the worst Quality in the group; every model in it takes the same number of actions and must use them in the same way — typically all moving in roughly the same direction. A turnover from a group roll ends the side's turn as normal. Enemy Groups always activate this way; see §6.2.

Tasks. Some jobs take more than one action: defusing a trap, pulling a comrade free, breaking a harpoon loose. These are written as a 1-, 2-, or 3-action Task. A model performs a Task by spending actions on it; the actions accumulate and need not all come from the same turn, and the Task is complete once the stated number has been spent. A model that leaves, is Defeated, or is interrupted before finishing loses the accumulated actions unless the rule says otherwise. Unless a rule says so, two models cannot pool actions on the same Task.

3.2   Actions

Actions may be taken in any order. A model may make only one attack—melee or ranged—per turn unless a trait says otherwise.

3.3   Movement, terrain, and engagement

Move in a straight line. A model may move less than its full distance. Difficult terrain and a linear obstacle reduce movement one band (Long to Medium, Medium to Short); a Short-move model needs two actions to cross it. A model may always spend one action to take a one-base-width step.

Models may pass through friendly bases only if they can clear them, and never through an enemy. Movement stops on contact with an Active enemy; the models become Engaged. Defenseless enemies do not stop movement. A model may cross low obstacles using the linear-obstacle rule; terrain higher than half its height is impassable unless players agree it can be climbed before play.

A model may leave melee freely only if every enemy it leaves is Defenseless, Entangled, or Transfixed. Otherwise, every adjacent enemy that lacks Free Disengage makes one Free Hack against it. If the leaving model survives, it completes its move. Mounted models have Free Disengage against non-Mounted, non-Flying enemies; Flying models have it against non-Flying enemies.

A Free Hack is an attack that carries no risk for the attacker. Resolve it as a normal melee attack, except that the target makes a defensive roll: it rolls its D6 and adds Combat and modifiers as usual, and can stop the attacker from winning, but can never inflict a result of its own. The worst outcome for a model making a Free Hack is that nothing happens.

3.4   Melee

An Engaged model may spend an action to attack one adjacent enemy. Resolve every melee attack the same way:

1. Declare the attacker and one adjacent target.
2. Work out each side's modifiers from the table below.
3. Roll one D6 for each model and add its Combat and modifiers.
4. Compare the totals. The higher total wins; a tie has no effect.
5. Look at the winner's combat die and apply the result below.

Melee is simultaneous. Both models roll, whichever one attacked, and either may be hurt. A model that attacks and loses suffers the result itself, exactly as though it had been the one attacked. Spending the action buys the chance to hurt the enemy, not safety from being hurt. The only exception is a Free Hack, where the target rolls defensively and cannot hurt the attacker.

The combat die is the number showing on the D6 itself, before Combat and modifiers are added — not the final total. A model that wins with a total of 9 from a natural roll of 3 has an odd combat die.

Recoiling moves a model one base width directly away from the attacker; its controller chooses between equally legal directions. If there is no room to recoil — because of terrain, a table edge, or other models — it becomes Defenseless instead. Recoiling never moves a model through another model or into impassable terrain, and a model that recoils out of melee is no longer Engaged.

A Defenseless model may still fight, but attacks against it are Lethal: any loss defeats it. A Defenseless model is attacked at +2 Combat. A Power Blow, a Defenseless or Transfixed target, and a Lethal attack each defeat the target on any loss; they do not change an otherwise higher multiplier result.

When a model is Engaged with several enemies, resolve each attack separately, one at a time, applying the outnumbering modifier below. Apply each result before rolling the next attack: a model that is Defeated by the first attacker does not get to fight the second.

An attacker that began the turn fully hidden from its target — behind blocking terrain or otherwise out of its line of sight — has the Ambush bonus on its attack.

Example — the attacker wins

A C4 hero makes a Power Blow against a C3 raider. The hero rolls 4 (total 8); the raider rolls 3, reduced to C2 (total 5). The hero wins but does not double 5, so the raider becomes Defenseless because the hero's combat die — the 4 — is even.

Example — the attacker loses

The same C4 hero attacks an orc warrior. The hero rolls 1 (total 5); the orc has C3 and rolls 5 (total 8). The orc wins, so the hero suffers the result even though the hero attacked. The orc's combat die is 5, an odd number, so the hero Recoils one base width away.

