Root
284 questions players ask about Root, answered in plain words and graded by where the answer comes from. See also the full rulebook.
Updated 2026-10-28.
284 questions players ask about Root, answered in plain words and graded by where the answer comes from. See also the full rulebook.
Updated 2026-10-28.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
Yes, within the confines of the action you are taking. The designers report they have not found an edge case that was not meant to work that way, so the text is permissive unless it says "cannot".
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
No. Root has no interactions that need another player's consent, so you simply take the action the rules allow.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
No. Read the rule as applying only to the named term, not to similar ones. For example, an effect on "warriors" does not extend to other pieces.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
If you can follow both, follow both. If you cannot, the faction's (or hireling's) rule overrides the general rule, and a card overrides the Law. The Law overrides the Learning to Play guide.
The rulebook answers this in "1.1.3 Unclear Resolutions and Choices".
The player whose turn it is chooses. This also covers cases like several "at the start of Birdsong" effects, or one Favor card hitting two Vagabonds, where the player who played the card decides.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2019.
If players reach an impasse over who commits first, the player whose turn it is decides the order, as in the rule on unclear resolutions.
The rulebook answers this in "1.4.2 Interrupts".
No. An action, ability or persistent effect cannot be interrupted by another effect unless that effect explicitly allows it (as Armorers does with "In battle..."). Tax Collector has no such wording.
The rulebook answers this in "1.5.4 Piece Manipulation".
Yes. You must place, take or remove the maximum number possible, even if that is zero, and this does not let you skip costs. So Propaganda Bureau still works on a player with no warriors in supply, and a Marquise or Corvid recruit places as many warriors as supply allows.
The rulebook answers this in "1.5.1 Limits".
No. The only limit is the number of pieces your faction owns, and you may not use proxies if you run out. Clearings do have building slots, which is a separate limit.
The rulebook answers this in "1.2.1 Hands".
Yes. You may discuss the game and make non-binding deals, and you may say what you hold or lie about it, but you may not show or hand over cards unless a rule says so. Reading a privately seen card aloud counts as revealing it; paraphrasing does not.
The rulebook answers this in "1.4.1 Turn Structure".
Yes. Turns go clockwise, and each player completes Birdsong, Daylight and Evening in full before the next player begins. Birdsong is the first phase; "at start of" effects happen before everything else in it.
The rulebook answers this in "1.1.3 Unclear Resolutions and Choices".
Yes. If more than one such action or effect is available, you may take each, and you choose their order.
The rulebook answers this in "1.2.2 Discard".
Only from hand unless a card names another zone. Revealed cards are not in hand, so effects that discard from hand do not touch them.
No. There is one Law of Root, reprinted over time; the latest printing includes the expansion rules, and the Riverfolk expansion otherwise builds on the base rules.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
You rule a clearing if you have more warriors plus buildings there than each other player individually, not more than all others combined. Tokens (including the Keep and wood) and pawns do not count, one warrior or building is enough, and a tie at the top means nobody rules it.
The rulebook answers this in "2.5 Rule".
Yes, if their buildings (plus any warriors) outnumber every other player's total there. Buildings count toward rule even with no warriors present.
The rulebook answers this in "2.5 Rule".
No. Only warriors and buildings count. Tokens and pawns, such as wood, sympathy tokens or the Keep, do not contribute to rule.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
There is no marker for rule. It is determined by counting pieces whenever it matters, and some groups stand or lay down pieces as a reminder.
The rulebook answers this in "G.1.22 Remove".
Warriors return to supply. Buildings and tokens return to the rightmost empty space of their track on the faction board unless a rule says otherwise, and can be rebuilt. Removed Marquise Keeps and Riverfolk trading posts leave the game permanently.
The rulebook answers this in "3.2.1 Removing Buildings and Tokens".
No points are lost on removal. The piece goes back to your track, and building it again scores or unlocks its benefits again. The player removing an enemy building or token scores one victory point.
Roosts are buildings and occupy building slots. Ruins, items, tokens (keep, trade posts, sympathy, wood) and pawns are not buildings.
The rulebook answers this in "2.2.4 Ruins".
Yes, ruins are always placed, but they cannot be attacked or removed except by the Vagabond's Explore action. Once explored, the slot is free for a building.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
Yes unless a faction rule forbids it. The Marquise and Lizards can stack several, while the Eyrie's roosts are limited to one per clearing, and each clearing is capped by its building slots.
The rulebook answers this in "2.4 Forests".
Forests are areas enclosed by printed paths and clearings. The areas around the board edge are not enclosed, so they are not forests. Rivers do not divide forests.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2017.
A forest is adjacent to every clearing touching it without crossing a printed path, and to forests separated from it by exactly one printed path. Clearings are adjacent only through paths.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
Yes. On the Winter map the river is treated as a divider like a path in that case, so forests on either side count as adjacent for Slip. The Autumn map has no such divide.
The rulebook answers this in "2.1.1 Birds Are Wild".
A bird card can stand in for any suit when you spend, discard or give cards, and you must use birds as the prompted suit when forced. It does not work in reverse: if a bird card is prompted, you cannot substitute another suit.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
No. Cards in hand are private, and a card passed from one hand to another stays private to the players involved.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Only at the end of Evening, and you can hold more than five during your turn. Crafted cards are not in hand and do not count. You cannot discard voluntarily; discarding happens only when an effect orders it.
The rulebook answers this in "2.1 Cards".
Shuffle the discard pile immediately to form a new deck. Dominance cards used for their suit are not placed in the discard, and with the Lizard Cult, cards in Lost Souls are not reshuffled under the rules.
The rulebook answers this in "4.1.1 Cost".
Yes, except Ambush and Dominance cards, which cannot be crafted and are used as printed. Crafting cost comes only from the symbols on the card, not its suit, and you cannot pay by discarding.
The rulebook answers this in "4.1.3 Persistent Effects".
They are not tied to a suit; a persistent effect applies wherever its text says. Persistent cards have a timing window such as Birdsong or battle and are not discarded when used, and they sit on a distinct background.
No. They give a free action without extra cost, so you can use such a card at the start of Birdsong without spending anything.
The rulebook answers this in "4.1.1 Cost".
No, each crafting piece is activated once per turn, but the pieces paying for one requirement may come from different clearings. Matching suit counts only; control of the clearing does not matter.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
With a Vagabond in play, the crafter takes the item token, which the Vagabond can later buy. Once bought, items do nothing for other factions beyond limiting how many can be crafted. With no Vagabond, item pieces can be put away. The box's size is not a limit.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
No. Moving, battling and crafting happen only on your own turn. Instant-speed effects such as an Ambush card in battle or crafted cards that explicitly work out of turn are the exception.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Only when the faction or action says so. Moving and battling are free for most factions, while crafting, Decree actions, revolts, overwork and similar actions spend cards.
No. Outrage is triggered by moving into a sympathetic clearing, not by placing pieces there.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
They remove pieces of every faction not in a coalition with you. An enemy is any faction outside your coalition, so allies in your coalition are safe.
The forcing player makes the choices within the move, such as which pieces move and where, within the forced faction's abilities. The move is treated as if the forced player chose it, so the Eyrie still benefits from Lords of the Forest.
