Overview
Omen: A Reign of War is a two-player card game of Greek mythology in which players deploy Soldiers, Beasts, and Oracles to three cities, fighting for Reward Cards and completing Feats to earn victory points. Players alternate turns managing resources, playing units, and resolving battles. The game ends when 2 cities are depleted of Reward Cards or one player completes 5 of 6 Feats.
Components
- 174 Unit Cards (Soldiers, Beasts, Oracles – 50 unique types)
- 12 Reward Cards
- 12 Feat Cards (6 per player, identical sets)
- 40 Coins
Setup
- Shuffle the 174 Unit Cards; place them face down as a draw deck.
- Place 40 coins beside the deck.
- Shuffle the 12 Reward Cards; deal them into 3 equal face-down stacks forming 3 Cities.
- Each player takes their 6 Feat Cards (placed face up) + draws 4 Unit Cards + takes 4 Coins.
- The oldest player is the First Player.
Optional beginner rule: Use only the 24 unit types marked with a single circle on the card.
Turn Structure
Players alternate turns. Each turn has 6 steps:
Step 1: Wealth
- Receive 3 Wealth Actions (first turn of the game: only 2).
- Spend 1 action to gain 1 coin or 1 Unit Card, in any combination.
- Bonus: If all 3 actions are spent on cards, draw 1 additional card. If all 3 on coins, gain 1 additional coin.
- Optional: If you have no cards in hand or no coins, gain 1 extra Wealth Action. If you have neither, gain 2 extra.
Step 2: Surge
- Spend coins to play Unit Cards from hand into Cities.
- Pay the card’s Cost (yellow value) in coins; place it on your side of a City.
- Soldier: Ability activates immediately (mandatory unless text says “may”).
- Beast: Ignore ability when played to a City (OR pay cost and discard to activate ability instead of placing).
- Oracle: Wait until Portent Step.
- Play as many units as desired/affordable. City Limit: max 5 units per player per City.
- Beast counts as 2 units for City Limit and all other purposes.
- May use 1 Reward Card per Surge Step (place it face down, activate its ability; scores 1 VP instead of 2).
Step 3: Portent
- Activate abilities on all your Oracle cards across all Cities, in any order.
Step 4: Feat
- Check Feat Cards for fulfilled conditions; turn completed Feats face down (each scores 2 VP).
Step 5: War
- Resolve War-Torn Cities. A City is War-Torn if:
- The Opposing Player has 3+ units on their side, OR
- There are 5+ total units on both sides combined.
- Compare total Strength (red) on each side. Higher wins the top Reward Card from that City’s stack.
- Winner discards all but 1 unit from their side. Loser discards all but 2 units.
- Tie: Player with more Soldiers wins. If still tied, both discard to 2 units; no Reward Card awarded.
- A City with no Reward Cards remaining is never War-Torn.
Step 6: Offering
- May discard exactly 1 Unit Card; draw any combination of cards and coins equal to its Offering Value (blue).
- All Enraged units flip face up at the end of this step.
Actions
| Action |
Details |
| Gain resources |
Wealth Actions: 1 coin or 1 card each |
| Play Unit |
Pay Cost, place at a City |
| Discard Beast |
Pay Cost, activate ability, discard |
| Use Reward |
1 per Surge Step; place face down |
| Activate Oracles |
Portent Step |
| Offer |
Discard 1 unit for its Offering Value |
Scoring / Victory Conditions
Game ends when:
- 2 of the 3 City Reward Card stacks are depleted, OR
- At end of Active Player’s turn, the Opposing Player has 5 face-down Feat Cards.
Scoring:
| Source |
Points |
| Face-down Feat Card |
2 VP each |
| Reward Card in hand (unused) |
2 VP each |
| Face-down Reward Card (used) |
1 VP each |
Tiebreaker: Player with more face-down Feat Cards wins.
Special Rules & Edge Cases
- Enraged: Many abilities cause units to become Enraged. Flip the unit face down; it becomes a Beast with Strength 4 and loses all abilities. Only Soldiers and Oracles can be Enraged. Cannot Enrage if it would exceed City Limit (Beasts = 2 units). All Enraged units flip up at end of Offering Step.
- Soldier abilities activate any time they move into a City, including being moved by another ability.
- Beasts always count as 2 units for all game purposes.
- Winning player in War may never leave a Beast in a City (since they keep only 1, and Beast = 2).
- Reveal/discard abilities apply only to Unit Cards, never Reward Cards.
- Placing revealed cards in hand or returning discarded cards to hand does not count as “drawing.”
- If the draw deck is empty, shuffle the discard pile to form a new deck.
Player Reference
Turn order: Wealth → Surge → Portent → Feat → War → Offering
City Limit: 5 units per player per City (Beasts = 2)
War triggers: Opponent has 3+ units OR 5+ total units at a City
War winner: Keeps 1 unit; Loser keeps 2; Winner takes top Reward Card
End game: 2 Cities depleted OR opponent has 5 Feats