Scythe
240 questions players ask about Scythe, answered in plain words and graded by where the answer comes from. See also the full rulebook.
Updated 2026-10-28.
240 questions players ask about Scythe, answered in plain words and graded by where the answer comes from. See also the full rulebook.
Updated 2026-10-28.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
Rusviet with the Industrial mat and Crimea with the Patriotic mat are banned. If you are dealt either pairing, discard the player mat and randomly draw another. Brand-new players may ignore the ban in a first game.
The designer answered this directly.
No. Random dealing is the standard setup, but the designer says that when he plays, anyone who wants a different faction than the one dealt can choose another.
The rulebook states the starting player rule; the designer explains that mat balance is staggered.
The player with the lowest-numbered player mat goes first, and play continues clockwise. The starting resources on each mat are staggered to balance the mats, so a higher number is not a simple advantage or disadvantage.
The rulebook gives the order 1, 2, 2a, 3, 3a, 4, 5; players agree.
They slot between their neighbors: the order runs 1, 2, 2a, 3, 3a, 4, 5. The lowest number among the mats in play starts.
The designer answered this directly.
No. The designer says the effect is very small because starting resources and bonuses are staggered by player mat, so dealing mats in numerical order does not break the game.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
Yes, for the standard setup: turn order is clockwise and Enlist bonuses depend on who sits next to you, so sit in the order Nordic, Rusviet, Crimea, Saxony, Polania where possible.
The designer answered this directly.
A total value. Any mix of coin denominations that adds up to the amount on your player mat is fine.
The designer answered this directly.
No. The base board is always the same. Variety comes from faction and mat pairings, objective cards, Factory cards and Encounter cards. The Modular Board expansion is what randomizes the map.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
The base box supports 1 to 5 players, and Invaders from Afar raises the maximum to 7. Expect considerable downtime at 7.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
Yes. The Automa can be added as a third opponent, and a cooperative version is also available.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
No. A home base is not a territory, so resources there cannot be spent and do not count as controlled resources when scoring. They can still be carried onto a home base.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
Normally no. The designer says units cannot be moved onto a home base, to stop players hiding there; home bases are starting points and retreat destinations. The one exception is Crimea's Wayfare ability, which lets its character and mechs move onto a home base.
The designer answered this directly.
Yes for the passive structure bonuses (such as the Monument and Armory player-mat bonuses) and for moving into your Mine through a tunnel, since the structure is still yours. The exception is the Mill: you cannot Produce with it while an enemy controls its territory.
The designer answered this directly.
No. You can control the territory it sits on, but the structure stays with its owner, and an opponent's Mill never produces for you.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
Occupied means a mobile unit (worker, character or mech) is present. Controlled means you have a unit or a structure there and no opposing units, so a lone building controls a hex without occupying it.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
Yes. You may take the resources from any combination of territories you control, regardless of where the thing you are paying for is built or deployed. You cannot spend from a territory you no longer control.
The designer answered this directly.
The opponent. A single unit is enough to control a territory, so your Mill is blocked until you remove it.
The designer answered this directly.
All units can carry resources: workers, the character and mechs.
The designer answered this directly.
Power is capped at 16 and popularity at 18. You can only spend as much power or popularity as you actually have.
The designer answered this directly.
Yes. You control it on entry, and the unit may keep moving afterward.
The rulebook's unit descriptions answer this.
Only mechs carry workers. Every unit, including characters and workers, can carry resources. Mechs cannot carry characters or other mechs, and carried workers do not spend movement.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
They apply to all of your mechs and your character, not to workers. Workers only benefit by riding on a mech. Only your character can collect Factory cards and encounters; mechs cannot.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
No. Pay the cost, then take as much or as little of the benefit as you like, including none of it. This applies to coins, Enlist bonuses and structure bonuses.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
Yes. The two rows are independent: top only, bottom only, both (top first), or neither. You must still move your action token to a different section every turn.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
No. Each row of your chosen section is used at most once per turn, so you cannot repeat Bolster, Deploy or Build to multiply the benefit unless a card or mat explicitly gives an extra action.