Yes. Random describes how the card is selected, not how many you hold, so a single card is discarded.
Best reading of the rules and forum discussion; no official ruling.
Only in Evening, once per revealed symbol. Building the piece that reveals the symbol does not draw immediately.
The rulebook answers this in "3.1 How to Win".
The player taking the current turn wins. An older designer comment proposed highest score wins, but the Law's current text settles it by turn, and the situation is very rare since it needs one effect scoring for two players.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
No. Only removing an enemy building or token scores, one point each, and that includes wood and sympathy tokens. The exception is the Vagabond, who scores for warriors of a faction hostile to him, as Infamy.
The rulebook answers this in "3.2.1 Removing Buildings and Tokens".
One point per piece removed, so removing three pieces scores three. The Eyrie's Despot leader adds an extra point if at least one piece is removed.
The rulebook answers this in "3.2.1 Removing Buildings and Tokens".
Yes. Whoever removes an enemy building or token scores for it, attacker or defender, but warriors never score. Points come from the removal itself, not from battle only.
The rulebook answers this in "3.2.1 Removing Buildings and Tokens".
Yes for a cooperating faction, since only a formal Vagabond coalition exempts anyone. No for ruins, which are not an enemy's pieces.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2019.
Yes. Each enemy building or token removed by a Favor effect scores one point, as with any removal.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
No, points already scored are kept and rebuilding scores again. Points are lost only through Eyrie Turmoil, and a score cannot drop below zero.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2019.
Have the card in your hand and at least 10 victory points during your Daylight. You then place it in your play area, remove your score marker and stop scoring, and win at your next Birdsong if its condition is met. Other players can block by ruling clearings in the meantime.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
You cannot replace an activated Dominance card with another. You may still take an available Dominance card into hand, for example to deny it to others, though it uses hand space.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
During your Daylight, spend a card of the matching suit to take it into hand, then you may activate it in the same Daylight. A bird card can pay for any suit's Dominance card, but you cannot spend a non-bird card to take the bird Dominance card.
The rulebook answers this in "3.3.3 Using Dominance Cards".
It is set near the map as available for any player to take instead of entering the discard pile. With the Lizard Cult in play it goes to Lost Souls instead, and an activated card stays in its owner's play area.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2019.
No. Dominance cards are not used in two-player games.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
The Vagabond plays a Dominance card to form a coalition with the player with the fewest victory points other than himself, in a game with four or more players. The card stays in his play area, and its own victory objective does not take effect. A coalition does not stop that partner activating Dominance later.
The rulebook answers this in "3.3.1 Activating".
Diagonally opposite clearings: bottom-left with upper-right, or upper-left with bottom-right. Ruling two clearings in opposite corners at the start of your Birdsong wins.
The publisher answered this directly on BGG in 2020.
The effect can target them, but they gain nothing because their score marker is off the track. An allied Vagabond still scores separately.
The rulebook answers this in "4.1.1 Cost".
Crafting pieces are never consumed or removed, but each can be activated only once per turn. You can craft several cards in one Craft action as long as separate matching pieces pay for each, and unspent crafting points are lost.
The rulebook answers this in "4.1.1 Cost".
No. Crafting only needs the matching pieces to be activated, wherever they are; ruling matters for building and moving, not crafting. The pieces paying for one card can be in different clearings, and two pieces in one clearing can both pay for the same card.
The rulebook answers this in "4.1.1 Cost".
A three-color question mark is a crafting piece of any suit, and different question marks on one card need not share a suit. Other icons still need pieces of their matching suit.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
No. If the item the card lists is not in the item supply, the card cannot be crafted at all, so no victory points are scored. The designer confirmed you cannot craft an item only for points.
The rulebook answers this in "4.1.2 Immediate Effects".
They are immediate effects: you resolve them when crafted and then discard the card, with no extra payment or later play.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2019.
Crafted persistent cards go face up in your play area and you may use them but need not, apart from the mandatory Eyrie Emigre. You cannot craft a second identical persistent effect, though different ones can be active together. Crafted cards no longer count as hand and cannot be spent or discarded.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2019.
Only immediate effects resolve at once. A persistent card sits in your play area and its effect is used when its text allows, such as in Birdsong or in battle.
The rulebook answers this in "4.2.1 You Must Rule".
You must rule the origin or the destination, or both, at the moment you move; you need not still rule it afterward. So you cannot move between two clearings you do not rule, and an empty clearing is not ruled.
The rulebook answers this in "4.2 Move".
No. One move takes any number of your warriors from one clearing to one adjacent clearing. Further travel needs more moves, and conditions are checked each time, so you can move past enemy armies over several moves.
The rulebook answers this in "4.2.2 No Movement Limits".
No. You must finish an action before starting another, so a March's second move follows the first immediately.
The rulebook answers this in "4.2 Move".
No. Move and battle are separate actions, so entering an enemy-occupied clearing only triggers a fight if you then take a Battle action.
The rulebook answers this in "4.3 Battle".
You need a warrior or pawn in the clearing and choose one enemy faction there as the defender. You can attack a defender that has only buildings or tokens, and the defenseless bonus gives you an extra hit. A battle targets a single faction.
The rulebook answers this in "4.3.3 Step 3: Use Effects".
If the defender has no warriors in the clearing when Step 3 arrives, the attacker deals one extra hit. It applies even if both dice show zero, and is not granted if the defender's last warriors only fall in Step 4 of the same battle.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
Yes, you can ambush with no warriors there, but only one ambush card per battle, and it must match the clearing's suit (birds are wild). The attacker may foil it with a matching ambush of their own, and both ambush cards are discarded.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2019.
It deals two hits to the attacker before dice. Those hits can kill your attackers' warriors and then buildings or tokens. If no attacking warriors or pawns remain, the battle ends at once with no dice and no extra hits.
The rulebook answers this in "4.3.2 Step 2: Roll Dice".
Roll two dice: the attacker deals the higher roll and the defender the lower, but rolled hits never exceed the number of warriors you have there. Extra hits from effects are not capped by warriors.
The rulebook answers this in "4.3.4 Step 4: Deal Hits".
Hits are dealt simultaneously in Step 4, and dealing them is not optional; the choice to fight is made before the battle. Defenders still deal hits even as their own pieces are removed. Ambush hits are the exception, resolving before dice.
The rulebook answers this in "4.3.4 Step 4: Deal Hits".
The side taking hits chooses its own order, but all of its warriors in the clearing must go before any buildings or tokens. The attacker's buildings and tokens can be removed too. That same side also orders effects triggered by removals, such as Field Hospitals and Outrage.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
Only the hits you take from the dice roll are ignored, and only for its crafter. Extra hits from Brutal Tactics, leaders or the defenseless bonus still apply. Extra hits are added to rolled hits, so both effects can be used.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2019.
Use it in Step 3, after seeing the dice. The attacker declares first, and the defender scores one point when the extra hit is actually dealt in Step 4, not when it is announced.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Yes. Battle is an action, so you can repeat it as often as you have actions, and a battle still happens when both sides roll zero hits.
Best reading of the rules and forum discussion; no official ruling.
Yes, but Aid will not move the relationship marker out of Hostile. You can still Aid a Hostile faction to take crafted items.
