Overview
Voltrine is a two-player duel card game focused on hidden information, positioning, and political intrigue.
Objective
Win the game by eliminating your opponent's protagonists or forcing their downfall through conspiracies and strategic play.
Game Material
Card Hierarchy
Each number defeats only the number directly below it. A card does not defeat lower numbers beyond the immediate one.
15
14
13
2
1
15
1 defeats 15, creating a cyclic dominance where no card is truly supreme.
Play Areas
Each player has three personal zones, plus a shared zone. Each personal zone can contain a maximum of 3 cards.
Protagonists
They represent you and can be promoted to Hero. They are the guarantors of your decrees.
Max 3 cards
Protectors
They defend your Protagonists from direct attacks.
Max 3 cards
Conspirators
They reveal the opponent's cards and build up their arsenal to launch the offensive.
Max 3 cardsThe Gardens
A shared discard area where strategic placement can earn bonus actions.
7
3
7
8
9
Adjacent same-number cards form a pair: a free bonus action.
Every card is neutral by nature: in your hand, in the gardens, or in the pile, it has no role. It acquires its role (Protagonist, Protector, or Conspirator) from the zone where you play it, and can change roles over the course of the game.
Hand Limit
At the end of your turn, if you have more than 3 cards in hand, you must discard down to exactly 3. Discarded cards go to The Gardens.
Actions
Base Action
Each player may perform 1 action per turn.
- Each action type can only be used once per turn
- Spend bonus actions to perform additional actions
Bonus Actions
Each player starts with 3 bonus actions.
- Capped at 3 total
- Not regenerated each turn
- Regained through The Gardens or overthrowing opponents
Available Actions
Draw
Draw 3 cards from the deck.
Place
Place 1 to 3 cards into your zones (Protagonists, Protectors, or Conspirators).
Redeploy
Transfer 1 to 3 cards from Protectors, Conspirators, or Gardens to any zone except Protagonists. Swap cards if destination is full.
Reorder
Flip hand, protagonists, and conspirators face down, then reorder protagonists freely.
Launch Conspiracy
Initiate a conspiracy phase using your conspirators.
Conspiracy Phase
A conspiracy unfolds in three phases: declare, react, resolve.
-
1
1. Declare
The active player spends their base action to launch a conspiracy, putting their conspirators into play.
-
2
2. Opponent reacts
The opponent may react by spending a bonus action: place cards, redeploy, reorder, or invoke the Peace Treaty decree.
-
3
3. Resolve
The attacker spends their conspirators one by one, choosing an action from the list below for each.
Available resolve actions
Revealing the hand or the conspirators grants +1 reveal token if at least one hidden card is uncovered. You may then swap a card from your hand with one of the revealed cards. The opponent has no say in the exchange.
Craft & Gear
Instead of one-shot boosts, a conspiracy lets you craft persistent gear. Crafting consumes one conspirator and stores a piece in your reserve (up to 3 pieces at once); you then equip it onto a conspirator for free. Gear is always visible to the opponent.
Poison
A combat modifier from -2 to +2, chosen at craft time. Poisons stack on a single conspirator up to ±6 total, and are consumed when that conspirator fights.
Disguise
Usurps the printed power of a chosen visible opponent card for combat. The conspirator's natural value is unchanged, so Hero eligibility still uses the printed value.
Mask
Placed on one of your own cards during your normal turn, it blocks revelation by reveal token and by the Infiltration decree, but not by Reveal Hand, Reveal Conspiration, or combat.
Reaction
When a player launches a conspiracy, the opponent may react if they have at least one bonus action. They may place cards, reorder, or do nothing.
The Gardens Bonus
When discarding to The Gardens, completing a sequence or a pair grants you one additional action. Cards must be adjacent, whether horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.
6
6
Pair
Two cards of the same number
+1
3
4
5
Sequence
Three consecutive numbers. Sequences can be formed left to right, right to left, top to bottom, and bottom to top. Values are cyclic (15 wraps to 1): 15, 1, 2 and 14, 15, 1 are valid sequences.