The rulebook text answers this directly.
Yes. The top row is finished first, so anything it gives you, including combat cards from Bolster, can pay for the bottom-row action in the same turn.
Yes. Combat and encounters do not end your turn, and resources gained from them may be used for the bottom-row action.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
Yes. Overlapping turns are explicitly allowed to speed up play. If the next player's choice depends on your result, either of you may pause.
The designer answered this directly.
No. Resources on the board and the number of combat cards in your hand are public information and may not be covered.
The designer answered this directly.
You still move your action token to a different section, which effectively passes. You cannot take an action you cannot pay for, though you may choose a section and decline both actions.
The designer answered this directly.
Remove the forfeiting player's pieces from the board. The players on either side of the gap become each other's neighbors for Enlist bonuses.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
No. Produce only works on territories you control, so a Mill under enemy control is idle, and the opponent cannot use your Mill either. Your other structures keep their player-mat bonuses.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
Choose up to two different territories you control (three with the Produce upgrade). Each worker on a chosen territory produces one token, and workers on villages produce workers.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
No. You pay the exposed cost once before producing, and each worker on the chosen hexes then yields one item. If every cost space is covered by workers, Produce costs nothing.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
No. Each worker may produce one token, so you can produce fewer than the maximum, for example one worker from two on a village.
The designer answered this directly.
Yes. The Mill produces as if it were a worker, so on a village it makes a worker. It is an extra production territory in addition to your two (or three) chosen ones, and it cannot also be one of your chosen hexes to double up.
The publisher answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
Yes. Skip the unaffordable top-row action (you cannot perform it unpaid) and take the bottom-row action alone.
The designer answered this directly.
Yes. Pay the full cost first, then take the benefits in any order you like, not necessarily left to right.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
No. Move lets you move two different units (more with upgrades), each one space. A single unit cannot be chosen twice.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
Yes. Complete one unit's movement before moving the next; interleaving single steps between units is not allowed.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
Yes. Since units move one after another, a second mech may pick up workers the first dropped off and carry them onward. A mech can also drop some workers and keep moving to drop the rest.
The designer answered this directly.
No. Mechs can carry workers and resources, but not your character.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
No. Workers cannot move into or out of territories controlled by enemy characters or mechs on their own. They can only get there when carried by one of your mechs.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
Its movement ends there, even with Speed or a mech ability, and each enemy worker retreats immediately to its home base, leaving resources behind. You lose 1 popularity per worker displaced. The designer issued an errata so the retreat happens when that unit's movement ends, not after the whole Move action.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
Yes. The stop applies only to the mech's movement, and the carried worker can use another part of the Move action.
The designer answered this directly.
Yes. Control is established as soon as a unit enters a territory, even partway through a Move action or a unit's Speed movement. It mostly matters for warp abilities such as Rusviet's and Saxony's, since objectives can only be completed before or after an action.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
Yes. Resources there stay put, but they cannot be spent and do not score. Only Crimea's Wayfare lets units carry resources onto a home base by moving, and retreating units may remain.
The designer answered this directly.
Wayfare lets a Crimean character or mech move to any unused faction's home base (or Crimea's own), treating those bases as adjacent to every territory, and resources may ride along.
The designer answered this directly.
No. Mechs can only be deployed onto territories, and a home base is not a territory. A mech can end up on a home base by retreating after a lost combat or, for Crimea, through Wayfare.
The designer answered this directly.
Three territories: the Factory card's Move lets one unit move up to two territories as a single Move action, and Speed adds one.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
Yes. Tunnel territories count as adjacent to each other for movement regardless of rivers, and Rusviet's Riverwalk is not needed to use a tunnel under a river.
The rulebook says mechs can pick up and drop off workers and resources during a Move, and tunnels count as adjacent for movement.
