Introduction Content

1.0 Components p4
2.0 Quick Start Guide p5
3.0 Initiative and Deployment p6
3.1 Team Games p6-p7
3.2 Turn Orders p8
4.0 Learning the Cards p8
4.1 Characters Cards p9
4.2 Character Stats p9
4.3 Equipment Cards p10
4.4 Equiping a fighter p11
W elcome to Caladium, a 2-6 player game where you fight
alone or in a team to be the last person or team standing.
Choose from a variety of weapons, armour and equipment to
5.0

5.1
Taking your turn
Moving
p11
p12
give you the edge when fighting your many foes. 5.2 Agility and Strength Checks p12
5.3 Attacking p13
You will fight in the Caladium, a large and looming Roman 5.4 Damage Negation p14
inspired arena, deep in no man’s land in the country of Battaglia. Attacks of Opportunity
5.5 p15
This is where all walks of life can meet regardless of race,
5.6 Backstabbing p15
social standing or beliefs. Whether they are there to spectate or
participate all find their way here. So take up arms and prepare
6.0 Events p16
for the fight of your life. 7.0 Tokens p16
8.0 Other Rules p17
The game is played with a D6 (six sided die) 9.0 Acknowledgments p18

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1.0 Components 2.0 Quick Start Guide
“For those who wish to jump in quick,
these are the basic steps you need to play”:
1. Firstly decide on teams or choose
to go it alone and agree on a points
limit for your game to spend on your
items you will be using, a suggested
points total is between 20-50. For
your first game a points limit of 25 is
recommended.
2. Once that is done, you should place
out some pillars in the arena to create
diversity during gameplay.
3. For more randomised terrain we
suggest taking 10 Tokens and dropping
them on the center of the board and
moving them to fit over the spaces
properly to make terrain.
4. For your first game a simplified rule
set is recommended to help you jump
into the Caladium.
5. Each player picks one of the 6
starting gates to play from.
6. Every turn all of you roll a D6 the
person with the highest picks if they
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want to go first or last and what way
around the table that turn goes.
7. You get 2 actions per turn.
8. Movement is done by using the
Total Movement your character has
and moving that many hexes per action.
This can only be done once per turn and
costs 1 action.
9. To attack make sure your in range
and you must roll under your strength or
agility depending on what weapon it is
to hit equalling will miss and then follow
damage on the card for total damage
dealt. This costs 1 action.
10. Using an item or skill can also be
done following the printed rules on the
card. This costs 1 action.
11. Once comfortable start adding in
all of the rules for the full Caladium
experience.
 3.0 Initiative and Deployment
H aving the initiative is very important
in Caladium, as it affects the order.
Turn order is life and death while in the
secondly the direction around the table
they wish people to play.

arenas. Deployment is done by rolling a D6.

This is done by rolling a D6 and the
player with the highest number wins.
In the event of a tie, the tied players
will roll off again until a single winner
is found. That person then has two
main choices to make. First is to choose
whether they wish to go first or last, and
The player with the highest roll can
choose their place in the initiative order
(first or last) and the rotation of play
(Clockwise or anticlockwise) once that
player has made their choice the other
players will choose their starting gates in
turn order.

3.1 Team Games

W hen playing in teams your
initiative can be positively or
negatively modified, based on how each
-2 Modifier as these races like others
historically do not work well together/
like each other.
race gets along. This is checked by using
the table to the right. In the case of a team with more than two
different races you simply take the most
Compare the races being used and apply negative modifier only. So for example if
the modifier on your intiative roll, this there is in a team a +2 and a -1 modifier
will then either add or subtract from the team overall would take the -1
future initiative rolls, and for a team modifier.
only one person makes the roll using a
single die. In a team with 2 or more characters
when one dies or leaves the arena your
For example: In a 2 person team if modifier would change to reflect who is
a Human and an Elf were working left in the arena for your team.
together you would increase your roll
by +1 giving a positive modifier,
however if a Human and an Ork were
to work together you would have a

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 3.2 Turn Orders 4.1 Character Cards
I n a team fight turn orders are slightly
different compared to a free for all
battle, following the iniative roll turns
first and picked to go to the right of
them, going to team C then team B.
It would play out in this order:
are taken by one player from each team,
repeating until everyone has gone ending
the round. Turns are taken by one player
from each team, repeating until everyone
has gone.

