Radlands

OVERVIEW

In Radlands, players will receive a set of three unique camps to protect. You win by destroying all three of your opponent’s camps.

The main resource in the game is water. You will spend it 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 pay off.

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 will need to manage your cards and water wisely.

COMPONENTS

• Draw deck containing 46 person cards & 20 event cards
• Camp deck containing 34 camp cards
• 2 Water Silo cards
• 2 Raiders cards
• 2 player aid cards
• 6 water discs (white) with “not ready” on back
• 6 extra water discs (black) with “not ready” on back

Note: Unless otherwise specified, the draw deck is considered the default card type when the rulebook or cards refer to “cards”, “deck”, or “discarding”.

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 A.
2. Place the extra water discs (black) B.
3. Shuffle and place the draw deck, leaving space for a discard pile beside it C.

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 one player Garage, Railgun, and Supply Depot. Give the other player Reactor, Cannon, and Victory Totem.
2. Place 3 of your drawn camps facedown in your play area in a row D.
   Leave space for 2 cards in front of each camp, where you will be playing people cards later. When both players have selected, flip your camps faceup. Return all unselected camps and the camp deck to the box as they will no longer be used this game.
3. Take a Water Silo and Raiders card and place them faceup in your play area E.
4. Form a supply of 3 water discs (white) F in your play area.
5. Take a player aid card G.
6. Draw the number of cards to your hand H equal to the total sum of cards shown in the black rectangles on your camps I.

CARD TYPES

CAMPS

Camp cards have a black border. They have an initial card draw amount A, and may have one or more abilities B and [ traits ] C.

PERSON

A person (people) card has a white border. They are played in columns in front of your camp cards.

People have a water cost C, a junk effect D, and may have one or more abilities E and [ traits ] F.

[ CARD TRAITS ]

Card traits G are found on some camps and people, surrounded by [ green brackets ] on a white background.

They are active for all people who are not currently damaged. They are always active on camps not yet destroyed (even if they are damaged).

PUNKS

A punk is a person with no abilities, represented by a facedown card drawn from the top of the deck.

When damaged, a punk is immediately destroyed, and returned to the top of the deck facedown (do not look at it).

Remember: Punks are people, too!

EVENTS

Event cards have a yellow and black striped border.

Events have a water cost H, a junk effect I, an event effect J, and a numbered bomb icon K that determines where it is placed in your event queue L when played.

PLAY AREA

• EVENT QUEUE: Each player has an event queue L made up of 3 spaces. The space is in line with your camps, with the and spaces in front. The event queue is a countdown timer, where each space represents the number of turns until an event is resolved.
• COLUMNS: People cards (including Punks ) are played to the table in front of your camp cards. A camp and all people in front of it are considered a “column” M. A column may contain 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 N.
• WATER DISCARD: Some actions may require you to spend water that is not placed onto a card. To keep it clear to both players that this water has been spent, stack it beside the draw deck O. Also do this when discarding a card with water on it.

DETERMINING START PLAYER

To determine start player, flip a water disc. If it lands water side up (), you are the start player. Otherwise, your opponent is.

TURN PHASES

Beginning with the start player, take turns until one player has destroyed all of their opponent’s camps. On your turn, perform all of the following phases in the order listed:

1. 1. EVENTS – Advance and resolve your events. If you have an event in the space, resolve its effect and discard it. Then, advance all events in your queue 1 space forward (towards your opponent).
2. 2. REPLENISH – Draw a card . Then, collect your 3 water discs for use this turn. Water is never carried over from previous turns, so you will always begin the Actions phase with 3 water.
   Exception: if you are the start 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. 3. ACTIONS – Put cards into play, discard cards from your hand for an instant junk effect, and / or use abilities on “ready” cards. 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 & 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 not ready with an extra water disc showing the pink dash .

Actions Cleanup

When you are done performing actions, return all water and extra water discs to their respective supplies.

ACTIONS IN DETAIL

PLAY CARD (PERSON)

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

When playing a person:

• Spend water discs A onto the card equal to its cost shown in the top left B.
• The turn a person is played, it is not ready.
• If there is already a person in that column, place the new person in front C or behind D the existing person (moving the existing person forward). When a person behind another is destroyed, move the person in front back toward the camp.
• Each column can contain a maximum of 2 people. If you have 6 people in play, you may not play any more people (including punks).

Strategy Tip: Place your more valuable people behind, so that they are not left unprotected.

PLAY CARD (EVENT)

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

When playing an event:

• Place the event in the space corresponding to the numbered bomb icon () at the top of its yellow effect box.
• Spend water discs E onto the card equal to its cost shown in the top left F.
• 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 put the new event in the first available space behind G (up to space ). If those spaces are full, you may not play it.

DRAW CARD

Spend 2 water and draw a card.