+1Predispositions
Each card belongs to a group: its predisposition, shown by the icon in its top-left corner. The balance of visible cards on the board determines a predominant predisposition that alters the rules of play.
A predisposition is not a role: a card with the Protagonist predisposition can just as well be played as a Protector or a Conspirator. Placing a card in the zone matching its predisposition simply makes it count 3 toward that group's dominance instead of 1.
Balance of Power
The predominant group is calculated from all face-up cards of both players. Cards placed in a zone matching their group count triple. The group with the highest weight becomes predominant.
Protagonist
The first dispatch or redeploy action each turn is free: it does not cost a bonus action. The second one costs a bonus action as usual.
Free dispatchProtector
Dispatched protectors enter the field face-down (hidden). Once per turn, you may reorder for free, without spending a bonus action.
Free reorderConspirator
Once per turn, you may launch a conspiracy for free, without spending a bonus action. You may also spend reveal tokens to flip opponent's face-down cards face-up.
Free conspiracyReveal Tokens
Each player starts with 3 reveal tokens. Spend one as a free action on your turn to flip one of your own face-down cards face-up. When conspirator is predominant, tokens can also target opponent's cards. You gain a token by playing the Reveal Hand or Reveal Conspiration conspiracy actions when they uncover at least one hidden card.
Predispositions are an advanced mechanic. When creating a casual game, you can disable them for a simpler experience.
Ultimate Decrees
Each player has access to three powerful special moves. Each decree can only be used once per game, and they are free actions: they do not consume a bonus action.
Total War
Sacrifice one or more of your own protectors to overthrow the same number of opponent cards. Opponent protectors are removed first, then conspirators if no protectors remain.
Peace Treaty
Declare a truce that blocks the opponent from confronting your protagonists and your Hero for the remainder of this conspiracy phase.
Infiltration
Sacrifice one of your own protagonists to reveal all hidden opponent protagonists and protectors (masked cards stay hidden). Beware: this counts as a protagonist death and can cause your own defeat.
Ultimate decrees are powerful but risky. Each can only be used once per player per game. Use them wisely.
Hero
An optional rule, toggleable per game and per season. Each player may promote one of their Protagonists into a champion that intercepts conspiracies and dominates whole ranges of values. A Hero can also strike during your own conspiracy and clash with the enemy Hero, but if it falls you lose the game instantly. You may field up to 3 Heroes over a game, one at a time.
Creating a Hero
Performed via the Create Hero action, a paid action (main or bonus). It can also be triggered as a reply to a conspiracy, useful to raise a Hero that then intercepts the incoming attack. The promoted Protagonist keeps its face-up or face-down state.
- The Heroes rule is enabled for this game.
- You control at least 2 Protagonists.
- You have no Hero currently in play.
- Fewer than 3 Heroes have been fielded this game (the cap is shared with Relieve Hero and never resets).
Hero Properties
Unprotected
A Hero cannot be shielded by Protectors. It must defend itself.
Locked in Place
A Hero cannot be moved, swapped, redeployed, or reordered once placed.
Can Strike
Beyond defending, a Hero can attack during your own conspiracy and is the only unit able to block another Hero.
Heavy Predisposition
A face-up Hero counts toward its predisposition group with a weight of 5. A face-down Hero is excluded.
Up to 3 per Game
A fallen or threatened Hero can be replaced through Relieve Hero, up to a hard cap of 3 Heroes fielded over the game, one at a time.
Confronting the Hero
A conspirator may directly target the opponent's Hero via the Face Hero action (blocked by Peace Treaty). Combat follows the normal rules and Poison and Disguise gear apply, but the Hero's value V dominates a range of natural printed values. A Disguise changes the conspirator's combat power, not its printed value, so eligibility still uses the printed value.
Eligibility, Range of Dominance
A Hero of value V dominates the natural (printed) values V-3 through V+3 (cyclic), seven values in all. The 14 cards covering those values cannot even be played against the Hero, the action is refused. Any of the other 16 cards may try, but must be brought to a final applied power of V+1 through Poison and/or Disguise.
