Playtesters Rulebook

The Following book details the various rules needed to properly play the game.
The sections include: General rules, card layout(inluding abilities and stats),card types,turn procedure,
combat,winning and losing, and other miscellaneous rules regarding gameplay.
General Rules
This section details the specifications of deck size, card limits, setting up the field, mass production and
order of attacking and the Graveyard.
Deck Size: Decks must consist of at least 55 cards and the player must have at least 20 cards in each
deck. Decks can be as large as the player wishes.
Card Limits: Unit cards, Equipment cards, Defense Cards, Building cards and Terrain cards are
limited to 4 per deck. Special cards are limited to 3 per deck and basic rarity gold producing buildings
are limited to 10. Elite rarity cards of any card type are limited to one per deck.
Setting up the field: The playing field is split into 4 lines: Offensive Line, Mid-Line, Defensive Line
and Base Line. Each line has a specific purpose and function.
Offensive Line: Only unit cards can be placed in this line and while placed in this line they can attack,
counter and use their Opportunity if they have one.
Mid-Line: Only Defense cards can be placed in this line.
Defense Line: Only unit cards can be placed in this line and while placed in this line they can't attack or
counter, but instead have their defense value added onto their health.
Base Line: Only Building and Terrain cards can be placed in this line.
Offensive Line
Defensive Line
Mid-Line
Base Line
Your deck should be split into two decks, one consisting of all Defense, Building, Equipment and
Terrain cards. The other should consist of all Unit and Special cards in your deck.
Mass Production: This term refers to the reduced price a card receives when a player has more Tech
than needed to place a card. For example, if a card cost 0 tech and $300 and you have 1 tech, the card
instead cost $200.
Order of Attacking:
While a player has cards on Offensive Line, the other player can't attack cards on Mid-Line or Defense
Line until the players Offensive Line has no cards occupying it. Also, while a player has cards in
Defensive Line, the other player can't attack the players leader until the player has no cards occupying
Defensive Line. If a card in Defensive Line is attacked and the damage dealt is more than the health of
the card being attacked, the remaining damage is automatically dealt to the leader. Example: A card in
Defensive Line has 5 health and the enemy card deals 7 damage to it, the remaining 2 damage would
go to the leader.
Graveyard: The graveyard is where cards are sent when they're destroyed. Example: If a unit card is
destroyed, it is placed in the graveyard. Support cards are not placed in the graveyard, but instead
placed elsewhere and cannot be brought back through card effects that allow pertain to reviving cards.

Card Layout
Cards found in Shellshock include two sets of stats, as well as many other values that affect gameplay.
1

2
3

4
5

1. Name: The title of the card.

2.Tech Cost: The amount of Tech required to place this card. Tech are produced by buildings.
3.Type: The type of card.
4. Keywords: These are abilities that cards might have.
5. Card Text: This is where abilities can be found(such as First Blood and Last Stand) that affect
gameplay. Not every card has an ability.
6. Damage Values: This is the damage that a card can do to other cards. The left value is Infantry
damage and the right is Vehicle and Air.
7 Health Values: This is the amount of damage a card can take. The left value is the cards health value
and the right is its defense value.
8 Cost: This is how much money the card cost to place.
Below is a list of passive abilities, or keywords, found on many cards throughout the game.
Agility:This card can attack or use it's opportunity the same turn it's placed.
Persistence:This card can attack twice or attack and use it's opportunity in the same turn.
One Man Army:If this card is in a line by itself, it gains +2/2 damage.
Distract:When this card is placed, select an enemy unit card. That card can only attack this card it's
next turn.
Fury:Every time this card destroys another unit card, gain +1/1 damage.
Guardian:When a friendly unit is going to take fatal damage, you can instead send the damage to this
card.
Suppression Fire:When performing a group attack, the player can choose to give up this cards damage
and disable the enemy card from countering.
Pierce:This card can deal damage to any enemy card or the enemy leader, even while the enemy has
cards on the field.

Blood-lust:This effect activates every time this card destroys a unit.

