texts: Can I terraform outside of my turn, or during my turn in some other action?

texts:
I'm trying to figure out Terra Mystica by myself. One thing I'm having trouble with is the spades used for terraforming. The rules seem very clear that these need to be used immediately — they can't be saved for future actions. (And that's backed up by the simple fact that there's no tokens or other representation.) But, there are number of ways you can earn spades during actions other than Transform and Build — and even outside of actions, as in the Cult of Earth spade bonus.

Is terraforming / terrain transformation just a thing you can do whenever you get spades?


texts: If condition cards run out, do investigators not gain the condition?

texts:
I believe the reference guide may imply that a card of a certain type, when not found, is simply not obtained. In this case, if it is an Illness Condition, then the investigator simply doesn't gain the condition, I believe, and if it is a case where "an investigator may gain an Illness to etc" then he doesn't have that option to do that etc.

However, what about the Epidemic Prelude card in Under The Pyramids which reads

  Then each investigator gains 1 ILLNESS Condition and 1 Clue.

There are only 4 Illness cards, so if I have 8 investigators, do only 4 get the Illness, and do only those 4 likewise get Clues for the Prelude because the text implies the Illness and Clue must go hand in hand (I'm not even sure this wording necessarily implies that, although one could imagine wording it as "then each gains an Illness; then each gains a clue" would clarify they don't go hand in hand)?


texts: Timing of Babylon's (B) and Halicarnassus' special abilities?

texts:
Alice has Babylon (B), Bob has Halicarnassus (B).

Alice has built the 2nd wonder stage, so she is able to play her 7th card.

In the 6th turn:

Bob builds a stage of his wonder, so he is able to build one card from the discard pile at the end of the turn.
Alice builds her 6th card and wants to discard her 7th for 3 coins.

Does Alice's card gets added to the discard pile before or after Bob is allowed to see through it?

In other words: Does Alice get a "real" 7th turn?

We already discussed (here and here) that Alice doesn't have to buy resources for her 6th and 7th card from the same set (so she can buy the same resources again for her 7th card that she bought for her 6th card).

Discussion elsewhere

boardgamegeek.com: Halikarnassos and Babylon Interaction


texts: Can Legion's Initiative save permanents from Bearer of Heavens's destruction ability?

texts: When Bearer of Heavens dies, it destroys all permanents. If my opponent's creature destroys Bearer of Heavens can he activate Legion Initiative's ability (to exile his creatures until the start of his next combat) before Bearer destroys all permanents? Or does Bearer's ability activate straight away on death?


texts: How should I determine how many lands of each different color to put in my deck?

texts:
Situation: You've built your at least 2 color deck, know exactly what number of lands you want in it, but don't know how many to put in of each basic-land type.

How do pro-players figure this out? Obviously it seems like a deck that is about 50-50 color-wise would have equal numbers of each basic-land for those colors, but what if the deck is 60-40, 70-30, 80-20, etcetera? Or perhaps its a tri-color deck with a 40-30-30 or a 50-40-10 color distribution? Obviously it will depend on the mana-curve and the cards in the deck, but I'm just looking for some general guidelines.

Not getting any land in your side-color is bad, but not getting any in your main color is even worse. How do you manage these problems to get the best chance of success?

This question addresses how many lands to put in a 40-card deck, and This one addresses the general issues of building a multi-color deck but I'm specifically interested in color distribution of lands. It would be awesome if answers could address both 40 and 60 card decks. I'm talking only about basic lands, as I believe addressing the entire issue of "What lands should I put in my deck?" is far too big for one question.


texts: Exceeding the monster limit due to an encounter

texts:
In the "The King in Yellow" expansion, there is an encounter card for the library that results in all monsters of a certain type, including those in the outskirts, relocating to the investigators location. The card then states that you 'must immediately evade or defeat them'.

If the investigator succesfully evades them all or gets reduced to 0 stamina/sanity, do the monsters all remain in that location even though the monster limit is most likely exceeded?


texts: Why would you want to play with a deck that had 3 or more colors in it in Magic? (limited and constructed)

texts:
Background: I'm currently writing a strategy guide for magic as my pet project, and I'm trying to explain decks with multiple colors. Here's what I have so far:

  Dual color decks are useful because they allow you to take advantage
  of the best of 2 different colors instead of just 1. This allows you
  to minimize the weaknesses a mono-colored deck might normally have.
  For example, red decks usually have trouble dealing with
  enchantments, blue decks tend to have pretty bad creatures, green
  decks tend tend to be fairly bad with removal spells, etc. When
  combined with another color, most of these disadvantages are
  drastically reduced as you can use cards from each color to compensate for the
  other's weaknesses.

  Some decks also have more than 2 colors, although they are much less
  common. With 3 colors your deck will have plenty of options to reduce
  the shortcomings of any individual color as odds are there's a card in
  at least one of the other colors you're playing that will fill that
  gap nicely. The downside of a tri-color deck is that it's substantially
  more difficult to get the mana you need to play the cards in your
  hand. This means you'll need to devote more of your deck to cards that
  can generate mana of multiple colors, which detracts from your overall
  focus of getting cards out onto the field that actually win the game
  for you. Tricolor decks often include green because it is the best color for generating
  mana in its own and other colors, making it great support for the rest
  of the deck. These decks often rely on tricolor spells for finishers as they are
  often extremely powerful to make up for the difficulty of casting them,
  to the point where some can almost win the game on their own.

  Decks with more than 3 colors are extremely rare as there is usually
  relatively little advantage a 4th color will add that couldn't be
  covered by the others, and it is VERY difficult to create a
  successful 4 color mana-base that will let you play all of the cards
  you need to in a timely fashion.

When I read this, it sounds like I'm saying "Tri-color decks are bad because they're so hard to get to work correctly and people only play them because of powerful gold cards." However, I'm pretty sure this isn't true and is stemming from my own lack of experience with tri-color decks.

Question: Why would you want to play a tri-color deck? What advantages does adding the third color often add that makes the deck better than if it only had 2? What should I add to this section of my strategy guide to make it a little more complete/useful?


texts: In Magic, can an ability target a permanent that is being sacrificed as part of that ability's activation cost?

texts:
Suppose my opponent has a Darksteel Colossus in play, and I have Attrition and no creatures. During my turn I cast Act of Treason to gain control of the Colossus and attack with it. So far I haven't done anything controversial.

Now, at this point what I want to do is sacrifice the Colossus to my Attrition, so that my opponent doesn't get him back at the end of the turn. However, Attrition's ability requires a target, and the Colossus is the only potential target on the battlefield. Is it legal to activate the ability and target the Colossus, even though I also want to sacrifice him as part of the ability's cost?

In other words, can I target a creature with an ability, and also sacrifice that same creature as part of the ability's activation cost?

(The ability won't resolve, of course, but that was never the real goal. Normally it would be better to target another of the opponent's creatures, but in this case he doesn't have any, so the Colossus is the only potential target.)


texts: How do CCGs/LCGs have an ongoing metaplot?

texts:
I am told that there are some collectible card games and living card games that have a metaplot. For instance, I am told that Alderac Entertainment Group (AEG) has Legend of the Five Rings and Doomtown: Reloaded have an ongoing story in the background that is furthered as new sets come out. Apparently it's a pretty involved metaplot too, as I've heard of a lot of fans of the Legend of the Five Rings RPG complaining about the changes introduced by the CCG.

For instance, I have heard that throughout the run of the Legend of the Five Rings CCG, different people have become emperor and new threats (e.g. politcal coups, demon invasions) have emerged and apparently had a specific canon resolution (e.g. the coup failed but the emperor was mortally wounded, so dude X is the new Emperor). These events are all somehow established by the cards int he game and became canon, becoming part of the timeline and affecting those who play the RPG and read any tie-in media, such as novels.

How does this work? I'm having a hard time imagining a story being told as part of a deck of cards with one sentence flavor text on each of them. At first, I thought maybe new boxed sets included fiction stories in the rulebooks, but as far as I can tell, that's not the case.

So how do CCGs and LCGs have an ongoing metaplot?

For what it's worth, my experience with card games in the past is stuff like Yu-Gi-Oh! and Pokémon Trading Card Game, which definitely did not have metaplot (at least, not metaplot that was furthered by the card game itself as opposed to a TV show or other media).

EDIT: To clarify, it is my understanding that the Legend of the Five Rings CCG and Doomtown are not having their metaplot advanced by their corresponding RPGs or anything else, but they are doing it through the cards themselves. My question is not about a card game where the game metaplot changes based on some other media (e.g. Season 2 of a TV show has a storyline where the hero gets a new power, so a new card is released reflecting this story development).


texts: Scenario 20 - when is the end of my turn?

texts:
The haunt is #20, Ghost Bride. I am playing as Vivian Lopez, and I am the traitor.

It is my turn. As Vivian, I do nothing particularly important. As the Ghost Bride, I attack the chosen groom, killing him.

The rules say that, after the groom has been killed,

  At the end of each of your turns, advance the Turn/Damage Track to the next number, beginning with 1. The wedding will be complete on Turn 3.

What counts as "each of my turns"? I can think of three possible interpretations:

The end of my turn occurs after I have completed taking actions as the monster, and the player to my left starts taking actions.
The end of my turn occurs after I complete taking actions as Vivian, and start taking actions as the monster.
Both of the above. This means I get two "end of turns" per round.

Each of these interpretations affects when I advance the turn track:

After the Ghost Bride kills the groom, I immediately advance the turn track to 1. In subsequent rounds, I advance the track by one at the end of the Ghost Bride's turn.
After the Ghost Bride kills the groom, the track remains at zero. Nearly a full round later, at the end of my turn as Vivian, I advance the turn track to 1. In subsequent rounds, I advance the track by one at the end of Vivian's turn.
After the Ghost Bride kills the groom, I immediately advance the turn track to 1. In the next round, at the end of my turn as Vivian, I advance the turn track to 2. Then at the end of my turn as the Ghost Bride, I advance the turn track to 3, winning the game.

What is the correct interpretation?

In the rules under "The Traitor's New Powers", it says "After you finish your turn, you move and attack with all of the monsters, if any". This suggests to me that "my turn" ends before the monster moves, ruling out interpretation #1.

