The Expeditions rulebooks are available for download.
If you have rule questions, please post them in the comments on this page, create a thread on BoardGameGeek, or ask them in the Expeditions Facebook group. You can search for specific cards here.
You can learn the rules from the rulebook, the videos below, and/or the Dized interactive tutorial.
There is also this helpful glossary and icon reference created by Jay Nabedian.
A few reminders:
- When a card or icon indicates that you can gain 1 location benefit, it’s referring to exactly 1 icon (even if there are multiple benefit icons on that location).
- If you have an item card in your active row with a worker on it, its ongoing ability is active until you refresh that worker/card (i.e., the ongoing ability isn’t just for upgraded item cards).
- When you Solve with a character “…gain the core value of all your solved quests”, this includes the quest you’re currently solving (solve it by paying the cost, then gain this benefit).
- The core value of any card is always relative to your current status. For example, if you’ve melded 1 or more meteorites and you’re looking at the core value of a meteorite card within the map, its core value for you includes the second guile/power.
- The color of a card is the color of the worker shown at the bottom left corner of the card.
- If you gain a refresh benefit without taking an Refresh action, your action token does not shift to “refresh”.
- When an ability or benefit refers to adjacency (i.e., an adjacent card, gather benefit, etc), it’s always relative to your mech. For example, adjacent cards are those next to the location your mech is currently on, not the cards in your active row.
- Whenever you Gather, you must gain all exposed benefits if possible (“/” means “or”).
- There is no limit to the number of cards you can have under your control (“cards you control” refers to cards in hand and in your active row, not tucked cards).
What does the “1x” on the “activate an adjacent card’s ability” icon refer to? Can a card’s ability be activated more than once per turn?
The “1x” in this benefit indicates that you can only activate the selected card’s ability once this turn (in case you find a loophole that would allow for multiple activations of the same card). A card’s ability may only be activated once per turn unless specifically noted otherwise.
Can I Solve or Vanquish whenever I want?
No, just like any other benefit in the game, you can only Solve or Vanquish when an ability specifically says you can (like on your starting cards).
Why does location 16 only need a value of 5+ corruption when all other northern locations require 8+?
This is a mistake, but perhaps a fortuitous one. Officially, play as the tile is printed. Unofficially, you may choose to play with this tile as intended (8+ corruption value)–you could even change the 5 to an 8 with a fine-point marker. Or not–there’s no rule in the game saying that all northern locations need to have the 8+ value. We may use this as an opportunity to offer new expansion tiles in the north with more variation in corruption values; similarly, we may include an 8+ version of this tile in an expansion. When we play Expeditions, we will use the printed value as the official value.
How do the limited map tokens impact the game? What does it mean that the components list says 24 map tokens, but there are more than that in my copy?
The intention behind the quantity of map tokens included in Expeditions is that you never run out of them. They are only stated as “limited” because there isn’t an easy replacement. 24 is more than you should ever need, but we had extra room on the punchboards, so we included a few extras.
Can I use the Odin’s Wrath mech ability more than once per turn?
Odin’s Wrath reads, “You may trash a map at any time on your turn to gain 1 power, 1 guile, or $1.” It does not mention a limit per turn, so you can save up map tokens and use this ability multiple times on the same turn.
For the quest “Cure a Whale of Parasites” (card 005), the benefits are a corruption and a coin icon. What exactly are those benefits?
When you solve quest 005, you will draw a corruption token from the bag and keep it; you also gain $1 from the supply.
Can I boast for a 5th glory even though there are only 4 star tokens in my player color?
Nope! You can boast at most 4 times in a game of Expeditions.
The silicone base snaps don’t fit properly in my copy of the Ironclad Edition. Is that normal?
It seems to be a fairly common issue. The issue has more to do with the inconsistent size of the metal mech base. Due to the polishing, the bases are of a slightly different size as the size tolerances is difficult to control. The good news is that the silicone base snaps should become more flexible and fit better the more they’re used (you can even stretch them out by hand if they’re a little too small); double-sided tape is also a temporary solution if the bases are too big. Also, we plan to include a full set of revised silicon base snaps in the Ironclad version of the expansion. You can share data about your silicone bases on this short survey.
Will the insert fit sleeved cards and future expansions?
Yes.
Is Scythe required to play Expeditions?
No. Scythe is a separate game set in the same 1920+ world. Expeditions has completely different mechanisms than Scythe, though the goal was to capture some of the same feelings that Scythe evokes, with a slightly darker, more supernatural theme.
Why aren’t there dual-layered mech mats?
Dual-layered mats are great in games where the mats hold dozens of tokens that, if upended, could cause chaos and frustration. That isn’t the case in Expeditions, which only has 3 tokens on the mat; as a result, the mats are not dual-layered. It would have significantly increased the price of the game, the boards wouldn’t have fit well in the box without making it taller (further increasing the cost), and–most importantly–the added utility is actually quite small. Being able to slide the power, guile, and action tokens is easier than having them locked into place, and it isn’t difficult to slide cards under the mat (plus, because of the pressure of the mat, they stay in place).
Instead, as an option included in the game, Expeditions comes with 4 riser stickers per mech mat. These lift the mats above your playing surface enough to slide cards under the mat without the need to pick up any portion of the mat and risk tokens sliding around.
If Expeditions gets an expansion, it will likely include 2 new mechs (and 2 new mech mats). 7 single-layered mats with riser stickers will fit into the insert; 7 dual-layered mats with stickers will not. For that reasons–and the reasons stated above–Expeditions will not have dual-layered mats.
What are the areas of tension in Expeditions?
Tension in Expeditions arises from getting to the location you want when you want to gather or complete a quest there (only 1 mech can be on a location at any time), from getting the face-up card you want, being the first to get map tokens, clearing corruption–particularly the 3-value corruption tokens and the lone 20-value corruption token (also, clearing the final corruption on a location is an example of positive player interaction in that it unlocks a new benefit on the tile), and optimizing your strategy so you place 4 glory to trigger the end of game before other players (glory is a significant portion of scoring). There is no combat in Expeditions–the central conflict is against the corruption resulting from the mysterious meteorites.
Is there a disadvantage to going last in Expeditions, especially at 4 or 5 players?
We didn’t find that to be the case in playtesting. By going last, you often have more information than the previous players if any of them explore central locations. Or if players haven’t explored, then they’ve give you a head start on gathering explore tokens and powerful benefits in the central region. Just because some locations may be blocked in the south doesn’t make the remaining benefits any less valuable.
Early in the game, some players rush forward to claim one of limited explore tokens on the face-down locations and reveal new locations with powerful benefits (including the first appearance of purple workers, which don’t appear in the south). Other players gather cards that look exciting to them (sometimes there are quest cards for southern locations, making them easy to solve early in the game). And some players may pick up a worker on their first turn: There are two locations in the south that generate workers and a third location that generates a gather benefit from an adjacent location.
Later in the game, each player will have taken 20+ turns. At that point, it isn’t important who took the first turn of the game; rather, it’s what you’ve done with the 20+ turns you’ve had and how successful you’ve been at achieving glory. At that point, the focus shifts to incentivizing players to finish the game so it doesn’t overstay its welcome. That’s why the player who triggers the end of the game by placing their 4th star will earn the final turn of the game (after each other player takes their final turn).
I’ve seen from online discussions about the game that there’s a bit of groupthink happening in regards to getting a worker on your first turn (stemming from frustrations in 4- and 5-player games where a few players don’t get a worker on their first turn). Workers are indeed important for activating abilities, but they are far from the only strategic path to take in Expeditions, even early in the game. Cards, exploration, guile, and power are all key resources to pursue.
Even though player order should not impact your ability to pursue a strong, winning strategy in Expeditions, perception is important too, and I hear these frustrations. The expansion (in development now) implements a new element to address early worker scarcity frustration.
