Overview

Armageddon is a post-apocalyptic city-building game for 3-4 players. As survivors of a global catastrophe, players rebuild cities using their survivors’ talents, compete for equipment and building resources through auctions, and fight off roaming marauders. The player with the most victory points after 6 rounds wins.

Components

• 1 Game board
• 4 City boards (assembled from two tiles each)
• 7 Auction tiles
• 32 Building tiles
• 10 Scoring tiles
• 1 Game round marker
• 4 Extension tiles
• 4 Damage markers
• 4 Screens (brown, white, orange, black)
• 8 Victory point chips (+40/+80/+120/+160)
• 60 Equipment cards
• 28 Building cards (14 Level 1, 14 Level 2)
• 89 Survivors: 45 green workers, 20 red marauders, 10 blue soldiers, 10 yellow engineers, 4 purple leaders
• 20 Player markers (5 per color)
• 1 Cotton bag
• 1 Rules booklet

Setup

1. Place the game board on the table. Place the round marker next to the first space of the game round track.
2. Shuffle scoring tiles face down; draw 2. Place the first face up between rounds 3 and 4, the second at the end of the track.
3. Shuffle auction tiles into a face-down stack; reveal 3 onto the auction spaces left to right.
4. Sort cards by type and shuffle each separately. Stack equipment cards next to the equipment display; building cards (Level 1 and Level 2 separate) next to the buildings display.
5. Mix building tiles face down next to the building display.
6. Each player takes: 1 city board, 1 extension tile (placed on rightmost space), 1 damage marker (explosion side up on the -1 space), 1 screen, 5 player markers, 5 workers (green), and 1 leader (purple). Markers and survivors go behind the screen.
7. Place one marker per player on the first space of the marauder track. Stack one marker per player randomly on space 10 of the VP track.
8. Each player draws 2 scoring tiles (kept secret behind screen). In a 3-player game, return unused scoring tiles unseen.
9. Put all remaining survivors in the draw bag and mix thoroughly. (3-player game: remove 5 workers and 1 leader first.)

Turn Structure

The game is played over 6 rounds with an intermediate scoring after round 3 and final scoring after round 6. Each round has 4 phases:

Phase 1: Setting Up

1. All players advance their marker on the marauder track by the amount shown on the game round track for the current round.
2. Move the round marker to the current space.
3. Each player resolves their damage track: 1st space = gain 2 VP; 2nd space = nothing; any other space = resolve all effects to the left of the damage marker (not including 1st space or current space). Effects include: +Marauder (move marauder marker right 1), -1/-2 VP, -Purple (leader is unavailable this round).
4. Reveal equipment cards equal to the number of players onto the equipment display left to right. Draw survivors from the bag as indicated above each card and place them standing on that card. (Round 1 only: max 1 marauder per equipment card.)
5. Reveal building cards equal to the number of players onto the building display. Rounds 1-3 use Level 1 buildings; rounds 4-6 use Level 2. Place one building tile face up on each building card.

Phase 2: Auction

The start player (most VP; ties broken by marker stack position) bids first, then clockwise. Each player places one marker plus any number of survivors on the topmost unoccupied space of one of three auction areas: Exploration, Construction, or City. Continue until every player has bid exactly once in each area.

Before resolving, assign bonuses and penalties in order (Exploration, Construction, City):

• Bonus (highest bid): awarded to the player who offered the most survivors. Ties go to the earlier bidder.
• Penalty (lowest bid): suffered by the player who offered the fewest survivors. Ties go to the later bidder.

Phase 3: Resolving

Resolve each area in order:

Exploration: In descending bid order, each player selects one equipment card plus any survivors on it. Workers, soldiers, engineers, and leaders go behind the screen. Each marauder taken advances the marauder track 1 space right (marauders are then returned to the bag).

Construction: In descending bid order, each player selects one building card plus its building tile. The player may construct it immediately on an open construction site or forfeit it. Buildings come in 4 types: Headquarters, Civil, Military, Science. The first two city sites are reserved for Headquarters and Watchtower. Buildings may be overbuilt (except Headquarters/Watchtower, which are upgraded instead).

City: Players take their survivors from the city bid area and perform actions one at a time, starting with the start player:

• Extend (once per game): Place 2 survivors of any color on the extension tile to remove it, creating a building with 2 housing points and an extra action.
• Repair: For each engineer (or 2 workers), move the damage marker 1 space left.
• Extra Actions: Most buildings allow special actions activated by placing survivors on them (fighting marauders, gaining VP, drawing equipment, etc.).

Phase 4: Completion

1. Retrieve all markers and survivors from auction areas and city boards.
2. For each marauder not fought off this round, move the damage marker 1 space right. On the last space, lose 1 VP per remaining marauder.
3. Check housing: total housing points from city board, building cards, and tiles. If housing < number of survivors, return the difference to the bag and lose 2 VP per returned survivor.
4. Score any building cards that provide fixed VP each round.

Actions

• Bid in Auction: Place a player marker and any number of survivors in one of three auction areas.
• Select Equipment/Building: Choose cards from displays based on bid ranking.
• Extend City: One-time action to build the extension (2 survivors, any color).
• Repair Damage: Use engineers or pairs of workers to move the damage marker left.
• Fight Marauders: Use building extra actions to move the marauder marker left (gain 1 VP per space).
• Building Extra Actions: Various effects including drawing equipment cards, exchanging survivors, gaining VP, and more.

Scoring / Victory Conditions

Intermediate Scoring (after round 3):

• Resolve the common scoring tile (placed between rounds 3-4). Each player scores based on the condition shown.
• Remove old auction tiles and draw 3 new ones.
• All players move their marauder marker back to the first space, losing 1 VP per space moved.

Final Scoring (after round 6):

1. Resolve the final common scoring tile.
2. Each player chooses 1 of their 2 private scoring tiles and scores it; the other is discarded.
3. Score equipment cards in order: Beer, Gasoline, Weapons (sets of 2), Medicine (sets of 3), Vehicle Parts (more points for matching vehicle types), Ancient Maps (most maps = 8 VP, 2nd place = 4 VP).
4. Evaluate damage track one last time.
5. Lose 1 VP per marauder still on the marauder track.
6. Add VP track total to VP chip total. Highest score wins. Tiebreaker: most equipment cards.

Special Rules & Edge Cases

• Leader (Purple): Wild survivor; can assume any color for any action.
• VP Track Lapping: When circling the VP track, claim chips: +40, then flip to +80, then +120, then flip to +160.
• Round 1 Marauder Limit: Only 1 marauder per equipment card in the first round.
• Training Center Building: Once built, all workers also count as engineers and soldiers.
• Church Restriction: Players may not have both “Church Mercyful” and “Church Vengeful” built simultaneously.
• Housing: Extension provides 2 housing points. Some buildings provide additional housing. Military buildings with the Builder’s Yard gain an additional housing point each.
• 3-Player Game: Remove 5 workers and 1 leader before filling the bag. Return unused scoring tiles unseen.

Player Reference

Survivor	Color	Role
Worker	Green	General labor; 2 workers = 1 repair
Soldier	Blue	Combat and special actions
Engineer	Yellow	Repair (1 = 1 repair) and special actions
Leader	Purple	Wild; counts as any color
Marauder	Red	Threat; advances marauder track

Auction Areas:

• Exploration: Equipment cards + survivors
• Construction: Building cards + building tiles
• City: Survivors for city actions

Damage Track Effects (left to right): +2 VP

Nothing

+Marauder

-1 VP

-2 VP

-Purple

+Marauder, -1 VP

+Marauder, -2 VP