1. Introduction
You play as a Hero (
). Over the game you buy cards, place them at five Regions and complete Region Quests to earn Recognition (
). The player with the most Recognition when the game ends wins.
Each turn you buy cards from a shared Market, place Citizens (
) and Structures (
) in your Stacks at the Regions, and play Tactics (
) that add Damage (
) or Shields (
). At the end of each turn, each Stack deals its Damage to the opposing Stack at the same Region.
1.1 Components §
- 5 Region cards. The Region cards lie in a row between the players, Quest side up, with the Market at one end. Each Region holds one Stack for each player. When a player completes a Region’s Quest, that Region card flips to its Reward side and stays that way for the rest of the game.
- 1 Hero card per player. Each Hero card has a Skill Tree with 6 Levels, from Level 0 to Level 5. Each Hero also has a starting deck of 8 cards, and each of these cards shows that Hero’s mark in a corner:
Susie Kenzie
Seamus
Edith Savo
Finn Maguire
- Pocket Cards (
). Each player starts with 1 Goods (
) card face down in their Pocket. Only you may look at the cards in your Pocket. Cards you buy go to your Pocket (§4.2). - 6 standing piles of cards that are always for sale. Each pile holds one card and has a fixed cost:
0, Aim 2, Worker 2, Silver 3, Shop 4 and
5. Goods starts with 12 cards; Aim, Worker, Silver and Shop start with 5 each; Recognition starts with 10. Standing piles are never shuffled. - The Market Deck. About 40 cards, shuffled and placed face down beside the standing piles. It deals new cards onto the 4 Market Piles.
- The Market Discard. A shared, face-up pile. Trashed (
) cards go here (§8.2). They return to play when the Market Deck is rebuilt (§8.3).
1.2 Object of the game §
The player with the most
when the game ends wins. You score Recognition in four ways (scoring is explained in full in §9):
- 1 for each
card you own, in any zone (e.g., your Deck, Hand (
), Discard,
or a Stack). - 1 for each Region where your Stack has at least 1 card.
- 1 for each Quest you have completed, if your Stack at that Region still has at least 1 card.
- The points on each Finish (
) ability that is active when the game ends (§6.4).
2. Key terms
These terms have exact meanings in this rulebook. Each one is written with a capital letter.
- Region
- One of the 5 location cards between the players. Each Region holds one Stack per player. Each Region card prints a Quest and the phase in which that Quest is checked.
- Stack
- All of your cards at one Region. Cards are laid sideways and overlap, starting at the Region and growing toward you. Citizens (
), Structures (
) and Tactics (
) are placed in Stacks; Supplies (
) with a Stack ability can be too (§4.2). - Exposed
- A card is exposed when no card is behind it in its Stack (e.g., the card farthest from the Region). This is usually the card placed most recently. Only the exposed card’s Stack abilities work (those in a grey box), except abilities printed in a white box (§6.4).
- Hero and Level (
) - Your Hero card and its Skill Tree. Your Level is the number of Regions where your Stack has at least 1 card, from 0 to 5. Levels are recounted only during Clean Up (§4.5).
- Pocket (
) - A face-down pile that only you may look at. Cards you buy go here. You can move cards between your
and your Hand (
) only during your Hero phase. Your Pocket holds 1 card, plus any extra space given by cards in play, and it must always hold at least 1 card. You start with 1 Goods (
) in it. - Goods (
) - The unit used to pay costs. Each card shows the
it pays when you spend it (e.g., a Goods card pays 1). Goods given by abilities go into your bank and can be spent until the end of that turn’s Purchase phase. - Supplies (
) - The card type used mainly to pay (e.g.,
).
are not placed in Stacks, except Supplies with a Stack ability (e.g., Silver), which can be added to a Stack during the Purchase phase (§4.2). - Citizen (
) - A card with Damage (
) and Health (
) that is placed in a Stack during the Position phase (e.g., Worker). - Structure (
) - A card with
and
that is placed in a Stack during the Position phase.
usually have more Health than
, and most have an ability. - Tactic (
) - A card that is placed in a Stack only during the Contest phase. Its
counts toward that turn’s Damage step. Its Shields (
) are its
. Every
is discarded during Clean Up. - Recognition (
) - The card that scores points. It costs 5 and is worth 1 point. During the Purchase phase it can be spent as 1
, but only toward buying another
. The Market starts with 10. When the pile is empty, the game ends at the end of that turn (§9.1). - Quest and control
- A Region’s Quest is a condition (e.g., 8+
in this Stack). If you meet it during the phase named on the Region card, you complete it, and the Region card moves to the front of your Stack for the rest of the game. A completed Quest never resets (§5.4). - Priority Player
- The player who acts first in every phase of a turn. On the first turn, each player rolls one die and the highest roll takes Priority. After that, Priority passes to the other player every turn.
