Lost Empires: War for the New Sun Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• Deck Builder
  • Welcome to 581, Commander...
  • Know Your Enemy
  • Create the Two Starter Decks
  • Build Your Deck in 4 Steps
• The Factions
• Game Phases
  • The Golden Rule
  • Phase Sequence
• 1. Order Phase
  • Play a Unit
  • Card Anatomy
  • Play a Support
  • Activate a Unit
  • Unit Actions
    • A. Move Action
    • B. Attack Actions
      • Critical Effect
    • Damage and Destroying Units
    • C. Named Ability Action
      • Special Conditions
      • Granted actions
• 2. Control Phase
  • Uncontested Battlefields
  • Contested Battlefields
• 3. Gate Phase
  • Check for Victory
• 4. Casualty Phase
• 5. Wrap Up Phase
  • 1. Fall Back Units
  • 2. Ready Drained Cards
  • 3. Refresh Command and Supply
  • 4. Draw
  • 5. Turn Order
• Diagrams and Examples
  • A. Battlefields
  • B. 6 Examples of Combat
• Glossary: Keywords and Game Terms
  • Attack
  • Battlefield
  • Destroy / Destroyed
  • Discard Pile
  • Drain
  • ELITE
  • Enemy
  • FORMATION
  • Friendly
  • FRONTLINE
  • Heavy Unit
  • Light Unit
  • MELEE
• Game Round Reference
• FAQ
  • How does passing and minimum action per turn work?
  • Can a player take other Orders if they can't take a "Play a Unit Order" or an "Activate a Unit Order"?
  • How many "Activate Unit Order" orders can I take in a turn?
  • Can a player control an enemy hive battlefield and earn artifacts from it?
  • Can I play same factions against one another if I have 2 boxes?
  • If only one player has a unit with control value of 0 in an uncontested battlefield do they get an Artifact?
  • Do I need anything from Crown of Ashes for the War for the New Sun 2 player game?
  • Does Dust Angel still do +1 damage even if it loses an attack?
  • Can I destroy my own ELITE unit and get the artifact?
• Errata - Cards

Components

• 128 Faction cards: 2 copies of 16 Terra Corps cards, 2 copies of 16 Feng cards, 2 copies of 16 Neo Human Republic cards, 2 copies of 16 Scion Imperium cards
• 3 Objective tiles
• 4 Faction hive tiles
• 4 Reference cards
• 30 Double-sided 1 and 2-Damage tokens
• 18 Double-sided 3 and 4-Damage tokens
• 28 Drain tokens
• 12 ELITE tokens
• 20 Artifact tokens
• 8 Command tokens
• 2 Supply tokens
• 2 Result dice
• 8 Gate tokens
• 1 First Player token

Setup

1. Remove all of the components from the box. Place the objective tiles in a line across the middle of the play area with the center objective between both outer objectives.
2. Place the artifact, damage, drain, and ELITE unit tokens near the play area, creating a supply of each.
3. Determine the First Player. Players roll both result dice and add the results, the player with the highest total is the First Player. In the event of a tie, roll again until a First Player has been determined. Give that player the First Player token.
   • If this is your first time playing, it is recommended to use the starter decks shown on page 5, choosing from Feng and Terra Corps instead of all of the factions.
4. Starting with the First Player, players select a faction (Feng, Neo Human Republic, Scion Imperium, or Terra Corps), taking all of the cards belonging to that faction and that faction's hive tile. Next, players place their faction's hive tile in front of them, establishing their play area.
5. Both players construct an 18-card deck from their chosen faction cards by selecting 9 different cards, taking both copies. Return all unselected cards to the box. Next, players shuffle their deck and place it on the right side of their play area, as shown in the setup diagram. (Construct your deck: example page 4 and 5)
6. Give each player 4 command tokens, 2 reference cards, 1 supply token, 1 result die, and 1 set of gate tokens numbered 1 through 4. Arrange their play area as shown in the setup diagram. In the first round of the game, players only have 2 command and 1 supply; as a reminder, both players should flip 2 of their command tokens to their depleted sides (the side with an X).
7. Both players draw a starting hand of 6 cards from their deck. If a player is unhappy with their starting hand, they may take a single mulligan by shuffling their hand into their deck and drawing a new hand of 6 cards.

