Game Design

Raphael Stocker, Andreas Müller,

Markus Müller

Artist
Satoshi Matsuura

Graphic Design
Nacho Larrodera, Raphael
Stocker, Markus Müller

Content & Story

Andreas Müller

Copyright
2022 BFF Games GmbH

More information on
www.hidden-leaders.com

Contact
help@bffgames.org

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 BACKGROUND STORY
Four unknown descendants of the Emperor have deciphered
the forgotten legends and called upon the powerful guardian
spirits of Oshra. Their ritual has unearthed new treasures but also
brought greed into the hearts of many. Will the new guardian
leaders take over the land, or will the established powers prevail?

OVERVIEW
• This expansion for Hidden Leaders comes with 3 modules:

Guardians Corruption Artifacts

• You can add any number of these modules to the base game.

• We recommend starting by playing the Guardian module (1)

without modules 2 and 3 before you combine multiple modules
at the same time. This will make it easier to get started.

• If you have first-time players at your table, we recommend

playing the base game at least 3 times before adding
additional modules.

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Game Setup: Base Game
1 Shuffle the 6 Leader cards and deal 1 to each player face down.

2 Place the 2 markers (red and green) on the starting

position of the power track.

3 Find the special “Buried Emperor” Hero card and place it

face up next to the Graveyard slot on the board to form
the Graveyard.

4 Shuffle the remaining Hero cards and place the pile face
down next to the Harbor slot on the board to form the
draw pile.

5 Draw 3 Hero cards from the Harbor and place 1 face up

next to each of the 3 Tavern slots on the board.

6 Randomly choose a starting player.

7 Deal each player 5 Hero cards. After looking at them, each

player must perform the following steps in turn order:

a. Place 1 card face down in front of them

(into their party of Heroes).

b. Place 1 card face down next to the

Wilderness slot on the board to
form the discard pile.

c. Keep 3 cards as their starting hand.

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 ModulE 1: Guardians
COMPONENTS

4 Leader cards 21 Hero cards 6 Fate cards 1 Marker

CHANGES TO GAME SETUP

During Step 1: Randomly and secretly pick Leaders from the
base game and Guardian Leaders according to the numbers in
the table below. Then shuffle these Leader cards and deal 1, face
down, to each player. Put the remaining Leaders back into the
box without looking at them.

Player count Base Game Leaders Guardian Leader(s)

2 playerS 4 2
3 players 3 1
4 players 4 2
5 players 5 2
6 players 6 3

During Step 2: Place the Guardian Step 8: Place the 6 Fate

marker on space 1 of the power track. cards near the board.

During Step 4: Shuffle the 21 Guardian Follow all other steps as in

Heroes into the deck of Hero cards the base game.
from the base game.

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PLAYING GUARDIAN HEROES
Guardian Heroes work exactly like normal Heroes except for
the following changes:

• They have a Guardian icon in the top-left corner, in addition

to any other faction icon. This indicates that they belong to
the Guardian faction.

• Whenever a Guardian Hero’s ability is performed, move the

Guardian marker +2 on the power track.
The Guardian marker doesn’t move +2 if the Guardian
Hero is being turned over, exchanged with another card,
or placed in the party without being performed.

• Whenever a Guardian Hero is placed into the Graveyard, the

player who performed this move does the following:

1 Draw 2 Guardian Fate cards.

2 Choose 1 of the cards, reveal the chosen card and

perform it.

3 Then shuffle the 6 Guardian Fate cards again.

Hint: Guardian Heroes’ abilities can be

powerful. However, you may support
a Guardian Leader by playing
Guardian Heroes.

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WINNING WITH A GUARDIAN LEADER
The Guardian module comes with 4 additional Leaders. Each
of these 4 Leaders can either win with 1 of the 4 factions from
the base game or claim victory with the Guardian faction.
A Guardian Leader can claim the Guardian victory if the
Guardian marker is ahead of both the red and green markers
at the end of the game.

• A Guardian victory trumps all other factions’ victory conditions.

• If the Guardians win the game but no Leader is supporting

the Guardians, you ignore the Guardian marker and judge the
winner as if there was no Guardian marker in play.

• If 2 or more Guardian Leaders claim the Guardian victory,

resolve the tie as in the base game, starting with checking
which player has the most Guardian Heroes.

OTHER RULES TO CONSIDER

• If a Hero card refers to the leading or trailing marker, only
consider the red and green markers. The Guardian marker
must be ignored for these abilities.

• If a Hero card refers to a faction, Guardians also count as a

faction.

• If you play the Guardian module in a 2-player game,

remove the following 4 Guardian Heroes: Crabbing Clamp
Monster, Possessed Poodle, Half-Sleeping Hobgoblin & Well-
Ironed Golem.

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Module 2: Corruption
COMPONENTS

1 Corruption card 18 Corruption tokens 1 Bag

Corruption tokens are double sided: The back shows the Corruption
icon, the front shows icons with certain effects.

Front: Back:

CHANGES TO GAME SETUP

To set up the Corruption module, you add an 8th step to the
Game Setup (9th if you also include the Guardian module).

8 Set up the Corruption bag

a. Put all Corruption tokens in the bag.

b. Place the Corruption card next to the Harbor. Place

it face up for 2-5 players or face down for 6 players.

c. Draw a handful of Corruption tokens. Take 2 tokens with

the Corruption icon facing up and place them on the
Corruption card. Return the remaining tokens to the bag.

