Your first game · two players · one round, step by step
Let's get you started on a game of Exile.
Haven't purchased the packs or the set yet? Click here to learn how you can do that.
You have a pack in front of you and a friend across the table. Nothing is printed in the box but the cards. This page is the rules. It plays one whole first round with you and stops where round two begins, because from there every round repeats the same motions. Read it aloud and do what it says.
Open the box
Tip the cards out. Sort them by the colour of their frame. Four stacks.
Kira
Roach
2 + 8 cards · yellow frames
Two Exiles and their loadouts
The two fighters, Kira Vance and Roach. Each brings four loadout cards in the same yellow. Decide now which of you plays which Exile. This page calls each player by their Exile.
6 Mantras · red frames
The Mantras and the cards they grant
Two of Tier I, two of Tier II, two of Tier III. Each has a red card of its own under it: the New Move it teaches or the New Gear it brings.
In a first game each Exile takes the three written for them, one per Tier. Later you will pick them in turns.
18 Gear cards · blue frames
The Gear of the Room
Weapons and kit lying around the Room. Shared by both players. Nobody owns a Gear card until they take it.
16 Stamina cards · sepia plates
The Stamina cards
Eight history plates of each Exile, all on the game back. Each player lays out any 8, one for each Stamina their Exile has. The other twelve belong to the Room: they are shuffled into the Environment Deck with the Gear, and whoever takes one has one more Stamina for the rest of the game.
KiraKira takes
Tier I Alleyway Ghost
grants no card
Tier I Apex Predator of the Caldera
grants no card
Tier I Disarm the World
grants no card
Tier I Echoes of the Dojo
grants no card
Tier I Feral Escalation
grants no card
Tier I Inheritance of the Secret Heir
grants no card
Tier I Militia Standard
grants no card
Tier I No One Strikes Twice
grants no card
Tier I Orson's Legacy
grants no card
Tier I Outlast Everything
grants no card
Tier I Pain is Weakness
grants no card
Tier I Phantom Vengeance
grants no card
Tier I Read Like a Ledger
grants no card
Tier I Rules of Engagement
grants no card
Tier I Sewer Scavenger
grants no card
Tier I Shattered Reflection
grants no card
Tier I Smuggler's Cunning
grants no card
Tier I Taiho-Jutsu
grants no card
Tier I Terminal Discipline
grants no card
Tier I The Algorithm Broken
grants no card
Tier I The Ash Finch Flies
grants no card
Tier I The Final Order
grants no card
Tier I The Jackal's Bite
grants no card
Tier I The Lowered Weapon
grants no card
Tier I The Monster Unleashed
grants no card
Tier I The Stare Down
grants no card
Tier I The Wound That Feeds
grants no card
Tier I Trench Warfare
grants no card
Tier I Warlord's Brutality
grants no card
Tier I Whiteout Navigation
grants no card
RoachRoach takes
Tier I Alleyway Ghost
grants no card
Tier I Apex Predator of the Caldera
grants no card
Tier I Disarm the World
grants no card
Tier I Echoes of the Dojo
grants no card
Tier I Feral Escalation
grants no card
Tier I Inheritance of the Secret Heir
grants no card
Tier I Militia Standard
grants no card
Tier I No One Strikes Twice
grants no card
Tier I Orson's Legacy
grants no card
Tier I Outlast Everything
grants no card
Tier I Pain is Weakness
grants no card
Tier I Phantom Vengeance
grants no card
Tier I Read Like a Ledger
grants no card
Tier I Rules of Engagement
grants no card
Tier I Sewer Scavenger
grants no card
Tier I Shattered Reflection
grants no card
Tier I Smuggler's Cunning
grants no card
Tier I Taiho-Jutsu
grants no card
Tier I Terminal Discipline
grants no card
Tier I The Algorithm Broken
grants no card
Tier I The Ash Finch Flies
grants no card
Tier I The Final Order
grants no card
Tier I The Jackal's Bite
grants no card
Tier I The Lowered Weapon
grants no card
Tier I The Monster Unleashed
grants no card
Tier I The Stare Down
grants no card
Tier I The Wound That Feeds
grants no card
Tier I Trench Warfare
grants no card
Tier I Warlord's Brutality
grants no card
Tier I Whiteout Navigation
grants no card
Open the Health tracker
Everything in the game is tracked with cards, except Health. One phone laid between you does that.