First Blood:This effect activates when the card is first placed.
Last Stand:This effect activates when the card is destroyed.
Opportunity(1):This effect is activated when the player chooses and can only be activated during the
players turn unless otherwise specified(The number in the parentheses indicates the amount of times it
can be activated). Activating the effect uses your turn.
Disarm: Remove all effects of the target card.
Card Type
There is multiple card types found in Shellshock:Trials of War, including Building, Terrain, Defense,
Equipment, Special, Leader and Unit, which can be further broken down into Infantry, Vehicle and Air.
Building: These cards are placed in your Base Line and can't be destroyed by unit attacks. These cards
typically produce Tech but can have other functions. Limited to 4 per deck and placed in the Base
Deck.(Basic money producing buildings are limited to 10 instead of 4.
Terrain: These cards can't be destroyed by unit attacks and only one can be active at a time and are
placed on Base Line. Limited to 4 per deck and placed in the Base Deck.
Defense: These cards are placed on Mid-Line and can be destroyed by cards that deal Vehicle damage.
Limited to 4 per deck and are placed in the Base Deck.
Equipment: These cards are attached to a friendly unit card and give an effect or buff. Each card can
only have one Equipment card equipped at a time, and if a card dies while having an Equipment card
attached to it, both cards are sent to the graveyard. Limited to 4 per deck and placed in the Base Deck.
Special: These cards are discarded among use and are limited to 3 per deck and placed in the Unit
Deck.
Leader: These cards don't have a presence on the board, and when this cards health reaches 0, the
game ends. This card is not placed in either deck and can't be played.
Unit: These cards are played onto the field in either offensive or defensive line and are limited to 4 per
deck and are placed in the unit deck. This category can be broken into 3 sub-categories.
Infantry: These units take Infantry damage.
Vehicle: These units take Vehicle damage.
Air: These units take Vehicle damage, and can attack and move in the same turn, or use an
ability, such as an opportunity, and move in the same turn.
Turn Procedure
Each player starts with $1,600 and 7 cards. The player that goes second draws a card on their first turn.
When a turn starts, the player adds their money and draws a card. If the player has 12 cards in their
hand already, they do not draw. The player can choose which deck they draw from.
Combat
The combat system in Shellshock: Trials of War is easy to understand but contains some complex rules
that dictate the specifics of the system. The topics covered in this section include: Card stats, card
abilities and attacking/countering.
Card Stats: Each unit card has stats that indicate the amount of damage the card can output and take.
These stats can be broken down into 2 different categories: Damage values and Health values.

1. Damage values: These values indicate the amount of damage the card can do. The value on the
left, or in this case 5 is the amount of damage this card can deal to Infantry units, while the
value on the right, which in this case is 2, is the amount of damage this card can deal to
Vehicle and Air units.
2. Health Values: These values indicate the amount of damage the card can take. The value on the
left, which in this case is 4, means that this card can take 4 Infantry damage since it's an
Infantry card. The value on the right, which in this case is 1, is the defense value and is only
active while the card is in Defensive Line. If this card was placed in Defensive Line, its defense
value would be added onto its health value, giving it a total health of 5.
Card Abilities: Most cards have abilities that define their role in a deck. These abilities can be
separated into two categories: Passive abilities and Active Abilities.
Passive Abilities: These abilities are generally active at all times and maintain the same effect
at all times. Examples would be abilities such as Agility and Persistence.
Active Abilities: These abilities, such as First Blood and Last Stand, only activate under certain
situations and their effect varies between cards.
Attacking/Countering: This section can be broken into single attacks, group attacks, and countering.
1. Single Attacks: A single attack is when a single unit card attacks an enemy card. If performing a
single unit attack, your unit must have enough damage to destroy the enemy unit.
2. Group Attack:A group attack is when multiple units attack a single card. There is no limit on
how many cards can attack a single card.
3. Countering: When a card is attacked, it deals it damage to the unit that is attacking it. If multiple
cards are attacking one card, it deals it damage to only one of the attacking cards.
*Cards can't attack or counter while in Defensive Line.
Winning/Losing
This section details the ways to win, and lose, the game.
If the enemy leaders health reaches 0, then the enemy player loses. If your leaders health reaches 0,
then you lose the game. There are multiple ways to reduce a leaders health to 0.
1. Attacking: Unit cards can attack the enemy leader and reduce its health to 0.
2. When a player can't draw cards from their Unit deck, their leader takes 5 damage each turn.

3. When a player has over $10,000, the enemy leader takes 10 damage for every turn the player
maintains that amount of money.
Miscellaneous Rules
1. Effects that alter rules always take precedent over the standard game rules.
2. Cards with 0 for any stat value can not be buffed in a way that would change the stat. For
example, if a card has 0/0 damage and is buffed to gain +1/1 damage, the card would not be
able to gain the damage.
3. If a card with a blood-lust ability attacks another card and dies in the process, the effect still
triggers.
4. If a cards effect is impossible to complete, then the effect is ignored.
5. Cards can't be reduced below $100.
6. If a card is brought back into play from the graveyard through a card or an effect and it has a
First Blood effect, the effect is not triggered.
*This rulebook is expanding and is subject to change. To keep up-to-date with new versions, visit us at
www.shellshocktesting.weebly.com