Battling Grammar Rule book Version 3.1

Battling Grammar Rule book Version 3.1

Introduction This is a game designed to be used in the classroom to help children to develop and practise their knowledge of grammatical terminology. This is primarily aimed at children in Key Stage 2 (aged 7 11) in the UK (as it is structured around the statutory grammar requirement of the KS2 English curriculum). However, it could be used for other ages and in other countries (however changes to the terminology may need to be made). battlinggrammar@gmail.com To find the latest rules, cards and resources, as well as explanation videos, visit www.battlinggrammar.wordpress.com Please Note: These are the rules for battling in the world of Grammaticus. This is a draft of the rules and will probably contain many errors and mistakes. When you find them, please let me know. To play the game you will also need the battling cards. (Available for free download: www.battlinggrammar.wordpress.com)

Contents 1. Game overview 2. Card symbols 3. Starting and setup 4. A game turn a. Phase 1: Play cards b. Phase 2: Activate cards c. Phase 3: Draw cards cards 5. Advanced rules a. Clause cards b. Conjunctions c. Special Abilities

Game Overview You are a master of monsters and summoner of sprites in the world of Grammaticus. You are trying to become the most powerful master in the world, but to do that you will have to defeat the other masters of Grammaticus. To defeat them you must use your skill of summoning the many monsters and sprites that inhabit Grammaticus, but they will only do your bidding if you utter their own personal power words In the game of battling grammar, two players will assume the roles of Fantasy Summoners on the world of Grammaticus. Players will draw and play monster cards to try help attack and defend so as to defeat the other player. Object of the game Over the game players will try to attack the opposing player using their monster cards. The objective of the game is to reduce the opponent s health points to 0. If a player is reduced to zero health points they have lost and the opposing player is declared the winner!

Cards symbols

Starting and setup Each player will need: A deck of cards. They will need two of each card. If players have their own deck of cards, they may use this or choose a deck of cards that have already been put together. Players can both use the same deck of cards (i.e both forest ; both water; both rock). 20 health point counters (or any other way of keeping track of their health points). A white board and white board pen (or anything they can write on and with) Set up : 1. Players play the game opposite each other. 2. Each player need to take their deck of cards and separate them into core cards and support cards. Take all the core cards and shuffle them into one pile then take all of the support cards and shuffle them into another pile. Each player places these two new decks of cards next to them face down. 3. Each player should have a place to place cards when they discard them (the discard pile). Players may wish to have a discard pile for their core cards and a separate discard pile for their support cards. 4. Each player places their health counters on their side of the table. 5. Each player randomly takes 2 core card and 3 support cards. These cards should be kept hidden from their opponent. These three cards are called the player s hand 6. The battle is ready to begin. An example of game set up and ready to go:

A game turn Players will take it in turns to play, attack and draw cards. A player s turn is broken down into these phases: Phase 1: Play cards Phase 2: Activate cards Phase 3: Draw cards Once a player has finished these three phases it is the end of turn and it is the next player s turn. Players can decide who has the first turn. First turn special rules. On each player s first turn use these special rules: A player cannot activate any of their cards, however they may play cards. The first player may only play one card. The second player may play as many cards as they wish.

Phase 1 : Play cards In this phase of a turn a player may play any cards that they can from their hand. There are three actions a player can do on their turn ( a player can do any of these actions in whichever order they prefer): 1. Play a core card 2. Play a support card 1. Play Core cards A player can take a core card from their hand and place it face up in the battle arena. A Player may only play one core card from their hand per turn. 2. Play a support card A player can take a support card from their hand and place it face up in the battle arena. Support cards must be connected to a core card. To show that two cards are connected, place them next to each other. A player may play as many support cards as they wish in one turn.