For example: In a three team fight

consisting of two players per team, each
team rolled initiative, modified it and Starter Characters are:
team A won initiative and chose to go Draxler, Gwendle, Erikaa, Rag’Nor and Ugyug.

4.0 Learning the Cards 4.2 Character Stats

1. Character Name / Race: HP (Health Points): Are a total of how
The Characters name and race. much damage a character can take before
they are defeated and can no longer fight.
2. Character Stats
The 5 stats of a fighter: STR (Strength): How strong you are,
used in Strength Tests.
HP (Health Points)
STR (Strength) AGI (Agility): How agile you are,
AGI (Agility) used in Agility Tests.
MOV (Movement)
TOU (Toughness) MOV (Movement): How many movement
points you have to spend when doing
3. Character Traits move actions.
Some Characters (not all) have traits and
they will be described here. TOU (Toughness): How tough you are,
the higher the more damage you
4. Card Wave: can block.
This indicates what number and specific
set this character is from.

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 4.3 Equipment Cards 4.4 Equiping a fighter
The other restrictions are on the
amounts of certain equipment cards
that any fighter can have at one time.

1. A fighter can only ever equip 1 Armour

Card at a time. An Armour Card will have
“Armour” written on it.

Red: Strength 2. Some cards will say either Two-Handed

Blue: Skills or One-Handed, this signifies how many
There are 5 main types of equipment in
hands it requires to use. You cannot exceed
Caladium and there each colour coded Green: Agility
2 as you only have 2 hands.
for ease of use. Orange: Equipment
Purple: Agi & Str

5.0 Taking your turn

Above is an example of the cards you
may see, here is the mighty Claymore:
1. Name of the card.
In this example: Claymore.
2. Point Costs
It costs 20 Points in order to use the card.
3. Type of Equipment
Strength Weapon.
4. Effect / Key Information
Claymore it’s a Two-Handed weapon.
W hen you take your Turn you
have two Actions to use and
they can be done in any order you wish.
1. Move Action: Spend movement points
to move along the hexes (per turn you
can only use one move action).
2. Attack Action: Use a weapon to
attack a fighter in range.
3. Use a Trait, Skill or Item: Use a
piece of equipment, skill or trait you
own,following the rule on the card.

5. Rarity and Number in Set 4. Second Wind: You may spend your
second action to move even further by
increasing your Movement by +1.

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 5.1 Moving 5.3 Attacking
M oving is done by using your MOV
(Movement) Stat. You spend up
to your Movement Stat by moving to
For 2 Points: You can move directly
backwards. T he goal of Caladium is to be the
sole survivor; you will be on the
offensive a lot and it is a simple but very
Firstly decide what weapon you wish
to use and whether it is an Agility or
Strength Weapon and if you are in range
adjacent spaces to your fighter. important process to shed the blood of to attack, this is found on the weapon
enemies and know how to do it well. card. Once all of this is done, you will
For 1 Point: You can move roll to hit by either doing a Strength or
to any of the forward 3 Spaces Agility Check depending on the weapon
in front of your fighter. check. (5.2).

Also for 1 point you can turn on the spot If you were lucky enough to score a
moving left or right 1 side. But for every hit now the fun part of dealing damage
new hex you enter you can turn on the comes into play. On the weapon card it
spot left or right by 1 at no cost. will explain the damage it does and you
roll dice appropriate to that and then

Agi & Str Checks

apply any modifiers from the weapon or
5.2 other items you may have.

