Lewis & Clark: The Expedition FAQ
141 questions players ask · Updated Nov 11, 2026 · Full rulebook
Setup and General Rules
- Can resources run out during the game, and what are the Resource Multiplication Markers for?
- How many Expedition Upgrade boats are there, and is there a limit per player?
- What are the main rule differences between the first and second editions?
- Can a first-edition copy be played with second-edition rules using the upgrade kit?
- Are the cards in your hand hidden from other players?
- Which resources does each player start with in the standard setup?
- Can Indians go back to the stock once they are all in play?
- Does the starting Indian on the fourth Boat come from the stock?
- Which Starting Characters does each player get with fewer than five players?
Character Cards
- Does a permanent-effect Character card need Strength to be played?
- Can a permanent (infinity) Character card be powered with more than one Strength?
- How do you play a permanent-effect Character card, and how long does its effect last?
- Does a permanent card's movement bonus apply to one movement, and can it be split or stacked?
- How does Nicholas Jarrot's river bonus work?
- If Cut Nose is powered more than once, does his Mountain bonus stack?
- Does John Boley cut camp Time once for each Strength, and do Indians used to power him count?
- Does Joseph Gravelines' recruitment discount grow with the Strength used to power him?
- How far do Half Man (card 30) and One Eye (card 52) move?
- What can Hugh Heney (card 38) collect when you play him?
- Do the resources in Little Thief's pairs or Tetoharsky's groups have to match?
- Can Watkuweis (card 45) be powered with more than one Strength?
- Do Hay, Little Raven and Larocque gain anything from extra Strength, and are they usable again after camp?
- Must the Interpreter discard the bottom Journal card even if you take no Indians?
- What happens to Indians left at the Pow-wow, and to Indians used to power cards?
- Can an Interpreter take just one Indian from the Pow-wow?
- Does the Interpreter add a newcomer Indian even when some Indians remain at the Pow-wow, and does each extra activation add one?
- Can Sacagawea take a Village action on a spot with no Indian on it?
- What do the backs of the Character cards show?
- When the Character draw deck runs out, which discarded cards are reshuffled?
- Do resource badges multiply the Strength of every card, or only resource-collecting cards?
- Which badges count when you collect resources?
- Can you collect a resource when no badge of that resource is visible?
Expedition Route
- In the first edition, do spaces occupied by another Scout count toward a move?
- In the 2020 (second) edition, how does a Scout pass a space occupied by another Scout?
- Can a Scout end its movement on a space occupied by another Scout, and where does it go instead?
- Can two Scouts share Saint Louis?
- Where is the first river space that two Scouts can share?
- How far back can a Scout fall when it camps, and can you hang back at the start to camp again and again?
- Does the route continue past Fort Clatsop, and are those spaces river spaces?
- Does the finish flag separate the spaces on either side, and can river movement go past it?
- Does the flagpole mark the eastern edge of the Fort Clatsop space?
- Can you turn over an Expedition Upgrade boat tile after placing it?
- Can you pay three Wood for the Expedition Upgrade and count two of your Wood as its bonus?
- Can one movement cover both river and mountain spaces?
- Can one card move on the river and then in the mountains in the same turn?
- If paid movement runs past the end of its terrain, where does the Scout stop?
- In the second edition, must Time tokens be cleared before the Scout moves onto the next space?
- When a card moves a Scout several times in one action, do occupied spaces along the way matter?
- Can a Scout move forward on an action and then fall back when you camp in the same turn?
- How many Indians can go on the boat that holds Indians without a limit?
- Can an Expedition Upgrade boat carry horses and canoes as well as Wood and Food?
Game Turn
Compulsory Action Phase
- Can you take only part of an action's Strength or benefit, or none of it?
- Can you play a card you cannot afford to activate, and can you pay only part of an action's cost?
- Do you pay per activation, and can you overpay to get rid of goods?
- Can you discard goods or Indians from your boats when you no longer need them?
- When collecting with full boats, which goods do you keep?
- Can you move goods between your boats outside a collection?
- Can you take fewer resources than a card allows when collecting?
- Can you take a Character action and a Village action in the same turn?
- What can power one Character action: one card, Indians, or both?
- Does a Character card's printed Strength limit how many times its action can be used?
- Can you use a Character card you already played on an earlier turn, without setting up camp?
- Can Indians used to power a card be used again before you camp, or for a Village action?
- How many Indians can a Village spot hold, and what happens when a circle is occupied?
- When a card offers several options, can each Strength choose a different one?
- Can resources gained from one activation pay for another activation of the same card in the same turn?