Example — the combat die is not the total

A C5 boss rolls 2 against a C1 mob that rolls 1. The boss totals 7 against 2 — more than triple, so the mob suffers a Gruesome Kill. The boss's low roll of 2 does not matter: the multiplier decides whether the target is Defeated, and the combat die only chooses between Recoil and Defenseless.

3.5   Ranged attacks

A shooter needs line of sight and may not be Engaged. It may not target an enemy Engaged with another model. The closest legal visible enemy must be targeted, except that the shooter may ignore an enemy that is Defenseless, in cover, hidden, or worth less than half the shooter's profile cost; it may always choose a Big or Huge target. Agree which terrain blocks line of sight before play. Visible partial obstruction is Cover.

Roll a D6 for shooter and target, adding Combat and modifiers. The target makes a defensive roll (§3.3): it can stop the shooter from winning but can never hurt the shooter back. A tie has no effect. If the shooter wins, read the shooter's combat die and resolve Recoil, Defenseless, Defeated, and Gruesome Kill exactly as in melee. Shooting a Defenseless or Transfixed target is Lethal. A natural 1 on a shooter's combat die requires another D6; on a second 1, its ranged weapon cannot make further ranged attacks this game.

Concentrated Shooting. Two or more models that are all Active, all in range and line of sight of the same target, and all able to shoot may fire together as a single attack. Roll once for the group using the best shooter's Combat, and apply −1 Combat to the target for each shooter after the first. Resolve the result once. A model that takes part has shot for the turn. Effects that trigger per hit, such as Poison, are checked once per shooter, but the target still suffers no more than the normal maximum from that effect in a turn.

Short Bows have Medium range and gain +1 Combat within Short. Longbows have Long range and use +1 / 0 / −2 Combat at one / two / three Long measures. Javelins have Short range; after moving closer to a target, one may be thrown for free. A Javelin is exhausted on a natural 1. Throw Rock has Medium range.

Example — shooting: A C3 Marksman with Good Shot fires at a C2 enemy in Cover. He rolls 5: 3 + 5 + 1 − 1 = 8. The target rolls 4 for 6. The target becomes Defenseless because the shooter's die was even.

3.6   Morale and states

A morale check is a three-die Quality roll. On one failure, the model moves one full movement band toward the nearest table edge; on two failures, it moves two bands; on three failures, it Flees and is removed. Fleeing movement uses the shortest legal route and terrain penalties. If it begins this movement Engaged, each enemy it leaves makes a Lethal Free Hack.

A model checks morale when:

• it is charged by a model with Terror;
• a Gruesome Kill occurs within Long of it;
• its Leader is Defeated;
• more than half of its side's starting models have been Defeated or Fled.

Special cases:

• Fearless, Artificial, and Undead models ignore Terror and Gruesome-Kill checks.
• An Undead model that rolls two or three failures is Defeated instead of moving.
• A Defenseless model first spends each compelled movement standing; a Defenseless model that fails morale while Engaged is Defeated.
• A Transfixed model that fails morale is Defeated.

For an Enemy Group, check only Terror and Gruesome Kills. After compelled morale movement, the model resumes its Behaviour when it next activates. A Raider that reaches an edge because of morale has Fled; it has not looted a building. Enemy models leaving by morale count toward ending the wave.

3.7   Magic and conditions

A model with one or more named spells on its profile is a Spell-caster. It must declare spellcasting before rolling activation dice. Its successes are actions and may be spent as spell Power 1–3; Power 1/2/3 has Short/Medium/Long range. It cannot cast while Engaged or without line of sight. On three failed dice, it is out of power for the rest of the wave. Unless a spell below says otherwise, a spell used as a ranged attack uses Combat equal to its Power and follows ranged-attack rules.

Transfix

Spend 1–3 actions to target a visible model at the matching range. The target rolls one Quality die per Power; any failure Transfixes it. A Transfixed model cannot move, is attacked at +2 and Lethally, and spends two actions to break free. It immediately breaks free if its caster is Defeated.

Entangled

An Entangled model cannot move. It spends two actions to break free; it is attacked at +1 Combat. Ensnare ends if the ensnarer Recoils or is Defeated.

Named spells used by the supplied profiles are resolved in the Spells reference (§8.2). A wall remains until the end of the wave or its caster is Defeated, unless destroyed sooner.

