Inis FAQ
164 questions players ask · Updated Nov 7, 2026 · Full rulebook
Setup and Components
- How must territory tiles touch each other, at setup and when a new one is added?
- Can the Capital be placed in the Swamp or on an island?
- Does the starting Brenn keep the title into round one?
- Is the Action card set aside during the deal part of the discard pile?
- Do Mountains or extra buildings matter at setup?
- Do I draw territory tiles from the top or the bottom of the stack?
- Which components are limited in supply?
- What does the Mountains tile do?
- Does the Festival token's side matter?
- Did the second or third edition change the rules?
- Can players talk about hidden cards or ask others not to team up?
- How does the 2-player game differ?
- Which Action cards are used only with four players?
Territories and Chieftain
- Who is a territory's chieftain, and can a lone player be one?
- Can chieftain status change in the middle of a round?
- Is the instigator chieftain of a territory where a clash is waiting to resolve?
- What happens to the Brenn if the Capital has no chieftain?
- When a new territory is placed, is its Advantage card revealed right away?
- In Gates of Tir na Nog, does 'loses a clan' count as removing a clan, and where is it lost from?
- Does a replaced or withdrawn clan count as removed?
Assembly and Season Turns
- In what order are the Assembly steps done?
- What can I do on my turn in the Season?
- Can I act after passing, and when does the Season end?
- Can I play a card just to avoid passing (a proxy pass)?
- What happens if I have no clans on the board when my turn begins?
- Are effects that say 'may' optional?
- Does playing a Triskel such as Geis use up my turn?
- Must one card be fully resolved before another is played in response?
- What does the Flock of Crows direction control?
- After Warlord or Oengus's Ploy hands someone the turn, whose turn is next?
- How does Exploration add territories?
- How does Craftsmen & Peasants work with Citadels?
- Does the Gates of Tir na Nog effect apply in the Season as well as the Assembly?
Victory, Pretenders and Deeds
- Do I need a Pretender token to win, and what is required to take one?
- Do I keep my Pretender token if I stop meeting a condition?
- Who wins if players tie for the most victory conditions?
- How do Deed tokens work toward victory?
- Can Deeds help me qualify for a Pretender token?
- Do I have to show my Deeds, and when do I lose them?
- What exactly do the three victory conditions count?
- Can tied Pretenders stall the game forever?
- Does Throne of Nuada make its holder the Brenn for the Season phase?
Action Cards
- Does Macha's Curse stop Withdraw or clan removal?
- Can I play Conquest, Migration, Coalition or Manannan's Horses and move zero clans to skip my turn?
- Can Conquest target a territory where I have no clans, or where I can only move one clan?
- Can I play a card when I cannot carry out all of it, for example with no clans in reserve?
- What does the Druid card do, and can I play it as my last Action card?
- How does the Citadel Action card work with Advantage cards?
- How does Master Craftsman work: what can I discard and do I still draw?
- How does Salt Mine work if I have no Action cards, and how does Iron Mine treat an opponent with none?
- Can Geis be played against Scouts and Spies after I have seen the opponent's Action cards?
- How does Champion's Share work with the Action card set aside during the deal?
- When Exploration adds a territory, who chooses the position and places the tile and clan?
- Does placing a Sanctuary with the Sanctuary card draw two Epic Tale cards?
- When a card says 'place a clan', where does the clan come from?
- How does Oengus's Ploy work and can it keep the Season going?
- How does New Alliance (Replace) work?
Advantage Cards
- When do Advantage cards go back, and do I keep mine if I lose chieftain status?
- Do other players know which Advantage cards I hold?
- When an Advantage card is discarded, is it face up or face down?
- Can the Hills Advantage card cancel Iron Mine or an attack?
- Can Iron Mine be used on any attack in any territory?
- Can the Lost Vale move an opponent's clan?
- Does retreating into Inis Mona trigger its Advantage card?
- Can I play an Advantage card after I stop being chieftain, and can the King and the Land give away a played one?
Epic Tale Cards
- Can Diarmuid and Grainne be played when I choose to lose a clan rather than discard a card?
- How does The Battle of Moytura work in a clash?
- Whose clan do I remove when I use Stone Circle?
- Can Balor's Eye remove my own clan, and is it a maneuver?
- Can I choose zero clans with an 'up to' Epic Tale card such as Dagda's Cauldron, or ignore 'may' effects?
- How does The Other World work with several Sanctuaries?
- What happens to the Epic Tale cards Deirdre's Beauty takes, and can I play Dagda's Club on the forced removal?
- How does Tale of Cuchulain work with few exposed clans?
- Can Dagda's Club stop New Alliance from replacing my clan?
- Does the clan that Diarmuid and Grainne saves count as removed?
- Does Streng's Resolve work after another player's attack, or after Hills ignores my attack?
- Can Lug Samildanach take back a card Geis cancelled, and can I replay it at once?
- Must I use both effects of The Morrigan?
- Where do the clans Battle of Moytura moves come from?
- Where do Epic Tale cards go after use, and what happens when the deck runs out?
- Can I show or talk about cards in my hand?
- How do Eriu and Nuada Silverhand place clans?
- Can Dagda's Harp place all three clans in the same territory?
