PIP Armor

Theme

“Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.” — Ephesians 6:11

In PIP Armor, you prepare for spiritual battle by deciding which cards become your Armor and Responses while every card you pass becomes a future Threat. Prepare carefully, remember what you have set aside, put on the Armor of God, and stand against every attack.

Components

• 36 playing cards: ranks 2–10 in all four suits
• 6 six-sided dice
• 1 PIP Armor player board

Objective

Resolve the entire Threat deck while keeping at least 1 pip on the Breastplate of Righteousness. If you fail to equip a Breastplate, you may continue the battle, but you cannot win.

Armor Mapping

Phase 1: Prepare

Shuffle all 36 cards. Repeat the following for 18 turns, until the deck is empty:

1. Reveal the top 2 cards.
2. Choose 1 card for yourself and place it facedown into either your Armor pile or Response pile.
3. Place the other card facedown into the Threat pile.

Once a card is committed, you may not review any pile. You know every card you chose; part of preparation is remembering what you set aside.

Phase 2: Put On the Armor

Reveal your Armor pile and place each card with its matching Armor piece.

Duplicate Armor

You may equip only one card for each Armor piece. If you prepared multiple cards for the same piece, equip the lowest-ranked card and move every stronger duplicate into the Threat pile. If you prepared no matching card, that Armor piece begins the battle missing.

Armor Pips

For the Belt, Shoes, Shield, Helmet, and Sword:

• 2–4 = 1 pip
• 5–7 = 2 pips
• 8–10 = 3 pips

For the Breastplate of Righteousness:

• 2–3 = 1 pip
• 4–5 = 2 pips
• 6–7 = 3 pips
• 8 = 4 pips
• 9 = 5 pips
• 10 = 6 pips

Place a die beside each equipped Armor piece showing its starting pips.

After setting the dice, move all equipped Armor cards into your Response pile. Shuffle the completed Response pile to form the Response deck. Shuffle the Threat pile, including any duplicate Armor cards added to it, to form the Threat deck. Draw up to 4 Response cards.

Phase 3: Stand

Resolve one Threat at a time until you win or lose.

1. Refill

Draw from the Response deck until you have 4 cards in hand. If the deck is empty, continue with whatever cards remain.

2. Reveal a Threat

Reveal the top card of the Threat deck. The Threat card determines which Armor piece it will attack if the attack succeeds.

3. Respond or Take the Hit

You may play any 1 Response card from your hand or choose not to respond. The Response does not need to match the Threat's suit. Compare only ranks.

• If the Response is equal to or higher than the Threat, the attack is defeated.
• If the Threat is higher, the Response fails and the Threat strikes Armor.
• Ties favor the defender.

You may intentionally play a Response that you know will lose. This lets you discard a weak card and draw deeper into the Response deck on a later attack. You may also play no Response and allow the Threat to strike Armor.

4. Resolve an Armor Hit

A successful Threat attacks according to its own card:

Reduce the targeted Armor die by 1 pip. When an Armor piece reaches 0 pips, it is destroyed. If the targeted Armor is missing or already destroyed, the attack instead removes 1 pip from the Breastplate. Heart Threats always attack the Breastplate directly.

5. Discard

Discard the Threat and any Response played. Begin the next attack by refilling your hand toward 4 cards.

Victory and Loss

You win when the Threat deck is empty and your Breastplate still has at least 1 pip. You lose immediately if your Breastplate reaches 0 pips. If you entered battle without a Breastplate, you cannot win, though you may continue playing for practice.

Victory Rating

After a victory, total the pips remaining on all surviving Armor pieces.

• 1–5 — Barely Standing
• 6–10 — Standing Firm
• 11–15 — Strong in the Lord
• 16–21 — Unshaken

If all six Armor pieces remain at the end of the battle, you also achieve a Whole Armor Victory.

Learning Mode: Strengthened Defense

Use all normal rules with this addition: whenever a Response successfully defeats a Threat, restore 1 pip to the Armor piece represented by the Response card.

• ♥ restores Breastplate
• ♦ restores Sword
• Odd ♠ restores Shield
• Even ♠ restores Helmet
• Odd ♣ restores Belt
• Even ♣ restores Shoes

The Threat still determines which Armor it was attacking. The Response determines which Armor is strengthened. Belt, Shoes, Shield, Helmet, and Sword cannot exceed 3 pips. The Breastplate cannot exceed 6 pips. Destroyed or missing Armor cannot be restored.