Against a face-down Hero the eligibility test cannot be enforced, so a dominated conspirator may attack as a gamble. If its natural value turns out to be in the V-3 through V+3 range, the Hero wins automatically (forced WEAKER): the conspirator is lost and a Protagonist is removed.
Hero Interception
When the opponent targets one of your hidden assets, you may choose to intercept with your Hero. The attacker's action pauses while you decide. Eligible targets:
- Face Protagonist, block an incoming attack on one of your Protagonists.
- Overthrow Protector, block an attack on one of your Protectors.
- Infiltration decree, cancel the entire Infiltration effect so no card is revealed.
If the attacker's natural value is in your Hero's dominated range, the Hero wins by eligibility and you remove one of the attacker's Protagonists. Otherwise normal combat resolution applies, and an EQUAL result lets the original attack continue.
Counter-block: if the attacker also controls a Hero within 3 values (cyclic) of yours, they may answer by clashing Heroes. Both Heroes are revealed and neutralized for the rest of the conspiracy, and the original conspirator attack continues normally.
Relieve Hero
A proactive replacement of your current Hero with a fresh one, softening the steep cost of losing a Hero. It costs your main action and ends the action phase: any remaining bonus actions are forfeited and you must end the turn. Prerequisites:
- You control a Hero and have fielded fewer than 3 this game.
- You control at least 2 Protagonists (one will be promoted) and have at least 1 empty Gardens slot.
- No Hero interrupt is pending. Draw and Reorder are still allowed beforehand, but no other significant action.
The chosen Protagonist moves into the Hero zone (keeping its face state), the old Hero is placed face-up into your chosen empty Gardens slot (triggering the normal pattern check), and you draw back up to 6 cards in hand.
Hero Attack
During your own conspiracy you may use your Hero to strike, in addition to your conspirators. Declared via the Hero Attack action (blocked by Peace Treaty).
- Once per conspiracy. The Hero is not consumed and stays in its zone, but it is revealed when it attacks. It strikes at its base value only, never with Poison or Disguise.
- Only a face-up target may be struck. A Hero of value V destroys a target whose value is within 3 of V (cyclic). Valid targets: a face-up opponent Protagonist, Protector, Conspirator, or the opponent's Hero.
- Destroying a Protagonist counts toward the victory condition. If the target is the opponent's Hero, no card is destroyed: both Heroes are revealed and neutralized for the rest of the conspiracy.
Hero versus Hero
Two Heroes can meet in three situations, all governed by a shared neutralization flag:
A clash never destroys a Hero, it only neutralizes both, and it happens only when the two Heroes are within 3 values (cyclic) of each other. Once they clash, both Heroes are neutralized for the rest of the conspiracy and may not attack, intercept, or block again until a new conspiracy or the end of the turn.
If your Hero is defeated in combat (a STRONGER result via Face Hero or interception), you lose the game immediately, regardless of remaining Protagonists or dead-protagonist count.
The Heroes rule is optional and can be toggled per game when creating a match. Seasons may also enable or disable Heroes as a default setting.
Victory Conditions
Elimination
Your opponent has lost 3 protagonists throughout the game.
Domination
Your opponent has no protagonists remaining in play.
Glossary
Quick reference of key terms used across the rules.
- Garden
- Shared 3×3 grid acting as the discard pile. Adjacent patterns reward bonus actions.
- Protagonist
- Your key characters. Lose three and you lose the game.
- Protector
- Frontline cards that absorb conspirator attacks before the Protagonists.
- Conspirator
- Hidden agents used to launch conspiracies, reveal info, or overthrow enemies.
- Bonus Action
- Extra action points, capped at 3, spent to perform more than one action per turn.
- Reveal Token
- A free action consumable that flips a face-down card face-up. Starts at 3 per player.
- Predisposition
- The current dominant group on the board, which alters specific rules while active.
- Ultimate Decree
- A powerful one-shot special move. Each player has three, each usable once per game.
- Hero
- Optional rule. A promoted Protagonist that dominates values V-3 through V+3 (7 values). Cannot be protected or moved, but can be replaced via Relieve Hero (3 Heroes max per game). If it dies, you lose immediately.