Spell kinds. Some spells and traits refer to each other by kind. An Enchantment is a lasting effect that Break Enchantment can dispel. A Summoning creates a model or effect that vanishes if its caster is Defeated, and that Unsummon can remove. A Wall is a summoned barrier as described above. A Resisted spell lets its target roll one Quality die per point of Power to avoid it, any failure meaning the spell takes hold. A spell that affects only living targets has no effect on Undead or Artificial models. A Ritual spell is cast as a Task of the stated number of actions rather than in one activation.

Conditions. A condition lasts until something removes it. Beyond Defenseless, Transfixed, and Entangled above:

A Healer, a Potion of Healing, or a spell that removes conditions clears one condition per use unless it says otherwise. Wounds are not conditions and are removed only by healing that names them.

3.8   Tough heroes

When a Tough model would suffer a normal Defeated result, give it one Wound instead and worsen its Quality by 1. At Q7+ it is Defeated. A Gruesome Kill still defeats a Tough model. Hero Wounds persist between waves until healing removes them. A Defenseless hero is still on the table; a Defeated hero is removed and can only return through Resurrection.

1. Choose Intro (5 waves), Standard (7 waves), or Siege (10 waves).
2. Choose 2–4 heroes. Each contributes 100 wave points: party value is 200, 300, or 400.
3. Set a 3' × 3' battlefield. Place 6–10 terrain pieces, leaving clear routes from each edge to the centre. Decide which pieces are Difficult, Cover, blocking, or impassable.
4. Place the Town Hall within 6" of the centre. Place the Forge, Temple, Watchtower, and Stable within 8" of it and at least 3" apart.
5. Give each building its starting Integrity and Level I. Start with 0 Supplies. Set Opportunity tokens aside.

5.1   Escalation and budget

Find the wave's Escalation, then multiply party value by the listed percentage. All supported party values produce whole budgets.

5.2   Build Enemy Groups

The Bestiary is the enemy roster; its printed Wave Points are used here.

1. Check the Escalation limits. At Escalations I–II, choose Mobs only. At IV+, a Group may include one Elite alongside Mobs. At VI–VII, the first Group must contain one Boss. At VII, use at least three Groups and at least two different Behaviours.
2. For each new Group, choose an enemy profile from the Bestiary. The Group uses the Behaviour printed on that profile; a profile listing two Behaviours may use either. Before Escalation III, choose one Behaviour for the whole wave and build every Group from profiles that use it; from Escalation III on, each Group may use a different Behaviour.
3. Roll a D6 for the number of models: 1–5 gives that many; reroll 6. Add models one at a time, stopping before their total would exceed the remaining budget. A Group must contain at least one model; if none fits, choose a cheaper profile or stop building the wave.
4. Repeat until no eligible model fits. Number Groups in the order created. At II+, these profiles may ignite buildings: Blazing Skeleton, Chaos Zealot, Fire Entity, Goblin Looter, Infernal Imp, Kobold Skirmisher, Orc Demolisher, and Orc Warrior.
5. Roll a spawn edge for every Group. At V+, use at least two different edges if there is more than one Group.

For a random edge, assign 1–4 clockwise around the table and roll a D6; reroll 5–6. Enemy spawn edges stay hidden until enemies deploy unless Watchtower III reveals them.

5.3   Start-of-wave sequence

Once the wave is built, resolve these steps in order:

1. Wave-start abilities that add or choose models. Town Hall III deploys up to two absent Village Archers; Stable III deploys up to two absent Village Riders; Stable II chooses its Warhorse hero (§7.3).
2. Deploy the defenders. Place all heroes and Village Defenders within 6" of the Town Hall — or within 6" of any village building if Watchtower III is active.
3. Deploy the enemies. Reveal spawn edges (with Watchtower III they were revealed before hero deployment) and deploy each Enemy Group wholly within 6" of its edge, outside Short of a hero where possible.
4. Ready Mounts. With Stable I, move one hero up to Short. This is not an action and cannot enter contact with an enemy.
5. Begin. Heroes take the first turn.

Each round, take a hero turn and then an enemy turn, following the activation rules in §3.1. The wave ends immediately when every enemy is Defeated or Fled.

6.1   The hero turn

Heroes activate one at a time as in §3.1. Village Defenders also activate during hero turns. They are not heroes: they cannot claim Opportunities or use hero signatures, and have no Wound track.

