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Carpe Cras Official Rulebook

V1.0 August 2025

Welcome to Carpe Cras!

A strategic card game where every move and card shapes your path to victory as you fight to seize a legacy for tomorrow. Play as a cunning strategist, facing your opponent across a dynamic, expandable battlefield.

Your mission?
Command your forces to outsmart your rival. Strike their city and crush their morale.

How you lead your forces to victory will be up to you. Will it be by Might, Cunning, Fortitude, Zeal, Authority, or Affluence? As commander, use your Agency to deploy your forces on a dynamic grid that never plays the same way twice. Claim the Carpe Cras Token to bend the battlefield to your will and open new opportunities to demoralize your opponent’s city.

Ready to seize tomorrow?

Key Rules to Know

Before you unleash your inner tactician, let’s lay down the law—these are the golden rules of Carpe Cras:

Cards Supercede Rules

If a card’s text clashes with these rules, the card wins. Think of the rules as a trusty map and cards are the wild adventurers who explore the great unknown.

Negation Beats All

When two abilities disagree, the one saying what can’t happen supersedes the one saying it can.

Parentheses Are Just Whispers

Text in (parentheses) are like a friend explaining the rules over coffee—it clarifies, but it’s not the rule itself and doesn’t cover every scenario.

Low Rolls Are Winners

Unlike many games where high rolls rule, Carpe Cras loves low rolls! Land a small number to dodge strikes, gain agency with the Carpe Cras Token, or taking the first turn of the game.

Game Anatomy

Imagine a battlefield that grows as you play, a grid where cards clash and schemes unfold. Here’s the lay of the land:

The game starts with one lane, a column of spaces where you play cards. As the game heats up, you can add more lanes, up to 6, to expand the battlefield (more on that below in Shape the Battlefield). Adjacent lanes are connected, letting your units move or strike between them with ease.

Lane (Grid Column)

Blue Player City Space			May only be occupied by up to 3 of the Blue Player’s agency cards.
Blue Player Spawn Space			May be occupied by any card.
Neutral Space			May be occupied by any card.
Neutral Space			May be occupied by any card.
Neutral Space			May be occupied by any card.
Red Player Spawn Space			May be occupied by any card.
Red Player City Space			May only be occupied by up to 3 of the Red Player’s agency cards.

Space (Single Grid Cell)

Each space is a single square on the grid. As more Lanes are added to the battlefield, the spaces form rows. Moving into an adjacent space, whether forward, backward, left or right (if the available Lanes allow it), costs 1 Step. Each unit or Hero has their own Steps for navigating the battlefield. Only one unit can stop on a space at a time and only one player’s environments can claim a space at a time.

City Spaces

Morale is your city’s health—starting at 15. When it hits 0, the game’s over, and your opponent claims victory. Land strikes on the enemy city spaces to chip away at their morale or force them to sacrifice Agency resources to protect their city (more on that later in the Gameplay section).

Card Types

Your decks are toolboxes of tactical tricks, each card type bringing its own strengths and weaknesses to the battlefield:

Units
Your soldiers, ready to move, attack, and defend. Played on your spawn row, they’re the backbone of your strategy.
Hero Units
Legendary champions who move and fight like units but with a catch—only one of each hero per player can be in play at a time. Also played on your spawn row.
Upgrades
Give your cards a boost. Add skills, stats, or new abilities. Each card can hold up to 2 upgrades, so choose wisely!
Events
One-shot effects that shake up the game, then head to the discard pile after completing their effect. These are played over the whole battlefield and you direct their effects.
Environments
Hazards or buffs placed on your spawn row or up to one space from an allied unit, which generally don’t move. Some can deal damage but can’t dodge strikes or strike twice.
Agency
Your resources (Might, Cunning, etc.) that power card plays and actions. Drawn from your agency deck and placed in city spaces.

Your Decks

Your arsenal is split into two distinct decks, each a key to victory.
These two decks DO NOT mix their cards.

Draw Deck

Your draw deck contains exactly 40 cards (units, heroes, upgrades, events, and environments). You can include up to 3 copies of any card, unless a card (like Time Flies) says otherwise. Yep, you can have 6 of those pesky critters! Cards are identified by their unique Cost, Title, and Artwork. If any of these is different, it’s a different card.

