Root: The Clockwork Expansion
Root: The Clockwork Expansion Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
1. Changes to the Law
Games with bots follow the rules given in the Law of Root (Sections 1–4), except for the following changes.
1.1 Crafting
1.1.1 Cost. Bots craft items without activating crafting pieces. (The item must still be in the supply to craft.)
1.1.2 Items. Whenever a bot crafts an item, it ignores the listed victory points and instead scores only one victory point.
1.1.3 Persistent Effects. Bots cannot craft cards with persistent effects.
1.2 Battling
1.2.1 Taking Hits. When taking hits, a bot removes all its tokens from the clearing of battle before removing any of its buildings there. If it has multiple types of buildings that it could remove there, it chooses which to remove at random.
1.3 Dominance Cards
Bots cannot play a dominance card to change their victory condition.
2. New Rules
2.1 Clearing Target Priority
If a bot must choose among clearings to target with an action, it follows all of the rules listed by its action. If it cannot target a clearing based on those rules, it targets the clearing of highest priority, as shown by the priority markers placed on the map, from among the clearings it would have targeted based on those rules. The clearing of highest priority is marked "1," and the clearing of lowest priority is marked "12."
2.2 Player Target Priority
If a bot must choose among players to target with an action, it follows all rules listed by its action. If it cannot target a player based on those rules, it targets the player with the highest setup priority, starting with the Marquise de Cat with "A."
2.3 Target Legality
A bot can only target a prompted clearing or player if the rules allow it. If a bot cannot target a prompted clearing or player, it will attempt to target another clearing or player tied in target priority; if it has attempted to target all such clearings or players, it will attempt to target the clearing or player next in the order of target priority. (For example, if a bot is prompted to battle in the clearing with the most enemy warriors, but it has no warriors in that clearing, it will attempt to battle in another clearing with the most enemy warriors. If it has attempted to battle in every such clearing, it will attempt to battle in the clearing with the second most enemy warriors. This continues until it battles or it has attempted to battle in every clearing.)
2.4 Action Order
If a bot would take multiple actions with different targets that might produce different results based on the order of those actions, the bot takes them in order of highest to lowest target priority. When moving, assess the priority order of the origin clearings (not the destinations).
2.5 "Such a..."
The rules often use the term such a clearing. This term means "the clearing that follows all the criteria for targeting a clearing previously listed by this action." The rules also use the terms such clearings, such a player, and such players to similar effect.
2.6 "Humans" and "Bots"
The term player includes both human players and bot players, which are respectively referred to as humans and bots.
2.7 Order Cards
On its turn, a bot draws and reveals a card, called the order card, to determine some actions it takes. The term ordered means "matching the suit of the current order card."
2.8 Abilities
Every bot has the following two abilities.
2.8.1 Poor Manual Dexterity. The bots have no hand of cards. Bots cannot discard cards. If a human would take a card from a bot, that human draws a card instead. If a human would give a card to a bot, discard that card, and that bot scores one victory point.
2.8.2 Hates Surprises. Ambush cards cannot be played against bots. (The Automated Alliance does not list this ability because they never initiate battles.)
3. Setup with Bots
Follow the variant setup (C3) and standard setup (5.1) in the Law of Root.
3.1 Place Priority Markers
After choosing the map, place a priority marker in each clearing as shown in the matching chart below.
The charts are printed as diagrams: Fall on page 2, and Lake, Winter and Mountain on page 3 of the printed rulebook. Each chart shows the twelve clearings of its map with a priority marker numbered 1 (highest priority) through 12 (lowest priority). The position of each marker on the chart is summarised below. Where this summary and the printed chart differ, the printed chart governs.
| Priority | Fall | Lake | Winter | Mountain |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | top left | bottom right | top left | top left |
| 2 | right, upper | top left | top right | top right |
| 3 | bottom right | bottom left | bottom right | bottom right |
| 4 | bottom left | top right | bottom left | bottom left |
| 5 | top, right of centre | right, middle | top, left of centre |
3.2 "5.1.1 Step 1: Assign Factions and Starting Player"
During this step of standard setup, you may replace any number of factions with the matching bot factions.
