Revenant
Revenant Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Components
- Influence board x1
- Influence markers x32 (8 in each player color)
- House Power tokens x14 (double-sided; 2 per House)
- Sequence board left half x1
- Sequence board right half x1
- Phase Skip tokens x3
- Turn Order tokens x4
- Phase marker x1
- Crew boards x4 (double-sided)
- Captain Rank markers x4 (1 in each player color)
- Crew Figures x12 (1 Captain and 2 Cadets in each player color)
- Scoring pad x1
- Frigate boards x4
- Arkship & Revenant Action Summary cards x4
- Main board x1 (double-sided, with alternate artwork)
- Revenant x1
- Arkships x7 (1 per House)
- Fighters x7 (1 per House)
- Voidborn ships x32
- Frigates x4 (1 in each player color)
- Shuttles x7 (1 per House)
- Dropships x7 (1 per House)
- Shield tokens x12
- Rift dice x3 (different for 1-2, 3, and 4 players)
- Rifts x4
- Corruption markers x26
- Revenant Protection tokens x2
- Discovery Data cubes x15
- Damage markers x30
- Operation cards x90 (Cadet x30, Frigate x30, Command x30)
- Hidden Influence cards x63
- Secret Agenda cards x13 (Personal Agenda x9, Fleet Agenda x4)
- Revenant Failure cards x11 (Hull Failure x7, Core Failure x4)
- Planet cards x29
- Colony cards x7
- Scanner cards x45 (15 each for 1-2, 3, and 4 players, and 5 each for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Cycles)
- Resource tokens x80 (Science x20, Energy x20, Material x20, Neutronium x20)
- Gain Tactics tokens x3
- Contain Corruption tokens x3
Setup
Before setting up components, each player chooses one of the four available colors.
Main Play Area Setup
For setup, see page 6.
- Place the main board in the middle of the table, with the side showing the artwork you prefer.
- Place the Influence board nearby.
- Join the left half and right half of the Sequence board and place them nearby.
- Place the Resource tokens, Shield tokens, Damage markers, Discovery Data cubes, Voidborn ships, and Corruption markers in a common supply.
- Separately shuffle the three types of Operation cards (Cadet cards, Frigate cards, and Command cards) into three face-down decks.
- Shuffle the Hidden Influence cards into a face-down deck.
- Create the Scanner offer above the main board:
- Find the 15 Scanner cards appropriate to the player count (1-2, 3, or 4), showing the matching icons on their backs. Return the remaining 30 cards to the box.
- Randomly reveal three Scanner cards showing the 1st-Cycle icon on their back into the offer, and return the two other cards with this icon to the box.
- Form two face-down Scanner decks above the main board from the Scanner cards showing the 2nd-Cycle icon and the 3rd-Cycle icon on their back, shuffling each separately.
- Shuffle the Colony cards into a face-down deck nearby.
- Place the Rift die appropriate for the number of players next to the Scanner deck, and return the other two dice to the box (a different die is used for the 1-2-player, 3-player, and 4-player game).
Main Board Setup
For setup, see page 6.
- Place the Revenant in the center.
- Place 1 random Arkship in Sectors 1, 4, and 6, then 2 random Arkships in Sectors 3 and 7.
- Place 1 random Fighter in every sector except Sector 4. If a Fighter has the same House flag as an Arkship in the same sector, swap the Fighter with the one in the clockwise next sector.
- Place 1 random Dropship in every sector except Sector 6. Do not check their House flags against other ships.
- Place Voidborn ships on each sector of the main board, depending on the number of players, according to the sector table printed on the board.
- Place a Rift in Sectors 1, 3, 5, and 7.
- Shuffle the Planet cards into a face-down deck, then draw and place the top cards face-up in sectors depending on the number of players.
- 1-3 player game: Sectors 2, 5, and 8.
- 4-player game: Sectors 2, 4, 6, and 8.
- Place a Discovery Data cube on each revealed Planet card.
Player Area Setup
For setup, see page 7.
- Planets can be visited with Dropships to mine resources or gain the help of their inhabitants.
- Dropships can land on planets that the fleet meets on its way.
- Arkships are massive vessels that provide unique actions. They never break formation with the fleet.
- Voidborn ships relentlessly attack the fleet.
- Frigates belong to you, the Admirals.
- Fighters are nimble and can combat the Voidborn.
- Rifts spawn Voidborn ships and spread Corruption.
- Shuttles provide fragile living quarters and transportation for civilians. These will join the fleet later.
The Great Houses Escorting the Revenant
| House | Description |
|---|---|
| Shiveus | A zealous order waging a ruthless holy crusade to cleanse the Domineum of corruption. |
| Zenor | A single, replicated intellect of a once-brilliant scientist, now commanding a hive-mind of clones. |
| Yarvek | Nomadic deep-space explorers who welcome survivors and repurpose salvaged tech. |
| Fenrax | A tightly bonded and highly disciplined collective of elite pilots operating in coordinated teams. |
| Belitan | A cold and rational society that has forsaken emotion in favor of pure logic and calculation. |
| Dunlork | Cybernetically enhanced engineers who master unconventional sustainable energy and unmatched efficiency. |
| Novaris | A resourceful resistance force founded during the recent collapse of the Domineum. |
Influence Board Setup
- Place 7 Player markers of each selected player color on the lowest position of each of the 7 House Influence tracks.
- Populate the 7 tracks with tokens. Place 1 token on Steps 2, 5, and 8 of each track (total of 3 per track). The token type depends on the House:
- Fenrax: Material tokens
- Shiveus: Contain Corruption tokens
- Yarvek: Discovery Data cubes
- Belitan: Science tokens
- Zenor: Neutronium tokens
- Novaris: Gain Tactics tokens
- Dunlork: Energy tokens
- Place 2 House Power tokens in a stack above the top space of each of the seven Houses' Influence tracks (a total of 14 tokens), such that a token showing "2" is on the bottom, and a token showing "3" is on the top of each stack.
- Place the 7 Shuttles above the Influence board.
Sequence Board Setup
- Place the Phase marker on the top left space of the Phase track.
- Place the 3 Phase Skip tokens on their indicated spaces at the bottom of the Phase track.
- Determine the turn order by randomly dealing out Turn Order tokens.
