Duration cards in Dominion - Seaside - Are they your 1st action of your next turn? When playing a Duration Card in Dominion-Seaside, is that Duration Card your 1st action of your next turn or can you play a card from your hand 1st and then play the Duration Card?

Note that the cards say "at the start of your next turn". So you must obey the text literally; you do what it says "at the start", which means before you do anything else. If you played multiple Duration cards last turn, so that you have multiple "at the start of your next turn" things to do, you choose the order in which to do them, though there are not any Duration cards for which that order would matter. However, this could matter with the promo card Prince.

A couple other things to clarify:

You don't need to use up your 1 action per turn for the next-turn Duration benefit. You can still play your normal action after resolving the Duration.
The Duration card is NOT played on your next turn. It will not count towards the number of cards played that turn, which can matter for Conspirator (from Intrigue). It will, however, count towards the number of action cards in play, which can matter for Peddler (from Prosperity).


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

Eidolon of Blossoms will not trigger due to rule 603.6b.

603.6b Continuous effects that modify characteristics of a permanent do so the moment the permanent is on the battlefield (and not before then). The permanent is never on the battlefield with its unmodified characteristics. Continuous effects don’t apply before the permanent is on the battlefield, however (see rule 603.6d).
Example: If an effect reads “All lands are creatures” and a land card is played, the effect makes the land card into a creature the moment it enters the battlefield, so it would trigger abilities that trigger when a creature enters the battlefield. Conversely, if an effect reads “All creatures lose all abilities” and a creature card with an enters-thebattlefield triggered ability enters the battlefield, that effect will cause it to lose its abilities the moment it enters the battlefield, so the enters-the-battlefield ability won’t trigger.

Let's use Armistice as an example of a non-aura enchantment that would be affected by Opalescence.
You cast and resolve Armistice. According to the rule, Armistice is never on the battlefield without being affected by the continuous effect from Opalescence. Therefore, the Armistice enters as a creature. Torpor Orb prevents creatures from triggering abilities, so nothing triggers.


In Race for the Galaxy on 6-cost development cards, does a player receive VPs for all of the categories they have satisfied, or just one? My family and I are confused about the wording in the instructions. Perhaps my question is best asked with an example:

I have the Alien Tech Institute card, which has three parts:

3 VPs for each alien tech production world
2 VPs for alien technology windfall worlds
2 VPs for other "alien" cards, including this one.

If I end the game with 1 alien production card, and 2 alien windfall cards, would I receive VPs for both categories that I satisfy (in this case 7 total), or just the windfall category, which would give me a total of 4 VPs total?

You would get all of them that you satisfy.

While the rules don't actually clarify this (that I could see), the entire point of playing them is to earn extra victory points for how you've setup your tableux, like focusing on alien tech in the case you pointed out.


In Alien Frontiers, how does Raider's Outpost work after a ship has been teleported to another Orbital Facility? Scenario setup:

A player uses the Raider's Outpost by docking a 3-4-5 set of ships.
Same player uses an Orbital Teleporter to move the 5 ship to another Orbital Facility.

Do the 3 and 4 ships remain in the same position after the 5 is moved, or do they shift? What if the 3 or 4 were moved instead?

A higher value set of ships is required to use the Raider's Outpost when it is occupied. If the 5 ship had not been teleported, a 4-5-6 set would be required. However since the 5 ship has been moved, it's not clear what is now required to use the Raider's Outpost. Since it only has the 3-4 ships remaining, is a 3-4-5 set sufficient? Or is it played as if the 5 ship were still there, meaning a 4-5-6 set is required?

Actually, there has been official errata posted on this very question:

Bumping Ships from The Raiders' Outpost
A question has been raised about how the "Bump Rule" works for the Raiders' Outpost if one or more ships in the original run have been removed, either by the Plasma Cannon, the Orbital Teleporter, or by losing control of the Relic Ship. Does the new run have to be bigger than the original run or just bigger than the ship that are left over?
Here is the text from the rulebook...
Raiders’ Outpost
You must dock a set of three sequentially numbered ships to use the Raiders’ Outpost. There are docking ports for one set of three ships. If the Raiders’ Outpost is occupied, you may dock a higher-value sequence here and move the original ships to the Maintenance Bay.
While docked at the Raiders’ Outpost you may steal a total of four resources from any mix of players or one alien tech card of your choice from one player. If you steal an alien tech card that you already have, the stolen card is discarded immediately and you gain no benefit from doing so.
Example : If a 1-2-3 is docked at the Raiders’ Outpost and the next player rolls a 2-3-4 then that player may remove the 1-2-3 and dock their 2-3-4 at the facility to conduct their own raid. If another player rolls a 3-4-5 or a 4-5-6 then they may remove the 2-3-4 and dock their own sequence and conduct their own raid.

The addition of a second example should clear up this question.

Example 2: RED has docked a 3-4-5 at the Raiders' Outpost. On his turn GREEN uses the Plasma Cannon to send the 5 back to the Maintenance Bay, leaving a 3 and 4 on the Raiders' Outpost. To dock a higher-value sequence at the Raiders' Outpost GREEN must use a run of three ships that totals more than the sum of the ships currently docked there. The remaining ships total 7 so GREEN may not dock a 1-2-3 since they only total 6. GREEN may dock a 2-3-4 (total 9), a 3-4-5 (total 12) or a 4-5-6 (total 15) to use the Raiders' Outpost.

Errata can be found on BoardGameGeek.


How do you pronounce Agricola? I played my first game of Agricola yesterday.  Naturally, I'm left with a bunch of questions, but chief among them is: How do you pronounce the name of this game?  Our group was split pretty evenly between "AG-ri-co-la" and "a-GREEK-o-la".  Which side (or maybe neither!) is correct?

Erik P's reference to Wiktionary is correct, but he is interpreting the IPA pronunciation incorrectly.
/aˈɡri.ko.la/  is ah-GRIH-koh-lah.  You can hear it pronounced by Merriam-Webster here.


Does "+X +X until end of turn." effects remain on creatures in the graveyard and/or exiled until end of turn? If I use Culling the Weak to sacrifice 4 creatures for 16 black mana, then use 15 of that mana on Whispering Shade to make it stronger, can I then sacrifice them to get 5 mana for Living Death to bring all my creatures back with Whispering Shade  being a 16/16?

First of all, with a single Culling the Weak, you can only sacrifice a single creature, not as many as you like. If you could use it multiple times, it would explicitly say so in the text. (Be sure to check the text in the Oracle rather than the text on the physical card.) You can use Living Shade's ability as often as you like, but there is a difference between a one-shot spell effect and an activated ability.

Secondly, once you cast CtW, you cannot cast another spell (Living Death) and then continue sacrificing to CtW, because CtW has resolved, is in the graveyard, and its effect is over.

Thirdly, if you activate Living Shade's ability to make it stronger, then sacrifice it, then bring it back into play from the graveyard, it will be a completely new Living Shade with no "memory" of its previous existence, and thus will be 1/1.


Conspiracy (Diplomacy Android app) possible bug or rules misunderstanding? I am using the app Conspiracy for Android to play Diplomacy with my friends. I would like to know whether there is a bug or I am misunderstanding rules.

Spring 1901

Germany

F kie-hol
A ber-kie

France

F bre-ENG

Fall 1901

Germany

F hol-NTH
A kie-hol

Spring 1902

England

F edi-NTH
F lon S F NTH

Germany

A hol-lon
F NTH C A hol-lon

France

F ENG S A hol-lon

The rest hold every turn.
According to the simulation, every movement is negated in Spring 1902.
In my opinion, A hol-lon should not be negated. Am I right?

Indeed, there was a problem with the resolution engine to manage this kind of situation in Conspiracy.

I've worked on it and it's now fixed. From now on the server has been updated and all the next resolutions will be managed correctly. In application side, the analyse engine will keep displaying this error as long as players are using the version 2.9.0 and lower. I invite anyone to update their application to the new version (v2.9.1), it's available in the PlayStore from March 21st 2020.

Thank you for reporting me this problem.

Here are screenshots that show you how things is now managed :


How many times can I use The Shiny Orb? Say I'm playing a Vampiric Race and have The Shiny Orb. Another player has a ton of territories with only single units in them adjacent to me. Can I use vampire to take one and then The Shiny Orb to take another?

What about if I am a Magic race and have The Shiny Orb? Can I effectively use it twice on each opponent? Twice total on two different opponents?

My confusion arises because in the "shorthand rules" for The Shiny Orb it specifies once per turn per opponent, but in the rule book it says once per opponent. It also says that it counts the same as Vampirism in the full rules.

The rulebook (page 14) states that the Shiny Orb can only be used once per turn.  Nothing about per opponent.  You can use it but once each turn.

You can use it in addition to the Vampire power (which can be used once per opponent per turn.

If you are Magic, then you can use it one additional time, on the same or different opponent.


Auction of mortgaged properties in Monopoly 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?

You can offer any trades to any players; and there’s no specific rules about the format that these offers take. So you can make offers in such a way that it’s basically an auction. If someone says they are willing to pay $100 for your property, then you can always ask if anyone else is willing to pay more.
So yes, you could auction your properties in this way; but really it’s just a series of offering different trades and trying to get the best deal for them. And it’s possible no one will be willing to trade with you; in which case you are stuck with the properties.
From the rules:

SELLING PROPERTY... Unimproved properties, railroads and
utilities (but not buildings) may be sold to any player as a private transaction for any amount the owner can get; however, no property
can be sold to another player if buildings are standing on any
properties of that color-group.

Note that the player who received a mortgaged property in a trade/sale must immediately either pay the mortgage price + 10% to unmortgage it, or pay just the 10% and leave it mortgaged, which means they’ll have to pay the extra 10% again if they want to unmortgage it later.

The player who mortgages property retains possession of it and no other player may secure it by lifting the mortgage from the Bank.
However, the owner may sell this mortgaged property to another player at any agreed price. If you are the new owner, you may lift the mortgage at once if you wish by paying off the mortgage plus 10% interest to the Bank. If the mortgage is not lifted at once, you must pay the Bank 10% interest when you buy the property and if you lift the mortgage later you must pay the Bank an additional 10% interest as well as the amount of the mortgage.