3.3 Choose Difficulty and Traits
After step 1 and before step 2 of standard setup, choose a difficulty and traits for each bot, as follows.
3.3.1 Difficulty. Choose a difficulty of easy, default, challenging, or nightmare. If you choose a difficulty other than default, place the matching difficulty card face up near the bot's faction board.
3.3.2 Traits. Each bot has trait cards that modify its rules and generally increase its difficulty. Choose any number of trait cards (even zero) and place them face up near the bot's faction board.
3.4 "5.1.3 Step 3: Draw Starting Hands"
Modify this step of standard setup as follows: "If you are playing with one or two humans, remove all four dominance cards from the deck. (Do not include the spy cards from the Riverfolk Expansion.) Shuffle the deck. Each human draws three cards. (Bots do not draw cards.)"
Fully Cooperative Play
If you want to play against the bots as a team, remove all four dominance cards during setup, and use the following rules in play.
To win, the humans must each score 30 victory points before any bot scores 30 victory points. Bots do not treat bot pieces as enemy pieces when targeting a clearing to act in, and do not target each other in battle. (However, a bot might still remove bot pieces as collateral damage with effects such as revolts, etc.) The humans still treat each other as enemies (so they can remove buildings and tokens for points, etc.).
If you need a leg up on the bots and feel adventurous, you might try treating all the humans' pieces as on the same "team" in various ways, such combining them when determining who rules clearings. When doing this, you'll need to make judgment calls about certain interactions (e.g., can the Lizard Cult convert a friendly Eyrie warrior using a conspiracy?). There are many such interactions in Root, and we'd encourage you to err on the side of challenge.
4. Mechanical Marquise 2.0
4.1 Overview
This is the simplest of the bots and can be used to fill out the player count in dozens of configurations. Though this bot is straightforward, don't get complacent. At least one player will need to keep it in check!
4.2 Faction Rules and Abilities
4.2.1 The Keep. Only the Marquise can place pieces in the clearing with the keep token. (Pieces may be moved into this clearing.) If the keep token is removed, remove it from the game permanently.
4.3 Faction Setup
4.3.1 Step 1: Gather Warriors. Form a supply of 25 warriors near you.
4.3.2 Step 2: Place Keep. Place the keep token in a random corner clearing.
4.3.3 Step 3: Garrison. Place a warrior in each clearing except the clearing in the diagonally opposite corner from the clearing with the keep token. Place an extra warrior in the clearing with the keep token.
4.3.4 Step 4: Place Starting Buildings. Randomly place 1 sawmill, 1 workshop, and 1 recruiter among the clearing with the keep token and those clearings adjacent with up to one building in each clearing.
4.3.5 Step 5: Fill Buildings Tracks. Place your remaining 5 sawmills, 5 workshops, and 5 recruiters on your matching Buildings tracks, filling every space except the leftmost space of each track.
4.4 Birdsong
Your Birdsong has two steps in the following order.
4.4.1 Reveal Order. Draw and reveal an order card.
4.4.2 Craft Item. If the order card shows an available item, craft it.
4.5 Daylight
Your Daylight has five steps in the following order. If the order card is a bird card, resolve Escalated Daylight (4.7) instead of this section.
4.5.1 Battle. Initiate a battle in each ordered clearing. The defender is the player with the most pieces in the clearing of battle.
I First Tie for Defender. Such a player with the most victory points.
4.5.2 Recruit. Place four warriors among ordered clearings you rule, distributed evenly. If you rule three such clearings, place the fourth warrior in such a clearing of highest priority.