As for player scaling, my design philosophy is that a game doesn’t need to feel the same at every player count; in fact, I think it’s more thematic if the game does feel different. If you’re cooking dinner in a small kitchen, the experience is different if one other person is there versus four other people, right? The kitchen doesn’t magically scale in size based on the number of cooks. The same goes for Expeditions: It is designed and playtested to but functional and fun from 1-5 players, and it’s by design that it feels slightly different at each player count. Plus, you never need to refer to the rulebook to see how the setup or rules are different based on the number of players.
Why is the same tile layout used in every game (with the same 20 location tiles)?
All 20 locations need to be in the game so each quest card can be solved, and the layout is designed so there is a distinct south, central, and north region (each with their own tiles) and room for 5 face-up cards. Earlier in playtesting I tried different layouts, but this is the one that worked best, and slight variations on it didn’t add anything interesting. Even with the same layout (which is noted on the basecamp board for easy setup), there’s a massive number of different combinations of tiles in terms of exactly where and when they appear in relation to other tiles.
Why is my “hand” of cards face up? Could I keep those cards hidden in my actual hand?
There are a few reasons for it, but I’ll note up front that if you really like having cards in hand, there’s no real issue with doing that.
The main reason is that there’s a lot to interface with in Expeditions, and in playtesting something felt off when players held cards in hand. It was hidden information that didn’t need to be hidden–unless you’re drawing from the top of the deck, it’s all open information anyway–and it felt like it was pulling players away from the shared map (especially in the moments in those early playtests where you needed your hands and put your cards face-down on the table, as you were then losing access to information that you’re better off having). Plus, thematically your crew is running around in and near your mech, not separated from it.
The secondary reason is something I found during playtesting: Having the cards face-up in your hand allows you to remind yourself which abilities you plan to activate, as you can physically place workers on your cards in hand to plan ahead. That helps you avoid those awkward moments in Expeditions when you thought you were going to play a card and activate its ability…only to realize you don’t have an available matching worker.
So, given all this, why still call it a “hand”? I think it’s still the most intuitive, concise way to indicate “cards under your control that are available to play”.
Can I buy just the metal mechs or just the plastic mechs?
The metal mechs are only available in the Ironclad Edition. We sell the plastic mechs separate from the game for people who want to paint a spare set of mechs.
Why should I preorder from Stonemaier Games instead of waiting a few months for the retail release?
We offer delivery much earlier than the retail release date (shipped from a fulfillment center in the US, Canada, Europe, or Australia) and a guarantee that you’ll actually get a first-run copy in a timely manner. We also support anyone who wants to order the game from their retailer of choice (retailers will offer the game for pick up or shipping on the retail release day).
264 Comments on “Rules & FAQ”
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In Expeditions – can you gain card 090 – Control the possessed as the purple card you are gaining or does it need to be a different purple card. Player is on location Tarkovsky’s Lair and activating an adjacent face up card.
This card reads, “Activate the ability of any face-up purple card, then gain that card.”
You gain the same purple card whose ability you activate.
With the Jet pack card can I travel through multiple unexplored tiles and explore them or do I have to pick a tile I can move too and explore only that tiles.
I found another comment regarding the same question I had. All is good.
Hi, we played the game for the first time yesterday and loved it, how ever we had a question regarding pacing workers on cards in the active row. Is is allowed to place a workers on an already played card? Example lets say i have played my companion card already so that it is in my active row, but I havent place a workers on it to activate the vanquish, can I on a later turn use the play action to activate that card and resolce the vanquish? Or do I have to refreash or resque the card and play again and activate it when playing the card? In short, is it only allowed to activate a card with a workers at the same turn as the card is played?
Thanks for playing Expeditions! You can only place a worker on a card at the moment you play a card, not later.
Just to clarify, does that mean that I can only place that worker on the card i played that turn? Or can it be placed on any elegible card in the active row?
That’s correct. You can only place a worker when you play a card, and only on the card you’re currently playing.
Hi Jamey,
Must be my age! Even after watching the excellent Rodney Smith play through video for Expeditions and re-reading the following sentence on page 5 regarding the Move action I am still mystified. Be grateful if you could please clarify the meaning for this old guy new to gaming and trying to keep his brain active!
In the rare instance that you cannot move your mech to a valid destination, don’t move (you may still take the Move action if it’s available; you just forfeit the action).
Once again Many thanks
Anthony
Thanks for your question! This is just saying that when you choose the Move action, you must move your mech if possible.
Hi Jamey,
Really enjoying Expeditions, to my way of thinking Automa very similar to playing Chess in terms of the Mech’s blocking moves. I always read rule books from cover to cover and make a list of questions on areas I am uncertain of. In this instance could you please clarify the rules regarding Worker placement and Vanquish.
1. Can you place a Worker onto a card in your active row from your mat during a ‘play’ action without having to refresh your cards first. I am pulling all my cards back to play a particular action and never seem to have an active row of more than four cards at most.
2. Similar to this if you take say the play and gather action, without moving your mech, can you take the same gather action again at the same location where your Mech is placed for that turn.
3. When you Vanquish all Corruption from a location, if another player places their Mech there do they place new Corruption tiles; namely re-corrupt the tile. Similarly when placing your Corruption tiles with benefits icons to the left of the dotted square can you still claim those benefits or does all the Corruption on the tile have to be removed first before you make your choice.
Many thanks, looking forward to this year’s new games and expansions!
Kind regards
Anthony Whiteoak UK
Thanks for your questions!
1. Yes, as you don’t Refresh during turns when you Play. Unless a card specifically says otherwise, you should only be refreshing cards during a Refresh turn.
2. Whenever you Gather, you Gather once from your mech’s location.
3a. No, corruption tokens are only placed when a tile is first explored.
3b. Whenever you Gather, you gain the exposed benefits. So if corruption covers one benefit but not another, you gain the the revealed benefit when you Gather.
I’m answering these questions from a general multiplayer perspective–if there’s something very specific to Automa that you want to know, I’d recommend watching some of the Automa playthroughs available on the media page or specifying in the question the Automa text you’d like clarified. Thanks!
Hallo, es gibt eine Meteoriten Karte die 1$ pro Person gibt.
Ist damit die Anzahl an Spielern gemeint?
Gibt es da kein maximum von 3$?
Yes, it’s $1 per player, so it has a max of $5.
Is it an idea to make rubber or plastic corner risers? You can then click on the 4 corners during play.
My mech boards aren’t completely straight, and I’d like them to be a bit higher.
Maybe the corner risers can then be included in the extension.
By the way, I love this game!
Thanks for sharing (and playing!). I’ve seen some third-party accessory creators offer risers like that.
We’ve only played once, but it felt extremely unbalanced towards the starting players at 4 player. Due to tile-placements only 2 worker spots were available at the start. The starting player got to max stars well ahead of everyone else and of course got an extra turn in total. If the starting two aren’t kind, the two other players are basically locked out from early workers (Except for random purple workers) as the starting two players can go to the worker locations, follow with gather-play and then refresh, meaning the other two get a worker at earliest turn 4. The starting (and winning) player did this, though the second player moved away.
Hello, what is the effect of completing quest of card 067, please? I pay 2 x strenght and gain corruption. What does the corruption mean? Do I gain one corruption token or does it mean that I can put away all corruption tokens from the location where my mech currently is?
Thanks for playing! For that benefit, you gain a random corruption from the bag.
Hi Jamey,
Question about the active row. Can a worker only be placed on the turn a card is played in the active row, or can it be activated on a later play action.
Also, do you still get the benefits from ongoing cards in the active row if you are not taking the play action on a give. Turn?
Thank you for your time!
Thanks for playing! Unless a card says otherwise, it’s only when you play it that you can place a worker on it. And yes, ongoing abilities are available all the time.
Hi, as a noob I have a question. When you are faced with selecting two of three possible actions (move, gather, play), and given that you cannot just repeat the two actions you took last time (need to move your action token), do you have to perform the only two actions available? If I have no cards left to play, can I just do one action (like gather if I chose to do play and move last time) or am I then forced to refresh?
