Too Many Bones
378 questions players ask about Too Many Bones, answered in plain words and graded by where the answer comes from. See also the full rulebook.
Updated 2026-10-31.
378 questions players ask about Too Many Bones, answered in plain words and graded by where the answer comes from. See also the full rulebook.
Updated 2026-10-31.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
Most replies say no. A scouted Baddie stays face up on top when a stack is reshuffled, and scouting is resolved one Gearloc at a time, so a revealed Baddie is not cycled later. A 2021 poster argued the other way; no official ruling was given.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
It takes the first free Baddie position in lane order 1-4 that matches its Attack Form. If none is free, it tries the lanes of the other Attack Form, as page 19 describes.
Yes. When several effects trigger at the start of your turn, you pick the order, so you can heal or use loot before poison damage is applied, as long as they all happen at that point in the turn.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Place each added Baddie in its natural position in the queue: below other Baddies of the same point value and above lower-point Baddies. The rulebook says added Baddies go in their appropriate position unless stated otherwise.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
The group decides together where each Gearloc starts. If they cannot agree, the designated Party Leader makes the final call.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. A bot can auto-attack on its deployment turn. If it will be deployed later in the turn, its target is picked along with Tink's target, and the auto-attack is resolved after deployment.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Professions and consumables are both types of Skill Dice, so an encounter that stops skill dice also stops consumables such as Body Count. The rulebook Skills Area on page 12 covers all three types.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
No. Effect dice do not stack. A new effect of the same type replaces the existing one, and a single unit holds one effect die of each type. One common house rule keeps the higher value instead.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
It goes back to the dice tray either way. Once its effect is used it is exhausted and a consumable returns to the tray; if it is left unused in an Active slot it is cleared (exhausted) at the end of battle and also returns to the tray.
Several experienced players agree; the publisher only confirmed that bringing a Vamped song back costs Dex and Focus.
Moving from Active to Vamp costs no Dex, and vamped songs do not cost Dex. Each active song that is not vamped costs 1 Dex at turn start, but bringing a vamped song back into the Intro side does cost 1 Dex, and vamped songs always cost 1 Focus.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No. Callous makes a baddie immune to True Damage, so bleed and poison do not hurt it. Fatigue still can, because nothing is immune to it unless it says so.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
It does not advance automatically. At the end of his turn it resets to 1.0 (not exhausted), and the die can only be advanced on his own turn by reaching x.8 and using Calm Down or Anger Management; damage beyond the maximum is lost.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Only the first Rage die starts in the active slots; later Rage dice must be unlocked with Training Points. When Tantrum advances, the dice swap, and if a later Rage die is exhausted the first can return to active if it is not exhausted.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Skill dice are not attacks, and Nugget can select any Baddie as her target, so a skill that affects her target, such as Longblade, can reach a non-adjacent Baddie. Slingstones are only needed to roll attack dice at range.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
You may exhaust dice on your turn at any time, and the designer confirmed this includes the post-battle Recovery Phase. All exhausted dice return to the skill area after battle, so you can exhaust them then to meet a card's requirement at the start of the next battle.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Signal counts how many times the baddie can call in reinforcements, not specific rounds, so a delayed Signal still activates later. The publisher confirmed this conclusion.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Bones from traps are added straight to the Backup Plan, even when rolled outside Ghillie's turn. An earlier publisher answer saying no was withdrawn.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes, active Defense dice must be used to prevent HP loss. On your turn you may remove an active Defense die and roll it again, and a reply says you may also lower a die's value.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
The gem can only be placed next to a qualifying Baddie, and the first qualifying Baddie that starts its turn adjacent to it is drawn to it. The publisher endorsed this reading.
Based on a single player reply; no official ruling.
Per a cited video, Shield Bash does not exhaust Picket's regular defense dice, so they stay available for later rolls. The effect covers only dice in Picket's own slots, not an ally's dice.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
Yes. Longblade can target any baddie, adjacent or at range, and the FAQ calls it ranged when used alone. Slingstones are needed only when Attack dice are added for a ranged attack.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
No. Captain dice do not exhaust when used for their effect, but removing a locked captain die from its slot exhausts it, so it cannot be rerolled for bones without being exhausted. An earlier reply suggesting otherwise was corrected.
Only one per turn. Spare bones cannot buy a second backup plan skill in the same turn.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
Per turn, not per round. Each turn by a Gearloc, ally, or baddie can deal the one damage, so a hardy baddie can take more than one damage in a round.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
Each grenade thrown requires ticking the Boom counter down first, and the Boom result must be used once thrown. The grenade skill die exhausts after one use, so it can be used once per battle even if Booms remain.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Break exhausts each attack die that deals damage to the baddie's HP and moves it to the exhausted area. This acts as a temporary -1 to that Gearloc's Atk stat for the rest of the encounter only; defense dice and damage that only removes shields or defense are not affected.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Each attack die exhausted by Break lowers the Atk stat for the encounter, so once all of them are exhausted the Gearloc cannot roll attack dice until the encounter ends. Players should use other damage sources.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No. Break only affects attack dice that reduce the baddie's HP, not back-up plan effects or skills that deal damage directly. A bone from an attack die placed in the back-up plan is just a bone for Break purposes.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
A Rage die resets only to 1.0 after Breakdown. The Tantrum v2.1 sheet wrongly lists 2.0 and 3.0 as reset points, so that text should be struck out.
Players agree and a Chip Theory reply fits; no ruling on carry-over.
Yes. Using it resets the count to 0. It is not exhausted, so it keeps climbing in the same battle, and the count carries over from one battle to the next.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. A red bone result must always be used when rolled, but only some Gearlocs such as Boomer, Ghillie, Nugget and Tink have that icon. Patches and Picket do not, and their normal bones can be kept.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Flight switches on and off at the end of each of the Falcon's own turns (every other turn) whether or not it attacks, and while flying it is untargetable. An earlier version toggled Flight only after an attack; that wording was revised.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Wildborn removes a Baddie from the mat for a turn by sending it to the bottom of the Battle Queue, so it cannot act against you for a turn. It is most useful in 1 or 2 Gearloc games and is often taken to unlock Lucky dice.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
It blocks 1 damage once each Baddie turn. The damage from all that Baddie's attacks in the turn is totaled first, then reduced by 1, not reduced per attack.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No. The Command die result can be used by only one companion on the board, and the die is exhausted after that use.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
He must sit at 1.8 on the first die and then use its Advance ability on his own turn to trade it for the second die at 2.0. If the die reaches 2.0 on another turn, he stays on the first die until he can swap.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
The Baddie still selects the original Gearloc as its target and rolls as normal, but the damage and skill effects land on Picket. Picket defends with his own dice even though he is elsewhere on the mat.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Rolled bones can be used toward a Backup Plan, and any unused bones are slotted into the Backup Plan track afterward. Only Gasket's green bone has special Backup Plan rules.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Gut makes the Baddie lose 1 HP rather than taking damage, and Hardy only limits damage, so nothing stops this unless the Baddie's skill is disabled.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No. Melee Gearlocs can only target adjacent Baddies, so Poison Jar cannot reach a non-adjacent Baddie. The Bone Saw is a melee attack and stays adjacent-only.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No. Rage adjustments are exact. If an adjustment overshoots, you cannot apply the remainder to the next tier. You either go down to the lower value or lose the die at the end of the turn.
