Ordering

Frequently Asked Questions

Adversaries

• What does "in board/land order" mean for Habsburg Monarchy (Livestock Colony) Level 1?
  It specifies exactly what order lands Gather Towns in: any relevant lands on Board A resolves first (starting with the lowest-numbered land matching a Build card and going up), then Board B, etc. On the thematic boards, go in "reading order" of left to right, top to bottom: NW, NE, W, E, SW, and finally SE.

  You go by order of lands to Gather in to. As usual, they can come from any adjacent land, including on another board.

  The primary motivation for this rule is speed of play – if it's not in a deterministic order, it usually doesn't matter much, but occasionally it really does, and searching for those cases and choosing the precise ordering of lands can slow the whole process down.

  If you want to handle all boards simultaneously for further speed, you can, so long as you avoid Gathering Towns that an earlier land might Gather.
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Ordering, Thematic map, Matches, Habsburg Monarchy (Livestock Colony), 0 more...
• With Habsburg Monarchy (Livestock Colony) Level 5 (Wave of Immigration), do you do the effect before or after the Explore on that turn?
  After completely resolving the Explore Card above it, but before resolving the Adversary's "After the Explore Step" Escalation. If you're resolving another Explore Card that turn, e.g., because you're playing the Surges of Colonization scenario, resolve the effects of the Reminder Card before revealing the next Explore Card. Similarly, the effects of the Reminder Card happen before anything triggered by Advancing the Invader Cards, like the extra Build Step caused by the "Fortification" Event.

  Formally, Reminder Cards resolve once you're done resolving the Invader Card above them. (Or, in unusual cases like this FAQ, if they end up atop the Invader Deck.)

  This ruling originally implied that the "Seek Prime Territory" Escalation happens first. Because the timing of the Escalation was made more explicit in later printings, this ruling has been updated accordingly.
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Invader deck, Ordering, Reminder Cards, Combining Adversaries, 6 more...

Effect Rules

• When do you resolve a Reminder Card in the Invader Deck when accelerating multiple cards out of the deck (e.g., during the Despicable Theft scenario)?
  If a Reminder Card is revealed in the middle of accelerating the deck, set it aside and then resolve it after the action that caused the acceleration (and any actions it triggered).

  For Despicable Theft in particular, all Thieves in one Coastal land escape as a single action, so if multiple numbered Thieves escape from that land, accelerate the deck from all of them before resolving the revealed Reminder Card.
  Tags: Reminder Cards, Accelerate, Ordering, Despicable Theft, 1 more...

Fear and Fear Cards

• Does Beset by Many Troubles count Strife being removed in the current Ravage Action?
  Yes. While this doesn't strictly follow from the rules (p. 7 Jagged Earth), it's both thematically correct and how most players intuitively resolve the Fear Card.

  (If similar things come up in the future, we may tweak the Ravage sequence, but for 1 card it's less disruptive to just say "yes, you get this benefit".)

  Note that while the Strife counts for Beset by Many Troubles during that Ravage (in addition to preventing Damage from the Invader it's attached to), it won't contribute towards future Ravage Actions in that land or adjacent lands.
  Tags: Strife, Ravage, Ordering, Beset by Many Troubles, 1 more...

General Play

• How does "resolve powers in the order they're written" work for things like "If you have (elements), +1 Range"?
  Internal modifiers like this – a Power changing its own Speed, Range, or other targeting – are looked at when they're relevant (like during targeting), not during normal Power resolution. This is an exception to "do things strictly in order once using the Power".

  This is also the case for Powers like The Jungle Hungers, where a threshold modifies the instructions earlier in the Power. Technically, every use of "Instead..." in an innate power works this way; it's pretty simple for human minds to understand the intent, but the formal specification is messier.

  Also related: A Power that is 100% internal modifiers doesn't do anything, so can't be targeted/used for things like Scream Disease Into the Wind..
  Tags: Resolving Powers, Range Boosts, Speed (Fast/Slow), Targeting, 6 more...

Invader Actions

• When doing an Invader action (Explore, Build, or Ravage), can you choose which lands they act in first?
  Yes. The card tells you which lands to act in, but then the players can choose which of those lands happen first. At Invader Stage III, you can do lands of the two shown terrains in any order; you don't need to fully resolve one terrain before resolving the other terrain.

  The order Explore Actions rarely matters, even if those Explores add a new source of Invaders. Similarly, the order of Build Actions rarely matters, even against Kingdom of England Level 1+.

