Avalon Rules: How to Play The Resistance: Avalon

Game Objective

Avalon: The Resistance is a strategic board game where players are tasked with completing a series of missions while dealing with hidden traitors known as Minions of Mordred. The game is set in the legendary world of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.

Objective for the Loyal Servants of Arthur

The Loyal Servant must successfully complete three out of five missions. They must work together to propose teams for each mission and vote on team compositions, always trying to keep traitors off the teams to prevent missions from failing.

Objective for the Minions of Mordred

The Minion aim to sow discord and mistrust among the Servant. Their goal is to cause three missions to fail by infiltrating teams and sabotaging missions. They must communicate covertly and strategize to mislead the loyalists and cast doubt on the true allegiances of other players.

Additional Objectives

The game intensifies with special roles, such as Merlin, who knows the identities of the Minions but must keep his identity secret to avoid assassination at the end of the game. The Minions of Mordred can win by correctly identifying and assassinating Merlin after three missions have succeeded.

Gameplay Rules

1. Team Proposal and Voting

• The player with the Leader token proposes a team of players for the mission. The number of players required for the team depends on the current mission and the total number of players in the game.
• All players, including the Leader, then vote on the proposed team. A simple majority is required for the proposal to be accepted. If the proposal is rejected, the Leader token passes to the next player and a new proposal begins. If four proposals are rejected in a row, the fifth Leader has the power to choose the quest team without a vote.

2. Mission Phase

• Once a team has been approved, members of the team secretly choose a Success or Fail card to determine the outcome of the mission.
• All players submit their chosen cards to the Leader, who shuffles them to conceal which player submitted which card.
• The cards are then revealed. For a mission to succeed, all the cards must be Success cards. If one or more Fail cards are revealed, the mission fails. Certain missions may require two Fail cards to fail, depending on the number of players in the game.

3. Progression of Play

• After the outcome of the mission has been determined, the Leader token moves to the next player in clockwise order.
• A new round begins with a new team proposal, and the same process repeats for a total of five missions.
• Players must use their powers of persuasion, deduction, and bluffing to influence team selection, the vote, and discussion to further their side's agenda.

Conclusion of Gameplay

The gameplay continues through five missions, with the game ending once either the Loyal Servants of Arthur successfully complete three missions or the Minions of Mordred cause three missions to fail. In the case that the Loyal Servants of Arthur succeed, the Minions of Mordred have one final opportunity to win by correctly identifying Merlin, if they do so the Minions win.

Through strategic discussion, careful observation, and clever tactics, each side must do their best to achieve their objectives without revealing their true allegiances, making each round of Avalon: The Resistance play out uniquely and full of suspense.

Mission Team Size

Note: On missions marked with an asterisk (*), two Fail cards are required for the mission to fail.

Recommended Roles Setup

General tips

For an enriching gaming experience, we suggest a group size of 7 to 10 players where the intricacies and excitement of the game truly shine.

For newcomers, it's advisable to begin your Avalon journey with the basic roles. As you become more accustomed to the gameplay, you can incrementally introduce additional roles, enhancing complexity and engagement step by step.

After the first games, we recommend adding roles in the following order:

Merlin -> Percival -> Morgana -> Oberon -> Mordred -> Lady of the lake -> Tristan + Isolde

Note: In the original version, there is a distinct role of the Assassin. We suggest delegating this function to any of the evil roles, or alternatively, making the decision collectively among the evil players.

Excalibur:

We recommend adding Excalibur to games for any number of players, but only in the company of experienced players.

Game setup in offline:

The default setup includes characters such as Merlin, Percival, and Morgana. However, you have the flexibility to customize the game by selecting the roles that best fit your group.

1. Everyone close your eyes and extend your hand info a fist in front of you.
2. Minion open your eyes and look around so that you know all agents of Evil.
3. Minion close your eyes
4. All players have their eyes closed and hands in a fist in front of them
5. Minion extend your thumb into the air so Merlin will known of you
6. Merlin open your eyes to see the agents of evil
7. Minion put your thumb down and re-form your hand into a fist
8. Merlin close your eyes
9. Merlin Morgana extend your thumb into the air so Percival will known of you
10. Percival open your eyes and see Merlin Morgana.
11. Merlin Morgana put your thumb down and re-form your hand into a fist
12. Percival close your eyes
13. All players have their eyes closed and hands in a fist in front of them
14. Everyone open your eyes

Note: For the purposes of game setup, the term "Minion" refers to all agents of Evil unless otherwise stated