Village Actions
- Can you place Indians on a village space you cannot afford, or take none of its benefit?
- Are you forced to take the rewards when you build a new boat, such as its resources or Indian?
- Can you use Farewell on only some of the Journal of Encounters cards?
- When you use Farewell, do you choose which hand cards to discard before the new Journal cards are revealed?
- Can you buy more than one Expedition Upgrade boat tile in a game?
- Can two players each use the Expedition Upgrade action in the same round?
- Can you place Indians in both empty Expedition Upgrade circles in one action?
- Can you use more than one village space in one turn?
- How many Indians can you place on a village circle or semicircle?
- Can you place an Indian on a village circle that already has an Indian on it?
- How many Indians can go on the open boat-building and horse-trading spaces?
- Can Indians that powered a Character card be placed in the village?
- Do Indians left in the Pow-wow area after an Interpreter activation stay there?
- Does placing an Indian on a village spot also give you that spot's resource badge?
- Can Indians you collect from Pow-wow or a Shamanism copy be placed in the same turn?
- How often does Shamanism copy an action, and must the copied card be powered?
- When Shamanism copies a resource card, which badges count toward its total?
- Can Shamanism copy the Character card that is using it, such as Sacagawea?
- Can Shamanism copy the Interpreter's action?
- Does Sacagawea need an Indian on a village space to use it?
- Can one Sacagawea activation produce more than one canoe?
Recruitment
Encampment and the Camp
- What if you cannot take a compulsory action at the start of your turn?
- Can you set up camp both before and after your compulsory action in one turn?
- Can you recruit a Character and set up camp in the same turn?
- Does setting up camp end your turn or take you out of play?
- In what order does setting up camp happen, and do Indians on your cards count toward the time?
- Must you play out your hand before setting up camp, and do cards still in hand cost time?
- Can you move Indians around your boats during your turn, and is there a limit on how many you keep?
- If your Scout must fall back onto a space another Scout holds, where does it stop, and where does your Camp go?
- Is your Camp placed before or after the time penalty is applied?
- Can your Camp token ever move backward, and can Camps and Scouts share a space?
- If your Scout ends behind your Camp, does its next move start from the Scout?
- What is the Camp token for, and does the Scout's position alone decide the winner?
- If your camp penalty is larger than the spaces to the river, how far back does your Scout move?
- If you camp at or beyond Fort Clatsop while carrying cards, do you still win?
- What happens if your Scout must fall back more than five spaces below Saint Louis?
- Do all players have to set up camp in the same round, and does camping depend on other players' turns?
- Can you discard resources during Encampment?
- Do you get new Indians when you set up camp?
Encountered Characters
- How many Scouts count for Half Man and One Eye, and is the count repeated for each Strength?
- Does Nicholas Jarrot's bonus still apply when the Scout's base movement is zero?
- Do Nicholas Jarrot's or Cut Nose's bonuses repeat for each Strength given to the other Character?
- Does the Strength Nicholas Jarrot is played with change his bonus?
- When you power Cuscalar, do you still pay the normal cost of the Journal Character you take?
- With Cuscalar, is the Journal refilled after each Character you take or after the whole activation?
- Does Coboway move 3 or 4 spaces in the Mountains?
- How does F. Antoine Larocque let your Scout pass other Scouts when you move with several activations?
- Does Weuche move you through water as well as mountains?
- Does Dickson and Hancock collect resources with the badge multiplier, or one per Strength?
- Can Hugh Heney collect the same resource on every activation?
- Does Strength multiply what a recruited resource-collecting Character gives?
- When Toussaint Charbonneau performs a Village action, must you still pay that action's cost?
- When Three Eagles is given 3 Strength, how much Equipment must you pay?
- Can a Character without a per-Strength clause, like Man Crow, be powered with extra Strength to repeat its effect?
- Does Joseph Gravelines' 2-Fur discount reduce a recruit's cost to zero?
- Do Indians in the Pow-wow and Newcomer areas count for Daniel Boone?
- How much does John Boley reduce a camp time penalty?
- Does Little Raven count adjacent resource badges?
- What happens when the Journal of Encounters stack runs out?
- When you play the Interpreter, can you skip discarding the last card of the Journal?
Game End
Solo Variant
- In solo play, when does Alexander Mackenzie move?
- In solo play, where does Mackenzie start on the Easy level, and how far ahead can he start on harder levels?
- Does the solo game use the same Fort Clatsop win as multiplayer?
- Can Mackenzie share a space with your Scout, and what happens when one lands on the other?
- Can you leapfrog Mackenzie with your own Scout?
- In solo play, does each Indian on a village spot multiply that spot's resource badge?