Yes. Pickup and drop-off are free, and mechs may carry workers and resources through tunnels like any other movement.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
Yes. The Mill produces as if it were a worker, so it yields one item on its own, and any real workers on that hex produce too. The Mill's territory counts as a bonus production territory on top of your two (or three) chosen hexes.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
No. A territory activates only once per Produce action, so the Mill's hex yields the same amount whether you pick it as a regular hex or use it as the bonus territory.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
Yes. The extra production territory is the Mill's own hex, and producing there is optional. The Complete Rulebook's wording in the overlooked-rules section is unclear on this, and the designer confirmed this reading.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
Yes. Once you have enlisted a recruit from a section, you may gain its ongoing bonus whenever you or the player directly to your left or right take that section's bottom-row action. The neighbor does not need the same mat.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
No. Only bonuses already visible before the action count, so the recruit you take now gives its ongoing bonus starting from your next qualifying action.
The publisher answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
No. The opponent counts as both neighbors, but you gain the bonus only once per bottom-row action.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
No. You gain your benefits, place the star, and the game ends immediately, so neighbors miss their ongoing bonuses that turn. Order matters when several players would gain one: active player first, then left, then right.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
Yes. Benefits are optional and can be taken in any order, including recruit bonuses. Stars earned through a benefit are not optional.
The designer ruled in 2019 on this directly; the rulebook's Mine text is broader and the 2019 ruling is the later one.
No. The designer ruled in 2019 that a worker still cannot enter a territory held by another player's units, even to reach its own Mine. This overturned the designer's 2016 comment that you could move into the Mine through a tunnel regardless. Note the rulebook's Mine text is broader.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
Yes. Only your longest continuous straight line counts, and a gap breaks it. Rivers do not break continuity.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
Count all your structures on farms and tundras together, in any split, and score the bonus for that total.
The designer answered this directly.
No. The Mill only boosts the Produce action on your player mat. A Factory card's produce neither adds the Mill's hex nor counts the Mill as an extra worker.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
Yes. Only home bases and lakes are off limits, so the Factory is a normal territory for building.
The designer answered this directly.
One unit moves up to two spaces, not two units one space each. Speed or a similar +1 adds one space to the whole move, giving three. It is unrelated to the upgraded player-mat Move action.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
You pay only what the Factory card prints, with no mat cost and no mat benefits, and Factory card actions do not trigger neighbors' recruit bonuses. Each row is independent, and the Move row is free unless a cost is printed.
The designer answered this directly.
You must pay two different resource types rather than two of the same.
The designer answered this directly.
The gained item must go on a territory with one of your workers, or onto one of your mechs, respectively. Neither allows placing on a home base.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
When its movement ends on the Factory, after any combat there is resolved, including when it retreats there. Passing through does not count, and you cannot decline if you are still there.
The publisher answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
No. Only one Factory card per player, so a Factory card from an encounter blocks taking another at the Factory.
The designer answered this directly.
No. It counts as three territories only for end-game territory scoring, not for objective cards.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
Yes. The Mine acts as a tunnel for all your unit movement, including a Factory card's Move.
The designer answered this directly.
Resources, tokens and structures stay where they are; only units are sent back to their home bases.
The designer answered this directly.
Yes. Underpass treats all mountains you control and all tunnels as adjacent, and control is checked as the move happens, so a mountain you just moved onto counts for the rest of that action.
The designer answered this directly.
Yes. If the terrain on the far side is one the faction's Riverwalk allows, units may cross directly from the home base.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
No. Only the banned mat pairings and the Relentless errata are official. Other restrictions are house rules for groups who find Rusviet too strong.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
No. The designer confirmed Relentless repeats a section of the player mat only. The older printed rulebook note allowing it was changed to match the errata and the current rulebook.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
Yes, with no limit: Relentless lets Rusviet choose the same section as the previous turn, turn after turn. It does not extend to Factory cards (the designer later ruled Relentless does not apply to them).