A gility and Strength Checks are

crucial to doing many things in the
arenas, such as attacking, or defending.
To be able to attack you must be able
to see your enemy: you must have your
target in front of you in on of your
To perform a check you look at what forward 3 hexes to be able to land a hit.
stat you are using and you must roll with
a D6 and get under the stats number
found on your Character Card (4.0).
An example of this would be after hitting
For example, if you were rolling a with a dagger, you would be asked
Strength Check to attack and your to simply roll a D6 for damage and
Strength is 4, you would need to roll whatever you roll would be the total
either a 1, 2 or 3 on your D6 to damage you deal.
succeed, with a 4, 5 or 6 resulting
in a Missed Attack. Just note that this will not be the final
total of damage because the person
being attacked can negate some of it.
(5.4).

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 5.4 Damage Negation
C ongratulations! You successfully hit
someone and now you want to make
it hurt, you rolled your damage but now
the defender being attacked can negate
some of that.
There are 3 main ways to negate
damage and they must be done in a
specific order as shown below.
1. Negate Damage via your Toughness
2. Negate Damage through the use
of a Shield.
3. Negate Damage through any other
Equipment you have that can negate
Damage.
Toughness is your natural ability to
negate damage when it is dealt to you.
You simply take the Total Damage
rolled by the attacker and minus your
Toughness against it.
For example if 5 Damage was dealt to
you but your Toughness is 2, the final
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Total Damage you take would be 3 and
that would be taken off your HP total.
This can be tracked using the included
Health Tokens on or near your character
sheet. Toughness is the only method
to reduce damage to 0 when being
attacked, so being very tough can be
useful in a fight.
Shields and other damage negation
items will state on the cards what
they can negate, but they will have a
minimum they can reduce damage too
making them unable to reduce damage
to 0 like your toughness. A Leather
Armour for example can reduce damage
taken by 1, however it cannot reduce the
total damage taken past 1 as this is its
minimum.
5.5 Attacks of Opportunity
A. If you are in base contact and
perform a move action in the front 3
hexes of an opponent AND move hexes
hit and for damage OR they grab you,
preventing you from moving and ending
your move action in the space you
(turning on the spot does not count) you started it in.
must dodge out of the way or fear being
hit. You must make an Agility Test and if
you succeed you can carry on as normal.
B. If you fail, the person you’re moving
in front of may perform an attack action
for free, rolling all relevant checks to
5.6 Backstabbing
B
eing in an advantageous position One important thing to note is that
when attacking helps you attack this only works while attacking in base
less protected parts of a person, dealing contact and ranged attacks will not
more damage. This is because soft trigger this.
supple kidneys do not appreciate being
stabbed, If you attack a fighter from Attacking directly from behind you will
behind it will increase your damage, gain a +2 to your total damage, and
depending where you are. Using the attacking slightly from behind to either
grid below you can see how much your of the flanks will grant a +1 to your
damage can be increased by comparing damage. Attacking from the front will
to where you are attacking from. give no damage increase as the fighter is
actively protecting him or herself there.
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 6.0 Events 8.0 Other Rules
T he arena is an ever changing place
and certain events can change the
state of a fight.
Range
Some items can be used from afar and
have a range printed on them. Range is
happens, damage is taken at the start of
your turn even if this means you would
drop to 0 HP and die. If that is the case
defined between the attacking player and your turn would be forfeited as you died
Every turn IGNORING TURN 1 you the intended target not including the and would move to the next fighter.
will draw a card from the Event Deck attacking player’s hex.
on each player’s turn before they take D3 Rolling
it. Resolve the cards effect and carry on Line of Sight To work out rolls for a D3 you roll a
with that player’s turn. Once the deck Line of sight is used when attacking with D6, on results 1 and 2, the total result is
has been used, shuffle the used cards into ranged weapons or using equipment that a 1. On results 3 and 4, the result is a 2,
a new deck and draw from that. can be used at a Range. In a straight and for rolls of 5 and 6 the result is a 3.
unblocked line from the center of your
base to the center of the target’s base. What are D6’s and D3’s?
7.0 Tokens Other players, friendly or hostile, block line
of sight along with any cover in the arena.
When you see the term D6 or D3 it refers
to a dice (D) the number is how many
sides it has so a D6 = a six sided die.
Cover
In the arenas you will encounter walls/ Table Talk
pillars that you’ve placed at the start of Table talk including Alliances, threats,
the game to provide cover to fighters. coersion, whining etc. are not only
They are classed as full cover and allowed but heavily encouraged while
cannot be walked through or over, you playing as it often adds an extra dynamic
must go around them unless an item/ while trying to be a sole victor.
First Player Token: Health Tokens: Terrain Tokens: ability card states otherwise (Terrain
It’s used to indicate the Use them to keep track of They block Movement Tokens) (7.0).
first player to start the damage inflicted on each and Attack, useful to take
round. Character sheet. cover. Arrange randomly Rounding Decimals
over the Game Board In some cases you will end up with
before starting the game. numbers that have a decimal, for
example if a card asks you to halve the
total figure and you roll a 3. The player
will always round down unless stated
otherwise by a skill or equipment.
+1-1 Tokens: Item Tracker Tokens:
It’s used to keep track It’s used to keep track Damage Over Time (D.O.T)
where Characters Stats of the Available Uses in Some items will cause you to take damage
may be altered positively items with Multiple Uses. over the next few turns. When this
or negatively.