4.5.3 Build. Place a building in the clearing you rule with the most Marquise warriors. Place a sawmill if the order card is a fox card, a workshop if it is a rabbit card, or a recruiter if it is a mouse card. (The order card determines the type of building placed, not the clearing where it is placed.)
4.5.4 Move. Move all but three of your warriors from each ordered clearing to the adjacent clearing with the most enemy pieces.
4.5.5 Expand. If you did not place a building this turn and have five or fewer buildings on the map, discard the current order card, draw and reveal a new order card (but do not craft its item), and return to the start of Daylight.
4.6 Evening
Your Evening has two steps in the following order.
4.6.1 Score. Score victory points listed on the rightmost empty space on your ordered Buildings track. If the order card is a bird card, use the track that would score the most victory points. (Unlike the Marquise de Cat, you do not score victory points for placing buildings.)
4.6.2 Discard Order. Discard the current order card.
4.7 Escalated Daylight
If the order card is a bird card, resolve the following steps instead of Daylight (4.5), and then continue to Evening (4.6).
4.7.1 Battle. Initiate a battle in each clearing. The defender is the player with the most pieces in the clearing of battle.
I First Tie for Defender. Such a player with the most victory points.
4.7.2 Recruit. Place two warriors each in the two clearings you rule of lowest priority. If you only rule one clearing, place all four warriors there.
4.7.3 Build. Place a building of the type with the most pieces on the map in the clearing you rule with the most Marquise warriors. If there is a tie between sawmills and any other types, place a sawmill. If there is a tie between workshops and recruiters but not sawmills, place a recruiter.
4.7.4 Move. Move all but three of your warriors from each clearing to the adjacent clearing with the most enemy pieces. Then battle in each clearing you moved into.
Mechanical Marquise 2.0 Example Turn
The Mechanical Marquise 2.0 takes the first turn of the game. First, it draws and reveals a card: Root Tea. This is the order card. Since this card has an item, the bot crafts it and takes the item from the supply. It doesn't need to activate, or even have, any workshops to do this. It scores one victory point, even though Root Tea lists two.
Then the bot goes to Daylight. The bot would battle but it cannot—the order card is a fox card, and no fox clearings have enemy pieces. Next, the bot recruits four warriors, placing one each in the four fox clearings it rules.
Then the bot builds. Clearing 1 has three warriors, but its slots are full, so it is skipped. Several clearings now have two warriors (6, 8, 12), so the bot builds in clearing 6 since it has the highest priority of those. The order card is a fox card, so it places a sawmill there.
It doesn't move because no clearing has more than three Marquise warriors. Likewise, it does not expand because it placed a building this turn.
In Evening, the bot scores one victory point—the fox order card means it scores from sawmills, and it has two sawmills on the map. Finally, the order card is discarded.
5. Electric Eyrie
5.1 Overview
The Electric Eyrie will inspire fear in the most stalwart of players. Like the Eyrie Dynasties, this bot can ramp up its action potential aggressively.
5.2 Faction Rules and Abilities
5.2.1 Lords of the Forest. The Electric Eyrie rule a clearing when tied for most combined warriors and buildings there. They do not rule empty clearings.
5.3 Faction Setup
5.3.1 Step 1: Gather Warriors. Form a supply of 20 warriors near you.
5.3.2 Step 2: Place Roost and Starting Warriors. Place 1 roost and 6 warriors in a random corner clearing that is not the starting corner clearing of another bot and, if possible, is diagonally opposite from a starting corner clearing.
5.3.3 Step 3: Tuck Viziers. Tuck your 2 Loyal Vizier cards, showing their suit, into the rightmost Decree column.
5.3.4 Step 4: Fill Roosts Track. Place your 6 remaining roosts on your Roosts track from right to left, filling all its spaces except the leftmost.
5.4 Birdsong
Your Birdsong has four steps in the following order.
