Descent: Skirmish in the Dark

A fan-made variant of Descent: Journeys in the Dark

Updated 05/18/19
CONTENTS
Descent: Skirmish in the Dark Rules Guide ................................................................................................... 1
Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 1
Overview ................................................................................................................................................... 1
The Skirmish Game ................................................................................................................................... 2
Skirmish Setup .......................................................................................................................................... 2
Playing a Skirmish ..................................................................................................................................... 2
Activation Phase.................................................................................................................................... 3
Status Phase .......................................................................................................................................... 3
Overlord Cards ...................................................................................................................................... 3
Changes from a Standard Quest ........................................................................................................... 3
Winning a Skirmish ................................................................................................................................... 4
Force Building ........................................................................................................................................... 4
Choosing Units, Attachments, and Plot Cards ...................................................................................... 4
Choosing Overlord Cards ...................................................................................................................... 4
Additional Skirmish Rules.......................................................................................................................... 5
Line of Sight........................................................................................................................................... 5
Overfilling a Deployment Zone ............................................................................................................. 5
Controlling Tokens and Spaces ............................................................................................................. 5
Agents and Search Cards....................................................................................................................... 5
Threat and Fortune Tokens ................................................................................................................... 5
Memory Issues ...................................................................................................................................... 5
Working as Intended WAI ................................................................................................................... 5
Glossary of (Some) Terms ......................................................................................................................... 7
Activation .............................................................................................................................................. 7
Control .................................................................................................................................................. 7
Defeated................................................................................................................................................ 7
Appendix A .................................................................................................................................................... 8
Sample Forces ........................................................................................................................................... 8
Kein’s Advanced Guard ......................................................................................................................... 8
Heavy-Handed....................................................................................................................................... 8
Credits ........................................................................................................................................................... 9

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 WHOA THERE!
DESCENT: SKIRMISH IN
THE DARK RULES GUIDE Prior to playing Descent: Skirmish in the Dark
(Skirmish), be sure to read the entire Descent:
A fan-made variant of Descent: Journeys in the
Journeys in the Dark 2nd Edition (D2e) rulebook.
Dark
The mechanics of Skirmish are fundamentally
the same as those of the standard game.
INTRODUCTION
OVERVIEW
In the days following the battle at Castle Talon,
Descent: Skirmish in the Dark is a fan variant of
Baron Greigory’s health deteriorated rapidly,
Descent: Journeys in the Dark 2nd Edition (D2e).
leaving him a hollow shell of his former self.
In order to play Descent Skirmish, you must own
Returned to Arhynn, he lay bed-ridden awaiting
the D2e base game. Additional expansions to
his final days as rumor spread across the land of
D2e provide variety and more dynamic
the new usurper of the north – Baron Zachareth
combinations to the Terrinothian factions.
of Carthridge.
In Descent Skirmish, players select a faction to
When word arrived in Archaut, Warden Gravia
command. Just like the game Star Wars Imperial
Kein wasted little time invoking baronial decree,
Assault (IA), the factions then face off in a
allowing her to muster on Council authority all
winner-takes-all skirmish mission.
men-of-arms from the lands surrounding the
seat of sedition. The Marshalls of the Citadel The skirmish game uses the same rules found in
marched alongside warriors from the baronies of the Descent: Journeys in the Dark 2nd Edition
Allerfeldt, Cailn, and those still loyal to Rhynn, rulebook, with some small modifications
and together confronted Zachareth on the provided in this variant rulebook. Additionally,
outskirts of Carthridge. In the ensuing battle, specific card rulings can be found on the
Zachareth’s forces were soundly defeated, d2eskirmish.com website.
collapsing under the combined might of the
Western baronies, and bringing temporary Like IA, players build their own force using the
reprieve to the peoples of the Western lands. units and cards available to their chosen faction.
Heroes, agents, and monsters represent the
Zachareth was escorted to Archaut in chains, and units of each faction. They can be supported
interrogated in the deepest dungeon of The through unit attachments such as items, relics,
Citadel. It was there that Gravia Kein learned the and hero class cards. For persons who have
gravity of things to come. Zachareth had been a played IA, they will recognize the similarities
mere marionette, subverted to sow chaos in between D2e overlord cards and IA command
Rhynn, and all in preparation for a terrible war to cards. Agent plot cards are utilized in a similar
come. This war would test all people and all fashion to skirmish upgrade cards in IA.
races, pitting every person’s willpower against
that of their would-be master. Different combinations of units, attachments,
and cards create different synergies in Skirmish.
Time and time again Gravia Kein demanded that Just like IA, playing Skirmish is not just about
Zachareth denounce his apocryphal assertions, participating in a story, it is also about
but he continued to scream “I swear to you, outsmarting your opponent and manipulating
there is more than one! There is more than one the field of battle.
overlord”!

