Ward the Shores

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...

Invader Actions

• When resolving a 2nd (or 3rd!) Explore Card in a single Invader Phase, what's the Invader Stage while resolving the later card(s)?
  Whatever if would be if they were on top of the deck (usually the Phase printed on them).

  Most of the time, this distinction doesn't matter – almost all checks of the Invader Stage happen earlier in the Invader Phase, when resolving an Event Card. However, when resolving an Explore Card during the "Ward the Shores" Scenario, the Stage of the game determines which pieces are added by Explore Actions. This can change in the middle of the Explore Step when resolving multiple Explore Cards.
  Tags: Invader deck, Ward the Shores, Explorers are Reluctant, Surges of Colonization, 0 more...

Power Cards

• Can Weave Together the Fabric of Place affect victory/loss condition X?
  Yes, Weave Together the Fabric of Place makes the lands one land for all purposes, including victory/loss for conditions like in the Dahan Insurrection scenario.
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Victory and Defeat, Weave Together the Fabric of Place, Kingdom of Scotland, Dahan Insurrection, 1 more...

Scenarios

• Can you mix two or more Scenarios?
  You can, but it's not officially supported (they're not tested in pairs), so you'll need to use your own judgment when combining them - what will play well together, how Difficult it might be, and if there are any tweaks you need to make to avoid degenerate situations.

  Scenarios exist on sort of a spectrum between "mods" (Varied Terrains, Elemental Invocation) and "goal-driven" (Ward the Shores). Mixing two Scenarios on the goal-driven end of the spectrum tends to result in more oddness, whereas mixing a mod-like Scenario with others tends to be cleaner (though Difficulty may be notably impacted by synergies / anti-synergies between the two).
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Difficulty, Varied Terrains, Elemental Invocation, Ward the Shores, 0 more...
• In the scenario *Ward the Shores*, if you play a card face-down to create a Warding Pattern, does it count as a Power Card?
  Yes.

  For instance, you can boost its range with Reaching Grasp, Repeat it with Powerstorm, or Discard it for the Event Outpaced. Note that it is 0-cost and requires Energy each time you Repeat it.
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Playing Power Cards, Ward the Shores
• When a Power Card is played face-down for the Ward the Shores Scenario, which Elements does it have for the purpose of Choice Events that are aided by a particular Element?
  While in play, it contributes no Elements to Choice Events (and you can't Discard it to help). However, it can be Forgotten as if it had the Elements on the face-down side of the card.
  Tags: Elements, Choice Events, Rulings Under Examination, Ward the Shores, 0 more...
• In the scenario Ward the Shores, do the Warding Patterns added by the special power come from the supply of 4 Warding Patterns per player?
  Yes. As a result, you won't have more than 4 Wards per player on the Island at one time.

  Remember that you can re-use destroyed Warding Patterns or move existing ones.
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Ward the Shores
• In the scenario Ward the Shores, what's a 'Fear victory'? Can you win without placing warding patterns?
  A Fear victory is any victory with the usual terror-level-based victory conditions. You cannot win the game without placing warding patterns.
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Ward the Shores
• When playing a Power Card face-down in the Ward the Shores scenario, is the card still a Major/Minor/Unique Power Card for the purpose of abilities that care (e.g., the Immense Aspect)?
  No, a Power Card that's played face-down loses its prior type.

  To cover specific cases:

  • The Immense Aspect does not gain 2 Elements for playing a Major Power face-down.
  • The Intensify Aspect can't spend an Air Marker to use a face-down Minor Power during the Fast Phase.
  • During the Ethereal Conjunction Event, all face-down Power Cards count as non-Major Power Cards, and can be used by that Event to add a Warding Pattern.
    Tags: Rulings Under Examination, Ward the Shores, Immense Aspect (Lightning's Swift Strike), Intensify Aspect (Shifting Memory of Ages), 1 more...
• When playing Ward the Shores, if you play a Power Card not during the Spirit Phase, can you play it face-down to add a warding pattern?
  Yes, subject to the "once per turn" limit.
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Playing Power Cards, Ward the Shores, Spur on with Words of Fire, Gift of the Primordial Deeps (Serpent Slumbering Beneath the Island), 4 more...
• With the Ward the Shores scenario, how does Dances Up Earthquakes' Impending ability interact with playing Power Cards face-down to make Warding Patterns?
  Dances Up Earthquakes may Impend a Power Card face-down; this counts as its "once per turn" face-down play. (The next turn, it will come into play, but not count as its "once per turn" face-down play.) Once a card is Impended face-up, it cannot later be flipped face-down.
  

  A strict reading of the rules would likely result in the opposite timing, but would be a lot weirder/less clean, and counter to the intent of how the face-down cards are intended to work.
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Playing Power Cards, Begin a Dance of Decades (Dances Up Earthquakes), Ward the Shores, Dances Up Earthquakes, 0 more...
• 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 are Scenario Markers / Element Markers considered pieces?
  Nearly anytime they're placed on the board. The only exception is if they're purely a visual reminder, like in The Great River, or if used to mark Inner Lands for Guard The Isle's Heart. (JE p. 35, "Piece")

  This might be revisited if future content results in weird situations, as some of the cases are kind of borderline (eg: Rituals of the Destroying Flame), but for now the simplicity of "always" wins out.

  Element Markers placed on the board for Elemental Invocation are not considered "pieces" - the first printings of Jagged Earth considered them as pieces that were basically non-interactable (since they're not in any land); it's cleaner to just not count them as pieces at all.
  Tags: Element markers, Pieces, Changed rulings, Despicable Theft, 9 more...

Spirits and Innate Powers

• Can Eyes use its Dahan Trust the Watchers special rule to Gather Dahan when targeting a Spirit with Encompassing Ward?
  No. Even if all of target Spirit's Presence is in one land, the Power doesn't add Defend to the land, but rather grants the Spirit a new effect.
  Tags: Defend, Encompassing Ward, Dahan Trust the Watchers (Eyes Watch From the Trees), Eyes Watch From the Trees, 5 more...