- Trash and Discard (
) - A Discarded card goes to your own Discard pile and comes back when you shuffle your Discard into a new Deck. A
card leaves your cards for good: it goes back to its standing pile, or to the Market Discard if it has no standing pile (§8.2).
3. Setup
For 2 to 4 players. Setup takes about 5 minutes.
- Lay out the Regions. Place the 5 Region cards in a row, Quest side up, with the Market at one end. Leave space on each player’s side of every Region for that player’s Stack.
- Choose Heroes. Choose Heroes at random, by draft or by agreement. Each player takes the 8 cards with their Hero’s mark and shuffles them face down to form their Deck. Place your Hero card at the far left of your play area and your Deck at the far right, with space beside it for your Discard. Every player starts at Level 0 with no cards in Hand (
). - Take a Pocket Card (
). Each player takes 1 card from the Goods (
) pile and places it face down and sideways across their Hero card. This is your Pocket Card. Its position on the Hero card marks your Level. Only you may look at it. - Set out the standing piles. Place them beside the Market in order of cost:
0, Aim 2, Worker 2, Silver 3, Shop 4, Recognition (
) 5. The Recognition pile holds 10 cards. - Deal the Market Piles. Shuffle the Market Deck and place 1 card face up on each of the 4 Market Piles.
- Decide Priority. Each player rolls one die. The highest roll takes Priority for the first turn; players who tie roll again. Priority then passes to the other player every turn.
No one draws cards during setup. You draw your first 4 cards from Level 0 of your Skill Tree in the first Hero phase.
4. The turn
Each turn has 5 phases, in this order: Hero, Purchase, Position, Contest, and Damage & Clean Up. In each of the first 4 phases, the Priority Player acts first, then the other player. Both players must finish a phase before the next phase begins.

4.1 Hero phase §
- Resolve your Skill Tree in order, from Level 0 up to your current Level (e.g., at Level 2, resolve Level 0, then Level 1, then Level 2). Level 0 always draws 4 cards. Levels above your current Level do nothing.
- Next, resolve the Hero-phase abilities on cards in your Stacks. Start with the Stack nearest the Market and work away from it; within a Stack, go from front to back. An ability resolves only if its card is exposed or the ability is in a white box.
- A completed Quest’s Region card is part of its Stack, so its reward resolves in the same order: put 2 Goods (
) in your bank. These Goods can be spent only on Recognition (
), and only in this turn’s Purchase phase. If your Stack at that Region has no other card, the reward does nothing. - You may use “Discard me” abilities from your Hand (
) (§6.3). - You cannot play cards or use
abilities from your Hand in this phase. The phase runs in order: your hero’s skill tree, then the Hero abilities on your Stacks, then the Pocket (
) swap. - You may move any number of cards between your
and your
. This is the only phase in which you can do this. - Your
holds 1 card, plus any extra space given by cards in play, and must always hold at least 1 card, face down. You start with 1
in it. The limit is checked at the end of this phase (e.g., with a limit of 1, exactly 1 card must be in your Pocket when the phase ends). - You may move a card from your
into your
only while the Pocket has room, so you can never put it over its limit. It goes over only when you buy cards or an ability puts cards in it; if you open an over-full Pocket, move cards to your Hand until it fits before you close it (e.g., with a limit of 6 you may fill it to 6 for Pinehurst). - Quests marked Hero are checked during this phase (e.g., Kingdom of Ios).
Draw abilities are written “+N” (e.g., +2 means draw 2 cards). If your Deck runs out while you are drawing, shuffle your Discard to make a new Deck and keep drawing.
Your Level changes only during Clean Up. It stays the same for the whole turn, even if you gain or lose cards in your Stacks during the turn.
4.2 Purchase phase §
- Buy any number of cards, including none. You can buy from the 6 standing piles or the top card of any of the 4 Market Piles. Buying the top card of a Market Pile exposes the card under it, which can then be bought.