Under "Haunt turn order", it says "One player gets two turns: one for the traitor and one for the monsters". This seems to support #3 as the correct interpretation, but it seems unbalanced that the explorers only get one round to defeat me after I kill the groom. Furthermore, if that was the intent, the scenario could simply say "you win the game at the beginning of the traitor's next turn". You wouldn't need a turn track to track that.

During the actual game, I chose #2 since it gave the explorers the fairest chance at winning (IMO). But I'm interested in a ruling that has more evidence than "this seems like the most fun way".


texts:
Folks, I would like to know if an effect like "players can't draw cards" prevents/cancel effects like "if you would draw a card, instead do X".

Because I wouldn't draw a card anyway, the effect does not takes place?

For a concrete example, think on Maralen of the Mornsong with Forbidden Crypt.


texts: servant of the scale during a board wipe

texts: Would you be able to, as Servant of the Scale dies, pass on x amount of counters to Fertilid and then activate his ability multiple times before Fertilid is then killed by the board wipe, or would they both die at the same time?


texts: What does Divine Intervention do when it resolves in a multiplayer game?

texts: What happens in a mulitplayer game when the last counter from Divine Intervention is removed and the ability ends the game in a draw? Does it resolve as normal the only real difference being a 4-way tie instead of a 2-way tie? What exactly happens?


texts: Can Trap Hole be activated in response to Denko Sekka's summon?

texts:
Trap Hole is a normal trap card (speed 2), and normal summon of Denko Sekka (speed 1). Trap hole (as I believe) is faster but doesn't include summon negation (it only destroys). I've read in some forums people saying you can only activate cards that has negation effect like Solemn Warning.

So my question can we activate Trap Hole against Denko Sekka?


texts: Massacre Girl when several creatures die at once

texts: Massacre Girl and 7 creatures all get hit for lethal damage from the same effect. Does her triggered ability happen? Assume that there are multiple opponents each with at least one creature.


texts: In Bridge, What's the Difference Between the Blackwood And Gerber Conventions?

texts:
I have an idea that both conventions are used to check for aces in slam bidding, and that one starts at four clubs and the other at 4NT. Beyond that, I'm confused.

Why would a bidder use one over the other? Or is it that some systems prefer one over the other?

How would I tell which one my partner is using? Or must we agree beforehand?


texts: Does bypassing an ICE trigger Chum's subroutine?

texts: If the runner bypasses an ICE behind a Chum (subroutine not broken) with Femme Fatale, does Chum's subroutine trigger and deal three netdamage to the runner?


texts: What are the odds in Scrabble of not being able to make a legal move on opening turn

texts:
I've been playing the game for 50 years and this happened to me recently:
I had the following rack
PBQZJDH

And so I could not  play a legal move.
I've been trying to work out the odds of this (no legal word on the first turn) happening.


texts: Do I get to keep the 2nd Kalonian Twingrove when I got it via a Mimic Vat?

texts:
Say I have this situation: I have a Mimic Vat out. An opponent's non-token Kalonian Twingrove dies during my turn and I choose to imprint it and put it as a copy token on my side of the battlefield.

Does the "When Kalonian Twingrove enters the battlefield..." trigger for me and thus I get 2 of them?
If 1. is true, do I only have to exile the first Kalonian Twingrove token by Mimic Vat on the next end step and get to keep the cloned token from it's "...enters the battlefield..." trigger?


texts: Cribbage score for pair of cards not in a row

texts: If player A play a 6 and then player B play a 7 and finally player A play another 6, considering that each player put their cards in their own stack, would the two 6 will be considering as a pair?


texts: Can you change your mind after discarding during Monolith Arena?

texts:
In Monolith Arena, the rules state:

after the tiles have been drawn, the player must DISCARD ONE OF THE
THREE TILES into the discard pile.

This is during the player upkeep step, so the sequence of events:

Draw three tiles
Discard one tile
Consider the remaining tiles and potentially play them

Is it against the rules to retract the discarded tile or change your mind, directly after discarding it, without input from the other player(s)? Asking for a friend.


texts: Can you use Alchemist's vial's ability as an instant, if you are able to pay the cost? For example, can it be used to prevent my creature from attacking, once i have declared it.


texts: Can you change the order of cards in a Graveyard?

texts: My friend was counting the number of Creatures in his Graveyard and then randomizing the order the cards are in. Is this allowed?


texts:
Playing Kingdomino is a lot of fun, however there is a moment I hate. Having to put the cards back into the card tower:

If you're not careful, the cards get slanted and get stuck or just fall in the wrong direction. It can get quite irritating to put the cards back. Is there an obvious and easy method I'm missing to putting the cards back?

I've tried:

Stacking the cards outside the box, opening the top and sliding them in.
Sliding them in one at a time from the bottom slot
Sliding them in one/several at a time from the top opening


texts: Can boats move through sea monsters in Survival: Escape from Atlantis?

texts:
This should be a common sense that you can't move boat through when it is blocked by sea serpent or whale, but I don't see the rule include this situation.

Can a boat move pass through a tile that is occupied by a sea serpent or whale safely? The boat does not stop on the occupied tile.


texts: Can explorers choose not to move? So instead of rolling dice or playing an action can a survivor skip their own turn so they don't leave a room? One example would be to stay in the mystic elevator and then each turn use the mystic elevator to travel around the house.


texts: What is the best method to make new Settlers like tiles

texts: I am trying to make some new Settlers tiles and would like to know what is the best method to make Settlers like tiles that are roughly the same size and thickness to standard settlers tiles with a custom printed image.


texts: Can someone please help identify the board game which has this token?


texts: How do the hand size rules interact with Share Your Nuts?

texts:
In the game of Nuts the rules state:

Drawing Cards
Whenever you play a card, whether on your turn or out of
turn, immediately draw a card from the deck.  You should
always have five cards in your hand.

There is an Antics card called 'Share Your Nuts' that reads:

Pass one card from your hand to the
player on your left, chosen at random.

Do the hand size rules make the person playing the card draw up to five cards and force the player on the left to discard down to five?


texts: In Agricola the rules say something like if family growth occurs in the round before a harvest, the baby only needs one food.  Do you think this could be a rules "typo" and they actually meant to say in the "stage" before a harvest?  It would sure make feeding the family easier.  Any thoughts?


texts: Alternatives to the coins supplied in Puerto Rico

texts:
After getting the Rio Grande Treasure Chest for the two Puerto Rico expansions, I want to spice up my set of Puerto Rico a little bit.

Can anyone recommend any good sites where I could get physical coins to use instead of the $1 and $5 pieces in the game?  I was thinking period-authentic replicas, or just even nice looking small gold and silver doubloon-looking coins.


texts: Can I steal from a city with a city wall?

texts:
So I was playing the Cities & Knights scenario in the Catan app. On my turn, I rolled a seven. I moved the robber on the mountains hex where both of my opponents have a settlement and a city adjacent to it, as shown in the photo.

After I did that, the red player's settlement lights up, meaning I can steal from him. What I don't understand is, why did the green city not light up? I know that a city with a city wall adds 2 extra cards to your card limit, but I'm not quite sure that it also protects your cards when a player moves the robber on a hex adjacent to your walled city?


texts: In Seafarers of Catan, are there any special rules for ships or harbors in lakes?

texts:
We just played our first Seafarer's scenario (New World random setup) that contained a lake - a water hex surrounded by 6 land hexes. Our Seafarer rules booklet (1999) did not discuss any special rules that apply to lakes. Questions I had were:

Can ships be relocated from lakes to oceans and from oceans to
lakes?
Can harbors be placed in lakes during the setup phase?

We assumed yes for the game we played but I'm wondering if that's right. In real life having a boat in a lake (that doesn't connect to an ocean via a river) does not facilitate trade or free movement of ships between oceans and the lake.

Does anyone know if there are any official errata covering this situation? If not, are there any unofficial rules about lakes that have been adopted by a large fraction of Settlers/Seafarers players?


texts: How many Dominion sets are there? List them all? Including base set, expansions, special, etc. Additionally, how many promo cards are there, and list those as well?


texts: Where do I insert the exit tile in a 1-2 player game

texts:
In Escape: The Curse of the Temple, the rules say if you are playing 1-2 players to

  insert the exit tile in the middle of the draw pile

With the base game (I'm assuming expansions maybe add to this pile), there are 15 tiles left at this point after putting 2 of them next to the entrance. Where does the exit tile go, above the 8th tile or below it?


texts: Effect dependencies and ability adding/removing effects

texts:
I have an abstract question about MTG comprehensive rules, regarding 613. Interaction of Continuous Effects.

Suppose I have some active continuous effects A, B, C (given in timestamp order) in layer 7. Suppose A depends on C: rule 613 tells me I need to apply the effects in the following order: B, C, A.

Now a new continuous effect D is created in layer 6, which removes all abilities from the object that contains the static ability that is producing effect C. After an event occurs, I reevaluate the game state. I have 4 continuous effects, A, B, C and D. Rule 613 tells me to sort them so: D, B, C, A. But right after I apply effect D to the game state, effect C becomes inactive.

My question is: am I supposed to continue applying the remaining effects in the initial order (B, A), or am I supposed to re-sort them into A, B as the dependency that forced B to come before A no longer exists?


texts: Can I use the Farsight enclave eight separately?

texts: Can I use the members of the eight separately or do they have to be on the battlefield together? Like can I just have subcommander Torchstar and commander Brightsword in an army but no other members of the eight?


texts: What do the sides of the movement dice in Runebound look like?

texts:
I lost my movement dice from Runebound. So I am trying to figure out what is on the different sides so I can use a normal D6. Anyone have images of the different sides or can give me a list of what is on each side?

Ok so based on the answers below the sides should be:

Plain, Mountain, Road
Hills, Plains, Road
River, Forest
River, Road
Hills, Plains, Road
River, Swamp


texts: Llawanor Elves Trampled on desert Oasis. Act of God or Force of Nature?

texts:
Suppose the defending player has an untapped Oasis in play, a Circle of Protection: Green, and an untapped 1/1 Llanowar Elves, which has just been assigned to block a strong creature with trample, such as Force of Nature. Let's throw Lifelink on the Force of Nature as well.