- If The Dagda ignores an Epic Tale card, can I still use Master Craftsman to give it away and gain a Deed?
- When can The Dagda be played against another Epic Tale card?
- Do I look at the cards Nuada's Sword draws, and how many do I draw?
- When does Meadows trigger, and how many cards do I keep?
- Does Stone Circle trigger The Dagda's reshuffle, and can it retrieve a card?
- Can I play Stone Circle or Master Craftsman on Cathbad's Word?
- What happens if the Festival card is played again while the Festival token is already on the map?
Triskel Timing and Geis
- Which cards can be played during a clash: Epic Tales, Triskel cards, Season cards?
- When can Geis be played against an Action card or in a clash?
- Can a Triskel that triggers 'after you play a Season card' be played during the clash that card started?
- Does Lug's Spear use up the instigator's first maneuver, and can Sword of Nuada cancel it?
- On a card with both Season and Triskel icons, can I use both effects?
- When can an 'after you play a card' Triskel be played?
- Can I play several Triskel cards in response to the same trigger?
- Can I play a Triskel the moment an effect gives it to me?
- Can I play a Triskel in a clash I am not involved in?
- When can Geis be played against an Action card?
- Which cards can Geis cancel, and can it hit an earlier card?
- Does a Geis-cancelled card still count as played?
- In a 2-player game, does Geis give an extra turn?
- If Feth Fiada cancels an attack, does Iron Mine still apply?
- If Ogma's Eloquence is played as a maneuver and Nuada's Sword cancels it, do I get another maneuver?
- Does The Dagda shuffle trigger when it is discarded or only when played?
Clashes
- When does a clash start, and is it mandatory?
- If I already share a territory with an opponent and I move another clan in, does that start a clash?
- Can a clash be started in a territory where no opposing clans are present?
- How does the Citadels step work: who goes first and how many clans can hide?
- Who takes the first maneuver in a clash?
- Can I pass or sit out a clash when I have exposed clans in it?
- Are peace agreements in a clash binding, and when can players discuss peace?
- Does a clash end automatically when only one player still has exposed clans, or when I have only one exposed clan left?
- Who can I attack in a clash, and what does the target lose?
- How does the Withdraw maneuver work: where can I go, and who can do it?
- Can I start a clash only to withdraw clans through it?
- When does the Highlands card take effect, and what does it change?
- When a clash starts in a territory with the Festival marker, who loses a clan?
- What is the difference between the instigator and the player who triggers a clash?
- When Migration moves clans into several territories, in what order are the clashes resolved?
- After a clash ends, whose turn is next?
- In a multi-player clash, does each involved player get a maneuver, and who can be attacked?
Warlord, Raid and Bard in Clashes
- Can I play Warlord in response to Ogma's Eloquence played as a maneuver?
- Does Warlord have to follow an Attack maneuver?
- Can I take a maneuver or play Warlord, Ogma's Eloquence or Battle of Moytura once my last exposed clan has been removed?
- Can I play Warlord after my attack removes my opponent's last exposed clan?
- Where does the clan placed by Warlord come from, and can it go into a Citadel?
- Can I play Warlord to start a clash where no opponent is present?
- When can Raid or Warlord be played in response to an Attack?
- If several Triskel cards trigger on the same event, such as Raid and Warlord, who plays first?
- Can I play Bard during a maneuver and before Raid or Warlord resolve?
- Is it legal to gain four Deeds in a single clash by chaining Bard, Streng's Resolve, Stone Circle and Master Craftsman?
- How does Iron Mine work with an Attack maneuver?
Inis: Seasons of InisExpansion
- How many sea moves can one card make, and do harbours count as adjacent?
- If Dagda's Club saves a clan from Banshee's Wail, is the Banshee token removed?
- How does Hy Breasil work, and can The Dagda stop it?
- How do I play Inis with five players?
- When is the We Want a King tile flipped?
- Which territories get sea access from a harbor?
- Who places a harbor when Exploration reveals a tile with one, and how must the Capital be chosen?
- How does sea travel work?
- When Exploration reveals an island, do I place a clan on it?
- How does Hy Breasil count as a Deed?
- How does Banshee's Wail work?
- How does Finn's Wrath work with the Mountains and different opponents?
- How do Feth Fiada and Coalition limit moved clans?
- Do the Summer and Beltane moves start a clash?
- How do the Autumn and Summer end-of-Assembly effects count?
- Does the clan moved by Maelduin's Expedition have to be adjacent to the new territory?
- What do the options on The King and the Land do?
- How do Fili and Macha's Curse tokens work?
- Do the Seasons of Inis cards replace base game cards or get added?
Inis: NemedExpansion
- Can I perform a Nemeton ceremony if the Deed would not change hands?
- How are Nemeton conditions counted, and can a player with zero win?
- What triggers a Nemeton, and who draws the Epic Tale?
- Who can make an offering at a Dedicated Sanctuary?
- Can the Conan favour's placements make me chieftain?
- How does the Feast at Emain Macha truce work?
- How do the Nuada and Balor favours move clans?
- Can Springs of Boann end the Season before others can respond?
- Does Warlord work in an Arena of Lugh clash?
- What happens to an Advantage card discarded for an effect, and can I view face-down ones in Amergin's Call?
- How do I use Nemed with a first-edition base game?