- Place 1 Player marker of each selected player color on the Tactics track, stacking them on top of each other in turn order, so the player with the 1st Player token has their Player marker on the bottom, the player with the 2nd Player token on top of it, and so on. (Not used in 1-2-player games.)
- 4-player game: The player with the 4th Player token moves their Player marker 1 space to the right. (Not used in 1-3-player games.)
- Create the Revenant Failure deck:
- Shuffle the 4 Core Failure cards and draw 1 face-down. Return the rest to the box unseen.
- Shuffle the 7 Hull Failure cards, draw 3 face-down and place them on top of the Core Failure card. Return the rest to the box unseen.
- Place the resulting deck of 4 cards near the Sequence board. Reveal the top card and place it at the top space of the Revenant Failure Display, found at the right side of the Sequence board.
- Place the 2 Revenant Protection tokens near the Revenant Failure deck.
Player Area Setup (continued)
- In reverse turn order, each player chooses a Crew board, choosing either of its sides. The boards show unique abilities on each side.
Note: On your first game, take a random Crew board, with a random side up.
- In reverse turn order, each player chooses a Frigate board. The Frigate boards have unique Frigate space bonuses.
Note: On your first game, take a random Frigate board.
- Each player takes an Arkship & Revenant Action Summary card.
- Each player takes one of each type of Resource token (1 Material, 1 Energy, 1 Science, and 1 Neutronium) and places them on the leftmost four Resource spaces of their Frigate board.
- Each player takes 1 Corruption marker, and places it on the rightmost Corruption space.
- Each player places the Captain Rank marker on the lowest step of the Captain Rank track.
- Each player places their 3 Crew figures: the Captain on the Captain space, and the 2 Cadets on the Cadet spaces.
- Each player draws 2 Hidden Influence cards into their hand.
- Separate the Secret Agenda cards by their backs into Fleet and Personal Agendas and shuffle them separately. Each player draws 1 random Fleet Agenda card into their hand.
- Each player draws 2 Personal Agenda cards and selects one to keep in their hand. Return all unselected Agenda cards to the box, without looking at any of them.
Before Starting Play
- Each player draws 1 of each type of Operation card into their hand, i.e. 1 Cadet card, 1 Frigate card, and 1 Command card (a total of 3 cards).
- Each player may choose to discard each of their Operation cards once to draw another card of the same type. Use separate face-down discard piles for each Operation type.
Note: On your first game, we recommend you skip discarding Operation cards.
- In reverse turn order, each player chooses a different House, and:
- Moves their Influence marker up 1 space on the Influence track of that House (see previous page).
- Places their Frigate into the sector of the Arkship of that House.
Overview
Fate itself seems to have chosen you as the savior of humanity. The destiny of the Revenant—whether it shall become the foundation of a new civilization—rests in your hands. Yet know this: it is not yours alone to decide. You and your fellow Admirals may share a noble ambition to secure a new home for us, but it is clear that only one among you will rise as the supreme authority in a hopeful future.
In Revenant, players compete for Prestige, which is mainly earned from having Influence with the seven Great Houses. Houses with high Power reward you more, as the Power of each House is multiplied by your Influence with them. Part of this Influence is public and known to other players but you also acquire Hidden Influence to surprise your opponents. Additional Prestige comes from completing your secret Agendas, training your Captain and Cadets, upgrading your Frigate, or cleansing the fleet and your Crew of Corruption.
Game Structure
The game lasts for four Cycles. Each Cycle consists of five phases:
- I Action phase (page 9): Players resolve actions by boarding ships with their Crew. The majority of the game is spent in this phase.
- II Recall phase (page 20): Various components are reset and the turn order is updated.
- III Skirmish phase (page 20): The Voidborn attack, damaging and potentially destroying ships.
- IV Rift phase (page 22): New Voidborn ships appear to threaten the fleet.
- V Hyperjump phase (page 23): If the players have decided to charge up the hyperdrive of the Revenant, the fleet now escapes to the next star system.
Track the current phase with the Phase marker on the Sequence board.
The Rift phase and Hyperjump phase are mutually exclusive. In every Cycle only one of them will be resolved, depending on which of them is covered by the Phase Skip token of that Cycle.
After the Skirmish phase of the 4th Cycle, you skip both the Rift and Hyperjump phase and proceed directly to the Final scoring (page 24).
I. Action Phase
The joint fleet assembled by the Great Houses now travels under the Admirals' command, with each serving as a neutral leader in this desperate journey. Yet the Great Houses offer more than protection for the Revenant—they are the very pillars upon which the political order of the new civilization will be built. Forging the right alliances with them along the journey will prove vital to securing your future.
During the Action phase, players take turns, following turn order, a total of three times. Once the last player is finished with their 3rd turn, proceed to the Recall phase.
A player's turn consists of the following five steps:
-
Board With Crew — Board a ship found on the main board with a Crew member by moving the Crew figure from your Crew board to an unoccupied space of that ship. You may not board another player's Frigate.
-
Gain Influence — This step depends on the ship type you have boarded this turn.
- House ships (Arkship, Fighter, Dropship): Gain Influence with the affiliated House: Advance 1 step on the Influence track of the House of the ship where you just sent your Crew member.
- Revenant: Gain Influence with any House: Advance 1 step on an Influence track of your choice.
- Your Frigate: Gain Hidden Influence: Acquire 1 new Hidden Influence card, through the process described on page 11, under Hidden Influence.
-
Crew Action — Resolve the effects of the ship you have boarded this turn with your Crew member. You may forfeit any effect that you don't want to resolve, unless it is explicitly stated as mandatory. Some effects are tied to a cost, which you must pay first to then resolve the connected effect. The complete list of ship effects are found on pages 16-19.
-
Gain Corruption — Place 1 Corruption on your Frigate board if either or both is true:
- Your current Crew member is on a ship with a Corruption on it.
- You resolved a corrupted planet effect this turn (see page 17).
You never gain more than 1 Corruption in this step.
Important: You cannot board a ship or resolve an effect that would cause you to gain Corruption when you have no space to store it.
-
Bonus Action — Resolve one of the five Bonus actions listed on your Frigate board. You can only choose one without a Corruption on it. Find the detailed list of these actions on page 19.