Connecting cards A large part of the Battling Grammar is the connections that a player can make between the cards on the battlefield. Connecting cards can create groups of cards that have more powerful attack or defence. Which cards can be connected? Not all cards can be connected together; the symbols (letters) at the bottom each card shows which card (if any) they can be connected to. A card with an arrow symbol with a letter in it can be connected to a card with rectangle symbol with the same letter in it. A card with a rectangular symbol on it cannot be connected to other cards but can have cards connected to it. This PAST TENSE support card has the symbol at the bottom. This tells use it can connect to a card that has this symbol. This VERB core card has the symbol at the bottom and no symbol in an arrow symbol. This tells us that there may be cards that connect to this one, but it does not connect to another card How are cards connected? When a player wants to connect two or more cards together, they simply push the cards together to show that they are connected. Cards are connected during a player s play cards phase. A player may place two or more cards down on the battle arena already connected (note though that a player may only play one core card at a time) or, when a player plays a card, they may connect it to a card that is already on the battle arena.

Example 1 : In this case the player plays both the PAST TENSE support card and the VERB core card from their hand at the same time. These two cards are connected as soon as they enter the battle arena. Example 2 : 1. The Player one has already played these cards in front of them. 2. On their next turn they then play an ADVERB card from their hand. They can then connect this card to the past tense verb group that has been connected. 3. To do this they place it connected to the VERB (as they both have the V connection symbol) What happens when cards are connected?

When a two or more cards are connected, they become a group of cards and effectively act as one core card. This means that when they are activated to attack or defend they will combine their attack or defence values. Groups of connected cards cannot be separated once they have been connected, however other cards can be connected to the group. What are the difference between support and core cards? Support cards cannot be in play by themselves, they have to be connected to a core card that is being played at the same time or is already in play. Some core cards will connect to other core cards (which will be indicated by the symbols on their cards), however core cards can also be played by themselves into the battle arena (they do not have to be connected to other cards). This game is evolving so not all connections are present on the cards. Refer to the Connection Chart at the end of the rulebook to see which cards can be connected to other cards.

Phase 2: Activate cards In this phase of a player s turn they can choose to activate one of their cards or group of connected cards. When a player activates a card or group of connected cards, they can then attack with them and try to reduce their opponent s health points. To attack with a card or a group of connected follow these steps: 1. Attacker chooses card 2. Defender chooses card 3. Activate cards 4. Resolve damage 1. Attacker chooses card The player whose turn it is may choose to attack with one of their cards or one group of connected cards. That player will declare which card they are using to attack with. They will then push that card forward on their battle arena. A player may attack with a single core card. If a player has a group of connected cards, they can attack with that group of cards. Example: It is Player 1 s turn. They currently have a VERB card and a connected PAST TENSE card in play, as well as a separate NOUN card. Player 1 chooses to attack their opponent with the VERB card and the connected PAST TENSE card. They push this group of cards forward to show they are attacking.

2. Defender chooses card If a player is being attacked, they can choose one of their cards to defend themselves. If they have no card to defend with, they do nothing at this stage. To do this, the defending player chooses one of their cards (or group of connected cards). The defending player then declares that they are using this card to defend the attack and pushes those card(s) forward so they are opposite the attacking monster. Example: Player 2 decides to try and defend against Player 1 s attack. Player 2 decides to defend with the NOUN card that they have in play. The player then pushes the NOUN card forward.

3. Activate Cards Once each player has decided which cards they are going to attack or defend with, each player must activate their cards. To activate a card (or group of cards) a player must write an example of the grammatical feature (or features) that is stated on the cards. If a player is attacking or defending with a group of cards (like player 1 in the example of above), they must write an example of all the grammatical features on all the cards. Both players (the attacking and defending player) must activate their cards by writing an example of the grammatical feature on their own card. If a player does not write an example, their card is not activated and they cannot attack or defend with their card. Example: Player 1 is attacking with a VERB card and a connected PAST TENSE support card. To activate this group of cards, Player 1 must write an example of a past tense verb. Player 2 is defending with a NOUN card. To activate this card, Player 2 must write an example of a noun. Player 1 write pushed to activate their group of their cards. Player 2 writes table to activate their card.

