Object of the Game
Be the last player with one or more or your M.U.S.C.L.E. creatures left standing.
Getting Ready to Play
1. Put the game board in the middle of the playing area.
2. Find a good area to roll the dice.
3. Each player gets a team of 5 M.U.S.C.L.E. creatures of one color, or any easily identifiable team of 5.
4. Players set up their teams on top of any opposing walls, 1 team per wall. Players should set 1 M.U.S.C.L.E. creature in each of the 5 spaces on top of their walls.
Playing the Game
1. Each player rolls the number die to see who goes first. The player who rolls the higher number goes first.
2. Players take turns rolling and moving their M.U.S.C.L.E. creatures.
3. On each turn, a player rolls the number die, and them moves 1 or more of his creatures the same total number of spaces as the number just rolled. A player can divide up his total move among as many creatures as he likes.
EXAMPLE: If you roll a "3," you can move one creature 3 spaces, or three creatures 1 space and another creature 2 spaces.
4. A player can move his creatures forward, backward, sideways, or diagonally in any combination.
5. A player can have up to 2 creatures on the same space at one time. You can move through a space with 2 of your creatures on it, but you can't stop there. If a space is already occupied by two different other standing players then you can't stop on there.
COMBAT
1. When you move one (or two) of you creatures onto a space occupied by one (or two) of your opponent's creatures, you begin a Combat.
2. During Combat, each player in turn rolls a combat die for each creature he/she has in battle. When rolling, be sure to keep track of how many "M's" you roll.
EXAMPLE: If 2 of your creatures are fighting 1 of the other player's, you roll two dice and he/she rolls one.
3. After both players have rolled, the one with the most "M's" wins the Combat and gets to knock over 1 or 2 of the opposing creatures.
EXAMPLES: a) If the winning player has 1 more "M" than the losing player, the winner gets to knock over 1 opposing creature on the Combat square.
NOTE: If the losing player has 2 creatures on the Combat square, he gets to choose which one of his two creatures the winner gets to knock over.
The winning player has 2 more "M's" than the losing player, the winner gets to knock over up to 2 opposing creatures on the Combat square.
NOTE: If there is only 1 opposing creature on the Combat square, then the winning player only knocks over that 1 creature.
4. Once knocked over, the defeated creatures are out of the game. Players leave defeated creatures lying on the arena, but those creatures are not counted as occupying space, and may be moved around as necessary to make room for more Combat.
5. If both players roll the same number of "M's," the battle is a tie and will continue after the player takes his/her turn moving.
6. Once each player has had one chance to do battle on every space where his/her creatures are in Combat, it becomes the next player's turn to move. This player takes his/her turn moving even if there was a tie in the battle or if both players still have creatures standing on the same space after the battle.
NOTE: This means that if it's your turn to move, you can choose to retreat from a space with your opponent's creature(s) on it and in this way end the battle, or you can choose to bring in reinforcements.
7. Play continues for the rest of the game with one player taking a turn moving, then a Combat round (if there are any Combat situations on the board), then the next player takes his/her turn moving, and so on.
8. You can be involved in any number of Combats at one time.
9. The last player with one or more M.U.S.C.L.E. creatures left standing wins the game!
Another Way to Play
You can use other creatures you already have to build up teams of more than 5 creatures, but always be sure that each player has the same number to play with. Rules for movement and Combat are the same as for a regular game.
If using 10 creatures, then put 2 in each of the 5 spaces on top of your wall.