Claiming an Opportunity. An Opportunity token placed at the end of an earlier wave (§7.1) waits outside the village, face down unless Watchtower II revealed it. A hero in base contact spends one action to reveal and claim it, then resolves the result below. Claiming ends that movement unless the hero's signature ability says otherwise. An unclaimed Opportunity remains until claimed; remove all unclaimed tokens when the game ends.

6.2   The enemy turn

Activate eligible Enemy Groups in Behaviour play order: Fanatic, Ravager, Hunter, Raider, Mindless, then Guardian. Break a tie by lower Group number. A Group rolls once using its worst Quality; every model in it receives the same number of actions. Complete one model before the next. Two failures end the enemy turn after any successes are used. Exception: a Mindless or Guardian Group receives at most one action per activation and never causes a turnover — on two failures it simply receives no action.

For each action, use this universal priority:

1. If Engaged, make a melee attack against the Behaviour's preferred target; otherwise attack the adjacent target that is nearest to the Group's goal.
2. Identify the Behaviour's target and move by the shortest legal route toward the required position.
3. If the target becomes attackable and an action remains, attack it.
4. If no preferred target exists, use the Behaviour's fallback. If no useful action is possible, lose the action.

When routes or targets tie, choose in this order: closest to the Town Hall, lowest current Integrity, most Wounds, lowest Combat, then lowest Group number. If still tied, roll a D6.

6.3   Behaviours

Ravager. Target: the nearest undestroyed building; on a tie, the lowest Integrity. In melee: if adjacent to its building, attack it; a hero is attacked only if it blocks the route or is the only adjacent target. Fallback: if every building is Destroyed, use Hunter.

Hunter. Target: the nearest hero; on a tie, the hero with most Wounds, then the universal tie-breaker. In melee: attack that hero when Engaged. Fallback: if no hero remains, target the nearest Village Defender, then the Town Hall.

Raider. Target: the nearest intact Forge or Stable; on a tie, Forge. In melee: attack that building until it is Destroyed, then move by the shortest route to the nearest table edge and leave it; attack a blocking or Engaged hero only until it can resume the route. Fallback: if both economic buildings are Destroyed, leave by the nearest edge.

Mindless. Target: the nearest hero, Village Defender, or undestroyed building. In melee: attack the nearest adjacent target. Limits: it never voluntarily disengages or makes a ranged attack or spell attack.

Fanatic. Target: the Town Hall. In melee: attack it when adjacent; attack a hero only if the hero blocks its route or is Engaged. Limits: Fanatics ignore voluntary retreat and do not make morale checks for Terror or Gruesome Kills.

Guardian. Target: on deployment, assign the Group its nearest building; if an Opportunity is nearer, assign that instead. Move until within 3" of it. In melee: while within 3", attack heroes or Village Defenders that come within 3"; do not pursue farther. Fallback: if the objective is Destroyed or removed, assign the nearest remaining building; if none remains, use Hunter.

6.4   Attacking buildings, and fire

Buildings are solid objectives, not playable interiors. Models cannot enter, stand inside, or fight from a building unless a scenario says otherwise. Defending doors, windows, and walls is represented by adjacent models, Cover, Barricades, and building upgrades.

Buildings do not activate, move, attack, make morale checks, Recoil, or become Defenseless. An adjacent enemy may spend one action to make a structural attack. Roll the attacker's D6 + Combat against the building's D6 + Structure 3. If the attacker has Big, Huge, or Heavy Weapon, add +1 Combat to this roll; this bonus does not stack. Do not use the normal combat result table. Buildings gain no outnumbering penalty.

If the attacker ties or loses, no damage is dealt. On a win, reduce Integrity by 1. Enemy Behaviours make one normal building attack per action; they use Power Blow only if a profile, scenario, or special rule says so. A winning Power Blow reduces Integrity by 2 instead. Traits that explicitly add building damage apply after this result. At 0 Integrity, remove any fire token and mark the building Destroyed; it loses its ability and cannot be repaired or upgraded. Destroying the Town Hall ends the game immediately.

Example — a building attack: A C3 Orc Demolisher with Heavy Weapon attacks a Forge. It rolls 4, for 8 after Combat and the Heavy Weapon structural bonus. The Forge rolls 3, for 6 after Structure. The Forge loses 1 Integrity.