JUNK CARD

Discard a card from your hand and receive the junk effect related to the icon pictured in the top left corner of the card H.

Note: 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 may 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 across multiple turns.

Strategy Tip: Any unspent water is lost, so if you have 1 remaining water that is not useful, consider the take Water Silo action.
If you have 2 remaining, consider the Draw Card action.

USE ABILITY

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

Abilities and their costs are found in black boxes I at the bottom of the card.

When using an ability:

1. Check to ensure the card is ready.
2. Spend water J onto 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 not ready. If the ability’s cost is 0, place a not ready K disc 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.

IS MY CARD “READY”?

Camps: A faceup camp is always ready, unless you have used one of its abilities this turn (a damaged camp can still be ready).

People: A person is ready, unless any of these are true:

• It was played this turn.
• It was restored this turn.
• One of its abilities was used this turn.
• It is damaged .

Note: Cards with water discs on them are not ready unless overridden by an ability, effect, or trait.

DESTROY

Destroy the specified card(s).

• When a person is destroyed, discard it.
• Destroyed camps are flipped to their destroyed side A.
• A destroyed punk is returned facedown on top of the draw deck (don’t look at it).

DAMAGE

Damage a person or camp.

• A damaged card is turned sideways.
• If it is damaged again, destroy it.
• A damaged person is not ready.
• A damaged punk is destroyed.

Important: Unless otherwise specified, the target of damage must be an unprotected card in any column that belongs to your opponent.

RESTORE

You may rotate one of your damaged cards upright. If it is a person, mark it as not ready .

INJURE

Same as damage, but only applies to people.

DRAW

Draw a card from the draw deck.

GAIN PUNK

You may place the top card of the draw deck into play, facedown in any of your columns. It is a person with no abilities.

EXTRA WATER

Gain 1 extra water (black) disc to spend this turn. At the end of your turn, return all extra water discs to the supply in the center of the table.

Extra water discs are not limited by the supply (borrow white water discs from your opponent if necessary).

RAID

When resolving the raid icon (), play or advance your Raiders event card.

• If your Raiders event is not already in the event queue, place it on the space (see “Play Card (Event)”, pg 10).
• If your Raiders event is already in the event queue, advance it 1 space forward. If it is already on 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 put your Raiders card back in your play area.

Strategy Tip: Raiders are one of your core damage dealers! They can damage camps even when they are protected.

GAME END

You win immediately when all your opponent’s camps are destroyed.

If the deck runs out during the game, shuffle the discard pile to form a new deck. If the deck runs out a second time, the game ends in a draw.

GENERAL F.A.Q.

• / / : On their own, these icons can only hit unprotected cards. However, cards that say any, all, or one of, ignore protection, and follow their own rules.
• Enemy: Your opponent’s people, not their camps.
• No Dumpster Diving: You may examine cards your opponent discards during their turn. You may not look through the discard pile to determine if a card was played in a previous turn.
• No Friendly Fire: You cannot use / / or other negative abilities/effects on your own cards, unless they specify that you must. You also cannot your opponent’s cards.
• No Hand Limit: There is no hand size limit.
• No Peeking: Players cannot look at what card is on the other side of punks.

CAMPS F.A.Q.

• Adrenaline Lab: This includes damaged people who entered play this turn, such as Wounded Soldier, and people who are damaged and have used their ability. You must pay the water cost of the person’s ability. If Adrenaline Lab is using the ability of a person that says “damage this card” for example, “this” refers to the person being activated.
• Arcade: Punks are people too.
• Blood Bank: You need a person to use this ability.
• Cannon: If destroys your last camp, you lose immediately before the Cannon ability completes.
• Catapult: You need a person to use this ability.
• Command Post: This can cost as little as 0 .
• Construction Yard: The flipped camp is undamaged and ready.
• Juggernaut: If Juggernaut has advanced once, you can play a person in front of and/or behind it. A person behind Juggernaut is protected and can’t be hit by or , just the same as if they were behind a person. A new person added to this column can push an existing person to the other side of Juggernaut. When Juggernaut is destroyed, place it facedown in your camp row (moving any people in front).
• Labor Camp: You need a person to use this ability.
• Mercenary Camp: The opponent chooses. They can’t choose to discard 2 cards unless they have 2 or more cards in hand.
• Mulcher: You need a person to use this ability.
• Nest of Spies: This means any 2 people, including punks.
• Omen Clock: You may only advance an event if there is an empty space in the event queue in front of the event. You may advance opponent’s events. An opponent’s event that is activated by Omen Clock is still their event.
• Parachute Base: You must pay the water cost to play the person, and the water cost of its ability.
• Training Camp: The person goes into play in exactly the same place. Cards with a “when this enters play” [ trait ] (like Vanguard, Argo Yesky, Wounded Soldier), perform that effect immediately. This person does count for Nest of Spies or Transplant Lab.
• Transplant Lab: This means any 2 people, including punks.
• Watchtower: Raiders, and events both count.