In what order do all the following resolve?:

Attack declared
Blocker declared
Blocker assigned damage
Attacker deals damage
Blocker dealt damage
Trample-over damage calculated
Trample-over damage dealt
Defending player loses life
Attacking player gains life
Damage prevented by CoP if used
Blocker dies
Blocker placed into graveyard
Blocker no longer regenerate-able
One damage prevented to Blocker by Oasis

Key sub-questions that bring this to mind:

at the time when 7 trample damage is dealt to defending player, are Llawanor elves, having received fatal damage, still in play?
how much damage is actually dealt to the elves, 1 (their toughness) or 8 (Force of Nature's power)?
what is the source of the trample damage to the defending player?
if defending player uses CoP, is Lifelink activated?


texts: Identify this space combat game with a letter based ship architecture

texts:
I remember going through an old board game I found in my parents attic when I was a child (early 2000s, however it's an old game, so it could easily have been released in the 80s) and I was hoping you could all help me.
It was a hex-based space combat game, where players designed their fleets to a set number of points (and a desired Tech Level) before play. This box set had little cardboard counters for the ships, although there was a leaflet inside for ordering little cast model ships in various styles.
The most unique part was how the ship was described. It consisted of a bunch of letters in a row, each one representing a single module. Damage would typically involve crossing out letters from left to right, although some weapons had different rules.
An example (off the top of my head):

SSSSAAAHHPdGGOIIII

This would represent a ship with 4 units of shields, 3 armour, some holds, Point Defence and other gubbins, and finally four Ion Engines. So this ship would lose its Shields and Armour first and would lose the engines last.
Finally, I remember there was an expansion pack that brought a new faction along with rules for fighter craft.
Does anyone know what this game is called?


texts: In the new 2015 edition of Carcassonne Inns and Cathedrals, there are yellow roof buildings on some of the road pieces. Are these inns?


texts: Is there a solution to this freecell game, shown below?

texts:
Encoding:
4D AH TS 3S 5C 4C KD
3C 5H TC 5D TD JD 2C
7H 6D AC 5S 7D 2S 2H
4H 9S AD 9H 9D QC 7C
6C 3D QH 8S 3H KH
QS 8C 2D 4S 9C KS
6S 7S 6H 8H 8D JS
JC QD KC TH AS JH


texts:
If all villages are pillaged, can we use the Tyr's Challenge card as our action?

Tyr's Challenge
You may pay 2 rage to repillage an already pillaged village

If we can afford the rage for the action, how often can we use it?


texts: Interaction with printed stats and token/equipment with stat reduction

texts: I just debuted playing magic 2 weeks ago, and I have a question. Let's say a creature has 4 +1/+1 token on it and has base stats of 2/2. If I play Breya, Etherium Shaper's ability to inflict -4/-4 to that creature, does it affect the creature with all his power (6/6 bringing it down to 2/2) or does it affect the printed value of 2/2, killing it since it goes to 0 toughness?


texts: Can my opponent really have no benched pokemon, even with a Pyroar?

texts: My opponent has a Pyroar and when it's in play he doesn't place any other pokemon on his bench so I can't have him switch out. Is that allowed?


texts: Can I include a card in my EDH deck that mentions another color?

texts: Is it possible to run a Repentant Vampire in a Grixis (Red Blue Black) Commander deck? I don't see anything in the official rulings, and the card doesn't have a white mana symbol on it. I'm leaning towards yes, as I see mono black decks running it, but the double faced card ruling makes me wonder.


texts: Control Effects - Interaction between Molten Primordial and Willbreaker

texts:
Okay I stumbled upon a weird situation of control abilities between two creatures.
However, there may be more instances of this...

Say I controlled a Willbreaker and then cast a Molten Primordial, targeting one creature that each of my opponents controlled, Would i take control of them until I lose Willbreaker or would it be until end of turn with primordial?

Willbreaker requires that I target a creature an opponent controls to gain control of it for as long as I control will breaker. This would mean that the spell/ Ability targeting said creature would have to resolve am I correct?

If that is the case, would the primordial take control of them first making them Illegal targets for Willbreaker as it states it has to be a creature an opponent controls. My thinking is that they are already under my control after I targeted them with Primordials ETB ability...

Or can I choose which Trigger happens first in this instance?


texts:
I'm trying to learn 3-D chess by playing Parmen against the computer.  I've read the tournament rules and am fairly confident I've got a good, basic understanding of the game.  However, in my first game, I've quickly encountered a situation where the program is telling me I'm trying to make an illegal move which I think would be legal.

The moves so far (I'm playing white):

  a4N, Nc6N
  c4N, Nb6N
  Nb3N, Nxc4N
  d3N, N4a5B

The move I'd like to make now is Nxa5B, but I'm alerted that it is an illegal move.  Can someone explain to me why this is?


texts: In Texas Hold'em, how does the floor penalize a player who has received more chips than he should have (as through an add-on)?

texts: I was running a poker tournament this evening. The type of tourney is freezeout with up to a $25 dollar add-on worth 5500 in chips. I seated him, gave him the starting stack plus the add-on, and told him that I needed the marker from him which signified he purchased the add-on. At a later point, he had the marker on the table, which is in play, and when he went all in, he was awarded an additional 5500 in chips, due to the in play marker. How would I penalize/fix this situation in the event that my attention is not drawn to the error immediately?


texts: The board shows two queens, a 9, 8, and 7. I'm holding a queen and a Jack. The other player is holding a queen and an Ace. Is this a split pot or does the Ace play?


texts: In two-headed giant, does Nightveil Specter exile cards from both heads?

texts: If Nightveil Specter dealt combat damage in a two-headed giant game, do I choose which player's top card to exile or do I exile both?


texts: Is putting a Draw 4 card on top of a Draw 2 card legal?

texts:
Is it within the UNO rules to put a Wild Draw 4 card on top of a Draw 2 card, as it is a 'higher' card?

We've ALWAYS played that you can, but my new friend is adamant you can't.


texts: Chance Encounter/As Luck Would Have It and reflips/rerolls

texts:
I'm making an Uncommander deck based around rolling dice and flipping coins, and I'm planning on including Chance Encounter and As Luck Would Have It as alternate win conditions. Both of them place luck counters on themselves when you win a coin flip or roll a dice (respectively), and win you the game if you have enough counters. There are several cards that allow a reflip or a reroll, but I have questions about three.

  Goblin Bookie

  {R}, {T}: Reflip any coin or reroll any die. (Activate this ability only any time it makes sense.)

Goblin Bookie's wording is fairly standard for effects that reroll dice or reflip coins (apart from the timing), but Krark's Thumb - and its Unstable counterpart, Krark's Other Thumb - are worded a bit differently - instead of reflipping, you're ignoring a result.

  Krark's Thumb

  If you would flip a coin, instead flip two coins and ignore one.

  Krark's Other Thumb

  If you would roll a die, instead roll two of those dice and ignore one of those results.

If I reflip/reroll with Goblin Bookie, does the original roll still earn me luck counters? What about with Krark's (Other) Thumb? Does "ignoring" one of the coins means that it doesn't count as a win for me? There might not be a ruling on dice rolls, since only Unsets (as far as I know) have used dice as a mechanic, but coin flips have been used on a number of cards. Chance Encounter is from Odyssey, Krark's Thumb is from Mirrodin; heck, Mana Crypt uses coin flips. I would expect there to be an official ruling on flips at least, but neither Krark's Thumb nor Chance Encounter have any Gatherer rulings that clarify things.


texts: What kingdom set would lead to the highest scoring games of Dominion?

texts:
Obviously anything that puts curses into circulation would be anathema. I'm not necessarily looking for one player to have the highest score possible, so much as to have games where everyone's scores where really high.

I figure Monument is obvious, and Great Hall, Island, etc. seem like they might also contribute to a high scoring game.
On the other hand if there are tons of non-terminal action cards and Vinyards that could lead to some pretty ridiculous scores as well.


texts: Carcassonne: placing the fairy before or after the dragon hunts?

texts:
When playing Carcassonne with the exapansion the Princess and The Dragon when you draw a dragon tile can you move the fairy before the dragon starts to hunt? In my rules (in Dutch) the Dragon starts to hunt after step 1 (placing a land tile) is completed while on the WikiCarpedia it is mentioned that the Dragon starts to hunt after step 2 (placing a meeple) and is by consequence possible to place the fairy before the dragon starts to hunt.

Thanks!


texts: buster blader the dragon destroyer swoardsman effect not working

texts: Why doesn't buster blader the dragon destroyer swordsman with DNA surgery on the field stop destiny hero plasma's effect that allows plasma to take my monster. Oh BTW this is in the duel links game


texts: In Warhammer 40k is it possible to have your army use vehicles from other factions?

texts:
Is there anything in the rules that say you can have your army use vehicles from another faction?

I use Harlequins and I always thought about trying something new and using some Eldar vehicles like a War Walker or a Wraithknight. I figured it would work since Harlequins and Eldars are the same race. Or with human races like a Militarum Tempestus army using a Space Marine Land Raider or two.

Is this possible?


texts: Chess variant that allows humans to be competitive vs computers

texts:
It seems that computers can beat the majority of chess players out there, and at the current rate in which distributed computing is going, it seems like the #1 chess player out there will be computers these days.

However, this is different with Go, as the best AI available out there cannot beat a decent player.

Are there any chess variants, which while still maintaining some sort of similarity with chess, cannot be effectively played by a computer, while still playable by humans at a level better than AIs?

I was thinking a bigger board with more pieces would help, but rules changes might be needed as well to change the gameplay a bit. But I suppose the further you drift from the original chess game, the less interest people might have on it.


texts: Is it possible to achieve a negative score?

texts:
I was playing Azul the other day, and by a bad choice, one of the players ended up subtracting points until they were in negative numbers.

How should you act in these cases? Is the negative score maintained or does it remain at 0?


texts: Why would you not move pawn two spaces during first move in chess?

texts:
My Question:

It seems like you'd want to make it across the board faster to take control of the board, so...
Why would you not move your pawn TWO spaces (instead of one) during your first moves in chess?

My Assumptions:

I'm a TOTAL rookie at chess (and I suck), but it's my understanding that these are valid reasons for moving your pawn two spaces:

to gain/maintain control of as much of the board as possible
because the player controlling the middle four spaces typically has the upper hand
white may have an advantage because they move first, which indicates advancing space on the board early-on is advantageous


texts: Can you choose not to assign damage to a second blocker?

texts:
In a game of Magic, I attack with a 5/5, indestructible, trample. My opponent blocks with a 2/3 and a 2/2.