The rulebook answers this in "3.2.1 Removing Buildings and Tokens".
Yes. Tokens, including wood, sympathy, plots and trade posts, are removable by hits once warriors are gone, and each scores one point. Wood does not count toward rule, so a clearing with only wood is not empty if another piece is there.
The rulebook answers this in "5.1.1 Step 1: Assign Factions and Starting Player".
The starting player and seating are chosen randomly, and play runs clockwise from them. The letters on the back of the faction boards (A, B, C, ...) set only the order in which factions set up, not turn order.
The rulebook answers this in "5.1.7 Step 7: Set Up Factions".
In the lettered order on the faction boards: Marquise de Cat, Eyrie Dynasties, Woodland Alliance, Vagabond, second Vagabond, Lizard Cult, Riverfolk Company, Underground Duchy, then Corvid Conspiracy. Starting hands are drawn before any faction sets up.
The rulebook answers this in "5.1.3 Step 3: Draw Starting Hands".
Every player draws three cards in setup, whatever the faction. The Woodland Alliance additionally starts with three supporter cards, so it has three in hand and three in its stack. The cards printed in the walkthrough are only for the guided first game.
The rulebook answers this in "5.1.3 Step 3: Draw Starting Hands".
They are removed only in a two-player game, set aside before hands are drawn. With three or more players all four stay in the deck.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2019.
Ruins are always placed, four in all, in the map's marked slots. Without a Vagabond, the items that would sit under them go to the item supply, where they limit how many times each item can be crafted. With the Marauder expansion's Lord of the Hundreds or Advanced Setup, ruins are placed as usual.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
The item supply is 2 boots, 2 bags, 1 crossbow, 1 hammer, 2 swords, 2 teapots and 2 coins. The four ruins hold one of each of four item types per Vagabond playing, and the supply is capped, so you cannot craft an item whose supply is empty.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2020.
Reach is a rating of how well a faction can influence the whole map on its turn. The Reach totals in the Law (17+ for two players up to 28+ for six) are a recommendation for choosing factions, not a hard rule, and Advanced Setup largely replaces them.
The rulebook answers this in "A. Advanced Setup".
Yes. Advanced Setup and faction drafting are official, introduced with the Marauder expansion and now in Appendix A of the Law of Root, with the setup cards sold separately. Choose it when everyone has played, and it is required for five or more factions that would start in corner clearings.
The rulebook answers this in "A.8 Step 8: Set Up Factions Z".
It guarantees at least one militant faction is in the draft, which keeps a viable game available without extra rules based on how many militants were dealt.
The rulebook answers this in "A.8 Step 8: Set Up Factions Z".
At least two clearings must lie between the homeland and an enemy homeland, which is three steps apart. If none qualifies, place as far from enemy homelands as possible, and never pick an opponent's homeland as your own.
The rulebook answers this in "A.8 Step 8: Set Up Factions Z".
No. On the setup cards, "put" means the same as "place", so you cannot place pieces there during setup, though pieces can still move in.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2020.
Yes. Maps are independent of factions and player counts, though some faction rules interact differently with map features, such as the Riverfolk and the lake.
The rulebook answers this in "C. Variant Maps".
Printed clearings are fixed on the Autumn and Fall maps; the Lake and Mountain maps have suggested setups and the Winter map has none. The Winter river divides forests like a path, which only matters for the Vagabond; other factions do not treat it as a path unless a rule says so.
One clear reading for the first part; the Swimmers combination is disputed.
No. The Ferry is not a free move; you can use it only as part of a move you are already taking, so the usual rule requirement for that move still applies.
The rulebook answers this in "F. Landmarks".
No, landmarks cannot be placed in adjacent clearings. The Lost City counts as every suit at all times, so any suit-dependent condition, including recruiting, mixed-suit crafting or a mouse-clearing effect, can use it.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2024.
No. The Vagabond cannot rule a clearing, so the Tower's benefits do not pass to the Vagabond player.
The rulebook answers this in "B.1.4 Cards".
The dice are numbered 0 to 3 (the 4 face is read as 0). The final version has 98 base cards plus 9 expansion cards, and cards are standard poker size, about 63 x 88 mm.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2019.
Yes. Wood is limited to the components in the game, and you cannot use proxies; you place as many as you can.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2019.
Yes. Each bird card you spend adds one action, and the actions can be taken in any order and number, including before the first of your three. One card buys one extra action; resolve one card at a time. The older wording that required them after the first three was changed.
The rulebook answers this in "6.5.3 Recruit".
Yes, any action can be repeated within your action total, except Recruit, which may be taken only once per turn. Daylight allows up to three actions, plus one per bird card spent.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
March is up to two moves, so one is fine. Each move is a full move needing a ruled origin or destination, and may carry the same or different groups. You cannot interleave other actions between them, and a move must move at least one warrior.
The rulebook answers this in "6.5.3 Recruit".
No. Recruit places one warrior at each recruiter wherever it stands. Only March and Build require ruling, while Battle and Overwork have no ruling restriction.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
You must rule the build clearing, and you may remove wood only from that clearing, adjacent clearings you rule, or clearings connected through any number of clearings you rule. Wood in an unruled clearing, or after losing rule there, cannot be used. A tie does not count as ruling. Wood can be taken from several clearings for one cost, and it cannot be moved otherwise.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2020.
Birdsong places one wood per sawmill in the clearing containing it, even if wood is already there, and the amount a sawmill can hold is unlimited. Wood stays in the clearing independent of the sawmill, so a destroyed sawmill leaves its tokens on the board. Overwork adds one wood in one matching sawmill clearing.
The rulebook answers this in "2.5 Rule".
Wood is a token, so it does not count for rule. Wood can be removed in battle like any token, so an attacker scores one point per wood or building removed. The Marquise gains nothing for removing her own wood.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
Only the Marquise can place pieces in the Keep clearing, but others can move in and battle there. Placing includes a sympathy token, revolt or sacrificing a warrior. The Keep is a token, so battle or a Favor card can remove it, and once removed it never returns. With the Keep gone there are no Field Hospitals.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2017.
Battling in the Keep clearing needs no particular suit, and the designer said Field Hospitals works even if the Marquise does not rule the Keep, though a Keep token must still be on the board.
The rulebook answers this in "6.2.3 Field Hospitals".
One card matching the clearing saves all Marquise warriors removed from that clearing at once, and it works whenever they are removed, including by a revolt, not only in battle. The older one-card-per-warrior reading is superseded.
The rulebook answers this in "6.2.3 Field Hospitals".
No, it cannot undo a removal that is happening in the same hits: hits are simultaneous, so when the Keep and warriors are removed together there is no Keep to return them to. A returned warrior misses that battle. After an Ambush, Field Hospitals can return the warriors to the Keep before dice are rolled, and the battle continues.
Yes for converted Cats, per the designer. No for a card already crafted, since crafted cards are not in hand and cannot be spent.
The rulebook answers this in "6.5.4 Build".
Yes. Destroyed buildings return to the rightmost empty space of their track, with no points lost, and each building placed scores the value of the space it uncovers, however many times it has been rebuilt.
The rulebook answers this in "6.5.4 Build".