Agency Deck

There are 6 different leadership styles you may utilize to command your forces, called Agency. Agency cards live on your city row, accumulating and refreshing with each round to play more and more powerful cards as the game continues. A player’s agency deck contains any combination of exactly 18 agency cards.

Example:
Your draw deck might include Barbarian Tyro (a Might-fueled unit) and a Royal Scout (a unit that can be played by Cunning or Authority). Your agency deck could have 6 Might, 6 Cunning, and 6 Authority cards to keep your options open.

Pro Tip: Sticking to 2 or 3 Agency types at most provides more consistent power. But if you want to mix it up and live dangerously—you do you!

Discard Pile

Defeated units and completed events don’t simply vanish. They rest in the discard pile, face-up, to the right of your draw deck. They’re out of play unless a strategic card brings them back. Keep an eye on your discard and the opportunities it contains!

Card Anatomy

When building your draw deck it’s important you identify what makes a card unique (seeing as how you can only have up to 3 of each card in your deck).

Cost

Shown in the top left and sometimes in the top right (see Duality Cards below). The amount and types of agency required to play a card. You may spend any combination of the Agency types shown to reach the cost. If no Agency symbol is present, you may pay the cost from any Agency type.

Skill

The knowledge and capability of a unit to wield a particular weapon or magic. The icon on the card will vary depending on the Unit (See Skills below). The number indicates the Power the unit has with that Skill and the amount of damage the Unit will inflict to another card’s health with a successful strike. Can be either Melee or Projectile as indicated by the Range icon

Range

The distance (in adjacent spaces) a particular skill can strike. Diagonals are 2 spaces. If no range is shown, the skill has a range of 1. A skill's range can be reduced to 0, but not below, leaving it capable of only striking cards in the space it currently occupies.

Ability

Most cards have text that describes special effects or rules that they apply to the game while they are in play. Some units have abilities with specific timing, others spend the unit to use (preventing them from attacking that round) or have a different cost.

Traits

The text above a card’s ability further categorizes a card allowing other cards to target or synergize with them. Some traits have inherent special effects

Max Health

The amount of damage a unit can receive before being destroyed.

Armor

Reduces physical damage to cards by the amount shown.

Resistance

Reduces magic damage to cards by the amount shown.

Steps

How many adjacent spaces a card can move during its Move Then Attack action. Can be reduced to 0, but not below. If no Steps listed, the card cannot move.

Speed

Determines whether or not a strike will succeed against a target. Affects Strike Twice and Dodges (See Tempo and Speed Differential).

Exit Steps

The cost in Steps for a unit to leave a space occupied by an Environment card. If the cost is equal to or higher than the Unit’s Steps, they cannot leave the space.

Accuracy

A skill stat that adds to a Unit’s base speed only for a first strike. When striking, +X Speed. Doesn’t add to Tempo for Strike Twice.

Evade

Add to a Unit’s base speed when targeted. Not used for striking.

Dexterity

A skill stat that adds to a Unit’s base speed only when striking (for a first strike or a Strike Twice strike). Not used when targeted.

Focus

Units that haven't moved or taken damage this round may choose when to gain modifications indicated. Focused modifications are all or none.

Skills

Skills and their stats are how you deal damage to enemy units or your opponent’s city. They’re used only for striking.

These are many of the skills you may encounter while playing Carpe Cras.

Upgrades

Upgrades add their Skills to their holder while they hold it. The power on units and upgrades for matching Skills are combined, while unmatching Skills keep their power separate. Players declaring a strike must announce which Skill their multi-skilled units are striking with. Any non-Skill stats that an upgrade confers to a Unit are added to the Unit’s base stats and may be used anytime.

Example 1:

If you play the Dagger upgrade on Royal Scout, you increase your scout’s Knife Skill Power by 2 (for a total of 4) AND give him an additional 1 range when using his Knife skill. A bonus of 1 Speed is also added to Royal Scout’s base speed for a total of 4 Speed. If Royal Scout were to attack with his Sword Skill, it would only have 2 Power since the Dagger doesn’t give Sword Skill. Royal Scout would still benefit from the additional speed.

Example 2:

If you played Katana on Well Read Squirrel, it would have 3 Sword Power and gain 2 Dexterity, giving it an effective Speed of 6 when striking with his Sword Skill, but only 4 Speed when trying to dodge a strike.

Generic Power

Some Units and Upgrades confer Generic Power which increases all skills a Unit has.

