Race Events

Slipstreaming, cracks and falls, the risk line, punctures, cobbles and weather in Leader 1: Hell of the North.

Slipstreaming

A cyclist who ends their move exactly behind another cyclist, before that cyclist moves, gets 1 extra free square on their next move.

• The bonus counts once the rider in front has moved. If the rider in front stays put after a fall or a puncture, the one behind loses it.
• It is also lost if the rider in front makes a big move: 6 squares or more starting on flatland, hill or mountain, 5 or more starting on cobbles, 8 or more starting downhill.
• An unused slipstream square is a free square like any other: not riding it gives back 1 energy (recovery).

Slipstreaming is often what makes a breakaway work.

Risks: crack and fall

A player may let a cyclist take a risk where one can happen: a crack on a climb or a fall on treacherous asphalt. Each risk is settled with the peloton die after the move.

The risk line

Every risk a cyclist takes crosses the next box of their risk line on the energy table, whatever the roll, and each one is harder to pass:

A cyclist may only risk a crack if they have the energy to pay for it.

Crack

The climb category token at the start of a mountain (1 to 4) is the most paid squares a rider may ride on that mountain in one move without risk. Ride more and you roll after the move.

• On a crack, the rider pays twice the cost of the move.
• Exception: a climber who breaks away from the peloton on a mountain square never risks a crack on that move.
• Only paid squares on the mountain count: free squares, and paid squares beyond the mountain, do not.

Fall

Treacherous asphalt (the blackened squares) can make a rider fall.

• A rider risks a fall when they end their move on a blackened square, or cross one with paid squares. A rider risks only once per move.
• Blackened squares crossed with free squares (base move, slipstream, quality) are safe.
• A fighter only risks a fall from the second blackened square crossed with paid squares.
• On a fall, the cyclist is laid beside the square where the move ended, pays for the move and skips the next turn. Then they restart from that square in race order; if the square is taken, they move after the rider on it.

Puncture

When the peloton die shows the red face, every cyclist — in a breakaway, in the peloton and dropped — risks a puncture.

1. First the peloton moves, by the die value (or more).
2. Then every cyclist rolls in race order: the leading rider’s player first, then the second, and so on; riders in the peloton roll in support-rider order. A red 4 is a puncture.

• A cyclist who punctures moves last next turn, after the peloton and any dropped riders.
• They stay on their square and lose any slipstream — so does the rider behind them.
• Riders who puncture in the peloton are put one square behind it, and play after the peloton next turn.
• Others may not stop on a punctured rider’s square, but may ride through it at no extra cost.

Cobblestones

On cobbles the normal rules apply, with one change: a rider who crosses treacherous cobbled squares with paid squares risks a fall or a puncture.

• Roll the die after the move. A 4 orange or 4 blue is a fall, a 4 red a puncture; anything else is safe.
• These risks are not marked on the risk line.
• On a fall the rider pays the move and skips a turn, so they need at least the move’s cost in energy before they take the risk.
• Slipstream is lost if the rider in front makes a move of 5 or more starting on cobbles.
• The fighter keeps their quality on cobbles.

Weather

When preparing the race, agree on a number of weather tokens and place them face down along the course, at most one per hexagon.

• A token is turned face up as soon as the first rider or the peloton enters the hexagon two before the token’s hexagon. Its weather covers that whole hexagon.
• The peloton is never affected by weather.

Picture	Weather
	Rain — blackened squares of this hexagon cause a fall risk even when crossed with free squares. The fighter keeps their quality. On normal asphalt, roll once per move regardless of how many blackened squares the paid movement crosses. FAQ
	Heat — a rider who moves 6 or more squares on this hexagon must reveal one of their feed zone tiles and add it now. No tile: nothing happens.
	Headwind 1 — a rider moving on this hexagon without slipstream pays 1 more energy.
	Headwind 2 — as above, 2 more energy.
	Tailwind 1 — a rider moving on this hexagon pays 1 energy less.
	Tailwind 2 — as above, 2 energy less.

A move “on” a weather hexagon includes moves that end there, start there or cross it.