Community posts agree that Frag can hit a position and the publisher confirmed an FAQ update, but no official post spells out the rule.
Generally only the Frag grenade can be thrown at a battle mat position; other grenades need a valid target. The publisher updated their FAQ entry on this in 2023, but the forum post does not restate the details, and players disagree about whether the Holy grenade also targets a position.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No. Damage from one source must be fully taken before Rage advances. With damage from two different sources, such as Poison then Bleed, Rage can be triggered between them.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No. Big Boom requires Frag first, because an arrow points from Frag to Big Boom. The coloured lines on the skill mat only mark Professions and do not create prerequisites.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
For the entire battle. It is not exhausted when used, so it stays in your active slots and keeps working each turn. It leaves early only if an effect such as Mischief removes it, or if the baddie it sits on is defeated.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes, it can be used at range, but only with Sling Stones or on its own. Every attack declares one target, so you cannot roll melee Attack dice and the Longsword at range in the same roll; use no Attack dice, or pay one Sling Stone per white Attack die.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Jump can be used before or after the attack, and the publisher said the intent is to be able to jump and then attack or retarget. Tantrum's attack still needs an adjacent target.
The designer confirmed that some Gearlocs generate Buff HP, but the names come from community posts.
Several can. Players name Patches, Stanza and Boomer (through Body Search), and the designer confirmed that a few Gearlocs generate it.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Across the Gearloc's whole turn. Damage from each attack in that turn is totalled after defense is gone, and Thick Skin blocks up to its value from that cumulative total.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Companions with a Dex upkeep are removed when Ghillie is KO'd; those without upkeep stay in place as targets but cannot act unless Ghillie is revived. The 2017 ruling that companions with upkeep could keep acting is superseded. The 2018 post does not restate what happens to bots.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No. When the counter hits zero they return to the mat and can be rolled again for another Dex. They exhaust only if the Bot is destroyed.
The designer said Frag's skill picks a position, but the ruling on other grenades comes from community posts and the wording was still to be clarified.
Only the Frag Grenade's area effect works that way, because its skill says to pick a position. Other grenades must select a Baddie or Gearloc to affect, and the wording on that point is to be clarified.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. The reset uses the starting battery power, and Tink's Innate +1 is included. Dex spent before deployment is not counted.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Throwing a grenade costs Dex in addition to ticking down the boom counter. Every die rolled in Select and Roll costs Dex.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. The rolled Bones still count for Lucky even after they are changed, and if an effect penalizes rolling Bones, those count too.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No. Attachment dice do not exhaust after use. When a Bones result is cashed in for a Backup Plan, the die returns to the prep area ready to be used again, and each attachment can only be used once at a time.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Her attacks are ranged, so she can target any Baddie. The publisher's flavor is that she throws found junk such as rocks and bomb parts.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Any rolled Defense die can go into his Locked slots. The innate +1 is an extra ability that works alongside Shield Wall, not a replacement for it.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. The die only raises your own Attack stat, not an adjacent Baddie's. Put it in an active slot and make the training roll immediately; if it succeeds, the higher Attack applies.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Red Bones must be used in the Backup Plan, then that grenade die is exhausted for the rest of the battle. The grenade counter still goes down even if the grenade misses.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Only normal Defense dice are removed, whether active or locked. Skill dice like Constant Defense are not removed, and Backup Plan bones from Defense dice stay as well.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
It returns to your mat after you use the bones from that die in a Backup Plan, not when you first roll it.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
A bot or pet stays on the mat after its Gearloc is KO'd. It can be operated by another party member but gets no turn of its own unless someone controls it. Its dice are not exhausted when used as bones, and its attachments can be re-attached after use.
The rulebook's Getting Technical FAQ answers this directly.
Yes. 'Closest' means the fewest moves to reach an open position adjacent to the target, so a blocked Gearloc does not count and the Baddie heads for the open one.
Taunt only restricts attacks made while adjacent. You may move away and attack a different baddie, or not attack at all, and non-attack damage can still hit other baddies. If you are next to two Taunt baddies, you must attack one of them.
The rulebook's Baddie Movement and Targeting section says the party chooses among equally short routes.
The party chooses. If several routes to a target are equally short, the party picks the one the Baddie takes. If two opposing units are equally close, the Baddie's target icon (weakest or strongest) decides, and the party breaks any remaining tie. Nothing in the rules makes the Baddie prefer a spot that reaches more targets, though some players argue it should.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No. Only defense dice in active slots reduce the defense dice available to roll that turn. Picket's innate lets him lock defense dice without those counting against his total.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. In this game adjacent means orthogonally adjacent only, so diagonal spaces are not adjacent. Fatigue rounds, when units can move diagonally, do not change that definition.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
A hit is a successful Atk die doing at least 1 damage. Skill dice and attacks that only strip shields do not count as hits, so skill damage does not trigger Lashback.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No. Stun only costs the Baddie its turn; its skills remain in effect, so Lashback still triggers and Taunt still applies.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
Yes. Taunt overrides the usual rule against attacking the same target twice in one turn, so a multi-attack Baddie hits the taunting Gearloc with each attack.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No. Companions and allies need a target for their auto-attack, and a Baddie in Flight is Untargetable, so they cannot hit it.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. The designer ruled that a skill with 'at any time during your turn' wording may be used in the Start of Turn phase, so a Gearloc can use it before poison takes effect. Skills without special timing wording only resolve during Resolve the Roll. Check the exact wording on your character sheet.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Generally you can choose not to resolve a rolled skill and place it back, unless the skill says otherwise. Boomer's grenades are the exception: once rolled they must be used and are exhausted.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
They happen at the same time, so the player chooses the order. Poison can go first to finish off a Baddie before it recovers.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
The player controlling the unit chooses the order. The Undertow rulebook says that when several things happen in one phase, the order is the player's choice, for Gearlocs and baddies alike.
Yes. Damage can reduce a defense die from 2 to 1, and when a baddie has several defense dice you choose which one takes the damage. Doing so can stop it from rolling a new die.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
Yes for dice that need no target. Defense dice can always be rolled, and a skill without the word target can be rolled and applied; dice that need a chosen target cannot be rolled without one.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
Yes, for effects that do not use the word 'target'. Each turn has one attack target that cannot be changed, but effects such as Boomer's grenades that do not say 'target' can be aimed elsewhere.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
Only Defense dice in Active slots reduce the Defense dice you can roll this turn, along with your Dexterity limit. Defense dice in Locked slots do not count, and active slot space is not a limit by itself.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
No. Bones and Backup Plan dice do not count against the dice pool. Only Defense dice in Active slots and exhausted dice (including those exhausted by Corrosive or Break) reduce how many dice you can roll; Defense dice in Locked slots do not.
