Turn Sequence
When it is your turn, you will progress through four Phases:
- Starting Phase
- Free Phase
- Questing Phase
- Reload Phase
Keep in mind that cards with REACTION or INTERRUPT effects can be used during any Phase, as long as their triggering conditions are met.
Normally, all you do in the Starting Phase is Invest 1.
A few cards, such as Wanderlust, have additional instructions about things you can do at “the start of your turn.” Resolve these effects in an order of your choosing during your Starting Phase.
The Free Phase is normally the longest and most complicated part of the game. During your Free Phase, there are four things you can do, in any order:
Play to Your Reserve Area
If you have Place or Pursuit cards in Hand, you can play them (face-up) to your Reserve Area. If you have Hazard cards in Hand, you can play them (face-down) to your Reserve Area.
Card ACTIONs
Anything that your cards say is an ACTION effect can be done in your Free Phase.
Contests
Once per Free Phase, if either player is “in Pursuit,” the acting player can initiate a Contest between their Heroes and their foe’s Heroes. Contests and their consequences are described later in this Rulebook.
Discard from Hand
If some cards in your Hand aren’t useful at this moment of the game, you can place them face-up on your Discard Pile during your Free Phase. This is often advantageous, since it will allow you to draw more cards during your Reload Phase.
In the Questing Phase, if you have at least one Hero Active, you can choose to Venture with your number of Invested cards to complete a Quest.
In your Reload Phase, locate the greatest Reload X keyword on any of your cards in play. (Only a few cards besides Banners have Reload, so in many cases this just means to reference your Banner.) Draw cards from your Deck until you have X cards, where X is the value of the Reload you located.
If your Hand already has X or more cards, you don’t have to Discard any; you just don’t get to Draw any.
If you would draw any cards in this phase, you can invoke the option to “Scatter Fortunes.” When this option is invoked, you Draw one card fewer than you normally would, but you can dictate that either your Deck or your foe’s Deck gets shuffled.