Thanks for clarifying for me, dc
Thanks for your question! You must perform an action if possible, but it’s okay to choose a combination of two actions even if one of them is not possible (like in the situation you described).
Love the game, very specific question:
If you have the Exosuit card activated (once per turn if you rescue another card, either gain its core value or activate its ability). If you play “repair a damaged mech” that rescues all other cards, should I still get the ongoing item bonus? Or does the card get rescued before the activated item can go through? Thanks!
Thanks for your question, Tim! You would be able to gain the core value or activate the ability of one card you rescue that way.
First of all, Love the Game. Question regards Gather action on North tiles: After you clear corruption tiles, You find second benefit for Gather action and there is no ”/” between benefits. Central areas do have ”/” so rules say chose one, with that in mind, does on North tiles You get both benefits when you Gather?
Thanks for any answer in advance.
Thanks Darius! That’s right, you gain both benefits when you gather in the North. :)
My game came with a set of purple workers instead of white. Are those a design change or mistake? The stars are white, as is the marker cube.
The workers have no connection at all to player colors–this is neither a design change nor a mistake. Check out the rules or a rules video, and if you have questions about how workers function, I’m happy to help. :)
Boy, is my face RED! When I first read the rules, I liked the idea of all workers being ‘Mercenaries.’ I have a bad case of CRS (Can’t Remember Stuff) and should have reread the first part of the rules!! I humbly apologize!
Thank You for your quick reply. And for your fine games!!
No worries. :)
Thank you for a very nice game. We ae in doubt about the wording on card “deceptor Crystal”, are not clear for us, the wording “Include” is the issue. If you are on a tile, with with a “/” does it mean, you get both options, or can you simply select the option beneath the corruption?
Can you share the full, exact wording on the Deceptor Crystal? Thanks!
Deceptor Crystal (item card no. 14)
“Whenever you Gather, you may pay (brain), to include a benefit covered by corruption on your location.”
Thanks! Yes, for this, you ignore “/”. The only thing that matters is that the benefit is covered by corruption.
Thank you for the swift response :)
Hi jamey, looked through all cards to make spreadsheet how much point to expect and noticed the meteor cards which want wants orange tokens 037 doesn’t have a limit in the german version. Is this a printing error, as they are the same as turquoise in numbers and quantity?
That card should have a max of $3.
Hi Jamey, we love That game ! We only have a small question. When we place a worker on a card, do we must activate all abitilies on the card or do we choose which ability to activate ? For instance , card 050 tells you to meld another meteorite and also gain 2 guiles. Can i choose not to meld another meteorite. Also , card 056 days to boast and gain 2 power . If i can’t place à star, can i still activate the ability to get the additional power ? Thanks
Thanks Michael! If you can, you must gain the benefit (if you choose to place the worker). It’s an option if it says “may”. On card 056, for example, if you can’t place a star, you can still activate that ability to gain 2 power.
Thanks for the Quick reply. SM games are the best !
Halfway through our first session, we already love it. I have a doubt about the ”Whenever” phrasing on items in general, and on ”Synergy Halo” in specific. It says ”whenever you gain at least 2 guile during your turn, also gain 1 power.” When does it start counting? Is it from the time the ability is gained, i.e. when the worker is played, or from the start of the turn (i.e. including the core value gained). Cheers!
Great question! The ability begins when you place a worker on the card. From then on, as long as the worker is still on the card, the ability applies from the beginning of your turn.
Oh, and you can activate the ability or gain the core value in either order.
Thanks for the prompt response and the helpful clarification!
One more question – are you supposed to always use the same companion with each character or could you mix and match as a variant? I can’t see any obvious balance issues but we haven’t tried all character combos yet. Cheers, Toivo
They’re designed mechanically and thematically to work together–I would strongly recommend against mixing and matching.
Hi,
When card 089 is solved as fourth quest, can we use the benefit to boast a star on the quest section ?
Thanks for your question! The benefit of solving quest 089 (Close the Vortex) is to boast. If this is your fourth quest, you can boast about it by placing a star in the quest category.
Thanks for your answer !
So I win angaist the Automa by 1 point. Great!
Really nice game. Love to play it!
Just played for the first time! We had two questions: what do the 5+ and 8+ on certain locations cards mean? Also, if we explore super quickly and run out of corruption tokens in the bag, do the subsequently explored locations just not have any corruption (and therefore the upgrade/meld/boast action is available for free)? Thanks!
When you reveal a location, you populate it with random corruption tokens whose sums must add up to at least 5 or 8, depending on what the location says.
It actually isn’t possible for you to run out of corruption tokens, so there might be something else you’re missing. In case it helps, I’d recommend watching this part of the Watch It Played video: https://youtu.be/YyLBa5DXi1w?si=xQ2EBgT7mQeLSP9q&t=410
Oh thank you! We were adding corruption tokens equal to the locations number! Our mistake :)
If you have 1 melded meteorite, and play and activate meldstone, which melds another meteorite, can you also use the “requires 2 melds” line on meldstone and gain 2 guile? Or do you need to have 2 melds before activating the ability at all for those 2 guile?
You can gain the benefits sequentially in any order, so you could also use the “requires 2 melds” benefit and gain 2 guile.
I’ve been enjoying playing Expeditions, I am wondering if there is anything in the works to release an app to tell a story behind each tile — something to play once when someone flips it over or land on it to gain a deeper connection to the game if a story was told about that tile and how it relates to the game.
I think something would be cool to write up something about the Mechs, history, inspiration of the design to give them a personal touch. Since they don’t battle each other, they designed to explore and gathering resources with some defense mechanism?
anyways, thank you for your time and hope to hear back for you.
Thanks for your question! A lot of the story is in the art itself, but there is also written narrative for each location–you have some of it on the journal entry included in your copy of the game. Learn more about those entries here: https://stonemaiergames.com/surprises-and-signatures/
In the FAQ it says “generally, a card’s ability may only be activated once per turn” does this mean that if I have the item that allows me to activate a discarded card’s ability and the meteorite which allows me to discard a card to activate its ability, I only get a single activation of the discarded card? Or does that ruling just apply to that tile?
Thanks for your question! You get both activations in that case.
On card 084. “Transfer topmost corruption tile from adjacent tile to your location” Does this mean you put the tile on top on the benefit outlined by the square to be removed by vanquish? Would they go on top of other tiles if there are any there? If you are on a southern tile, where you you place the corruption you have transferred?
Does this mean you put the tile on top on the benefit outlined by the square to be removed by vanquish? –Yes
Would they go on top of other tiles if there are any there? –Yes
If you are on a southern tile, where you you place the corruption you have transferred? –It goes on the location but doesn’t cover anything
I played “Hack through vines to find a hidden entrance” which says “Vanquish. As you do, you may discard up to 3 cards, gaining their core values.”. I also have the item which let’s me activate a discarded card’s ability. I have Jetpack. Am I allowed to finish the vanquish despite moving?
You are (that’s a clever combo), though finish vanquishing before you use the Move from Jetpack.
Hello,
We played a game the other day and the following question came up:
A player during his Gather option, receives the benefit of the 1x”- “activate an adjacent card’s ability. That ability allowed the player to move to another hex – Theoretically, that player is still during the “Gather” phase. Is he able to gather rewards from the new location too?
Thanks for playing Expeditions! When you Gather, it’s only from the original location where you began the Gather action.
If you use occult nexus and you have 4 guile but need 5 the adjacent cards have 2 guile and 1 power do I get those before resolving the vanquish?
Occult Nexus reads, “Whenever you Vanquish, first gain the core values of all adjacent face-up cards.” So yes, you get those first, then you proceed with the rest of the Vanquish benefit.
Just played my first game and i realy like it! Great work!! I got one question: Is the capacity of your character a ongoing one or just one shot when you play it?
Whenever you play your character, if you place the correct type of worker on it, you activate its ability. The ability only applies at that moment (whenever you play it and place a worker on it).
