Hirelings¶
Hirelings represent mercenaries, citizenry, and merchants in Erda — not aligned with either the Claw Empire or the Paw Coalition. Hireling cards may be used by any faction.
Rules¶
Hirelings can be played two ways, and the Allegiance Rule treats them differently in each:
Hireling cards added to a Claw Empire, Paw Coalition, or Weald deck are not subject to the Allegiance Rule. They are played at their printed Provision cost, with no +2 surcharge.
Hirelings are the only cards in the game that can be splashed for free — that is the whole point of them.
If you declare Hireling as your deck's allegiance, using Gold tokens as your Army Ability card, the Allegiance Rule applies to you like any other faction.
Every non-Hireling card in your deck — Claw, Paw, or Weald — costs +2 Provisions.
Faction Ability — Gold¶
Discard a Gold token: target allied Hireling card costs 0 Provisions this turn.
Gold is the mercenary answer to the Provision economy — instead of building a large Homeland supply, you buy your way out of a single expensive Attrition Phase at exactly the moment it would have broken you.
In Campaign Mode, Gold is also earned by completing missions and spent between contracts to add cards to your company.
Pike Buff¶
Hireling Gambits and abilities buff Pike Troops with a Citizenry buff. See Pike Buffs by Faction.
WIP
The exact Citizenry buff is not yet defined.
Common Archetypes¶
- Smuggler — Black market contacts and contraband runners
- Ruffian — Street-level muscle for hire
- Citizenry — Common folk pressed into service or hired for coin
- Spy — Information brokers working every side at once
Common Species¶
Fox, Snake, Owl, Crow, Weasel, Rat, Cat, Quail
See The Pike Triangle for how Pike, Shotte, and Cavalry counter each other.