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THE SKIRMISH GAME The player with initiative will choose
Skirmish is a special variant of D2e for two deployment zones and resolve the first
players. In a skirmish, the two players maneuver activation during the first round.
their units across the battlefield in an attempt to
score victory points. This is accomplished 3. Determine and set up the skirmish mission.
through the elimination of opposing units and To select a random mission to play, one
the completion of skirmish mission objectives. payer should access the skirmish selector
tool on the d2eskirmish.com website. This
To play a skirmish, each player must first build a tool will randomly choose a mission and
force using the d2eskirmish.com website. provide the setup and mission rules of play.
SKIRMISH SETUP (Tip: keep the rules handy on a mobile device
The following steps must be completed prior to for easy reference.)
playing a skirmish. Follow the instructions from the skirmish
1. Bring all figurines and cards for your force. mission and construct the skirmish map.
To play Skirmish, each player must prepare a Remove the treasure chest and hidden
40 point force to field against her opponent. passage cards (if applicable) from the search
A 15 card overlord deck is also required. deck, shuffle the deck, and place it face
After building a force, each player should down within reach of both players.
obtain any hero sheets, agent, monster,
item, relic, hero class, overlord, and plot 4. Deploy Units. The player who has initiative
cards represented in her force sheet. chooses the red or blue deployment zone
(group of colored spaces) shown on the
The overlord cards should be shuffled and skirmish mission’s map. She deploys all of
the deck placed face down in the player’s her figures in this deployment zone. Then
area. All other cards should be placed face her opponent deploys all of his figures in the
up on the table in the player’s area, with other deployment zone.
attachments (items, relics, and hero class
cards) in close proximity to the unit they are 5. Draw overlord cards and acquire threat.
attached to. Each player draws three overlords from their
overlord deck and receives three threat
The appendix of this guide offers a couple tokens. (threat tokens are used to activate
examples of forces that can be created with plot cards)
only the base game.
6. Discard an overlord card / draw a search
2. Determine Initiative. The player who has card. Starting with the player who has
the lowest force cost chooses which player initiative, each player may choose to discard
begins the game. Players should choose a one overlord card to draw one search card
token from the game box to represent the from the search deck. If a player chooses to
initiative token, and the player with initiative do this, the player immediately selects a
should place the toke in her play area. In the hero to acquire the drawn search item.
case of a tie, players should determine
initiative randomly.
PLAYING A SKIRMISH
To play a skirmish, players follow all the basic
rules of D2e. However, the turn sequence is very

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different. Instead of a round consisting of a hero of 15 overlord cards. During the last step of
turn and overlord turn, each round consists of an setup, each player draws three cards from her
Activation Phase, followed by a Status Phase. deck and keeps these cards secret.
ACTIVATION PHASE A player can play each overlord card when
Players first resolve any effects that are triggered specified on that card. To play the card, she
at the start of a round (for example, from a reveals it to her opponent, resolves its ability,
Skirmish Mission card). Then, starting with the and then discards the card.
player that has initiative, the players take turns
activating unit groups and performing actions There is no limit to the number of overlord cards
with the corresponding figures. If a player has a player can play each turn, nor is there a limit to
fewer ready unit cards than her opponent, that the number of cards she may have in hand. If
player can choose not to activate a group and there are no cards remaining in a player’s
pass play back to her opponent. Once all unit overlord deck, she cannot draw overlord cards.
cards are exhausted, players proceed to the During the Status Phase of each round, each
Status Phase. player draws one overlord card, plus one
To track activations, players may choose to place additional card OR threat token for each power
a generic token or a similar item on their circle she controls on the map. A player controls
activated cards. a power circle if she is the only player who has a
figure on or adjacent to that power circle.
STATUS PHASE
After all figures have been activated, players Note: players do not acquire overlord cards from
resolve the cleanup steps in preparation for the defeating heroes.
next game round. This is called the Status Phase. CHANGES FROM A STANDARD QUEST
To resolve the Status Phase during a skirmish, Attacking: Figures can only use one of their
perform the following steps: actions to attack per activation. This includes
using special actions that involve performing one
a) Ready Cards: Both players ready all of their or more attacks (such as the berserker’s “Rage”
unit cards. ability).
b) Draw Overlord Cards: Each player draws one
overlord card from her deck, plus one Stumble (Blue X): The heat of battle is not always
additional card OR threat token for each graceful. Skirmish introduces the stumble
power circle she controls. mechanic to D2e as a modifier to the standard
c) End of Round Effects: Resolve any abilities or miss mechanic. When an attacking player rolls
mission rules that are triggered at the end of an “X” on the blue attack die, instead of
the round. immediately ceasing the attack, the attacking
d) Pass Initiative: The player who has the player rerolls the blue attack die and the
initiative token passes it to her opponent. defending player adds an additional grey
Then players begin a new round starting with defense die to her defense pool. Combat is then
a new Activation Phase resolved according to the standard D2e rules.