5. Resolve damage Once both players have activated the cards that they want to activate, resolve how much damage the defending player will take. To do this follow these steps: 1. Calculate total attack power 2. Calculate total defence power 3. Calculate damage on the defending player 4. Remove Health points 1. Calculate total attack power The attacking player calculates how much total attack power they have. The attack power of each card is shown inside the attack power symbol. If a player is attacking with a group of connected cards, that player will need to add together the attack power of all of their cards. Example: Player 1 has already activated their group of cards. They have 2 cards in their group of connected cards. To find out their attack power, Player 1 adds together the attack power of both of their cards In this case, the player has 8 attack power from his VERB card and 3 attack power from his PAST TENSE card. Player 1 add together these two attack powers ( 8 + 3 ) which gives Player 1 a Total Attack Power of 11 Total Attack power : 11

2. Calculate Total Defence Power The defending player calculates how much Total Defence Power they have. The defence power of each card is shown inside the defence power symbol. If a player is defending with a group of connected cards, that player will need to add together the defence power of all of their cards. Example: Total Defence Power: 6 Player 2 has already activated one of their cards to help defend. To find out their defence power, Player 2 looks at the defence power on his card In this case, the player has 6 defence power in their NOUN card. Because they do not have any other connected cards, player 2 has a Total Defence Power of 6 Total Attack power : 11 3. Calculate damage on the defending player Once the attacking player and the defending player have calculated their Total Attack and Defending Power. Now the players need to work out how much damage the Attacking player has done to their opponent. Defending cards will take some (or all) of the damage to help protect their Master (player).

To do this, compare the Total Attack Power and the Total Defence Power (if there is any) then subtract the Total Defence Power away from the Total Attack Power. The amount of attack power that is left over (if any) will be the amount of attack power that will damage the defending player. Example: Player 1 has calculated their Total Attack Power. Total Defence Power: 6 Player 2 has calculated their Total Defence Power. The players now calculate how much attack power will be blocked by the defending NOUN card and how much attack power will still damage the player. To do this the players subtract the defending player s Total Defence Power (6) from the Attacking player s Total Attack Power (11). 11 6 = 5 The NOUN card blocks 6 attack damage, however there is still 5 more attack power. This will directly damage the defending player. Total Attack power : 11

If the defending player has no cards to defend with or has chosen not to use a card to defend with, then ALL of the attack power from the attacker s card(s) will damage the defending player directly. Total Defence Power: 0 Example: In this example player 2 does not have any cards to defend with, therefore all of the attack power (11) from the attacking cards will directly damage Player 2. Total Attack power : 11

4. Remove Health points Once the players have calculated how much attack power will directly damage the defending player, that player must remove health points equal to the number of attack power that is effecting them directly. If a player is reduced to zero health points, they have lost and the opposing player in the winner. Once health points have been removed, both players will discard all the cards that they used to attack or defend that turn. These cards are placed in each players discard pile face up.

Phase 3: Draw cards A player will then draw cards from their core and support card decks so that they have a total of two core cards and three support cards in their hand. If there are no more cards in a player s deck, shuffle the discard pile and place it face down to create a new deck to draw from. Once the player has drawn their cards, their turn is over and it is the other player s turn. NOTE: If a player draws a new card, it signals the end of their turn which ends immediately - be careful!