Casting Autumn Veil in response to opponent targeting my creature I have a creature in play.

My opponent casts Dismember (A black spell), targeting it.

In response I play Autumn's Veil, will the effect counters my opponent's spell?

Yes, Autumn's Veil's effect will cause Dismember's target to be invalid, which means that it will be countered by the rules when it tries to resolve.

More specifically, Autumn's Veil creates an effect that says that your creatures can't be targeted by blue or black spells. Then Dismember tries to resolve, but it no longer has a legal target, so it is countered. This is caused by rule 608.2b, part of the rules about resolving spells and abilities:

  If the spell or ability specifies targets, it checks whether the targets are still legal. A target that's no longer in the zone it was in when it was targeted is illegal. Other changes to the game state may cause a target to no longer be legal; for example, its characteristics may have changed or an effect may have changed the text of the spell. If the source of an ability has left the zone it was in, its last known information is used during this process. The spell or ability is countered if all its targets, for every instance of the word "target," are now illegal.


Can I play a card using flashback without it having been successfully cast first? For instance, if I try to cast  Army of the Damned and my opponent uses  Cancel to stop it, can I still cast Army of the Damned from the graveyard for it's Flashback cost?

Yes. The only requirements for Flashback are that the card is in your Graveyard, you are able to pay the alternate Flashback cost, and you are capable of casting the Flashback spell at that particular time (you have priority, if the Flashback spell is a Sorcery then it is you turn's first or second Main Phase and the stack is empty, etc.).

Keep in mind that if your opponent Cancels your Army of the Damned spell, that you must wait until Cancel to resolve before your spell will be in the graveyard. If it was Dissipated, it would never hit the graveyard at all.

  702.33a Flashback appears on some instants and sorceries. It represents two static abilities: one that functions while the card is in a player’s graveyard and the other that functions while the card is on the stack. “Flashback [cost]” means “You may cast this card from your graveyard by paying [cost] rather than paying its mana cost” and “If the flashback cost was paid, exile this card instead of putting it anywhere else any time it would leave the stack.” Casting a spell using its flashback ability follows the rules for paying alternative costs in rules 601.2b and 601.2e–g.


In Troyes, how do use Chivalry and Joust as part of a VP engine? Chivalry allows you to put one cube on one event card for each red die in your district (excluding the ones you use). Joust operates in the same vein, but requires the total value of the red dice in your district to be higher than everyone's else to gain 2 VP per activation.

However, those 2 activities disregard the red dice you use to activate them, which make those 2 seemingly less useful than Troubadour, Pilgrimage, Journeyman, Goldsmith and Sculptor for VP engine.

Also considering that one citizen at the palace costs 2 coin to upkeep, and it's easy to be expelled.

What's the best way to use those 2 cards as VP engine?

Chivalry by itself is difficult to be a good VP engine. Its strength lies in that you can distribute the cubes anywhere so it can help you gain fight events regardless of the typical dice color. As you noted in your question, the challenge with Chivalry is that it it gives you a cube for each red die you have left after the cost is paid. Since you typically lose 2 to 3 red dice just battling events, it can be hard to effectively defeat events this way.

As the previous answer suggested, this can give you some good end game points if you spread out the cubes and get the 1 VP credit for having a cube per event card at the end of the game.

Where I've seen Chivalry used extremely effectively is with the Captain which gives you that same bonus when activated. If you have a good number of cubes spread out on event cards and activate the Captain multiple times you can have a powerful VP engine.

Joust took me a bit to fully understand, but this one can be a very good source of VPs. The key to remember is that you don't need to have the highest # of red dice (after you've paid to activate it), but instead the highest total of pips on the red dice you have left. This means that if there are 2 red dice left and you have one that has only 1 pip and an opponent has one that has 3 or more pips, you can buy that die from them and activate Joust and score your VPs. Also b/c it only costs 3 to activate, this is one that you can activate multiple times fairly easy.

One last thing to consider is the VPs you get for being first or second to purchase. Chivalry only pays 2 for the 1st player and 1 for the 2nd player. Joust pays 3 for the 1st and 2 for the 2nd. So if Joust first position is available and you can get the dice to make it work, I'd strongly consider it.


Bang! New Identity Health According to the Bang! High Noon Card "New Identity":

  At the beginning of their turn, each player looks at the character he is using to keep track of his life points. He may switch to the new identity for the rest of the game, starting with 2 life points.

Does this mean that if you switch to the new identity, you start off with 2 health and that is the maximum for that identity? Or can you use beer/whiskey/etc. to increase your new identity's health up to the maximum on the character card?

No, that means when you switch to the other character your health is set at 2 points and on your turn you can gain the missing health back. Which means that if you are switching to a character that has 4 bullets normally you can then play a whiskey to go back up to 4 bullets in health. Also if you are the sheriff in this game you could follow up with a beer and be back up to 5 health with the +1 health bonus for being sheriff.

What the setting to two life does is impose a penalty for switching if you are above 2 live or a small bonus for switching if you are at 1 life.


Minds Aglow with X is 100 while Nekusar, the Mindrazer is on the field An Opponent has Nekusar, the mindrazer out and then casts Minds Aglow (join forces, each player draws that many cards) and pays 100 mana into it.

He claims that the damage would be dealt before everyone decks out.

However, I think all the card draw is one effect and thus is done first, milling everyone simultaneously before the damage triggers go on the stack.

Obviously he could have just paid 40 mana (at risk of other players paying more into it).

Any confirmation that I am right?

You are correct, the players would lose do to a mill effect before Nekusar, the Mindrazer would do any damage.
Nekusar's triggered ability only goes on the stack the next time a player would receive priority. Before this happens, state-based actions would be checked, and players who were unable to draw would lose.
During the resolution of Minds Aglow, players draw cards. This triggers Nekusar:

603.2. Whenever a game event or game state matches a triggered ability’s trigger event, that ability automatically triggers. The ability doesn’t do anything at this point.

Once Minds Aglow is completely done resolving, the active player gets priority. But before he does, state-based actions are checked.

603.3. Once an ability has triggered, its controller puts it on the stack as an object that’s not a card the next time a player would receive priority.
704.3. Whenever a player would get priority (see rule 116, “Timing and Priority”), the game checks for any of the listed conditions for state-based actions, then performs all applicable state-based actions simultaneously as a single event.

704.5b If a player attempted to draw a card from a library with no cards in it since the last time state-based actions were checked, that player loses the game.

So not only do players lose before Nekusar's ability resolves, they would lose before they could even have a chance to do something like counter the ability, or cast anything else. Once Minds Aglow starts to resolve, there are no more chances to do anything.


Blightsteel colossus, Helm of Obedience and Rest in Peace, can my opponent force the game to a draw? I have a Rest in Peace and Helm of Obedience on the battlefield.
I activate the Helm for 1 mana, and my opponent starts milling her entire deck.  Assume the only relevant card in her deck is a Blightsteel Colossus.  What happens?
My understanding is, she has two options, as there are two replacement effects in play.  She gets to chose which one.  Based upon her choice, she enters one of two scenarios:
Option 1:  She chooses to exile the Blightsteel, and eventually mills her entire deck and loses.
Option 2: She chooses to shuffle the Blightsteel into her deck, and continues milling.  Eventually she hits Blightsteel again, she shuffles again, continues.  Eventually, Blightsteel is the only card in her deck, and she enters an infinite loop.  In this scenario can she call the game a draw?  Or is she forced to lose?

Even if your opponent keeps reshuffling the Blightsteel Colossus, eventually their whole deck would be exiled. When their Blightsteel Colossus is the last card in their library, but possibly earlier than that, they may not shuffle it back again and must exile it instead. When your opponent's library is empty, Helm of Obedience cannot continue its process, its resolution finishes, and the game continues to their likely loss.
Rest in Peace prevents any card from entering a graveyard, therefore Helm of Obedience's stop condition would never occur, eventually resulting in a library that only contains the Blightsteel Colossus. If your opponent then continues to shuffle the Colossus back into their library, the game state would no longer change, and the opponent has to choose a different option, i.e. to not shuffle the Colossus, resulting in the colossus being exiled and the library to become empty.

722.3. Sometimes a loop can be fragmented, meaning that each player involved in the loop performs an independent action that results in the same game state being reached multiple times. If that happens, the active player (or, if the active player is not involved in the loop, the first player in turn order who is involved) must then make a different game choice so the loop does not continue.

Once your opponent's library is empty, the process of Helm of Obedience cannot be repeated, its resolution finishes, and the game continues as normal.
Note that the Blightsteel Colossus being the last card in the library is just a special case. The general case is when your opponent shuffles the BC back into their library, and the BC happens to get shuffled to the very top so that Helm reveals it immediately again. Then the same game state has been reached twice (BC on top of X other cards), at which point we have fulfilled the conditions for a fragmented loop, and your opponent may not take the same decision as before, i.e. he has to exile the BC instead of reshuffling it.

Non-deterministic loops (loops that rely on decision trees, probability or mathematical convergence) may not be shortcut. A player attempting to execute a nondeterministic loop must stop if at any point during the process a previous game state (or one identical in all relevant ways) is reached again. This happens most often in loops that involve shuffling a library. ref

You have to play out the loop because you may not shortcut it. In the worst case, if the BC gets shuffled 2nd from top every time, you would have to perform ~X shuffles, where X is the number of cards remaining in the library. Therefore, if this happens in a tournament with time constraints looming, immediately call a judge to discuss the matter and how to proceed.
If time is not a constraint, the result is always the same: Your opponent will be caught in a fragmented loop at some point and has to exile the BC (in fact, also multiple BCs and all other cards that may be shuffled back), along with the rest of their library.


How does drawing then discarding work with a full hand? If my opponent has a full hand of 7 cards and I cast wistful thinking, what happens?

Do they discard the two cards they draw and then discard four more for a total of six cards discarded?

No, if you cast that spell on your opponent, he draws 2 for a total of 9 hand cards, then discards 4 cards, down to 5.

