THE MODE
INVASION INC.
One board, two to eight factions. Territories are handed out before the first turn — dealt at random, or drafted pick by pick. The campaign ends only when one faction holds every territory on the map — second place does not exist.
PLACEMENT
Set at the table. On AUTO the board is dealt out at random, one territory at a time. On DRAFT the factions claim it themselves: each faction takes one unclaimed territory per turn, and the order snakes — first to last, then last to first — so whoever picks last in a round picks first in the next, until the map is full. Every seat ends with the same number of territories either way — the draft only decides which ones.
MUSTER
Every faction musters 14 units in three waves — four, four, then six. The waves alternate, so each faction places one before the next begins and you can read the board as it fills. Units land only where you already hold.
A TURN, IN FOUR PHASES
REINFORCE
Three units a turn while you hold six territories or fewer, then one more for every three past six. Cards play here.
ATTACK
The attacker rolls up to three dice — one per unit past the first. The defender rolls to match. Highest die against highest die, and ties go to the defender. Take the last unit standing and the territory is yours.
FORTIFY
One hop per turn. TRANSFER moves units between two neighbours. RALLY ALL walks every spare army one step toward a point you pick. Ground you took by force this turn may march on once more, so an army can attack and then move up behind the line. Any move can bring the territory's stash with it.
GATHER
Pick the territory everything ships toward. Whatever is connected to it feeds your chest.
RESOURCE GATHERING
Territories produce resources into your gather point every turn. Twenty-five stacked at one point cracks a chest and pays out a card. Nothing else buys cards.
THE FOUR CARDS
FORTIFICATION
Three shields to lay on territories you hold: all on one, or spread them. Each is +1 on every defence die, to +3 on any one territory. Each attack that beats it knocks it down one.
CORRIDOR
Pitch a tent on any territory. It stands until the end of your next turn, and every army at the table may skip straight over it and strike anything beside it — raids included.
REINFORCEMENTS
Units in hand right now. Your payout climbs by 5 every time you play it — 3, 8, 13, 18, 23, 28 and up, with no ceiling. You climb your own ladder, and the deck holds three of these for every seat at the table. Playable out of turn, even in the middle of someone else’s attack, for half the payout; the full payout is on your own deploy.
RAID
Steal every resource from a territory beside yours. Works through a corridor.
One card each per round, whether you are acting or answering. Any card played opens an answer round: anyone still holding a card may answer it, and you may one-up someone but never re-up your own answer. Hands cap at five — past that, resources simply bank. Knock a player out and you take their whole hand, cap or no cap.
READING THE BOARD
A stack is drawn as the biggest pieces it can make, climbing the chess ladder: three pawns a knight, two knights a bishop, two bishops a rook, then the rungs tighten. Past the king it leaves the board — citadel, twin castles, cannon, tank, fighter jet — the last of them a doomstack you will only see if a campaign runs away with somebody.
Pale rims mark chokepoints — few doors, cheap to hold. Dashed blue lines are sea lanes, the only way onto a landmass. Dashed gold is an open corridor.
WHEN YOU FALL
Losing your last territory does not end the match. You drop into the spectator seat and the surviving factions fight on until one of them holds the map.