He hopes the 2/2 will die because of an effect when that creature dies.

Can I choose to just sink my five damage into the first creature and not touch the second


texts: Where does Hexpion go being under the Backup Copy?

texts: I've got a Hexpion with a Backup Copy "installed" on it. The Hexpion gets destroyed. Where does it go? To archives or on the top of the deck?


texts: Trash an Estate or Curse your opponents? Full Version

texts:
I just asked a question about whether to trash an Estate with Jack of All Trades or play a Witch to curse my opponents. The answer was a definitive "trash!", because Jack is so good at trashing that the curse wouldn't be effective at all at slowing the others. My question now is how good does a trasher have to be to make trashing a better move than Cursing?

I put a list below of (I think) all the action cards costing $5 or less that you can use to trash one of your own cards but don't give +Actions. Given the same set-up as in the previous question, which of these should be played rather than a Witch?

## Trashers
Ambassador
Bishop
Chapel
Island
Jack of All Trades
Masquerade
Mine
Moneylender
Remake
Remodel
Salvager
Steward
Trader
Trading Post
Transmute

As in the other question, the other cards available are

$6: Harem, Fairgrounds
$5: Witch, Horn of Plenty
$4: Bureaucrat, Gardens, Smithy
$3: Smugglers
$2: Pearl Diver

It's early in the game, no opponents have a Witch yet, the both have 1 trasher, and your hand is

Trasher, Witch, Estate, Copper, Copper.


texts: How to avoid the situation in which player 2 knows for sure that player 1 chose the King?

texts:
In Citadels/Machiavelli the rules state that the current king, in order to start a round, needs to look at the first character card and put it face down on the table. Then put a certain number of character cards face up on the table. If the King card is amongst the open cards a new character card is put face up instead of him.

I think that applying this rule results in a situation in which the first player is unable to get the King character because the second player would then know for 100% sure that the first player chose it. Consider the following situation: The King was amongst the face up cards and is replaced by another character. Player two therefore knows that the king card is availble to player one. If then player two receives the character cards and the king is no longer there, player one MUST have chosen it.

Considering the fact that the whole process of character selection in Citadels is very well balanced and you never really know for sure who took which character, I feel that somehow there must be a way to change this rule a little so that the problem is avoided. How would you implement this rule in such a way that the problem no longer exists?


texts: How many different right-handed Power Swords are there on the sprues of the Space Marines?

texts:
I am looking to make a group of Vanguard Veterans who wield Power Swords, but since they are not on the sprue I will have to pilfer them from other boxed sets. But since the GW website is rather incomplete regardings sprues, I cannot really tell where I can find these things.

Note that I am looking for right-handed Power Swords for models in Power Armor, either consisting of one part or the hand/weapon + weapon arm combination.


texts: A problem we ran into. Do the house cards stack or is what you play permanent. For instance, Baratheon play salladhor saan which makes all boats not your own 0 when supported. The opponent is greyjoys and play aeron. When they choose a new card they choose victarion. Would they still get the +2 to all there ships or would sans effect still make them 0?


texts: Increasing Savagery: can you change the target?

texts: In MTG can Increasing Savagery flashback to a different target if the original target is removed from the battlefield?


texts: How can I effectively use the Coppersmith?

texts:
I've been playing Dominion with the base + Intrigue sets for a while now, and one of the cards that I have trouble wrapping my mind around is the Coppersmith.

In theory, it seems like a great card - it allows you to make all of your Coppers into Silvers, and in some cases - even Gold. However, I have yet to build a deck during a game that manages to use it effectively. Usually, in order to pull one or two of those with a nice amount of coppers, I need to create a deck that relies heavily on +cards/+actions chains, and the Coppersmith only begins to affect the game too late for it to be of any use.

So... how can this card be effectively used?


texts: Is this box an official MTG product? Who are the featured characters?

texts:
I got this box years ago from a (then) friend together with their collection of cards (many from 5th edition up to Urza's Saga). It is a flip-top box with a warrior on the top (pictured), the sides feature warriors fighting dragons and other monsters. The back (also pictured) features the Wizard logo and the following text:

  Wizards of the Coast and Magic: The Gathering are registered trademarks of Wizards of the Coasts, Inc.

  Box Illustration by Christopher Moeller. (c)1993-1999 Wizards of the Coast, Inc.

It can hold three cardboard theme-deck boxes (the type you also get in fat packs) side by side.

My questions about this box are:

Has this box been part of an official Magic; the Gathering product?

Is / are the warrior(s) characters featured in Magic?


texts: Is there any app to play Bang! (Wanted) online (even solo or multiplayer) ?


texts: Annotating "brilliant moves" and "blunders" in chess games

texts:
I have become familiar with chess algebraic notation, and have noticed that all of the software tools I've used to re-create the games so I can create videos of them lack one feature: they never append an exclamation mark ! after a "brilliant move" or a question mark ? after a blunder. Similarly, they don't note an "interesting move" !? or a "dubious move" ?!.

Is there an algorithm which can determine which moves are brilliant/blunders/etc? The only approach I have thus far is using a combination of C++ and MATLAB to calculate the "effective score" at each move in the game, detect peaks and troughs, and then annotate that particular move as a "turning point". The only problem with this approach, is that if a player deploys a clever, three-move tactic, my algorithm would likely just recognize a move towards the middle/end of the tactic/sequence rather than the "brilliant" move that started it.


texts: Trick Joseki? Shoulder hit after keima to 3-4-stone

texts:
In a game I played, the following "Joseki" occurred:

I played the low keima against the 3-4-point, and Black responded with a shoulder hit. This move is not in the book by Takao Shinji.

In the game I attached under the 3-4 stone and created a living corner group, but Black's influence was tremendous. What should White do in this situation:

$$B
$$ ---------------------
$$ |..................|
$$ |..................|
$$ |..............1...|
$$ |..................|
$$ |...............2..|
$$ |..............3...|
$$ |..................|
$$ |..................|


texts: Do I draw a card when I resolve an enchantment with Eidolon of Blossoms, Opalescence, and Torpor Orb in play?

texts:
I control the following permanents:

Eidolon of Blossoms

  Whenever Eidolon of Blossoms or another enchantment enters the battlefield under your control, draw a card.

Opalescence

  Each other non-Aura enchantment is a creature in addition to its other types and has base power and base toughness each equal to its converted mana cost.

Torpor Orb

  Creatures entering the battlefield don't cause abilities to trigger.

Summary:

Eidolon of Blossoms triggers a card draw when an enchantment enters play.
Opalescence makes enchantments into creatures.
Torpor Orb prevents creatures from triggering enter-the-battlefield effects.

So when I cast my next enchantment (that will be creature due to Opalescence), does it trigger the draw from Eidolon of Blossoms?

I anticipate the answer is no, but I wanted to confirm my suspicions.


texts:
The action Charter boat states that one can move to a city as long as one can draw a route to it by sea.

The draw sea-lane action states that it's only allowed to cross one red line.

So my question is, which of the three interpretations is correct?

Charter boat refers to routes as previously defined sea-lanes.
Charter boat can move to any city to which there's a complete stretch of water.
Charter boat can move to any city to which there's a complete stretch of water, but only crossing one red line.


texts:
Each player is dealt 4 cards, and 4 cards are dealt, face up onto the table. The deck is placed on the table face down.
One deck of cards, containing three jokers
Jokers = 25 points
Face cards = 10 points
Number cards = 1 point
On their turn, Each player draws a card and sees if they have a card in their hand that matches one of the face up cards on the table, if they do, they can take the card from the table, add it to the one in their hand and place them in front of them, face up, then they draw another card from the deck and keep playing until they either decide to stop, or cannot match any more cards. They must then discard a card so they end their turn with four cards still in their hand.
The next player draws and plays, either matching cards in their hand to the ones on the table, as outlined above, or stealing from their opponents, but you can only steal the group of cards on the very top of the opponents individual piles.
Once a player has all four cards (i.e. 4 x jacks or 4 x 7's), their deck is safe as no one can steal underneath these cards.
The winner is the player at the end with the most points.
There may be additional rules to this game, which is why I am posting, any help as to the rules would be greatly appreciated.


texts: Can non-exile related return effects bring a card out of exile?

texts: So I stumbled upon this land, Karakas.  Can this return effect reach a card in exile?  I read the rules regarding exile, and it appears to me that Karakas' effect (and similar return/play/add effects) are fully capable of accessing the Exile Zone.


texts: How does this Interaction between Lifeline and Lethal Vapors work?

texts:
In Magic: The Gathering, Lethal Vapors will Destroy a creature when it enters the battlefield.  And Lifeline reads:

  Whenever a creature dies, if another creature is on the battlefield,
  return the first card to the battlefield under its owner's control at
  the beginning of the next end step.

So, if a creature dies while these two cards are in play and at least one other creature is on the battlefield when that happens, what happens at the end of the current turn?

The creature that died will return to the battlefield from the graveyard, and then be destroyed, again.  But then what?  Since it's the end of the turn, does he immediately return, triggering an infinite loop?


texts: Will Anger of the Gods exile a manifested creature regardless if it's an actual creature card?


texts: How to store cards when game boxes don't have slots for them

texts:
I have two board games which use a lot of cards, but their boxes don't have dedicated space to store them in an ordered manner and whenever I'd like to play them again I have to start with sorting all the cards by type.

How can I store these cards so they don't fly all over the box? The exact two games I have in mind are Lord of the Rings LCG and Dragon's Ordeal, but I'm looking for a solution which I could apply to a greater variety of dimensions. I am not from the UK or US so I'd prefer more generic items, because it might be difficult/too expensive to purchase stuff from Amazon or online shops.


texts: How do multiple copies of creatures with activated abilities interact?

texts:
Anointed Chorister has the activated ability:

{4}{W}: Anointed Chorister gets +3/+3 until end of turn.

If I have two or more copies of this creature in play on the battlefield and pay the cost to activate this ability, will that one time payment of 4 colorless and 1 white mana activate the other copies as well, without spending more mana, or would I need to spend another 4 colorless and 1 white mana to get the other copies to trigger?


texts: Catching him with no commander trying to play cards- Risk

texts:
It was year 5 and only two colours left on the board (myself and my brother). It was the last turn and his turn to go.