  402.2. Each player has a maximum hand size, which is normally seven cards. A player may have any number of cards in his or her hand, but as part of his or her cleanup step, the player must discard excess cards down to the maximum hand size.

The cleanup step is the last step in each player's turn.


If tests are voluntary, why does one lose a life point automatically? I'm a new owner of T.I.M.E Stories and about to play my first scenario within the next few weeks. However, studying the rules book (v 1.1) left me confused about the optionality of tests.

If I understood the rules correctly, activating a test is voluntary (see page 11)?:

  "You  can  leave  the  card,  ignoring  the  test,  or  you  can  start  the  test,  then  drop it to go do something else."

For instance, a player reveals a card stating: "You can obtain item XY by attacking the guard." The test is on fighting with 3 shields and 2 red skulls. Moreover, there is no red lock on the card.

Can a player then simply do nothing, e.g. to wait for another/stronger player before activating the test?

What confuses me is the blue box on page 12:

  "If you decide to do nothing during a test (because, for example, you
  do not have the required characteristic) and that test has at least
  one skull shield, your receptacle automatically loses 1 Life Point and
  the heart, time, and special shields take effect normally."

Does the player lose one life for ignoring the test or does this rule not apply since the test wasn't activated yet?

Let's follow this hypothetical card:
Two players are facing this card. Player A reads the card first and then activates the test by attacking the guard. Is the second player B on the card now obliged to do the test or can he simply do nothing without automatically losing one hit point?

Last but not least: How are tests handled if there is indeed a red lock on the card? Is the player then obliged to activate the test?
For instance, the card says: "A guard discovers your break-in and is immediately attacking you".
Do you then have to activate the test and put down the shields beneath the card or can one simply do nothing (without activating the test)? I'm aware of the fact, that one is not allowed to leave a card with a red lock, but I'm uncertain whether or not the player actually has to activate the test.

I already discovered this thread, but the discussion ended before this particular question was resolved.

TL;DR: When does the hint from page 12 actually apply?

Disclaimer: this answer is not well-sourced, but simply comes from my experience playing the game and my own understanding/reading of the rules.

For tests without a lock icon:

The "do nothing" text only applies if you have chosen to start the test. So you are allowed to simply stay in the space without being in the test. However, given that TU is your most precious resource in the game; it's hard to imagine a situation where you wouldn't be better off doing something with your TU rather than just standing still.

Each TU that is spent during a test can be spent in one of three ways:

Roll to attack/attempt the test.
Move to a new space.
Do nothing (this is when the blue box clarification applies).

In this situation, it is rare that this will matter; because you wouldn't have started the test if you were just going to do nothing during it. It could come up if 2 players were in the same space when a test is revealed, one of them doesn't have the required characteristic to roll, and they don't want to move somewhere else because they want to be in that space after the test ends.

For tests with a lock icon:

There is no option to start or not start the test. Simply by reading or revealing the card; you are now stuck in the test. The blue box text is more likely to apply in this situation, because you might find yourself stuck in a test where you don't have the required attribute needed to attempt a roll.


What changes or improvement will the Puerto Rico expansion offer me? Puerto Rico Expansion

My family really liked Puerto Rico, and I'm curious what the expansion is like. The only thing it adds are new buildings and some weird rules for drafting buildings at the beginning that some reviews say are pretty bad. I assume the buildings don't really make the game much more complicated, but do they change the game drastically or just add to it? When would you recommend getting the expansion? Does anyone who has it have any other comments on it?

Short answer:  I don't like the first expansion ("The Buildings" expansion in the Treasure Chest [BGG] set), as there are only a few good buildings; I do, however, enjoy the second expansion ("The Nobles" expansion in the aforementioned Treasure Chest).  If you are a completist and want some variety, go for it, but I don't feel the first expansion adds much to the game.

Long answer: I feel that the Nobles expansion is the better expansion, as the buildings have good synergy, the Nobles colonists put a much larger emphasis on Mayoring (you replace one colonist on the ship each phase with a red Noble piece; each Noble is worth 1 VP at the end of the game and some buildings function differently if it is occupied by a Noble) and the expansion as a whole seems to try and put more emphasis on roles that might not have been taken as much in the core game.  The Nobles expansion does have a few arguably degenerate combos, though.

The Buildings expansion to me just has some random buildings with weird rules for the sake of being "different", like the Forest House and the Black Market.  There are a couple of bright spots in the first expansion, though, such as the Storehouse, Library and Statue.

The drafting rule: very much slows down the start of the game, and while I could be judging harshly, I think the drafting is a major turn-off and slows down the start of the game pretty severely.  I don't want to pick buildings, I just want to play!

I do like the Variant 2 suggestion in the link you provided to speed up the drafting process, but I find it simply easier to say "We're playing with all of Expansion 1", "We're playing with all of Expansion 2"), or "We're playing the core game".

I'm going to cover both expansions, just for the sake of thoroughness, so you can decide if the expansion is right for you.

Cost 1

Small Market vs. Aqueduct (Expansion 1)

The Aqueduct will give you one more barrel of indigo or sugar for a large plant when crafting, but the Small Market is practically the de facto opening move and a fantastic buy; other than trying something new, I can't see why you would want to take the Aqueduct over Small Market.

Verdict:  Small Market, hands down.

Cost 2

Construction Hut and Hacienda vs. Forest House and Black Market (Expansion 1) vs. Land Office (Expansion 2)

Construction Hut is nice for getting a quarry when someone else Settles.
Hacienda is nice for getting a random extra plantation, when you're going for the Residence or want to get plantations as quick as possible and don't particularly care what you pull.
The Forest House allows you to take a plantation from the stack, place it face-down on your plantation area and call it a Forest; for every two Forests you have in the plantation area, you get a 1 doubloon discount (in addition to any Builder privileges and/or quarry discounts).
The Black Market allows you to reduce a building's cost; you may discard one colonist, VP or good back to the supply and get a 1 doubloon discount, but you cannot discard more than one of each type, and you cannot have any doubloons left after using the Black Market.
A colonist-occupied Land Office lets you buy the topmost face-down plantation in any of the plantation stacks for 1 doubloon during the trader phase.  A noble-occupied Land Office lets you discard a plantation tile from the plantation to earn 1 doubloon.

The Forest House does give you a discount above and beyond a quarry at the cost of spending 2 turns doing nothing but getting a forest; I rather just have a Construction Hut for the guaranteed Quarry.  I don't like the Black Market because you can almost always do something with the discarded good (sell it or ship it), and who wants to discard VPs?  The noble-occupied Land Office is amusing if you get stuck pulling a plantation you'll simply never use, but the colonist-occupied Land Office is a Hacienda that you have to spend an extra doubloon for.

Verdict:  The Expansion 1 buildings are the worst of the bunch.  Construction Hut and Hacienda still probably win, although Construction Hut and Land Office isn't bad.

Cost 3

Small Warehouse vs. Storehouse (Expansion 1) vs. Chapel (Expansion 2)

Now we're getting to some actual decisions!  Small Warehouse is great when you and someone else are producing the same good, but he gets the drop on you and captains first and fills a ship up.  In addition to your one barrel kept after captaining, a Storehouse allows you to get 3 more goods (of any type), so you effectively get to keep up to four barrels after captaining.  The Chapel, during the craftsman phase, gives you 1 doubloon if occupied by a colonist, and 1 VP if occupied by a Noble.

Verdict:  All three are great.  If you have diverse plantations, I think Storehouse is actually better.  If you want a free doubloon or VP almost every turn, the Chapel is pretty tempting.

Cost 4

Hospice vs. Guesthouse (Expansion 1) vs. Hunting Lodge (Expansion 2)

Hospice is nice because your plantations are automatically occupied when you Settle.
Guesthouse is extremely interesting.  During the Mayor phase, you may place up to two of your colonists in the Guesthouse.  Then, during any other phase, at any point, you may move people from the Guesthouse onto any other space on your board, where they immediately take effect.  Great for getting a Big Purple building occupied at the end of the game when no one is going to Mayor again, or when you just bought that Coffee Roaster but haven't had a chance to occupy it yet.
Hunting Lodge is such a Johnny combo-riffic building.  During each Settler phase, if the Hunting Lodge is colonist-occupied, you may discard a plantation from your island.  If the Hunting Lodge is noble-occupied, and you have the fewest plantations on the board (not tied for fewest), you earn 2 VP.

Verdict:  All three are great again.  Hospice is very straight-forward and good at what it does, but Guesthouse is a really versatile building, and Hunting Lodge is really hilarious if you can stay behind in plantations, especially early in the game.

Cost 5

Office and Large Market vs. Trading Post and Church (Expansion 1) vs. Zoning Office (Expansion 2)

Wow, still reading?

Trading Post gives you your own Trading House, but you can't use Small Market or Large Market with it.
With the Church, you get 1 VP when you buy anything in the 2nd or 3rd column, 2 VP if you buy anything in the 4th column.
A colonist-occupied Zoning Office lets you pay 1 less doubloon when buying anything in the first 3 columns, and a noble-occupied Zoning Office lets you pay 2 less doubloons when buying anything in the 4th column.

Verdict:  Office and Large Market all the way.  Trading Post suffers because you don't get Small or Large Market bonuses, and Church and Zoning Office really don't give great returns.  Selling Coffee over and over again, and at a possible +2 doubloons is fantastic.

Cost 6

Large Warehouse vs. Small Wharf (Expansion 1) vs. Royal Supplier (Expansion 2)

Small Wharf lets you ship straight to the supply, as many or as few barrels as you want, but you only get 1 VP for each two barrels you ship.
Royal Supplier lets you ship straight to the supply, and you get 1 VP for each barrel, but you can only ship 1 of each good, and you can only ship up to X barrels, where X is the number of nobles on your board.

Verdict:  Large Warehouse or Royal Supplier.  Small Wharf is reasonably costed, and if you miss out on a Wharf, it's not bad, but I think the Royal Supplier does it better, because you're going to want Nobles anyways; it only takes 5 barrels to get 5 VP with the Royal Supplier, whereas it takes 10 barrels with the Small Wharf.  Large Warehouse is great simply for how much it can hold.