The first of each building type is free, since the leftmost track space shows no cost, including the Sawmill. You can only build into an open slot, never over an existing building.
The rulebook answers this in "6.3.4 Step 4: Place Starting Buildings".
The sawmill, workshop and recruiter go in the Keep clearing and adjacent clearings in any combination, and are not required to be in the Keep clearing. The Keep clearing receives a warrior like the others.
The rulebook answers this in "6.2.1 Crafting".
No. She crafts in Daylight by activating workshops, and Royal Claim needs four matching crafting pieces, so it cannot be used on turn one and cannot score until a later Birdsong.
The rulebook answers this in "4.1.1 Cost".
Each workshop is activated once per turn and stays on the board, then refreshes for your next turn.
Community players read it this way; one disputes it and there is no official ruling.
Most players say no: if the Marquise has no warriors, buildings or tokens left, she is out of the game. One poster disagrees.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
Overwork can place wood at a sawmill clearing and costs a card of that clearing's suit; using it with the Keep costs a Bird card per the designer. The Marquise's no-number draw icon draws one extra card per stack in Evening.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
No hand exists, only the order chain. It recruits at the highest-priority matching clearing first and then the next, not evenly, and in solo play it recruits even when it does not rule.
The rulebook answers this in "7.4.2 Add to the Decree".
One or two, and at most one of them may be a bird card. You may add one non-bird and one bird, or two non-birds, to any columns, and you may place identical cards in the same slot. Adding only one card does not cause turmoil.
The rulebook answers this in "7.7.2 Step 2: Purge".
They stay and accumulate until the Eyrie falls into turmoil, when they are discarded (Viziers excepted). The Decree cannot be rearranged and has no fixed maximum size. An older print-and-play version allowed moving cards, which is no longer the rule.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
Column by column, from the leftmost to the right. Within a column you must resolve all cards but may choose their order, and you may split actions such as moves between different paths or repeat moves between the same clearings.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
The moment you cannot fully take an action for any reason, such as no warriors to recruit, no roost to build, or no enemy to battle. You first do everything you can, so you recruit as many warriors as you have before turmoil begins. An empty column or a short Decree causes no turmoil.
The rulebook answers this in "7.5.2 Resolve the Decree".
No. Initiating a legal battle fulfils the card, so a battle ended by an Ambush or one with no hits does not cause turmoil. You must still have a legal target when you start it.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
A move must take at least one warrior from a clearing matching the card suit, and normal rule requirements still apply, except that the Eyrie rules ties. You cannot move from a clearing you do not rule, nor into an empty clearing from one you do not rule.
The rulebook answers this in "7.5.2 Resolve the Decree".
No ruling is needed: Recruit places a warrior in any clearing with a roost matching the card's suit. Several recruit cards can target the same roost, which is the usual way to avoid turmoil. A recruit card places one warrior regardless of icons, or two with the Charismatic leader.
The rulebook answers this in "7.5.2 Resolve the Decree".
In a clearing it rules matching the card suit that has no roost and an open slot. Alone or tied (with an Eyrie piece) counts as ruling, but an empty clearing does not. With all seven roosts out, or no warriors left to recruit, the card cannot be completed and turmoil follows.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2019.
Yes, if tied for the most combined warriors and buildings and they have at least one Eyrie piece there. With no Eyrie piece there is no rule.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
The roost and three warriors go in a clearing with the fewest warriors (zero counts) where all those pieces can be placed. That is the fewest warriors, not the fewest total pieces, per the rulebook; if the fewest-warrior clearing has no open slot, use the next fewest.
Once per turn in Evening, using the rightmost empty space of the Roosts track, whether or not you built that turn. Placing a roost scores nothing by itself, and Turmoil does not skip Evening scoring.
Lose one point per bird card in the Decree including Viziers, discard the rest except Viziers, depose your leader and choose a new face-up one, then Daylight ends. Turmoil is an uninterrupted action, so you cannot play or take a Dominance card in the middle, and your score cannot go below zero.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
When no leader is face up and you must choose one, all four flip face up again (A New Clutch). After that clutch the Eyrie may pick any leader, including the one just deposed.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
Once per battle in which at least one enemy building or token is removed, one extra point on top of the usual one per piece. Two buildings removed in one battle is therefore three points, not per piece.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
No. Cards that are prompted as bird cannot be replaced by another suit, so a mouse card cannot stand in for a bird. A Vizier moved by a bird card stays where it was moved.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2017.
Yes. A Dominance card has a suit and can be added to the Decree as a card of that suit. It stays there until Turmoil, when it is discarded and becomes available near the map.
The rulebook answers this in "7.2.3 Disdain for Trade".
Disdain for Trade applies only when crafting items (one point instead of the printed value), so Royal Claim is unaffected. The Builder leader ignores it whenever it crafts.
The rulebook answers this in "4.1.3 Persistent Effects".
Yes. The Law says the Eyrie Emigre card in the Exiles and Partisans deck is mandatory.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
No, Daylight actions are limited to the Decree. If your hand is empty at Birdsong you draw one card (Emergency Orders). Loyal Viziers are bird cards in the Decree columns set by your leader, and count as actions and toward Turmoil losses.
The rulebook answers this in "7.4.3 A New Roost".
They recover. With no roost on the map, A New Roost places a roost and three warriors in the fewest-warrior clearing, even if none remain on the map.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
Only moving warriors into a sympathetic clearing, or removing a sympathy token, triggers Outrage. Placing or recruiting warriors, building, or placing tokens there does not. Each separate move or removal triggers it separately, including a Favor card removal and moves by a Vagabond who moves Alliance pieces.
A bird card matches every suit and counts, and if it is your only matching card you must give it. With no matching card at all, you show your whole hand (the Alliance may inspect every card, not just suits), then the Alliance draws a card from the deck onto its Supporters stack.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
No. Revolt needs a sympathetic clearing matching a base still on the faction board, so a base cannot be moved by revolting again, and with all bases built no revolt is possible. A revolt always places a base, and the sympathy token stays in the clearing.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2019.
Yes. You still revolt, placing the maximum number of warriors possible, which may be none, so no officer is gained.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
The first token may go in any clearing, but later ones must go in an unsympathetic clearing adjacent to a sympathetic one, paying supporters matching its suit (plus one more under Martial Law). You may Spread Sympathy any number of times in Birdsong, scoring each. Martial Law needs three warriors of one other player, not mixed owners.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
Without a base on the map the stack holds five, and extra gains are discarded; with any base on the map it is unlimited. Supporters are a pool, so any supporter of the matching suit can be spent, and the Alliance starts with three. Supporters do not count against its hand size.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2019.
The Alliance discards all supporters matching the base's printed suit (birds included) and half its officers rounded up, and if no bases remain it discards down to five supporters. It cannot voluntarily remove its own base, and a base is a building, not a token.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2019.
Yes. Craft, Mobilize and Train can each be repeated in any order and number in Daylight, and Evening operations (move, battle, recruit, organize) can be repeated up to the current number of officers. If officers are lost mid-turn, the actions taken cannot exceed the officers remaining.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
From the supply: Train spends a card matching a base's printed suit and places a warrior from supply in the Officers box. There is no printed officer limit beyond the components.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
Guerrilla War takes the higher die as defender, but with no Alliance warriors it deals no hits and the attacker gets the defenseless extra hit, so a lone sympathy token is removed even on a zero roll.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
No. The Alliance starts with nothing on the board, so having no pieces there is normal and does not eliminate it.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2017.