These phases are repeated until the mission An attacking player may prevent a stumble using
ends. game effects that allow a player to reroll a die
(i.e. Widow Tarha’s hero ability) or otherwise
OVERLORD CARDS modify a blue X roll.
Overlord cards provide players many game-
altering effects. Each player has a unique deck

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Heroes: Heroes function like all other figures. force or the skirmish mission being played. This
Their activations are tracked by exhausting their section details the parameters for building a
character sheets, and they can use only one force.
action to attack per activation. Like other units,
CHOOSING UNITS, ATTACHMENTS,
they are removed from the map when defeated AND PLOT CARDS
unless otherwise affected by another game The force sheet a player creates using the
effect (i.e. Varikas the Dead’s heroic feat). d2eskirmish.com Force Builder Tool determines
Heroes may not perform Stand Up or Revive a the figures she brings to the skirmish. The
Hero actions. following parameters are mitigated by the force
Healing: Actions that recover health cannot builder tool but provided here for reference.
revive defeated figures. Deployment Cost: The total deployment cost of
WINNING A SKIRMISH a player’s force must be 40 or fewer deployment
The skirmish ends as soon as one player has points.
accumulated 40 victory points (VPs). The player Faction Restriction: Every unit and card used in
with the most VPs wins the game. VPs come from a force must be from the same faction.
two main sources:
Card Restrictions and Dependencies: Most cards
 Defeating Figures: When the last figure in a used in skirmish are only restricted by the
group is defeated, the opposing player number available in the game. However, some
scores VPs equal to the deployment cost of cards are limited due to thematic elements. For
that group plus any attachments it carries instance, a player may choose to deploy either
(items, relics, and class cards). To track this the Raythen hero or the Raythen agent, but she
defeated status, the card’s controller places may not choose to deploy both. Furthermore,
the unit card near his opponent. most attachments have restrictions, disallowing
their use unless the appropriate kind of unit is
 Mission Effects: Each skirmish mission has being fielded.
special ways in which players can gain VPs.
Plot Cards: Plot cards enhance the capabilities of
your force. Unless required by the rules of the
When a player gains VPs, she should record the card, they do not have corresponding units. Plot
number of VPs and keep it by the figures she has cards cost deployment points and often provide
defeated. Using two 10-sided dice is a force supporting abilities. Threat tokens are
recommended way of tracking VP totals, though used to activate plot cards in the same manner
players may use tokens or a piece of paper as as the standard game.
well.
Arsenal: Some cards are not deployable units
If all of a player’s figures are defeated, she loses and also are not unit attachments. These cards
the game immediately, regardless of victory are added to a player’s “arsenal.” These cards
points. are activated according to their instructions and
may never be defeated or cause the opposing
FORCE BUILDING
player to score points.
To play a skirmish, each player needs to build a
force consisting of heroes, agents, monsters, CHOOSING OVERLORD CARDS
attachments (items, relics, and hero class cards), The overlord cards in a player’s force determine
plot cards, and overlord cards. Forces are built the tricks and surprises that she will be able to
without any foreknowledge of the opponent’s spring throughout the course of the skirmish.