Cost 7

Factory vs. Lighthouse (Expansion 1) vs. Villa (Expansion 2)

My wrist is cramping.  The Lighthouse gives 1 doubloon for each shipment (much like the Harbor, but with doubloons instead of VP).  If you have a Lighthouse and you select Captain, you get another doubloon just for being awesome.  During the Mayor phase, an occupied Villa lets you take a Noble from the supply.

Verdict:  They're all fantastic picks.  If your opponents will allow it, the Villa.  The Villa may just be the single most broken building in the game, as an early Villa can fuel Jeweler and Chapel, plus you're getting a free guy worth 1 VP.

Cost 8

University and Harbor vs. Specialty Factory and Library (Expansion 1) vs. Jeweler (Expansion 2)

Specialty Factory gives you X-1 doubloons when crafting, where X is the number of goods of a single kind you produced.  Produced 5 corn?  You just got 4 doubloons.
The Library is awesome.  When you take a role, double the privilege.  It's just that simple.  Think about it.
During the Craftsman phase, the Jewler gives you a doubloon for each Noble on your board.  It also counts as a large production building.

Verdict:  Library and (Jeweler if playing with Nobles, Harbor without Nobles).  I hate the University; it is way too expensive for what it does.  The Specialty Factory is nice, but I think there is more money-making opportunities with the Jeweler.

Cost 9

Wharf vs. Union Hall (Expansion 1)

During the Captain phase, before captaining, you get 1 VP for every two of the same good you have.

Verdict:  The Wharf is just better.  If you have a Large Market and the Union Hall, and you somehow keep being unable to ship anything, I could see some big decent VP bonuses there, but I much rather just be able to ship everything at 1 VP per barrel.

Cost 10

I'm just going to cover the new ones here.

Statue -- it's worth 8 VP, period.  No occupation necessary, just fork over the 10 doubloons and collect 8 VP.  Fantastic.
Cloister -- you get VP depending on how many triplets of plantations you have on your island; 1 VP for 1 set, 3 VP for 2 sets, 6 VP for 3 sets and 10 VP for 4 sets.  Tricky to use.
Royal Garden -- all your nobles are worth 2 VP instead of 1 VP.  Absolutely brutal with the Villa.

Boy, I sure hope this helps!


Confused with Bidding in Contract Bridge I'm building an Android game based on Contract Bridge, where 4 players will be playing simultaneously once they are connected with the Game Server.

I have no prior experience of playing any card game, and have been learning Bridge while working on this project. I understand most of the concepts of the game, things like Deal, Trick, strength of a hand, major suit, minor suit, the actual game play, etc.

But I'm still a bit confused by Bidding, the key part of the game. Since I'm a developer, and will not be working on creating an artificial CPU player, I'm more interested in getting the Rules of Bidding right, rather than strategies for making a great Bid.

Here are my rule questions:

How long does the bidding process continue? I know that when a certain bid is made by a player, and the remaining three call "Pass" subsequently, the last bid is agreed as a final contract. But what if players continue to bid, "double" or "redouble" the last bid forever? Do the cards need to be re-dealt in that case?
When a player calls "double" for a last bid, what exactly happens on the score card? I've read that you double your stakes for the game, i.e. if the player who bid makes that contract, he wins double points, and if he fails, you win double points, but I need a more figurative explanation with examples. Same with "redouble".
How is the declarer (or the attacking team) decided? Does the player whose bid is chosen as a final contract (with the suit he chose becoming the trump suite) become declarer? Or does the player who was first to mention the suit, which becomes the trump suit of the game, become the declarer?
What would be the purpose of a dummy player in the game if his cards are played by the declarer? In the Android game that I'll make, he'll be just sitting idle in-front of the phone and watch the show doing nothing (except the time when he exposes his cards and is done).

I know I've asked many questions here, but they all relate to rules of bidding. Any help with getting these rules clear in my mind would be appreciated.

Update

Following are the sources I have referred so far to understand the game:

http://www.bridgeworld.com/default.asp?d=intro_to_bridge&f=bbeg5.html
http://www.acbl.org/learn/howToPlay.html
http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/how-to-play-bridge
Videos of channel iBridgePlayer on YouTube.

P.S.: I'm a software developer and not an enthusiast, so please keep your answer jargon-free where possible.

The bidding process continues until all players have passed in succession, or three players have passed in succession after a bid.  You seem to misunderstand the double and redouble bids - they can't go on indefinitely.  After a double from the opposing team, your only options are to go to a higher level or redouble.  After a redouble from the opposing team, your only option is to go to a higher level.  (Or pass out of course, in either case.)  If bidding reaches 7 no trumps redoubled, there is nowhere left to go.
It would be easy to assume that "double" and "redouble" imply x2 or x4 value for the contract - much too easy!  In fact doubling and redoubling also do some rather complex things to scoring overtricks or undertricks in the final score, dependent on the "vulnerability" of the contract, that has little to do with a simple multiplier.  And that's before we get into the additional "insult bonus" for successfully making a doubled or redoubled contract... Here's a link to the Wikipedia sections on the subject, probably better and conciser than me trying to outline all of it from memory.
Declarer is, as you say, the first player to mention the trump suit (or bid no trumps) in the partnership that ultimately wins the contract.
Unfortunately dummy has little to do except twiddle his thumbs until the contract is played out.  Fortunately Bridge is a complex and tense game that is usually as much fun to watch as play, and generally I don't find it a big problem to sit there watching partner play the hand, even online.  You definitely want to be able to berate your partner after she's finished making a hash of the hand, with useful advise about how you would have done it!  Er, I mean "commiserate with", not "berate", obviously...


Which of the 5 resources in Settlers of Catan (base version) is most important? Why? Experienced Settlers of Catan players know that the answer to this question will vary based on many board setup factors such as resource productivity, 2:1 ports, whether you can corner the market for one resource and thus trade for the resource you lack, etc. For the purposes of this question, let's exclude such factors, and consider the middle case where there are no obvious 2:1 port setups, nobody can corner a market, and the distribution of production is a middling 10 dots each for the brick and ore, 13 dots each for wood and grain, and 12 dots for sheep.

Which of the 5 resources in Settlers of Catan is most important? Why?

This will depend tremendously on the situation, but it's worth learning some generalities:

If you are playing with just the base set:

brick and wood are completely identical as everything that needs one wood also needs one brick (roads and settlements).
Wheat is completely superior to wool/sheep as it is also needed for cities in addition to everything wool is needed for.
Wheat and Ore are about tied as you need 1 wheat for a settlement and no ore and 3 ore for a city and 2 wheat. My experience is that wheat is slightly better as the ability to continue building settlements is usually worthy a slightly diminished city building capacity caused by an increase in wheat and decrease in your ore.

Anyone who has played 4+ games of Settlers knows that you need a variety of resources to win, although there are widely differing ways to get them, so there's no such thing as 'the best' resource as the distribution is so situational to the island layout, what other players have, what development cards and resources you have, and what everybody needs. However, wheat is essential to virtually any strategy, ore is needed for a city/development card strategy, wood and brick are necessary in at least small amounts for any expansion via new settlements and roads, and wool is overall probably least useful.

That is, until nobody goes for  wool but you, making you the one who can build settlements faster and extort ridiculous prices from your adversaries for it until you take an early 3 point lead for a decisive win. As I said, it's all relative. :D


How long does a normal game of Monopoly, with 4 players, last? I recently had remembered that at the end of the rule book of Monopoly that it says the rules for a short game and then says (60-90 minutes) in the header. At the back, it says the rules for a game that has an hour of termination decided. And there are "house rules" and I have no clue what those are. Bt in the instruction booklet, it doesn't state how long a regular game of Monopoly last, with the normal rules.
I used to watch my family play and they normally had 4 players. And they didn't use house rules (granted I was 6 so I don't really remember but no one in my family knows what those are.)
My question is, how long does a normal game, with 4 players, last without a definite hour of termination and without house rules?

In my playgroup (using the base rules, no house rules), our 4-player games take about 90 minutes depending on how intently we're focusing on the game instead of just hanging out.
In addition to the common house rules that extend the game, certain strategies favor long, drawn-out games. Anecdotally, if everyone plays "not to lose" and refuses to make deals or bid on contested properties, the game can drag on. But if people are playing to win, the game goes much more quickly because of how much Monopoly snowballs. Most moves made to win are high-risk, high-reward. These games end rather quickly, with a player eventually just dominating the board and snapping up property at bankruptcy auction.
Here are some play style adjustments that can lead to shorter games:

Put more property up for auction. This will often lead to players draining their resources more quickly, which will allow for faster bankruptcy.
Make aggressive deals to get monopolies, even if you think you're getting a "worse" monopoly. The key thing to remember is that a deal that gives two players monopolies helps both of them overtake the remaining two opponents. You go from ~25% to win a slow game to ~50% to win a two-player slugfest.
Build houses aggressively. The best way to bankrupt others is to get the cashflow snowball started by building houses. The first and third houses are particularly important. The first house greatly makes rent cost a relevant amount (and help you build future houses), and the third house will often be enough to bankrupt players.


Klondike Solitaire - moving partial sequences between columns You'd think all the rules for this game would be well established but I have a question about the movement of partial sequences between columns in the tableau. Lets say I have two columns with the values:
7C, 6H, 5C, 4D and 4H, 3C, 2D

I want to get the 4H and move it to a foundation pile so I take the 3C, 2D and move them onto the 4D of the first column. I've always played this way and I've yet to find a computer version that doesn't allow it but is that how it is supposed to work?

The Microsoft help says - "You can also move sequentially organized runs of cards between columns. Just click the deepest card in the run and drag them all to another column." So I have to wonder if deepest means you can only move the entire sequence or just the deepest desired card...

Lady Cadogan's Illustrated Games of Solitaire or Patience actually says "If there be more than one card at the bottom of a row, all must be moved together or not at all." (where row means column)

http://www.bicyclecards.com/card-games/rule/klondike says "If more than one card is face up on a tableau pile, all such cards must be moved as a unit."

