Gamehelpkabal

Kabal — How to Play

Kabal is a 1-4 player conspiracy-themed deck-building and area-control game. Players lead secret factions competing for global influence through missions, political strength, and hidden allegiances. An AI opponent called the Nemesis adds tension to every game.

Game Overview

Each round, players take turns using Action Points (AP) to:

• Deploy operatives to world locations
• Complete missions for Victory Points (VP)
• Buy asset cards to improve their deck
• Battle other factions for territory
• Activate psychic heroes (White) or launch covert operations (Black)

The game ends when the Alpha or Omega track reaches 21, a Level 10 mission is completed, or after 15 rounds. The player with the most total VP wins.

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BASIC GAME

Setup

All players start as Black allegiance. On your very first turn (Round 1 only), you may flip to White for free — this also gives you a free End Score Card change. After Round 1, flipping costs $100bn M9.

Each player receives:

• A starting deck of 10 asset cards
• A faction with a unique HQ location
• Starting operatives at their HQ and one world location
• An End Score Card (secret VP bonus at game end)

Your Turn

Each turn follows this sequence:

1. Turn Summary Popup

At the start of your turn, you see a summary showing your VPs, allegiance, resources, and the option to Flip or Stay. You can reopen this anytime via the Turn Summary button.

2. Draw Cards & Collect Income

Your hand of 5 cards is drawn automatically. Each card generates income:

• M0 (cash) — used to buy new cards from the Market
• M9 (billions) — used to fund missions
• Blue Power — psychic energy for hero activation and special actions
• Green Power — political influence
• Red Power — combat tokens for board moves
• Yellow Power — additional board movement
• White Power — required for certain missions
• Wild — can substitute for any token type

3. Spend Action Points

You have a base of 1 AP from your HQ, plus bonuses from Antarctica political strength, crystals, artifacts, and blue conversion. Each action costs AP:

Action	AP Cost	Description
Board Action	1	Deploy/move operatives. First HQ deploy is FREE.
Mission	1	Attempt to complete your active mission.
Buy	1	Purchase a card from the Market using M0.
Trash	1	Remove a card from your hand (slim your deck).
Psychics	1	Gain blue power tokens.
Battle/Heroes	1	Battle (Black) or activate Heroes (White).

Free actions (no AP cost):

• Groups — view and manage your operative groups at locations
• Market — browse available cards for purchase

4. End Turn

Click the large End Turn button when done.

Missions

Missions are the primary way to earn VP. Each mission has:

• Requirements — resources you must spend (Red, Yellow, Blue, White, M9) or conditions you must meet (control regions, own crystals)
• Rewards — Victory Points + Alpha/Omega track advancement

Basic missions are straightforward: spend the required resources, earn the VP.

Level	VP	Typical Cost
Level 1	2 VP	Low resources
Level 3	6 VP	Medium resources
Level 5	8 VP	High resources
Level 10	12 VP	Very high (ends the game!)

Board Actions & Combat

Deploy operatives from your HQ or move between locations:

• First HQ deploy each turn is FREE (no Red Power needed)
• Additional moves cost 1 Red Power each
• Yellow Power enables extra movement capacity

Battles occur when your operatives share a location with another faction:

• Combat uses dice + Combat Factor (Operatives=2, Mercenaries=1, Titans=10)
• Winners gain Black VP from casualties
• Win at a crystal/artifact location? Roll to capture it!

Political Strength & Region Control

The world map has 5 contestable regions: Europe, North America, South America, Middle East, Asia (Antarctica is your HQ base — not contestable).

• Green Power increases your political strength in regions
• The faction with the highest uncontested political strength in a region controls it
• At end of each round: +1 VP per region you control
• Region control also satisfies mission requirements (POLSTR)

Allegiance & Victory Points

VP comes in two types:

• Black VP (BVP) — earned from Black missions, battles, covert ops
• White VP (WVP) — earned from White missions, hero activation

Your Total Score at game end = BVP + WVP + Team VP

Team VP includes:

• Track Bonus — your allegiance track value (Alpha for White, Omega for Black, max 50)
• Polarity Bonus — +3 VP if your team's track is higher
• 5D Bonus — Black only: max(0, 21 - 5D track position)
• End Score Card — unique bonus card (0-20 VP based on achievement)

The Nemesis (AI Opponent)

The Nemesis is an automated opponent that:

• Changes program each round (Guardian = White, Artemis = Black, Balance = either)
• Draws cards and executes actions automatically
• Completes missions, gains VP, and advances tracks
• Has its own End Score Card worth +10 VP (Normal difficulty)

The Nemesis panel on the left shows its current stats, program, and active mission progress.

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ADVANCED GAME (Addendum)

The advanced game adds deeper mission mechanics and strategic items.

Advanced Missions

Instead of one-shot basic missions, advanced missions have multiple specific requirements that you work towards over several turns:

• Consumed requirements (Red, Yellow, Blue, White, M9, Loki, Angel) — allocate tokens from your player mat by clicking them
• Checked requirements (Control regions, own crystals/artifacts, 5D track level) — automatically verified; use the Claim button to refresh

When ALL requirements are met (or enough to qualify), click Complete to earn VP:

Level	All Met	1 Missing	2 Missing	Track Steps
L1	6 VP	5 VP	4 VP	+2
L3	16 VP	12 VP	8 VP	+2
L5	24 VP	18 VP	12 VP	+2
L10	40 VP	30 VP	20 VP	+3

Stargates, Crystals & Artifacts

Six Stargates connect world locations to crystal/artifact sites:

• Crystals (6 types) — captured via battle victories; contribute to AP and mission requirements
• Artifacts — powerful items captured from portal locations
• Empowered items at stargates grant special abilities

Heroes & 5D Track

The 5D Track (0-21) determines hero activation power:

• Higher 5D = more heroes drawn + easier activation rolls
• White players activate heroes for WVP equal to hero level
• Black players use the Battle action instead

Nemesis Advanced Missions

In advanced mode, the Nemesis also works on persistent missions:

• Assigned an L1 mission at game start
• Each turn, rolls 2d6 per unmet requirement (target: 9+)
• Requirements met are saved — progress accumulates over rounds
• On completion, earns VP and is assigned a higher-level mission
• Its current mission and progress are visible on the Nemesis panel

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Quick Reference

Resource Summary

Resource	Source	Used For
M0 (Cash)	Card income	Buy market cards
M9 (Billions)	Card income, missions	Fund missions, flip allegiance ($100bn)
Red Power	Card actions	Board moves (after free HQ deploy)
Yellow Power	Card actions	Additional movement
Blue Power	Card income, Psychics action	Hero activation, end card change (3 Blue), AP conversion
Green Power	Card income	Place political strength in regions
White Power	Card income	Mission requirements
Wild	Card income	Substitute for any token
Loki	Battle rewards (Black)	Black mission requirements
Angel	Hero activation (White)	White mission requirements

End-of-Round Events

Each round has a random event affecting all players (shown at top of board).

Game End Triggers

• Alpha or Omega track reaches 21
• Any player completes a Level 10 mission
• Round 15 ends