The publisher answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
Once per turn Crimea can spend one combat card as if it were any one resource. The card is spent in place of a resource, never exchanged for one, so it does not count as having resources for objectives such as Hedge Your Bets.
The designer answered this directly.
Yes. Airships and workers on airships are not counted for Ronin, so a lone character or mech with an airship alongside still gets the bonus.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
Right after the character ends its move, if there is no combat or encounter there, and other units may then move, even onto that trap. If combat or an encounter occurs, wait until all movement and resolution are finished.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
No. Saxony may complete both of its objective cards (one star each) and can earn a star for every combat it wins, but one objective is still only one star.
The designer answered this directly.
Underpass links controlled mountains, all tunnels and your own Mine, but not an opponent's Mine. Saxony's own Mine counts as a tunnel for Disarm when Saxony fights on that hex.
The designer answered this directly.
Once per combat, so each combat on a tunnel gets its own penalty, resolved one at a time.
The designer answered this directly.
The character and each mech may retreat onto a lake that shares an edge with the battle territory, and different mechs may use different lakes. Mechs can carry workers onto the lake while retreating. Retreating to your home base is still allowed.
The designer answered this directly.
No. A lake borders land directly with no river between them, so lake abilities need no river crossing. Riverwalk only crosses rivers and never lets units onto lakes.
The designer answered this directly.
Workers cannot enter a lake alone; they must be carried by a mech with a lake ability and cannot remain on a lake after it leaves without them. Any friendly mech may carry them off, and two mechs on a lake may swap workers and resources.
The designer answered this directly.
Only the terrain you enter when crossing a river. Where you start does not matter, so a unit can use it from a home base.
The designer answered this directly.
No to both. It applies only to combat when you have it, not to combats already resolved, and moving onto a hex of only enemy workers is not combat, so Polania still loses popularity for displaced workers.
The designer answered this directly.
Yes. Wayfare counts as part of the Move action, so after it a unit with Speed or a Factory card move may continue from the home base. Wayfare does not allow deploying, building or trading on the home base.
The designer answered this directly.
Township treats the villages you control and the Factory as adjacent to one another for Move actions. The Factory counts whether or not you control it, so you can jump straight to it from a village you control.
The designer answered this directly.
Once per battle, taking from the opponent's whole combat hand before that battle, not once per turn.
The designer answered this directly.
Yes. All mech abilities, Speed included, apply to your character and to every mech, and each unit that moves gets +1 range.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
Yes, and only workers: the ability does not apply to the character or mechs and does not let them enter lakes.
The rulebook states that ties go to the attacking player.
The attacker wins ties. The designer has declined to add exceptions to this, such as a home-territory tie-break.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
Yes. There is no cost or requirement to start a combat; popularity loss is a consequence, not a cost. With ties going to the attacker, even a 0 against 0 fight is won by the attacker.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
Yes. Whoever wins gets the star, so attacking and losing hands your opponent one.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
At most two, though you may keep fighting afterward. Saxony alone has no cap.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
The attacker's, then the defender's. The rulebook's Attacker Advantage rule says this.
The rulebook's combat rules give the limit.
Up to one per character or mech taking part, even if you select 0 power on the dial.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
Move first, then all combats (the attacker chooses their order), then any encounters, then the bottom-row action. Resources won in combat can pay for the bottom-row action.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
No. The unit stops, the workers retreat immediately and the mover loses popularity per worker. This also means Polania's post-combat popularity protection does not apply.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
Only a victorious attacker loses popularity, for each enemy worker it forces to retreat. A defender does not lose popularity when its workers are sent home. The same loss also applies when you push workers off with no combat at all.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
All the loser's units retreat to its home base (Nordic units may instead use Seaworthy). Resources they carried stay on the hex under the winner's control, and retreat does not count as movement.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
No. Drawing the card is optional: the designer says you may choose not to draw it. The rulebook phrases it as a gain when at least 1 power was spent on the dial or through cards.