He had finished buying all his moon cards (at this time he had all his commanders except the nuke one). His first move was to play all his nuke cards, forgetting he had lost his commander, this meant he couldn’t win (the cards were his only chance).

I called him out after he tried to play the cards and told him he couldn’t play them if he didn’t have his nuke commander and couldn’t go back to buy it.

Should he have been able to go back and buy his commander which would have resulted in him winning the game, or should we have continued playing allowing him no commander?


texts:
I am teaching the game to a ton of new people this week. I was going to be playing with only 3 others and planned to join in myself, but now that we're up to 8 players including me, I figured the game would be more fun if I keep things moving as a non-player Arkham Master. Staying out of the game as a player and act as rules guardian, referee for things 1st player normally resolves, reader of cards, and general knowledge base.

My concern here is on teaching the game quickly without making the players feel like I'm leaving out important decision making details.  Arkham has a lot of rules, is there a new player cheat sheet or anything? If not what rules would you say a player MUST know if an experienced player is moderating the game? My intuition says to explain skills sliders, skill checks, phases, derived checks such as combat and horror, movement points, clues, closing, sealing, and otherworlds and the win/lose conditions for the game.  Has anyone taken the time to teach new players AH more than a few times?  What process do you use to explain the game?


texts:
This is a theory/decktech question.

Lets say you're playing 4 color burn (R,W,B,G) and your opponent is running something with spikey lifegain (Feed the Clan and a few Tarmogoyfs for example), so each game gets dragged out longer than a burn deck would prefer. Would keeping Dark Confidant in hand and dropping him to help boost card drawing late in the game be a viable strategy?

Lets assume you have sideboarded out Eidolon for Confidant and you also have skullcrack to prevent lifegain. Let us also assume you've never heard of a particular leyline card. Finally, in keeping with our spikey lifegain example, our opponent is playing Junk.


texts: How to speed up reaction time in Settlers of Catan?

texts:
I'm looking for ideas on how to make Settlers of Catan quicker to play between friends.
Whenever I play with friends they complain that you have to stop all the time to decide what are you going to do: trade, build, exchange at a port so the game doesn't flow as good as it should.
This could be because my friends (and me) don't play board games very much. No one seems to be able to make key decisions quickly.
Any ideas/suggestions on how to deal with this issue of slow decision-making?
Note: This question, unlike the other, is not about how to "shorten" the game by reducing the required number of moves. This question is about how to shorten the reaction time for a given move.


texts: How can I learn to play chess blindfold?

texts:
I'm an intermediate-level amateur chess player. How would I go about learning how to accurately play a complete game of chess, blindfolded? What skills are needed, and how are they practiced?

In particular, how can I maintain an accurate representation in my head of the board state over time? Whenever I've tried this, I get a dozen or so moves in, and it all starts to fall apart. Are there specific techniques or representations to help with this?


texts: Can special cards with "discard" label in King of Tokyo be saved until later?

texts:
In King of Tokyo, when I buy a special card with a "discard" label, do I have to use that card at the time of purchase? Can I save it to use later?

I infer from the rule book that I can save it... But the official text doesn't exactly state.


texts: Artisan of Forms and Gift of Immortality

texts:
Artisan of Forms says:

  Heroic — Whenever you cast a spell that targets Artisan of Forms, you may have Artisan of Forms become a copy of target creature and gain this ability.

Say I play a Gift of Immortality on it which says:

  Enchant creature. When enchanted creature dies, return that card to the battlefield under its owner's control. Return Gift of Immortality to the battlefield attached to that creature at the beginning of the next end step.

Artisan of Forms' ability triggers and I make it a copy of another creature. Then my opponent destroys it. The way I would interpret the card is that Gift of Immortality will return Artisan of Forms to the battlefield in it's original form but it also seems plausible to me that it would still be a copy.

In the event it does return to it's original form can Gift of Immortality still "find" Artisan of Forms to reattach given it is now a different creature?


texts: If I have a run of 7, 8, 9, 10, J, 11, can I move the 7, 8 and 9 to begin another run, leaving the 10, joker, and 11 in a run of 3 or more?


texts: Is there an unofficial term for an artifact that produces mana?

texts:
Some terms have an unofficial but widely known meaning in Magic jargon. For example, a "cantrip" is a spell that lets you draw a card, and a "bear" is a vanilla 2/2 (with "vanilla" having its own meaning!)

What about a card that produces mana like Sol Ring, Rakdos Signet, or Talisman of Indulgence? Do they have an unofficial name?


texts: How to play a planeswalker such as Sorin, Lord of Innistrad?

texts:
When playing Sorin, Lord of Innistrad, I know I add 1 loyalty counter at my upkeep. However if I have 6 loyalty my questions are:

Can I play the -2 ability twice or only once per upkeep?
My other question is can I play +1 and then -2 on the same upkeep?


texts: What are on each of the faces of the dice in the US version of Yu-Gi-Oh! Dungeon Dice Monsters?

texts:
Yu-Gi-Oh! Dungeon Dice Monsters was a spinoff of the popular trading card game, which used the same iconic monsters, but instead was a tactical miniatures game featuring dice. The Japanese versions and the American version differed in the dice that were offered:

In the Japanese version, you could snap together squares to create the six-sided dice with whatever combination of faces you wanted (Six Level 4 Summoning crests? Go for it!)
In the American version, the dice were all premade and non-customaizable, coming in four different colors with each color apparently having in a different combination of faces

I'm trying to reconstruct the game, but don't have the dice from the American set. What are on each of the faces of the different dice? I've seen a few images on BoardGameGeek, but so far can't tell what is on all of the faces of the American dice.


texts: How to contact a moderator on boardgamegeek.com?

texts:
I created an account on boardgamegeek.com only for my account to be frozen after my first post.
While logged in, I get the message "Your user account is not permitted to perform that action." on anything I click.

How do I contact a moderator on boardgamegeek.com? The site requires me to be logged in to send a personnal message, but I'm not permitted to do so.


texts:
In some situations, you may have units at your HQ with your warlord.
I know when you commit your warlord to a planet,  all the units at HQ come across with the warlord exhausted.

What I want to know is what happens to these units once you win a battle at the planet that is not the first planet? Do they go back to HQ with the warlord,  or do they remain committed to that planet?


texts: Why to declare the city a scout is sending goods at the "Start of the Turn Phase"?

texts:
In the rulebook of Civilization (p.26) it says, that

  The player declares which of their cities the scout is "sending" the square to during the Start of Turn Phase, and all the icons in that square (including trade, production, culture, coins and resources) are then considered to in that city's outskirts for the rest of the turn.

In many cases in our play groups we forget to declare the cities at each 'Start of Turn Phase'. Then, we declare the cities at the 'City management Phase'. This is sometimes even an agreed rule, because it makes the 'Start of Turn Phase' a much faster. That is because then you will not have to plan the whole round beforehand at the 'Start of Turn Phase'.

Is there any reason that the decision for the "home city" of the scout should be decided at the 'Start of Turn Phase' and not at the 'City Management Phase'? Would it harm the game somehow, if the decisions are made at the 'City Management Phase'?


texts: Still blocked *by that creature* if removed from combat?

texts:
I've read:

If a blocking creature leaves the battlefield, is the attacker still blocked, or will it damage the opponent?

My question is about effects which occur when a creature "blocks or is blocked by" another creature, but regeneration is in the mix.
Specifically, I'm looking at Venom plus Regeneration.  I know that regenerating a creature removes it from combat, and I know if the regenerated creature had been assigned as a blocker, the creature it blocked remains blocked after regeneration (i.e. it doesn't damage the defending player unless it has trample).
But, does the blocked creature remain blocked by the regenerated creature such that Venom's ability will trigger?  Or in the other direction, if I attack with a creature using Venom and Regeneration, if I regenerate it would the blocking creature(s) still be destroyed?
Follow-up: If the answer is "no" I would imagine that Venom plus Elvish Scout (plus Lure or Tempting Licid) would still work to destroy all blockers, since Elvish Scout doesn't mention removing from combat, only untapping...or does untapping remove from combat anyway?  Would vigilance make the combo work?


texts: Auction of mortgaged properties in Monopoly

texts:
I have few of my properties mortgaged and I actually want to get rid of them. Can I auction some of those mortgaged properties to generate more cash??

I know specifically that the bank has the right to auction my properties if I go bankrupt to the bank.

But can I of my own free will auction my mortgaged properties in the middle of the game?


texts: Laboratory maniac and not being able to win the game

texts:
I have a Laboratory Maniac and my opponent has a Platinum Angel and I have 0 cards in my library.

I can't win because of the Platinum Angel, but does this mean that I lose because the ability from Laboratory Maniac will be prevented or will only the part be prevented that wins me the game?


texts: Recommendations for a wife who likes dominion

texts:
My wife and I really enjoy playing board games IF we can find the right game.  Seems to be that there is a love it or hate it reaction from my wife (I'm pretty game for anything).  My wife likes the "classic" board games like Monopoly, Scrabble, and such.  I myself typically enjoy a strategic game with a few elements of chance of which my wife (says she) generally dislikes.

However I was recently surprised to find out that she absolutely loves Dominion, and is in fact one of her favorite board games to play.  Excited by this, since I too love Dominion, I attempted to play Carcassonne with her as I thought it would be of similar taste but found that she doesn't care for it at all.  Intrigued, I tried Pandemic with her thinking she might like a co-op game better and she had mixed feelings about it.

My wife is certainly not afraid of competition, and I think games we play that put us on a level playing field are the ones she enjoys most.  My question naturally is does anyone have any recommendations of a game/games that they believe would be enjoyable by both of us, given this history?  I am pretty open to anything, although do slightly favor a more "strategic" game.  Thank in advance!


texts: What's the technical term for the period of time between when an opponent concludes their turn and mine begins?

texts:
Apologies if this is poorly phrased.  I'll try to make this as clear as possible...

I recently realized that I can utilize the period of time between a players turn and my turn in Magic. What's the name of this period?  What is the appropriate verbiage/ettiquette to indicate doing something during that time? I don't think its "during your upkeep"...

Essentially, I'd like to use this time to activate lands like Arid Mesa search my library for land that I want without losing a cycle doing that.


texts:
I'm building my first EDH deck and have chosen Thraximundar (Grixis) as my general.