Example: Emily has sent one of her Cadets to House Dunlork's Arkship. She gains Influence with House Dunlork, advancing on their Influence track. Then she resolves the ship effects, choosing the Arkship's top option "Provision" where she gains 2 Science (storing them on her Frigate board). Finally, since this Arkship had a Corruption on it, she must place a Corruption from the common supply onto her Frigate board. Note that as her Bonus action she can't choose the one with the Corruption on it.
Discarding Hidden Influence
During your turn in the Action phase you can, at any time, any number of times, discard 1 Hidden Influence from your hand (face down) to gain any 1 resource (see page 11 for more on Hidden Influence).
Emergency Action
Optionally, instead of boarding a ship, you may set your Crew figure aside on your Frigate board. When doing this, gain Hidden Influence, then gain any 1 resource or 1 Tactics, which concludes your Crew action. Then proceed to your Bonus action.
Note: The Emergency Action is a rare, but valid option in some situations. You may take it with every Crew member, if you wish to.
General Rules
Listen well, Admiral, for beneath the fleet's unity lie hidden machinations. The Great Houses are moving in accord now, but should we finally escape the Void, they will surely struggle for power on our new colony. Resources, assets, and opportunities—all demand careful judgment. Know the rules, and you will know how to bend them. Find the line, so you may cross it. But only when the time is right.
Revenant revolves around resolving various effects with your Crew members. The following chapter describes these effects and all rules governing them.
Resources and Corruption
There are 4 types of resources you can collect, represented by tokens: Material, Energy, Science, and Neutronium.
When you gain any 1 resource you place a token of the gained type from the common supply on any empty Resource space on your Frigate board. Some effects gain you a specific type of resource. When you gain multiples of "any resource" you may choose any combination. You may not stack Resource tokens on each other, and you have a limit of 12 resources: whenever you would gain more, you must either forfeit it, or discard another first.
When you spend a resource as the cost of certain effects, discard the required Resource tokens to the common supply. Many effects require specific resource types as cost, not just any type.
Some effects give you a resource discount on a cost.
There are five Compartments printed on the lower half of your Frigate board. Four of these show two Resource spaces on the bottom, a Bonus action in the middle, and a Corruption space on the top. The leftmost Compartment is special as it has four Resource spaces and no Corruption space.
When you gain a Corruption you must place it on an empty Corruption space of a Compartment. Once placed, you may not move this Corruption to another Compartment. Do not place gained Corruption on the 3 Void Residue spaces.
The Voidborn's corruption can manifest in many ways. It both physically hinders your Frigate's machinery, and sows distrust within your Crew, making them work less flexibly and less effectively.
Corrupted Compartments have multiple downsides:
- You cannot place newly gained resources in them.
- You cannot spend resources from them.
- You cannot choose the corresponding Bonus action.
You may rearrange resources between non-corrupted Compartments anytime, even immediately before gaining a Corruption. However you may not rearrange resources into or out of corrupted Compartments.
You cannot take an action that would need you to gain a Corruption when all Corruption spaces on your Frigate board are occupied.
When you contain a Corruption, take 1 Corruption marker from your Frigate board or a House ship, and move it onto an empty Void Residue space of your Frigate board. Some effects specify that you can only contain a Corruption from your Frigate board, or only from a House ship.
Once you have 3 Corruption on Void Residue spaces, immediately discard them and gain Hidden Influence (see this page).
Discovery Data
Information that you gather from the fleet's long range scanner and the planets you visit on your way may be quietly passed along to Houses that find it valuable.
Discovery Data is an asset that is stored on your Frigate board, similarly to Void Residue.
When you gain Discovery Data, place the cube on an empty Discovery Data space on your Frigate board.
Once you have 3 Discovery Data cubes, immediately discard them and gain Hidden Influence (see this page).
Influence
But tell me, Admiral—what holds true worth? What secures your legacy? Precious metals? Neutronium? No. Favors. And not from just anyone, but from those who hold true power.
During the game you gain Influence with the seven Great Houses that escort the fleet. Your influence with them will earn you Prestige at the end of the game.
You have two sources of Influence: Your position on the seven Influence tracks is public information, and you also have Hidden Influence cards in your hand that you only need to reveal at the end of the game.
Influence Tracks
On the Influence board, each House has their own track with steps, numbered 0-8.
When you gain Influence with a House, advance your marker one step on the track of that House. If you are already at Step 8 on a track, you cannot advance further.
Each track has reward tokens on Steps 2, 5, and 8. The first player to reach these steps will get that reward token. When gaining a reward token, simply take them as normal, except the following two special rewards:
- The Contain Corruption token is discarded immediately after gaining it to contain 1 Corruption from your Frigate board or House ship (placing it on a Void Residue space as normal).
- The Gain Tactics token is discarded immediately after gaining it to then gain 2 Tactics.
Hidden Influence
When you gain Hidden Influence, you draw a number of Hidden Influence cards determined by your Captain's rank (ranging from 1 to 4 cards for most Captains). If you drew multiple cards, then keep one and discard the rest into a face-down discard pile. There is no hand limit for Hidden Influence cards.
Example: Emily gains Hidden Influence. Her Captain is Rank 2, meaning she draws 3 Hidden Influence cards, selects one to keep, and immediately discards the other two.
Tactics
Tactics encompasses your experience in combat, your understanding of the current battlespace, and the respect that comes with it. It is not a tangible currency, but unwise to underestimate.
Tactics is a special asset that is tracked on the Sequence board.
When you gain 1 Tactics, move your player marker one step to the right on the Tactics track. When your marker ends up on a space with another marker, place it on top and don't change their order. You have a limit of 12 Tactics. If you are already on the last step of the track, you cannot advance further.
When you reach Step 3 or 6 of the Tactics track, immediately gain 1 Material. When you reach Step 12, immediately gain 1 Neutronium.
Note 1: Each Cycle, the turn order will change based on current Tactics (see page 20).
Note 2: You never spend Tactics, although your Tactics reset after a Hyperjump (see page 23).
Example: Emily has 2 Tactics when she gains 1. She immediately gains 1 Material for reaching Step 3 on the track. Her marker ends up on top of Jacob's.
