Instruments of their Own Ruin

Frequently Asked Questions

Effect Rules
  • If pieces in a land are affected by a "do not participate in Ravage" effect, do they also sit out Ravage Actions in other lands?
    Yes, if a modifier to a Ravage checks for pieces in an adjacent land, it also checks if those pieces are participating in Ravage.
    As of the release of Nature Incarnate, this primarily matters in three cases:
    • When "Far-Flung Herds" (The Habsburg Monarchy Livestock Colony Level 6) checks for adjacent Towns in Ravage, it only counts participating Towns.
    • The threshold of "Instruments of their Own Ruin" can't make Ravaging Invaders deal Damage to adjacent Invaders that aren't participating in Ravage.
    • The Event "Network of Support and Trade" only scales its Defend with adjacent Dahan that are participating in Ravage.
    In the rather unusual case where you check if a piece is participating in Ravage for the purpose of one of the above modifiers and then that piece ends up in the Ravaging land mid-Ravage, it continues to either participate or not participate – whichever you originally determined – since participation (or lack thereof) lasts for the entire Ravage Action.
    Action triggered by Ravages, like "Vengeance of the Dead," don't check if Invaders in adjacent lands are participating or not. And similarly, the Fear Card "Tread Carefully" does not check for which Dahan are participating in Ravage, since it locks in its effects when it first resolves, rather than checking for participating pieces during the Ravage Actions themselves.
    Tags: Do not participate in Ravage, Ravage, Habsburg Monarchy (Livestock Colony), Instruments of their Own Ruin, 2 more...
General Play
Power Cards
Range and Targeting
  • Is a land adjacent to itself? Is it within Range 1 of itself? Can it be the nearest land to itself that meets a particular condition? Does Isolate change that?
    No, yes, yes, and no. In particular:
    • A land is never adjacent to itself, not even in particularly unusual cases.
    • A land is always at exactly Range 0 of itself, and therefore "within Range 1," "within Range 2," etc.
    • If a land meets a particular condition (e.g., "with Dahan"), it's its own "nearest land" meeting that condition.
    • Isolating a land doesn't change any of these answers, since none require checking which other lands are adjacent.
    For some practical examples:
    • It's impossible to Push a piece from a land to itself or Gather a piece from a land to itself, since those move to/from adjacent lands.
    • The threshold of "The Land Thrashes in Furious Pain" (Major Power) can't Repeat that Power on the original target land, since that land is not adjacent to itself.
    • The first threshold of "Explosive Eruption" (Volcano Looming High's left Innate Power) can deal damage in the target land (the land where the Power destroyed Presence). Also, the third and fourth thresholds of both deal damage in the target land.
    • During the Dahan Insurrection Scenario, if a City is destroyed in a land with Dahan, then "Military Response" adds a Town in that same land because there is no nearer land with Dahan.
    • "Exports Fuel Inward Growth" (The Kingdom of Scotland Level 6) adds Towns to a land with Towns/Cities even if there are no adjacent Towns/Cities (either "naturally" or due to Isolate).
      Tags: Isolate, Push, Gather, Range, 27 more...
Spirits and Innate Powers