My deck has a lot of synergy centered around sacrificing creatures.  I find it easy to benefit from sacrificing and have plenty of targets for sacrificing but I need more ways of enabling the sacrifice triggers.

So far I have Viscera Seer, not much to go on.


texts:
new here and couldn't find anything related to Q-Bitz, so I hope it's ok to ask this question. It has my family arguing!
So in Q-Bitz the challenge is to match the pattern on the card with your own set of blocks. Fastest and/or most exact wins, depending on the variant.
If your blocks match the pattern rotated through ninety degrees, have you matched the pattern? Or not?
Trivial example to visualise... let's say the pattern on the card is entirely black apart from one white square in one corner, and, if you had a compass and aligned your table, you could say the white square was the north-east corner.
So it's an dead easy pattern to remember of course, and everyone reveals their solution. Three people have their white square in the north-east corner, yay. One person has their white square in the south-east corner. But they say their solution is correct, because the pattern is exactly the same. Hmmm!
Unfortunately the rules of the game don't help on this point.
Help us avoid family break-up please... who is right?
PS I couldn't create a q-bitz tag, as new here.


texts: Monopoly millionaire mortgaging of a property to pay for another property

texts:
Since an agreement could not be made.
And we take monopoly a bit to seriously in this house.
I need a perspective to end this debate.

I landed on boardwalk.  I had 167k in cash to pay for it, but I was 3k shy of having enough cash to complete the (170k) purchase.

Is it legal to mortgage another one of my properties, when the rules state "you must be bankrupt to mortgage properties", to have enough money to pay for the new property?
This is very serious and I need an outside opinion.


texts: Would a 1/1 token with persist dying trigger on death effects a second time?

texts: If I had a 1/1 token with persist, would it come back as a 0/0 and die a second time? Would it still trigger on death effects?


texts: Can more lands be tapped for mana than needed?

texts:
I was playing with a friend last night, and during one of our games i miscalculated the amount of mana needed to activate various abilities on my permanents. I ended up tapping too many lands (2 too many). Just as I pass the turn I realize that I have tapped too many lands. I inform my friend of this, and he says he knows, but that he did not wanted to tell me.

He says that it is too late, and that the lands should stay tapped. I should have paying better attention in the first place.

My question is therefore: Is it at all possible to tap lands for mana if the mana has nothing to activate/pay casting cost for?

I know I made a mistake in the first place, but what is the ruling on this kind of situation?


texts: Which MtG core set has had the greatest change in cards from a previous core set?

texts:
From its beginning through 2015, Magic the Gathering released a new core set every so often (at first every two years, then every year). At first, core sets would only contain previously released cards, but that changed with the Magic 2010 series.

What core set contains the largest number of different in cards within that core set from the previous core set? (how many cards were changed from that previous year?)


texts: What are the Differences Between Formula Dé and Formula D?

texts: Thinking about trading for one of these variations of Formula D, but would like to know which one is the preferable version. Are there differences in rules, component quality, or both?


texts:
We're early in a game of Advanced Civilization and I find myself stymied while pondering a trade.

I've been offered the most optimal trade possible.  However, as only 2 cards in a trade are guaranteed, I feel I'm almost certain to receive a calamity along with the two cards I need.

As Illyria, receiving Superstition and Slave Revolt would really hamper me right now.  I have only one city on a 2 area, the rest are on 1's.  Having to reduce 3 cities (which is what either works out to) would prevent me from building them back, not to mention not increasing my city count next turn.

What should I consider when making this decision?  When is the short term gain worth the risk of long term consequences?

My current hand is hides/timber/grain, 2xiron, 3xoil.  I'd receive iron/oil/XXX(possible calamity) for my grain/timber/hides.


texts: Is there negative marking when destination cards are drawn and not enough trains are left?

texts:
A problem occurred during a recent game of Ticket to Ride.
After completing the 3 original destination ticket, the player drew 3 new destination cards.
The player didn't have enough trains left to complete ANY of the 3 destination but the player is required to keep at least one of those newly drawn destination cards.

What happens in this case?
Is the player still liable to negative points at the end of the game for the destination that is impossible to complete?
Is this one of the pure bad luck elements of the game?


texts: What is the difference between add damage counters and attack damage

texts: On Dusclops(Flashfire 39/106), on the moved cursed drop it says that i can put 4 damage counters on my opponent's pokemon in any way I like. What is the difference from saying this as in do 40 damage to your opponents pokemon?


texts: In Agricola, do family members occupy as many rooms as possible?

texts:
Say I have three rooms and two family members, and I take a "family growth (even without space)" action (for example using the Lover occupation). Does the new family member now occupy my third room, or double up with one of the existing family members? In other words, can I now immediately take a standard "family growth" action, or will I now need to build an extra room?

[Note that if I'd done it the other way around ("growth", then "growth without space"), I could definitely have four people in my three rooms.]


texts: Do the rules as written make Assault weapons and Pistols useless?

texts:
I recently got into a discussion with somebody, as they tried to explain to me that  both Assault weapons and Pistols were actually completely useless in 8th edition. He did not mean "useless" as in "not as good as other options", but as "the rules as written mean they don't give any advantage".

The Basic Rule Book for 8th Edition contains the following phrase regarding "Advancing":

  When you pick a unit to move in the Movement phase, you can declare that it will Advance. Roll a dice and add the result to the Move characteristics of all models in the unit for that Movement phase. A unit that Advances can't shoot or charge later that turn.

The section regarding assault weapons states the following:

  A model with an Assault weapon can fire even if it Advanced earlier that turn. If it does so, you must subtract 1 from any hit rolls made when firing that weapon this turn.

Likewise the section regarding pistols states the following:

  A model can fire a pistol even if there are enemy units within 1" of its own unit, but it must target the closest enemy unit. [...]

The rules in the section 1. Choose Unit to Shoot with states the following:

  [...] First, you must pick one of your units to shoot with. You may not pick a unit that Advanced or Fell Back this turn, or a unit that is within 1" of an enemy unit. [...]

His argument was now as follows: Since the rules regarding the shooting phase disallow you from even selecting a unit that Advanced or Fell Back, you never get to section 2., which tasks you with selecting a weapon. Since you can never select that you want to shoot an Assault weapon or a Pistol, you can't fire it. He further mentioned that the rules-as-written do not mention that you can select these units in the shooting phase, only that it would allow you to fire this weapon if you were to select them.

Intuitively, this seems wrong. The intent of the rules clearly seem to be that pistols can be used in close combat, and assault weapons can be used while charging. However, upon looking at the rules-as-written, there seems to be at least some logic to his statements. Is this a simple oversight? Or is there something I am missing entirely?

Emphasis mine on all quotes


texts: In Haunt #43 - The Star Sickness, does any use of the serum on a traitor kill them?

texts:
For those not familiar with this Haunt, a found a general description of Haunt #43 — The Star Sickness, (although sadly not the exact rule text, so if someone has the rules handy please update).

We played this haunt the other day and interpreted the rules to mean that a traitor was only killed by the serum when it was injected in them by an Alien, because the rule stating they were killed by the serum were in the Alien section of the Haunt description. Thus when a traitor was immunized by a player we assumed it had no effect. But as we played it out, this didn't seem to make sense.

From the link above, it appears the correct interpretation is that when a traitor is injected for any reason they die, and when a player is injected they are cured.

However, this didn't make sense to us either because then a traitor would have to reveal themselves as such when someone wanted to "cure" them. Or is this how it is supposed to work? The best way to root out traitors is to try and cure them?


texts:
If I arm a Liberator (http://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/warhammer-aos-liberators-en.pdf) with two warblades how many attacks do I get?

I see I get to reroll hit rolls of 1 but I'm unclear on whether I get 2 attack (because that's what it says on the profile) or 4 (because I have two warblades each with two attacks).


texts: Seeker of Slaanesh Threat Card Clarification

texts:
In Relic, this threat card says something along the lines of 'If you win, you may discard 1 corruption card. If you do not, gain 1 corruption card".

I interpreted this as if you win the battle, you have to discard one corruption card. If you choose not to (or if you have no corruption to discard), you must gain 1 corruption card.

Another one of the players claimed that it meant if you lose the battle, you draw 1 corruption card (in addition to losing 1 life).

Which interpretation is correct?


texts: In a single-avatar game, what do the other main characters do?

texts:
Before I try a group play of Legendary: Encounters (the Firefly version), I've started the first three missions as a solo, single-avatar run. I just completed episode 1-A solo, and it was challenging but not terribly so. I'm worried that I'm not playing the game right, though.

It's not explicitly stated, but as a single-avatar player, I just use my Avatar's character deck every turn, plus the Bridge cards, and thats it. My other main characters don't seem to have a function other than determining which other characters fill the Supporting Characters (and thus the big crew deck that rotates into the Bridge).

I used Mal as my avatar in the last episode, and every turn was just the introduction of an episode card into the 'Verse, then my hand of six Mal cards (attack/scan/recruit), then cleanup. A few cards moved a square or two in the 'Verse, but no cards ever entered the combat zone, and I completed the goals just as an Inevitable card showed up.

Does that sound right for single-avatar play? Should I be doing something with my Main Characters (besides my Avatar) each turn, or are they just there to have passive effects on episode cards and soak up crew strikes?


texts: Why is 'equity' much more commonly used than 'winning probability'? What is the mathematical formula that links 'equity" and 'winning probability'?

texts:
In backgammon, people always speak about 'equity', but never about 'winning probability'. To me, 'winning probability' seems much more simple and much more intuitive than 'equity'. So why is 'equity' much more commonly used than 'winning probability'?

And is there a mathematical formula that links 'equity' and 'winning probability'?


texts: Will Roalesk, Apex Hybrid, trigger Sharktocrab twice?

texts:
Sharktocrab reads

  Whenever one or more +1/+1 counters are put on Sharktocrab, tap target creature an opponent controls. That creature doesn't untap during its controller's next untap step.

If I were to put two +1/+1 counters on it at once, by playing Vivien of the Arkbow, then its ability would only trigger once.

But what about Roalesk, Apex Hybrid, which reads

  When Roalesk dies, proliferate, then proliferate again.