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Each player’s overlord deck must follow these CONTROLLING TOKENS AND SPACES
restrictions: Some missions require figures to control tokens
or spaces on the map. To control a token or
 Deck Size: Each player’s overlord deck must space, there must be an allied figure on or
include exactly 15 overlord cards. adjacent to the token or space and no non-allied
 Overlord Card Points: Player’s may spend 11 figures on or adjacent to the token or space.
or fewer points acquiring Overlord cards.
Overlord points are separate from AGENTS AND SEARCH CARDS
deployment points. Because agents hold the hero type in a skirmish,
they are able to interact with search tokens,
ALTERNATIVE DRAFT OPTION acquire search cards, trade search cards, and use
Factions by design help to ensure that a single search cards following the standard rules.
copy of each card will be sufficient for a skirmish
THREAT AND FORTUNE TOKENS
encounter, eliminating the need for each player
Threat tokens may only be acquired in one of
to own full copies of the game. The exception to
two ways.
this is overlord cards. If not enough basic
overlord cards are available for both player’s 1) Each player acquires three threat at the
overlord decks, then the players may draft the 15 beginning of an encounter
available basic cards and add them to their 2) A player may choose to acquire one threat
chosen overlord class cards. In this case, players token for each power circle she controls
will play the encounter with fewer than 15 cards during the status phase.
in their deck.
Players never acquire fortune tokens. Fortune
If there is a single card remaining after drafting, tokens may be used a markers during game play
that card is removed from the game. (as in the case of tracking unit activations).
ADDITIONAL SKIRMISH RULES MEMORY ISSUES
Some plot cards have effects that apply at
LINE OF SIGHT
specific times, such as the end of the game
To determine if a target is within line of sight, the
round. To help remember that the card is in
attacking player chooses one corner of his
effect, players may wish to place the card by the
figure’s space. Then he traces two straight,
component it is affecting. For example, if a plot
uninterrupted lines to two different corners of
card gives a figure a bonus each time it defends
the target’s space. These lines cannot overlap
and cannot be traced through walls (thick black this round, players may wish to keep the card by
the figure or its unit card until the end of the
lines), blocked terrain (red lines), or spaces
containing figures. round
WORKING AS INTENDED WAI
OVERFILLING A DEPLOYMENT ZONE
If a player cannot fit all of her figures into her Cards from Descent: Journeys in the Dark were
deployment zone, she must fill as many spaces never intended to be used in a skirmish format.
as possible. This may require her to remove For this reason, we must re-conceptualize what
some figures and redeploy in a different order. constitutes a card’s “working as intended”. This
After filling as many spaces as possible, the section of the rules means to address what will
player may deploy her remaining figures in the (in all likelihood) create the greatest number of
spaces closest to her deployment zone. rules disagreements. When these general
guidelines do not adequately describe a cards
WAI, refer to the card’s official ruling on the
d2eskirmish.com website.

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WHAT HELPS (YOU) HELPS (YOU), WHAT HURTS fatigue.” This would not affect the active
(THEM) HURTS (THEM) (WHH) player’s heroes since the ability is intended to
In D2e, hero abilities are meant to help heroes affect opposing heroes.
and hurt the overlord and minions of the
overlord. Likewise, monster abilities and UNIT TYPES
overlord cards are meant to help the minions of Some units in Skirmish possess multiple unit
the overlord, or otherwise hurt the heroes. types. The main unit types are hero, agent, and
Because skirmish forces are comprised of monster.
heroes, agents, and monsters, we must consider  Heroes such as Syndrael and Avric Albright
how card interactions ought to occur. Generally have the hero, agent, and monster type.
speaking, cards that you would expect to help  Agents such as Baron Zachareth and Belthir
you (but not your opponent) do, and cards that have the hero, agent, and monster type.
you would expect to hurt your opponent (and  Monsters such as goblin archer or barghest
not you) do. have only the monster type.
Abilities that have an area of effect that typically When resolving cards, abilities, and effects in a
affect all figures (like “Blast”) continue to skirmish it is important to remember the unit
function as in the standard game. types of each unit.
Example 1 Example 1
Prayer of Peace reads “Exhaust this card. Dash reads “Play this card when activating a
While this card is exhausted, monsters monster during your turn. That monster may
cannot perform an attack while adjacent to perform an additional move action this turn in
you.” Since this card is intended to affect addition to its normal 2 actions.” A player could
opposing (i.e. non-allied) monsters, it target one of their heroes with Dash since their
would not affect allied monsters. hero carries the monster type.