The publisher answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
Shuffle the discard into a new deck if only the deck is empty; if both are empty, no card is drawn.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
A character or mech entering a hex with an enemy character or mech stops there and combat waits until the Move action ends. Your other units can still move and carried workers may act separately.
The designer answered this directly.
No. A combat that has started finishes entirely, so both players can end up with six stars, and Albion's star from reaching 16 power is placed once that combat resolves.
The designer answered this directly.
No lake that an opponent occupies. Each defeated unit may use a different adjacent lake that is not occupied by an opponent, or go home.
The designer answered this directly.
Yes. Faction and mech abilities are public information, including those that matter only in particular combat circumstances.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
Yes. Its movement ends there for the turn, although your other units finish the Move action. The encounter is resolved after all combats, and only if the character is still there.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
Onto the territory where the encounter happened, not onto any territory where you have a worker. Coins and similar non-board gains are the exception.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
No. Drawing the card is mandatory, but you pick one option (up to two for Polania), pay its full cost, and may take all, some or none of the benefit.
The designer answered this directly.
You place a recruit token on your faction mat and gain its immediate one-time bonus, exactly as with any Enlist.
The designer answered this directly.
No. Oil on cards such as 43, 44 or 68 is just a counter for that encounter; it cannot be spent and does not score at game end.
The designer answered this directly.
Yes. Placing a unit is not moving it, so it ignores effects that prevent movement.
The designer answered this directly.
A hex with nothing on it: no units, structures, tokens, flags or encounter tokens.
The designer answered this directly.
Eleven, one per encounter territory. A used token is not replaced.
Players agree, and the rulebook says only characters trigger encounter tokens.
No. Only a character can trigger an encounter token; a mech cannot, even one with a lake ability.
The designer answered this directly.
Food. When a guide and the card disagree, the printed card wins, and the designer confirmed food.
The designer answered this directly.
From the combat deck.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
Nothing extra. Only food, oil, wood and metal are resources, so a combat card spent via Coercion is not a resource payment.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
Only on your own turn, before or after you complete a top-row or bottom-row action, never in the middle of an action or combat. The requirements must be met at the moment of reveal, and revealing is optional.
The designer answered this directly.
It uses power, not popularity: you need 7 or more power and a Move action this turn that forced enemy workers to retreat. You can reveal it after the Move or any time later that turn, whether the retreat happened with or without combat.
The designer answered this directly.
Village, farm, mountain, forest and tundra, which the designer lists as the five primary terrain types.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
No. A Mine acts like a tunnel for your movement only; it is not itself a tunnel.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
Yes. A continuous straight line is needed; a zig-zag of adjacent hexes does not count.
The publisher answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
Yes, if both conditions are met when revealed, since nothing limits how many objectives are completed in one turn.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
Yes, stars are mandatory, though revealing a completed objective is optional.
The designer answered this directly.
Yes. Units on your home base count for objectives and stars.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
No. The game ends the moment the sixth star is placed. Only a star triggered by a bottom-row action lets you collect that action's primary benefit, coins and ongoing recruit bonus first.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
The combat that has started is completed, then the game ends. Any other combat that your Move action would have created is undone: the units go back to the territories they came from.
The designer answered this directly.
Yes. Because a combat that has started always finishes (the combat bubble), the attacker and defender can both end up with a sixth star, and Albion or Togawa may already have one from reaching 16 power.
The designer answered this directly.
If the player who placed the sixth star does not have the highest score, everyone takes one more turn, with that player going last, and the real final score is then calculated. If the star is placed on another player's turn, the game ends immediately for the active player.
The designer answered this directly.
If noticed before their next turn, they may place it out of turn. Otherwise they announce it and place it at the start of that turn.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
By the number of workers, mechs and structures, then power, popularity, resource tokens, territories controlled and finally stars placed, in that order.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
The structure bonus tile counts them regardless. The territory and resources, however, score for whoever controls the hex.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
No. A home base is not a territory, so resources there cannot be spent and earn nothing at game end.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
Only one player: units control over buildings, and buildings over tokens. The controller scores the Factory as three territories.
