How to play Town of Duels

Town of Duels mixes a card game with a chess board. This guide covers every rule you need. The first battle in the game also teaches you step by step.

Your goal

Both leaders begin with 25 health. Bring the enemy leader to zero and you win. Only a character inside the enemy base can hurt a leader, so every battle is a fight for the board.

Your deck

A deck has exactly 20 cards and up to 32 deck points. Rarer cards cost more points.
Every deck needs 2 to 6 characters in each of four lines: Front line, Fighters, Ranged and Support.
You start each battle with nine cards and draw one each turn. When your deck runs out, you simply stop drawing.

Each turn

You get 4 energy. Cards cost energy, and unused energy does not carry over.
You can summon one character a turn, on your two home rows.
A new character waits until your next turn before it can act.
Characters have two actions a turn, and Legendary and Unique characters have three.
Walking costs an action and 1 stamina. An attack or ability costs an action and 2 stamina.
Characters recover 2 stamina each turn.

Moving and fighting

Characters walk one tile at a time to the four tiles beside them.
Melee characters reach all eight tiles around them, corners included.
Both fighters hit at once in a duel, unless your hit defeats the target first.
Ranged characters shoot up to 3 tiles in any direction, and melee characters cannot hit back from that far.
Flanking: a melee hit deals +1 damage when an ally stands next to the target.
Guards protect the allies around them, so you must defeat them first.

Striking the enemy leader

The two rows on the enemy side, behind the red line, are their base. A character inside the enemy base can strike the leader, as long as no enemy stands next to it. A strike deals that character's attack as damage, and nothing else can hurt a leader.

The top bar shows your Strike danger: how much the enemy could deal next turn. Put a character next to an invader to block its strike.

Map items

Items appear in mirrored pairs at the start of four rounds. Lord's banners appear in rounds 1 and 6 and give +1 attack. Heart charms appear in rounds 3 and 10 and give +1 health. Walk onto one to claim it for the rest of the battle.

The final bell

If no leader has fallen by the end of round 20, the final bell rings and the lord with less health loses. If health is level, the stronger board wins. You get a warning 3 rounds before it rings.

Between battles

Your town: buildings fill up with gold, shards and renown while you are away, until their storage is full.
Card levels: extra copies of a character become replicas, which level it up to 10.
Mastery: win with a character to earn Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum frames.
Weekly missions: finish five goals each week for gold.