Yes. Attack and Defense dice are a shared pool rather than a set each Gearloc owns. Take what you need for an attack and return the dice afterward; if the supply runs short, swap dice out of Backup Plans.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
It goes for the closest gearloc, with the chip symbol deciding ties, and can move up to two orthogonal spaces even if it cannot reach. Players choose among equal-length paths, and a gearloc with no open adjacent space is not targetable.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No. Without a valid target you cannot roll Attack or skill dice for bones, since only Baddies are valid targets unless an encounter says otherwise.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Officially no. Gearlocs may only target Baddies unless an encounter's success requires targeting another type of unit; the earlier designer remark that allies were valid targets was overturned.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Every space it moves into and through becomes lava, because the Baddie occupies each space along its path and the space turns to lava as it enters.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Defense dice first, then Buff HP, then HP. The order is fixed, so you cannot skip Buff HP to keep Defense dice for a Backup Plan.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
By the fewest-position route. Baddies follow the shortest path of actual positions toward a position adjacent to their target, not as the crow flies.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Every ability that uses the word 'target' must apply to the unit you declared as your target for that turn.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Leaving a weak last Baddie alive to collect bones and items is a legal strategy. Fatigue damage each round limits how long it can last, and the designers note it carries risk.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No. Officially, if all eight Baddie starting positions are occupied, a new Baddie does not come out because it has nowhere to deploy.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Effect dice are removed when a unit is KO'd and at the end of the battle, because units keep dice only while on the battle mat.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Only Attack dice, skills that specify a 'Target', and grenade landing spots are declared before rolling. Skills that do not name a target can be rolled first and then assigned to a valid unit, and some Gearlocs such as Ghillie can switch targets after the roll.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Attack dice are rolled separately against each target. Defense dice and the Tyrant die are rolled only once per turn, and a Tyrant die result applies to all targets unless the skill says otherwise.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No. Attack dice need a valid target to be rolled. You can still target a Break Baddie to roll for Bones and then choose not to apply the results.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Melee Baddies move toward the closest Gearloc and use strongest or weakest only to break ties. They attack after their moves if they can reach a target, and do not move when already adjacent.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. A Gearloc must select a target each turn even without an attack. Skills that do not say target can still hit other Baddies, and untargetable Baddies can still be affected by some skills.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Only after the dice are rolled, in the non-target step, when the other non-target effects are resolved. An earlier publisher post saying it could be used before movement was superseded by the designer's correction.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
All Buff HP is cleared from your prep area after battle, but not after a peaceful encounter. Some Buff HP, such as Patches's, clears earlier because it is tied to a skill die in your active slot.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No. The battle ends the moment the last baddie is defeated, so Gearlocs who have not yet acted that round do not get a turn.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Lashback resolves after the attacker's Resolve Your Roll step, and Breakdown is checked at the end of Tantrum's turn, so Lashback happens first.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Active, Locked and Backup Plan dice are exhausted. Stat upgrades, skill dice and consumables are kept. In solo, Bones and Active dice clear and Locked dice clear unless you play on Greenhorn; a revived Gearloc does not get exhausted dice back.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Officially, no. Buff HP is cleared from your prep area during battle cleanup and returned to the pool. An earlier 2017 ruling that Encounter-granted Buff HP is used in the next battle has been superseded.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
You may decline the result and put the die back to roll later. The exception is a die with a red-outlined Bones icon, which must be used for the Backup Plan.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No. The Gearlock is placed at the rolled level, and only ties let you choose the order. The publisher will not change this official rule, though houserules are welcome.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
They mark diagonal movement. Only Baddies with the diagonal icon can move diagonally; everyone else moves orthogonally. The designer adds that the diagonals are also used to deploy Tink's Bots and call Ghillie's Companions.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
After the Baddie has resolved its roll. Gearloc reactions are the last step of a Baddie's turn, so the Return Fire damage comes after its hits.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes, when they are rolled on your turn; they can be placed in the Backup Plan during the resolve-the-roll step. Bones rolled outside your turn cannot be used this way.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Skills that are always in effect apply to each target. Skills that need Bones trigger only once per turn, and when they trigger, the players choose which target the Baddie's triggered skill affects.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Signalled Baddies go to the bottom of the Baddie queue. They enter at the end of a round only if there are fewer than four Baddies on the field; if the queue top is a Tyrant or a 20-point Baddie, it goes to the top of initiative instead.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. For any turn that requires a target you must declare it before rolling, even if no Attack dice are involved.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Hardy reduces all damage to 1 per turn, not per source, and applies after shields because it depends on damage taken. Thick Skin applies after Defense dice are removed and does not protect the Baddie's shields.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Normally no. A Gearloc moves first and then attacks. The one exception raised in the thread is a Picket skill that gives movement after an attack.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No. Backup Plan dice do not reduce the Atk or Def dice available to you; once bones are placed in the Backup Plan, the source die no longer matters.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Ties that involve a Gearloc are the party's choice, covering Gearloc versus Baddie and Gearloc versus Gearloc, with the Party Leader deciding disagreements. Baddie versus Baddie ties go by lane number.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
One damage per turn, not per round. Each Gearloc turn and each Baddie turn can deal one damage, and Ghillie's pets each take their own turn while Tink's bots share his turn. Fatigue damage happens outside any turn, so Hardy does not block it.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No. Only rolling Atk dice counts as an attack, and skills or Backup Plans that deal damage are not hits, so they do not trigger Lashback.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Using Slingstones is still an attack, so the Atk dice rolled with them are exhausted by Break like any other Atk dice. Slingstones only make the attack ranged.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
A Hardy unit takes at most 1 damage per turn, and all sources in one Gearloc's turn count as a single total capped at 1. Each Gearloc turn, each companion turn, and the Baddie's own turn can each deal 1.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
Lashback only hits adjacent units, so a ranged unit suffers it only when it is adjacent to the Lashback baddie. A Lashback with no number is 1.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Engulf hits any unit, including the dragon itself when it is adjacent, so a dragon that Engulfs an adjacent target hurts itself too.
Based on the designer's note that only Fatigue now loses HP outright plus two players' readings; no ruling on Gut with Hardy under the current wording.
Probably not. Gut originally made the baddie lose HP, which nothing avoids, and the designer says it was meant to bypass Hardy then. Since the 2019 rewording to True Damage, only Fatigue loses HP outright, and players read Hardy as capping Gut at 1 damage per turn. No designer has confirmed the current case.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
Lashback resolves only after the Gearloc finishes resolving its roll, including Backup Plan damage. If that damage kills the Baddie, no Lashback happens.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Poison is not cumulative and only one Poison die can sit on a unit, so the most recent Poison value replaces the current one even when it is lower. The designer's 2017 wish to keep the higher value was superseded by this rule.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No. Hardy limits a Baddie to 1 damage per turn total, from any source including true damage. Only effects that trigger on other turns, like bleed, poison or fatigue, can add more.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
A stunned Baddie only loses its next turn. Skills that happen on its turn, such as Mischief or Signal, are skipped, but Poison counters on it still hurt, and skills not tied to its turn, like Lashback, Thick Skin, and Terrify, still apply.