House Power
The Power of each House is shown by a token on the top of the Influence track, and it is at all times equal to the number of ships they have on the main board. Each House has 1 Arkship, 1 Fighter, 1 Dropship, and 1 Shuttle (a total of 4 ships). Any time a House ship is deployed or destroyed, adjust the two Power tokens of that House accordingly.
Note: At the end of the game, add 1 to the Power of the House that is featured on the selected Colony card (see page 25), making it higher than the number of ships.
Ships and Sectors
There are a total of seven different ship types that players can interact with:
- House ships: These are the ships with an affiliation to a House — Arkships, Fighters, Dropships, Shuttles.
- Frigates
- Revenant
- Voidborn ships
When you deploy a House ship, select 1 Arkship, Fighter, Dropship, or Shuttle from the common supply, then place it on the main board on a sector of your choice. A variant of this effect is to deploy a House ship except an Arkship.
There are 12 sectors on the main board: 8 numbered outer sectors and 4 inner sectors enclosing the Revenant.
Your sector is the one containing the Crew member you are using this turn, at any moment. Your sector changes every turn, and every time you move the ship that your Crew member is boarding. By default every effect is resolved in your sector, except containing Corruption (see page 10).
Adjacent sectors are the ones next to your sector, divided by solid lines. Effects with this icon can be resolved in both your sector and adjacent sectors.
Some effects may be resolved in any sector.
The outer sectors have ship limits printed on them which can never be surpassed when deploying or moving ships.
- 2 Arkships in Sectors 3 and 7.
- 1 Arkship in Sectors 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, and 8.
- 4 Fighters, Dropships, or Shuttles in total (in any combination).
- 6 Voidborn ships.
- There is no limit of Frigates in a sector.
Ships may be moved into inner sectors (see the next section, Movement), but you may never end your turn with any ship remaining in an inner sector.
Movement
Frigates, Fighters, Dropships, and Shuttles can be moved on the main board. You may not move Arkships, other players' Frigates, or Voidborn ships.
When you maneuver with a ship you have boarded, you may move that ship from its current sector to an adjacent one.
Some abilities enhance your ship's maneuver with extra movement steps. For each extra movement step, you may further move the ship from one sector to an adjacent one.
When you move a House ship (except an Arkship) with caution you can choose any Fighter, Dropship, or Shuttle. Then you may move it to an adjacent sector. If you are provided with multiple moves, you can move the same ship multiple times or split the moves between ships. Any ship you move must not end its movement in a sector with more Voidborn ships than their original sector. When selecting a ship, it doesn't matter if it is occupied by any player or not, but you may not move Dropships that are already landed on a planet (see page 17 on landing).
Example: It both takes 3 steps to go from Sector 3 to Sector 6, or from Sector 3 to Sector 7 (moving through inner sectors).
Combat
Combat in Revenant is deterministic. In the Action phase, players can use their Frigates and Fighters to attack Voidborn ships, which only fight back in the Skirmish phase, targeting the ships of the fleet.
When you attack with a Fighter or Frigate you have boarded, you may deal 1 damage with it in your current sector, which destroys 1 Voidborn ship there.
When you destroy 1 Voidborn ship, you immediately gain 1 Tactics for it, and then remove the ship from the main board. This is usually the result of your attack, but some effects and abilities let you destroy Voidborn ships directly. In these cases it is always defined which sectors you can target.
Some abilities enhance your ship's attack with extra damage, each destroying 1 additional Voidborn ship. These are also dealt in your current sector, unless the ability explicitly says otherwise.
Example: Emily uses her Frigate to attack, dealing 1 damage in the sector of the Frigate, which destroys 1 Voidborn ship, gaining her 1 Tactics.
Voidborn ships only attack in the Skirmish phase, which is explained in detail on page 20. As a result of their attack, you might end up with Damage markers on some of the House ships, or the Revenant.
Certain effects and abilities let you remove damage from the ships of the fleet. When you do so, select any Damage marker on a ship and discard it back to the common supply.
Shields
Shields are special defensive objects that activate during the Skirmish phase (see page 20).
When you place a Shield in a sector, take a Shield token from the common supply and place it close to the Voidborn ships.
Note: During the Skirmish phase, each Shield cancels 1 damage from a Voidborn ship.
Captain and Rank
Your Captain is the head of your Crew, represented by its special figure. The rank of your Captain is tracked on the Rank track of the Crew board, ranging from Rank 0 to 3.
When you increase the rank of your Captain, move the Rank marker one step up on its track. Any ability or advantage on the rank you arrive at is immediately available to you.
Your Captain's abilities are found to the right of the Rank track (on the Crew board). The basic ability on the bottom stays the same throughout the game. The progressive ability has four levels, improving with every rank you reach. Both trigger on the turn you use your Captain.
The activate ability, found under the advantages on the bottom left, is independent of rank, and the Captain. It triggers when you resolve the Activate Bonus action on your turn.
See Abilities on page 15 for further rules, and find every ability explained in detail in the Glossary.
There are three advantages that scale with rank, found on the left of the Rank track:
- Operation Income: This determines how many Operation cards you may draw at the end of the Rift phase or the Hyperjump phase.
- Hidden Influence Manipulation: Every time you gain Hidden Influence, draw the number of cards shown here, choose one of them, and discard the rest (see Hidden Influence on page 11).
- Tactics Reset: In the Hyperjump phase (see page 23), when you reset your Tactics, you move it back to this value on the track.
Operation Cards
Operation cards provide permanent abilities or immediate effects when played. There are three Operation types: Frigate, Cadet, and Command, each providing their own distinct benefit.
When you draw Operation cards, you must decide how many of each type of Operation card to draw first before looking at any of them.
You have a hand limit of 8 Operation cards. You may draw to have more than 8 cards in your hand, but then you must immediately choose and discard cards until you have 8 left.
Some effects require you to discard Operation cards as their cost. Place the discarded cards in a face-down discard pile, separated by type.
If an Operation deck of one type is empty, reshuffle its discard deck to form a new draw deck.
When you play an Operation card, select one from your hand, spend the resource cost indicated at the top of the card, then place the card in its appropriate slot. You cannot play an Operation card whose cost you can't pay.
