Shovel Knight: How to Play
It is time to sharpen thy shovel once again. Shovel Knight makes his auspicious return in Shovel Knight: Dungeon Duels!
Based on the hugely successful crowdfunded video game, and made in close cooperation with Yacht Club Games, Shovel Knight: Dungeon Duels is a competitive, side-scrolling, dungeon crawl, miniatures board game for 1-4 players. This game has two options for purchase, cardboard standees for a colorful affordable version of the game and a plastic miniatures version for a deluxe experience!
Each player plays as a different colored Shovel Knight, while shoveling out justice in spades against the evil Order of No Quarter while trying to grab the most treasure to prove that they are the one true Shovel Knight! Players will be traversing the side scrolling dungeon while defeating enemies, jumping over spiked pits, and possibly “accidentally” (sarcasm) knocking other players into the pits.
The Setup
The game setup should look something like this with the players on the left side of the board, the dungeon in the middle with treasures in a checkerboard pattern and the future dungeon tiles over here. Monsters will spawn at the start of each game. Each player will have a player board in which to hold their upgrades & gold! The board will be scrolling throughout the game just like the video game!
You are now ready to jump into the gameplay and fight for Shovelry!
A normal game round has three phases: the Hero Phase, the Enemy Phase, and the End Phase.During the Hero Phase a Hero may perform up to 3 actions. The three most common actions a Hero can take are Moving, Attacking, and Jumping over spiked pits.
When a Hero moves they may only move up, down, left, or right. If they move onto a space that contains gold or a treasure mound, they pick it up automatically!
Treasure mounds can earn Heroes gold or if it reveals a treasure chest, then that Hero draws a Relic Card. Relics grant heroes special 1 time use abilities that are able to be used for free. Heroes may also discard a Relic card before rolling dice to grant bonus automatic successes to the roll.
If a Hero is ever next to a Spike Pit, they may perform a Jump action to attempt to jump over the pit. When performing a Jump Action, the player will roll dice equal to their Jump Stat and will look for the jump symbol.
To successfully make the jump,they will need to roll jump symbols equal to the number of spaces away that they are trying to jump to. This can be done in a straight line or an L shape. Any treasure crossed over is collected but be careful! If a player fails to make the jump over a pit they’ll drop half of their total gold! They’re defeated but Don’t worry, just like in the video game, Shovel Knight has infinite lives and you will be returning to the game on the left side of the board at the beginning of their next turn. Whenever a Hero is defeated they instantly gain 1 Relic card.
If there is ever an enemy or a rival Hero in your space, you may serve out some shovel justice and perform an Attack Action.
When performing an Attack Action, players will roll dice equal to their Attack Stat.
The number of Shovel Symbols rolled is the total number of “hits” dealt. If the player is attacking an Enemy model, they will subtract the total number of hits by the enemies Defense stat. The number of hits leftover deals damage to the enemy model. When defeated the player who defeated the enemy gains gold equal to its gold value.
And while Knight’s may not directly wound each other, they may “accidentally” knock other players 1 space away. When attacking a Rival Hero, the targeted Hero will roll their Defense Stat to attempt to block the attack. If you roll more shovel symbols than the defender rolls armor symbols, than you have successfully hit the other Hero and may push their model 1 space away, even into a spiked pit!
Another Action, a players Hero can take is their special action. Shovel Knight’s “Strike The Earth” ability costs 1 gold but allows Shovel Knight to perform his pogo attack bouncing off enemies multiple times in 1 action.
If a Hero is on a Chester Space, they may perform an action to purchase equipment cards from him by spending 1 gold for the first piece of equipment, 2 gold for the second piece of equipment, and 3 gold the third piece of equipment. These cards go on to your Hero Card give Knights permanent upgrades.
After all players have taken their turns, it's the enemies turn! All enemies on the board move towards and attack the closest Hero. If there is a tie, the enemies go after the Hero with the most gold.
If any enemy is already within attack range of a Hero, then it will not move. Add up the attack value of all enemies attacking your Hero; that is the total number of hits incoming. You now roll your defense stat looking for armor symbols. Each armor symbol will block 1 hit. Any hits not blocked will cause 1 wound to the players Hero. Anytime a Hero is wounded they’re moved 1 space to the left.
After the enemies turn, it’s time for the dungeon to side scroll in the end phase! Remove the leftmost tile from the tile track, slide the 3 remaining tiles over and place a new tile from the top of the stack of dungeon tiles onto the right side of the tile track. Any models that were on the left most tile are instantly defeated and any tokens are discarded. Add new treasure mound tokens onto the new tile following a checkerboard pattern and then spawn enemies onto any new spaces with skull symbols.
At the end of the round the first player token is passed to the player to the left and you start a new round with the Hero Phase. Once the Heroes have traveled through all the side scrolling dungeon tiles, they will enter the boss room tile.
Unlike other enemies the boss will activate after each Hero’s turn by drawing an AI card from the top of the Boss’s AI Deck. The AI card shows all spaces that are being hit by the boss in red and shows what space the boss will end in.
When a Hero is wounded by a Boss the Hero will drop 1 gold per wound received in their space and then will be pushed 1 space to the left.
When a Hero deals wounds to a boss, the Hero gains 2 gold per wound dealt to the Boss and the final wound grants 5 gold. After the last player of the round activates, the boss will perform his special attack instead of drawing an AI card.
At the end of the round the first player token will pass to the player to the left. After the Boss is defeated, all players will count their total gold. Whichever player has the most gold is the one true Shovel Knight and is declared the winner!
And thats how you play Shovel Knight! If you have any questions feel free to leave them below and tell us which Knight you would play, Shovel Knight, Plague Knight, King Knight Specter Knight or The Enchantress!