Yes: hideout cards placed face down with Keeping Secrets return to hand at the Alliance's Birdsong. Cards revealed to the table can be seen in full by all players.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2017.
In any clearing meeting the condition unless the conspiracy says it is localized. Each icon resolves on its own.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
The moment the Vagabond removes a warrior of a non-Hostile faction, by any means including defending, a Strike or a Hireling's attack. Removing only buildings or tokens never changes the relationship. A Hostile faction stays Hostile unless he forms a coalition with it, which moves it to Indifferent; giving it items does not help.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
One extra point for each piece of a Hostile faction removed in battle on his own turn, on top of normal building and token points, except the warrior that made them Hostile. Pieces removed outside battle, such as a Strike or Favor card, or during another player's turn, give no Infamy. A building removed from a Hostile faction scores two.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2022.
Yes, every Hostile piece removed after the first warrior scores, including warriors removed in that same battle, but the warrior that made them Hostile does not. In a battle with allies, an Ally becomes Hostile only at the end of the battle, so no Infamy is scored for its warriors removed during it.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
Exhaust any one item and give a card matching your clearing to a player who has any faction piece there, including a sympathy token, building or warrior, even if they are Hostile. You may then take one item from their Crafted Items box. The card is given privately, and one Aid action counts toward only one relationship improvement.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2017.
Aid a non-Hostile faction the number of times shown between its current space and the next one in the same turn, which advances the marker and scores the new space's points. Once Allied, each Aid scores 2 points. Each Aid costs one exhausted item and one matching card. You cannot lift a Hostile faction by Aid.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
Allied warriors can only be treated as yours as the attacker. They cannot defend for you, and they help only when you start the battle. They deal hits as your own, and taking hits by removing them can turn that ally Hostile if more are removed than items damaged.
Yes, whenever he moves to an adjacent clearing, including a Slip, he may force warriors of one Allied faction to move along. They move as if their owner chose it, so that faction's own movement rules apply: no rivers from his Riverboats, no forests, no ignoring its rule requirements.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
In a game with four or more players he activates a Dominance card to join the player with the fewest points (other than himself) who has not already activated Dominance or joined a coalition. He stops scoring and wins if that partner wins. He cannot score for the partner, and he may later attack a partner, which can turn them Hostile.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2020.
He damages three of his items (Full Removal), as with an Alliance revolt, Favor of the Mice or a Conspiracy bomb. The Vagabond pawn itself is never removed, and a Strike removes only other pieces. Older answers that said nothing happens are outdated.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2019.
He is defenseless in battle if he has no undamaged swords, exhausted or not, so an attacker then gets the extra hit. Each hit damages one undamaged item (any item, on a track or in the satchel); once he has none left, remaining hits are ignored. His maximum rolled hits equals his undamaged swords.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2019.
Refresh flips exhausted items face up regardless of damage, and it does not repair them. Repair with a Hammer moves a damaged item back to the satchel or track while keeping its side, so an exhausted item stays exhausted. A damaged item cannot be exhausted to pay costs. Resting in a forest repairs and flips damaged items face up.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
Three, plus two for each unexhausted teapot, not counting teapots refreshed earlier in the same Birdsong. Teapots flip face up and keep their passive effects.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
Total items in your satchel and Damaged box may not exceed six plus two per face-up Bag on its track. This is checked in your Evening, so you can repair first; excess items are removed from the game permanently. Items on tracks do not count. Exhausting a coin, tea or bag moves it to the satchel.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2020.
Exhaust a torch to take one item under a ruin in your clearing, scoring one point when you take it. If the item duplicates one you already hold, you still exhaust the torch but score no point and cannot take it. Taking the last item removes the ruin.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2020.
Yes. The designer ruled in 2020 that items placed under ruins during Vagabond setup count as enemy pieces, so a Favor card removes them. Ruins themselves are not enemy pieces and can only be removed by Explore. With two Vagabonds the designer ruled that neither item is removed.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2019.
It removes an enemy warrior in his clearing, or, if that enemy has no warriors there, another piece of theirs, even when other factions' warriors are present. It cannot remove another Vagabond's items or pawn. A Strike on a building or token scores 1 point as usual, but a Strike is not a battle so it gives no Infamy.
The rulebook answers this in "9.5.1 Move".
One boot to move, plus an extra boot if the destination has Hostile warriors; the extra boot applies outside a Slip. He moves regardless of who rules the origin or destination, but cannot move into a forest and can only leave one into an adjacent clearing.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2019.
Choose either one point per completed quest of matching suit (including this one) or draw two cards. Quest items are exhausted in the clearing you occupy, and a substituted item is exhausted and damaged.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2019.
Play the card and exhaust Hammers of the listed suit; all your Hammers match your clearing's suit. He crafts from the clearing he is in, so a recipe needing several clearings is out of reach, and he places a crafted item face up in his satchel or on its track.
The Vagrant chooses attacker and defender, then takes responsibility for the battle: he chooses all removals on both sides (warriors first), scores for buildings and tokens removed and Infamy for Hostile pieces, and becomes Hostile to anyone whose warriors are removed. Other battle rules, such as Guerrilla War and Ambush, still apply.
His undamaged swords raise the defender's maximum rolled hits; they do not add hits. He cannot enlist himself or be enlisted against himself, and a defender with only undefended buildings or tokens still counts as defenseless, since the Arbiter is not a warrior.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2017.
The designer says it is possible but only loosely supported. Each explorer chooses one of the items under a shared ruin and reveals only that one. Both Vagabonds can form a coalition with the same faction, and aiding the other Vagabond only gives them a card.
The rulebook answers this in "9.3.5 Step 5: Take Starting Items".
Only what his character card lists. The S-marked items cover two Vagabonds, and some start with coins in place of an early-print draw symbol.
Yes. The player doing the moving pays for Outrage, so the Vagabond gives the card when he moves Alliance warriors into a sympathetic clearing.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
From the discard pile, which is separate from Lost Souls.
The rulebook answers this in "9.5.6 Strike".
Retreat was an early mechanic and is not in the final game. The crossbow is used for Strike.
The rulebook answers this in "4.1.3 Persistent Effects".
It is crafted in Daylight, so it can score only in a later Birdsong, and it needs enough matching crafting pieces (any suits, since the cost uses wild symbols). Using it discards the card, so it scores again only if you craft it again.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
Yes. Favor of the Mice and the like remove all enemy pieces in every clearing of their suit, not just ones you rule, and every other faction outside your coalition counts as enemy. You can craft the Rabbits favor with three bunny pieces spread over any clearings.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
It moves half the enemy warriors, rounded up, from the clearing to one adjacent clearing and does not start a battle; with one warrior that single warrior moves. Movement is adjacency-based, and the forced player is the one who needs Boat Builders for a river move.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2020.
They are balance changes meant to replace the original text going forward, not tournament-only exceptions, and later printings of the Law adopted them. Localized editions are based on the third printing with the balance changes.