5.4.1 Reveal Order. Draw and reveal an order card.
5.4.2 Craft Order. If the order card shows an available item, craft it.
5.4.3 Add to Decree. Add the order card to the Decree in the column matching the card's suit.
5.4.4 A New Roost. If you have no roosts on the map, place a roost and four warriors in the ordered clearing of highest priority where all those pieces can be placed. (Intentionally not listed on board.)
5.5 Daylight
Your Daylight has two steps in the following order.
5.5.1 Resolve the Decree. Recruit for each column in the Decree with at least one card from left to right. Then move in the same way. Then battle in the same way.
I Recruit. Place warriors, equal to the number of cards in this column, in a clearing with a roost whose suit matches this column's suit.
a First Tie for Target Clearing. Such a clearing with the most enemy pieces.
b Second Tie for Target Clearing. Such a clearing with the fewest Eyrie warriors.
c Third Tie for Target Clearing. Such a clearing of lowest priority.
II Move. Move from the clearing you rule whose suit matches this column's suit and has the most Eyrie warriors. Move to an adjacent clearing with no roost—if all adjacent clearings have a roost, move to an adjacent clearing with a roost, following the tiebreakers below. Leave warriors in the origin clearing so there are exactly enough to rule it or equal to the number of cards in this column, whichever is higher.
a First Tie for Destination Clearing. Such a clearing with the fewest enemy pieces.
b Second Tie for Destination Clearing. Such a clearing of lowest priority.
III Battle. Initiate a battle in a clearing whose suit matches this column's suit. The defender is the player with the most buildings there (even zero). If this column has more cards than each other column, you deal one extra hit.
a First Tie for Target Clearing. Such a clearing with no roost.
b Second Tie for Target Clearing. Such a clearing with the most defenseless buildings.
c Third Tie for Target Clearing. Such a clearing of lowest priority.
d First Tie for Target Defender. Such a player with the most pieces there.
e Second Tie for Target Defender. Such a player with the most victory points.
5.5.2 Build. Place a roost in a clearing you rule with no roost. (If multiple, pick the clearing of highest priority.) If you cannot place a roost for any reason, you immediately fall into turmoil. (You will take this action regardless of which cards are in your Decree.)
5.6 Evening
Score the victory points listed on the rightmost empty space of your Roosts track.
5.7 Turmoil
If you are prompted to place a roost but cannot for any reason, you fall into turmoil, as follows.
5.7.1 Step 1: Humiliate. Lose one victory point per bird card (including Loyal Viziers) on the Decree.
5.7.2 Step 2: Purge. Discard all of the cards on the Decree except your Loyal Viziers. Keep your Loyal Viziers in the bird column.
5.7.3 Step 3: Rest. Go to Evening (as normal).
Electric Eyrie Example Turn
It's midway through the game, and it's the Electric Eyrie's turn. First, they draw and reveal a card: Root Tea. This is the order card. Though this card has an item, it cannot be crafted because there are no teapot items left in the supply on the map. They add the order card to the Decree in the rabbit column.
Then the Eyrie resolve their Decree, starting by recruiting from left to right. The fox column has one card, so they place one warrior in their only fox clearing with a roost (8). The mouse column has no cards, so the Eyrie skip it and go to the rabbit column, placing one warrior in their only rabbit clearing with a roost (3). Then they recruit for the bird column, placing two warriors in the same fox clearing (8), since that clearing has more enemy pieces than the rabbit clearing (3) and the mouse clearing (7), the other two clearings where they have a roost.
Then, they start moving. First, they move out of the bottom fox clearing (8) to an adjacent clearing with no roost. The only one with no roost is the corner rabbit clearing (4), so they move three warriors there. The fox column has one card, so they must leave one warrior behind. The Alliance is a human, so moving into the clearing with sympathy causes Outrage—the Alliance draws a card and adds it to their Supporters stack. (If the Alliance were a bot, the move would not cause Outrage.) For the rabbit move, they move from the bottom-right rabbit clearing (3) because it has the most Eyrie warriors, and they move into the rightmost fox clearing (6) because it has no roost and fewer enemy pieces than the central mouse clearing (11). Finally, for the bird move, they move from the bottom-left rabbit clearing (4), since it is tied for having the most Eyrie warriors and has higher priority than the fox clearing (6), and they move into the central fox clearing (12), since it has fewer enemy pieces than the leftmost mouse clearing (9). They move one warrior, leaving two behind because the bird column has two cards.