PEOPLE F.A.Q.

• Argo Yesky: If Argo is damaged but then restored, his trait is in effect once again. Punks gain Argo’s ability. As punks now have an ability, they should be marked as not ready when entering play.
• Cult Leader: The Cult Leader can destroy himself.
• Doomsayer: If there is no room to move an event back, it does not move. If you can’t move any of the opponent’s events back, you may still play Doomsayer.
• Karli Blaze: Karli’s [ trait ] takes effect when she enters play or is restored. Karli’s ability is ready when she is played, but not when she is restored. If combined with Training Camp, people flipped this turn can use their abilities.
• Mimic: You must pay the water cost of the chosen ability. If Mimic is copying a card whose ability says “damage this card” for example, “this” refers to the Mimic.
• Molgur Stang: ”Any” means any of your opponent’s camps, even if protected.
• Punk: If an effect causes you to put a Punk from one of your columns into your hand, it becomes a normal faceup card.
• Rescue Team: Rescue Team can return itself. Returned cards do not “remember” their previous situation if they are returned to play. Any card returned (including Punks) becomes a regular, faceup card in your hand.
• Vanguard: The opponent’s damage happens immediately (during your turn) and follows all normal rules. If your damage destroys the opponent’s last camp, you win before they get to do theirs.
• Vera Vosh: If Vera’s [ trait ] becomes active after an ability has already been used, it does not allow that ability to be used again. Vera’s [ trait ] benefits herself, people, and camps.
• Zeto Khan: This has no effect on events already in your queue. This does give Raiders .

EVENTS F.A.Q.

• Bombardment: As usual, camps already damaged will be destroyed.
• High Ground: You can rearrange people back into the same positions.
• Radiation: “All people” is all people currently in play, which includes your own people.
• Raiders: See “Raid”, pg 9. You can resolve the raid icon () more than once per turn. Raiders will move up on the event queue each turn, just like any other event.
• Truce: Returned cards do not “remember” their previous situation if they are returned to play. Any card returned (including Punks) becomes a regular, faceup card in your hand.
• Uprising: If this causes you to have more than six people, you do not gain the extra punks.

USING THE OFFICIAL PLAYMAT

When using the playmat, set up and play the game as normal, with the following exceptions:

• At the end of each turn, place 3 water discs in the water supply channel for use next turn A.
• When you perform your take Water Silo action, place the water spent in the Water Silo space B.
• When performing a draw card action, stack the water you spend in the draw card space C.
• Stack any water discarded for 0-time events, or from the top of discarded cards, in the water discard space D.
• At the end of each turn, place 3 extra water discs in the extra water space E.

GET YOUR PLAYMATS: ROXLEY.COM/HAZMAT

What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow
Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man,
You cannot say, or guess, for you know only
A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,
And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief,
And the dry stone no sound of water. Only
There is shadow under this red rock,
(Come in under the shadow of this red rock),
And I will show you something different from either
Your shadow at morning striding behind you
Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;
I will show you fear in a handful of dust.

– from The Waste Land, by T.S. Eliot

RADLANDS

DANIEL PIECHNICK

Learn to play video: ROXLEY.COM/RADLANDS

CREDITS

Game Design: Daniel Piechnick
Development: Matt Tolman, Gavan Brown, Adam Wyse
Art: Manny Trembley, Damien Mammoliti, Mr. Cuddington
Graphic Design: Gavan Brown, Gui Landgraf
Rulebook: Adam Wyse, Gui Landgraf
Box Design: Black Thumb Creations
Playtesting: Tony Miller, Matt Tolman, Gavan Brown, Adam Wyse, Paul Saxberg, Carlyn McGeean, Kashton Brown, Malachi Brown, Zephan Brown, Paula Hakkola, Chelsea Birch-Wyse, Jonathan Rawlings, John Heidrich, Amy Hills, Bruno Steppuhn, Duncan Hecht, Gary Gin, Jasen Robillard, Jason D Kingsley, Jenny Wilson, Jenny Zhao, Joel Smart, Justin Bird, Ken Franklin, Kevin Gordon, Kori Joyce, Leanne Hine & Stuart Raven, Nick Angiers, Richard Bruce, Rick May, Rick Moffat, Scott Akkermans, Tyler Lipchen, Michael Cox, Morgan Cox, Glenda Cox, and Zaak Robichaud

RULES OF PLAY V1.15

This rulebook is a living document.
Download the latest version at: roxley.com/radlands-rulebook

ROXLEY

Copyright Roxley 2021. All rights reserved worldwide.

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