The rulebook answers this in "4.1.1 Cost".
Using it without moving it. A piece can be activated only once per turn, and nothing needs tracking after the turn ends.
The rulebook answers this in "1.2.1 Hands".
Yes, the draw deck size is public information. A random discard is done by shuffling the cards and having someone pick one; no special procedure exists.
The rulebook answers this in "6.6 Evening".
Yes. There is no hand limit during your turn, only the discard down to five at the end of Evening.
Set up as the Marquise de Cat except for the building steps; the bot starts with its eleven warriors on the board. Bots do not use Reach like normal factions, since each scores fairly consistently per turn.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
In Birdsong, count the cards in Lost Souls ignoring birds. The suit with the most becomes the Outcast, and if it already was the Outcast, the marker flips to Hated. If no suit has the most, the marker stays where it is on its current side.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
Spend acolytes (returned to supply) to perform Crusade, Convert or Sanctify in clearings of the Outcast suit; Hated makes each cost one fewer. Convert and Sanctify must replace the piece fully, so you cannot remove without placing. Costs cannot go below zero, and the actions need no pieces already in that clearing.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
No to all. Crusade is a normal move of at least one warrior to an adjacent clearing, so the usual must-rule requirement applies, and moving zero creates no destination to battle in. The Outcast condition applies only to the origin clearing.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
Reveal any number of cards from hand and perform one ritual per revealed card, in any order; revealed cards cannot be used for anything else during Daylight. Birds are not wild for rituals, though a Bird ambush card still works, and you need a bird card revealed for Sacrifice.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
Spend the same card you revealed for it, scoring the points above the rightmost empty garden space of that card's suit. You can only do this once per suit per turn, and building a garden does not score by itself.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
The Lizards rule any clearing where they have a garden, which overrides Eyrie Lords of the Forest, so the Eyrie cannot build in a garden-only clearing. Only gardens of the current Outcast suit count as crafting pieces, and Lizards cannot craft cards needing several suits. A clearing can hold several gardens.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
Only when a Lizard warrior is removed while defending in battle; Favor cards and revolts do not make acolytes. Spent acolytes return to supply, count as warriors for Coffin Makers, and spent acolytes are not kept on the board.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
With the Lizards in play every spent or discarded card goes to Lost Souls, even Dominance cards, and anyone can inspect the pile. It moves to the real discard at the Lizards' Birdsong. The discard pile and Lost Souls are separate when an effect like the Tinker's draws from the discard.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
For the rest of the turn, except when battling the Riverfolk, the buyer treats Riverfolk warriors as their own for rule and battle, so they can battle with none of their own. They cannot move them, count them toward Dominance, or lose them except by taking hits. Odd hits are taken by the buyer's own warriors first, and the buyer scores for removals.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
The buyer, not the Riverfolk, becomes Hostile to a Vagabond who kills them. Field Hospitals works only on Marquise warriors, so mercenaries return to the Riverfolk supply, and Tax Collector hits only warriors on the map, not those on faction boards.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
At the start of your Birdsong you may buy one service plus one per clearing containing a trade post and your pieces, placing warriors in Payments equal to the cost. The Vagabond pays by exhausting unexhausted satchel items before his refresh, and cannot buy mercenaries.
Funds are the warriors in the Funds box; only those score for Dividends. Committed funds return to the Funds box during Gather Funds after Dividends, and spent funds go back to the supply. Warriors on a destroyed trade post return to their owners' supplies.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2019.
A post needs the Riverfolk to rule the clearing, which can use warriors from that ruler, and not the Keep's clearing. A destroyed trade post is removed from the game permanently and the Riverfolk lose half their funds, rounded up. A removed post's open spot still pays for a craft.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
No. Crafting commits funds to empty trade post spaces, and the usual crafting checks come first, so an out-of-stock item or duplicate persistent effect still blocks it. With no empty space they cannot craft.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
They treat rivers as paths and move along rivers ignoring who rules the ends, and they may still use paths; clearings linked only by a river are not adjacent otherwise. Their hand is public, random takes flip and shuffle it, and they may play an Ambush from hand.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
Yes. Moving is a universal action, and Cobbler grants a single move, not a full March.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
The designer says it works if the group accepts the downtime; the deck may need an extra shuffle. A second Vagabond uses the first's quests.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2022.
Neither step is mandatory: you can move only, battle in the current clearing only, or move and then battle, but the move comes first. You may take it up to your Prowess times, and the move is a normal move, so the must-rule requirement still applies.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2022.
Yes. He is a warrior, so Command the Hundreds can include him to move, battle or build.
The rulebook answers this in "14.7.1 Bitter (Hammer)".
After Step 1 (Ambush and counter-Ambush) and immediately before the dice roll. If the Warlord is killed by the Ambush, Bitter cannot place warriors.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2021.
If none can be placed, you still roll and simply place none, as far as possible. Under Jubilant you roll the mob die up to four times after Inciting, spreading mobs as in Raze from any clearing.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2021.
No points: ruins are not enemy pieces. The Lord's advanced setup cards place items in ruins.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2021.
They need not rule the clearing to battle; they need rule it only after the battle in order to delve. For each Battle or Delve card, battle in a matching clearing if you can, then delve from it if you wish.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2021.
Several relics can be taken per card if you rule enough clearings. Delve reveals as many cards as relics moved from adjacent forests. Retinue cards lost in Delve or Recover are removed from the game permanently.
One community answer, based on how forced actions resolve; no official ruling.
One community answer says the forcing player decides whether relics move, since forced movement resolves as the forced player's choice as limited by the effect.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2021.
Pink (faction-neutral) Hirelings can be combined freely, though you always keep three and a Hireling cannot be used with its own faction. Once-per-Daylight actions with numbered steps are compound actions and cannot be interrupted except by explicit permission.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2021.
Roll the leader (gold) die if you are in the lead or tied when rolling; otherwise roll the follower (blue) die.
The rulebook answers this in "E.3.1 Rule".
The Flotilla is a pawn, so it cannot rule or count as a warrior for rule. If its start-of-Birdsong action and a dominance check coincide, the active player orders them, so the Flotilla may act first.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2019.
Only the Duchy. Other factions cannot place pieces in or move into the Burrow, Vagabonds included (Slip does not cover it), and the Duchy always rules it even with no pieces. Moles can move from the Burrow to any clearing with a tunnel, since the Burrow is adjacent to those, and back.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2019.
Removing any number of Duchy buildings (citadels or markets) triggers it: discard a random card, return the highest-ranked swayed minister, and remove its crown permanently. Tunnels are round tokens, not buildings, so losing one does not trigger it. The crown can be removed immediately or kept on the minister until then.
The rulebook answers this in "12.2.4 Tunnels".
Yes. You may first remove any tunnel from the map, then place it in a matching clearing that has no tunnel, and move up to four warriors from the Burrow there. Dig needs a clearing without a tunnel.
The rulebook answers this in "12.5.3 Sway".
Once per turn: choose a minister whose rank you have a crown for, then reveal as many cards as it lists, with each matching clearing where you have a piece allowing one card of that suit. Revealed cards may be of different suits, and you score the uncovered crown space's points.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2019.