Solitaire and Patience By George Hapgood 1920 - "Any number of cards, provided that they form a complete sequence of alternating colors, may be transferred to the opposite colored card of the next higher rank, but parts of sequences may not be moved."

Patience : a series of games with cards 3rd Edition by Ednah Dow Littlehale Cheney, Copyright 1894, Published 1895 by Lee and Shepard in Boston
Appears as Triangle but only allows one card to be moved at a time - "You cannot (as in Fooliana) change more than once card from one line to another at once;". This version of Triangle allows complete access to the stock. A 2 deck version appears under the name Staircase. Staircase allows any number of cards in a sequence to be moved. The 2nd edition in 1875 did not include Triangle. The 3rd edition notes that the previous edition contained only one game, Brunette and Blonde, that had an alternating color marriage rule.

Mary Whitmore Jones's third series of collected Patience games from 1894 says "a sequence of cards may be lifted bodily and transferred to where it fits".

Games of Patience by Tarbart (1901) states says about Demon (1 deck Klondike) "A sequence of cards may be played bodily at any time..." but says about Triangle (2 deck Klondike) "A sequence of cards, or any portion of a sequence, may be played bodily at any time..."

Foster's Complete Hoyle - 1909
"If there is more than one card face up on any pile, they must be moved together or not at all."

Hoyle's Games - 1914
No partial movement - "In this game the player is not allowed to borrow a card from one file unless it is the only card on that file, face up, or unless he can take all the cards that are face up together."
This book claims that Klondike is the 4 pile version (now commonly known as Canfield or Demon) was the original form and what we know as Klondike is a simplified form which is called "Seven-Card Klondike" in this book.

Do you ever play where you can NOT move partial sequences around on the tableau? I know there are lots of variations - redeals, draw 3 vs 1, reuse foundation cards, etc but I haven't seen partial/full sequence movement categorized as a variation.

I've never heard of any variation that would not allow you to do this. Though the help text you quoted is ambiguous, I believe that "deepest card" refers to the "deepest card that you want to move", not the "deepest card in the entire column". If the computer itself that has such a help file allows you to do the partial-run move anyway, do you have a reason for thinking that there is any such variation that doesn't allow it?


What does, "It can't be regenerated" mean? I destroyed my opponent's permanent with Putrefy, an Instant that reads:

  Destroy target artifact or creature.  It can't be regenerated.

He returned it to the top of his library with Golgari Thug because it went to the graveyard (is it supposed to go to the graveyard?). Golgari Thug reads:

  When Golgari Thug dies, put target creature card from your graveyard on top of your library.

So whats going on? I destroyed a card and I thought it cannot be regenerated.  When Putrefy says, "It can't be regenerated" is it actually a counter for a card that can be regenerated?  For example:  Opponent has Manor Skeleton that has: “{1}{B}: Regenerate Manor Skeleton”.  I target it with Putrefy. Is his Manor Skeleton's regenerate ability countered and does it go to the graveyard?

Does, "It can't be regenerated" mean "It can not be regenerated from the graveyard", or does it counter a regeneration ability?

Well, no. Regenerate has a very specific meaning. From the Comprehensive rules:

  701.12a If the effect of a resolving spell or ability regenerates a permanent, it creates a replacement effect that protects the permanent the next time it would be destroyed this turn. In this case, “Regenerate [permanent]” means “The next time [permanent] would be destroyed this turn, instead remove all damage marked on it and tap it. If it’s an attacking or blocking creature, remove it from combat.”

So, what Golgari Thug did, was not regeneration. Instead, it put a creature from the graveyard on top of its owner's library. Regeneration would have stopped the creature from being destroyed and placed in the graveyard in the first place.

Putrefy specifically prevents creatures from being regenerated after being destroyed by its effect. This doesn't counter regeneration (at least not in the MtG sense of the word), but prevents regeneration from happening.

  101.2. When a rule or effect allows or directs something to happen, and another effect states that it can't happen, the "can't" effect takes precedence.


Crewing vehicles with dead crews During the first main phase: I have a 1/2 Thraben Inspector out.  My opponent casts Harnessed Lightning targeting the inspector to kill it.  I then tap, in response, the Inspector to crew my Smuggler's Copter.  Is this legal? Is the Copter crewed and ready to attack in the combat phase?

The Crew ability doesn't have any timing restrictions on it, so it can be activated any time you have priority. And once the ability has been activated it doesn't matter what happens to the creature(s) you tapped to activate the ability (even if the Crew ability is still on the stack).
Tapping creatures is a cost of the crew ability. And there is no point between when you have announced the crew ability, when you payed the cost of tapping a creature, and when the ability is put on the stack for your opponent to respond. Once the ability is on the stack removing the crewing creature will not do anything because the cost of activating the ability has already been paid.
From the Gatherer Rulings on the Copter:

Once a player announces that he or she is activating a crew ability, no player may take other actions until the ability’s been paid for. Notably, players can’t try to stop the ability by changing a creature’s power or by removing or tapping a creature.
Creatures that crew a Vehicle aren’t attached to it or related in any other way. Effects that affect the Vehicle, such as by destroying it or giving it a +1/+1 counter, don’t affect the creatures that crewed it and vice versa.


Can I use Westvale Abbey in a Commander deck that does not use black? Is it possible for me to use Westvale Abbey in a Commander deck that does not use black? I am making a Blue, Green, and White commander deck, and I would like to add Westvale Abbey. Could I use it?

No, you cannot. Westvale Abbey's color identity is Black.

903.4. The Commander variant uses color identity to determine what cards can be in a deck with a certain commander. The color identity of a card is the color or colors of any mana symbols in that card’s mana cost or rules text, plus any colors defined by its characteristic-defining abilities (see rule 604.3) or color indicator (see rule 204).
903.4c The back face of a double-faced card (see rule 711) is included when determining a card’s color identity. This is an exception to rule 711.4a.

And the definition of color indicator:

204.1. The color indicator is printed to the left of the type line directly below the illustration. It consists of a circular symbol filled in with one or more colors. A color indicator is usually found on nonland cards without a mana cost.
204.2. An object with a color indicator is each color denoted by that color indicator.


Why doesn't Undying trigger if a creature with +1/+1 counters dies from -1/-1 counters? From the Dark Ascension FAQ:

  If a creature with undying that has a +1/+1 counter on it receives enough -1/-1 counters to cause it to be destroyed by lethal damage or put into its owner's graveyard for having 0 or less toughness, undying won't trigger and the card won't return to the battlefield. That's because undying checks the creature's existence just before it leaves the battlefield, and it still has all those counters on it at that point.

Why don't the counters cancel?  Could someone elaborate on this?

Section 704 in the comp rules covers state-based actions. Both of these are on the big list of state-based actions:

704.5f If a creature has toughness 0 or less, it’s put into its owner’s graveyard. Regeneration can't replace this event.
704.5r If a permanent has both a +1/+1 counter and a -1/-1 counter on it, N +1/+1 and N -1/-1 counters are removed from it, where N is the
smaller of the number of +1/+1 and -1/-1 counters on it.

State-based actions are resolved different from triggered abilities, in that they're only checked during the cleanup step and when it's time for a player to receive priority. They also don't use the stack. More importantly, whenever state-based effects are checked, all applicable ones resolve simultaneously:

704.3. Whenever a player would get priority (see rule 116, "Timing the Priority"), the game checks for any of the listed conditions for
state-based actions, then performs all applicable state-based actions
simultaneously as a single event. ...

So, if an effect puts enough -1/-1 counters on a creature to reduce its toughness to zero or less, you would both put the creature in the graveyard and cancel out the +1/+1 and -1/-1 counters at the same time.
Note the wording of Undying as an ability:

Undying (When this creature dies, if it had no +1/+1 counters on it,
return it to the battlefield under its owner's control with a +1/+1
counter on it.)

When your creatures dies (and it's already in your graveyard), Undying triggers and looks at its last known state on the battlefield. Your creature died at the exact same time as it lost its +1/+1 counters, so it was never actually on the battlefield without a +1/+1 counter on it, which is why it doesn't come back.
The issue here is that the informal way many players resolve the counters rule -- removing the necessary number of +1/+1 or -1/-1 counters while resolving the "apply counters" part of an effect -- ever-so-minutely doesn't match the formal procedure on canceling counters (which only occurs as a state-based action afterward). There are occasionally similar issues with indestructible as well: players often forget that damage dealt to an indestructible creature still stays "marked" on it until end of turn, which will cause it to die if it somehow loses its indestructibility.

Note this counterexample, however, based on the fact that state-based actions can occur in multiple passes:

704.3. ... If any state-based actions are performed as a result of a check, the
check is repeated; otherwise all triggered abilities that are waiting to be put on the stack are put on
the stack, then the check is repeated. Once no more state-based actions have been performed as the
result of a check and no triggered abilities are waiting to be put on the stack, the appropriate player
gets priority.

Imagine I have a Geralf's Messenger with a +1/+1 counter on it and a Cemetery Reaper (which gives the Messenger +1/+1) on the battlefield.
You cast Black Sun's Zenith for three.
In this case, state-based actions resolve in two passes, like this:

First, these two things happen simultaneously: Geralf's Messenger's counters cancel; Cemetery Reaper has a net toughness of -1, so it dies. Geralf's Messenger's toughness is 1 (base 2, +1 from the +1/+1 counter, +1 from the Reaper, -3 from the -1/-1 counters), so it doesn't die yet.
Then, once Cemetery Reaper has left the field, we check state again. The Messenger's toughness is now 0, so it dies.

So, now the Messenger's +1/+1 counters were cleaned up before it died, so Undying will trigger.


Do Ascension's small box expansions work well with the other big boxes? I currently own Chronicle of the Godslayer and Return of the Fallen, which are a paired set, so they work very well together.

I'm having trouble locating a copy of Storm of Souls, but I could pretty easily pick up Immortal Heroes.

Would Immortal Heroes work well alongside CotG/RoTF, or is it better to 1) play it as a standalone or 2) combo it with SoS?