You are now ready to play!

Setup diagram: each player's area has their hive tile, discard pile to the left of the deck, 4 command tokens, supply token, result die, 2 reference cards and gate tokens 1-4. The three objective tiles are in the middle, with damage, drain, ELITE and artifact tokens in a shared supply.

Deck Builder

Welcome to 581, Commander...

During the invasion of planet 581, the four factions constructed massive interstellar bases known as Hives to house, control, and deploy their troops. As a player, you assume the role of a commander of one of these Hives fighting to control the resources necessary to reconstruct the ancient Wormgate technology. As the commander of your Hive, you will deploy and command your units in an attempt to win control of 3 objectives. Winning an objective allows you to collect the alien artifacts necessary to rebuild the Wormgate that will enable direct travel to and from Earth for your faction. As soon as a player has constructed their fourth and final gate token, they open the Wormgate and win the game.

Know Your Enemy

Four factions within Lost Empires are vying for power over the artifacts located within the alien ruins across the vast landscape of 581 (Faction history: page 6 and 7): Feng, Terra Corps, Neo Human Republic, Scion Imperium.

Create the Two Starter Decks

If this is your first game, the first player should use the preconstructed Feng starter deck and the second player the preconstructed Terra Corps starter deck.

Feng starter deck (First Player): 2 Eye of Gliese, 2 Cyber Trooper, 2 Ferrik Hulk, 2 Frontline Patroller, 2 Fellgrin Captain, 2 Hound, 2 Edgeguard, 2 March Orders, 2 Blast Fire.

Terra Corps starter deck (Second Player): 2 Dust Marine, 2 Siraxion Veteran, 2 Firebird, 2 Dust Angel, 2 Basilisk, 2 Siraxion Specialist, 2 Machinegun Rex, 2 Air Strike, 2 Orbital Strike.

For your second game, the first player should use the preconstructed Neo Human Republic starter deck and the second player the preconstructed Scion Imperium starter deck.

Neo Human Republic starter deck (First Player): 2 DR 76, 2 Republic Soldier, 2 Vanguard, 2 Dragoon Medic, 2 Bluewing, 2 Sentinel, 2 Republic Sentry, 2 Response Team, 2 Outmaneuver.

Scion Imperium starter deck (Second Player): 2 Chosen, 2 Callisto Angel, 2 Flack Reaper, 2 Acolyte, 2 Hand of Callisto, 2 Chemical Weapons, 2 Hermok, 2 Paladin, 2 Suppression.

Build Your Deck in 4 Steps

1. Choose your faction.
2. Choose 9 different cards from your faction.
3. Take 2 copies of each card you selected in Step 2 until you have 18 cards in your starting deck.
4. Both players draw a starting hand of 6 cards from their deck. If a player is unhappy with their starting hand, they may take a single mulligan by shuffling their hand into their deck and draw a new hand of 6 cards.

You can play your first games with these preconstructed decks, and you can modify your deck once you are more experienced.

A faction is composed of 16 different units and supports. There are two copies of each card so every faction contains 32 cards.

The Factions

Faction background fiction omitted; the manual's play insight for each faction is kept.

• Feng — Insight: Fast moving units that can storm battlefields quickly.
• Terra Corps — Insight: Hard hitting units that focus on attack over defense.
• Neo Human Republic — Insight: Resilient units that favour teamwork to defeat their enemies.
• Scion Imperium — Insight: Powerful melee units that disrupt the opponents strategy.

Game Phases

Lost Empires is played over a number of rounds, with each round divided into a series of phases. A round in Lost Empires begins with the start of the Order Phase, and the round ends after the Wrap Up Phase is completed. Players continue playing rounds until there is a winner.