The first ability is placing a counter on Sharktocrab, just like when I use Vivien. But the Roalesk then places another counter separately. Would Sharktocrab therefore trigger twice?


texts:
In King of Tokyo, what are the consequences of the acid attack card? Specifically, the following questions:

Who does the damage effect?
Does the damage count as an attack?
If damaged by acid attack while in Tokyo, can the monster leave Tokyo?


texts: Can I create my own version of Monopoly and distribute it ?

texts:
Can I create my own version of Monopoly and distribute it online or physically ?

I see that there were patents filed in 1923 . Can I create an improvement on the existing game and sell it online ?

If there is any law/copyright protecting this, is it per country/continent ?


texts: Does John Pain get cards drawn at the beginning of a player's turn or from Stage Coach and Wells Fargo?

texts:
The "Wild West Show" character John Pain states:

If [John] has less than 6 cards in hand, each time any player "draws!", John adds the card just drawn to his hand.

I've always interpreted this as only applying to cards like Barrel, Jail and Dynamite or character attributes like Jourdonnais but not to the two cards drawn at the beginning of a player's turn or cards like Stage Coach and Wells Fargo.  Recently I was playing with someone and the question came up and I couldn't find anything in the rules about it other than the distinct use of the term "draw!" in certain instances.

Does John Pain get cards drawn at the beginning of a player's turn and from Stage Coach and Wells Fargo or just from cards like Barrel, Jail and Dynamite?


texts:
I have a problem with the 4-4 high approach joseki - the left variant:

In the left variant, black ends the joseki and white can play anywhere else, i.e. has sente. But the position is pretty weak for white! Black can invade at 6-1, leaving white in a very bad position - it takes a lot of points from white and it seems like the two white stones at 4-3 and 5-3 will not form any kind of territory and are pretty much useless. So it seems that the Joseki shouldn't end here but fix the position by playing 4-2 for white, leaving the black in sente.

Or am I wrong? Why is this joseki ending in this weak position?


texts: Does anyone remember this game from the seventies?

texts: This might be a tough one. My mom and dad are trying to remember the name of a game they played before I was born (I am 36 so we’re going back). All they can remember is that it was a card game, it had a plastic board with slots that you put the cards into, lying down flat. They can’t remember if they were face up or face down. They think it was sort of a solitaire type game, but for two players. I know this is not a lot to go on. Google is failing me so far.


texts: Does Avacyn, Angel of Hope's ability continue to work even if tapped?

texts: Avacyn, Angel of Hope has indestructible and gives the other creatures he controls indestructible as well. if it is tapped, are his other creatures still indestructible? Example, if he plays avacyn angel of hope and I play Claustrophobia on it, am I able to kill his other creatures, or do they still have the indestructible ability?


texts: When is someone the controller of a permanent?

texts: My dad and I have an issue since we play with cards with Ascend. We both play with auras with Enchant Creature. When is an aura under who’s control? I think when he plays an aura on a creature I control, the aura is also under my control. I tried to find the rulings, but I can't find it.


texts: Selling properties while owing another player

texts:
Can I sell properties to a player while I have to pay another player?
I was wondering if I land on a player's building and I have to pay him or her but I don't have money, however I have a property that another player would like to buy. Can I sell it to this player?


texts:
Do creatures with enchantments on them keep the enchantments if they return to the battlefield from the graveyard?

If a creature is sent to the graveyard from the battlefield, and has an enchantment aura on it when it does, if I were to play a card that allowed me to return a creature from the graveyard to the battlefield, would it return with the enchantments that it had on it when it went to the graveyard?


texts: What is a good strategy for selecting commons and uncommons for trade folders?

texts: I recently came into several large collections of Magic cards that I am looking through for trade stock, obviously cards such as Counterspell tend to be good trade stock even though they are common; however, what is a good strategy for going through the rest of the cards? Are their certain abilities or creature types that I should look for or is it best to just look for what is still legal in Standard?


texts: What to do when briefcases in the bag run out?

texts:
Near the end of the game, when a price adjustment occurs 9 or 10 briefcases can be puled from the bag, but only 5 will be replaced.

I played recently where the bag ran out of cases except for these 5 that got added. In this situation, everybody knows exactly what will come out and the game loses the randomness which the stock market is meant to have.

Is there any rule for what to do in this situation, should a stalemate be declared, or is this normal and acceptable?


texts: How do different sizes of Hnefatafl play?

texts: There are some variants of Tafl games that involve differently sized boards. Obviously there is more to a game than its size, but how do the different variations of the board size affect play?


texts: During Charity, the rules state to play or give away cards until there are only 5 in your hand.  Can you play a monster card and fight it at this point?


texts: Can a sub attack a lone sub in axis and allies and the attacked sub submerge?

texts: If an English sub attacks a German sub (by itself in a sea zone), can the German sub submerge? From my understanding subs can only conduct a surprise strike or submerge if there are other sea units (besides subs) in the sea zone with it, and only if the attacking and defending players both have submarines.


texts: Is The Next Act Begins a valid first mythos card during setup?

texts: Can the "The Next Act Begins!" Mythos card be a valid first mythos to draw during the game setup? There is no rule prohibiting it, but it would result in no gate emerging at the start of the game.


texts: Go - How does one count territory in these two scenarios? (9x9)

texts:
I'm learning to play Go and I was trying to develop a game in java, but I'm still not sure how to count territory in some cases.

  In the scenario below, which side belongs to White, Top or Bottom?

$$W Scenario1
$$ --------------------
$$ | . . . X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . |
$$ | X X X X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . O O O O O |
$$ | . . . . O . . . . |
$$ | . . . . O . . . . |
$$ | O O O O O . X X X |
$$ | . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . X . . |
$$ --------------------

  Next one, White has the whole board divided in three pieces. Does Black get
  any territory here?

$$W Scenario2
$$ --------------------
$$ | . X X . . O . . . |
$$ | X . X . . O . . . |
$$ | X X X . . O X X X |
$$ | . . . . . O X . . |
$$ | . . . . . O X . . |
$$ | O O O O O O X . . |
$$ | X X X X . O X X X |
$$ | X X X X . O . . . |
$$ | . X . X . O . . . |
$$ --------------------


texts: Rummikub - Picking up a played tile before your turn is over

texts: I was playing 3-way Rummikub for the first time in a few years with friends. During player 1's turn late in the game, he mixed tiles back and forth trying to play as many as he could. During this same turn he used a joker and put it in a combination on the board (it was a red 12 in a 11, 12, 13 run). Before this same turn was over he realized he didn't need to use the joker, finding a way to use a different red 12 in order to use the joker on another turn. He then picked the joker up from the table and tried to put it back in his tray, but player 2 said this not allowed because "if it was laid, it was played". Player 1 thinks picking up a joker (or any tile) should be legal as long as it is removed from an error-free board before time expires. Player 2 thinks if a joker was placed on the board in a legal combination during a turn, I should not be allowed to put it back in my hand regardless of circumstances.  Appreciate your feedback.


texts: Is there a list of Star Players for 2nd Edition of Blood Bowl somewhere? Obviously the ones from Star Players Handbook and Companion Rulebook is simple enough but the ones printed in White Dwarf etc?


texts: How could I augment my Tau army with Necrons?

texts:
I'm planning on using the 6th edition Allies rules to add some Necrons to my tau army. As a novice player I'd like to know which units would best suit this mix?

I only barely know my Tau army, and I know nothing of Necrons. Where do I start filling the holes in my Tau army? Why those pieces?


texts: Is there an extensive source where one can look up artworks of Magic: The Gathering expansions?

texts: I'm interested in looking up some of the artworks found on Magic: The Gathering cards. Is there a website where card art is featured, preferably in higher definition than on the various card search engines? I am highly interested in artworks from the Coldsnap expansion, where you seem to find little in terms of artworks.


texts: In Munchkin, can a thief steal at level 1?

texts: Can a thief steal at level 1 given that failing to steal causes the thief to lose a level?


texts: Are all the cards in High Caliber Ops supposed to be combined with the base set?

texts: I don't see any rules mentioning how to integrate the cards, so the obvious default seems to be to shuffle them all together, but half of the black market cards in the expansion are basics.  It seems like a heavy weighting towards diluting towards basic cards because of this.  Is there some different way we're supposed to combine these cards?


texts: Why does Online Dominion allow you to reveal reaction cards multiple times?

texts:
In the FAQ for Isotropic's online Dominion game, the creator states:

  No, you really can reveal a reaction card like Moat or Secret Chamber multiple times. They are designed to be idempotent so there's no point in doing so, but allowing this avoids strange corner cases having to do with Secret Chamber drawing other reaction cards.

What, exactly, are these corner cases?  Can you reveal a reaction card drawn from Secret Chamber, or is there some other strange case drawing a reaction card with Secret Chamber causes?


texts: How does Le Havre compare with Agricola?

texts:
At my gaming group, we are looking into getting a new boardgame. We're all relative novices with boardgames but not with games in general.

Among our options are two games that seem rather similar: Le Havre and Agricola. They're designed by the same guy and offer similar mechanics (different theme though). Even though Agricola seems more popular and has a better overall score at the BoardGameGeek, there are quite a lot of people that describe Le Havre as an upgrade to Agricola.

We have watched some introductory videos and have become familiar with the basics of the rules in each one, but obviously we can't get a real feel of them until we've tried them.

So, how do the games compare with each other? We're looking for information that's not immediately obvious, such as setup time, how much fiddling with bits and other bookkeeping there is, game flow, downtime, complexity of decisions, tactics vs strategy, extent of player interaction etc.

We are not looking for subjective opinions (unless they can be backed up somewhat) or obvious things that can be observed without playing the game, such as theme, mechanics, rules etc.


texts: Do basic land types affect a card's color identity?

texts:
A card's color identity, as I understand it, is defined by all mana symbols in its cost and rules text. This means that the color identity of Temple of Silence is black and white, since it has "{T}: add {W} or {B}" in its rules text.

But what about Godless Shrine or Indatha Triome? These lands can also be tapped for various colors of mana, but those colors don't appear in the rules text: the ability comes from the card's subtypes, which don't contain any mana symbols. The mana symbols do appear on the card, but only in reminder text, which as far as I know has no effect on the rules.