That's my specific situation, but an answer that more broadly addresses combining boxes from different "blocks" would be great.

I have played all combinations of sets up through and including Realms Unraveled.

Here are my thoughts:

Immortal Heroes will mix in fine with RoTF and CoTG.
Immortal Heroes played all on it's own would grow stale quickly
Immortal Heroes and Storm of Souls together is an fun block in and of itself - maybe more fun than CoTG and RoTF.

If you have an iPhone or iPad I highly recommend the Playdeck implementation of the Ascension game - it costs a few bucks and you can play online with strangers, friends, or against the AI computer.


Scrabble - Parallel Words joined at one letter Parallel words joined at a single letter forming a second word.
I cannot seem to find a clear answer to this scrabble question.
Say player one plays, "scrabble" as their first word.
Is it valid for player two to then play, "hello," parallel to "scrabble" but starting with the "h" in "hello" next to the "e" in "scrabble" to make the second word, "he." Here is an example:
       HELLO
SCRABBLE

The official rules state:
New words may be formed by:

Adding one or more letters to a word or letters already on the board.

Placing a word at right angles to a word already on the board. The new word must use
one of the letters already on the board or must add a letter to it.

Placing a complete word parallel to a word already played so that adjacent letters also form complete words.

And in the scoring examples, the last example shows a similar case to yours - the word BIT is played underneath PASTE as such:
  P A S T E
B I T

with the player scoring for the words BIT, PI and AT which are formed from the running parallel words. So yes, your example is valid - it is a single word, played parallel to an existing word, such that all adjacent tiles result in forming valid English words.


Hostage taker and player death If my opponent plays Hostage Taker, takes a creature of mine, casts it, and then I die, does he still control that creature? Or is it removed from the game back to me?

It's removed from the game if you own it. When a player loses the game, they leave the game and every card they own does as well. You'll take back the physical card, and they lose control of whatever it was because it's vanished out of the game. This happens no matter where it is (in exile, on the stack, on the battlefield, etc). The rules that handle this don't leave behind a copy for them to use — the thing is gone.
There's a pragmatic reason for this: the cards are your legal property, and once you're done in that game you're entitled to leave and take your stuff with you. The rules won't presume they can leave someone else in possession of your stuff, so those rules just say your stuff goes away.
In 1v1, the game would already be over when you lose, so I presume you're not actually playing 1v1. In multiplayer, we go by these rules:

104.5. If a player loses the game, he or she leaves the game. If the game is a draw for a player, he or she leaves the game. The multiplayer rules handle what happens when a player leaves the game; see rule 800.4.
800.4a When a player leaves the game, all objects (see rule 109) owned by that player leave the game and any effects which give that player control of any objects or players end. [...] This is not a state-based action. It happens as soon as the player leaves the game.


Magic the Gathering: Chaining Instants during combat phase Say it's the start other player's combat phase, and I have Aethersquall Ancient out on the field, whose 2nd ability's cost is to spend 8 energy to bounce all other creatures besides it off the board. I have 5 energy. Could I cast Harnessed Lightning, an instant that gives 3 energy, and not spend any on its effect and instead spend the new total of 8 energy on the Ancient's ability before the blocking step?

No, you Can't.

Aethersqual Ancient's second ability has a limiting condition, specifically:

  Activate this ability only any time you can cast a sorcery.

To the best of my recollection, there is not a card in magic the gathering that will allow you to activate the ability. Refer to Vedalken Orrery on oracle for clarification, explaining why it doesn't work.

  This applies only to casting spells. It does not, for example, change when you may activate abilities that can only be activated “any time you could cast a sorcery”.

Editorial: This is one of the occasions where the plain text on the card isn't sufficient. There are several cards that let you play a sorcery as though it had flash, yet it takes going to their oracle pages to find the above. Intuitively, if there is an effect that allows me to play a sorcery as if it had flash, and this ability is limited to only being activated if I can play a sorcery, than I should be able to activate the ability.

You can cast Harnessed Lightning, and choose not to use any Energy, adding to your energy pool for eight total. However, when you go to activate the ability during the end of the Declare Attacakers step of your opponents turn, you will be trying to take an illegal action. Your opponent should stop you from doing so.


Newbie go question: why can I do one move but not the other one I am playing with SmartGo and I don’t understand one situation.

I am playing as Black.

$$Bcm82
$$ +---------+
$$ |O.O.OX.X.|
$$ |OOOOOXXXX|
$$ |.OXXOXXO.|
$$ |OOOXXXXXX|
$$ |COOOOOXXX|
$$ |2XO.OOOX.|
$$ |XXXOOXOXO|
$$ |nXOOOXXXO|
$$ |1XXO.XyXO|
$$ +---------+

Why am I allowed to play at G1 (marked y), but not at A2 (n)? I am surrounded by my own stones in both cases.

Playing in the space above 82 would result in that black group having no liberties while the white groups surrounding it do still have liberties, so the group would immediately be captured by white. According to Wikipedia, most rulesets prohibit moves like that. If you play in the bottom right hole, on the other hand, that black group still has multiple liberties.


Proper Opening Moves What are the most common opening move for 6,2 and 6,3?

It seems the logical move is to take a runner and move 8 or 9 pips.  However, after playing a lot lately online I notice people also like to move into the #7 position with one runner and move 2 or 3 with the remaining runner.  While it seems risky, I also think that unless your opponent rolls a 6,1 or 6,6, they are opening themselves up more than you are opening yourself.

The exception of course would be if you were second to roll and your opponent has other crippling rolls available depending on their first roll.

In The Backgammon Book, World Champions Oswald Jacoby and John Crawford recommend with both 6-2 and 6-3 moving one runner to the bar point and one man from the 12-point into your own outer table; though they concede that there another move almost as good:

  The modern play [written in 1970] is to use the six to move one back man to the black bar point and use the other to move a man from the black twelve point into your outer table. ... Unless [the man on the bar point] is hit by a point-making roll (in this case 6-1; double 6; double 3; or double 1) you will have a lot of possible returns against your opponent's  vulnerable blot; and you have lost little anyways. If your man is not hit your position is highly advantageous.

Note that Jacoby and Crawford do not recommend the modern play above with an opening roll of 6-4.

For both 6-2 and 6-3 they regard one alternative move each being nearly as good as the modern play recommended above: with 6-3 running with a single runner to the ten point, but with a 6-2 moving a man from your 12-point to your inner board.

  With a 6-2 we don't like the running play [moving a single man from black one point to black nine point) at all, as it exposes your man to a straight 4 or 3-1 or double 2; a total of 14 possible shots.


Catan: Cities and Knights- barbarian attack with a differential of 2 The scenario is as follows...
Player a has 3 cities and 2 knights, player B has 1 city and 1 knight, and player C has 1 city and no knights. The barbarians attack and given the state of the board, they have a strength of 5 but only 3 knights are activated. Player C obviously loses their city because they have the least amount of active knights but does player A also lose a city because they only have 2 knights to their 3 cities?

When the barbarians attack, they assume the strength of the total number of cities. Then we look at the total points of active knights on the board. When the knight points equal or surpass the barbarians strength, the Settlers are victorious. However, if there are more cities than knight points, the barbarians win. The actual difference does not matter after this point.

From the rulebook, Page 11 (completely dedicated to the barbarian attack):

  If the barbarians win the battle, they pillage one or more cities.
  [...] The barbarians pillage one city belonging to the player who has
  the lowest total strength of active knights [...] If various players
  tie for having the lowest strength of active knights, each of those
  players loses 1 of his cities.

Additionally, if that city had a Wall, the Wall is also destroyed. If a city is a Metropolis, it cannot be destroyed by the barbarians. It is counted when they attack, though.

In your case, player C loses one city for not contributing any knights. If, for instance, player B had moved his knight on the previous turn and not re-activated it, players B and C were tied for least knight points (0) and both would have lost a city.


How do you play a solo game of Steve Jackson Games' Car Wars? A long time ago I bought Steve Jackson Games' Car Wars(1st ed., 1983 release) in pocket box format(like the article image).1 Here's what you can read at the back:

Drive Offensively!
He triggered the rear guns once more. A direct hit! The blue car skidded as the driver lost control - then flipped and caught fire.
That would teach HIM not to tailgate...
CAR WARS is a game of the freeways of the future - where the right of
way goes to the biggest guns. Players choose their vehicules -
complete with weapons, armor, power plants, suspension, and even body
style. Then they take them out on the road - to come home "aces", or
to crash and burn. A highly realistic grid system controls movement.
If a player character survives, his abilities improve, and he can
accumulate money to buy bigger and better cars. Advanced rules let
players design their own cars (and trucks and cycles).
Playing time 30 minutes and up. Any number can play.

Sadly I've played the game only once when it was introduced to me in grade school2. Now I'm reading in the Car Wars Compendium, 2nd Edition (1990-1991), in the getting started section:

[...]The game can be played solo, but is more fun with an opponent. It
is probably best with 4 to 6 players. A game with over 8 players can
take a very long time.

So how would you go about playing this solo? Is there some material/scenario which focuses on solo play? If there is no prescribed way of playing this solo, how would you repurpose the game so that I could play it solo?

1. Note this is not about GURPS Autoduel. It predates it and is a standalone product which is not standardized for the system.
2. I remember very fondly choosing parts for the car and making sure there wasn't too much weight for the body/suspension. From what I remember we had this mission of getting hold a an important piece of machinery/engine in a city setting and being attacked by a helicopter(!)(thanks to Serge with the kite suspended at the ceiling older buddy of my childhood and his inspiring mastery of Knuckle Joe - Seibu Kaihatsu, 1985, for introducing me to the game).