The Golden Rule

If the text on a card contradicts the rules in this rulebook, the rules on the card take precedence. Always resolve the text of a card to the greatest extent possible.

Phase Sequence

The five phases of a round occur in the following order:

1. Order Phase
2. Control Phase
3. Gate Phase
4. Casualty Phase
5. Wrap Up Phase

1. Order Phase

Starting with the First Player, players alternate taking turns issuing orders. There is no limit to the number of orders a player can issue during their turn. However, they must issue at least 1 Play a Unit order OR 1 Activate a Unit order. If they cannot do either, they must Pass at the end of their turn.

The 3 possible orders a player can issue during their turn are as follows:

• Play a Unit: Play a unit card from hand to their hive battlefield.
• Play a Support: Play a support card from hand.
• Activate a Unit: Take activate actions with a ready friendly unit (limit 1 per turn).

Once a player decides they are done issuing orders for the turn, they will indicate to their opponent that their turn has ended. Then, it is the other player's turn. The Order Phase will continue with the players giving orders and alternating turns until both players Pass.

IMPORTANT: If a player ends their turn, this does not mean they cannot act again in that Order Phase. Only if a player PASSES will they be unable to take any more turns in that Order Phase.

Play a Unit

A player may play a unit card in their hand by paying its cost in full, flipping a number of command and/or supply tokens to their depleted side (the side with an X) as indicated on the card being played. Then they place that unit in their hive battlefield, ready.

Ready versus Drained: Unit cards enter play ready unless otherwise noted by other card effects. Units are considered ready as long as they do not have a drain token on them. After a unit has finished its activation, place a drain token on that unit. The unit is now drained and cannot be activated again until the drain token has been removed, typically during the Wrap Up Phase.

Card Anatomy

Unit card: control value, card name, faction icon, supply cost, command cost, ability box, offense, defense, card type - subtype (for example, Unit - Light).

Support card: card name, faction icon, supply cost, command cost, ability box, card type (Support).

Play a Support

A player may play a support card in their hand by paying its cost in full, flipping a number of command and/or supply tokens to their depleted (the side with an X) side as indicated on the card being played. Then they resolve the effects in its ability box. Once the ability has been resolved, place the card in its owner's discard pile.

Players should always attempt to fulfill as much of an ability as possible. For example, in the Reinforcements card ("Draw 2 cards, then place 1 card from your hand on top or at the bottom of your deck."), if a player only had 1 card left in their deck, they would still draw that card and then resolve the rest of the ability.

Activate a Unit

A player may activate one of their ready units played in a previous turn by flipping 1 of their command or supply. A player CAN NOT activate a unit the same turn it's played.

You may only take 1 activate unit action PER TURN.

• A. If the player uses a command token to activate their unit, it receives 2 actions. (Flip your command token; the active unit gains 2 actions.)
• B. If the player uses their supply token to activate their unit, it receives 1 action. (Flip your supply token; the active unit gains 1 action.)

After a unit has completed its activation, that unit becomes drained; place a drain token on the unit card.

FRONTLINE (see Glossary): a unit with Frontline may be activated the turn it is played.

Unit Actions

There are 3 types of action that a unit can take:

• A. Move
• B. Attack (limit 1 per activation)
• C. Named Ability (limit 1 per activation)

A. Move Action

A unit taking a move action may move from its current battlefield to an adjacent battlefield. Hives are adjacent to outer objectives, and outer objectives are adjacent to the center objective. As long as a unit has actions to spend, there is no limit to the number of move actions a unit can take during its activation. Unit movements can be made in both directions. See the battlefield diagram on page 12 for a detailed breakdown of the battlefields.

(Diagram: each player's Hive is adjacent to both outer objectives; the two outer objectives are each adjacent to the center objective. Hives are not adjacent to the center objective.)

Unit orientation: When moving units to objective tiles, place your units on your side of the objective tile and orient them so that they are readable to you. When moving units to the opponent's Hive battlefields, place your units directly opposite of any cards your opponent has in their Hive battlefield, oriented so they are readable to you.