  The order does sometimes matter for Ravages, due to Blight cascades, flipping the Blight Card, or uncommon effects that change the amount of Invaders in a land that is already Ravaging, but the order won't change which lands Ravage even against Kingdom of Sweden Level 5+ or Tsardom of Russia Level 3+.

  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Explore, Build, Ravage, Ordering, 0 more...
• When an Explore Card adds new sources of Invaders (e.g., adding a Towns via Kingdom of Scotland Level 1 or the Event "Promising Farmland") are the Invaders able to immediately Explore from that new source?
  No. When resolving an Explore Card, first you note which lands have nearby sources, then you resolve all Explore Actions in those lands – in an order of your choice, if relevant.

  Nevertheless, if there is a second Explore Card (e.g., due to the "Explorers are Reluctant" Fear Card), the new sources matter for that Explore Card.

  This applies similarly to Build Cards and Ravage Cards, though adding new Invaders can increase the Damage of a Ravage that would already happen.
  Tags: Explore, Ordering, Kingdom of Scotland, Promising Farmland (Event), 2 more...
• Does the order of Builds matter to determine what Builds for Kingdom of England at Level 1+ or Kingdom of Scotland Level 3+?
  No. You look at the board position before the Build Card. (The England Adversary card explains this.) Thus Towns or Cities added do not count for further Builds coming from the same Build card.

  Similarly, in the much less likely case that a Town or City is destroyed, replaced, or removed while resolving a Build Card, any Building already queued up by that Build Card stills happens even if the conditions for it are now no longer met.

  If there is more than one Invader Card in the Build space, then Towns and Cities added/destroyed from the first card do count for the second card. Likewise if there is a build from England's "High Immigration": Any buildings added from that rule will count for (e.g.) the regular Build. In general, you check what lands will Build at the beginning of looking at the Build Card.

  The Jagged Earth rulebook (p. 27) clarifies that this is the general rule, also applying to Explore and Ravage Cards.
  (Discussion elsewhere) (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Build, Ordering, Kingdom of England, Kingdom of Scotland, 0 more...
• When a Ravage changes which pieces are in other lands, can that cause additional Ravages from the current Ravage Card?
  No. Determine which lands Ravage before resolving any of those Ravages. A land with no Invaders at this point won't Ravage even if Invaders are later added or moved there. However:

  • If a land already has Invaders participating in Ravage, the new Invaders also participate in that Ravage. Depending on how well the land is Defended and how many Dahan are present, this could be good (more Invaders destroyed in the counterattack) or bad (the Ravage now adds Blight from the extra Damage). You can resolve the two Ravages in whichever order is more advantageous.
  • If there's another Ravage Card this turn, that card can now cause Ravages in any matching lands that are no longer empty.

  This applies both to lands that "naturally" match the Ravage Card (e.g., a Jungle when the Ravage Card is Sands+Jungles) and to lands that match the Ravage Card due to an extra effect (e.g., lands with 3+ Explorers against the Tsardom of Russia Level 3+). Thus, for instance, against the Tsardom of Russia level 3+, if a Ravage pushes an Explorer by the Level 2 effect "A Sense for Impending Disaster", it can't cause a Ravage to happen by the Level 3 effect "Competition Among Hunters" from the same card, but can cause a Ravage from a following Ravage Card added by the Level 5 effect "Entrench in the Face of Fear."

  Explore and Build Cards work similarly, albeit without the concern around the amount of Damage.
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Ravage, Ordering, Do not participate in Ravage, Matches, 4 more...

Spirit Phase

• With the growth of A Spread of Rampant Green, can I gain a power card and then choose where to use the first (non-optional) growth option?
  Yes, you can choose where to place your Jungle/Wetlands presence based on a power card you gain that turn.

  This is more explicit in the Branch & Claw rulebook, where there are more spirits with multiple growth choices.
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Growth, Ordering, A Spread of Rampant Green, Relentless Gaze of the Sun, 0 more...

Spirits and Innate Powers

• During Growth, can Lure of the Deep Wilderness see which Power Card its gains before it decides whether to Reclaim or Add Presence?
  Yes. The only difference between Lure and other Spirits that freely choose 2 or 3 Growth Options is that Lure can't pick both from the left pair or both from the right pair.
  Tags: Ordering, Growth, Lure of the Deep Wilderness