So, what is the color identity of a land that taps for colored mana (because of its subtypes), but contains no mana symbols in its rules text? For a specific example, if my commander is Elenda, the Dusk Rose, can I include an Indatha Triome in my deck?


texts: "Strong pass" systems are classified as Highly Unusual Methods, so most players never worry about them. My understanding is that they are not particularly overpowered (otherwise all the pros would have switched to them) but that one needs highly detailed defensive methods to defeat them and it's not worth memorizing these methods for the casual player. I am curious what these methods look like. Has any team ever played a Strong pass system at the national or international level, and what sorts of defenses did their opponents come up with?


texts: What are the rules regarding play of a singleton?

texts: A player waited 3 minutes to play a singleton.  We were playing 3 NT and an opponent paused 3 minutes on the second trick leaving 2 minutes to play 11 tricks.  What are the rules regarding this unethical play?


texts: What counts as a coastline in Catan Seafarers?

texts:
I was wondering about the coastline on islands not the main lands.
Does the coastline refer to the whole island? Where it's either road or boat?
Or are they separate coastlines on the same island.

So let's say one side of the island I use ships, then on the exact same island on the other side I use roads...

Or is the coastline refering as one, whether its boat or ship that surrounds a whole island


texts: In Phase 10, what happens when a skip card is played by the only person who hasn't been skipped yet?

texts: In Phase 10, each player can only be skipped once per round. What happens if a player discards a skip card, but they are the only player who hasn't been skipped yet that round? Do they have to skip themselves since there is no one else to skip, or is the skip voided and considered just a normal discard?


texts: If a protection effect "doesn't remove Auras", can auras that are not cast be placed on the permanent?

texts:
The card Spectra Ward has this ability:

  Enchanted creature gets +2/+2 and has protection from all colors. This effect doesn't remove Auras.

The rulings on the card say that you can't cast more Auras targeting the creature:

  Although Auras that are already attached to the creature aren’t affected by Spectra Ward, the enchanted creature can’t be the target of further Aura spells that have one or more colors.

But what happens if an Aura enters the battlefield some other way (from the effect of Enduring Ideal, for example)? Can that Aura be attached to a creature with Spectra Ward already attached?


texts: In Arkham Horror, can you pay sanity costs to go insane on purpose?

texts:
In Arkham Horror, an investigator must pay the sanity cost of a spell before making a spell check to see whether it would succeed.  If the spell's sanity cost is X, and the investigator has only X sanity, can that investigator willfully attempt to cast the spell in order to go insane?

For example, Gloria has only 1 sanity, and she needs to reach the other side of Arkham all the way from St. Mary's Hospital, but moving there on foot will take her 5 turns due to some ongoing Mythos environment.  She has the spell Withering, which has a sanity cost of 1.  Even though she does not have the lore to cast it successfully, can she use that spell to go insane and teleport herself all the way to Arkham Asylum?

To recap: Spells cannot be used unless they can be paid, but can you game the system when the situation demands it such that you obtain the benefits of paying everything you have?


texts: It Has A Child card - do you stay in Tokyo?

texts:
It Has A Child states

  If you are eliminated discard all your cards and lose all your [Star], Heal to  10 [Heart] and start again.

If somebody with this card is in Tokyo and they are eliminated, do they remain in Tokyo when they start again?


texts: In MTG, is there a collective name for cards that cost 1 mana and grant 3 of something?

texts:
I'm aware of the boons, which are a cycle of instants that cost 1 coloured mana and grant 3 of something: cards, mana, damage, +1/+1, or healing.

However, it seems that there are a number of other cards that also cost 1 mana and grant 3 of something. For example:

Holy Strength and Unholy Strength each grant a combined power/toughness boost of +3.
Several 1-cost creatures are 1/1, with one keyword ability: Benalish Hero, Mountain Goat, Tundra Wolves.
Savannah Lions and Wall of Wood have a combined power/toughness of 3.

Is there an established term for these cards, or for the design principle of paying 1 mana for 3 resources?


texts: When retreating from a compromised territory should you always leave one infantry?

texts:
In his seminal essays, Don Rae suggests that a retreating player always leaves one infantry in the territory she is retreating from:

  Retreat and regroup when faced with overwhelming odds against your forces, always leaving at least one infantry defending in a territory - give them NOTHING for free.

I agree this advise makes sense if the opponent has tanks adjacent to the territory you are retreating from and can capture two territories in one turn, or reach an otherwise un- or under-defended territory through the vacated territory, but that aside, why does it make sense to leave one infantry in a territory you're retreating from?

In other words, if you know your enemy will attack (and conquer) a territory whether you have one infantry in it or not, why would you leave one in there? That's one less infantry you have to help defend the territory you just retreated to.


texts: Risk - To secure a world domination win?

texts:
I have been playing Risk with my four best friends and i have very rarely won.

I have been wondering what is the best strategy to win at Risk?


texts: Why would you want to play with a deck bigger than 60 cards in MTG?

texts: In Magic the Gathering, the decks are required to be no less than 60 cards, but can be larger.  Since you can only have 4 of each card (except for basic lands), it seems you would want the limit size to improve your chances of getting the cards you want.  Why would you want to play with a larger deck?


texts: It just appeared on the floor in my house and I have no clue where it came from. My kids moved out over a decade ago. It has these words on the sides - REVERSE, WILD, ANY TWO, END (gold background), END(navy background), MID(red background). It's a slightly more than a 1/2 inch 6-sided cube.


texts: Does Shepherds/Ambassadors give me gold when I build by moving a settlement?

texts: The Nomads expansion has a Shepherds Ambassadors Kingdom Builder cards, which give you gold during the game for building in certain places (solo terrain hexes and next to other players, respectively). Do you get gold by moving a settlement into a qualifying hex via locations like Paddock and Caravan?


texts: Is the Mystery Train expansion for Ticket to Ride available in sizes matching the 1910 expansion?

texts:
I have a set of Mystery Train expansion cards that I printed and laminated myself (they're not the most pleasant to play with, but they work). Since I got the 1910 expansion for Ticket to Ride, I haven't really used the Mystery Train expansion because the cards' sizes don't match. The destination tickets from Mystery Train are included, but I'm looking for the character cards (Engineer, Tycoon, Inspector, Station Agent, and the blank character card).

Is there a professionally-printed version or a printable PDF for the full-size cards?


texts: Should I have made a takeout double in the situation?

texts:
With a part score of 60 to 0 (neither side vulnerable), I dealt and bid a "strong" 1NT with:

(s) QT3 (h) KQJ8 (d) KJ93 (c) K5.

"West," to my left, overcalled 2 clubs. Our respective partners passed to me.

I doubled (for takeout). West rebid 2 diamonds, all passed, and we set them 3 undoubled.

Partner had something like: (s) xxxx (h) xxxx (d) xx (c) Qxx, and might have bid (2 clubs) "garbage Stayman" if West hadn't. My takeout double was meant to produce this effect, and probably a two hearts contract, except that West took me out.

Did West effectively "rescue" me by overcalling, meaning that I should have kept silent? Or
was it right to double to try to force partner to bid in this situation, risking a downed contract, to deprive the opponents of their (likely) 40 point part score?


texts: Can you spend extra mana on a spell that is not part of the casting cost?

texts:
Suppose I have a Hall of the Bandit Lord and a Plains out and I have a Sacred Cat in hand. Is it possible to tap both lands while casting to give it haste, or can the hall only be used on creatures with a colorless mana cost (assuming no cost changing effects are active).

Likewise, is it possible to ignore cost reduction? For example, if I had a Vizier of Remedies with Oketra's Monument out, would it be possible to still pay the colorless mana to give it haste?


texts:
So I have a red blue Guttersnipe deck that I personally love to use, but my friend and I keep running into this situation. In my hand for the purpose of explaining this say I have all Lightning Bolts and a Guttersnipe on the field. All he has available is a Swift Silence. Now since I know that he runs Swift Silence I will only play 1 lightning bolt in the ending phase before passing off priority. My friend will then also pass priority because he wants to stop the full combo with the Swift Silence.

So what happens?

Since he passed priority, Guttersnipe's ability which is on top of the
stack will resolve but the Lightning Bolt won't. So when I play another Lightning Bolt on the stack he can than use Swift Silence to counter both Lightning Bolts and Guttersnipe's ability?
Guttersnipe's ability resolves, I pass, then he passes again so the Lightning Bolt would resolve. I can than play another Lightning Bolt on top of the empty stack and start the loop over?
When we let both Guttersnipe's ability and Lightning Bolt resolve since it is a empty stack would my turn then be over since I was doing this on my end step?

However if I can just keep playing stuff using this loop what would Swift Silence ever be useful for other than say a Grapeshot?


texts: Model positioning during multiple close combats after removing models

texts:
Here is the scenario.

A multiple close combat scenario. 3 units are attacking one of my units. One is attacking the front. 1 on my left flank. 1 on my right flank. I have 15 models in the unit.

3 models are killed from the frontal attack. I remove 3 units from the rear of my unit. Now 2 models are in the rear of my unit. Who can those 2 models attack? Do they slide over to the right flank or the left? Or does the controller of the unit get to decide where they slide to? I read a rule that said they are assumed to slide over to engage in combat, but which side? Do they slide from side to side during one phase of combat?

If they are on the right flank, can the enemy at the left flank claim an extra model is in base contact with the last row even though they are not touching the actual model that is there?

Thanks


texts: Killer Bunnies Quest / Retrieval Card (Special)

texts:
Some debate has taken place in my home concerning the Special card titled Retrieval (Card # 0425)

It says "may be used once by a player to retrieve and immediately use any of the last five run cards played." So...does this mean that the player needs to choose one card out of the five to play? Or does that player get to play any and/or all of the five cards picked up?

Thank you for your help.


texts: In Shadowrift, can a player user more than one villager per round?

texts:
I've seen multiple mentions on forums and in YouTube videos that a player can only 'use' a single villager per round. However, I don't see anything about this in the rulebook.
All it says about using villagers is:

  Seek Aid: You may move a
  Villager with the Aid term on its
  description from Town Square
  to the Town Discard to gain its
  effect.
  Example: An attacking hero may
  pay 1 Coin and discard the Smith
  to add +1 damage to their attack.

The epic actions, which are only allowed once per round, are explicitly called out.


texts: What if you have a creature 1/5 and it attacks a 2/2 death creature does the 1/5 die or is deathtouch activated upon death