Community readings only; the printed definition says until the unit's next turn, and one poster disputes the whole-battle reading.
Most repliers play it as Untargetable from the moment the baddie enters until the battle ends, as the baddie brings the effect with it. The printed definition says 'until the start of this unit's next turn', so check the baddie's own skill text. No official ruling was given.
Once per turn, not once per source. Thick Skin reduces the total damage the baddie takes in a turn by its value. It does not trigger outside a turn, so damage at the start of a round is not reduced.
Yes. Targeting limits apply only to normal attack dice and to skills that explicitly say target. Skills that do not say target, such as Axe Collector, Execute, and bombs, are not blocked.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Damage is applied first, then the Def dice still active are exhausted. Defend with active Def before Corrosive removes the rest.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
It needs to attack again to leave Flight. Flight only starts or ends after an attack, so a baddie with no attack dice keeps the flight status it had.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Only on the baddie's own turn. Skills that trigger on bones, like backup plans, do not trigger when bones are rolled on another unit's turn (for example, One Mind). Second Chances grants bones to the named units on their own turns, so those skills then trigger.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No. Ranged baddies ignore adjacency and attack their preferred target(s), the weakest or strongest gearlocs anywhere on the board. Buffed health does not count when judging weak or strong; only current health does.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Break exhausts any attack die that deals damage, and splash damage from Engulf comes from those attack dice, so the attacking baddie loses those dice even when the damage lands on another unit.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
A Gearloc discards a Loot to act as the Baddie for an extra turn, choosing its move, target, and skills and dice, much like Stanza's trance. The Baddie still takes its normal turn on its own turn.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Break exhausts only the Atk dice you actually apply to remove health, so you can apply some (for example only the 2s) and leave the rest unused; dice used against Defense are not exhausted.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Defense dice are applied first, then Thick Skin removes 1 damage from what is left. Effectively it works like one extra point of defense applied after the dice.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Once per turn. Lashback, like Hardy, resolves only once per turn however many hits land, and the claim that it fires on every hit was corrected by the publisher.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. End-of-round damage happens outside any turn, so Hardy does not reduce it. Hardy can still reduce true damage to 1 during a turn.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Baddie rolls resolve Defense first, then Attack, then skills triggered by bones, which include the Backup Plan.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No. Effect dice do not stack. A newer effect replaces the older one, so the value can go up or down, and a unit cannot have two of the same effect.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. A 0-attack Baddie still moves and rolls defense, and a targetable Gearloc is still pursued, so stalling for bones is allowed.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No. It starts with the most qualifying target and works down, so the party only chooses the order among targets tied for that rank.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Engulf damage is attack damage, so Thick Skin reduces it by its value; for example, 3 Engulf damage against Thick Skin 1 becomes 2.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
The Baddie stacks are recycled. Players report that an empty stack is refilled from discarded Baddies. The designer confirms that 1, 5 and 20 point Baddies are not unique and get reused within an adventure.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. The bot counts as one of the weakest targets, so the Baddie's attack can be wasted on it.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No. Careless makes a unit lose HP, which is not damage, so Thick Skin (which reduces damage) does not apply.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No. Lashback only triggers when the Baddie is hit by an adjacent opposing unit, so a ranged hit does not trigger it.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Designer intent: yes. If you cannot suffer the negative side of a choice, you still complete the encounter successfully. An earlier publisher ruling that it fails was overridden, and the card text was later changed to say the HP cost applies only if possible.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Its lane stays empty until after the end of the next round, so the next baddie in the queue does not fill it immediately.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
One choice bars skill dice for the whole battle, and the designer confirmed that choice also rules out Tink deploying bots. The other choice bars skill dice only until the first baddie in lane 1 is defeated.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No. A locked skill is still a skill, so its effect cannot be applied while an encounter bars skill dice, including the Shield Blast effect that removes defense dice.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. The designer confirmed that the whole battle mat is filled with 1 HP critters, including the empty spaces on the Gearloc side.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes, the designer confirmed that on the critters' turn you choose one critter per lane to move, rather than moving every critter in the lane. A player cited the card text saying each critter moves, and that wording conflicts with the designer reply.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Once for each individual position it moves into, not once per move. A trap still does not retrigger on a position the Baddie already left that turn.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Timing words like after attack describe a stage of the Baddie's turn and apply even if it does not roll or move, so a Baddie that cannot roll attack dice still takes the true damage.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
The 2019 official answer puts it at the top of the queue, so it comes out second during setup. The encounter card text says it goes to the bottom, and two later posts raised that conflict without a resolution.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Any Scout, including the Recovery phase one and Ghillie's innate, lets you cycle the revealed Baddie to the bottom. Once you leave it face up, you cannot cycle it later with another Scout.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. The Golem gets a lane marker and an initiative die like any other baddie.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. For each 5-point baddie entering the mat, including those placed at set-up, one 1-point baddie goes to the bottom of the Baddie Queue, and it can enter right away if there is room.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Counters can still be upticked, but they cannot be spent for their benefit while skills cannot be used. If the effect blocks rolling instead, unrolled skills can still be used.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
One Baddie per scouting attempt. The roll sets the maximum point value of the stack you may look at, so a higher roll can reach a higher-point stack.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
You still take that Baddie from the game box and add it to the bottom of the Baddie Queue, then return it to the box at the end of the encounter.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Before-battle abilities resolve after you read the encounter card and before you build the BQ, so scouting can change what goes into the queue.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Reducing the points to zero is allowed, though not necessarily recommended.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No. The replacement enters at the start of the next round, the same as any Baddie that was defeated.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No. Only Tink moves. Bots use Tink's Dex for their own movement, and the card does not give Dex to Tink or his bots.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
No. Gearlocs that are removed but not KO'd do not count toward losing the battle, and a later KO does not end it while others are still removed. The Tyrant card requires two or more Gearlocs on the mat.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Each friendly Baddie moves up one position on the Ini Meter, processed from the highest initiative down, and none can move ahead of Mulmesh. This is the reading the designer confirmed, not the one-by-one-from-the-top reading.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
The printed line is a misprint and should say that only a party of 1 ignores the BQ points. So solo play skips them and bigger parties add them. The designer acknowledged the card error and promised replacement cards.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Drellen cannot lose HP while a Bog-type baddie is on the mat, and that overrides Fatigue's HP loss. His defense dice can still be knocked off, because they are not his HP.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
To the open position farthest from its current spot, measured across the mat. Knocking is not a move, so the Gearloc flies over other units and ignores move restrictions, including diagonal placement in the opposite corner.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