No warriors go in the Burrow at setup, and the Duchy starts in a corner with the opposite-corner logic like the Lizards. It has nine Lord pieces, as the PnP note saying ten was an error.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2020.
No. Revealed cards sit in the play area and cannot be used until returned to hand in Evening, unless a rule explicitly allows it. Birds are discarded when returned.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2020.
Any enemy with pieces in a clearing with a face-down plot may show the Corvids a matching card to guess its type, any time on their turn before Evening draws. A correct guess removes the plot, scores a point and lets you keep the card; a wrong guess hands the card over. There is no limit on guesses, and exposing a Raid does not trigger it.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2020.
Flip any number of plots in clearings with Corvid warriors, scoring one point per face-up plot each time. Recruit is once per turn per the final rules, though the older PnP text allowed repeats. You can plot with the Daylight actions in any order and number.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2019.
Plots are tokens and can be removed in battle whether face up or down, without revealing or triggering the token. The exception is a Raid, which places a warrior in each adjacent clearing when removed (not when removed by Exposure). The raid's own removal cannot use the tunnel it just removed as a crafting piece.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2019.
No. A snare blocks enemy pieces being placed in or moved from its clearing, but removing wood is not blocked, so the Marquise can spend it. Wood cannot be placed there.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2020.
Eight, two of each plot type; extras are spares. Mercenaries cannot flip plots, since a buyer treats those warriors as theirs only for rule and battle.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2019.
Coastal clearings are not adjacent unless a player moves using the Ferry, and the Ferry moves with the user and also works with a Vagabond's Slip. The Tower cannot move during the game and may be used on other maps. Boat Builders makes the lake count as a river.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2019.
Yes to six: base plus Underworld supports two to six, and the designer advises at least two militant factions and one Vagabond. Underworld plus Riverfolk without the base should work, but it had not been played when the designer replied.
It moves them as if you were that player, so their faction-only paths and Burrow exits are usable, and if it triggers Outrage the player whose warriors moved gives the card.
Best reading of the rules and forum discussion; no official ruling.
Yes: exhaust one sword to start a battle, then another after the roll for an extra hit.
Yes, unless the Clockwork rules say otherwise. A bot must rule the origin or destination to move, scores one point per building or token it removes, and its moves trigger Woodland Alliance Outrage. A bot does not use another faction's rules, so the Automated Alliance has no Guerrilla War.
Hard conditions in the action, such as adjacency, cannot be overridden, while tie-breakers only choose among legal clearings. Zero counts as fewer than one for fewest and as a tie for most, so an empty clearing can be chosen. Final tie-breakers are clearing priority, then player setup order, and a bot with no legal target looks at alternatives.
The Mechanical Marquise's bird order replaces Daylight steps 4 and 5 with its own resolution, so Expand is skipped. For the Automated Alliance a bird matches every clearing and spreads sympathy in Birdsong instead of revolting, with Public Pity and Surprise Revolt meant to be mutually exclusive.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2022.
Officially Expand has no once-per-turn limit: it triggers while you have not built, repeating until a bird is drawn or a building is placed. The designer suggests triggering it once per turn in practice.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2021.
Clearings resolve in priority order (1, then 2, then 3, ...), each checked once, moving the excess warriors in one move per clearing. Where no adjacent clearing has enemy pieces, zero ties for most so it still moves to the highest-priority adjacent clearing, which can lead to bouncing between clearings. Moves finish before any battles in Escalated Daylight.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2022.
It recruits four warriors in total (two sets of two in Escalated Daylight), spread evenly over matching clearings in priority order. It can recruit nothing if it has no pieces in a matching clearing, and solo or co-op play has no rule difference or ruling requirement. It builds only in clearings with open slots, moving down the warrior ranking, and does not need an ordered clearing.
No. The Clockwork version removed those points, which affects some loops; a Better Bot Project fix restores them, and the Mechanical Marquise no longer needs to bounce between clearings for it.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2020.
It moves from the highest-priority clearing it rules matching the column and leaves enough warriors to rule it or one per card in the column, whichever is higher, into an adjacent clearing without a roost first, then breaks ties by fewest enemy pieces and priority. If no legal move exists, the move does nothing. The older looping and turmoil complaints come from a first-edition misprint fixed by a sticker.
Only when it cannot place a roost. Failing to recruit, move or battle does not cause turmoil, and it does not start in turmoil.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2020.
It recruits in all four columns left to right, then moves in all four, then battles in all four, skipping empty columns. The extra hit applies only when a column has strictly more cards than every other column, so a tie gives none. Each action draws cards from a single column.
Bird suits are wild, so all clearings qualify and the other conditions decide. The tiebreakers focus on buildings, and Relentless removals of defenseless buildings and tokens score under normal rules. It does not skip a battle just because the lone enemy has no buildings.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2021.
Always in a clearing adjacent to existing sympathy, except the very first token, which goes in the clearing with the fewest enemy pieces judged on the first order card's suit. The ordered suit is only a tie-breaker, the Keep clearing is not eligible, and it scores each spread as it happens. The 5 VP fallback applies only when it has no sympathy left to place.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2022.
It can revolt even where there are no enemies, but Surprise Revolt needs a sympathetic clearing with the most enemy pieces. Sympathy removed by Crackdown (or by destroying its base) scores nothing for the player; as written, it triggers Automated Outrage. A card you discard for sympathy gives the Alliance no point.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2020.
It targets the player with the most victory points, regardless of distance, breaking ties by setup order, and picks the Vagabond only if nothing else is available. Every move costs an exhausted item, it moves partway if items are short, and it repeats battle as many times as it can.
The Vagabot takes both ruin items even if duplicated, and aiding a bot scores it a point per card discarded under the Poor Cat rules. The Thief cannot steal from a bot since bots have no hand, and a bot that gains a card by any means scores 1 VP instead. A Vagabot facing a revolt takes three damage.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2020.
Not in co-op or solo play and not with two players, where the four are removed. Coalition considers only human players, so it needs four or more humans and cannot target a bot.
Players stay in the game after reaching 30 VP, and the co-op win comes when all humans have 30 before any bot does. In a two-human co-op game the humans can attack each other, bots do not target each other, and eliminating the Marquise does not win the game.
Everything except Marauders works with the bots, and the bots can be played on the Mountain and Lake maps. Bots do not yet have hireling rules, and the Riverfolk use the Better Bot Project rules in the meantime. Bots set up like the player factions they replace.
Bots ignore Exposure, and token-targeting effects do not hit the Vagabond. A bot defending may enlist an Arbiter Vagabond when it has fewer maximum hits than the attacker, and you can run any number of Vagabots with their own item areas.
Yes, it adds only the bot faction boards and needs the Riverfolk and Underground faction components. Bots of the original factions, however, need Clockwork Expansion 1, and Riverfolk or Corvid bots need Clockwork 2's rules.
Yes. A Bird is a wildcard matching every clearing, so every clearing counts as ordered and the bot battles wherever it has presence, as the designer confirmed for the Duchy and Riverfolk bots.
Yes, zero counts, with ties broken by clearing priority (1 before 12). When a bot has no faction to target, it targets the faction first in turn order, and enemy counts all other factions together.
