The Basics

Chapter 1 / 8 · 5–8 min

How you win

Two ways to win, one Land is enough for the second, and a third way to lose.

Rion

Start with the point. What am I trying to do?

Attacking and blocking

Who you can attack, what it costs you, and what falls over.

Rion

Fighting. Before anything else — who am I even allowed to attack?

Noir

One target, and it must be ADJACENT. Any single one of the three: an enemy Hero, an enemy Spil, or an enemy Portal.

ATTACKABLE — any ONE adjacent Hero (H), Spil (S) or Portal (P)
Not adjacent — out of reach, however close it looks

The attacker is in the middle. Its six neighbours are in reach; the hex beyond them is not.

Rion

So a Portal counts as a thing I can hit. Not just their units.

Noir

It is the one that wins games. What a Portal does with the damage is Chapter 8; that it can be attacked at all belongs here.

Noir

To attack, the unit must be Unsynced — and declaring the attack Syncs it. That is the price.

Unsynced
ready to act
Attack an adjacent target
Synced
already acted

A few abilities are exceptions to the Sync.

Attacking spends the unit for the turn — the same state a blocker ends up in.

Rion

That's the trade from the last chapter, isn't it. Attack with everything and there's nothing left standing to block.

Noir

Precisely the same rule, seen from the other side. Once the target is named it cannot be changed.

Noir

Then the defender may block, with one or more of their own Unsynced units adjacent to the TARGET. Blockers become Synced too.

Attack declaration
attacker
Block declaration
blocker
Damage step
target

Attack Declaration → Block Declaration → Damage Step. Commands cannot be cast during combat; Slashes can.

Rion

And then the numbers. Which numbers — the ones printed on the cards?

Noir

The CURRENT one. Current Power is the printed Power minus the damage that unit has already taken.

Base Power

damage taken

Current Power

Combat compares Current Power, never the printed number.

Check both units' Current Power.
Each deals that much damage to the other, at the same moment.
A Spil at 0 Power or less is Dropped.
A survivor keeps its damage until the End Phase, then it clears.

The whole damage step, in the order it happens.

Rion

Wait — step four. Damage stays on a unit that survived?

Noir

For the rest of the turn. The End Phase clears all damage, so a survivor is back at full Power next turn — the same rule Portals follow.

Noir

Now the case that surprises people. If the target is UNSYNCED, both units deal damage — each its own Current Power, at the same moment.

attacker

deals its Current Power

Unsynced defender

deals its Current Power

Both hits land at the same moment — each can Drop the other.

The Rule Book's figure: a Power 3 Spil attacks a Power 1 Spil. The Power 3 unit takes 1 damage and survives; the Power 1 unit takes 3 and is Dropped. — Power 3 into Power 1: the attacker takes 1 and lives, the defender takes 3 and is Dropped. Attacking an Unsynced unit is always a trade.

Noir

If the target is already SYNCED, it deals nothing back. The attacker damages it and takes none in return.

attacker

deals its Current Power

Synced defender

deals nothing back

A unit that already acted cannot strike back.

The Rule Book's figure for a Synced target: the attacker's damage arrows point one way only, and the defender's return arrow is marked as no damage. — The figure writes this as “Non-damage”. It means the Synced defender deals no combat damage back at all.

Rion

So hitting something that already moved is free, and hitting something that hasn't costs me. That's the whole decision.

Noir

A Spil whose Current Power reaches 0 or less is Dropped, and goes to its owner's Abyss.

Spil · Power 1
takes 3 damage
Current Power 0 or less
Dropped
Abyss

A Hero is never Dropped by damage — see the next section.

Rion

What if they block with two at once?

The attacker's damage is dealt out across the blockers, one at a time, in order.
Each blocker is given as much as it takes to Drop it before the next one gets any.
Every blocker deals its own Current Power back to the attacker — together.
Damage left over once the blockers are covered is simply lost.

The Rule Book's figure for two blockers: the attacker's damage is split between them, and both of their damage arrows point back at the attacker. — Two blockers, and the attacker faces the sum of both — this is how a big attacker dies to two small units.

Noir

Unless the attacker has #Overstrike. Then the leftover is not lost — it carries on to whatever was originally attacked.

Blocked, no keyword

Damage beyond what the blockers needed is lost. The original target takes nothing.

#Overstrike

The leftover carries on to the original target — the unit or the Portal that was attacked.

Rion

One more. If I attack their HERO — how does that get me closer to winning?

Noir

A Hero is never Dropped. It absorbs damage up to its Current Power — and only what is LEFT OVER comes off its player's Life.

A Hero takes damage

Up to its Current Power

stays on the Hero as damage — its Power drops, but it is never Dropped

Only the excess

goes to that player's Life

A Hero with Power 4 that takes 7 damage: 4 lands on the Hero, its Power reaches 0, and the remaining 3 comes off its player's Life. The same Hero taking 3 damage costs no Life at all — its Power simply drops to 1.

Rion

So a small hit on a healthy Hero costs them nothing at all. I have to get through the Power first.

Noir

Which is why a Hero already at 0 Power is the most dangerous place to be: from then on, every point of damage it takes is Life.

SpilA trade: damage both ways, and either can be Dropped.
HeroDamage to the Hero, and any excess to that player's Life.
PortalDamage to the Portal — the route to the Portal victory.

The three targets, and what each one actually gets you.

Quick check

Your Unsynced Spil attacks an adjacent enemy Spil that is also Unsynced, and nobody blocks. What happens?

Quick check

The Basics

How you win

Which of these ends the game?

The cards

You want a unit standing on the board. Which card type do you play?

The board, Lands and hexes

You summoned a Spil this turn. What can it do this turn?

VAZ, the resource

Where does the VAZ you spend actually come from?

Synced and Unsynced

Your opponent attacks. One of your units is Synced. Can it block?

Attacking and blocking

Your Unsynced Spil attacks an adjacent enemy Spil that is also Unsynced, and nobody blocks. What happens?

An enemy Hero with Power 4 and no damage takes 3 combat damage. What happens to that player's Life?

Slash and the Stack

Two effects are on the Stack. Which resolves first?

Portals and Shield Life

One of your Portals is destroyed. What happens to your Life?