- Cadet cards are placed in the Cadet card slots of your Crew board, found to the left of the Cadet figure spaces. You may attach up to 2 Cadet cards to a Cadet.
- Frigate cards are placed in the leftmost empty Frigate slot of your Frigate board. Each of your five Frigate slots (except the leftmost one) have printed immediate bonuses on them which you immediately gain upon filling them.
- Command cards provide an effect that is resolved immediately. Store your played Command cards face down in your player area.
Abilities
Abilities are sets of effects that you can use to boost your actions. You can find abilities on your Crew board and on Operation cards, printed within distinct boxes.
Every ability has a triggering effect, which is the one that they are boosting. The trigger is indicated on the top left corner of the ability box.
Most abilities are used during their trigger, meaning you have to resolve every part of an ability before you finish the triggering effect.
Some abilities are used right after their trigger, which is indicated by the shown icon. You must resolve every part of these abilities right after you conclude the triggering effect and before doing anything else.
Some abilities include a condition, which is a set of icons outside a blue dashed box. The ability within the box can only be resolved if the condition is met.
Example: The top ability of the Tactician Cadet card triggers right after a Crew action, but only if you meet the condition of having 8 or more Tactics. The bottom ability triggers during an attack (with no other conditions).
Copying Effects
When you copy an effect you fully resolve the ship or planet effect attached to the "copy" icon.
When using abilities, consider as triggers both the ship you boarded and the ship or Planet you copy. Your sector is considered to be the one where the copied effect is located.
In the Gain Corruption step of the turn, boarding a corrupted ship and copying a corrupted planet option counts toward gaining Corruption, but copying the effect of a corrupted ship does not.
Example: Emily chooses the Replicate option on the Arkship of House Zenor, which lets her copy an occupied planet's effect. By doing this she could both trigger the top ability of Alchemist that needs an "Arkship effect", and the bottom ability of Purifier that needs a "planet effect".
Actions in Detail
Your range of options is wide, though not limitless. You can deploy Fighters to engage in combat, or Dropships to exploit nearby planets. If you ask me, though, you should try to make use of your own Frigate. Do not forget the Arkship of each Great House either, as they allow you to put their greatest strengths to use, and on top of all, you can leverage the Revenant's capabilities for the benefit of the entire fleet—or even for yourself, if you know how.
This chapter is a list of every single Crew action and Bonus action option available to you in the Action Phase, detailing all of the effects found on them. Since the game expresses all effects with icons, you can use this chapter as a reference during your game.
Arkships
The Crew action of Arkships are printed directly on the Arkship tiles. Each Arkship provides two unique options, found above and below the Crew space. You may choose and resolve one option out of these two.
Belitan
- Provision: Spend any 2 resources to gain 3 resources (both in any combination). See page 17 on Provision.
- Calculate: Play an Operation card from your hand, spending 1 fewer resource for it. Then draw 1 Operation card.
Dunlork
- Provision: Gain 2 Science. See page 17 on Provision.
- Charge: Gain 2 Energy. Place 2 Shields in any 1 sector or 1 Shield in any 2 sectors.
Fenrax
- Mobilize: Move 4 steps with House ships (except Arkships) with caution (see page 13).
- Control: Copy your Frigate, resolving its effects completely (as described on page 17), as if you have boarded it with your current Crew member. You can do this whether there is a Crew in your Frigate or not. If your Frigate is already on a planet, return it to the planet's sector first. See Copying Effects on page 15.
Novaris
- Recon: Draw 2 Operation cards and contain a Corruption from your Frigate board or a House ship (placing it onto a Void Residue space as usual).
- Provision: Gain 2 Materials. See page 17 on Provision.
Shiveus
- Purge: Destroy 2 Voidborn ships in any 1 sector or 1 Voidborn ship in any 2 sectors each.
- Ascend: Gain 3 Tactics and/or place up to 2 Shields in a single sector.
Yarvek
- Provision: Gain 2 Neutronium. See page 17 on Provision.
- Fabricate: Spend 3 Materials to deploy a Shuttle into any sector.
Zenor
- Replicate: Discard an Operation card from your hand to copy the effects of an occupied planet as if you have landed on it (as described on page 17). See Copying Effects on page 15.
- Clone: Discard an Operation card from your hand to copy the effects of another, occupied Arkship. See Copying Effects on page 15.
Provision and Mine
There are two effect tags in the game, called Mine and Provision, that are found on several components. These tags don't do anything in themselves, but certain abilities are triggered specifically if you resolve an effect with a Mine or Provision tag.
There are 4 Arkships (of Houses Belitan, Dunlork, Novaris, and Yarvek) which have an effect option marked with the Provision icon.
One option on each planet is marked with the Mine icon.
Fighters
The Fighter effect is printed on the Sequence board.
- Each of the 7 Fighters provide the same effects when boarded: Maneuver and/or attack in any order.
- Strafe (Fighter ability): Each time you destroy a Voidborn ship during your attack with the Fighter, you can choose to immediately move the Fighter to an adjacent sector or stay in place. You may not store these movements to use later. These movements are not considered a maneuver, so no ability can add more steps to them.
Example: Emily is sending her Cadet to a Fighter in Sector 6, and resolves the ship's maneuver first, moving 1 step to the adjacent Sector 7. She now resolves the Fighter's attack, dealing 1 damage in her current sector. After this, she decides to use the Strafe ability of the Fighter, so she moves to the adjacent Sector 8. Her Cadet has the Tactician card attached, whose bottom ability adds 1 extra damage to her attack. She decides to use it, and then use Strafe again to move back to Sector 7.
Dropships
The Dropship effect is printed on the Sequence board.
Each of the 7 Dropships provide the same effects when boarded: Maneuver, then land onto an unoccupied planet in your current sector (if able) to resolve its effects.
Landing on a Planet
After you have successfully landed on an unoccupied planet:
- If there is a Discovery Data cube on the planet, gain it immediately.
- Resolve the effects of the planet printed on the card, which is always one option out of two choices.
The bottom option on a planet represents the corrupted part of it. When you choose that, you must count it toward gaining Corruption in the Gain Corruption step of your turn (see page 10).
You can find the complete list of planets in the Glossary.
Frigates
The Frigate effect is printed on the Sequence board.