Ok, thats what i was doing, but was not sure. I got the french version and some rules are not well translated or got some error in typo. Thanks for the answer and for that great game.
hello.
Is this a legal move ? 48:58
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDFH-irUee4&t=2939s
Absolutely! If she had a card to play, she must play it, but it’s still fine to choose a Play turn even if you don’t have a card to play.
Thank you. The Polish manual contains an mistake. now everything is clear.
Hi, when I upgrade a card do I also gain the instant reward one last time (text above the worked spot) as if I had place a worker there?
Or is the benefit from upgrading just to keep the ongoing benefits active until the end of the game?
Good question. You do not gain the instant benefit when you upgrade a card; rather, you now have an ongoing benefit until the end of the game that you always have (no need to have a worker on the card). Also, because you upgraded the card, at the end of the game it’s worth the coin value indicated on the bottom right of the card.
Another great game! Thank you Jamey!
Our first match ended with a tie after counting all the coins.
Now we have to count partials victories according to the glory categories.
May I count for example more than 7 corruption tokens? And do I have to count workers plus map tokens or do I have to decide for one?
Thanks for playing, Sebastian! You count everything for the tiebreaker, including things in excess and including both workers and maps.
Question on the Sunstone meteorite. The meld benefit is “Gain $1 per 3-value corruption (max $3).” Is it gain $1 for every 3-corruption on your mech mat or $1 for every one on the board? If the latter, do they have to be exposed? Thanks!
The former, gain $1 for every 3-value corruption you’ve gained to your mech mat.
That’s what we settled on – makes more sense. Thanks!
Just unboxed and reading the rules. “PLAY”: “you may place a worker on the card…”. Question: Must the worker come from your mech mat? If so, one doesnt start with any workers. Or can the worker come from the general supply?
You may only place workers you control (just like you can only play cards you control or spend guile/power you control). To gain workers, use the Gather action on a location that produces workers.
Hey Jamey, what are the names of the different meeples?
Green = explorer
Red = soldier
Purple = weird
Blue = engineer
Yellow = merchant
Hey! Just got my game and I love it. I love being back in the world of Scythe in a different but equally enjoyable game.
However, I have one issue. I splurged and got the ironclad edition and the silicone bases do not fit. They are slightly too small and pop off often in the game. Normally, I wouldn’t care about the bases and play without, but I’m afraid that the metal mechs would scuff up the boards. Are there other people that have the same problem? Does anyone have a solution to this?
I appreciate you getting Expeditions, Rachel! This is a problem experienced by others; here’s the note we include on the above page (first entry under “General Questions”):
The silicone base snaps don’t fit properly in my copy of the Ironclad Edition. Is that normal?
It seems to be a fairly common issue. The issue has more to do with the inconsistent size of the metal mech base. Due to the polishing, the bases are of a slightly different size as the size tolerances is difficult to control. The good news is that the silicone base snaps should become more flexible and fit better the more they’re used (you can even stretch them out by hand if they’re a little too small); double-sided tape is also a temporary solution if the bases are too big.
Hi, thanks for an amazing game yet again. We got to play this for the first time yesterday and we came across a situation where one of us had two quests on the same tile that could be solved, but we couldn’t find anything in the rules that states if you could solve both at the same time or if you’re limited to one quest per solve, so what is the rule here? Or did we just overlook something obvious?
We had so much fun with this game!
Thanks for playing! Just like any other benefit in the game, you only gain the benefit once (i.e., only solve 1 quest).
If the instant benefit on an item card is to gain a worker, does it have to be the color of the worker on that card? Thank you
Any worker :)
Well that changes everything, thanks! Great game!
We played it with 5 and we had the same issues. Not only were the 3 spots taken where you get a worker by the first : players resulting in playing cards without the worker benefit. It means we had less to chose as options and weren’t able to activate the card with a meeple. And in the end of the game the first 2 players also got an extra turn. Which is also an unfair advantage. So there is no bad thing on going early only good things ( more options, better card activation, probably a turn more than later players). It felt so bad that we reread the rules multiple times to make certain we did nog miss the bonus you get when you are 4th or 5th player
Casper: Thanks for sharing this feedback. By going last (or second to last), you often have more information than the previous players if any of them explore central locations. Or if players haven’t explored, then they’ve give you a head start on gathering explore tokens and powerful benefits in the central region. Just because some locations may be blocked in the south doesn’t make the remaining benefits any less valuable.
Early in the game, some players rush forward to claim one of limited explore tokens on the face-down locations and reveal new locations with powerful benefits (including the first appearance of purple workers, which don’t appear in the south). Other players gather cards that look exciting to them (sometimes there are quest cards for southern locations, making them easy to solve early in the game). And some players may pick up a worker on their first turn: There are two locations in the south that generate workers and a third location that generates a gather benefit from an adjacent location.
I’ve seen from online discussions about the game that there’s a bit of groupthink happening in regards to getting a worker on your first turn (stemming from frustrations in 4- and 5-player games where a few players don’t get a worker on their first turn). Workers are indeed important for activating abilities, but they are far from the only strategic path to take in Expeditions, even early in the game. Cards, exploration, guile, and power are all key resources to pursue.
Even though player order should not impact your ability to pursue a strong, winning strategy in Expeditions, perception is important too, and I hear these frustrations. The expansion (in development now) implements a new element to address early worker scarcity frustration.
Hey can a card rescue itself?
It can, unless it says, “Rescue another card.”
When solving a quest indicates a benefit of a specific type of face up card (e.g. item) but there are no items, is it just tough luck, or what should happen?
If there’s no card of that type available, you can’t gain it, so you should probably wait until there’s a face-up card of that type before solving the quest.
I have played Scythe many times and am now considering playing Rise of Fenris and Expeditions. Should I complete RoF before playing Expeditions? (am I going to find RoF spoilers if I play Expeditions first?)
Great question. Expeditions doesn’t spoil the Rise of Fenris, but there are a few nods to story elements of RoF in Expeditions (really nothing that you couldn’t discern from the RoF box, though).
The card Repair a Damaged Mech seems strong, effectively getting a refresh of all but one card plus three victory points. “Rescue all other cards. If you rescue at least 3 cards this way, gain $3”. Other cards abilities that give you 3 vp have serious costs to them, like the one where you need to spend a large amount of guile to get those points. I’m wondering if there’s a gotcha I’m missing. Could this mean I rescue all my opponent’s cards too?
Unless otherwise specified, anything you do on impacts components you control, so with this card you can only refresh cards in your active row.
Card number 056. When activated I can Boast. Do I have to be on a location hex that has the boast gather icon exposed or can this activated benefit apply no matter my present location?
The ability isn’t dependent on any location–it says you can boast, so you can boast (from where you are). :)
That’s awesome! By the way our second order arrived yesterday. Got another Expeditions to give as a gift and picked up a copy of Tapestry.
Thanks John! :)
To add to this question, cards numbered 027 & 029, for example. Do I have to be on a location with corruption in order to vanquish – 027.
Can I gather from any location or just from the location I’m on? – card 029
Yes, you must be on a location with corruption to vanquish.
You can only ever gather from the location where your mech is.
I’m answering in general because I don’t have the card text in front of me for those cards–it’s always helpful if you include the card text in your question. :)
Cullstone:
Ability reads:
Vanquish.
Thanks! A Vanquish benefit includes all rules for vanquishing.
To help me clarify. The Gearstone card, 042, ability says Upgrade. The Chart A Course North card, 056, ability says Boast.
You mentioned when I activate these that I can boast or upgrade from anywhere I am located. That I don’t have to be on a Boast or Upgrade location.
Cullstone, 047, ability says Vanquish. Can I do that from any location Judy like the previous two examples?
I don’t see a place within the rules to clarify.
Quick question about melding: If I have already melded 4 meteorites, and have the opportunity, through either card or location ability, to meld, would I still get the meld rewards even though I can no longer add a meteorite?