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 9.0 Acknowledgments
I wanted to take this page to thank all the people who were good
friends to me and helped me in bringing my vision and
boardgame to life.
@andynelmsart (Andy Nelms):
For skillfully providing all the artwork
you see in Caladium breathing life
into the game. Dedicating many Many
months of his life to create these
beautiful pieces.
@peacockdigitalmarketing
(Kirsty Nelms):
For helping with the major steps in the
logo design and development of the
digital visual guidelines. Kirsty also
helped in the structural layout for the
character and equipment cards.
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@sarahloweez (Sarah Jurgens):
For taking so much of her time to stitch
everything visually together and making
many things such as the game board,
rulebook, tokens and many more.
@kai Dorsett:
For helping with playtesting and going
through with me methodically reading
and re-reading text for mistakes and
errors for hours on end, Along with
helping in the early stages of creating the
origin stories of each of the characters.
@Michael Thornhill:
For being one of the best at finding
game breaking exploits so i could
patch them and help in balancing the
game as best as possible and coming
up with a number of suggestions in the
development of the game.
@Karl Watson:
For being one of the very first to play the
game in its early stages when scribbled
on paper and borrowed tokens as
placeholder. He helped put many of the
current features and weeded some lesser
ones out to make Caladium as it is.
@Stewart Abell:
For helping create the very first draft of
the game and realising the very initial
ideas i had into something playable to
alter and improve upon going forward.
@Rosemary-Ann Edwards:
For helping in the idea generation of
a number of great suggestions that
eluded me and made the final version of
Caladium.
For the many playtesters who have
helped give suggestions and advice
during the years of development, I thank
each and everyone of you too for getting
the game to where it is and it couldn’t
have been done without you.
For those wanting to follow the game
further (as I plan to make it an ever
expanding game) please follow me on
Caladiums socials on the back.
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N ow there are many more people I
could go on to thank, from other
friends who pitched in or fellow game
designers who helped guide me into the
industry and made me feel welcome and
confident in what I was doing.
It was hard work and I have learned a
lot doing it and I did enjoy every step,
taking the game to various game cafes,
cons and events to let people play the
game and help shape it to what it is now.
This is the first in what I hope of
many games to follow and expanding
Caladium too. It’s been a long road from
the flash of inspiration to create this
game way back in August 2017.
This game has gone from scrawled out
on yellow A4 paper to a fully developed
and manufactured game and I couldn’t
be happier with how things have gone.
The game’s mechanics have gone
through many changes too, starting on
square tiles and moving to hexes and
adding, shaping and removing rules and
ideas to make the game simple to learn
but also not boring.
Thank you once again to everyone who
has helped me, I couldn’t have done it
without you all.