How battles work in Three Marks: turns, ranks and actions
A battle in Three Marks is turn-based. You take a turn with your whole company, then the monsters take a turn, and that is one round. On your turn every standing hero gets one action. You win when no monster is left standing; you lose when none of your heroes is.
This page explains every rule of a battle. The die and the damage numbers have their own page: dice and damage.
The battlefield: front rank and back rank
Each side has two rows:
- The front rank has room for two heroes. They do the close fighting and protect the heroes behind them.
- The back rank is behind them. Heroes there are safe from close-up strikes while the front rank holds.
Your company starts with two heroes in front and one in the back. You choose who stands where in the Formation step of the company editor. The monsters also start with two in front; a third monster starts in the back.
Close fighters and ranged fighters
| Callings | Kind | Who they can strike |
|---|---|---|
| Warden, Scarred, Quick | Close fighters | Only from the front rank, and only enemies in the front rank (or a Down enemy) |
| Voice, Spark | Ranged | Any enemy, from any rank |
So a close fighter in your back rank cannot strike at all until it steps forward. And a monster in the enemy back rank can only be reached by your Voice or Spark.
Special rule: if a side has no standing hero in its front rank, all its standing heroes count as front rank. A lone survivor can always fight, and can always be hit.
Rounds and turns
- Your turn. Your company always acts first in a battle.
- The monsters' turn. The monsters act one by one. You can watch, and the message line tells you what they did and why, for example "Rescuing a fallen ally."
- The round counter at the top goes up by one. From round 25 it also shows, in brackets, how many rounds are left.
At the end of each round, every standing Voice on both sides gains 1 note.
The hand: five shared cards
Your whole company shares one deck of 30 cards and one hand of five cards. Each card shows the face of the hero who can play it, and only a hero of that calling can play it.
- At the start of each of your turns, your hand fills back up to five cards.
- Cards that belong to a hero who is Down or Out are swapped for new cards by themselves at the start of your turn.
- Played cards go to a discard pile. When the deck runs out, the discard pile is shuffled to make a new deck.
The monsters play by the same rules with their own deck. You can even peek at the Rival hand in the battle log.
Taking your turn
Every standing hero gets one action per turn. You choose which hero goes first. The only exception: a Slowed hero has to wait until all your other heroes have acted.
To act, choose a hero, then an action, then a target. A strike or a card happens as soon as you tap the target. Actions without a target open a Check your action panel first, where you press Confirm. The turn ends when every standing hero has acted.
Every action you can take
| Action | What it does | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Basic strike | Strike one enemy for 2 damage | Needs no card. Each calling strikes at its own defense (see below). |
| Play a card | Do what the card says | The card must belong to this hero's calling, and the hero must have enough resource to pay its cost. |
| Stand up ally | Stand a Down ally up with 3 life | Uses that ally's one rescue for this battle. Any standing hero can do it, from any rank. |
| Step forward | Move from the back rank into the front rank | Only when your front rank has an empty place. |
| Step back | Move from the front rank to the back rank | Every enemy Warden in the front rank strikes you first. |
| Wait | Do nothing this turn | Useful when every other action would make things worse. |
| Resolve spell | Finish a Slow spell you prepared last time | If a hero has a spell waiting, this is the only thing they can do. |
The buttons only show actions that are possible right now. If a card in your hand cannot be played, tap it to see why: for example "Notes · Lio has 0 and needs 1."
Which defense does a basic strike hit?
| Calling | Basic strike hits | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Warden | Guard | 2 |
| Scarred | Body | 2 |
| Voice | Will | 2 |
| Quick | Reflex | 2 |
| Spark | Will | 2 |
Resources: scars, notes and sparks
Three callings have a resource. Bigger cards cost resource to play; the cost is printed on the card.
| Calling | Resource | How you get it | Most you can hold |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scarred | Scars | 1 scar each time this hero takes damage; also from some cards | 5 |
| Voice | Notes | 1 note at the end of every round; also from Lift the Chorus | 3 |
| Spark | Sparks | 1 spark each time this hero's strike is a hit or a crit; also from some cards | 5 |
Warden and Quick have no resource; all their cards are free. Every hero starts a battle with 0, except some monsters. Full details are on the five callings page.
Slow spells
Two Voice cards, Last Word and Three Notes, are Slow. When you play one, it does not happen at once. The hero prepares the spell and the card shows "Resolves on this hero's next action". On that hero's next action, Resolve spell strikes the target.
Before then, the other side can break it. A hit or a crit on the caster breaks the spell. A graze does not. The spell also breaks if the caster falls Down, or if the enemy plays Counterverse or Snuff. A broken spell is lost, and so is the resource you paid. If the target cannot be reached any more when the spell resolves, nothing happens.
Falling Down and being rescued
When a hero's life reaches 0, they fall Down. Another hero can use Stand up ally to bring them back. Each hero can be rescued once per battle. If a rescued hero falls again, they are Out for the rest of the battle. A Down hero who is struck again (a graze is enough) is also Out at once. All the details are on the effects and conditions page.
How do you win or lose a battle?
- You win as soon as no monster is standing. Down monsters count as not standing, so you do not have to take every monster Out.
- You lose as soon as none of your heroes is standing.
- Round 30: if a battle reaches the end of round 30, the side with more total life on its standing heroes wins. A tie goes to the monsters.
After a win, the next battle on the trail opens. After a loss, go back to camp and try again; retries are free. You can also leave with Abandon battle in the Pause menu, and you keep every battle you have cleared.
See also
- Dice and damage: what decides a miss, graze, hit or crit.
- Effects and conditions: Shaken, Slowed, Worn, Exposed and more.
- The trail: all five battles.
- Beginner tips
- Play Three Marks on the portal.
