The Battlefield¶
Diagram needed — full play area showing the Territory card with Vanguards and Flanks, the Army Deck, and the Homeland.
Zones¶
| Zone | What lives there |
|---|---|
| Territory card | The centre of the table. The ground both armies are fighting over. |
| Vanguard | Your battlefield area on one side of the Territory card. Troops and most Dwellings are played here. |
| Flanks | The left and right sides of a Territory card. |
| Homeland | Your off-battlefield area. Holds Foraged cards, Gambits, and some Dwellings. |
| Army Deck | Your face-down deck of 30–40 cards. |
The Homeland¶
The Homeland is where your Provision supply comes from. Cards sent there by Foraging represent Troops out hunting and supplying the army rather than fighting.
Two different numbers are tracked, and the rulebook keeps the words apart deliberately:
- Provision cost — what a card on the battlefield charges you every Attrition Phase.
- Provision supply — the running total your Homeland produces every Attrition Phase.
A card produces supply equal to the cost it would have charged. A Troop that costs 1 Provision produces 1 Provision supply when Foraged; a card that costs 2 produces 2, and so on.
Abilities in the Homeland¶
Whether a card's printed abilities work in the Homeland depends on what kind of card it is:
| Card type | Abilities in the Homeland |
|---|---|
| Gambit | Active. Gambits are played to the Homeland and work from there — that is where they live. |
| Troop | Inactive. A Foraged Troop is away hunting, not fighting. It generates Provision supply and nothing else. |
| Dwelling | As printed. Dwellings may only be played to the Homeland if their own text allows it, and that text governs what they do there. |
This is why Foraging a Troop is a clean economic decision rather than a tactical one: you get its Provisions, you get none of its Quirks, and you get it back only by returning it to your hand during a later Muster Phase.
Foraging vs Playing¶
- Foraged cards go to your Homeland and generate Provision supply.
- Played cards go to your Vanguard on the battlefield, where they cost Provisions instead.
Positions and Adjacency¶
- Adjacent — Two cards that share a full card edge.
- Outskirts — Two cards that touch only at a corner. Cards on the Outskirts of each other are not adjacent.
- Flank — A card that has moved to the left or right side of a Territory card is in that Territory's Flank.
- Lost — A card with no connection to any other card. See Lost Troops.
Diagram needed — adjacency vs Outskirts.
Movement¶
Troops are played into your Vanguard. Unless a card states otherwise, Troops may move horizontally or vertically, one card space per move. A move shifts the Troop to the next nearest card edge.
- A Troop that entered the battlefield this turn is still mustering — it may not move, use card abilities, or use Shotte. See Troops.
- You may shift your own Troops among each other when playing new cards.
- You may not shift enemy Troops unless a card effect says so.
Moving as a Unit¶
Certain card effects — Push of Pike, Entangle — make a group of Troops move together as a block rather than individually. Diagram needed.
Shoving Cards¶
Some card effects force a card to be moved. When this happens, the controlling player of the moved card chooses where it goes.
If there is no valid adjacent space available, pick an adjacent Troop and move that Troop instead to create the space. Diagram needed.
Lost Troops¶
If a card ever has no connection to any other card, it is Lost.
- A Troop becomes Lost immediately, at the moment the connection breaks.
- A Lost Troop cannot fight during a Charge. If a Troop becomes Lost partway through a Charge, it does not fight.
- Lost Troops cannot reconnect on their own. They are recovered during the Attrition Phase, either by paying 3 Provisions to return them to your Vanguard, or by shuffling them back into your deck.
The Trailfinder Quirk lets a Troop sidestep becoming Lost entirely.
Capturing Enemy Troops (WIP)¶
WIP — revisit later
If a Troop is fully surrounded by enemy Troops on every viable card side (not counting the Territory card), that Troop would be considered captured and placed in the opposing player's captured troop zone. This idea is parked, not active.