B. Attack Actions

A unit can take 1 attack action during its activation. To resolve an attack, the unit chooses 1 enemy unit in the same battlefield as the attacker. The active unit is the attacker, and the chosen unit is the defender. Both players roll their result die, the attacker adds their unit's offense to their die result, the defender adds their unit's defense to their die result, then both players compare their unit's total strength (page 13).

FORMATION and MELEE: see Glossary.

• Totals are tied: If both units' total strength is tied, the defending unit is dealt 1 damage.
• Attacker Wins: If the attacking unit's total strength is higher than the defending unit, the defending unit is dealt 2 damage.
• Defender Wins: If the defending unit's total strength is higher than the attacking unit, the attack fails, and the defending unit is dealt no damage.

Critical Effect

One face on the result die has a critical result, denoted by a circle with a 4 value inside. The effects of a critical result vary slightly for attackers and defenders.

• The attacker rolled a critical: If the attack deals at least 1 damage, deal 1 additional damage.
• The defender rolled a critical: The defending unit wins regardless of the attacking unit's results, even if the attacking unit's result was a critical.

See the combat examples on page 13 for a detailed example of each combat result.

Damage and Destroying Units

As units take damage throughout the game, place damage tokens on them to keep track of the total damage that the unit has received. When a unit has 4 or more damage, immediately it is DESTROYED. On the 4+ damage token, the dead head icon represents the destroy of unit. Then, discard it from play and place it in its owner's discard pile.

Example: the defending unit takes 1 damage because the totals are tied; place a damage token on the card.

C. Named Ability Action

A unit can take 1 named ability action during its activation if it has one. To use a named ability action, the player announces that they are using it and resolves the ability to the fullest extent possible.

A named ability action will always appear in the following format: Unique Name, special condition*: game effect. (*Not all named ability actions have a condition special.)

Special Conditions

Two special conditions can appear on some named ability actions: Attack, and Draining.

Attack: The attack special condition indicates that the named ability counts towards the unit's once per activation attack.

• If a unit has already attacked during its activation, it cannot use a named ability action with the attack special condition.
• If a unit has already used a named ability action with the attack special condition during its activation, it cannot attack during that activation.

Draining: The draining special condition indicates that the named ability requires 2 actions to resolve.

• If a unit does not have 2 actions available, it cannot use a named ability action with the draining special condition.
• After a unit has resolved a named ability action with the drain special condition, end its activation and place a drain token on that unit.

Granted actions

Active unit finishes the action that granted the extra action then the other unit goes. The target may only take the specific action stated on the card and that action only. This action is not considered an activation for the target unit. The other unit completes that action fully. Then return to the active unit. The beneficiary of the action can be ready or drained and taking this action does not drain the target. This movement can also trigger other game effects as per normal attack or move rules. Such as with the Frontline Patroller.

Pass

If a player did not take a Deploy a Unit OR Activate a Unit order, they must pass. Once a player passes, the Order Phase has ended for them, and they cannot take any more turns during the current phase. However, any player who has not passed may continue to take actions until they pass. Once all players have passed, the Order Phase ends.

2. Control Phase

To win a game of Lost Empires, a player must gather enough artifacts to build all of their wormgates. Artifacts are gained by winning control of the objectives and through some card effects.

A battlefield can be contested, uncontested, or empty. During the Control Phase, players will assess the condition of each contested and uncontested battlefield by totaling the control (value printed in the top left corner of a unit) of their units there; empty battlefields are ignored when determining control. Starting with the First Player's leftmost objective, one by one, check each non-empty battlefield to determine which, if any, a player controls.

FORMATION: see Glossary.

Uncontested Battlefields

An uncontested battlefield is one where only one player has units in that battlefield. A player who has the only units in a battlefield is considered to have control of that battlefield, regardless of their control total there. That player gains 1 artifact.