Finally, they start battling. First they battle in the central fox clearing (12) since it does not have a roost. They roll 0-0! Then they battle in the corner rabbit clearing (4) because it is the only rabbit clearing where they can battle. They remove the sympathy token, score one victory point, and cause Outrage once more! For the bird column, first they battle in the central fox clearing (12) again—among the clearings they could battle in, this clearing has no roost, is tied for most defenseless buildings (zero), and has the lowest priority. They roll 0-0 again, but the bird column has the most cards, so they deal an extra hit, removing the Marquise warrior! Whew.
At the end of Daylight, the Eyrie build a roost in the bottom-left corner rabbit clearing (4). In Evening, they score 3 points for their roosts!
6. Automated Alliance
6.1 Overview
The Automated Alliance is especially zealous and will revolt frequently. Keep in mind their potential targets so you avoid any unpleasant surprises. Once they do establish a foothold, timing is critical. Don't let them consolidate their warriors or you'll be in trouble!
6.2 Faction Rules and Abilities
6.2.1 Sympathy Tokens. The Alliance has 10 sympathy tokens.
I Placement Limits. A clearing can hold only one sympathy token.
II Terms. A sympathetic clearing is one with a sympathy token. An unsympathetic clearing is one without a sympathy token.
6.2.2 Automated Ambush. In battle as defender with at least one Alliance warrior, the Alliance deals one extra hit.
6.2.3 Automated Outrage. Whenever a human removes a sympathy token or moves any warriors into a sympathetic clearing, that player must discard a matching card. If they cannot, the Alliance scores one victory point. (This does not trigger Poor Manual Dexterity.)
6.2.4 Crackdown. Whenever an Alliance base is removed, remove all sympathy tokens from clearings matching the suit of the base removed.
6.2.5 Martial Law. If the Alliance places a sympathy token in a clearing with three or more warriors owned by the same enemy, the Alliance scores one fewer victory point, to a minimum of zero.
6.3 Faction Setup
6.3.1 Step 1: Gather Warriors. Form a supply of 10 warriors near you.
6.3.2 Step 2: Place Bases. Place your 3 bases on the matching spaces in your Bases box.
6.3.3 Step 3: Fill Sympathy Track. Place your 10 sympathy tokens on your Sympathy track.
6.4 Birdsong
Your Birdsong has four steps in the following order.
6.4.1 Reveal Order. Draw and reveal an order card.
6.4.2 Craft Order. If the order card shows an available item, craft it.
6.4.3 Revolt. If the order card is not a bird card and the ordered base is not on the map, remove all enemy pieces from the ordered sympathetic clearing with the most enemy pieces matching a base on your faction board, then place the ordered base there.
6.4.4 Public Pity. If you did not revolt this turn in Birdsong (6.4.3), spread sympathy (6.5.1) based on the number of sympathy tokens on the map, as follows. If you have zero to four, spread sympathy twice; if you have five or more, spread sympathy once. (You will spread sympathy again in Daylight.)
What Can Stop a Revolt? Revolts can fail for three reasons: First, if the order card is a bird. Second, if the ordered base is already on the map. Third, if no sympathetic clearing matches a base that is not on the map. Because the creatures of the Woodland like a good uprising, these failures trigger public pity (6.4.4).
6.5 Daylight
Your Daylight has two steps in the following order.
6.5.1 Spread Sympathy. Place a sympathy token in an ordered unsympathetic clearing with the fewest enemy warriors adjacent to any sympathetic clearing. Score the victory points listed on the space revealed on your faction board (remembering Martial Law).