Score uses the rightmost empty Gardens space as on the board, despite the Law's ordered wording. A revealed bird card is discarded rather than returned to Lost Souls. In the first Daylight reveal three Lost Souls cards, and with no conspiracy possible leftover acolytes carry over.
Crowns removed by Cost of Errors return to the crown supply, unlike the regular Duchy. The Brigadier's Dig triggers with three warriors in the Burrow. With fewer than nine warriors and all markets built, it scores 1 VP instead of building a citadel.
In co-op they score one point per human player each round. The service limit is checked at the start of the bot's turn, and Advanced Services buy a hand card only if no market card crafts an item. A shield condition is checked only at the Daylight Organise step, and a Vagabot's riverboat service lasts the whole turn.
The human draws a card instead since bots have no hand. A bot scores nothing when its Corvid snare tokens are removed as it tries to leave a clearing, and the Automated Alliance must still place sympathy adjacent to existing sympathy.
It restricts crafting, flipping, placing and removing pieces in the clearing, but not movement: enemies can move into and out of it, and a Vagabond can Slip in without entreating. A Governing Assembly does not rule a clearing, so a Lizard garden there still rules it, and the effect does not stop battles or acclaim placed at the end of one.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
No presence is needed (the Alliance, Lizards and Otters entreat from afar). In the final game Entreat is not an interrupt, so the Learn to Play example showing one is outdated. Entreat also forces the Council to flip its own assembly.
Their warriors join as defenders but take hits only after the defender's own warriors are removed. Peacekeepers cannot use ambushes or crafted battle abilities, and assembly tokens are not hit by extra hits since only warriors are contributed.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Enclaves are tokens, not warriors, even when Militant, so they do not count as warriors against the Frogs, and leftover hits remove them like any token. Removing a Protective frog token does not require the attacker to discard a Frog card, and Retaliate needs warriors or pawns there to attack.
Yes to zero: Reconcile says any number of enclaves. On the first turn the Frogs cannot complete that step because they have no Militant enclaves yet; later turns they must choose Rally or Reconcile.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
A Settle action cannot both battle and place an enclave. Each adjacent clearing moved from counts as one move needing its own rule requirement, and Provoke's clauses are independent, so you place warriors even if no enclave is placed. Frog cards are shuffled into the main deck, with their own discard called the Pond.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
After a battle where an enemy attacks a defending Peaceful enclave, including a Banish battle, and as soon as the battle ends, even between a Keeper's battle and its Delve. It resolves right after each removal, simultaneous with effects like a Revolt's.
Each captain gets one free move, and boots add more. Knaves ignore the rule requirement only for moves involving a forest, including between forests; a normal move between clearings still needs rule. A normal Move cannot leave a forest for other factions.
They craft in Daylight by activating the Acting Captain or an acclaim token. Filch activates the Acting Captain only, once per turn, while Serve places acclaim and can be repeated, but each acclaim token activates once per turn.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
No to hirelings, since hirelings are not factions and have no faction pieces, and no to mercenaries, which can never be moved by the purchaser. Any captain may use any item; the card shows only starting items, and the Knaves do not start with S items. A removed Captain takes no new hostages.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
They can be combined but were never playtested together. Advanced Setup cards exist for Knaves, Lilypad Diaspora and the Twilight Council. If a homeland cannot meet all placement requirements, meet as many as possible and stay as far from other homelands as you can.
The rulebook answers this in "F. Landmarks".
Yes. Five or six players need the three Homeland landmarks on the Marsh map, an exception to the usual landmark limit. The full 15-clearing Marsh map uses the suited landmarks as clearings, so no tokens are missing.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
A frog icon is wild only for costs with an any-suit icon, not otherwise, and it is probably not wild for Diaspora clearing suits. Birds can stand in for other suits unless a card says otherwise, but not for effects that name non-bird cards such as Banish and Agitate.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2019.
It is an alternative deck that replaces the base deck, like choosing a different map, not an add-on. The designer does not recommend mixing them since its cards are stronger and mixing changes the Saboteur ratio and item crafting. It works with every faction and map, including the base game, but start new players on the base deck.
Partisan effects discard only from your hand, never crafted cards in your play area. With an empty hand or no foxes the extra hit still applies, since the discard is not a condition. Under Forced Effects birds count as the prompted suit, so they are discarded too.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2019.
Any warrior going to a supply from any source (including spent Riverfolk warriors and Lizard acolytes) goes to Coffin Makers instead, but the card triggers on removed, which the Glossary defines as returning to its source. It scores at your next Birdsong if at least five warriors accumulated, and Field Hospitals saves bypass it.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2019.
Your tokens count toward rule and each counts twice. The card was reworded to say this, so read it literally; buildings are not tokens.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2019.
Once per Evening you may skip your card draw and instead take one ambush card from the discard pile. The Riverfolk cannot use it since they do not draw cards in Evening.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Tunnels lets troops move between your crafting pieces as if adjacent, but the Vagabond cannot use it for lack of crafted pieces on the board. Boat Builders treats rivers as paths and can combine with an effect that ignores rule.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2019.
With Murine Middlemen, other players' crafted items go to your Crafted Items box until a Saboteur removes one. A Vagabond always places items he takes face up, so an item taken from League of Adventurous Mice is not left exhausted. Only crafting that gives an item token triggers another player's draw ability.
Best reading of the rules and forum discussion; no official ruling.
Yes. Half the enemy's warriors rounded up is one when only one is present.
Best reading of the rules and forum discussion; no official ruling.
Not automatically: the discard pile can be inspected, but the Vagabond must answer truthfully if asked which card was taken.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
A hireling's move or battle affects the hireling's own pieces unless the ability starts with Controller. You may battle a hireling you do not control, and Flame Bearers remove an enemy hireling controlled by anyone or no one. The Marauder expansion has four base-faction hirelings; each pack has two matching its factions plus one independent, and the Bear is not in this pack.
They are set up in Advanced Setup step 6, starting with the last player counterclockwise, each setting up one dealt hireling. No rules cover hirelings with Clockwork bots, since they were designed for lower player counts.
Popular Band cannot force a Warlord to move outside the Hundreds' turn, and forced moves follow normal restrictions. It forces at most one warrior along each path, and enemies cannot move out of a clearing with a Band warrior on the turn they moved in, so a Relict cannot pass through it.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Once-per-Daylight actions cannot be repeated or interrupt others, and Moles and Ravens take step 1 (recruit) always, then one option from step 2. Corvid Spies may be placed in different clearings with enemies, and a battle always targets another player. The Furious Protector does nothing to a Vagabond since he has no faction warriors.
Best reading of the rules and forum discussion; no official ruling.
Yes. The pack includes all the rules and pieces for hirelings. Do not use a hireling whose matching faction is in the game, so with Underworld factions you will have fewer than three hirelings available.
Highway Bandit hirelings are not in a clearing and cannot be battled. A Vagabond cannot rule by himself, but Bandit Gangs warriors he controls can rule. The Flotilla fights only one battle per move with the target chosen by its controller, and on the Lake map the lake acts as the river.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Yes, with the base game alone or with expansions other than the Riverfolk expansion. Each hireling is a mini-faction, so you cannot play the same faction as one in play, and three hirelings are used per game.