Example 2 Example 2
Blood Rage reads “Play this card at the end of The Disciple’s Prayer of Healing card reads
you turn and choose a monster. That monster “Exhaust this card during your turn and choose
immediately performs 2 attack actions, and is yourself or an adjacent hero. Roll 1 red power
then defeated.” Since this card is intended to die. The chosen hero recovers Heart equal to the
affect an allied monster, the player could not Heart rolled.” A disciple could target an agent
choose an opposing monster. with prayer of healing because agents carry the
hero type, but a disciple could not use prayer of
Example 3 healing on a cave spider (for instance).
Word of Misery reads “Play this card at the start
of your turn. During this turn, each time a hero Example 3
suffers any damage, he also suffers 1 fatigue in The master flesh moulder’s Heal ability reads
addition to the damage suffered.” This would “Choose a monster within 3 spaces of this
not affect the active player’s heroes since it is monster and roll 1 red power die. The chosen
intended to affect opposing heroes. monster recovers Heart equal to the Heart
rolled.” The player could target an allied hero
Example 4 with the Heal ability because heroes carry the
The Barghest’s Howl ability reads “Each hero monster type.
within 3 spaces of this monster must test
willpower. Each hero that fails suffers 1

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GLOSSARY OF (SOME) TERMS
ACTIVATION
The act of using a unit during the activation
phase. (See “Activation Phase”)
CONTROL
A controlled token or space has an allied figure
on or adjacent to it and no non-allied figures on
or adjacent to it.
DEFEATED
A figure with health points at or below 0 is
considered defeated. The figure is immediately
removed from the game board. This includes
heroes (there is no “knock out” in a skirmish).

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APPENDIX A
HEAVY-HANDED
SAMPLE FORCES
Faction: Haven’s Hand
Play test these two starting forces built using
only the Descent: Journeys in the Dark 2nd Edition Heroes (17pts)
Base Game.
 Grisban the Thirsty (Berserker)
KEIN’S ADVANCED GUARD o Chipped Greataxe (Class Card)
Faction: Kein’s Order o Rage (Class Card)
o Whirlwind (Class Card)
Heroes (19pts)
o Chainmail (Item)
 Leoric of the Book (Runemaster)  Tomble Burrowell
o Arcane Bolt (Class Card) o Throwing Knives (Class Card)
o Runic Knowledge (Class Card) o Lucky Charm (Class Card)
o Exploding Rune (Class Card) o Greedy (Class Card)
o Quick Casting (Class Card) o Bushwhack (Class Card)
o Sunburst (Item)
Monsters (22pts)
 Syndrael (Knight)
o Iron Longsword (Class Card)  Ettin
o Wooden Shield (Class Card)  Goblin Archer
o Oath of Honor (Class Card)
o Advance (Class Card) Arsenal (1pt)
o Shield Slam (Class Card)  Bones of Woe
Monsters (21pts) Overlord Cards
 Flesh Moulder  Blood Rage x2
 Merriod  Bloodlust x1
Overlord Cards  Dark Fortitude x2
 Expert Blow x1
 Diabolic Power x1  Reinforce x1
 Rise Again x1  Critical Blow x1
 Unholy Ritual x2  Dark Fortune x1
 Word of Despair x1  Dark Might x1
 Word of Pain x2  Dash x1
 Dark Fortune x1  Frenzy x1
 Dark Might x1  Poison Dart x1
 Dash x1  Tripwire x1
 Frenzy x1  Word of Misery x1*
 Tripwire x1
 Pit Trap x1
 Dark Charm x1 * The D2E Base Game does not provide enough Overlord
 Word of Misery x1 cards to accommodate two complete overlord decks. It is
recommended that players choose the Alternate Draft
Option (see “Choosing Overlord Cards) in these
circumstances.

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CREDITS
Faction Symbols
 Crenulated Shiled Icon (Kein's Order) - by Lorc under CC BY 3.0
 Black Hand Shield Icon (Haven's Hand) - by Lorc under CC BY 3.0
 Skull Shiled Icon (Rothfeld Resistance) - by Lorc under CC BY 3.0
 Winged Shield Icon (Aymhelin Vanguard) - by Lorc under CC BY 3.0

Rules Language
Some language in this rule guide was taken directly from the Descent: Journeys in the Dark 2nd Edition
Rule Book or the Star Wars: Imperial Assault Skirmish Guide. This language was closely maintained to
minimize confusion between this guide and those standard rules of play. Many thanks to Fantasy Flight
Games for creating excellent games.

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