Second Wave

Frequently Asked Questions

Adversaries

• When does Brandenburg-Prussia Level 2's early Stage III card count as Stage III and when does it count as Stage II?
  It only counts as Stage II for "What Invader Stage is the game in?" (E.g., for the Second Wave Scenario, the Ward the Shores Scenario, Events, or the rules for playing with Beasts tokens but no Events.) It's still a Stage III card for anything that cares about the Stage of a specific card (e.g., the Escalation rules for Combining Two Adversaries, or Fractured Days' unique power "The Past Returns Again").

  It ceases to be special once it leaves the Invader Deck (even if it returns to the deck, e.g., via "The Past Returns Again") or gets shuffled with other Stage III cards (e.g., by the Fractured Days innate power "Visions of a Shifting Future").

  This is the only specially-placed Invader card that acts differently; all other cards act like their printed Stage in all circumstances.
  Tags: Combining Adversaries, Events, Playing Without Events, Kingdom of Brandenburg-Prussia, 6 more...

Scenarios

• Is it possible to add an Incarna that was never in the game in the first place (e.g., if a Power Card that adds an Incarna is carried over in Second Wave)?
  No, Incarna for Spirits not in the game are left in the box.

  All other effects of the Power Card still work normally.
  Tags: Incarna, Second Wave, Breath of Darkness Down Your Spine, Emerge from the Dread Night Wind (Breath of Darkness Down Your Spine), 0 more...
• With the Second Wave Scenario, how do you handle Still-Healthy Island cards?
  The short version is "rewind cards, and what you learned doesn't change" (you'll use the same cards next game).

  The long version: If you went past a Still-Healthy Island Card, after following the Blight instructions, put it – original Healthy side up – atop the stack of Blight Cards (so you encounter it first, just like you did this game).

  If you reached (but did not pass) a Still-Healthy Island Card, treat it as a Blighted Island Card for the Blight instructions – but in your next game, if you get past it to a new Blight Card, you will need to add new Blight from the box rather than from the pool by the side of the card.

  (If this is too complex, you may also opt to simply omit Still-Healthy Island cards.)
  Tags: Blighted Island, Still Healthy Island, Second Wave
• When playing with an extra board, do any Scenarios need adjusting?
  Yes, a number of previously-printed Scenarios need to change "per player" to "per board":

  • Powers Long Forgotten: Make the "per player" setup instructions "per board" instead. (So you have enough tokens for all the boards, if playing on balanced. )
  • Blitz - Setup - "an additional Blight per player" should be "per board". Rule Changes - "1 less Blight per player" should be "per board".
  • Second Wave - After the First Game - the "per player" measurements should be "per board" (though the tokens saved do not need to be exactly 1 per board - eg, in a 2p, 3-board game, you could save 3 Beasts across the whole island, not limited to precisely 1 per board). Second Game Setup - "2 Blight per player" should be "2 Blight per board".
  • The Great River - Additional Loss Conditions - the per-player measurement should be per-board (but you can't just substitute "per board" because that implies it matters which board they escape from, so something like "If more than (3 x # of boards) Towns escape...")
  • Ward the Shores - Setup Changes - "4 Markers per player" should be "4 Markers per board"

  Note: an extra board may synergize very painfully with some Scenarios - most notably those which involve controlling / affecting territory, like The Great River, Despicable Theft, Ward the Shores and perhaps Powers Long Forgotten. If you want to avoid the extra Difficulty boost caused by this, you can opt to have some or all of the Scenario effects skip one board. (eg: The Great River could skip just Population Spills Across the River on one board, or all Rule Changes.) This will, of course, dilute the feel of the Scenario a bit.
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Extra Island Board, Powers Long Forgotten, Blitz, Second Wave, 3 more...
• When setting up for the later rounds in Second Wave, should you place the initial Beasts and Disease on each board?
  No.

  The only Tokens at the start of the game should be one of each type per player from the previous wave.
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Second Wave
• In the Second Wave scenario, where exactly can a power from the first wave be used? What if the power is targeted from a Sacred Site? What about (one of many weird exception cases)?
  The power can target any land or Spirit it normally could - no current Spirit needs to have a Sacred Site (or Presence in a land of the correct terrain, etc.) The power is being "played" by the Spirit from the prior game - if it cares about the originating land, or where the Spirit has Presence / Sacred Sites, it can assume that for purposes of targeting and resolution the Spirit has up to 2 Presence in each land. The Power can't affect the playing Spirit (which is not in the game). Technically, Energy/other costs can't be paid, but it's more fun if you say that costs up to 8 Energy / 4 Time, can be paid. (Or rough equivalent, so Elemental Teachings can grant 3 of any element(s), Draw Towards a Consuming Void could redo its effects once, etc).

  Along similar lines, it would be thematically appropriate to apply most sorts of Special Rules for the Spirit "using" the Power, but creating a precise formal specification for exactly what should/shouldn't be considered would get very finicky. Use your judgment.
  (Discussion elsewhere) (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Targeting, Player-convenience choices, Second Wave
• Between waves of the Second Wave, if returning the island to Healthy, the Scenario says to put 2 Blight per player onto the Healthy side. Should that be "2 Blight per player +1"?
  Yes - it's meant to re-create a normally-set-up Healthy Island card, so it follows the setup errata for Blight.

  To be clear, that's +1 Blight from the Blight that was in the First Wave - you do not add +1 Blight from the box for every Wave!
  Tags: Blight, Second Wave
• In the Second Wave scenario, do you use the same Blight card as in the first game?
  Yes.

  This is indicated by the line "return [the Blight card] to Healthy".
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Second Wave