No. Disable only affects 1- or 5-point baddies, and Stun and Disable faces do not affect Tyrants. Attack debuffs such as Cripple still affect Tyrants.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No. The earlier public claim that Nom's final battle is one Baddie at a time was retracted by the designer, so Nom is not fought one-on-one against the rest of the Baddies.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Gearlocs face the Baddie Queue one at a time. Nom comes out only once the queue is cleared, so he may arrive during the first, a middle, or the last Gearloc's fight. A player's reading adds that Nom enters once enough Baddies are defeated to free a lane marker.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No effects tick while it is off the mat. The removed Gearloc is suspended: effect dice, turn-related Active dice and Backup Plan bones stay frozen until it returns and gets a turn, and then everything resumes.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. You only need to defeat the Tyrant Baddie to win the battle, even if other Baddies remain. Community players report the battle ends as soon as it dies, apart from special campaign conditions.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No. Damage aimed at the Throne does not carry over. The Goblin King cannot lose HP until the Throne is destroyed, and the Throne can only be damaged from an adjacent position.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Roll all dice, then apply Defense, then resolve the Attack, then the Backup Plan, and the Tyrant die last. Goblin King's Kaboom is the exception: its Backup Plan applies before damage.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Once your progress points meet the Tyrant's requirement, you may fight it as the day's encounter instead of drawing an encounter card. A lost fight can be retried on a later day, and you must win by the day printed on the Tyrant card.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Baddie is the overall term for opposing units, including Tyrants, which come as 1 Pt, 5 Pt, 20 Pt and Tyrant.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. The publisher said Orb damage is taken when the Bones are rolled, before any conversion. Their reasoning is that a Backup Plan or Loot cannot be slotted in between, though they called this an obscure edge case.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
Yes, as most repliers read it. The Loot is discarded before the six attack dice are rolled, so it is lost if no bone comes up. Some players house-rule it differently.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No. The necklace's extra Attack dice can be added without rolling a base Attack die; the designer confirmed that four Atk and four Def dice is fine.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Every lockpicking attempt uses the Intuition Die. Dice used to open a lock are exhausted, and after opening one, roll the remaining dice plus the Intuition Die for the next lock. Failing the first lock on the first try gives one more try.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
Only one re-roll of the pool per day, and only when the starting lock of that day's attempt is not opened on the first roll. The Gearloc Adventuring Guide is the source cited, and later locks in the attempt get no extra pool re-roll.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
Yes. Each Recovery Phase you start with all your lockpicking dice again, even if you left a loot partly open. Within one Recovery Phase, a failed first attempt gets one retry, then you must wait until the next Recovery Phase unless another Gearloc helps.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. When a lock opens, the dice you did not use roll against the next lock in the same attempt, and an attempt can clear all three locks if the rolls allow. Action dice spent on an opened lock stay exhausted for the rest of that attempt.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes, but only if you can carry over three or more Loot, since the necklace counts as Heavy loot. If it does carry over, the Baddie chips stacked on it stay with it.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Failing the starting lock of an attempt gives one more full attempt with all four lockpicking dice (once per day), and dice used on the earlier lock cannot be kept for it.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. The limit is 4 in total across Loot and Trove Loot combined, not 4 of each.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes, she may choose the target after rolling. But if she rolled more attack dice than she has Slingstones, she is limited to an adjacent target, since that roll could not be made against a non-adjacent Baddie.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Only attacks made with attack dice. The designer endorsed the reading that Rock Slinger does not respond to other kinds of damage.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Opened or unopened, Trove Loot counts toward the weight limit as one loot.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Spirits of Ebon prevents the whole Effect die from being applied, so the Poison 2 is cancelled rather than just one instance of its effect. The designers noted the card is meant to be used when an effect is applied and may be clarified.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No. You choose the three dice before Dangerous Darts starts and play the whole game with those, and earlier claims that you could pick again each roll were wrong.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No. Napalm is not True Damage, so it is still reduced by Thick Skin and can be blocked by Defense dice.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
Yes. Poison does not stack; the counter is set to the most recent Poison value applied, so a weaker Poison can reduce it. An older FAQ line saying to keep the higher value is out of date.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
They return rather than being exhausted. Under the newest Tink rules, attachments go back to Tink's skill area or bot prep area when the bot is KO'd, and attachments spent on Bones return to the prep area too. The older reference sheet said they were exhausted.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Choosing and rolling the second Build die during Select & Roll costs 1 Dex, the same as any other die rolled, and it can be done while a bot is still on the mat.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Disable suspends that unit's skills for the entire battle. Per the designers, it also shuts off Compound skills.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No. The designers say every encounter can be completed with the components in the box. The video-tutorial mention was about Dangerous Darts, which is explained on its card.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Unless the effect says True Damage, the damage first removes shields, then has to get past Thick Skin, and only what remains hits the Baddie.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
Yes. Gasket cannot roll dice unless the Hydro Valve die is rolled too, and the Gasket card text states the Hydro Valve is required to roll each turn.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. The Green Bone must go into a Backup Plan slot and that slot's Backup Plan must be used this turn, even if the slot gives nothing. You cannot resolve a different Backup Plan first, but you can discard a Loot to set Hydro instead.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No. Gasket must roll the Hydro Valve in order to roll any other dice, so if it cannot roll the Hydro Valve it cannot roll any dice that turn.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No. It gives a Defense die to one adjacent unit, and the player chooses which adjacent unit receives it.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
No. The canisters are removed from the locked slots on KO and are not put back on revival. He cannot gain Hydro for the rest of that battle unless another effect provides it.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No. Energy Arc from the Blitz die and from the Aggro die are each applied separately, so they do not add together.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Gasket still moves into the vacated position even when the Ram damage kills the baddie.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Reprogram rerolls all the directive dice you rolled that turn. Directive dice still in your skills area, and any locked into your Backup Plan, are not rerolled.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
No. A tyrant die is loot, so it takes a loot slot and Gasket cannot use loot. For Gasket it can only be discarded like any other loot.
Gasket can roll additional dice up to his Dex, and the Hydro die counts toward Dex. The Hydro die must be rolled each turn and costs 1 Dex. If bones come up on the Hydro die you do not need to use it, but a backup plan is required that turn.
No. Target is a keyword that applies to white attack dice and to effects that say your target. Gasket's Blast and Ram do not say target, so they can hit any adjacent baddie, not just the declared target. A target must be declared before rolling attack dice.
All damage dealt in a turn is applied together for Thick Skin. Blitz's extra damage to an adjacent unit counts only the Blitz damage.
Under the option that bars defense dice, defense dice cannot even be rolled. Under the option that bars other dice for the first two rounds, nothing except defense dice can be rolled in those rounds.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
No. Multiple bones can come up on one roll, and after rolling you can discard loot to set the Hydro Valve die to the water drop side, which needs no extra Dex if done before the roll.
Based on a single player reply; no official ruling.