The rulebook text answers this directly.
No. Adjacent means on a neighboring hex, so the structure on the tile itself does not count as adjacent to it.
You score at most six resources per territory; extra tokens in one territory are ignored.
The designer answered this directly.
It is the order of players: start with the player who took the action, then go to their left around the table.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
Only coins in hand may be handed over. Resources, workers, cards and star or territory value cannot be given away, and other promises are informal and unenforceable.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
No. Agreements between players are informal and unenforceable, and coins are the only thing that can be exchanged for them. The designer says paying for deals is legal.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
No. Coins may not change hands for deals or alliances in tournaments, though players can still agree informally not to attack.
The unit's own hex plus the six hexes around it. Tunnels, the Mine, faction abilities and mech abilities are ignored, and a unit that has been picked up to move no longer counts.
No. According to the designer, the Automa system never puts two of its combat units on one hex. If the Automa has a mech on the Factory and no territory to step to, that move is invalid and it carries on with its next action.
Only when it can get there legally. The priority is Factory first, then encounters, but it never breaks other rules, and the Automa simply removes encounter tokens without resolving them.
It skips that move and continues to the next action on its card.
The character first, then mechs.
The designer answered this directly.
Back to its faction mat; the rule is in the combat section, not the Gains Stuff section.
When the Automa places its own first star, not when a human places theirs.
The designer answered this directly.
Give each Automa its own deck; the designers say the game works well with two. Read 'you' on the cards as 'you and the other Automa'. You only need one set of each expansion's Automa cards.
Yes. Toss the four old Automa cards and use the four new ones from then on, even in the base game.
No. It gets no points or benefit, and a harder difficulty level approximates what players would gain.
The designer answered this directly.
No. The normal rules apply: you need Seaworthy or Submerge to enter a lake.
The designer answered this directly.
No. The game calls them coins; the dollar sign is just the icon, read as coin. The nation shown on a coin is flavor, and all coins count as plain money.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
Yes, coins are open information; the designer did not want money hidden behind screens or bags. If a player stalls the game by calculating everyone's possible final score, the optional delay-of-game variant makes that player lose 2 popularity.
The designer answered this directly.
Yes. Albion and Togawa join the faction pool for any player count. The expansion also adds a 6 to 7 player setup using the same map.
The designer answered this directly.
Yes. Movement resolves before combat, so units may rally into it.
The designer answered this directly.
No. The unit must actually move to an adjacent territory.
The designer answered this directly.
Yes. A territory is occupied only by units, so a farm holding just a structure (yours or an opponent's) is unoccupied.
The publisher answered this directly.
No. Toka allows one character or one mech per turn to cross, and Boost does not change that.
Yes, an updated deck is needed for those two factions. The original factions ignore the new actions, so augmented decks work with everyone.
The designer answered this directly.
Yes. There is one version, and it adds no new resource tokens.
Community answer endorsed but not fully ruled on by a Stonemaier designer.
No. Players say Boost cannot be used with Leap or Fanatical, and a Stonemaier designer endorsed that answer, though he deferred to Jamey on the logic.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
No. Airships are neither mechs nor characters, so they do not benefit from mech abilities such as Speed.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
No. Airship loading and unloading happens during its own move, which ends before combat.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
No. Airships never retreat, except in a Blitzkrieg combat between two airships.
Best reading from a single reply; no official ruling.
Not while aboard. Workers can only be dropped off during a movement, so they cannot act on the ground until you drop them off during a Move.
The designer answered this directly.
No.
The designer answered this directly.
No. Units and airships look only at their own hex; only Automa airship cards use a six-hex neighborhood.
Yes, because movement is sequential within the Move action.
Not onto an empty lake, since it cannot unload there. It can unload onto a mech already on the lake.
The designer answered this directly.
