Gamehelpdeliverance

Overview:

 Smite evil and protect the saints of Fallbrook as an elite angelic warrior!  BGA currently only supports Skirmish Mode, which is 2 battles back-to-back.  One against minions, and then a boss.  Victory is achieved by defeating all of the demons in both battles.  Defeat is suffered when there are no more angels on the battlefield.  

I - Pick your angel:

 Angels have unique skill sets, but generally pick one based on what art attracts you or on the back in the top right are ratings for how they play.  Click an angel button once to see their character board, and click the button again to select it for play.

II - Battle 1 Setup:

 Battle setup happens automatically, randomly placing map tiles based on Angel count and setting up the enemies/saints according to Battle cards drawn. Angels each start with 2 Courage.

III - Earthfall:

 Pick a starting square for your angel to enter the fray from.  Skirmish mode starting squares are spaces on the Heavenly Gates tile.

IV - Rounds:

 A round is played in distinct phases
 IVa - Darkness Phase
   IVa1 - Place Darkness cards.  The number of cards placed in the darkness are equal to number of angels + number of oppressed saints (First round does not count saints).  Once the track is full of face down cards, they will start to become face up and disrupt your carefully laid plans.  If the track is full of face up cards and additional cards need to be placed, EACH angel will take damage equal to the number of cards that could not be placed.
   IVa2 - Resolve Darkness Cards.  Darkness cards are resolved left to right and may contain a combination of 3 icons: Activate (lightning bolt), Ongoing (circular arrows), Stronghold (Castle).  Cards with Activate will resolve their effects, and then be discarded unless they also have the Ongoing icon.  Cards with the Ongoing icon are passive effects that will disrupt your play during the action phase.  Cards with the Stronghold icon cannot be Cast Down, these are typically only from the Prince deck.

 IVb - Action Phase
   IVb1 - Refresh action tokens.  Angels gain 2 action tokens to use, demon cards on the initiative track have their action tokens flipped to the gold "ready" side.
   IVb2 - Decide first angel: Players get to choose which angel goes first each round.  Vote for whichever angels you think could make a strong first move.  Ties are given to a tie-breaker where a die is rolled for each option, high roll wins.  The decided angel gets the initiative token and takes the first turn.
   IVb3 - Turns are taken alternately by angels and demon cards in the initiative track until all angels and demons have gone.

 IVc - Level Up Phase (Skirmish only)
   The XP tracker (Gold circle around a number) determines levels.  XP is always group and the whole party gains levels simultaneously.  To take a level you can choose to gain a Treasure or Talent.  Regardless of the choice, draw the next 2 cards from the appropriate deck and chose one to equip.  The other card is placed back in the deck (if talent) or discarded (if treasure). 
   XP is gained by protecting saints (1 each time a saint is protected) and defeating demons, it does not matter the manner in which they are defeated, XP per demon is listed on the demon board and battle card.
   XP required for the group to level up is the number of angels playing +1.
   IVc1 - Treasure : You can have a max of 5 treasures equipped, if you would chose above this you must select one to discard.  Treasures are how you increase your stats and may give other bonuses, penalties, or actions that can be used according to their text.
   IVc2 - Talents : Each angel has 3 decks of 5 unique talents going level 1-3.  When selecting talent you will choose from the lowest level that is not currently equipped.  Talents can give Ongoing passive effects, give new actions to use, or upgrade the angel's base skills.

 V - Final Battle setup: 
   After all demons in the first battle have been defeated, all statuses are removed from angels and the board.  All saints are removed, all face down darkness is discarded, and angels with remaining actions get to choose a bonus for each unused action: 1 Courage; Cast down darkness; Heal 3; Draw a prayer card.
   New map tiles are randomly drawn and placed according to player count, then set up by drawing battle cards.  The final tile drawn is set up from the Prince deck and a special Prince Darkness deck of 5 cards comes into play.  Prince darkness cards are placed face-up immediately and one is drawn as the first card in each Darkness Phase.  Then back into Rounds until players are gloriously victorious or defeated.

 VI - Angel Board/Turns
   Angels each have 4 unique abilities and a pray action.  On the left is the Cost.  This can be a combination of Action (hourglass), Free Action (hourglass with wings) and Courage (+/-x).  If there is a Free Action followed by an Action, the first time that skill is used in a turn it does not cost an action token.  More uses will cost an action token.  Vise-versa is true as well, some actions cost an action token the first time it is used but not on further uses.  Courage cost always applies.
   Actions available to use will be highlighted when you can use them.  Some actions will require additional choices.  These will either appear on the board as highlighted squares, pulsating objects on the board, or buttons in the top bar.  After making your selections you can reset selections or submit them.
   Angels have a max of 5 shields, 5 prayer cards, 5 Courage, and 5 Treasures.
   Angel (and demon) standees on the board have their current health (max health - damage tokens) and shields displayed as a helpful reference.
   
 VII - Demon Boards/Turns
   All demons of a type take their turn at once according to the rules on their board.  They will act in standee number order.  First, any Activate (lightning bolt) icon actions will trigger, once all standees have acted the next triggers.  For the action (hourglass) a die is rolled and the action matching the number rolled is taken, once more in standee order.  If there are multiple valid targets or paths, the players get to give their input on which decision is made.  Damage and status tokens are placed on the board near the number matching the standee affected.

 VIII - Tests
   Many actions have an effect "Test X+."  When testing, 2 dice are rolled and the result must be X or greater to Succeed, or it is considered Failed.  Some tests have bonuses for success or penalties for failure.  Tests may be carried out by angels, demons, heaven, or darkness.  This matters when it comes to statuses.

 IX - Statuses
   In general statuses do not stack.  An angel with Blessed can be targeted with something that gives Blessed, but would not gain another Blessed boon.
   Statuses are separated into 4 Boons and 4 Afflictions
   IXa - Boons
     Blessed : When the bearer of this Boon Succeeds a test, heal 1 damage.
     Empower : When the bearer of this Boon would deal damage, increase the amount by 1.
     Swift : When the bearer of this Boon would cause movement, increase the distance by 1.
     Light : Affects a square on the board.  When an angel ends their turn on this Boon, heal 1 damage.

   IXb - Afflictions
     Cursed : When the bearer of this Affliction Fails a test it is dealt 1 damage.
     Wither : When the Bearer of this Affliction ends their turn it is dealt 1 damage.
     Root : When the bearer of this Affliction would move, they don't move, then remove this affliction.
     Shadow : Affects a square on the board.  When an angel ends their turn on this Affliction, it is dealt 1 damage.