Range counts orthogonal spaces, so a unit diagonal to Gasket is 2 spaces away. As of Unbreakable, fatigue rounds give all units diagonal movement, introduced in Undertow; later print runs of the solo rules may remove it.
Landing on Hydro means you must use a Hydro, and if you do not tick down a canister that turn you must do so at the end of your turn. Landing on bones means you must put the die into a backup plan and use that plan immediately.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
Yes. Gasket follows the normal loot capacity rules, including for Heavy loot. Otherwise he could carry extra heavy loot and hand it out to the other gearlocs.
Based on a single player reply; no official ruling.
Yes. The Gasket character sheet says Hydro must be rolled to roll dice each turn. Some players read it as once per turn before other dice, and the sheet's wording is unclear when Hydro shows bones.
No. Gasket cannot benefit from the effects shown on loot cards, so he cannot use permanent loot such as the throne bomb against the Goblin King.
Based on a single player reply; no official ruling.
He gets no dice turn when his skill dice cannot be used. One reply suggests he can still move without rolling.
When you roll the green bone, you move it to the leftmost Backup Plan spot, then take that Backup Plan immediately, removing all collected bones including the green one. Any other bones rolled that turn can be added before or after that step, but the green bone costs you the collected bones.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Gasket's rule only blocks Loot benefits shown on a card, and bribing is not a benefit shown on a Loot card, so Gasket can bribe.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Any text that refers to Gearlocs applies to Gasket, so Gasket can be healed and revived by effects that target Gearlocs.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No. Without an adjacent baddie there is no vacated position, so Ram does nothing and Gasket does not move.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No. Being moved by Get does not trigger Gut's damage for the positions moved.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
If something stops Gasket from using Skills, he cannot roll any dice that turn, though setting his Def before battle still happens. Shock can exhaust the Hydro Valve, so keep enough other dice in your Skills Area to be Shocked instead of losing it.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
No. Backitole adds a bone to the Baddie's total result and does not reduce the dice it rolls, so a Baddie with 2 Attack still rolls 2. The Backitole die comes from the available Attack and Defense supply.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Remove dice from left to right, as the designer confirmed. Any dice left on the Rampage Track at the end of Dangerous Dart are lost rather than shifted.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Dart may switch targets and roll one Attack die against each, but every Attack die still costs 1 Dex, so with 4 Dex and no movement she can attack up to four different units. Each die that hits deals its damage, including dice rolled together with agents.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
No. While mounted, Dart is limited to Boar'd's movement, so she must dismount to use her Dexterity for extra spaces.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. To apply the Backitole agent to herself or to a Gearloc, Dart must target that unit and it takes the damage rolled on the Attack die.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Only when rolled with agents. A Dart attack die used on its own is not exhausted.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
Yes. Immunity only means the poison does nothing, so a mech can still be the target and simply takes the hit.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
No. Agents run their course. Only dice on Dart's mat are exhausted on defeat, and skill dice placed on allies or enemies keep working unless stated otherwise.
Based on a single player reply; no official ruling.
Yes. Agents only fail when their die shows a bone. A miss on the attack die does not stop the agent. An agent bone can instead serve as a backup plan or extend another agent.
Yes. It is legal to use Backitole on a baddie, and it is useful on a baddie that has a bones-triggered skill such as Careless, since the added bones trigger it. The same logic applies to Stanza's Second Chances.
No. Dart exhausts attack dice only when using an agent. Attack and defense dice are limited per Gearloc stat, not by a shared pool.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
No. Her attack dice are exhausted only when they are loaded with agents.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
Dart picks all her dice first, then declares a target and rolls the dice assigned to it. She may switch to another target and roll the dice assigned there, but she cannot roll more attack dice against a target she has already attacked.
Yes. Agents use Dex like any other die; everything uses Dex unless the reference sheet says otherwise.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
In round one only defense dice may be rolled, and there is no restriction from round two on. Actions that do not involve rolling, such as using loot or backup plans, remain allowed in round one.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. The AoT Day 1-3 cards can replace the base game Day 1-3 cards at any player count, with or without a campaign. The designers also say they can be mixed with the base cards.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Per Gearloc. Each Gearloc keeps up to the stated amount on its own, and each carry-over is independent of the last, so earlier carry-overs do not add to the total.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
New joiners get no carry-over benefits and no scars, and the adventure may have more or fewer Gearlocs than before.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes, keep Scar cards in the snapshot. Cover the Backup Plan slot with the Scar token beneath the slot, and still allocate a bone to that slot when rolling bones.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Carry Over applies per Gearloc, so each Gearloc keeps its own set of training skills. The amount is fixed by the campaign card and does not accumulate from one Tyrant to the next.
Yes. They follow the same day-marking convention as Undertow's Day 1-3 cards, and they are meant to add variety to the first three days of an adventure.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Per Gearloc. Each Gearloc may carry over up to 3 Loot.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No. If the Campaign Card starts you on Day 3, skip the Day 1 and Day 2 cards and use only the Day 3 card.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Whenever you build the BQ, the Dire Wolf Pup, Dire Wolf and Dire Wolf Alpha are used first, if points allow, even after they were defeated earlier.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Boons are gained after a full party wipe in battle, not from losing a peaceful encounter. Some Boons remove Scars.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Counters do not reset between encounters, but all counters reset to zero between adventures.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
You may keep up to the carryover total of stats or skills trained last adventure, with 1 training point per stat increase. You can keep a Skill without its prerequisites, but you need them to train it further.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
The party decides together and may choose the Baddie. If the party cannot agree, the designated Party Leader has the final say.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. The stat can no longer be increased, but the Gearloc keeps the level it has and can still carry over the training points it holds in that stat.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. The easier levels apply to every Tyrant, and you may start an adventure higher and step down for later ones.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
They are Counters, so they reset to their first side after a Tyrant. A carry-over point can keep that first side, but there is no way to keep them at a higher level.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
Both apply in order. The tyrant setup places the bog-type baddies in lanes 2 and 3 first, then the BQ is built starting with the Dire Wolf baddies.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Only if you were granted a Tyrant die to keep as Loot. The Epilogue card then serves as the guide for that die and has no other reason to be kept at hand.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Once Innate +1 is unlocked, it stays for the rest of the campaign.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Shuffle the Campaign Cards at setup and draw randomly, except card 001, which goes on top of the deck and is played first.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Scars stack, so if two Scars each tell you to roll the Battle Fatigue die, you roll both and apply both results.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Each Gearloc draws its own Scars individually.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Once you gain Innate +1 it stays for the rest of the campaign.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. You can keep the points you already trained and carry them over, but you can no longer train that stat.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Set the Day counter to the day the campaign card says to start on, even though no encounters were drawn for the skipped days.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No. The encounter is meant to block Backup Plans that deal damage in that battle.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Bleed damage then comes from an effect rather than a Gearloc, so it is allowed in that battle.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes for Dodge, and also for Break. The crossbow has no Atk stat, so exhausting its Atk Dice for Break does nothing.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Heavy Loot counts as 3 Loot slots, including for carry-over.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes, you may carry unopened Trove Loot over. It takes one slot, as normal.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Every Gearloc gains 1 Dex; the bracketed text is only a reminder for new players and reads confusingly if a Gearloc already has Dex.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No. Base and Age of Tyranny Day 1-3 encounters can be shuffled together for a campaign, and a one-off game can draw one from each combined deck. The Tyranny Day 1-3 cards alone are enough.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No. In Age of Tyranny you make a new Encounter deck for each Adventure, and Special Encounters do not carry forward.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
The scar covers the skill printed on your mat, so that skill is blocked. A skill you have from a Trove Loot card is separate and is still free to use.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. The effect works on the Gearloc's target, so a Gearloc able to target at range can use it at range.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
The die is rolled as a skill die. You can use it right away for Untargetable, or save it in an Active slot and exhaust it on a later turn. Untargetable lasts until the start of your next turn.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Each Gearloc draws its own Scar.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No. The party chooses which party member receives the loot gained.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
A Tyrant Die counts as Loot, so keeping it uses one loot carry-over slot. If you do not keep it, it is discarded for good and cannot be recovered later.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No. It applies to all units, including enemies.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Status effects carry over from one Lab Rat to the other when you tag between them. An earlier reply saying they do not was corrected by the publisher.