No. Retreating is not moving, so the encounter triggers only when a character moves onto the hex.
No. A trap cannot be distracted, because the unit interacts with the trap rather than an opponent.
The designer answered this directly.
Yes, per the designer. Boost applies whenever a unit's movement takes it out of the airship's territory without Boost already applied, including after entering it earlier in the same Move action.
The designer answered this directly.
Only when your airship is on the home base. A home base is not a territory, so units leaving an empty home base do not get Boost.
The publisher answered this directly.
Only from territories you control. A 2021 publisher reply says airships cannot pick up resources elsewhere, whereas 2018 designer posts also allowed territories that nobody controls. Never pick up from an opponent-controlled territory.
The designer answered this directly.
Yes. Resources on your airship are always under your control and can be spent no matter where the airship is. Loading or unloading them requires the airship to move.
Yes. They still exist on the board for these purposes.
The designer answered this directly.
No. Reap only adds resources, so it does nothing on a village, though a Mill on a village may still produce a worker.
The designer answered this directly.
No. Non-Saxon players discard their second objective after completing the first, so Hero is only usable before completing one.
No. Drill applies only to workers, who cannot fight, so it does not interact with them.
No. Toll is not supported with the Automa; airship Automa card 7 is skipped on purpose.
Yes, while the Ferry is on the lake, because it lets your units move onto and off lakes. Without it Albion has no lake access.
The designer answered this directly.
Only a mech with a lake ability, such as Polania's Submerge or Togawa's Suiton, can enter or retreat onto a lake.
The designer answered this directly.
The end is checked at the end of the affected player's own turn, so play continues until that turn is over.
The designer answered this directly.
Play continues clockwise and only players with a star on the resolution tile take a final turn. The triggering player does not get extra turns.
The designer answered this directly.
Yes, as in normal combat.
Best reading from a single reply; no official ruling.
No. Desolation units may not move onto a hex that already holds another Desolation unit, so order the moves to let as many units as possible move.
The designer answered this directly.
No. Fenris chooses whether to use Death Ray in each combat. An earlier designer ruling that it was compulsory once unlocked was reversed, and the designers deferred to the later ruling that abilities are optional.
The designer answered this directly.
No. Once Death Ray is used, every combat unit in that combat shares one value. You may play any number of identical cards, but not different values per unit.
Based on a designer's recollection and a quoted FAQ line, with some conflicting reports.
Probably not. The FAQ text quoted in the thread says you can place the faraway second Influence token only if your character also placed one on its own territory that turn, and Ryan recalls Jamey's final ruling being the same. Another poster found a conflicting line, so confirm with the official FAQ.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
No. A hex with a Fenris worker, character or mech is occupied, so it cannot take a token. Structures and airships do not count as occupying.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook.
At the end of the Move action, after combat and encounters, so a Fanatical jump cannot land on a token placed in that same action. Only one token on the destination plus one faraway, however far the unit traveled.
The designer answered this directly.
No. Fenris collects tokens without stopping, and a Factory move allows two Leaps, each independent and possibly in different directions, but a Leap cannot pass through a tunnel.
The designer answered this directly.
Yes, it appears to be legal: airships are not stopped by Influence tokens, and the designer thinks a worker that picked up a token could be carried off again by an airship or mech.
Yes. Enemy units cannot share a hex with an armed Trap, so a retreat onto one triggers it even though retreating is not a Move action.
The designer answered this directly.
The ally ignores Togawa's traps as if it were Togawa, so they do not trigger. Armed traps in the ally's territories also count toward end-game control.
The designer answered this directly.
No. Each column takes at most one check per episode, and this is absolute, including for Saxony, whose extra combat stars therefore do not help the log.
The designer answered this directly.
Either combat column while playing, but at the end only boxes that match the column of the star on the Triumph Track can be checked.
The designer answered this directly.
The log fills over several missions. Completing a row or column earns a $25 bonus paid only at the end of the campaign.
The designer answered this directly.