Fire. A Torch Bearer adjacent to an intact building may spend one action to place one fire token on it instead of attacking. A building can hold only one fire token. Fires burn until the end of the wave: heroes may extinguish them then, and each building still burning loses 1 Integrity (§7.1). Fire damage uses the same destruction rule as above but is not prevented by Cover or combat traits.

6.5   Barricades and Traps in play

Barricades and Traps are placed during the Council Phase for 1 Supply each (§7.2).

A Barricade is a 3" linear obstacle with Integrity 2 and Structure 2, placed within 3" of a village building. It gives Cover to a model immediately behind it and uses the structural attack procedure. A Destroyed Barricade is removed. Models cross an intact Barricade using the linear-obstacle movement rule; Flying models ignore it.

A Trap is placed face down within 6" of a village building. The first enemy entering its 2" area triggers it; resolve its effect, end that model's movement, then remove the Trap.

7.1   End Sequence

When no enemy remains, resolve this sequence in order:

1. Extinguish fires. Each hero adjacent to a burning building may extinguish its fire; each hero can extinguish one fire.
2. Fire damage. Every still-burning building loses 1 Integrity. If the Town Hall is destroyed, the players lose.
3. Supplies. Gain Supplies equal to the wave number.
4. Rewards. Resolve any claimed Opportunity that says it happens at wave end.
5. Place an Opportunity. If this was not the final wave, place one Opportunity token outside the village, on a random edge and at least 12" from the Town Hall if possible. Keep it face down unless Watchtower II is active. It is claimed during play (§6.1).
6. Council. Resolve the Council Phase (§7.2).

7.2   Council Phase

After every non-final wave, resolve Council actions in any order. Players may spend Supplies to repair (Forge), upgrade buildings, place Barricades and Traps for 1 Supply each (§6.5), and use healing (Temple, Herb tokens). A building cannot exceed its starting Integrity. Destroyed buildings cannot be repaired or upgraded.

7.3   Buildings and Upgrades

Each ability is tagged with when it is used: (Council) during the Council Phase, (Wave start) in the start-of-wave sequence (§5.3), (Wave) during play, or (Passive) always.

Town Hall

• I — Heart of the Village (Passive): If the Town Hall is Destroyed, the players lose immediately.
• II — Engineering Corps (Council): Each Council Phase, choose one: repair 1 Integrity for free, or place one Barricade for free.
• III — Village Militia (Wave start): Deploy up to two absent Village Archers within 6" of the Town Hall. Do not add replacements while both are in play.

Forge

• I — Repairs (Council): Spend 1 Supply to restore 1 Integrity.
• II — Master Craftsmen (Council): Each Supply spent on repairs restores 2 Integrity instead of 1.
• III — Reinforced Defenses (Council): Once each Council Phase, one Barricade placed this phase gains +1 starting Integrity.

Temple

• I — Healing (Council): Once each Council Phase, heal 1 Wound from one hero.
• II — Blessing (Wave): Once per wave, before an enemy activation begins, choose one building. It ignores all Integrity damage from that activation, including fire caused during it.
• III — Resurrection (Council): Once per game during a Council Phase, return one Defeated hero within 3" of the Temple with three Wounds (Q6+ for the supplied Q3+ heroes).

Watchtower

• I — Overwatch (Wave): Once per wave, before a hero within 3" makes a ranged attack, give that attack +1 Combat.
• II — Scouts (Passive): Reveal an Opportunity when it is placed.
• III — Advanced Deployment (Wave start): Reveal spawn edges before hero deployment; heroes and Village Defenders may deploy within 6" of any village building.

Stable

• I — Ready Mounts (Wave start): After both sides deploy, move one hero up to Short. This is not an action and cannot enter contact with an enemy.
• II — Warhorse (Wave start): Choose one hero. It has Long Move for that wave.
• III — Rider Militia (Wave start): Deploy up to two absent Village Riders within 6" of the Stable. Do not add replacements while both are in play.

Village Archers and Village Riders are Village Defenders; they activate during hero turns and follow the rules in §6.1.

8.1   Traits

Use only traits printed on supplied profiles. Effects that refer to a Wound apply only to Tough models; an ordinary model is Defeated where the effect says it suffers a normal kill.

8.2   Spells

8.3   Glossary

8.4   Quick Reference