Contested Battlefields

A contested battlefield is one where more than one player has units present. To determine which player gains control of an contested objective, both players add up the control of all of their units in that objective's battlefield. Units with any amount damage on them have their control reduced by 1. The player with the highest total control wins control of that objective and gains 1 artifact. In the event of a tie, neither side wins control, and no artifacts are gained.

Example (contested battlefield): The Feng player has a control total of 3: 1 from their Eye of Gliese plus 2 from their Fellgrin Captain. Fellgrin Captain has a printed control of 3; however, it has a damage token on it, reducing its control by 1, bringing the total control for Feng down from 4 to 3. The Terra Corps player has a control total of 2: 1 from their Dust Angel plus 1 from their Dust Marine. Feng has the highest control total and wins the center objective, gaining 1 artifact and 1 additional artifact due to the ability of the central objective.

RUTHLESS: see Glossary.

3. Gate Phase

During the Gate Phase, players will use the artifacts they have collected to construct wormgates and check for victory. Each player with 4 or more artifact tokens MUST discard 4 of them and flip their lowest numbered gate token to its gate side. The player retains any artifact tokens in excess of 4. Players can only flip 1 gate token per round.

Example Gate Phase for Terra Corps player: In the Gate Phase, the Terra Corps player has 6 artifact tokens; they must discard 4 of them to flip their first gate token. The 2 excess artifact tokens remain under control of the Terra Corps player.

Check for Victory

After all players have finished constructing their gates, check to see if there is a winner.

If only 1 player has flipped their fourth and final gate token, they have constructed their wormgate and win the game. If more than 1 player has flipped their fourth and final gate token, check the following among tied players in order to determine the winner:

1. The player with the most remaining artifacts wins.
2. The player with the highest control total among all battlefields as if it were the Control Phase.
3. The game is a draw; neither player wins.

If a player has not won the game, proceed to the Casualty Phase.

4. Casualty Phase

During the Casualty Phase, players remove damaged units from the battlefields. All units with 3 damage on them are immediately and simultaneously discarded from play. Move those units to their owner's discard pile. If game effects trigger during this phase and there is a need to determine the order, the first player decides the order in which the effects resolve.

(Note: the rulebook as printed says 3 damage here and in the Glossary's Casualty Phase entry, but says a unit with 4 or more damage is immediately destroyed in the Damage and Destroying Units box; transcribed as printed.)

5. Wrap Up Phase

During the Wrap Up Phase, players prepare for the next round. Perform the following steps in order:

1. Fall back units.
2. Ready drained cards.
3. Refresh command and supply.
4. Draw.
5. Turn Order.

1. Fall Back Units

Starting with the First Player, if a player has units in an enemy Hive battlefield, they must fall back. First, a player must choose an outer objective battlefield with at least 1 friendly unit. Then, that player moves all of their units from the enemy hive battlefield to the chosen battlefield. If there are no friendly units in either outer objective battlefield, they must fall back to their hive battlefield. A player may always choose to fall back to their hive battlefield if they wish. Fall back movement is not considered a move for the purposes of triggering card abilities and effects.

2. Ready Drained Cards

All players remove all drained tokens on their cards in play.

3. Refresh Command and Supply

All players turn their command tokens and their supply tokens to their unused side.

4. Draw

All players draw 1 card. There is no limit to the number of cards a player may have in their hand. If a player's deck has been depleted, they simply do not draw cards for the remainder of the game.

5. Turn Order

The current First Player passes the First Player token to their left. Then, begin the next round starting with the Order Phase.

Diagrams and Examples

A. Battlefields

Each player's game area has a Hive battlefield (with their hive tile, deck and discard pile). Between the Hives lie the three objective battlefields: an outer objective on each side and the center objective in the middle. Each objective battlefield has a unit cards zone for each player; cards must be placed in these areas. Move actions can be made in both directions between adjacent battlefields: each Hive connects to both outer objectives, and each outer objective connects to the center objective. To get to the center objective, units must go through the outer objectives.

B. 6 Examples of Combat

The Terra Corps player is the attacker in the following examples, and the Feng player is the defender. These examples show each of the possible results of an attack action.