Each player can only board their own Frigate. A Frigate provides the two effects when boarded, from which you can choose one:
- Maneuver and/or attack with your Frigate, in any order. Note that this is the same as a Fighter's effects, but a Frigate does not have the Strafe ability.
- Resolve a Dropship effect (see previous section).
The Revenant
The Revenant has two spaces for Crew members, each with their own action. On the Revenant, both costs and effects are mandatory to resolve. If you cannot pay this cost, you cannot send your Crew on the Revenant.
Reinforce: Spend 1 Energy, 1 Material, and 1 Neutronium to resolve the following two steps:
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You must deploy a ship, if you are able to (see page 12).
Reminder: Increase the appropriate House Power by 1 when deploying a ship (see page 12).
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You must place 1 available Revenant Protection token on any one of the revealed Revenant Failure cards that doesn't have a token on it yet. Each card features two effects; choose one of them to cover with the token. On Core Failure cards (revealed in the 4th Cycle) the bottom effect cannot be covered. If both tokens are on a card already, skip this step. The Failure cards will be discussed in more detail in the Skirmish phase section on page 20.
Note: If the Revenant suffers too much damage later in the Skirmish phase, the uncovered Revenant Failure effects will negatively affect every player.
Example: Emily wants to deploy a ship in Sector 4. She cannot choose an Arkship as it would go above the limit. She also cannot choose the Shuttle on a Scanner card (as explained on page 19). She can choose other Shuttles, Fighters, or Dropships.
Hypercharge: Choose one of the three revealed Scanner cards (or Colony cards in the 4th Cycle), spend the amount of Neutronium shown on the top left corner of the chosen card. Then, you must resolve the following 3 steps, if able:
- Gain the Scanner benefits shown on the left of the card if any (see below). In case of a Colony card, there is no immediate benefit to gain.
- Discard the other two face-up Scanner or Colony cards and keep the chosen one in place.
- Shift the Phase Skip token of the current Cycle up one space on the Phase track, so the Rift space is covered instead of the Hyperjump space. In the 4th Cycle, skip this step.
Note: The Phase Skip tokens determine if either a Rift phase or a Hyperjump phase will happen in the current Cycle (see pages 22 and 23).
Scanner Benefits
Most Scanner cards provide multiple benefits for the player who chooses it. Some of them are special effects featured only on these cards, which are explained here.
- Discard 2 Colony cards: Check the Colony deck and return two of them to the box, without revealing them to other players. Shuffle the remaining Colonies.
- Select Shuttle: Choose one available Shuttle and place it on the Scanner card. This ship will be placed on the main board in the sector indicated on the Scanner card in the Hyperjump phase. Until that happens, this ship cannot be deployed.
Bonus Actions
As the last step of each of your turns (see page 9), you may take one Bonus action from the five options listed on your Frigate board.
Reminder: You cannot choose a Bonus action option with a Corruption on it.
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Cleanse: Choose either or both options (in any order):
- Discard an Operation card from your hand to contain a Corruption.
- Spend 1 Energy to contain a Corruption.
Reminder: Place the contained Corruptions on a Void Residue space.
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Affiliate: Play an Operation from your hand, while checking its House affiliation, indicated by the House flag in the top left corner of the card. If you boarded a ship of that House this turn, you may choose one of these bonuses:
- Ignore a single resource from the card's cost.
- Play another Operation card, paying full cost for both. The affiliation of this second card does not grant you any bonuses.
Note: Other ways of playing Operation cards e.g. the Belitan Arkship do not provide the Affiliation bonus.
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Promote: Spend 3 Science to increase the rank of your Captain.
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Activate: Resolve all your abilities with an Activate icon in any order. You can find these abilities on your Crew board and on certain Frigate cards.
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Gain 1 resource.
Example (Affiliate): Emily has just finished her Crew action where she sent a Cadet to House Dunlork's Arkship. Emily chooses Affiliate as her Bonus action. She spends 2 Science and 1 Energy to play the Channeler Cadet card, placing it next to one of her Cadet spaces on the Crew board. The Channeler card is affiliated with House Dunlork. This means she could have played this card for 1 fewer resource, or she could play another card. She chooses the latter, spending 1 Material to play Tithes. She is on Step 5 of the Tactics track, so this card ability gains her 1 Material, 1 Neutronium, and 1 Science.
II. Recall Phase
When a Voidborn assault is imminent, return to your Frigate immediately and fulfill your duty to defend the fleet.
This phase consists of three steps.
- Return all Crew to their respective Crew board.
- Return Dropships and Frigates from planets to their sector. All planets are again free to land on in the next Cycle.
- Change turn order: The player on the highest step of the Tactics track takes the 1st Player token, the second highest takes the 2nd Player token, and so on. The turn order is immediately changed to this. If players are on the same step, the tie is broken in favor of the player who reached the step first (i.e. their marker is at the bottom of the stack).
Example (Change turn order): Turn order between 4 players is changed based on the Tactics track. Emily's Tactics marker is under Jacob's so the tie is broken in her favor. The new turn order will be updated accordingly.
III. Skirmish Phase
As the Voidborn forces breach the fleet's outer line of defense, you are tasked with protecting each House equally. Yet, from your perspective, one House might be a little more equal than the others…
In this phase, the Voidborn attack the fleet. There are two main steps, Sector skirmishes and Refreshing Revenant Failures.
Sector Skirmishes
Resolve a skirmish in each sector, going in ascending order from sector 1 to sector 8. Each sector skirmish consists of the following steps:
- Distribute Damage (which might cause Revenant Failure).
- Spread Corruption.
- Remove Shields.
Distribute Damage
Each Voidborn ship in the sector deals 1 damage. Where that damage lands is decided by the resolving player: the one whose Frigate is closest to (or in) the sector. Among those tied for closest Frigate, the player earlier in turn order will distribute the damage.
Shields in a sector cancel 1 damage each. Return the Shield token to the common supply after cancelling damage. The resolving player may not ignore a Shield.
For each damage that was not absorbed by a Shield, the resolving player must either place 1 Damage marker on the empty damage space of any House ship in the sector or destroy one with no empty Damage spaces left. Destroyed ships and their Damage markers are returned to the common supply. Frigates cannot be damaged or destroyed.