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SPREAD CORRUPTION
Corruption can be spread 2 times during the game. You can
trigger spreading Corruption at any time during your turn if
any player has fulfilled one of the requirements stated on the
Corruption card. To spread Corruption, follow these steps:

• Once the requirement has been met, the player spreading

Corruption takes the relevant Corruption token from the
Corruption card.

• Starting with the player who is spreading Corruption and

continuing in turn order, all players draw 1 token from the
Corruption bag. You may look at your own token.

• In turn order, all players may place their token(s) face down
on any Hero (in your party or another player’s party). This
Hero is now corrupted. You cannot place a Corruption token
on a corrupted Hero. The player who is spreading Corruption
may place both tokens. If you do not wish to place a
Corruption token, return the token to the bag.

You can only spread Corruption

once per turn, even if a player
fulfills both requirements. If the
bag runs out of Corruption
tokensat any time, no more
tokens can be drawn.

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EFFECTS OF CORRUPTION TOKENS
1 Faction Change

a. The corrupted Hero changes faction when

determining the winner at the end of the game.

b. During the game, the corrupted Hero keeps their

displayed faction for performing Hero abilities.

2 Guardian Protection

a. When any player wants to bury the corrupted Hero, you

may flip the token and prevent the corrupted Hero from
being buried. Return the Corruption token to the bag.

b. When a player wants to bury a Hero, they may flip 1

Guardian Protection token and bury this Hero instead
of the Hero that was supposed to be buried. Return the
Corruption token to the bag.

c. The corrupted Hero counts as a Guardian at the end of the

game if they still have the Corruption token on their card.

3 Loyalty

a. The corrupted Hero counts as two Heroes in their faction

when determining the winner at the end of the game.

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OTHER RULES TO CONSIDER
• If a corrupted Hero is buried or taken into a player’s hand,
return the Corruption token to the bag without revealing it.

• If a corrupted Hero is turned over, the Corruption token

remains on the card face down.

• If the corrupted Hero is exchanged with another card, the

Corruption token remains on the corrupted Hero.

• If a player wants to look at a face-down Hero, they may look

at a Corruption token instead.

• Players may always look at any Corruption token placed on

Heroes in their party.

• If you’re playing with the Guardian module, corrupted

Guardian Heroes with a Faction Change Corruption token
remain Guardians.

• Heroes whose abilities affect Corruption tokens can never

affect the Corruption tokens on the Corruption card.

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Module 3: Artifacts
COMPONENTS

6 Artifact cards 18 Artifact tokens

CHANGES TO GAME SETUP

To set up the Artifacts module, add an 8th step (9th or 10th if
you also include other modules of Forgotten Legends)

8 Every player chooses 1 Artifact.

Alternatively, randomly deal 1 Artifact card to each player.

a. Each player places their Artifact face up next to their

face-down Leader card.

b. Each player takes the number of Artifact tokens

indicated on their Artifact (2 or 3) and places these tokens
on top of the icons on the Artifact card.

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ARTIFACT ABILITIES
Every Artifact comes with a unique special ability to be
used as specified by the card. Whenever a player uses their
Artifact’s ability, they return 1 Artifact token from their Artifact
card to the box.

Artifacts with a : A player can use this ability at any point

during step 1 of their turn (play a card or discard cards). This
can be done before or after playing a card and performing its
abilities or discarding cards.

Artifacts with a : A player can use this ability after step 4 of

their turn (refill the Tavern).

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VARIATION: ROYAL INFLUENCE
If you have the Queens & Friends mini expansion pack, we
recommend the following adjustments to make the Artifacts
module even more exciting.

When setting up the Artifacts module, add the following sub-step:

c. Search the Hero cards for the 3 Queens, “The

Emperor’s Best Friend” and the “Mother of Guardians”
(if you’re playing with the Guardians module). Place
them face up, in a row, above the Wilderness.

When you use an Artifact’s ability:

1 Instead of returning the Artifact token to the box,

choose 1 of the 4 face-up cards (5 with the Guardians
module) and place your token on this card.

2 Guess 1 of the 4 factions from the base game.

3 Reveal cards from the top of the Harbor pile, according

to the number of tokens on your chosen face-up card.

4 If you guessed correctly, take the chosen card into your

hand and return the token(s) to the box.

5 Place all the revealed cards on the bottom of the

Harbor pile in the same order. Continue with your turn.

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15
summary
GUARDIAN LEADER SETUP (P. 5)
Player count Base Game Leaders Guardian Leader(s)
2 playerS 4 2
3 players 3 1
4 players 4 2
5 players 5 2
6 players 6 3

KEY GUARDIAN RULES (P. 6)

• +2 for the Guardian marker whenever a Guardian Hero’s
ability is performed.
• Draw 2 Fate cards whenever a Guardian Hero is placed
into the Graveyard.
• Guardian Leaders win if the Guardian marker is ahead of
both the red and green markers at the end of the game.

USING THE GUARDIAN PROTECTION TOKEN (P. 10)

1 Flip the token and protect this Hero from being buried.
2 Flip the token and bury this Hero to prevent any other Hero
from being buried.

TRIGGERING ARTIFACTS (P.13)

: A player can use this ability at any point during Step 1.
: A player can use this ability after Step 4 of their turn.

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