No. Only Lab Rats that were knocked out gain 1 HP on recovery. Only one Rat heals fully, and the rest gain 1 HP only if they had been KO'd.
You start with two stat dice, one per Rat. The active Rat gets the trained-stat dice, and tagging copies them to the new Rat. A third stat die arrives with the Innate +1 that unlocks a third Rat.
No. The rulebook says Active dice stay in the Active slots only until used and must be removed at the end of battle. Dice in Locked slots may remain after a win. Whether a Lab Rats (A) skill such as Duct Tape is an exception was left unresolved in the thread; Duct Tape's own text says it lasts the entire battle.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
Yes. Each contraption is its own profession, so you can have both contraptions along with two other professions.
Only the active Lab Rat's innate ability applies. Most skills exhaust when used, but skills that last for a fight or a set time exhaust when that ends. A skill with Malfunction returns to the storage tray if its baddie is KO'd, unless Slank is the active Lab Rat.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
Yes. The malfunction die is returned to the tray after its effect resolves, which costs that Lab Rat a training point.
Based on tentative community replies; no official ruling.
Probably the number of dice of the active Gearloc's stat, which is what the asker already did. Two replies tentatively agree; no official ruling.
Yes. The Lab Rats act as one team, so the team is only KO'd when the Lab Rat on the mat falls without having tagged out; the incoming Lab Rat joins at end of round.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Baddies in this encounter can gain HP above their maximum, and that is how a 1 HP Baddie must be defeated. Card text takes precedence over the rulebook here.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No. You may choose whether to roll your Tyrant's dice, but once you roll them you must resolve them.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Tyrants with Signal bring out 5-point Baddies, according to the publisher. The Signal entry was missing from the rules PDFs at the time, so the answer lives only in forum posts.
The active Lab Rat, the one in front. A failed training roll can be spent on another stat or skill instead.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Status effects carry over from one Lab Rat to the next; the reference sheet line on this confirms it.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Once an Opportunity is fulfilled you may end it whenever you like without paying anything. Doing so during Cleanup counts toward the matching Request or demand card, and its reward is granted straight away.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No. Finish processing all of the splices first, then move the Baddie over. The NAP splicing instructions were missing the 'at the end of Slicing' note.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. The Research Area is a shared space, so any player can use what is in it when splicing. An attack value of X counts as 0 for splicing.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
The stack only needs 20 units. Pull extra Splice & Dice 5-point Baddies to fill any gap, rather than using exactly the number the setup text names.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. The task that gives a matching Tyrant die can result in a die that does not match the Tyrant's Baddie types, because a splice is not what grants the die.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. The Malfunction side is changed before it is realized, so you can use the 2-dice change to alter it and avoid the Malfunction consequence, as long as you change it before it is applied.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No. BAT Tyrants do not innately move diagonally, but they move diagonally when playing Undertow and during fatigue rounds, as the core rules dictate.
No. The Baddie Stack set up for the Leech fight is separate from the day's Baddie Queue, so the queue's Baddies are not counted in it.
No. Buff HP that a Gearloc loses does not transfer to Leech.
No. Leech does not move on his turn. If he cannot target a unit or the raft, he is placed in a raft position next to the strongest opposing unit and targets it.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
No. Opposing units means Gearlocs and their allies, not baddies, and the rulebook calls out this term.
Heated Armor reduces the incoming attack damage first (for example 4 to 2). Hardy then limits the Hardy unit to losing 1 HP per turn. Hardy does not change how other skills work.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
No. Mech units are immune to Fatigue. The rule is stated only once in the Mech section, so it is easy to miss.
Yes. The newer end-of-turn Flight wording in Splice and Dice is the correct version; the original Flight had unclear behaviour when a baddie did not attack while in Flight.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
Yes, put all of them in. Completing more of them makes the Tyrant battle easier.
The added 1-point Baddie goes on an adjacent space to the Prototyrant if one is open. It does not go to the Battle Queue.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No. Exhausted dice stay exhausted when Dart goes into and out of Dangerous mode, and the Dangerous Backup Plan does not unexhaust them.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No. Dart exhausts only the attack dice used to apply agents, not attack dice she rolls separately, and she is still limited in how many attack dice she applies to one unit.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No. Rampage movement has no distance limit, but units still cannot pass through other units, so position units before going Dangerous.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. The designer said Dart keeps Boar'd when she comes out of Dangerous mode. This was said during playtesting, before the game was final, so check the final rules.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Dart's reference sheet requires that damage from the accompanying attack die and Agents be applied to the target, unless the Agent is slotted into Dart's Backup Plan. The attack die is still rolled and exhausted.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No. A single place action is either all Tyrant pieces or all dice, though it can combine researched and blind placements. Declare the location before a random draw, and discard any piece that cannot legally go there.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Put the whole chip into one of the Tyrant's skill slots. Before the final battle, choose one skill from each chip for the Tyrant. A positive splice needs only one unique skill on the chip.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes, Gasket is affected by Stench. While dazed he cannot use Dex to move, but skills that move him still work, so he still moves when ramming and when rolling a move directive.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
The deck is built by shuffling the tyrant encounter cards together with general encounter cards equal to the number of days minus 3 (minus 2 with Undertow). The number of tyrant cards changes only the odds of drawing a tyrant encounter.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
On day 1 it reduces the tank limit by 2, for example from 4 to 2 (the designer calculated it as 2x1).
