Pearwood House Rules of Combat 2023

You and your opponents step onto the platform, weapons ready. Everyone at the prestigious Pearwood House is watching, evaluating. Victory may go to the last fighter standing, but it may also go to the most aggressive fighter, whether or not that fighter is conscious at the end, so do not back down.

Pearwood House Rules of Combat is a card-driven martial-arts-style combat game with a unique focus on positioning and fighter-fighter interaction. Your every attack, every defense, every push and shift will move you and your opponent around the platform. Your opponent's responses will set up new positions for you to consider. Smash your foes into obstacles, throw them off the platform, or send your weapon through their defenses and send them stumbling.

You must manage your supply of move cards, build up focus by employing the proper stance, rid yourself of seemingly never-ending fatigue cards, and, ideally, keep your endurance above 0 to stay conscious. Amass aggression tokens to win... or you could just knock everyone else out, but with only 4 rounds to do so, you'd have to go hard.

—description from the designer