Game Board
Last updated
Last updated
Game Board
Cards can be at different Areas and Locations on the Game Board during the game. A player can have a maximum of 4 Places (P), 10 Entities and 1 HQ (HQ) as Permanents on the Game Board. Actions Cards have a designated Location on the Game Board (A), from which they are resolved.
HQ) HQ
This is the HQ. The HQ consists of 2 elements. On the left is the side bar, which includes information about the Delay, Size, Growth and stored Wisdom. The right side includes the HQ artwork and the HQ's health points. The HQ can have 2 states. On the left side the HQ is still in delay mode. This means that the effects and abilities of the HQ are not activated yet. Once the colour of the side bar changes from black and white to colour, it means it is activated.
P) Places
This is where Place Cards are being played.
A) Action
This is where Action Cards are being played.
0) Commit Button
The Commit Button is the most important button of the game. With this button you lock in all of your gameplay decisions and move forward to the next segments and phases of the game.
1) Deck
Every Deck contains exactly 39 cards and 1 Headquarter. All cards in a deck have to share the class identity of the Headquarter. Cards in the decks are concealed to the players. Whenever the player draws a card, a random card from the deck will be moved from the deck to the players hand. If at any point in the game a deck contains no cards and the player has to draw a card, 1 + X damage is dealt to his Headquarter instead, where X is the number of times the player had to draw a card, while having no cards in his deck.
Cards
There are permanent cards (Permanents) and non-permanent cards (Tokens).
Permanents are cards on the Game Field. There are 3 types of Permanents: Entities, Places and HQ’s. Actions can never be Permanents. A card becomes a Permanent, when it enters the Game Board and stops being a Permanent, as soon as a rule or effect moves it to another position. The controller of a Permanent is the player on whose side of the Game Board the Permanent is located. If an effect instructs a player to put a card onto the field, that card enters under that player's control.
Tokens are cards that are created during the game and are treated as such until the end of the game.
Drawing Cards
A player draws a random card from his deck to their hand. Cards are drawn one at a time. If an effect allows a player to draw multiple cards, the player draws single cards until he has drawn the amount specified by the effect.
2) Hand
Players can only play cards from their hands. At the start of the game each player draws 3 cards. A player can have a maximum of 8 cards in hand. If a player draws additional cards, those cards are put into the Dust Pile instead.
Areas
There are two Areas on the Game Board, the Attack Area and the Defence Area. The Battlefield spans across both Areas. The Game Board is diagonally mirrored, which means that your Attack Area is facing the Defence Area of your opponent and vice versa.
3) Attack Area
The Attack Area is on the left side of the Game Board. Action Cards are played in the Attack Area and resolved from there.
4) Defence Area
The Defence Area is on the right side of the Game Board. Place Cards are Permanents in the Defence Area.
5) Battlefield
When an Entity enters the Game Board, the player can chose to place it in a Lane, either on the Attack Area (5a, 5c) or on the Defence Area (5b, 5d) of the Battlefield. Each Lane can hold a maximum of 5 entities. Entities in Lanes are in a fixed order. If an Entity enters the Battlefield, it moves to the end of a Lane, on the right side. The order of Entities can be changed once a turn during the Lane-Switching Phase. Therefore any number of Entities can be moved to the other Lane.
If a player moves multiple Entities from one Lane to the other, these Entities line up in the exact order in which they were before. (Example 1: A player got three Entities A1, A2, A3 in the Attack Lane and one Entity B1 in the Defense Lane. He moves A1 and A3 to the Defense Lane. The new order in the Defense Lane always is B1, A1, A3.
If a player moves an Entity from the Defense to Attack Lane, the Entity moves in front of all Entities that just entered the field in the Attack Lane this turn. This is because Entities who just entered are not allowed to attack in the first turn. However, this does not apply the other way around, since Entities are allowed to defend in the turn they entered. (Example 2: A player has three Entities. Entity A1 is in the Attack Lane and Entity B1 is in the Defense Lane at the start of the turn. He then plays Entity A2 in Attack Lane. In the Lane-Switching Phase he moves Entity B1 to the Attack Lane. The new order in the Attack Lane is now A1, B1, A2.