No, after you’ve melded 4 times (or 5 with Tanaka), you cannot can any aspect of the meld benefit again.
When a quest is solved do I gain the core values of all the previously tucked (completed) quest. I know it applies to meteorites but does that also apply to quest?
That is a special benefit noted on your character card (it isn’t a core part of the Solve benefit). With your character, it includes the core value of the newly solved quest.
For central tile 8 do I have to refresh the cards from my active row or can I choose not to?
Indeed, if you gather, you must gain the benefit.
Meteorite card 033 (charterstone). What does it mean to “gain $1 per adjacent face up card”. Is that just other meteorites you have melded next to that card? So $2 max?
Thanks for your question, Nicole. Adjacency in Expeditions is always referring to your mech’s location, and face-up cards always refers to the cards within the locations. So if your mech is on a location that is next to 3 face-up cards, you would gain $3 from Charterstone.
Any updates or thoughts on when the next Iron Clad Edition, set for September, might be shipping?
You should get a shipping notification by the end of next week! Thanks for your patience!
No worries! That’s great!
On card 015, it allows you to move through facedown locations without stopping. Does this mean, you couldn’t do this anyway? We didn’t see this in the rules. But, we could have easily missed it. Really enjoying the game BTW!
That’s right, normally you must end your movement if you move onto a face-down location (gain the map and reveal the location).
Enjoy this game so much, I just ordered a second Iron Clad Edition for a good friend.
Thank you so much! I’m glad you’re having fun with Expeditions. :)
The more I play this game the more I enjoy its cardspace and engine design however my experience is somewhat hindered by minor qol choices that I really don’t see adequate to theme, art and core engine. Can you please help me understand?
1. Why are corruption tokens not printed double sided? Having to flip them statistically half of the time they’re drawn is quite annoying. Especially because drawing corruption happens invariably in every game and it’s quite a chore;
2. Why do corruption tokens complely cover benefits if the game is not about hidden information? The color coding of the little +5/+8 is not helpful for colourblind friends (especially upgrade and meld are almost indistinguishable) and is not helpful when viewing the board from the left side as it’s covered by the corruption stack.
3. Why do corruption tokens need to be stacked, forcing everyone to frequently lift them to calculate guile and power needed to vanquish them? We ended up placing corruption just next to the covered benefits in a column but its a homemade, ugly solution to a problem that should have surfaced in playtest and solved in design;
4. Why add colourblind aids to corruption tokens then reference those tokens as turquoise and orange on cards and not replicate those very same aids?
5. Why are Basecamp sides identical? Why adding the cost of printing it double sided if the sides are identical?
Of course, I’m happy to answer your questions.
1. Why are corruption tokens not printed double sided?
–Because it would have significantly increased the cost, and thus increased your price. The value added is minimal.
2. Why do corruption tokens complely cover benefits if the game is not about hidden information?
–They’re designed to leave the edges of those benefits visible. It’s fine if you move them aside to make the icon more visible.
3. Why do corruption tokens need to be stacked, forcing everyone to frequently lift them to calculate guile and power needed to vanquish them?
–How else would you indicate an order to them?
4. Why add colourblind aids to corruption tokens then reference those tokens as turquoise and orange on cards and not replicate those very same aids?
–Because those aids (little icons) are shaped to look like simplified guile and power icons, which are already paired in the game with those colors via explanatory text.
5. Why are Basecamp sides identical? Why adding the cost of printing it double sided if the sides are identical?
–This is a very minimal cost; I sometimes print things double sided in case one side gets marred or scratched. I’m surprised that this isn’t appreciated, but you’re not the first to question/complain about it. As a result, I guess we’ll just stop doing this, leaving the back side printed plain black instead.
Hey Jamey, thanks for always being on the frontline and so quick to respond. I’d like to provide a bit more reasoning, in order to give you meaningful and helpful feedback. Food for thought!
–Because it would have significantly increased the cost, and thus increased your price. The value added is minimal.
I strongly (but very respectfully) disagree on your minimal added value consideration. If this was true then why coins and map tokens are printed on both sides? I understand that the difference lies in the material but I feel like wooden tokens were not the optimal choice in any case: their advantage over paper/plastic lies in reduced sliding while stacked but stacking corruption provides a suboptimal UX anyway – see below.
–How else would you indicate an order to them?
Let me try to rephrase what I described as the solution we’ve adopted. Imagine watching the game board from the perpendicular top. The current implementation, the stack, has the benefit of occupying a fixed amount of space: a 1 token wide x 1 token tall area regardless of how thick is the stack, but given the size of the tiles of Expeditions I don’t see this as a real, needed benefit. In a 8+ tile, the most amount of tokens needed to seed corruption is 3 (3,3,3 actually 3,3,whatever) and these can easily organized in a column to be resolved top to bottom: place the first token to cover the benefit, then the following ones above – but not on top – of the first one. This way you have a column that, seen from the top of the board is 1 token wide, 3 tokens tall and 1 tokens thick, were all numbers are prefectly visible. It’s hard to explain for a non English native speaker, please be understanding. I’ll try to be more clear with a wonderful scheme.
Current implementation: a stack of 2x 3 guile and 1×5 power value seen from above the board
[5p] <– Covered tile benefit
Column of 2x 3 guile tokens and 1x 5 power, seen from above the board:
[5p]
[3g]
[3g] <– Covered tile benefit
–Because those aids (little icons) are shaped to look like simplified guile and power icons, which are already paired in the game with those colors via explanatory text.
Sure, the guile/power simbology is not lost on me, but to a colourblind person (we've 2 in my group) the explainatory text means very little without a back reference to the nature of the token. The typical phrase is "I'm sorry guys, I keep forgetting if orange is circle or diamond… what was it again?"
–This is a very minimal cost; I sometimes print things double sided in case one side gets marred or scratched. I’m surprised that this isn’t appreciated, but you’re not the first to question/complain about it. As a result, I guess we’ll just stop doing this, leaving the back side printed plain black instead.
For sure redundancy adds falut tolerance and that is indeed absolutely appreciated. With a double sided mat it's also easier to setup the board and thus more accessible but, to me, what feels weird is the missed opportunity for variation. Maybe having a side with different glory thresholds or different scoring scheme or I don't really know would have been appreciated more.
“their advantage over paper/plastic lies in reduced sliding while stacked”
That’s actually not the reason I selected wooden tokens for corruption. The reason is so you can see the color of the token from any angle.
I like your stacking solution–since it works for you, please keep using it! :)
Just officially played Expeditions with our gamers group. The overall consensus is THUMBS UP!
We walked away with just one question:
There is a card, can’t recall which one, that provides $1.00 for each Orange corruption token up to $3,00 maximum.
Question – is that Orange corruption you control or on the game board?
The card does not specifically say “that you control”.
Thanks John! I’m honored that Expeditions has earned the prestigious honor of thumbs up. :)
Cards like that always refer to things you have/control. There’s a note about this on page 6: “Any ability that refers to a token, card, worker, or mech applies only to components in your possession unless specifically stated otherwise.”
Ah! I missed that note. Thanks Jamey!
In the above FAQ, when addressing multiple activations of a card, you say: “In general, a card’s ability may only be activated once per turn.”
What do you mean here? Do you mean that they can’t, period? Or that in general they can’t, but there are specific situations that they can?
What are the exceptions that allow multiple activations of the same card’s ability?
Sorry for the unclear phrasing! You can only activate a card’s ability once per turn (globally).
The rules seem to refer to cards being on the board, in your hand, or active. Are these different states, or the same? If different how do they interact?
They are different. There are cards you don’t control (among the locations; if gained, place them in your active row) and cards you control. You play cards from hand into your active row.
Hi there! Loving the game so far! I’ve got Ironclad box 5752. Tonight when I went to take metal Tatanka out of the box, it separated and left it’s base behind. What would you recommend for reattaching? Super glue?