- To pay a cost, spend cards from your
and
from your bank. Each card you spend pays its printed Goods value and goes to your Discard. If you pay more than the cost, the extra Goods stay in your bank until the end of this phase (e.g., paying 3 for a card that costs 2 leaves 1 Goods to spend on another card). - You may use Purchase-phase abilities on exposed cards and “Discard me” abilities from your
.
in your bank keep any limit they came with (e.g., extra Goods from a card that pays only toward Tactics (
) can be spent only on Tactics). - Some abilities have a cost in restricted
(e.g., Ios Windmill: pay 4 Goods toward
). Pay it with Goods restricted to that type, unrestricted Goods, or both. - Any Supplies (
) with a Stack ability (e.g., Silver, Astral Gemstone, Humour Ink, Thistle, Day Labor, Map to Riches) can be added from your
to one of your Stacks instead of being spent. In a Stack, a Supplies has no Health (
) and cannot be Damaged. A Supplies with Damage (
) adds it to its Stack. A Supplies’ Shields (
) soak Contest Damage like a Tactic’
, but the card is not Discarded when they run out. Each one carries a Static (
) ability: if it is exposed and its Stack has no Citizen (
) or Structure (
), it is Discarded (e.g., if the only Citizen in its Stack is destroyed during Clean Up, the Supplies is Discarded once the Tactics behind it leave). - You may spend a
from your
as 1
, but only toward buying another Recognition. It goes to your Discard and still scores at the end. - Cards you buy go to your
and stay there until your next Hero phase. You cannot move cards from your
to your Pocket in this phase. - Quests marked Purchase are checked during this phase (e.g., Pinehurst).
Some cards let you Trash (
) cards from your
or Discard. A smaller deck draws your strongest cards more often. The Priority Player buys first, so they have the first choice of the Market.
4.3 Position phase §
- Resolve the Position-phase abilities on your exposed cards.
- Place any number of
and
from your
into your Stacks. You may split them across the 5 Regions in any way. - Place each card sideways, behind the last card in the Stack, so its combat box reads upright. The new card covers the ability boxes of the card in front of it and becomes the exposed card. The covered card’s combat box stays in play.
- A Reveal (
) ability resolves when its card is placed. It resolves again each time the card becomes exposed after being covered (e.g., when the card behind it is destroyed). - You cannot return a placed card to your
. An ability can still move it (e.g., “You may Move me to another Stack”). - You may use “Discard me” abilities from your
.
4.4 Contest phase §
- In Priority order, each player places any number of
from their
into their Stacks, or uses “Discard me” abilities from their Hand. - A Tactic’
adds to its Stack’s total for this turn’s Damage step only. Its
are its
. Like any card, it takes Damage in Stack order, so it protects only the cards behind it (e.g., a Tactic at the back of a Stack is hit last and protects nothing) (§7.1). - Quests marked Contest are checked during this phase (e.g., Gig Harbour, Kingdom of Atos and Mangan’s Landing).
- When both players have finished, the turn moves to Damage & Clean Up. No Contest
is dealt before then.
4.5 Damage & Clean Up §
Neither player makes choices in this phase, except to resolve
abilities (see below). Do steps 1 and 2 at one Region at a time, starting with the Region nearest the Market. Then do steps 3 to 6 once.
- Each Stack deals its total
to the opposing Stack at the same Region, starting with that Stack’s front card (§7.1). - Discard every destroyed card and every
from both Stacks at that Region, all at the same time. - Recount every player’s Level.
- Place 1 new card from the Market Deck face up on top of each of the 4 Market Piles.
- Every player Discards all cards in their
. - Check whether the game ends. It ends now if the
pile is empty, the Market Deck has run out for the second time, or every Region’s Quest has been completed (§9).
during step 2. Removing cards can expose a card with a Reveal ability. Its owner resolves that Reveal right away, before
is dealt at the next Region. If both players have a Reveal to resolve at the same Region, the Priority Player resolves first. If that Reveal destroys the other player’s card, the other player still resolves their Reveal.
Your
is Discarded at the end of every turn. To keep a card for a later turn, move it to your
during your Hero phase. There is no Hand size limit.
5. Regions, Stacks and control
5.1 Presence and control §
Presence and control are different, and each one scores separately.
- Presence: your Stack at a Region has at least 1 card. Each Region where you have presence adds 1 to your Level and scores 1 point at the end.
- Control: you completed that Region’s Quest, so its Region card is at the front of your Stack. Control lasts for the rest of the game. A completed Quest never resets, and no other player can complete it.
Control does not stop other players from placing cards at that Region. If your Stack there has no other card, the Region card’s abilities stop working until you place a card in that Stack again (e.g., no 2 Goods (
) in your Hero phase, and no point if the game ends while it is empty).
5.2 Hero Levels §
Your Level is the number of Regions where your Stack has at least 1 card, from 0 to 5. It is recounted during Clean Up and stays the same for the whole next turn. Players can be at the same Level.