1. Attacker and defender tie. The Terra Corps player's Dust Marine attacks the Feng player's War Dog. Dust Marine has a strength total of 4, and War Dog has a strength total of 4. Dust Marine ties with the War Dog, and War Dog is dealt 1 damage.
2. Defender with critical. The Terra Corps player's Machinegun Rex attacks the Feng player's Slew Pod. Machinegun Rex has a strength total of 7, and Slew Pod has a strength total of 5 with a critical result. Even though the Terra Corps player has the higher strength total, the Feng player's critical defense result causes the attack to fail, and no damage is dealt.
3. Defender and attacker with critical. The Terra Corps player's Machinegun Rex attacks the Feng player's War Dog. Machinegun Rex has a strength total of 7, and War Dog has a strength total of 6. Machinegun Rex and War Dog have rolled a critical. The defending unit wins regardless of the attacking unit's results, even if the attacking unit's result was a critical.
4. Attacker wins. The Terra Corps player's Dust Marine attacks the Feng player's War Dog. Dust Marine has a strength total of 5, and War Dog has a strength total of 4. Dust Marine wins the attack, and War Dog is dealt 2 damage.
5. Defender wins. The Terra Corps player's Dust Marine attacks the Feng player's War Dog. Dust Marine has a strength total of 2, and War Dog has a strength total of 5. War Dog defends the attack, and no damage is dealt.
6. Attacker with critical, tie result. The Terra Corps player's Dust Marine attacks the Feng player's War Dog. Dust Marine has a strength total of 5 with a critical result, and War Dog has a strength total of 5. Dust Marine deals 1 damage for the tie, plus 1 additional damage for the critical result.

Glossary: Keywords and Game Terms

Attack

Attack is a named ability action. An ability action with the attack keyword requires the unit to spend its once per activation attack action.

• A unit cannot use a named ability action with the attack special condition if it has already resolved an attack action during its current activation.
• A unit cannot take an attack action after using an attack named ability action.

Battlefield

All objectives and hive locations that can contain units are also battlefields for the purpose of game effects.

Example, Tactical Nuke card ("Destroy all units in battlefields."): Since all locations are battlefields, this card affects all the objectives and destroys all battlefield units (hive, center objective and outer objectives).

Destroy / Destroyed

When a card is destroyed, it is immediately discarded from play and placed into its owner's discard pile.

Discard Pile

The order of a player's discard pile does not matter and must remain face up open to all players for inspection upon request.

Some abilities allow a player to return or play cards from their discard pile, players may freely explore their discard pile while resolving these effects.

Drain

A drained unit is any unit with a drain token on it. Drained units cannot be activated but may still be granted actions from other game effects (see Granted Actions, page 10).

ELITE

The ELITE keyword represents the use of scavenged alien technology. When a card with ELITE is destroyed by a player, the player that caused the card to be destroyed gains 1 artifact token.

When a card with ELITE is played, place 1 ELITE token from the supply on that card. Return the ELITE token to the supply when the unit leaves play. The person who destroys the unit gains the Artifact token, even if a player destroys their own ELITE units.

Example, Elite with unit token - combat: Alpha Dog (Elite: "For each enemy unit in Alpha Dog's battlefield, it has +1 control to a maximum of +3 control.") with an ELITE token is the defender with a total of 3 against a Scion Imperium Chosen attacker with a total of 4. The attacker wins and deals 2 damage to Alpha Dog. In a following combat with the same unit, Alpha Dog (now with damage) defends against a Callisto Angel, both with a strength total of 3 (a tie); Alpha Dog is dealt the damage that destroys it, loses its ELITE token, the card is discarded, and the Scion Imperium player gains 1 Artifact token.

In addition: when a player claims an elite token from a unit by dealing the killing blow to that unit, they should immediately hand in that token for an artifact.

3-4 player and 2 vs 2: In 3-4 player games and 2 vs 2, Elite works slightly differently in this game type. The player who deals the 3rd damage to a unit or destroys the unit while it has an elite token, claims the elite token.

