Vindication rules: how to play and how to score

Vindication quick rules

The goal

You add companions to your party, attain traits and relics, defeat monsters and control regions. Honor is gained mostly during the game, on the scoring track, and a few bonuses are added at the end. The most honor wins.

Your turn

You take three actions, once each and in any order: activate your character or a companion, move at least one space, then visit an adjacent region or rest. Bonus actions can be taken at any time on your turn: convert, gain a proficiency, control a region, recover influence, vindicate yourself.

The power board

Your blocks sit in three spheres: potential, influence and conviction. Augmenting your power moves a block to the right, from potential to influence or from influence to conviction. Any block returned to your power board goes into influence.

Activating and gaining attributes

Your character, for free, gives one inspiration, knowledge or strength. A companion costs one influence block placed on its card: it gives its attributes and its ability for this turn. An attribute is a block placed in its circle on the main board.

Converting

Two different common attributes make one heroic attribute: inspiration and strength, courage; inspiration and knowledge, wisdom; knowledge and strength, vision. As often as you like on your turn, never in reverse.

Moving and discovering the island

You move on the triangular spaces, up to your speed (two at the start), without stopping on another player. Each open space you discover gets a region tile drawn from the bag. At a command post, three strength upgrade your mount, once per turn.

Visiting a region

The holy spire, library and fort give two inspiration, knowledge or strength. The inn adds a companion for two attributes of its color. The monastery and shrine can be repeated. If you visit nothing, you may rest and augment one power.

Traits, relics and monsters

Two wisdom at the Ancient Tomb attain a trait, two vision at the Arcane Tower acquire a relic, two courage at the Gaping Maw face a monster. Your champion, the companion with the lowest initiative, always wins, but the black die may bring fatigue or death. A card’s honor is gained immediately.

Controlling a region

When you visit a region, you may gain control of it: one conviction if uncontrolled, two if a rival holds it. It scores two honor right away, two each time a rival visits, and two at the end. You may not control one region and visit another on the same turn.

Proficiency, mastery and vindication

Three of one attribute buy its proficiency tile, once per turn; it counts as two cards of its color. With no potential left and at least twenty-five honor, you vindicate yourself, gain five honor, and your character gives two attributes.

End of the game

Two end-game trigger cards are active from the start, and each trigger token reached on the scoring track activates another. As soon as one is met, finish the current round, then play one final full round.

Beginner traps

Recovering a companion’s influence removes it from the game along with its honor. A lost card takes its positive honor. A companion’s ability only works on the turn you activate it. Visiting your own region earns nothing.

How to score Vindication

Honor on the track

The space of your scoring disc after the final round. All honor gained during the game is already there, including the five honor for vindication.

Mastery tiles

The honor printed on each tile you win: you must be the single player with the most cards and proficiencies of its color. On a tie, nobody gets it.

End-game bonuses on cards

The end-game bonuses on your monsters and other cards.

Secret quests

The honor for each completed quest; an incomplete quest costs nothing.

Regions controlled

Two honor for each region you control at the end.

Expansions

Leaders and Alliances: the monument variant doubles some regions. Chronicles: the character sheet and dark agents. Villages and Hamlets: villages and hamlets controlled. Odyssey: the honor of companions not back is subtracted.

Tiebreaker

Most conviction, then least potential, then fewest end-game trigger tokens.

Worked example

Emma ends at 71 on the track. She alone wins vision mastery (7), her monsters give 4, one completed quest 5, and she controls 3 regions (6): 93. Jake ends at 75, with no mastery, 2 in card bonuses, both his quests (2 and 5) and 2 regions (4): 88. Emma wins.

Common mistakes

• Adding the five vindication honor a second time: they are already on the track.
• Giving a mastery tile to two tied players: nobody gets it.
• Forgetting that a proficiency tile counts as two cards for mastery.
• Counting treachery or loot cards toward mastery: they don’t count.

How to set up Vindication

Setup comes in three parts: the board, the cards, then each player with their journey card. Expansion steps come last.