1. Goal and victory conditions

The goal of the game is to earn Victory Points (VP) by destroying Places and raiding the opponent's Leader.

When a player reaches the required number of VP, the game ends immediately and that player wins. VP is earned only by destroying Places and by a successful raid on the Leader — killing a Warrior or destroying an Intrigue grants no VP. VP awarded = the base Combat Value (CV) of the destroyed card.

2. Game elements

Player deck — each player's own; a base deck contains 57–59 regular cards plus 1–3 Leader cards (only one is used per game). Gold Tokens — 1 token = 1 Gold Unit. Shared Pool — tokens available to all players, from which Gold is drawn.

3. Realm layout (play zones)

Each player builds their own Realm in front of them:

A discarded card ≠ an annihilated card. Annihilation is stronger and takes precedence.

4. Natural resources and resource icons

Blue icon = the card provides that resource. Red icon = the card consumes (spends) a resource to remain in play. Both on one card = the card first consumes, then provides.

Only Gold is stored between turns — unused icons of the other resources are lost. Cards with a Starting Cost require paying N Gold Units when played.

5. Affiliation (factions)

A player may normally only use cards that share their Leader's affiliation, or General cards (no faction icon — available to everyone).

6. Combat tactics

You can attack and raid from three directions:

Every Warrior/Leader/Place can have one, two, or three Tactic icons. The attacker must use a Tactic the defender also has (shared by both sides).

7. Card types

7.1 Leader — represents the player, only one card is used; it cannot be destroyed. It has a Name, Affiliation, CV, Combat Tactic, Special Ability, always blue resource icons, and a Neighbor Count of 4.

7.2 Places — buildings in the Settlement; they provide resources, unlock cards, and protect the Leader. They can be raided and destroyed → grant VP equal to their base CV.

7.3 Warriors — defend the Settlement, attack, and raid. Killing a Warrior grants no VP. The first word of their action line determines their type:

7.4 Intrigues — equipment, powers, events. Destroying an Intrigue grants no VP. What happens to the card after being played:

Keywords: EQUIPMENT (permanent, discardable — max 1 Weapon + 1 Armor in use at once), RITUAL (requires a Patriarch, lasts until the start of the next turn), PROPHECY (requires a Prophet, attached to the Leader for the rest of the game), DARK HARMONY (attached to cards "worthy of the Dark Harmony"), ART SPELL (requires a Sorcerer, absent from the base set).

8. Game setup

1. Reveal Leaders — both players reveal their chosen Leaders simultaneously.
2. Shuffle decks — each player shuffles and hands their deck to the opponent to cut.
3. Starting discard pile — each player sets aside the top 3 cards (without looking).
4. Draw 7 cards to your hand. Gift of Fate (mulligan) — once, you may set aside your entire hand and draw a new 7.
5. Shared Pool of tokens in the middle of the table.
6. Starting reserve — each player takes 5 Gold tokens from the pool.
7. Determine turn order — who goes first.

9. Turn sequence — six steps

Draw enough cards to have 7 in hand (if you already have 7+, you don't draw). When the deck runs out, shuffle the discard pile — it becomes the new deck. Drawing cannot be interrupted by any effect.

10. Step 2 — Actions (details)

Actions can be performed any number of times, in any order. Attacking and raiding are not actions — they have their own steps. Available actions:

• Building Places — must be edge-adjacent to the Leader/a Place; respect the Neighbor Count (cards touching only at corners don't count).
• Recruiting Warriors — INFANTRY only, into the Borderlands or Strike Force; may act the turn it's recruited.
• Moving — a Warrior between Borderlands and Strike Force, once per turn; Groups cannot be moved.
• Equipping — attaching Equipment.
• Performing Rituals — requires a Patriarch; effect lasts until the start of the next turn.
• Uttering Prophecies — requires a Prophet; attached to the Leader for the rest of the game.
• Bestowing Dark Harmony — attached to cards "worthy of the Dark Harmony".
• Forming Offensive/Defensive Groups — usually done last, right before Resource Balancing.

11. Offensive and Defensive Groups

A Group = at least 2 Warriors sharing a Tactic icon; their modified CV is summed. Loners cannot join Groups. Offensive Group — from the Strike Force only, disbands at the end of the Attack Step. Defensive Group — from the Strike Force or Borderlands (no mixing), disbands at the start of the owner's next turn; defends only against a Tactic shared by all its members.

12. Step 3 — Resource Balancing

For each of the 4 resources: count blue icons in your Realm, spend 1 per red icon. Cards you cannot afford to pay for must be discarded (you may also discard on purpose). Unused blue Gold icons go to the Reserve — this is the main way to accumulate Gold.

13. Step 4 — Attack (combat)

Only Warriors from the Strike Force attack (not from a Defensive Group), each once per turn. The target is any opposing Warrior/Defensive Group, using a Tactic shared by both sides. Order: 1) designate the Attacker and Defender, 2) determine the Tactic, 3) compare CV, 4) apply modifiers (alternating: Attacker → Defender), 5) resolve — higher CV wins, the loser dies; a tie = no one dies. After the Attack Step, all Offensive Groups disband.

14. Step 5 — Raid

You raid Places (any with an exposed edge) or — if the Settlement has no Places left — the Leader, once during the entire Raid Step. Announce a Tactic: any single Warrior or Defensive Group in the Borderlands sharing that Tactic icon automatically blocks the raid — it must first be eliminated in the Attack Step. Compare the raiders' total CV to the target's CV. A tie = nothing happens (a tie cannot be broken in a raid). Raider's victory:

• Place — destroyed, VP = its base CV; the card becomes a VP marker.
• Leader — cannot be destroyed; the raider chooses one: take the entire Gold Reserve, annihilate cards attached to the Leader, annihilate the discard pile, or take VP tokens equal to the Leader's base CV.

Victory check: if you have ≥ 50 VP, the game ends immediately and you win.

15. Other rules

Unique cards — a second copy cannot be played until the first is discarded. Adjacent cards — only cards touching along an edge (not just a corner). Supply Line — an unbroken path of adjacent cards from the Leader to a Place; losing it disables the Place's abilities and its blue icon output (but also exempts it from paying red icons), though the Place can still be raided and defended.

16. Advanced rules (Expert notes)

Timing — everything happens instantly; there is no "before this happens." Exception: the Attack/Raid Modification phase happens "all at once," so earlier actions can be disrupted later within that same phase. CV modifier order: multiplication/division "before all" → addition/subtraction "before all" → remaining multiplication/division → remaining addition/subtraction → addition/subtraction "after all" → multiplication/division "after all".

Terminology distinctions: "your" = your Realm only, "any" = anywhere in the game; "cannot" can be overridden by another card, "NEVER" never changes and takes precedence over "ALWAYS"; "combat" refers to the Attack, not the Raid; the Leader is not a Place.

17. Simplified mode — first games

For beginners: ignore affiliation (all cards may be used), ignore Cavalry and Vehicle restrictions, ignore Equipment restrictions. 30 VP is enough to win.

18. Deckbuilding

A deck must contain at least 60 cards (no upper limit). Maximum 5 copies of the same card (unless a card says "UNLIMITED COPIES IN DECK"). One Leader card is used per game.

19. Variants: team play and stalemates

Team play — same rules, but only the VP pool is shared (threshold 75, adjustable). Stalemate — with all players' agreement, the game ends and the player with the highest VP wins (equal = a draw).

20. Glossary of terms