Yes. Even with no Triumph tiles for objectives or combat, an ally keeps Saxony's ability to place stars for those categories. On the Peace track, no combat victory stars can be placed.
The designer answered this directly.
Everyone decides simultaneously whether to switch factions. If you decide to switch you must switch, and you cannot pick the same faction again.
The designer answered this directly.
On the previously selected home base, per the 2020 rules update. An earlier 2018 designer answer let Vesna choose any available home base.
The publisher answered this directly.
Her blue ability tokens are redrawn each game (drawing 6 and choosing from them and your purchased mods), while purchased mech mods always stay available.
Yes. The workers in Box B are Fenris's workers; open Box B in Episode 4.
The designer answered this directly.
No. The rule says you 'may' take a card, so you can skip it on your first visit and choose one on a later visit.
The designer answered this directly.
No. The game ends immediately when the last agent is subdued, so nothing else that turn happens.
The designer answered this directly.
Yes, per the 2025 designer reply: follow the setup for the matching Rivals/War or Alliances/Peace mode. A 2018 reply that skipped Episode 2 setup is superseded.
The designer answered this directly.
After the active turn is completed. The player who destroyed Mad Tesla gains $10 and finishes the turn, then the game ends.
The designer answered this directly.
Use your current wealth as recorded on your campaign log. It only serves to set the order in which mats are picked.
The designer answered this directly.
No. The first six mods you purchase are permanent.
The designer answered this directly.
No. They only cover the cost; ongoing recruit bonuses still apply to you and your neighbors, and the mods give no bonus actions.
The designer answered this directly.
Yes. Armor only makes the attacker discard a combat card if they hold one.
The designer answered this directly.
Any unit that can move two or more spaces, such as through Speed, a Factory card move or Wind Gambit Boost. The card's 'etc.' is a catch-all for such cases.
The designer answered this directly.
Yes. Each card is its own action, but each used card is lost, which limits how often it can happen.
The designer answered this directly.
Yes. Those expansions are optional, and without Invaders from Afar the Togawa and Albion bases are off limits.
The designer answered this directly.
No. The designers treat the Automa as optional in the campaign and recommend not adding it until running it is easy for you outside the campaign.
The designer answered this directly.
The rule says to let the newcomer take a faction mat nobody is using and start them at a campaign-log standing comparable to the other players.
The designer answered this directly.
After movement ends, combat and any encounter resolve first, and only then are tokens placed.
Before combat. Order is all moves, the encounter's extra movement, combat, then encounters.
The designer answered this directly.
In player order, with the encounter finished before play continues.
The designer answered this directly.
The trap triggers first.
The designer answered this directly.
No, it only applies to your own Move actions, and once per Move action.
The designer answered this directly.
No. Forcing workers away is not combat.
No. Completing an encounter is not the Build action, so you need no worker or resources for it, and the publisher says you can carry out the card's effect without worrying about control.
The publisher answered this directly.
No. Spending a combat card as a resource is not the same as having that resource.
It is a printing error: option 1 changed late and the Automa warning was not removed.
The designer answered this directly.
Yes. The designer said it is unchanged.
The designer answered this directly, citing the modular board rules.
Yes. The modular board rules keep Rusviet/Industrial and Crimea/Patriotic banned.
Not recommended. Players advise playing the campaign on the regular board for balance and theme, and saving the modular board for afterward.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
It has larger hexes and is two-thirds of a bigger map that needs the Extension Board. The modular tiles fit only the smaller-hex side.
The designer answered this directly.
Yes. The English rules ban it, and the ban was missed in some translations. Crimea with Patriotic is also still restricted.
The designer answered this directly.
No. It is a river crossing; the land strip is only decorative.
Best reading from a single reply; no official ruling.
No, it is optional. Remove only as many as keeps the game fair, ideally after factions are chosen.
Best reading from a single reply; no official ruling.
Yes, the rules do not exclude them, though groups often omit them by choice.