Thanks Andrew! A touch of any glue you have handy should make it good as new. :)
Aidestone states “gain guile per orange corruption” does that mean the value of the orange tokens a player has, the number of orange corruption tokens they have or something else
If you use Aidstone’s ability, you’ll count the number of orange corruption tokens you have, and you gain that many guile. So, if you have 6 orange corruption tokens, you’ll gain 6 guile.
It looks like my question got skipped over, so I will repost it again:
“If I pre-order the Expeditions playmat (when it becomes available to pre-order) could I have it shipped together with my already-preordered copy of Expeditions (to save on shipping)?”
I’m sorry I missed this! The Expeditions playmat is available to preorder now. If you’re waiting on an unshipped product that you already preordered, just send a note to contact@stonemaier.com with your order # and what you want to add to it. Thanks!
Great, thanks!
If you get the “activate an adjacent card’s ability action and the adjacent card’s ability has an instant benefit and an ongoing benefit, do you activate the instant benefit, the ongoing benefit or both?
Both are activated simultaneously.
Can you select play as an action if you do not have any cards in your hand? If the answer is no, and your last turn omitted the play action – in this case would to be required to refresh/rescue before being able to take the play action?
Yes, you can select Play as an action even if you can’t play a card (but if you have a card, you must play it).
Thank you Jamey
I play a character or companion card and place the required worker on the card. I get that ability only once during the current “play” turn? Or do I get that ability on subsequent turns provided it is still in my active row with a worker.
? In other words is character and companion ability reoccurring? Or is the only ability that reoccours are those on item cards?
You gain the ability right away, when you place the worker. If it’s an ongoing ability (only item cards have these), that ability is active as long as the worker remains on the card.
You da man!
Is discarding considered to use your play action, or can you discard cards at any time during your turn?
When you play a card, you move it from your hand to the right of your mech mat in the active row. If–and only if–you activate an ability that specifically says “discard a card” can you discard a card from your hand to your active row (it is not the same as playing a card, nor can you do it whenever you want).
By default, whenever you gain a new card (from the face-up cards within the location tiles or the deck), it goes into your active row, not your hand.
Got it, thank you!
I was watching the “Jon Gets Games” video and have a question related to tile #8, Crater Rim. The gathering option on the bottom left is Refresh and Sweep. The player could do both of those, correct? Sweep and Refresh?
The video makes it sound like you have to make a choice between the two.
Right, you do both of them (though “sweep” is “any number of face-up cards”), so you don’t need to sweep any cards if you don’t want to.
I’m a bit confused by the wording on the Meteorite Card ‘Mindstone.’ When I activate it, it says to put a worker on an already activated card. Does this mean I can put 2 workers on this card? Or does it need to be an activated but empty card. Also, does the workers color need to match?
Let me check for the exact text. The Mindstone reads, “Place a worker on an active card to activate its ability.” “Active” card, not “already activated.” An “active card is a card in your active row to the right of your mech mat–that’s where cards go when you play them, gain them, or discard them. A card can only have 1 worker on it and the worker must always match, so you’ll choose a card in your active row that doesn’t have a worker on it (perhaps one that you recently gained or discarded, and they won’t have workers on them).
Ok awesome, thank you! Been a huge fan of Scythe for years and years and I’m already in love with Expeditions.
If I pre-order the Expeditions playmat (when it becomes available to pre-order) could I have it shipped together with my already-preordered copy of Expeditions (to save on shipping)?
Question about workers: When you “discard” a card, it goes into your active row, and since it’s specifically being “discarded” you cannot place a worker on it to gain the benefit on that turn? Is that correct? But if you’re gaining a card and adding it to your active row, you are able to place a worker on it to gain the benefit? Is that correct? OR…can you only place a worker on a card at the moment when it is being “played” from your hand?
You only place a worker on a card at the moment when it is “played” from your hand. :)
So, in this case, I can’t play a card on one turn, and place a worker on that same card on my next turn. I have to already have that worker on my mat. Correct?
Right, it’s only when you play a card that you can place a worker on it.
Playing first time solo. I am stuck on the solving ability. Specifically card 051, Clear the blockaded bridge. The reward for this card looks to be “play a card”. The card is currently in my hand. According to the rules, you pay the cost, you get the benefit, then you tuck the card. Can I play card, 051 as the benefit and then tuck it?
Thanks for your question, Chad. The card you tuck is quest 051 (when you solve it).
Yes, I understand that I will be tucking the that card, but the benefit of solving that card allows you to play a card. And the rule flow says pay, get the benefit, and then tuck. So can I pay, get the benefit (play a card), the card that I want to play IS 051, and THEN tuck 051.
Oh I see what you’re saying–thanks for clarifying (it was clear before, but I missed it). Because you’re solving quest 051, you can’t also play it as a card.
Great! Thank you! I appreciate it!
One last think, card 016 references gaining a “map”. I assume map = quest card?
Thanks! A map is a map (you may know them as “encounter tokens” from Scythe–they’re the tokens placed on face-down locations during setup, and there are extras to gain from the supply).
I guess, my question is when does 051 leave my “controlled” section? Is it when I take the Solve action or when it becomes tucked or somewhere in between?
It’s when you begin gaining the Solve benefit. At that point, it stops being a card under your control.
Cesar ability says “move to an adjacent location…” – would an unexplored location be a valid target for the move (thus scoring the map token and flipping the tile?)
That’s correct!
Is the lumberjack power essentially used twice the whole game? Whenever you vanquish, reduce the cost of the first corruption of each color by 1. Does this mean I can reduce the cost at each location by 1 for many uses throughout the game or literally the first orange and first blue I come across and then never reduce again.
This power is applicable every time you choose to Vanquish.
Question about workers: When you “discard” a card, it goes into your active row, and since it’s specifically being “discarded” you cannot place a worker on it to gain the benefit on that turn? Is that correct? But if you’re gaining a card and adding it to your active row, you are able to place a worker on it to gain the benefit? Is that correct? OR…can you only place a worker on a card at the moment when it is being “played” from your hand?
You only place a worker on a card at the moment when it is being “played” from your hand.
Thanks! Sorry for posting this question in two spots accidentally. Love the game and I’m new to this community here.
How does the Lumberjack ability affect the “20” piece?
The rule book states that lumberjack clears this tile with 18 combined power and guile rather than 20
It applies to the first corruption of each color for every single time you perform the vanquish action.
If you vanquish a stack of red, red, red then you only get the discount on the first tile, but for a stack of red, red, blue you would get a discount on the first and third tiles
Just got the game and I’m excited to play! I have a few questions about the benefits gained with meteorite cards. Several cards say if you have melded two meteorites then “Gain power per ______” like bravestone card 32, “Gain power per 4-value corruption”. Is that per 4-value corruption on your mech Mat? Or on location tiles? Or both?
There are a bunch of cards like that, and they’re always looking at components you control. So, in this case, it’s looking at corruption on your mech mat.
i like this game but seems like takes lot longer than 60-90 mins for 5 players. also only two tiles with Meeples in beginning exposed tiles gives unfair advantage to starting players. 4-5th players miss out in my opinion.I do like the game :) The Map token player mat is weakest compared to other player mats.
Thanks for sharing! How can I help?
The map token player actually seems amazing to me; weakest looked like the one that can have 5 of each card tucked. I’m guessing it’s a good thing we have a variety of opinions!
To solve a quest does it have to be in your hand or can it be solved if it is on your play area?
You can Solve, Meld, or Upgrade cards under your control (“control” refers to cards in hand and in your active row).
The jet pack states that the player “May move through face-down locations without stopping”. Is the intention here that the locations the player moves through would remain face-down, or would the player be able to flip several locations with a single move?
Exactly, they would remain face down, as an unexplored tile is only revealed if you end your move on it.
With regards to movement “your mech must end on a different location than where it began”
Does that mean if I use the move action twice (once as a normal action and once as an effect of a play action) I can end my turn on the same space I started on?