Some Units don’t have a Skill at all. This means they cannot attack without first gaining a skill through an upgrade. Until they have a skill, Generic Power does nothing for them.

Duality Cards (two sided)

Duality Cards can be played more than 1 way. You can choose to play 1 of the sides of the card and pay the cost for that side. The card gains the Stats, Traits, Abilities, etc. that are associated with that side. Stats, Traits, Abilities, etc…that are centered on the bottom of the card are used regardless of which side was played.

Pre-Game Setup
The battlefield is set with 1 Lane and both players shuffle their Agency and Draw decks.

Each player draws 5 cards from their draw deck. Don’t like what you see? You get one shot before the first round to mulligan your hand and shuffle it back into the deck to draw 5 new cards.

Both players roll a die and the low roller chooses the starting player. For ties, roll again until someone claims the honor.

Gameplay

Carpe Cras unfolds in rounds during which players trade turns choosing actions to outmaneuver their opponent.

Round Start

All cards in play are readied (turned to portrait orientation), including Agency. Every player draws 1 card and gains 1 agency. Agency is placed in any City space, stacking up to 3 per space. For the first round the starting player takes the first Player Action of the round, every other round begins with the player who takes the Carpe Cras Token (explained below) in the previous round.

Player Actions

Players take turns performing one of the following actions:

Move Then Attack
Move a ready Unit up to the number of spaces equal to its Steps stat, then attack (see Combat Timeline below) a card or the enemy city in its range. Following combat that Unit is spent (turn it 90 degrees to a horizontal orientation). Units can’t attack if spent, but they can still strike in retaliation if targeted. When a card moves to a new space, each space the card passes through counts as occupied, triggering traps or other abilities. You can pass through spaces with allied Units but can’t stop on the same space. Enemy Units, enemy Strongholds, or Obstacle cards block your path entirely, so plan your routes with care.

Play A Card
Spend agency equal to its cost, then play it. Cards enter play ready.
Spend or Use A Card Ability
You may spend a card to use its ability or use a card ability that doesn’t require spending the card.
Take The Carpe Cras Token
Seize tomorrow! Take the Token, pass all further turns this round. Unlock the ability to shape the battlefield (see below) and a chance to gain extra agency (see Carpe Cras Token). Only one player can claim it per round.
Pass Turn
You do nothing for 1 turn. If one player passes immediately after the other player, the round ends.

There is no limit to the number of turns in each round, so players may keep taking turns as long as they have one of the following:

Ready Agency and cards in their hand to play
Ready cards to use their abilities or Move Then Attack
Card abilities that don’t require spending that card or any Agency.

When there is nothing left to do, you must pass or take the Carpe Cras Token. The round continues until you or your opponent passes their turn immediately after the other player passes.

Round End

Assess any card abilities or effects that happen at Round End. Discard any Events from play that have affected the whole round. Start the next round.

Carpe Cras Token

“Seize Tomorrow” isn’t just a catchy phrase—it’s a game-changer!

Once per round, one player can claim the Carpe Cras Token (pictured above), passing all further turns for a few advantages:

First Mover
The token holder acts first each round, giving you the advantage in attacking, leveraging events, or other actions.
Risk and Reward
When you take the Carpe Cras Token, you may spend any amount of agency, then roll a D6. If the roll is equal to or less than the agency spent, you gain one agency (place it in a city space).

Examples:
Spend 3 Might, roll a 2, success, gain an agency!
Spend 2 Zeal, roll a 5, tough luck, no extra agency this time.
Shape the Battlefield
With the Carpe Cras Token you’re not just playing the game—you’re reshaping it! If a player has the Carpe Cras Token, any time they gain Agency (including Round Start) they may form a new Lane to the left or right of the battlefield and place the new Agency in the new city space. Choose wisely—each new lane is a chance to outfox your opponent or spawn Units to defend, and you can only have 6!

No one has the Token at game start. Once taken, you retain the Token until your opponent takes it. If both players pass, whoever has the Token keeps it.

City Row

Any time you gain Agency, it is placed in a city space on your city row. Up to 3 Agency may occupy a city space. Once all your city spaces are full, you cannot gain agency without expanding the battlefield with a new Lane. Any gained while your city spaces are full, are placed on the bottom of your Agency Deck.

When you attack a space on your opponent’s city row, your opponent will receive damage to their Morale equal to the amount of power on the attacking skill. Your opponent may sacrifice Agency from the targeted city space to prevent damage. For each Agency sacrificed, 1 damage is prevented. Sacrificed Agency returns to the bottom of that player’s Agency Deck.