I No Such Clearings. If there are no such clearings to target, place a sympathy token in the clearing with the fewest enemy pieces.
II Cannot Spread. If you cannot place a sympathy token (because your Sympathy track is empty, or because there is no clearing where you could place a sympathy token), score 5 victory points.
6.5.2 Surprise Revolt. If the order card is a bird card, remove all enemy pieces from the sympathetic clearing with the most enemy pieces matching a base on your faction board, then place the matching base there. (If multiple, revolt in the clearing of highest priority.)
6.6 Evening
Your Evening has three steps in the following order.
6.6.1 Organize. In each clearing with a base and three or more Alliance warriors, remove all Alliance warriors from that clearing, and then spread sympathy (6.5.1).
6.6.2 Recruit. Place one warrior in each clearing with a base.
6.6.3 Discard Order. Discard the current order card.
Automated Alliance Example Turn
The Automated Alliance is taking the first turn of the game. First, they draw and reveal a card: Birdy Bindle. This is the order card. Bird cards are exceptionally powerful for the Alliance, especially on the first turn, because they trigger both public pity and a surprise revolt!
First, they craft the bag and score one victory point.
Next they check for a revolt. Because the order card is a bird, they do not revolt right now. They did not revolt, triggering Public Pity (6.4.4), which lets them spread sympathy. Right now they are unpopular—they have fewer than five sympathy tokens on the map—so they spread sympathy twice. Because there is no sympathy on the map, they place a sympathy token in the clearing with the fewest enemy pieces. There are many clearing with one enemy piece, so it goes in the clearing of highest priority—in this case, the corner mouse clearing (2). For their second sympathy, they only consider clearings adjacent to existing sympathy tokens. All three of these clearings match the order card, since it is wild, so sympathy spreads to the clearing of higher priority—the rabbit clearing (5). They score a point!
In Daylight, the Alliance once again spreads sympathy, this time into the fox clearing below the corner (6). While the corner fox clearing (1) has higher priority, that action is not legal (2.3) since this clearing has the keep token. This scores another point.
Finally, because the card was a bird, there is a surprise revolt (6.5.2) in the clearing with the most enemy pieces (5). The Alliance removes the Marquise warrior and workshop there, scoring a victory point, and then places their rabbit base there.
In Evening, the Alliance places a warrior in the clearing with their base (5).
In total, the Alliance scored four points this turn—one for crafting the item, one for removing the workshop, and two for placing their second and third sympathy tokens.
7. Vagabot
7.1 Overview
The Vagabot makes for a capricious friend or foe. Like a human player, he will reward those who craft items. But be careful, he can make for a dangerous enemy once he gets enough items to boost his maximum hits.
7.2 Faction Rules and Abilities
7.2.1 Lone Wanderer. The Vagabot pawn is not a warrior (so he cannot rule a clearing or stop another player from ruling one). The Vagabot pawn cannot be removed from the map.
I Full Removal. Whenever an enemy player uses an effect that says it removes all enemy pieces from a clearing (such as Alliance revolts, Favor of the Mice cards, Conspiracy bombs) with the Vagabot, he damages three items.
7.2.2 Nimble. The Vagabot can move regardless of who rules his origin or destination clearing (Law of Root, 4.2.1).
7.2.3 Items. To take actions, the Vagabot must exhaust items. Unlike the Vagabond, the Vagabot treats all items as identical (for example, there is no difference between H and T). Items on the Vagabot's faction board can be face up or face down. He exhausts undamaged items, flipping them face down, to take many actions. When gained, all items are placed face up in his Satchel.