In that situation, yes, you could end your turn on the same space where you started.
Is it intentional that there are 7 Green Quest cards and 9 Blue Quests? There are 8 of the other three colors, and Items/Meteorites have a flat distribution of colors.
Green Cards: #56, 62, 64, 72, 78, 85, 87
Blue Cards: #52, 54, 59, 63, 69, 74, 79, 86, 89
It’s not intentional, but it’s also not a mistake–someone else mentioned this on BGG, and I checked the prototype against the final files. Both were a match. In the expansion I’ll add an extra green card.
Hey Jamey,
Map tokens and workers meeples are both explicitly indicated as limited resources in the rules.
Can I assume a similar limitation for stars?
In our last game, I got the fourth star and as indicated in the rules I got another turn. During my last turn, I vanquished the 20 corruption token with my companion.
What happens with this boast action? Is it useless or could I have counted an additional star?
Bart: Thanks for your question. The most stars (glory) you can place is 4, so in your example, the boast doesn’t do anything (well done on vanquishing the big corruption, though!).
The 20 Corruption token is not worthless, although you did not claim a Glory Star with it the token is worth 2 coins.
When you « refresh », does it imply that you « rescue » cards and activate a « rescue » ability?
Thanks for a fun and well produced game.
No, refresh and rescue are different benefits.
Are you able to rescue a card that has the rescue ability being used, such as using Wojtek the using a yellow worker to move Wojtek back into your hand in the same play action?
Yes, unless it says “rescue another card”.
Hi,
Is it possible to play an ability with boast, even if you are not able to gain a glory star? The question arose when playing the card #056.
The Player wanted to gain the two power, but had not enough glory to place a start in any category in the Basecamp.
I’ll look up the full text of the card, as it matters for questions like this (it’s helpful if you type that text in the question). The card says “Boast. If every opponent is south of you, gain 2 power.” In this case, the second sentence isn’t dependent on the first, so you don’t need to boast to gain the 2 power.
Thanks a lot for the fast answer :)
Can anyone share a picture of how the components should be put away in the box insert? I have the Ironclad edition and can’t quite place what should go where. Thanks!
Sure! The last photo on this page shows it: https://stonemaiergames.com/games/expeditions/
There’s also a diagram on the side of the box, and photos on Board Game Geek and the Expeditions FB group.
I played Expeditions a couple of nights ago and my game group had a lot of fun it! We ran into one situation that left us a little confused on how to interpret the rule and couldn’t find any clarification. I was playing with the Lumberjack mech. It was a friend’s copy of the game so I don’t have the exact wording in front of me, but I believe the mech lowered the cost of vanquishing by 1 on the first corruption tile of each color you attempt to vanquish during that action (does that sound right?). How does this work with the “20” corruption tile? We were debating whether it lowered the cost by one per color for a total of 18, lowered the cost on one of the colors since it is a single tile for a total of 19, or is that tile considered a completely different thing that doesn’t get a lowered cost with this mech ability?
Thanks for making another great game in the 1920s+ world!
Thanks Jonathan! Happy to help here. Playtesters had the same question, so we answer it on page 12 of the rulebook: “For the 20-value dual-color corruption on location 20, Lumberjack’s ability decreases it to 18.”
When did the tile change that you could still take a turn that includes the “play” action but not be forced to play a card on that turn? That’s how I’ve been teaching the game and how it was originally described
It changed in mid-February before we went to print, as many people were confused by that rule in the initial rulebook we posted when we announced Expeditions. You’re required to perform all exposed actions, but you’re never required to take a Refresh turn, even if you can’t play a card. Thanks for teaching–please let those you taught know about this! :)
“Dual-layered mats are great in games where the mats hold dozens of tokens that, if upended, could cause chaos and frustration. That isn’t the case in Expeditions, which only has 3 tokens on the mat; as a result, the mats are not dual-layered.”
I think, if you review the pictures in the Facebook group, that you can see that the natural inclination is to place workers, and corruption tiles, and maps, and money, on the mat, not just 3 tokens. A dual layer map, where the bottom layer is just vertical strips under the power/guile tracker on the left and an rotated-L under the action token near the right, would elevate the top layer to ease sliding cards underneath. it might even be possible to arrange these strips such that bottom layer overlaps back-to-back, meaning that there are only 4 extra layers for 7 mats.
Yes, I keep tokens and coins on my mat too, but only 3 of the tokens have specific places they need to go.
The full answer to the question about dual-layered mats is as follows:
Dual-layered mats are great in games where the mats hold dozens of tokens that, if upended, could cause chaos and frustration. That isn’t the case in Expeditions, which only has 3 tokens on the mat; as a result, the mats are not dual-layered. It would have significantly increased the price of the game, the boards wouldn’t have fit well in the box without making it taller (further increasing the cost), and–most importantly–the added utility is actually quite small. Being able to slide the power, guile, and action tokens is easier than having them locked into place, and it isn’t difficult to slide cards under the mat (plus, because of the pressure of the mat, they stay in place).
Instead, as an option included in the game, Expeditions comes with 4 riser stickers per mech mat. These lift the mats above your playing surface enough to slide cards under the mat without the need to pick up any portion of the mat and risk tokens sliding around.
If Expeditions gets an expansion, it will likely include 2 new mechs (and 2 new mech mats). 7 single-layered mats with riser stickers will fit into the insert; 7 dual-layered mats with stickers will not. For that reasons–and the reasons stated above–Expeditions will not have dual-layered mats.
I was trying to not repeat the entire post. Even with only three tokens which need to remain in specific places, the mat becomes too cluttered, and they get moved.
I was also trying to explain how a partial bottom layer could have been done to allow the mats to interleave. As it is, I will probably need to get something like the MeepleForge Dashboard, which will wing up taking more space than the interleaving dual layer mats would have.
I’m loving the game, it’s just a piece of component design which I find to be somewhat inaccessible, especially for those with sensory or muscle issues.
That’s a good point about an interlocking second layer.
Fortunately, with the included riser stickers, you can easily insert cards without moving the mat at all.
Love the idea of more mechs and mech mats for an expansion! I understand not having dual-layered mats, but it might be a nice option to have all mech mats available in neoprene. I believe they could all fit, and it would prevent them from moving and hold down the initial card placed underneath each of the three sections. Just a thought we had while playing. Either way, the production of this game is excellent!
Thanks Shawn! Perhaps a neoprene mat for the playing area would have a similar effect–more “give” under the cardboard mats?
I use a neoprene playmat Jamey and you’re right. It’s easy to slide the cards under the mat without disturbing anything.
Yes, the neoprene could help prevent movement anytime a new card is added. Thanks!
Would somebody be able to update the FAQ about the rule that did not make it into the rule book: A cards ability may only be activated once per turn?
Yep, I already updated it yesterday. :)
What does the “1x” on the “activate an adjacent card’s ability” icon refer to? Can a card’s ability be activated more than once per turn?
The “1x” in this benefit indicates that you can only activate the selected card’s ability once this turn (in case you find a loophole that would allow for multiple activations of the same card. In general, a card’s ability may only be activated once per turn.
Hi,
I played another person’s copy as Odin’s Wrath on Saturday so thank you for the answer below that would have netted me $3 more.
I enjoyed my play and it is now on my to buy list.
Since I do not have the game in hand I do not know the name of the card but its worker power was to place a worker on an active card and gain the benefit. Would this allow a 2nd worker to be placed on an already activated card?
Thanks!
Thanks Steve! Each card can only ever hold 1 worker at a time.
Hey! With an item like #21 Flex Capacitor I had some questions:
-If not upgraded, you place a purple worker, then discard Card A, allowing you to Discard card B and activate B’s ability? Or would you simply Discard A and use A’s ability?
-If above answer was B, when Upgraded, would you still need to discard A to activate B’s ability?
-When discarding a card to activate it’s ability would you still need to spend a worker on the discarded card?
Thanks!