Reminder: When a House ship is removed from the main board, immediately reduce the corresponding House Power by 1 (see page 12).
If there are no House ships left in the sector, then damage the Revenant instead, placing Damage markers on its empty damage spaces.
Revenant Failure
If the Revenant suffers the 6th damage (when it has no empty damage spaces left), immediately resolve the visible effects shown on the bottommost Revenant Failure card.
Then, tuck the card slightly under the Sequence board to mark it resolved. If there is a Revenant Protection token on the card, leave it on the effect that it is covering currently. Finally, remove all 5 Damage markers from the Revenant.
If the Revenant suffers the 6th damage a second time in the same Cycle, resolve the visible effects on the topmost card and remove all Damage markers from the Revenant again. After tucking this card as well to mark it resolved, do not place any more Damage markers on the Revenant in this Cycle.
Example: In a later stage of the game, there are 5 Voidborn ships in a sector with no ships to target. 5 damage must be dealt to the Revenant, which at this point already has 2 Damage markers on it. The first 3 Damage markers fill up the Revenant's empty slots. The 4th Damage marker is not placed; instead a Revenant Failure card is triggered. The bottommost card is Energy Pulse. It has a Revenant Protection token on its bottom half, so only the top half takes effect, which deals 1 damage to every Arkship. After this, the card is tucked under the Sequence board to indicate it has been resolved this Cycle. Then, all 5 Damage markers are removed from the Revenant. The final, 5th damage from the Voidborn ships is placed on the Revenant once again.
Example: A Skirmish is resolved in Sector 7. There are 5 Voidborn ships in the sector, dealing 5 damage. Emily's Frigate is in Sector 6 and Jacob's Frigate is in Sector 8. Both are 1 distance away from Sector 7, so to break the tie, they check turn order. Emily is 1st, higher than Jacob, thus Emily is the resolving player. There is 1 Shield in the sector, which cancels 1 damage first. Emily then distributes 1 damage to the Shuttle of House Shiveus, instantly destroying it. The Shuttle is removed from the main board and the Power of House Shiveus is reduced by 1 (not pictured). Emily then places 1 Damage marker on the Arkship of House Novaris and 2 Damage markers on the Arkship of House Fenrax. Finally, there is a Rift in the sector and ships were damaged there, so she chooses to place a Corruption on the Dropship of House Fenrax (which was not damaged this Cycle).
Spread Rift Corruption
If the sector has a Rift and at least 1 damage was dealt to a ship there, the resolving player must place 1 Corruption on an empty Corruption space of a House ship in the sector (not necessarily one damaged this Cycle). Each Arkship, Fighter, and Dropship has 1 Corruption space (and Shuttles have none). If all House ships in the sector are already corrupted, skip this step.
Remove Shields
Remove every Shield that remains in the sector.
Refresh Revenant Failures
Under the constant pressure of frequent attacks, the hull of the Revenant gradually sustains damage, eventually leaving the core vulnerable to a fatal strike…
After all 8 sector skirmishes have been resolved, refresh the Revenant Failure display:
- 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Cycle: Check if there is a card in the bottom space. If there is one, discard it. If there was a Revenant Protection token on this card, return it to the common supply. Then, move the card in the top space to the bottom space. If there was a Revenant Protection token on this card, move it along with the card, so the token keeps covering the same effect. Finally, reveal the top card from the deck and place it in the top space.
- 4th Cycle: The Failure deck will always be empty in the 4th Cycle, so skip this step and proceed directly to Final Scoring (page 25).
Example: The Revenant Failure display is refreshed in the 2nd Cycle.
IV. Rift Phase
Charging the Revenant's Hyperdrive consumes precious resources. But if no one steps forward to fuel the engines, the fleet will be stranded—and that means doom, for the Rifts will never stop unleashing their horrors.
In the 4th Cycle, skip this phase entirely and proceed to Final Scoring (page 25).
In the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Cycles, you must first check the position of the Phase Skip token of the current Cycle on the Sequence board:
- If it doesn't cover the Rift phase space, then resolve the Rift phase.
- If it covers the Rift phase space of the track, then skip the Rift phase.
When resolving the Rift phase, take the following steps:
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Roll the Rift die for each Rift, and place Voidborn ships on the map as shown on the die: the large central number in the sector with the Rift, and the small numbers in the two adjacent sectors. Each sector has a limit of 6 Voidborn ships; skip placing new ones when reaching it.
Example: The Rift die is rolled for the Rift in Sector 6. The die shows a large 3, so 3 Voidborn ships would be placed in Sector 6. However this would exceed the limit of 6 Voidborn ships, so only 1 is placed. The die shows two small 1's, so 1 Voidborn ship is placed in Sector 7 and Sector 5 each.
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Place 1 Discovery Data cube on each Planet card that does not have a Data cube on it.
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Discard the 3 revealed Scanner cards.
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Each player draws 2 or 3 Operation cards. The number is determined by their current Captain rank (see page 14).
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Reveal new Scanner or Colony cards, depending on the current Cycle:
- 1st and 2nd Cycle: Reveal the 3 matching Scanner cards, respectively.
- 3rd Cycle: Instead of Scanner cards, reveal the top 3 Colony cards.
V. Hyperjump Phase
Our fallen empire is vast, and for the fleet, escaping from it means a long and desperate journey. After the Voidfall, when the Corruption and the forces of the Voidborn spread across the Domineum, there remains no sector in the known galaxy where danger does not lurk.
In the 4th Cycle, skip this phase entirely and proceed to Final Scoring (page 25).
In the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Cycles, the Hyperjump and Rift phases are mutually exclusive:
- If you just resolved a Rift phase, then skip the Hyperjump phase.
- If you just skipped a Rift phase, then resolve the Hyperjump phase.
When resolving the Hyperjump phase, take the following steps:
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Remove all Planet cards from the main board along with any Discovery Data cubes on them.
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Remove all Rifts from the main board.
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Remove all Voidborn ships from the main board.
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In reverse turn order, reset the Tactics track and gain rewards from it.
- If a player is on Step 8 or higher on the Tactics track, that player gains Hidden Influence.
- Additionally, if a player is on Step 11 or 12, they gain Influence with a House of their choice.