Enemy

Enemy is used to describe anything controlled by an individual player's opponents. For example, all Feng units are enemy units to the players controlling the Terra Corps, Scion Imperium, and Neo Human Republic factions.

FORMATION

FORMATION is a keyword unique to the Neo Human Republic faction. A unit with FORMATION in a battlefield with another friendly unit has +1 offense, and its control cannot be reduced due to damage.

Friendly

Friendly is used to describe anything controlled by an individual player. For example, all Feng units are friendly units to the player controlling the Feng faction.

FRONTLINE

FRONTLINE is a keyword unique to the Feng faction. A unit with FRONTLINE may be activated during the same turn that it is played. If the unit is activated, for the duration of that activation, it has +1 offense.

Heavy Unit

Heavy is a unit sub-type. Heavy does not have an inherent effect on its own, but other effects may reference it.

Light Unit

Light is a unit sub-type. Light does not have an inherent effect on its own, but other effects may reference it.

MELEE

MELEE is a keyword unique to the SCION IMPERIUM faction. A unit with MELEE must make 2 attacks as part of an attack action instead of 1, but they may choose different targets for each attack. MELEE attacks deal 1 damage on wins and ties. Critical attack results can increase this to 2 if the attack deals damage.

Objective

There are 2 types of objectives. The center objective and the outer objective. When a card references an outer objective, it refers to either of the 2 outer objectives in play. When a card references the center objective it refers only to the center objective. If a card only states objective, it refers to any of the 3 objectives in play.

The center objective also has an ability on it that a player gains if they meet the conditions of the ability.

Center Objective

During the Control Phase, the player who controls the center objective gains 1 artifact token in addition to the artifact token the gain for winning the objective for a total of 2 artifact tokens.

Example, Control Phase, for the center objective: The Scion Imperium player has a control total of 3 (1 from their Flack Reaper plus 2 from their Paladin). The Neo Human Republic player has a control total of 2 (1 from their Vanguard plus 1 from their DR-76). Scion Imperium has the highest control total and wins the center objective, gaining 1 artifact and 1 additional artifact due to the ability of the center objective.

Objective tiles: The center objective tile reads "Gain an additional 1 artifact in the control step, if you control this objective." The manual's illustration beside the outer objectives states: "If you control the outer objective you gain 2 artifact tokens (1 for winning control and 1 for the center objective ability)", and beside the center objective: "If you control the objective you gain 2 token (1 token for the control and 1 additional token with the ability)." (Transcribed as printed; the additional artifact is the center objective's ability, per the objective tile and the Control Phase rules above.)

Printed Control / Attack / Defense

When a game effect refers to the printed control, attack, or defence of a unit it is referring to the value that is printed on the unit card WITHOUT any other effects applied to it.

Ready

A unit is ready if it does not have a drain token on it. Only ready units can be activated with an activate to Unit order.

Reveal

When a player is asked to reveal a card from their hand or from the top of their deck, they must make that card visible to all players in the game. They should then follow all the additional rules related to the reveal effect.

Refresh

When a rule instructs a player to refresh a command or a supply it means turn a spent command or supply to its unspent side. If a game effect says a player may refresh a command or supply and the player has no command or supply to refresh, the player will not be able to take advantage of the effect.

RUTHLESS

RUTHLESS is a Terra Corps keyword: When a unit with RUTHLESS wins control of an objective, you may deal 1 damage to an enemy unit in that objective.

Game Round Reference

1. Order Phase (pg 8). Starting with the first player, players alternate taking turns issuing orders.

• Play a Unit: Play a unit card from hand to their hive battlefield.
• Play a Support: Play a support card from hand.
• Activate a Unit: Take activate actions with a ready friendly unit.

The order phase ends when all players have Passed. A player may Pass at any time they would take their turn OR if a player cannot Play a Unit or Activate a Unit, they must Pass.

2. Control Phase (pg 10). Starting with the First Player's leftmost objective, check each battlefield for control. For each battlefield a player controls, they gain 1 artifact token.