Advanced rules These are rules that you can play with once you feel confident with the base game. Clause cards Clause cards have an additional symbol on them: This acts as connection symbol, however it tells the player that they can connect another core card underneath the CLAUSE card to form a new group of connected cards. Player 1 has a CLAUSE card and a NOUN card

He can connect the NOUN card to the CLAUSE card by placing it underneath. Groups of cards that are connected like this act just like any other group of connected cards. When a player activates this group of cards, they will need to give an example of the clause that includes all of the cards connected to it. In the example given above, player 1 would need to write down a subordinate clause with a noun in it. Players can connect as many core cards with a CLAUSE card as they are able. Connecting in this way can create powerful groups of cards, however they are slightly more challenging to activate. NOTE: AT this point, CLAUSE cards cannot be connected with other CLAUSE cards. Example of clause cards: In this example, Player 1 has connected a VERB card with a PRESENT TENSE support card to their CLAUSE card. To activate this group of cards the player would need to write an example of a subordinate clause with a present tense verb and a noun.

Conjunction cards Conjunction cards play slightly differently to other core cards, however they follow all the normal core rules about connecting and actrivating cards. When a Conunction card is played, another core card may be played at the same time. CONJUNCTION cards connect two core cards that are the same. The following list shows which core cards can be connected by the CONJUNCTION card. NOUN VERB ADVERB ADJECTIVE PREPOSITION CLAUSE X DETERMINER One of each core card can be placed on each side of the CONJUNCTION card: NOTE: The CONJUNCTION cards have this symbol on them. This is for special rule that has not yet been introduced please ignore it.

Example of the CONJUNCTION card In this example the CONJUNCTION card has been used to connect two ADVERB cards. To activate this group of cards the player would need to give an example of two adverbs joined by a conjunction, e.g. slowly and silently In this example the CONJUNCTION card has been used to connect two VERB cards (note that one of the VERB cards has other cards connected to it). To activate this group of cards the player would need to give an example of a past tense verb joined to another verb by a conjunction, e.g. hopped and skipped

Special Abilities Some of the cards have extra symbols on them. These symbols tell you that they have special abilities. The following table explains what each of these special does. Here are some terminology you may need: activate This means when a card is used for attack or defence. combat A combat is when a player attacks the opposing using cards. The fight between attacking cards and defending cards is a combat. If a player does not defend with a card, it is still known as a combat. BURNOUT Place a burnout token on each monster that has this ability at the beginning of each of your turns. When a monster with burnout activates, subtract 2 from its attack power for each burnout token. POISON/CURSE When a monster with the poison ability activates, after the combat, give a poison token to your opponent. At the beginning of each turn, a player must subtract 1 health point for each poison token they have been given. HARDEN Place a harden token on each monster that has this ability at the beginning of each of your turns When a monster with harden activates, add 2 defence power for each harden token. HEAL When a monster with the heal ability activates, the player can do one of the following options: 1. Add health points equal to the number shown in the heal symbol ( a player may not have more than 20 Health point). 2. Remove any poison token that they have. Note: The heal ability activates after the combat and poison tokens have been given. This may mean a player is defeated before they have a chance to use the heal ability - healing cannot bring a player back from the dead!

FREEZE/PARALYSE When a monster with the freeze ability activates, the player chooses one of the opponent s cards (or group of cards) that is not part of the combat and places a freeze token on it. A monster (and all connected cards) that has a freeze token cannot be activated in the next turn. Remove the freeze token at the end of the next turn. SUBDUE This ability activates when the monster with it is chosen to defend. Any monster, whose attack power is greater than 10, that attacks a monster with subdue will always count their attack power as 10, unless it would be normally lower. OVER-WHELMING POWER When a monster with the over-whelming power ability activates, the monster attacks twice : once with their normal attack or defence power and once with their over whelming power. The damage done by the over-whelming power cannot be defended against by monsters and removes health points directly from the opposing player. The attack power of the over-whelming power is written in the symbol. ARMOURED When a monster with the armoured special rule is activated, the owning player can keep the monster in play rather than discarding the card. When the monster is activated a second time, the player must use the defence power number that is written inside the armoured symbol. After the monster is activated for a second time, it is then discarded. COUNTERATTACK If a monster with the counterattack special ability activates in defence, at the end of that combat, the opponent directly receives the amount of damage that is in the counterattack symbol. This damage cannot be defended against.