The switch between Lanes happens simultaneously. Entities can be moved in a Lane, even if it’s full, if the same number of Entities are selected to move out of that Lane. If an Entity enters the Battlefield while both Lanes are full, the foremost Entity in the selected Lane will automatically be sacrificed and the new Entity lines up in the back.
Locations
When a Card enters the Game Board, it is placed in a Location. There are Public Locations and Private Locations. Different Locations can only be entered by certain Card Types. The order of the cards on the Deck, Dust Pile and Void can’t be changed.
Public Locations
Battlefield, Dust Pile and Void are public zones. Both players can see all cards that are located in these Public Locations.
Private Locations
The Hand and the Deck are Private Locations. The opponent can only see the number of cards in these locations.
6) Dust Pile
Each player has a Dust Pile, into which every discarded, destroyed, sacrificed or milled card is moved into. Action Cards are immediately moved to its owner's Dust Pile after their effects are put into the Queue. The order of cards in a Dust Pile is determined by the order they were moved there. If multiple cards are moved into the Dust Pile at the same time, they sorted in a random order.
7) Void (hidden)
Only effects can move cards into the Void. Cards in Void can not be targeted by effects and can not leave this location for the rest of the game. The order of cards in the Void is determined by the order they were there. If multiple cards are put into the Void at the same time, they are put there in random order. Because there is no practical function for it, there is no visual representation of the void on the Gameboard.
8) Game Segment and Phase indicator
In the center of the Game Board is the Game Segment and Phase indicator. It shows the current Game Segment and Game Phase in which you are in and provides information about whether or not you or your opponent have locked in your gameplay decisions for the current Segment. The Game Segment and Phase indicator has a top part and a bottom part. The top part gives information about your opponent's state and the bottom part gives information about your state.
Commit Segment
The card and arrow symbol on the bottom part indicates that you are the Commit Segment of the Turn Structure. In short, in this segment the players play their cards and commit their gameplay decisions. The hourglass symbol is shown, when the opponent has yet to lock in their gameplay decisions for this segment.
Lane-Switch Segment
The double arrow symbol on the bottom part indicates that you are in the Lane-Switch Segment of the Turn Structure. During this phase players can move their Entity cards between the Attack and Defence lane for strategic positioning.
Target Segment
The sword symbol on the bottom part indicates that you are in the Target Segement of the Turn Structure. During this segment you choose your targets for combat.
Highlights
When the button is not highlighted (left image), it means that the gameplay decisions are not locked in yet. After pressing the Commit Button your part of the Game Segment and Game Phase will be highlighted (right image). When your opponent locks in their gameplay decisions, the hourglass symbol will switch to the highlighted version of the segment symbol.
9) The Queue
The Queue is where all of your and your opponent’s gameplay decisions are queued up. The Queue consists of 2 independent pieces: The Past Queue and the Future Queue.
9a) Past Queue
All effects that have not yet been resolved appear on the left side of the Queue. The effects are resolved automatically and very quickly, so the player can use this to inspect what occurred in detail. The Past Queue displays effects from both you and your opponent.
9b) Future Queue
On the right side of the Queue are the effects that you have lined up and that need to be locked in by pressing the Commit Button. The Future Queue only displays your actions. Your opponent's actions become visible only after they are resolved in the Past Queue.
The arrows on each side of the Queues are used to scroll within them in time.
The vertical lines are separators of the Game Segments and Phases.
The horizontal line is the Rope, which counts down the time players have left to lock in their gameplay decisions by pressing the Commit Button.
Shapes
Each effect on the Queue is represented through the shape of the card that the effect is originating from.
Symbols
The symbols of the effects are representing abilities and effects. You can find the extensive list in the How to play section.
Dots
Dots can be either above, below or on both sides of the effect shape. The dots represent the direction of the effect.
The above shows an effect of an Entity card from your side attacking a target your opponent's side of the Game Board.
The above shows an effect that an Action card from your opponent's side of the Game Board affects a target on your side of the Game Board.
The above shows that effects from each side affect targets on each side.
Detailed view
When clicking on an effect icon on the Queue, a detailed view of the effect appears. This detailed view shows all public information available at that time.
9c) Queue Button
Pressing the Queue Button in the standard Game Board view removes the Queue from the board's display for easier gaming. If you're in the detailed view, pressing the same button will return you to the Game Board.