- Each player moves their Tactics marker to the step determined by their Captain's rank (0 to 3). If multiple players end up on the same step, the player earlier in turn order will be at the bottom.
- Any player who reset their Tactics to 3 gains 1 Material immediately (as they ended up above that reward on the track).
Example (Reset Tactics): Current turn order is: Hendri, Emily, and Jacob. Jacob resets his Tactics first; his Captain is Rank 1 so he resets it to Step 1. Emily is next, her Captain is Rank 3, so she resets it to Step 3, and also gains 1 Material. Hendri has 9 Tactics so he gains Hidden Influence at this point. Since his Captain is Rank 1, this means he draws 2 Hidden Influence cards, discards one and keeps the other. Also, because of his Rank 1 Captain, he resets his Tactics to 1, placing his marker on top of Jacob's.
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Populate the main board with new objects based on the Scanner card that was chosen this Cycle.
- Place the indicated number of Voidborn ships in the indicated sectors.
- Place Rifts in the indicated sectors.
- Draw new Planet cards, placing them next to the indicated sectors. Place a Discovery Data cube on each new planet.
- If you find a Shuttle on the Scanner card, place it in the indicated sector. If this would exceed the sector ship limit (see page 12), place it in the first adjacent sector clockwise, where you are able.
Example: Resolving a Scanner card in Sectors 6 and 7 (the others are resolved similarly).
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Discard the Scanner card.
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Each player draws 2 or 3 Operation cards. The number is determined by their current Captain rank.
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Reveal new Scanner or Colony cards, depending on the current Cycle:
- 1st and 2nd Cycle: Reveal the 3 matching Scanner cards, respectively.
- 3rd Cycle: Instead of Scanner cards, reveal the top 3 Colony cards.
Note: Steps 7 and 8 of the Hyperjump phase are completely identical to Steps 4 and 5 of the Rift phase.
Final Scoring
When our journey comes to its end, hopefully our destination will be a habitable new world beyond the known galaxy. What comes after that, we do not know—but the foundation of a possible bright future depends on the actions we have taken along the way. As for you, Admiral, this could mean eternal glory, or fading into obscurity.
After the Skirmish phase of the 4th Cycle, calculate your total Prestige to determine the winner.
Before recording your score, reset the Tactics track: If a player is on Step 8 or higher on the Tactics track, that player gains Hidden Influence. Additionally, if a player is on Step 11 or 12, they gain Influence with a House of their choice.
Record the Prestige of each player on the Scoring pad.
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Colony: If there is a Colony selected, earn the shown Prestige based on the condition shown.
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The seven Houses: Make the following calculation for each House:
- Check the current Power of the House on the Influence board. It should be equal to the number of their House ships on the main board. If a Colony was chosen, add 1 Power if the current House is featured on the Colony card.
- Check your total Influence with the House, which is the sum of the number of steps you advanced on its Influence track and the number of your Hidden Influence cards belonging to that House.
- Earn Prestige equal to the Power of the House multiplied by your total Influence with them.
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Secret Agendas:
- Earn 6 Prestige if you have the assets described on your Personal Agenda.
- Earn 6 Prestige if the ships on the main board match the required ships of the given type shown on your Fleet Agenda.
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Cadet cards, Frigate cards, and Captain rank:
- Earn 2 Prestige for each of your played Cadet cards.
- Earn 2 Prestige for each of your played Frigate cards.
- Earn 0/2/4/6 Prestige if your Captain is Rank 0/1/2/3, respectively.
Note: You earn no Prestige for Operation cards left in your hand.
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Command cards and Resources:
- Earn 1 Prestige for each played Command cards.
- Earn 1 Prestige for every 4 resources you have (rounded down), including resources in corrupted Compartments.
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Corruption: Lose 2 Prestige for each Corruption on your Frigate board (not counting Void Residue spaces).
The player with the most Prestige wins the game. In case of a tie, the player earlier in turn order wins.
Example: Emily has progressed 4 steps on the Influence track of House Yarvek, and she has revealed 2 Yarvek Hidden Influence cards from her hand, resulting in 4 + 2 = 6 total Influence. House Yarvek has 3 ships on the main board, so their Power is 3. She earns 6 x 3 = 18 Prestige for House Yarvek.
Rules for 2 Players
A two-player game of Revenant follows all the basic rules laid out in the previous chapters, and adds a few extra rules to them.
Setup
Resolve these additional steps after setup.
- Cut the top 12 cards from the Hidden Influence deck to create the face-down Council deck.
- Place 3 Crew figures of an unused color next to the Council deck, referred to as Ambassadors.
Gameplay
The Ambassadors will be placed on ships in the Action phase and retrieved each Recall phase. You don't interact with them in other Phases or the Final scoring.
Action Phase
The Council always takes their turn before either player.
- Reveal the top card from the Council deck. The House featured on it is the target House of the current turn.
- Place an Ambassador on an unoccupied ship of the target House, following this order of preference:
- Arkship — After placing the Ambassador, do nothing.
- Dropship — After placing the Ambassador on the Dropship, select an unoccupied planet in the Dropship's sector, or adjacent to it, then land the Dropship on that planet and discard the Discovery Data cube from it. If multiple planets in these sectors are unoccupied, select the one in the Dropship's sector first, then the one in the adjacent sector in clockwise order, then the adjacent sector in counter-clockwise order. If there are no available planets, the Dropship remains in its sector.
- Fighter — After placing the Ambassador, do nothing.
- If none of the above is available, set aside the Ambassador and do not place it on the main board.
Example: On the Council's turn, a card showing House Yarvek is revealed from the Council deck. The Ambassador would be placed on the Arkship of House Yarvek, but Jacob's Cadet is already occupying it. The Ambassador is then placed on House Yarvek's Dropship. There is no planet in the Dropship's sector, but there is one in the adjacent Sector 6, and one in the adjacent Sector 8, and both are unoccupied. The Ambassador chooses the one in the adjacent sector in clockwise order (Sector 8), lands on it, and discards the Discovery Data cube from it. The Council's turn is complete.
Recall Phase
Move the 3 Ambassadors back from the main board, near the Council deck.
Note: Find the Credits for this game in the Solo Rules & Glossary booklet.