In my experience....
Solo play of Car Wars breaks down into 4 discrete activities:

Vehicle Design
movement practice
play of automatic opponent scenarios
playing multiple sides
play of paragraph driven scenarios
TurboFire play

Vehicle Design as Solo Play
For me, this was the number one way to waste time with Car Wars. I designed about 50x more vehicles than I ever used in play. And I used a LOT of vehicles in play.
Movement Practice
My friends and I would often draw an obstacle course on a single sheet of paper - usually letter or legal, sometimes 11x17". And then see how fast we could get a vehicle through. We'd each do this on our own time, and later compare.
I did a lot of this when I first got Boat Wars - the Hovercraft rules needed to be better written. I also did a bunch of this when I first got Truck Stop.
Automated Opponent Scenarios
A few scenarios from Autoduel Quarterly were one vehicle against a prepared course with automated firing rules for the emplaced defenses. (Maniac, in ADQ 1-4, was one of the best.)
Playing Multiple Sides
It was (and still is) a classic wargaming trope to test play games by playing both sides. In a deterministic game, like chess or checkers, it's pointless, but once you add randomization, you can have a very good time playing both sides of a game.
Note that for car wars, this is a prerequisite for solo play of certain modules.
Paragraph Driven Scenarios
There have been several paragraph-driven scenarios released for Car Wars. These are very much in the same mode as the ones for Tunnels and Trolls or The Fantasy Trip; they actually work best when there is a second player, but they work well enough solo, and the intended mode is solo-play.
The best known is Convoy, an SJG product, which was adapted from a GM'd adventure.
Second best, released by Task Force Games, was Hell On Wheels. Far less well known are the two other solo modules from TFG, The Gauntlet and Street Fighter. These three were part of a line called "AutoVentures."
All four of these presume the player will play both sides in the actual combats, but they also specify the general tactics of the encounters.
The 3 from TFG also include an alternate "Quick Combat System" which made them quite playable without setting up the map and counters. (It also works for some of the encounters in Convoy.)
TurboFire
TurboFire was one of two GM-adventures for Car Wars in the AutoVentures line. It lacked a paragraph mode, but included an abstraction for racing. In and of itself, it was not intended for solo-play... but since it abstracted out thousands of choices into a few die-rolls, it allowed race-dueling to become a solo-play opportunity.
In TurboFire, the players are using the TurboFire racing rules to generate a series of encounters, which then get played out per the restrictions within the module. These generally are short battles, given the harsh restrictions in that module's setting. This combination means that it's pretty easy and quick to resolve each one, and one can fairly easily play both sides, since the tactics are obvious.
I've used this mode with Cars, Big Rigs, and Microplanes.


How does this Imperial Assault character 'Shoot First'? We played the final mission in our Imperial Assault campaign.

In this mission, you have to

   Kill Vader(!)

The Imperial Player applied the 'shoot first' card to activate the character at the start of the round. They also reasoned that the character receives 2 actions.

However, the scenario special rules for the character are that he does not activate normally, but takes an action after each rebel player.

My questions are:

Can the 'shoot first' card be applied to this character in the final mission?
How many actions does the character get if he does 'shoot first'?

The Shoot First card can be applied to any Imperial group, including villains, and that group will get a single activation through the use of the card, which translates to two actions.

Explanation:

Shoot First reads:

  Keep this card secret. Play it during any mission at the start of a round. An Imperial group may interrupt to perform an activation. Then, discard this card.

The card doesn't care about any special rules about its target in a specific scenario. It just does as written unless explicitly prevented elsewhere by mission rules or by the cannot keyword, which is an exception to the Golden Rules. (Page 2, Rules Reference Guide)

Phrasing which contains a finale spoiler:

   Instead of activating as normal, Darth Vader performs 1 action after each hero's activation. (Page 41, Campaign Guide)

Even though the mission rules prevent the gain of activations every round as normal, it does not prevent other gains of activations.  It instead reads as a replacement effect for the core rules which govern figures gaining activations during the Activation Phase. (Page 3, Rules Reference Guide)

Therefore, the card can grant one activation.

Activation is defined as:

  During a figure's activation, it performs up to two actions. (Page 3, Rules Reference Guide)

Thus, the group performs up to two actions.

Group is defined as:

  All figures that correspond to a single Deployment card or Hero sheet are a group. (Page 13, Rules Reference Guide)

So this works on both regular deployment groups and villains.


(Meta) game design to facilitate educational game design workshop/class I would like to develop a framework to support teachers and their students in developing mini-games for their class.

For example, a math teacher organizes several workshops and classes with his or her students to develop 2 or 3 mini-games. The objective is not to have playable games, although that would be nice. The objective is twofold:

Promote design thinking and design skills, bot for the teacher and
students;
Use the game design workshop as an instrument to think deeply about the (in this example) mathematical content being taught.

Ad 1. The teacher learns to think about levels, providing challenge, using imagination and fantasy, personalization, feedback mechanisms, social interaction, engagement, etc in relation to his teaching.

Ad 2. To be clear about the second: students develop challenges that fit within their game, The teacher supports them in thinking about relevant challenges, but in order to make a 'playable challenge', they first have to really understand the content and outcome of the challenge. The hope is this leads to a deeper understanding of the topics.

Are there any examples on how to organize the workshops/class in a gameful manner as well? In other words, what other game-to-design-a-game games are there? And what are their features? I am working in a low-tech environment, so preferably the examples do not require too many technical resources or programming skills, but mostly focus on fun and creativity.

EDIT: Just found an interesting and widely cited paper by Druckman that compares game/simulation DESIGN vs game/simulation PLAY and concludes that (in this case) DESIGN has much stronger effects on retention and learning than PLAY. The approach is very rigorous and I believe his results can be generalized. However, to be critical, I would also predict that playing a game that is designed by a lay-designer would be less effective than doing the design yourself (as a layman). Search for "Druckman - Onstage or behind the scenes? Relative learning benefits of simulation role-play and design"

I think you could provide a set structure for the game mechanism while keeping the actual content of the game to be defined by teacher and students.

This allows less skilled people to join in while these boundaries (you may call them guiding principles) to provide guidance and inspiration.

Example: think of a customised happy families (kwartet in Dutch) as one of the easiest examples. The content could be the actual course material.


Responder' rebid with unbalanced hand (system: Simple SAYC) I have 1S-4H-4D-4C, 15 PTS. I open 1D -- Partner: 1S --> Now my options are:

I can't bid 1NT (no nt distribution).
I want to show that I have more than minimum (12-14 pts), so I don't want to bid 2C, so I bid 3C. Is my reasoning correct?

In a word, no. A jump shift shows a game forcing hand (something like 18 HCP with that distribution). 2C could be any strength that's not game forcing across from a minimum responder, and is probably your best bid here.


Which games are most rewarding to review? I play Go online and have by now quite a few sgf's of past games available which I could review. I'm however lazy so I certainly wont review all or even most of them. So which ones can I learn the most from reviewing? Ones against stronger players or against weaker ones? The ones I lost or the ones I won?

You should review games where you really put some thought into your moves.  If you play a quick game without thinking much, the mistakes you find will just be oversights and carelessness.  If you review games you've spent some time on, or better yet have a stronger player review them, then the mistakes are more likely to be real holes in your knowledge, or moves that were smaller than you thought.


Recommended Axis & Allies alternative rules / variations? What rule variations do you recommend for playing Axis & Allies, from ones meant to balance the game to ones that add a little spice?

Here are the variants I've played with - always looking for new suggestions!

Russia cannot attack on first turn. Personally, I don't consider this a rule variation because I only play games where this is enforced.
Bidding system for choosing Axis player(s). Namely, the unit of currency is decided - IPCs or infantry or tech rolls - and then each player writes down how much of the currency they'd need to play Germany or Japan after which all players reveal their bids. The lowest bidders are awarded the Axis power(s) and are given their compensation, either before the game begins or at the start of their first turn.
No economic victory for Axis.
No new factories. This variation makes life very tough on Japan, especially if she has some poor luck in the Pacific to start the game off.
Free weapons developments for Axis powers. Traditionally, Germany gets Jet Power and Japan gets Super Subs, but I've played where Germany and Japan can choose a technology of choice other than Heavy Bombers.
Every country must spend exactly 5 IPC per turn to do weapons development. A somewhat silly variation, but invariably adds some twists to the game.
Two hit battleships. This variation makes for an interesting opening game, strengthening the UK Sea Zone fleet, making it harder for the Allies to take out the German Mediterranean fleet, and giving Japan a little more of an edge in the Pacific.

Are there any other variations you've played with that you'd recommend?

One Hit Infantry

For advanced players, the overarching strategy of A&A reduces to the infantry push mechanic as described in Don Rae's excellent essays--this is especially true for 2nd edition games, which have 3/2 tanks vice 3/3 tanks.

The essence of the IPM is that Germany and Russia should buy only infantry until the late game, after they have fortified their borders with infantry and established dead zones in Eastern Europe. The US, UK and Japan also play IPM, but after a short delay to build navies and/or factories to move/spawn all this infantry.

IPM works because the opportunity cost of all units is higher than infantry's (i.e. infantry are the cheapest unit in the game and are twice as effective on defense as they are on offense). Cheap means they are the only units you can ever afford to leave in a dead zone (i.e. open to counterattack by a superior force). Their effective defense means they are most valuable in large stacks that can devastate an attacking force with insufficient "cannon fodder".

Don suggests a brilliant and simple solution to the stalemated and long-developing game common between experienced players utilizing IPM: modify infantry so that they attack and defend on a roll of 1+.

This change takes some getting use to, but after only a game or two becomes second nature and dramatically changes the game for the better. What was once a defensive stalemate becomes a furor of attack and counter attack. 1/1 infantry means a one-on-one combat between two lone infantry becomes a fair fight, it means any additional attacking force is statistically overwhelming, and it means infantry alone defend so poorly as to be almost useless. All of these factors bias the game just enough in favor of the attacker to prevent large stacks of infantry from materializing. This change also makes a fighter-only vs. infantry attack feasible since the odds that the infantry will score a lucky hit have been cut in half.

Beyond the traditional sitting around a table method you can try out this variation on the computer if you are lucky enough to have a copy of the out-of-print Iron Blitz (you can edit the infantry attack/defense values); it's also trivially easy to implement if you play-by-email.


Does drawing multiple cards count individually? Say if I have the emblem of Teferi, Hero of Dominaria (Whenever you draw a card, you may exile target permanent) out, and cast Brainstorm (Draw three cards, then put two cards from your hand on top of your library in any order). How many times does the emblem trigger?

