Island setup

Errata / Updates

Setup

Frequently Asked Questions

Power Cards
  • Can you disconnect the island using Cast Down into the Briny Deep?
    Yes. For instance, if you sink the middle board in the "Coastline" layout variant 3-player game, there are now two island boards left. By default, there is no way to get from one board to the other, but if you want (player option), you may treat lands that were Range 2 from each other before the sinking as still being Range 2 after the sinking, per the Archipelago rules. (This can be annoying to track, which is why it's not a mandatory rule.)
    The Archipelago rules do not apply, since the coasts are not facing each other and it is not game setup.
    (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Island setup, Archipelago, Player-convenience choices, Cast Down into the Briny Deep, 0 more...
  • Does Fragments of Yesteryear restore the Disease and Beasts added as part of Branch & Claw / Jagged Earth setup on the balanced boards?
    No, since those are not printed setup symbols, unlike the tokens printed on the thematic boards. However, restoring them is the more thematic option, so you're welcome to do that if your group is willing to take the extra time to figure out where the Beasts started.
    If you want to put in a bit more work, the most thematic option is to restore the land to how it looked at the end of setup, including the first Explore and all Spirit, Adversary, and Scenario setup. If you need to add Presence for a Spirit, use their destroyed Presence; if they don't have enough destroyed Presence, add as much as you can. Depending on the exact combination of Adversaries, Scenarios, and Spirits, this may require a good memory or photographs of the starting board state to track variable setup options (e.g., where Ocean's Hungry Grasp put its second Presence).
    Tags: Spirit setup, Island setup, Disease, Beasts, 2 more...
Scenarios
  • When the Invaders do an extra set of actions during Setup in the Blitz Scenario, does that include any Adversary effects that happen during or trigger after the Build/Explore Step?
    No, while the Invaders are resolving a Build Card and two Explore Cards, they are doing so during Setup, not during the Build Step or Explore Step (which are part of the Invader Phase).
    In particular, the following effects don't apply during Blitz setup because they reference specific steps of the Invader Phase or explicitly exclude setup.
    • "Frontier Explorers" (The Kingdom of France Plantation Colony Level 1) and "Trading Port" (The Kingdom of Scotland Level 1) don't change which pieces are added during or after Exploring – not even from the second Explore Card – because they don't apply during setup.
    • "Migratory Herders" (The Habsburg Monarchy Livestock Colony Level 1) doesn't gather Towns.
    • "More Rural Than Urban" (The Habsburg Monarchy Livestock Colony Level 2) doesn't build 2 Towns in place of building an Inland City, since play hasn't started yet.
    • "Ceaseless Mining" (Habsburg Mining Expedition Level 1) doesn't cause Ravage Actions in Mining lands.
    • "Mining Boom" (Habsburg Mining Expedition Levels 3 & 5) doesn't upgrade or build anything.
    ... but these effects do happen during setup:
    • "Slave Labor" (The Kingdom of France Plantation Colony Level 2) does upgrade Explorers after Building in lands with 2+ Explorers.
    • "Persistent Explorers" (The Kingdom of France Plantation Colony Level 6) does add an Explorer after each of the two Explore Cards.
    • "The Empire Ascendant" (Habsburg Mining Expedition Level 6) does add extra Explorers (and stack with the extra Explorer from Blitz!), since it explicitly applies during Setup.
    ... and these effects can happen during setup, but are unlikely to do so:
    • "Triangle Trade" (The Kingdom of France Plantation Colony Level 4) does add a Town as part of Building a Coastal City, though this only happens if the first Explore Card matches a land with a Coastal Town.
    • "Indentured Servants Earn Land" (The Kingdom of England Level 1) and "Chart the Coastline" (The Kingdom of Scotland Level 3) both allow building in lands without Invaders, albeit in a way that's unlikely to matter unless the first Invader Card matches a land that has a Wilds in it during Setup.
    Tags: Island setup, Matches, Thematic map, Blitz, 5 more...
Setup
  • What are the options for making the map for a 2-player game?
    On the balanced maps, the standard layout given in the rulebook might be called "bottom to bottom", with one ocean in the upper-left and one in the bottom-right. But you can put together the maps any way they fit, with some variation in the game dynamics and (slightly) overall difficulty.
    Some examples: if you put the boards together "top to top", with one ocean in the bottom-left and one in the upper-right, the difficulty will be slightly increased, since you lose the potential backcourts to clear of Invaders around land #8 on each board, and the corners around land #3 become hazards for Blight cascades - though land #1 on each board does become less dangerous in that regard. If you put the boards together "end to end", with oceans on the far left and far right (as in the thematic 2-player setup), the difficulty will be slightly decreased since it is easier to clear out the center of the board, which more than compensates for both land #1 and #3 having fewer adjacencies to cascade Blight to.
    The difficulty change from these dynamics is fairly minor relative to, e.g., the Difficulty boost of Adversaries and Scenarios.
    If you are playing the scenario Guard the Isle's Heart, the "end to end" layout results in a more natural "heart" of the island, with the two lands #7 touching each other.
    (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: 2-player games, Island setup, Guard the Isle's Heart
  • Are some Island tiles better than others for your first games?
    As long as you are using the balanced (non-thematic) side, the Island tiles are all pretty equivalent, and you should just pick them randomly.
    (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Island setup
  • Can you play 5-6 players with two copies of the base game?
    Yes, with some caveats. You will need Presence disks and reminder tokens in different player colors. We also strongly recommend your first play or two be with 4 or fewer players per game. 5-6p games are fine when everyone involved knows the game well, but with newer players there's just an overwhelming amount of board to parse.
    If 5+ people want to learn together, we suggest two side-by-side games, to let everyone use a low-complexity spirit and keep the visual complexity of the island reasonable. (You can share some of your experience by using identical island layouts and spirits for each game, and seeing where they diverge based on player choice and Invader exploration.)
    Once you know the game and want to play 5-6p, basically any way you puzzle the boards together is fine, with some changes in dynamics. (If you string everything out into a long line, spirits starting at one end will have a rough time getting to where they can help out on the other end of the board.) Official "standard" layouts for 5-6p and alternate layouts for all player counts are in the Jagged Earth rulebook.
    (Discussion elsewhere) (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Player count, Island setup
~ Expansions, Promos, and Publishing