Flex Capacitor reads as follows (please share the full text on the card when asking questions): Once per turn, if you discard another card, either gain its core value or activate its ability.
It also has an instant ability when activated that reads “discard 1 card”.
If you play this card and place a purple worker on it and discard card A, you gain card A’s core value or activate card A’s ability. You don’t place a worker on card A.
Why do some cards have a coin icon on them (e.g., card #005)?
Upgraded items score at end of game (gain that coin value)
I’m a little unclear on the refresh. Can you refresh at any time during your turn or is refresh the only action you can take?
If you Refresh, that’s your entire turn.
I take it that it is legal to expose the Play action on your turn, even if you have no cards in your hand, if you want to Move or Gather without Refreshing.
That’s correct!
Just played for the first time. Liked almost everything we did, but I got crushed. The mech ability my wife had („if you gain a card, you may put it in your hand“) seemed so overpowered. Also I feel, you need to complete quests rather than items and items rather than meteorites.
Still a solid first impression.
That mech is the Highlander, and my group has also had this experience with two games now. The player with that mech won head-and-shoulders above 2nd place. We’re going to try it again and give that mech to a third player and see if it happens again.
Thanks for playing! As I’m sure you know, we have a lot more data than 2 plays to account for the balance of the mech abilities and the different paths to victory. Keep trying different strategies and don’t get caught in groupthink, and I assure you that you’ll see a variety of powerful strategies emerge.
Arrived yesterday, beautiful components and love the art/ expansion on the scythe universe.
My son beat me pursuing a quest focused strategy compared to my exploration/ map token focus with Odin’ Wrath (I thought the huge stack of tokens I accrued would be enough to win – I was wrong). Really nice echoes of the popularity in Scythe original.
One question (since you already answered the one about Odjn’s Wrath being able to convert multiple tokens a turn above).
Changa’s ability states ‘Gain 1 exposed benefit…’ Whereas the Gather icon with 6 arrows stated ‘gain 1 benefit from an adjacent location’. Are these intentionally different? Can you gain a benefit that is covered by corruption using that specific gather action?
Thanks, looking forward to trying to win next session!
Thanks for going on your first expedition, James! You can never gain a covered benefit unless an ability specifically says you can.
Thanks for the quick reply, Jamey.
Great game!
First play went well. It definitely left us with that “Scythe feel.” Even came down to the tie breaker.
A couple questions:
Quest card #057
Save a Lost Lumberjack ability states, “Gain guile and rescue a card.”
Can it rescue itself?
Item card #009
Chaos Grenade ability states, “Whenever you Vanquish, flip a coin. If it’s heads, gain $2. Otherwise, gain guile.”
If vanquishing multiple corruption tokens during one play action do you flip the coin once or once per corruption token?
Thanks Curt! Lost Lumberjack can indeed rescue itself. The Vanquish benefit includes the possibility of removing more than one corruption token, but it’s all just one Vanquish, so you only flip the coin once.
When you shift your action token does it need to be adjacent? i.e. Am I allowed to move my action token from covering the Move space to covering the Gather space?
Nope! There is no rule about adjacent shifting. You can shift from Move to Gather or Play, for example.
Thank you. Looking forward to my first play tonight!
Just played the game for the first time and really enjoyed it!
I had multiple question while playing but only remember a few right now.
First on Ordin’s Wrath, it’s ability to convert a map token into 1 power or 1 guile or $1 during your turn, nothing say if you can do it only once per turn, or as many time as you want. While playing we agreed on only once per turn, but I’m still doubting about it.
The second is with card #049 Morphstone, “Change a worker to purple; it become available”, my understanding is that you take one of your non purple worker, trash it (aka going to the box) and take one purple from the supply right?
As I’m here, two comment on the insert, the small tray for the money, workers and maps would really need a lid, all the token, especially with metal coin, always end up mixed as the mechs mats are not thick enough to fully push on the tray (also one of my mech mat is slightly bent, I suspect it is linked) the locking on the main lid is nice too, but make it quite had to remove, I always nearly have to remove it from the box to be able to remove it :)
Also, but it seems it is true on the non Ironclad edition, the two circles to I suppose put the mechs rings are too small (the silicon one are also a bit too smell for the mech base so they don’t hold nicely)
These are not complain, just thing I noticed while unpack/playing/storing the game which again I really enjoyed playing :)
Thanks Manoel! We’re told that the silicon bases are flexible and will fit better soon.
You’re correct to use the mech mats as a lid; it may help to put another component on top of the mech mats. We didn’t want to add more plastic (thinking of the environment) after we realized the mech mats served well as a lid when combined with the primary insert lid.
“First on Ordin’s Wrath, it’s ability to convert a map token into 1 power or 1 guile or $1 during your turn, nothing say if you can do it only once per turn, or as many time as you want. While playing we agreed on only once per turn, but I’m still doubting about it.”
–The rules don’t say anything about once per turn, so you can definitely use this ability more than once per turn if you have the maps to spend.
“The second is with card #049 Morphstone, “Change a worker to purple; it become available”, my understanding is that you take one of your non purple worker, trash it (aka going to the box) and take one purple from the supply right?”
–This is almost correct. The worker you “change” just goes back to the supply. No need to trash it. :)
I have a question about using the ongoing benefit of card #008 (Exosuit) in combination with the ability of card #070 (Rescue a Trapped Mercenary).
Card #008 text: Once per turn, if you rescue another card, either gain its core value or activate its ability.
Card #070 text: Rescue another card; either gain its core value or activate its ability
I used a play action, placing a worker on card #070 to rescue another card (Companion “Changa” in this case). I chose the option to gain the core value of the rescued card. I then used the ongoing benefit of card #008 to activate the ability of the rescued card.
Was this a valid action?
That was valid! Nice combo.
Hi,
I was about to pre-order Expeditions with metal coins added on, and on the page showing my cart, it says, at the top of the page, in a green banner, “Congratulations! Free Shipping is available to USA for this order (restrictions apply).” Then when I go to the next page to check out, it is charging me shipping. I am curious as to what the restrictions are to get free shipping, or if there is anything I need to do differently.
Thanks
Hi Mark! Before your Champion discount, the Ironclad edition of Expeditions and the set of metal coins is $129. Free shipping is offered at $125. But, as mentioned, the $129 total is before your Champion discount. If you log in, the price is discounted 20% to $103.20, which is under the free shipping threshold. If you make sure you’re logged into your account when you look at your cart, it will show your discounted price, so you won’t receive misleading free shipping notifications.
Hello! Are there downloadable rulebooks? Will the game appear online like Scythe?
Yes, the rulebooks have been available on our website for a few months—see link on the above page. I hope there will be a digital version at some point!
Are the glory tokens limited? If I place my 4th to trigger the end could I have placed a 5th on my last turn?
You only have 4 glory tokens, so you cannot place any beyond that.
Hello! Is there a French version for the ironclad preorder?
Thanks
We only sell English-language products, but feel free to talk to Matagot about French-language editions.
Will there be a Italian version of the game?
There will, from Ghenos!
j’ai regardé la vidéo sur l’insert du jeu qui est juste top! est ce qu’il est suffisamment profond pour recevoir tous les plateaux mechs(7) avec les autocollants de rehausse pour faciliter le glissement des cartes dessous? CORDIALEMENT
Yes. :)
merci monsieur Jamey Stegmaier de prolonger la magnificence de l’univers de scythe! j’ai fait deux parties de scythe avec ma femme aujourd’hui pour festoyer de ma précommande!
Thank you! :)
Scythe est juste incroyable! Fenris indispensable :)
What size (for sleeves) are the?
12 starting cards
25 items cards
25 meteorite cards
40 quest cards
2? player aid catds
14 decision cards (automa)
5 progress cards (automa)
1 glory card (automa)
1 player aid card (automa)
?
All cards in Expeditions are 63x88mm.
Will there be a German version of the game?
That’s a great question for you to ask Feuerland–it’s their information to share (or not share). :)