Example:
Your Barbarian Tyro (2 power) attacks your opponent’s city space. Your opponent only has 1 Agency in that city space and they sacrifice it to the bottom of their Agency Deck to block 1 damage and only receive 1 damage to their Morale.

Spawn Row

The spawn row is made up of spawn spaces. Your Units can only enter the battlefield on your spawn row. Environments can also be played here.

Think of it as your staging ground, but don’t get too comfy. Your opponent’s Units can occupy your spawn spaces or set up traps to prevent you from bringing your troops to the battlefield. Losing control of your spawn spaces could mean disaster for your city!

Combat

When blades clash and spells fly, Carpe Cras comes alive! Combat pits an attacker against a defender, each with their upgrades.

Combat Range Types

All combat is always considered 1 of these 2 types:

Melee

Range is UP TO 1 space away.

Projectile

Range is MORE than 1 space away.

Combat Timeline:

Attack is declared.
Before combat Triggered Abilities resolve (see Combat Triggered Abilities).
Attacker’s first strike. Defender may roll for Tempo to dodge if their speed is higher than the attacker's speed (see Tempo below).
If the Defender survives, they retaliate with a strike (if Attacker is in range). Attacker may roll to dodge if their speed is higher than the Defender (see Glossary for Retaliation).
Attacker may roll for Tempo to Strike Twice if their speed is higher than the Defender’s speed (see Glossary for Strike Twice).
After combat Triggered Abilities resolve (See Combat Triggered Abilities).
Combat ends.

Triggered Abilities

Triggers are a scenario in which a particular ability takes place. Examples include (but are not limited to):

After attacking
Before defending
During combat
When targeted
etc...

Combat Triggered Abilities

Attacking
Defending
Striking
Targeted

Tempo

Combat isn’t just brute force—it’s a dance of speed and timing. Tempo is how you determine if your unit dodges strikes, if the attacker strikes twice, or if card abilities that require tempo are successful.

During combat, players may roll for Tempo. If a player rolls at most the speed differential of the cards in combat, then the roll is successful.

Speed Differential

Your Speed Differential equals your card’s speed minus the speed of your opponent’s card.

If your speed differential is positive, you may roll to determine the outcome.

If your speed differential is negative, rolling is unnecessary since a successful outcome is impossible.
A speed differential of positive 6 or higher also makes rolling unnecessary since a successful outcome is guaranteed.

Easy Speed Differential Guide

When Differential is:

<1: Success is impossible
+1: Only a roll of 1 succeeds
+2: 1–2 succeeds
+3: 1–3
+4: 1–4
+5: 1–5
+6: Success guaranteed

Example:

Your opponent’s Militiaman card has 1 speed and your Well Read Squirrel he’s targeted has 4 speed. The speed differential for your dodge roll is +3, so if you roll a 1, 2, or 3, then your squirrel dodges successfully.
Now when your squirrel retaliates, your opponent’s Militiaman has 1 speed, and your squirrel has 4 speed, so the differential is -3. Your opponent can’t roll for Tempo because it is impossible for Militiaman to dodge and he will receive 2 Bite damage from your squirrel which will defeat the Militiaman’s 2 Health.

Glossary

Here’s your guide to the nuts and bolts of Carpe Cras. The key terms and mechanics below are essential to commanding your way to victory.

Ally

Any card you control. Your cards are also allies to themselves.

Annihilated

The card is removed from play entirely and cannot return to the game. It does not go to any deck, hand, or discard pile.

Attack

When a ready Unit initiates combat against another card. Units cannot attack if they are spent.

Attacker

The card that initiated an attack.

Damage

The reduction of a card’s health caused by attacks or effects. Damage is retained every round unless healed. Place a die on the card showing the number of damage it has. When a Unit’s damage equals or exceeds its health, it is defeated and moves to the discard pile.
(Armor) reduces (Physical) damage.
(Resistance) reduces (Magic) damage.
Damage that isn't specified as (Physical) or (Magic), is not reduced by (Armor) or (Resistance).

Defeated

Collective damage dealt to a card exceeds the card’s max Health. The card is discarded.

Defender

The card that is being attacked.

Dexterity

A stat which is added to a striking card’s Speed when calculating Speed Differential.