Level 0 is the same for every Hero: draw 4 cards. It always resolves. The higher Levels differ by Hero. Each Hero’s Skill Tree is printed on their Hero card. Reaching Level 5 does not end the game.
One Citizen (
) placed at a Region where you have no cards raises your Level by 1 at the next Clean Up, if it survives. Spreading cards across Regions raises your Level. Putting many cards in one Stack deals more Damage (
) at that Region.
5.3 Stacks §
, Structures (
) and Tactics (
) are placed in Stacks. Supplies (
) are not, with one exception: a Supplies with a Stack ability (e.g., Silver) can be added to a Stack during the Purchase phase (§4.2). Other Supplies are spent from your Hand (
) and go to your Discard.- Cards are placed one at a time, sideways. The first card is at the front, next to the Region. Each new card goes behind the last one and becomes the exposed card.
- A Stack ability works only while its card is exposed, unless the ability is in a white box.
- Combat boxes are never covered. The
and Health (
) of every card in a Stack always count. - A Stack has no size limit. A card leaves a Stack only when it is destroyed, or moved or Discarded by an ability. Every
leaves during Clean Up. - If the card behind a card is removed, that card becomes exposed again and its abilities work again. Its Reveal (
) ability resolves again (§6.4).
5.4 Region Quests §
Each Region card prints a Quest and the phase in which it is checked. You complete a Quest when all three of these are true at the same time: (1) it is the phase named on the Region card, (2) your Stack at that Region has at least 1
or
, and (3) you meet the Quest’s condition.
When you complete a Quest, the Region card flips to its Reward side and moves to the front of your Stack. It stays there for the rest of the game, even if your Stack becomes empty. The Reward side has three abilities. (1) Purchase phase, white box: put 2
in your bank that can be spent only on Recognition (
). (2) Grey Static (
): “As long as this is
, my Abilities don’t Trigger.” It stays on for as long as the Region card is exposed (e.g., while your Stack has no other card), and the other two abilities do not work. Place a card behind it to turn it off. (3) Finish (
), white box: 1 point at the end of the game. If both players meet the same Quest in the same phase, the Priority Player completes it.
A completed Quest never resets. When every Region’s Quest has been completed, the game ends at the end of that turn (§9).
6. Cards and abilities
6.1 Reading a card §
- The icon in the top-left corner shows the card’s type: Supplies (
), Citizen (
), Structure (
), Tactic (
) or Recognition (
). - The badge in the top-right corner shows its cost in Goods (
). - The combat box shows the card’s Damage (
) and Health (
). The Health icon depends on the card type (e.g., a heart on
, a
mark on Structures, Shields (
) on
), but all Health works the same way. A
with Damage or Shields shows them the same way. - Each ability box is colored by the phase in which it is used.
- When a card is covered in a Stack, its colored ability boxes stop working. Its combat box and any white-box ability keep working.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
- Type: here, a
.
value: what the card is worth when you spend it.- Cost, paid in
. - Ability box, tinted by when it is used. “Discard me” is played from your Hand (
). 

- Region banner
- Name and title
- Print version
6.2 Five card types §
6.3 Where an ability is used from §
abilities are used from your Hand during any phase of your own turn, except the Hero phase and Damage & Clean Up. To use a “Discard me” ability, put the card in your Discard. To use a Trash (
) ability, Trash the card instead (§8.2), so it leaves your cards for good.- Stack abilities work only while the card is in a Stack and exposed, or at any time in a Stack if the ability is in a white box. Each is used in the phase its color shows.
- A card can have both kinds. You can use only the abilities that match where the card is now (e.g., a card in your
cannot use its Stack ability). When two Hand abilities are joined by “or”, choose one.
6.4 Ability marks §
An ability box that is not covered can be used. Its color shows the phase. A white box works even when covered.
6.5 The icons §




Restricted Goods. Each pays only toward the card type it shows: Supplies, Citizens, Structures, Tactics or Recognition.7. Damage and combat
7.1 Contest Damage §
- Add up the Damage (
) of every card in your Stack, Tactics (
) included. This is your Stack’s total Damage. - Assign that total to the opposing Stack at the same Region, starting with its front card (the card nearest the Region) and moving back.
- A card is destroyed when the
assigned to it equals or exceeds its Health (
). Damage left over moves to the next card behind it, whatever its type, until the Damage runs out or every card is destroyed (e.g., 3 Damage against a front card with 2 Health and a back card with 1 Health destroys both). - Both Stacks deal
at the same time. A card that is destroyed still deals its Damage this turn.
left over after every card in the opposing Stack is destroyed is lost. Regions cannot be Damaged, and Damage never moves to another Region.
does not stay on cards. Cards that survive have full
again on the next turn.