120.2. Cards may only be drawn one at a time. If a player is instructed to draw multiple cards, that player performs that many individual card draws.

So Brainstorm causes three card draws, and three triggers of Teferi's emblem, so you get to exile three permanents. Neat!


My opponent used Huatli's ability with a creature that had died. Was that allowed? Recently, I played a match where a player used a card that killed off everyone’s creatures above a certain power, including one of his own. Immediately after that card, when no other card was played by anyone else and in the same turn, he used a Planeswalker ability from Huatli, the Sun's Heart to regain the life points from the same creature he sacrificed.

Is that allowed since he activated the ability after?

No, that won't work. If your opponent's creature has died, your opponent no longer controls it, and Huatli's ability will not see it.

If your opponent wants to get the life for the creature that would die from the sweeper, he has to activate Huatli before casting the sweeper.

Once your opponent has cast the sweeper (MtG slang for a spell or ability that damages/destroys/exiles etc. multiple permanents), it's on the stack and nobody can respond to it with a planeswalker's loyalty ability:

  113.5. Some activated abilities are loyalty abilities. Loyalty abilities follow special rules: A player may activate a loyalty ability of a permanent they control any time they have priority and the stack is empty during a main phase of their turn [..]

The sweeper resolves and kills all applicable creatures. A creature that dies moves to the graveyard:

  700.4. The term dies means “is put into a graveyard from the battlefield.”

Objects in the graveyard have no controller:

  109.4. Only objects on the stack or on the battlefield have a controller. Objects that are neither on the stack nor on the battlefield aren’t controlled by any player.

"Creatures" is shorthand for "creature permanents", and permanents can only exist on the battlefield:

  109.2. If a spell or ability uses a description of an object that includes a card type or subtype, but doesn’t include the word “card,” “spell,” “source,” or “scheme,” it means a permanent of that card type or subtype on the battlefield.

Therefore, when Huatli's loyalty ability selects the greatest toughness among creatures you control, it only looks at your creatures on the battlefield.


Twilight Imperium’s ‘Spend resources’ Objectives How do one score objectives that require spending resources, like ‘Erect a Monument’ (‘Spend 8 resources’) or ‘Sway the Council’ (‘Spend 8 influence’)? Do you have to spend it specifically to fulfill the requirements of this objective or does any type of spending (building ships, for example) count?

You must spend these resources specifically to score the objective.  You have to make a choice between spending the resources on units/buildings and getting points to win.

These objectives are status phase objectives, meaning they can only be scored in the status phase.  Thus spending resources to build ships wouldn't apply because it happens during the action phase.  Furthermore, at the step in the status phase when you can score objectives, objectives are the only thing you can spend resources on.

Support from the rules reference:

  52.3 Each objective card indicates the phase during which a player
  can score that objective—either the status phase or action phase.

  52.10 Players can score some objectives by spending resources,
  influence, or tokens, as described by the objective card. To
  score such an objective, a player must pay the specified cost at
  the time indicated on the card.

  70.1 [STATUS PHASE] STEP 1—SCORE OBJECTIVES: Following initiative order,
  each player may score up to one public objective and one secret
  objective that can be fulfilled during the status phase. To score
  an objective, he must fulfill the requirements on the card; if he
  does, he gains a number of victory points indicated on the card.


In the game "En Garde!" - How do optional routines work? For some time I've been puzzling over just how optional routines work in En Garde!
I'm not even sure I fully understand how the Parry-Reposte routine works, let alone the Optional Block and Optional Parry routines.
Let's say I have the advantage, so start with a short sequence. I might write out the sequence Parry(Repost), Parry(Repost), Lunge, Slash:
-P-(R)- -P-(R)- -X-L-X- -X-S-

If my opponent starts with a Furious Lunge, I believe our sequences would go:
-L-X-X-C-X-X-
-P-R-P-X-L-X-

So I would Parry the initial Lunge, which triggers the Reposte, my second Parry would have nothing to protect against, so I would go on to my Slash, meanwhile my opponents Cut would strike me before my Lunge connected.
If my opponent starts with a Furious Slash, I believe our sequences would go:
-X-S-X-C-X-X-
-P-P-X-L-X-X-

My parries would not be effective, so I wouldn't get a Reposte, and my Lunge and my opponents Cut would strike at the same time.
Finally, if my opponent started with a Lunge/Slash combo, I believe our sequences would go:
-X-L-X-X-S-P-(R)-
-P-P-R-X-L-X

So my first parry would be ineffective, the second would trigger a repose and our Slashes and Lunges would both hit at the same time.
So, are my sequences correct and beyond this, how do I use the -OB1-OB2- and  -OP1-OP2- routines? These I just can't even start to understand how they might be used.
If anyone can provide some example sequences of how these might be used, I would really appreciate it.

If my opponent starts with a Furious Lunge, I believe our sequences would go:

  -L-X-X-C-X-X-
  -P-R-P-X-L-X-

No: your written sequence would be P-P-X-L-X-X-S... (to 12 actions)

The optional routines kick in when the duel is resolved.

So, when you see that your opponent's first action is a lunge, which is stopped by your Parry, you may replace your next routine with a Riposte. If you do so, the sequence that is executed is P-R-X-L-X-X-S...

Note that it replaces the next routine. If your opponent went X-L-X-X-S... to start with, your second Parry works and you may then Riposte. However the R replaces the X-L-X routine (padding with rests), so you end up executing P-P-R-X-X-X-S... As a Riposte does less damage than a Lunge, you might well prefer not to Riposte in these circumstances.

Personally, I don't think the other optional routines are particularly useful. There are some very specific circumstances where they can be used to avoid damage from an opponent's attack that you can see coming an action or two in advance, but this is often at the cost of sacrificing an attack of your own.

In a postal/turn-based game like mine (www.pevans.co.uk/LPBS), the optional routines have to be used as conditional orders in a player's duelling orders: "If the first parry succeeds, then riposte; if the second succeeds, do not Riposte" for example. This can get very complicated...

The duelling rules work much better face-to-face - as originally intended - as there's the element of out-guessing your opponent.


Can the extra players extension work with Seafearers or Cities and Knights? If I have the Settlers of Catan 5-6 player extension (for the base game), does that mean I can use the Seafarers or Cities and Knights expansions with 5-6 players?

Seafarers and Cities & Knights have their own 5-6 Player expansions in addition to the base game 5-6 player expansion. Think of them as expansions to expansions. So to play a 6 player game of Seafarers you will need the following:

Base Catan Game + 5-6 Person Base Expansion + 4 player Seafarers Expansion + 5-6 Person Seafarers Expansion


is your turn over after playing an action card and doing what the card says The Action card "Draw two, play two" says to draw two cards and play them. Then you're supposed to continue your turn.

But isn't your turn already over? Because you've already drawn a card and played the action card and completed the action.

In Fluxx what you do on your turn all depends on what the rules currently are so there is no one clear answer that can be given. If there is a rule in play that requires you to play multiple cards then the card you are talking about counts as just 1 of your actions and you need to continue, if there is not a multiple card play rule in effect then you are probably done.


Using blade on supporting unit in A Game Of Thrones Is it possible to use the Valyrian Steel Blade to add +1 strength on my unit which is supporting other player during his battle?

This is clearly stated on page 20 of the rulebook. (For reference the rulebook and the FAQ.)

On p. 20 it states:

  If either the attacker or the defender holds the Valyrian Steel Blade token, that player now has the option of using its ability to provide +1 to his total Combat Strength. If used, flip the token to its faded side, as a reminder that it cannot be used again this round.

So, no, a supporting player is neither the attacker or defender and so cannot use the Valyrian Steel Blade in that combat.


Can I cast a spell after a certain part of the stack is resolved in MTG? Let's say my opponent plays a spell like Fireball. It is put on the stack. I cast a Snapcaster Mage in response. My opponent does nothing in return. The Snapcaster Mage resolves first and it seems like I can play any card in my graveyard now like a Mana Leak to counter the fireball.

Can I really do this after the resolving of spells on the stack has begun? Or must the stack be empty before I can put new spells on it?

Initially I forgot that Snapcaster Mage has Flash. Oops.

Yes you can do this. The resolution goes like this.

Fireball is cast, put on the stack.
In response, you put Snapcaster Mage on the stack. (Which you can only do, of course, because it has Flash and can be cast as an instant.)
You put nothing more on the stack, your opponent declines to put anything else on the stack.
Because both players pass priority, stack starts resolving in Last In First Out order. Snapcaster Mage resolves.
Triggered ability of Snapcaster Mage is put on the stack. You choose Mana Leak as the target.
Both players pass priority. Last effect on stack resolves, Mana Leak gains flashback.
As Mana Leak is an instant (IMPORTANT) you can now pay the flashback cost (in this case same as the casting cost) to put Mana Leak on the stack.
Both players pass priority. Mana Leak resolves.
Your opponent must now pay {3} or Fireball is countered.

The important bit to remember is that yes, as usual, you can put spells/effects on the stack at any time even after spells have started to be resolved, as long as said spells/effects can be cast at "instant speed", not "sorcery speed".

The comprehensive rule which answers your question "Can I really do this after the resolving of spells on the stack has begun?" is 116.3. which determines when players have priority and I will paraphrase:

Active player gets priority at the beginning of steps and phases (after "beginning of" triggered abilities are put on the stack.)
Active player gets priority after a spell/ability on the stack resolves.
A player gets priority after they put a spell/ability on the stack.
If a player passes priority, the next player in turn order receives priority.

So the priority rules make it clear that there is always a chance to respond even after spells on the stack start resolving.


How many different variations/editions of Monopoly are there? Is there a website that has a comprehensive list of all the various editions of the Monopoly board-game there are? I'm sure there's hundreds... but I'm not having much luck finding it online.

It depends on how you define "variations" of the game. At this moment the monopoly wiki has 1144 versions of the game, but it includes fictional editions (Monopoly Capitol City Edition from the Simpsons), predecessors (The Landlord's Game), and so on.