7.2.4 Battle Track. The Vagabot's maximum rolled hits (Law of Root, 4.3.2.I) in battle begins at one. (The Vagabot does not count S toward this.) While the Vagabot has at least six, nine, and twelve undamaged items, one, two, or three items, exhausted before unexhausted, are placed on the spaces of the Vagabot's Battle Track from left to right. The sixth and ninth items each increase his maximum rolled hits by one, and the twelfth item makes him deal one extra hit as attacker in battle. Items on the Battle Track cannot be exhausted, but they can be damaged.
7.2.5 Taking Hits. When the Vagabot takes hits, he damages exhausted items or, if he has no exhausted items, unexhausted items. (Damaging items may move items from its Battle Track to its Satchel.)
7.3 Faction Setup
7.3.1 Step 1: Choose Character. Pick a character card and place it in your Character Card slot. (These are different from the character cards for the Vagabond.)
7.3.2 Step 2: Place Pawn. Place your Vagabot pawn in the forest adjacent to the most clearings. If there are multiple such forests, decide randomly among those.
7.3.3 Step 3: Get Quests. Shuffle the quest deck, draw 1 quest card, and place it face up near you. This quest can only be completed by the bot.
7.3.4 Step 4: Populate Ruins. Take the 4 items marked "R" and place one randomly under each ruin. (This is the same as the human Vagabond.)
7.3.5 Step 5: Take Starting Items. Take any 4 items marked "S" and place them in your Satchel. (The Tinker starts with 3 items instead of 4 items.)
7.4 Birdsong
Your Birdsong has three steps in the following order.
7.4.1 Reveal Order. Draw and reveal an order card.
7.4.2 Craft Order. If the order card shows an available item, craft it.
7.4.3 Slip. If you have two or fewer undamaged items, move into a random adjacent forest, then skip Daylight and begin Evening.
7.5 Daylight
The current order card determines the sequence of actions that you will take this turn, as follows. Often, you will be prompted to take an action in the nearest clearing. If you can take the action without moving, remain in your current clearing. If you cannot, move to a clearing where you can take the action, exhausting one item per move, in the way that exhausts the fewest items. You move even if you do not have enough unexhausted items to take the action after moving.
I Bird: Explore, Quest, Aid, Battle
II Fox: Explore, Battle, Special
III Rabbit: Battle, Repair, Special
IV Mouse: Quest, Aid, Battle, Repair
7.5.1 Explore. Move to the nearest ruin. Then, exhaust one item to take one random item under the ruin in your clearing, reveal it, and place it face up in your Satchel. If you remove the last item from the ruin, remove the ruin. (Do not score victory points for exploring.)
7.5.2 Quest. Move to the nearest clearing matching the current quest. Then, exhaust two items to complete the quest. (Ignore the listed item types on the card.) Discard the quest and score one victory point. (Ignore the text effect of the card.) Then, draw a new quest and place it face up near you.
7.5.3 Aid. Target the player in your clearing with at least one piece there, at least one item in their Crafted Items box, and the fewest victory points of such players there. Exhaust as many items as possible up to the number of items in their Crafted Items box. Take that many items from the target player and score that many victory points, then the target player draws that many cards. (You can aid other bots. Because of their Poor Manual Dexterity, aided bots simply score one victory point.)
7.5.4 Battle. Move to the nearest clearing with at least one piece of the player with the most victory points. Then, exhaust one item to initiate a battle against that player. If any pieces of that player remain, exhaust two items and battle again, repeating this until you do not have enough items to exhaust. Score one victory point per enemy warrior you remove. (Do not score this if you are the defender. You still score points for removing tokens and buildings.)
I First Tie for Destination Clearing. Such a clearing where the target defender has the most buildings and tokens.
II Second Tie for Destination Clearing. Such a clearing where the target defender has the fewest warriors.
7.5.5 Repair. If you have at least one damaged item, exhaust one item to repair it. All unexhausted, damaged items must be repaired before any exhausted, damaged items can be repaired. (Do not flip the repaired item face up if it is face down.)