7.2 Non-Contest damage §
Some abilities deal
directly to one card (e.g., “Deal 2 Damage to any card”). This Damage is applied right away. It destroys the card if the total Damage on it equals or exceeds its
, and it never moves to the card behind. If the card is not destroyed, the Damage is removed at the end of the phase, so Contest Damage is always assigned to cards at full Health. Damage dealt by a Reveal (
) during Damage & Clean Up is removed at the start of the next Hero phase.
7.3 A worked exchange §
Seamus and Finn both have Stacks at Pinehurst and at the Kingdom of Atos.
Front cards sit nearest the Region.
Seamus deals 1. Finn deals 2 + 1 = 3.
Finn’s 3 destroys Izzy & Bren, and 1 carries to Lyla. Seamus’s 1 is not enough for Cassian.
Seamus’s Stack is empty. Finn’s Stack is whole again.
- Finn’s 3 hits Izzy & Bren (2
) and destroys them; the spare 1 carries to Lyla (1 Health) and destroys her too. Seamus’s Stack is empty. - Seamus’s 1 hits Cassian (2
) and is not enough. Nothing carries over, so Ja’Rae is untouched. - At the Kingdom of Atos, Seamus’s Jarl (1
, 2
) faces Finn’s lone Worker (1 Damage, 1 Health). Jarl survives; the Worker is destroyed.
After step 2 of Clean Up, Seamus has no card left at Pinehurst and Finn has no card left at the Kingdom of Atos. When Levels are recounted in step 3, each player’s Level goes down by 1.
8. Deck, Discard, Trash and Market
8.1 Your Deck §
You start with your Hero’s 8 cards. Every card you spend, play from your Hand (
) or lose from a Stack goes to your Discard. When you need to draw and your Deck is empty, shuffle your Discard to make a new Deck. Every card you own comes back this way unless it is Trashed (
).
8.2 Trash §
A
card leaves your cards for good. A card that belongs to a standing pile (e.g., Goods (
) or Aim) goes back to that pile. Any other card goes face up to the Market Discard and returns to play when the Market Deck is rebuilt (§8.3). Trashing is different from Discarding: a Discarded card stays yours.
8.3 The Market §
- Six standing piles, in order of cost:
0, Aim 2, Worker 2, Silver 3, Shop 4, Recognition (
) 5. Goods starts with 12 cards, Recognition with 10 and the others with 5 each. A pile can run out. You cannot buy from an empty pile until a
card returns to it. - Four Market Piles. During every Clean Up, each pile gets 1 new face-up card from the Market Deck, placed on top of any card left there. Only the top card of a pile can be bought, unless a card says otherwise (e.g., Canal Street). Buying the top card exposes the card under it.
- If the Market Deck does not have enough cards to add 1 to every Market Pile during Clean Up, rebuild it: shuffle the Market Piles, the rest of the Market Deck and the Market Discard together into a new Market Deck. Starting-deck cards in the new Market Deck cost 1. The Market Deck can be rebuilt only once. If it runs short a second time, the game ends (§9.1).
- If the
pile is empty during Clean Up, the game ends (§9.1).
8.4 Paying §
Costs are paid in
. Each card you spend from your
pays the Goods value printed on it and goes to your Discard. Abilities can also put Goods in your bank. Some cards pay more toward one type of card (e.g., Humour Ink pays 2 toward a Tactic (
) and 1 toward anything else), so a card’s value can depend on what you buy. Overpayment stays in your bank until the end of the Purchase phase and keeps any limit it came with (e.g., extra Goods from a card that pays only toward Tactics can be spent only on Tactics). Goods left in your bank when the Purchase phase ends are lost. Cards left in your Hand are Discarded during Clean Up.
9. Ending the game and scoring
9.1 The end condition §
The game ends during Clean Up, at the end of the turn, if any of these is true: (1) the Recognition (
) pile is empty; (2) the Market Deck has run out for the second time (§8.3); or (3) every Region’s Quest has been completed (§5.4). Always finish the current turn before scoring (e.g., if the last Recognition is bought in the Purchase phase, play the Position, Contest and Damage & Clean Up phases first).
9.2 Scoring §
The player with the most points wins.
9.3 Ties §
If two or more players have the same highest total, the game is a tie. There are no tiebreakers.






