Dark Rituals: Veins of Neemoss

Dark Rituals: Malleus Maleficarum is a dynamic miniatures based game, where 1-4 players control a band of fledgling Heroes defending their village from the vile Legions of Darkness, controlled by the Witch Master.

Game play is designed to be dynamic, keeping all players engaged in the game. Turns are short, with the active character taking just one or two actions. The Witch Master can activate any member of the Dark Legion. When it is the Heroes’ turn, they can nominate any Hero to play a turn, as there is no fixed turn order. If a Hero is in a great position to affect the game, and they have the stamina, they can get in the fight.  

All players manage a pool of stamina that is used to pay for their character’s actions. The Witch Master has a single pool that is used for all evil characters. Each Hero has less stamina that they use for themselves. Every Action has a stamina cost and actions can only be taken if the Character can exhaust the required stamina. Stamina is restored at the start of the round.

As well as Actions, Characters can perform many Reactions, if they have the stamina. Reactions must be triggered by something happening in the game, the simplest example being an Action to Attack triggering a Reaction to Defend, but Reactions are far more wide ranged than this. Reactions will often be triggered when a Character is inactive, another example of players being engaged all the time.    

  

Within each game, characters can advance their skills. When the Heroes defeat enemies or use Alchemy Spells, they improve their Attributes. As well as improving dice rolls, high attributes unlock better gear and stronger magic. Similarly, The Witch Master can access higher level Disciples once they rack up enough kills.

The Heroes are actively encouraged to cooperate. The Aid Reaction allows one Hero to help another Hero perform an Action. Heroes can use their Stamina to order NPC villagers into the fray. 

 

The Witch Master can increase the ranks of their disciples by summoning Minions and unique Creatures, and by possessing the NPC villagers.

Each game is a scripted scenario called an Encounter. As well as the board setup, the Encounter defines objectives for both sides. These encounters form a longer story for the game and the wide variety of objectives keeps the game fresh. 

Solo mode is available, where a single player plays the Witch Master and a custom deck of cards controls the Heroes. Each draw from the AI deck provides Actions for four heroes, and the first possible Action is resolved. Default actions and reactions control cases where the AI cards cannot be used. Custom solo missions are played with objectives for the Witch Master that can be interrupted by the Heroes driven by the AI deck.