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
The two option headings on the card have their flavour text swapped, but the gameplay rules are correct, so play the card as printed. Only the first option's flavour was meant to describe a bold approach.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No. Armour is separate from Def, so a unit with Armour has an effective Def of 0.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. The Gearloc takes 1 True Damage each time it moves into a position adjacent to the Stench die, on top of the initial 1 True Damage to adjacent units. A Gearloc that does not move, or moves away, takes no damage.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Raiding applies to all Baddies in play, and it works both ways, so opposing Orcs with Raiding are boosted by Orcs on your side.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No. Only the Gearloc's attack dice are doubled under that encounter card, the Baddie's dice are not.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
No. The 40 Days cards have no Day 1 encounters, and a Special Encounter card such as 001 is brought in by another encounter, so it should be kept apart from the Day 1-3 cards.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Include the 5-point Troll Brewmaster only if the Baddie Queue's total points can hold a 5-point Baddie, for example not on Day 4 when the queue is only 4 points. The phrase relates to points, not to adding the Baddie from outside the queue.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No, the card is correct. The first option is a guaranteed reward, and the second option gives the party an extra combat for a bigger payoff, such as collecting more Boomer components.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Either is fine. Normally include all Tyrant Encounters for a Tyrant, but the extra 40 Days Tyrant Encounter may replace the base Tyrant card or be added alongside it.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Only when another encounter brings it in, such as Tipsy Turvy. It is not a starting Day 1-3 card, so leave it out of the starting encounter deck until the game tells you to use it.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes, per the publisher, Callous Baddies are immune to Poison, Bleed and other damage not from Atk dice, but Fatigue still hurts them. A 2024 post says Callous is also immune to Fatigue, citing a CTG support article; that conflicts with the 2018 ruling.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Deploying a Bot counts as using a Skill Die, and so does rolling an attachment. Activating a Bot already in play does not count.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
The line saying success is achieved no matter the outcome is an error, so it should be ignored. If you choose choice 1 and have no successful attempts, you do not get the bottom rewards, and you cannot take choice 2 after failing choice 1.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Baddies do not have Dex, so Weaken reduces their Atk stat instead.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. You may apply those dice as True Damage, and each one used is exhausted. Skill dice can also be placed there to trigger True Damage sooner, though they are exhausted too.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
Yes. The 40 Days chips and cards can be mixed directly into the base set. The base set and Undertow can also be mixed, but some day 1 and day 2 conflicts must be resolved, and you must choose which side of the Adventure mat to use for the Tyrant.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
Blue text marks a backup plan. It triggers automatically when that baddie rolls bones, and for Careless the Tipsy Troll takes 1 true damage then.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. The Usurper becomes the Tyrant, and you only need to defeat that Tyrant to win. If the Usurper is placed in the battle queue at setup it takes its normal initiative.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. The Gearlocs join that fight, so you can help whichever troll you want to win.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No. The Usurper is fought normally, not one Gearlock at a time like Nom.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Nom uses his Tyrant die in that fight.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No. The holder can only pass the Rotten Oggots to an adjacent Gearloc, and they drop only when the holder is KO'd. A dropped item can be picked up by an adjacent Gearloc.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No. The restriction applies to rolling attack dice. A Gearloc rolling only skill dice is not limited in which Baddie it targets.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. The card's first option stops you from moving that turn. Slugs are added to your attack that turn and leave you stunned the next turn.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. You may choose to roll the extra attack dice each turn, but doing so has consequences.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
You automatically succeed at the stare-down and complete the battle with a normal Battle Queue.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No. The script must be completed. Defeating all Baddies without completing it is not a success.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
He is a standard 20-point Baddie who can come out normally, and he is also named in the 40 Days Nom encounter.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. You may do this as many times as you like over the course of the battle, as long as your party has enough loot.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Each Gearloc removes 2 trained skills from its own mat.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
The Darts roll is separate and in addition to your normal roll. It costs no Dex, and the Baddies do not play Dangerous Darts.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. They move and target a Gearloc, and apply Poison as part of their own turn, not in reaction to being attacked.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
One die is an extra that can be anything, since it is not part of the recipe.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Most players shuffle them in with the base game Encounters, though you can also play with only 40 Days Encounters.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. A Vision card in the same combo can extend the Gears card so that its 1 damage hits any unit instead of only an adjacent Baddie. The Gears card still deals the damage; the Vision card only changes who it can hit. Vision has a choice of effects, so using it this way is instead of its other effect (moving the top Full Deck card to the Active Deck).
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No. A Vision card only changes which unit the Gears card can hit, and once one Vision card has been applied to a card, any additional Vision cards have no effect on that card.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No advanced bonuses. A Vision straight flush can be resolved as a run and a four of a kind as matching, but the player forgoes the extra advanced-combo bonus.
Based on a single player reply; no official ruling.
Pocket Pair resolves as if you played a matching pair, but it is not a card combo: you cannot use hand cards, the Sleeved Card, or the play limit. Each suit effect applies separately, and Vision can target any unit for the other suit's effect.
Only a Straight Flush (five consecutive cards of one suit) triggers the bonus. A plain Flush, five cards of one suit in any order, is just suited and has no bonus effect.
No. All damage from one turn resolves at the same time, so lashback triggers only once for the whole combo.
Yes. A Bones die given to a baddie counts as that baddie's Bones, so its bones skill such as Careless triggers. Other skills work the same way, such as Stanza's Second Chances and Dart's Backitole.
Yes. Riffle's text says adjacent unit, not target, and flight only stops targeting, so the gears can still go to the flying baddie.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Good Read exhausts when its ability is used, because skills exhaust on use unless the skill says it lasts the battle or is a counter.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
No. Locked dice exhaust when used, and Sleeved Card is a consumable, so after use it goes back to the dice tray.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
Yes. Waxing gives the Werewolf an additional turn, on top of the turn it takes when its initiative comes up; it is not just an earlier turn.
Based on tentative community replies; no official ruling.
Probably in multiplayer, yes: players report the usual Baddie Queue is used. In solo play, one player says there is no queue. No official ruling exists, so check the tyrant card.
Based on tentative community replies; no official ruling.
Yes. Players roll the tyrant die in non-Tyrant battles, but not on the Abomination's own turn; it is rolled when the Abomination takes damage.
Core uses special encounters on Days 1-3 and Undertow uses Days 1-2. Rage's Day 3 encounters are meant for core-only play, and mixing the sets is not recommended.
Based on tentative community replies; no official ruling.
Yes, most likely. Players move to the next page once all encounters on the current page are played, although the book does not spell this out. The rules card is on the last page.
Yes. The tyrant and baddies can be used like any others, either after or separate from the book's story, and its daily encounters are generic enough to mix in.
Yes. The Defense stat limits how many defense dice you roll, not how many can sit in active slots, so the extra 1 Defense can be added.
Yes. Overcharge adds +1 to all attacks on the target, not only Static's own attacks.
No. The Scavenge die is exhausted from the Locked slot when it draws loot. Locked dice exhaust when their effect is used unless the skill says otherwise.
The designer or publisher ruled on this directly in the forum.
A damaged Baddie with Detonate will defeat itself when Sibron Style is used on it. It still gets its Movement Phase even though Sibron Style stops it moving.