• Uncontested battlefields: A player who has the only units in a battlefield is considered to have control of that battlefield, regardless of their control total.
• Contested battlefields: Both players add up the control of all of their units at the objective. The player with the highest total control wins control of that objective and gains 1 artifact. Units with any damage on them have their control reduced by 1. In the event of a tie, neither side wins control, and no artifacts are gained.

3. Gate Phase (pg 11). Players with 4 artifact tokens discard them and flip their lowest numbered gate token to its gate side. If a player flips their fourth gate token, they win the game. If more than 1 player flips their fourth gate token, the tied players check the following to determine the winner: (1) The player with the most artifacts wins. (2) The player with the most total control on their units in play wins. (3) The game is a draw; neither player wins.

4. Casualty Phase (pg 11). All units with 3 damage are destroyed.

5. Wrap Up Phase (pg 11). Prepare for the next round. Perform the following steps in order:

1. Fall Back Units: Starting with the first player, if a player has units in an opponent's hive battlefield, move those units to an outer objective battlefield with a friendly unit OR to that player's hive battlefield.
2. Ready Drained Cards: Remove all drain tokens from cards in play.
3. Refresh Command and Supply: All players flip their command tokens and supply token to their unused side.
4. Draw: All players draw 1 card.
5. Turn Order: Pass the First Player token to the left. Then, begin the next round starting with the Order Phase.

FAQ

How does passing and minimum action per turn work?

1. Once you PASS, a player cannot take any more turns in the Order Phase.
2. Passing is not the same as "giving the turn over" to the other player. Given the turn over to the other player means a player took some orders on their turn but they are not done playing for the round. They want the other player to act before they do again.
3. Before a player is able to "give the turn over" to the other player they must AT LEAST take one of the mandatory orders which are "Play Unit Order" OR "Activate Unit Order" in the turn. If a player cannot take one of these orders, they MUST pass AT THE END OF THAT TURN. They must pass because they did not take at least one of the mandatory orders in their turn.
4. Once both players have passed, the Order Phase ends.

Can a player take other Orders if they can't take a "Play a Unit Order" or an "Activate a Unit Order"?

Yes. A player can play any number of other action that they can take that turn. Like "Support Orders" for instance. A player just must pass at the end of that turn because they did not take a mandatory order.

How many "Activate Unit Order" orders can I take in a turn?

One. Players are limited to only 1 order of this type PER TURN.

Can a player control an enemy hive battlefield and earn artifacts from it?

No. Players can only control objectives and earn artifacts from objectives.

Can I play same factions against one another if I have 2 boxes?

No. You cannot play the same faction against each other.

If only one player has a unit with control value of 0 in an uncontested battlefield do they get an Artifact?

Yes. This is called an uncontested battlefield. If a player is the only one with units at that battlefield in the control phase they with control that battlefield regardless of their total control there.

Do I need anything from Crown of Ashes for the War for the New Sun 2 player game?

No.

Does Dust Angel still do +1 damage even if it loses an attack?

No. If Dust Angel would deal at least 1 damage from an attack it will deal 1 more damage.

Can I destroy my own ELITE unit and get the artifact?

Yes. If you have a game effect that would cause this to happen.

The tactical nuke card kills all units in all of the battlefields even in the hive right?

Yes.

When and how often is Frontline Patroller's ability activated?

The Frontline Patroller's ability is a passive ability that triggers once per round the first time an enemy light unit enters a battlefield that Frontline Patroller is in.

Errata - Cards

• Eye of Gliese: The ability text should read as follows: When you play Eye of Gliese, you may place it in an objective where you have a friendly unit. You may activate Eye of Gliese without paying command or supply. Eye of Gliese can only take attack actions.
• Dust Marine: The ability text should read as follows: You may play Dust Marine for no cost. If you do, Dust Marine is played drained.
• Edgeguard: The ability text should read as follows: When Edgeguard resolves a move, you may immediately move or make an attack with a friendly non-Edgeguard unit.