7.5.6 Special. Exhaust one item to take the action listed on your character card. If the special action listed on your character card would have no effect or is impossible, skip this action.
7.6 Evening
Your Evening has three steps in the following order.
7.6.1 Refresh. If you have at least one damaged item, refresh four undamaged items. If you have no damaged items, refresh six undamaged items instead.
7.6.2 Repair. If you are in a forest, repair all items. If you are not in a forest, repair one item. Repair unexhausted items before exhausted items.
7.6.3 Discard Order. Discard the current order card.
7.7 Vagabot Character Reference
7.7.1 Thief (Easy). Take a random card from the enemy in your clearing with the most victory points. On a tie, take it from such an enemy with the most pieces there.
7.7.2 Tinker (Moderate). Search the discard pile for the topmost card with an available item and craft it. (Remember to only score one point.) You start with one fewer item.
7.7.3 Ranger (Difficult). If you have three or more damaged items, slip into a random adjacent forest.
The Vagrant, Scoundrel and Arbiter Vagabot characters (7.7.4–7.7.6 in the printed rulebook) are listed there as part of The Clockwork Expansion 2 and are not reproduced in this file.
Vagabot Example Turn
After a few rounds of play, it's the Vagabot's turn. At this point he has five items. Remember, all items for this bot are treated as identical, so it doesn't matter if one happens to be a boot or a sword. For clarity, the example illustration does not show items being exhausted as the Vagabot takes actions.
The order card is a bird. The Vagabot will craft its item. Normally the item would go into the Satchel, but, because this is the Vagabot's sixth item, it is placed on the leftmost place on the Battle Track. This item cannot be exhausted but will increase the bot's maximum hits to two. Finally, as the Vagabot has plenty of undamaged items, he won't need to slip. He scores one point for crafting the item.
Now it's time for Daylight. The order card is a bird so the bot will take the following actions: Explore, Quest, Aid, and Battle. Each time an action is taken, the Vagabot must exhaust at least one item. The Vagabot will continue taking actions until it takes all four actions or has exhausted all of its items.
First, he explores the nearest ruin. This requires that he move to the fox clearing (12) as it is the nearest clearing with a ruin. He exhausts a second item to explore the ruin, taking the sword beneath it. This is his seventh item, so it is placed in his Satchel. He has four items left.
Next, he quests. He exhausts an item to move south to the mouse clearing (7), and then exhausts two more items. He scores one point. He has one unexhausted item left.
The third action is aid. He exhausts his last item to aid. This clearing contains both the Eyrie and the Marquise. Only the Marquise has crafted an item, so only she can be aided. (This is different from the human Vagabond!) The Vagabot takes an item and scores a point, and the Marquise draws a card. Because he got another item, he can keep taking actions!
The fourth action is battle. The Vagabot exhausts its final item to battle in its clearing. The Marquise has the most victory points there, so they are the defender. The roll is a pair of threes. Bad luck! Two Marquise warriors are removed, netting the Vagabot two points, but the bot must damage three items. This brings the bot down to five undamaged items, so the sword falls off the Battle Track into the Satchel.
The Vagabot cannot battle again since it would need to exhaust two items, so it moves on to Evening. Since the bot has at least one damaged item, it only refreshes four items.
12. Map Interactions
12.1 Lake Map
12.1.1 Ferry. The bots use the Ferry following normal movement rules, treating the Ferry as if the clearing with the Ferry and all other coastal clearings were linked by a path. (They score one victory point instead of drawing a card, as normal for bots.)
12.2 Mountain Map
12.2.1 Closed Paths. The bots treat closed paths as paths, and they ignore rules for opening closed paths.
12.2.2 The Pass. When a bot attempts to target a clearing based on highest or lowest priority, the Pass will always meet this condition. (Bots will likely target the Pass, and it will win all tiebreakers.)
Credits, the bot art plates, and the faction reference boards printed in the document are not reproduced; the reference boards repeat the rules above.