How to Play Radlands: Cult of Chrome

Game Objective

In Radlands, players are given a set of three unique camps to protect. The goal is to win by destroying all three of your opponent's camps. The main resource of the game is water, which is spent to play people and events, and to use the abilities of cards you already have on the table. People protect your camps and provide useful abilities, while events are powerful effects that take time to activate. Both players draw cards from the same deck. All cards in your hand can either be played to the table or discarded for quick "junk" effects. To win, you'll need to manage your cards and water wisely.

Setup

General Setup

Players sit on opposite sides of the table, facing each other. In the center of the table, accessible to both players:

1. Shuffle and place the camp deck.
2. Place the extra water tokens (black).
3. Shuffle and place the draw deck, leaving space for a discard pile next to it.

The discard pile is where cards are discarded to. Unless otherwise specified, the draw deck is considered the standard card type when the manual or cards refer to "cards," "deck," or "discard."

Each Player's Play Area Setup

Each player sets up their own play area with the following steps:

1. Draw 6 cards from the camp deck.
   • For the best possible first experience with Radlands: skip this step and instead give the more experienced player the Arcade, Victory Totem, and Mercenary Camp cards. Give the other player the Garage, Railgun, and Supply Depot cards.
2. Place 3 of your drawn camps face down in your play area, in a row.
   • Leave space for 2 cards in front of each camp, where you will play person cards later. When both players have selected, flip your camps face up. Return all unselected camps and the camp deck to the box, as they will no longer be used in this game.
3. Take one Water Silo card and one Raiders card and place them face up in your play area.
4. Form a supply of 3 water tokens (white) in your play area.
5. Take a player aid card.
6. Draw the number of cards for your hand equal to the total sum of cards shown in the black rectangles on your camps.

Game Flow

The game progresses in turns, starting with the first player. To determine the first player, flip a water token. If it lands water side up, you are the first player. Otherwise, your opponent is. Starting with the first player, players take turns until one player has destroyed all of their opponent's camps. On your turn, perform all of the following phases in the listed order:

1. Events: If you have an event in the space, resolve its effect and discard it. Then, advance all events in your event queue 1 space forward (towards your opponent).
2. Replenish: Draw one card. Then, collect your 3 water tokens for use this turn. Water never carries over from previous turns, so you will always begin the Actions phase with 3 water.
   • Exception: if you are the first player, collect 1 water (instead of 3) on your first turn. On all subsequent turns, including your opponent's first turn, players collect 3.
3. Actions: Perform any of the following actions, in any order, any number of times:
   • Play card
   • Draw card
   • Junk card
   • Take Water Silo
   • Use ability

   Zero-cost cards and abilities: Some cards and abilities have a cost of 0 water. Whenever you use a 0-cost ability, or play a 0-cost card, mark it as unready with an extra water token showing the pink dash.

   Actions cleanup: When you are done performing actions, return all water and extra water tokens to their respective supplies.

Actions and How to Play

During the Actions phase of your turn, you may perform the following actions in any order and as many times as you wish:

Play Card (Person)

Play a person card from your hand in front of any of your camps (even a destroyed camp).

• Spend water tokens on the card equal to its cost shown in the top left corner.
• On the turn a person is played, it is unready.
• If there is already a person in that column, place the new person either in front of or behind the existing person (moving the existing person forward). When a person behind another is destroyed, move the front person back towards the camp.
• Each column can hold a maximum of 2 people. If you have no space in any of your columns, you may play a person, but must first destroy one of your existing people.

Play Card (Event)

Play an event card from your hand to your event queue.

• Place the event in the space corresponding to the numbered bomb icon at the top of its yellow effect box.
• Spend water tokens on the card equal to its cost shown in the top left corner.
• A event is not placed in the queue. Instead, resolve its effect immediately and discard it and the water required to play it.
• Only one card can occupy each space of your event queue. If that space is already occupied by another event, you must place the new event in the first available space behind it (up to the space). If those spaces are full, you cannot play it.

Draw Card

Spend 2 water and draw one card.

Junk Card

Discard a card from your hand and receive the junk effect related to the icon (see "Icon Effects," pg 8) illustrated in the top left corner of the card.

• When you junk the Water Silo, return it to your play area instead of discarding it.

Take Water Silo

Spend 1 water to take your Water Silo into your hand. The Water Silo can be junked to gain an extra water.

• When you junk the Water Silo, return it to your play area instead of discarding it.
• You may keep the Water Silo in your hand for multiple turns.

Use Ability

Use an ability on one of your camps or ready people in any column.

• Abilities and their costs are found in black boxes at the bottom of the card.
• When using an ability:
  1. Check that the card is ready.
  2. Spend water on it equal to the cost of the ability you are using.
  3. Resolve all text and effect icons in the ability box.
• After using an ability on a card, the card is unready. If the ability's cost is 0, place an unready token on it.
• A card's ability can affect cards in any column, not just its own.
• When ability text uses the word "Enemy," it refers to your opponent's people, not their camps.

Card Types

• Camps: Have a black border, a starting card draw value, and may have abilities and [traits].
• People: Have a white border, a water cost, a junk effect, and may have abilities and [traits]. They are played in columns in front of your camps.
• Punks: Are people with no abilities, represented by a face-down card drawn from the top of the deck. When damaged, a punk is immediately destroyed and returned face down to the top of the deck (do not look at it).
• Events: Have a yellow and black striped border, a water cost, a junk effect, an event effect, and a numbered bomb icon that determines where it is placed in your event queue when played.

Important Terms and Icons

• Event Queue: Each player has an event queue consisting of 3 spaces (, , and ). It is a countdown timer, where each space represents the number of turns until an event resolves.
• Columns: Person cards (including Punks) are played on the table in front of your camp cards. A camp and all people in front of it are considered a "column." A column can hold a maximum of 2 people.
• Unprotected: When your people or camps do not have at least one of your cards in front of them, they are unprotected.
• Water Discard: Some actions may require you to spend water that is not placed on a card. To make it clear to both players that this water has been spent, stack it next to the draw deck. Do this also when discarding a card with water on it.
• Destroy : Destroys the specified cards. A destroyed person is discarded. Destroyed camps are flipped to their destroyed side. A destroyed punk is returned face down to the top of the draw deck.
• Damage : Damages a person or camp. A damaged card is turned sideways. If it is damaged again, it is destroyed. A damaged person is unready. A damaged punk is destroyed. Unless otherwise specified, the target of damage must be an unprotected card in any column belonging to your opponent.
• Restore : You may turn one of your damaged cards face up. If it is a person, mark it as unready. A card cannot restore itself.
• Injure : Same as damage, but only applies to people.
• Draw : Draw one card from the draw deck.
• Gain Punk : You may place the top card of the draw deck into play, face down in any of your columns. It is a person with no abilities.
• Extra Water : Gain 1 extra water token (black) to spend this turn. At the end of your turn, return all extra water tokens to the supply in the center of the table. Extra water tokens are not limited by the supply.
• Raid : When resolving the raid icon, play or advance your Raiders event card.
  • If your Raiders event is not yet in the event queue, place it in the space.
  • If your Raiders event is already in the event queue, advance it 1 space forward. If it is already in the space, resolve the event.

  The Raiders event cannot be advanced with a raid icon if another event already occupies the space in front of it. When the Raiders event resolves, your opponent chooses one of their camps to be damaged, then place your Raiders card back in your play area. The Raiders can damage camps even when they are protected.