- 1Open the Health tracker in the browser of a phone, or install the app from the App Store or Google Play. The web version works offline once loaded.
- 2The first screen asks whether you are new to the game. Choose I know how to play. This page is your tutorial.
- 3Each player picks their own Exile in their own half of the screen, under Pick your Exile: Kira on one half, Roach on the other.
- 4A katana spins on the centre line. Whoever it points at when it rests takes the first turn. The first spin stands. The walkthrough assumes it pointed at Roach. If it pointed at Kira, swap the two names below. Tap the button on the centre line to start the fight.
- 5Each half shows its Exile, a gold HEALTH box, a minus and a plus. Kira starts at 30, Roach starts at 37, read straight from the Exile cards.
For later. Tap minus once per point of Health lost. Quick taps add up into one entry, shown as a gold tally ("2 damage"). An Undo chip stays for a few seconds. History lists every entry, so a disputed number can always be rebuilt.
On the tracker
KiraKira
no tap
RoachRoach
no tap
Set up the table
Sit across from each other, the phone between you. Scroll: the table builds itself, one piece at a time.
Roach across the table, Kira on your side
- Put your Exile face-up in front of you. The space to its right is your Momentum Zone, the space to its left your Inertia Zone. Both start empty.
- Lay your three Mantras face-down in a row nearest you, on the right, Tier I, II, III from left to right. Tuck each Mantra's New Move face-down under it. Do not read them yet.
- Take your four loadout cards into your hand. Nobody else sees your hand.
- Each of you takes any of the box's sixteen Stamina cards and stands them upright left of the Mantras, under your Exile, one per Stamina your Exile has: 8 for Kira, 8 for Roach. Upright, you have it. Turned sideways, tapped, you spent it.
- Together: shuffle the twenty blue Gear cards and the twelve Stamina cards nobody laid out into one face-down deck. This is the Environment Deck. Nobody looks at it. Nobody takes a card from it.
- Turn its top five cards face-up in the middle. This is the Room: everything lying there is up for grabs. If none of the five is a Stamina card, shuffle them back and turn five fresh, until one is. Right of the Room is the Combat Zone; destroyed cards pile up at the left end of the row.
- Lay the phone with the Health tracker at the end of the middle row, Roach at 37 Health and Kira at 30. The katana on it has already picked the first player.
Read your cards
Every card tells you what it costs, what it does and when you may play it. Scroll through each Exile's starting hand.
Kira Vance
- Kira Vance. 30 Health, the number the tracker starts at. 8 Stamina to spend every round. A Passive that is always on: Your unblocked attacks deal +1 Damage.
Roach
- Roach. 37 Health, the number the tracker starts at. 8 Stamina to spend every round. A Passive that is always on: Your overpaid attacks with the Overcommit keyword deal +1 Damage.
Round one begins
A round has two phases. Phase 1 is bookkeeping for both players; round one skips it. Phase 2 is the fight: the players take turns, one action each.
Roach across the table, Kira Vance on your side
- Round one skips Phase 1. Every Stamina card is already upright, the Room holds the five cards of the setup and both hands hold four. Play starts at once with Phase 2: the players take turns, one action each.
- The tracker's katana pointed at Roach, so Roach takes the first turn. From round two on, the first turn goes to the player who did not take the last action of the round before.
The first turn: Roach takes Stamina and bluffs an attack
A free card from the Room, refilled at once from the Environment, then the action: an attack is a card face-down in the Combat Zone and a declared cost. The defender may block, or take the hit; then the Reveal, where an under-declared attack fizzles, then the React step. A what-if shows the block.
Roach across the table, Kira Vance on your side
- At the start of your first turn each round you take one Room card, free, or make a Transition, which deals a new Room at 1 HP to each player. Roach takes The Iron Graveyard, a Stamina card: it joins his Stamina tapped and stays there for good. From the next round on he has 3 Stamina.
- Every card taken from the Room is replaced at once by the top card of the Environment Deck, face-up. The Room holds five again; this time it is the Sawn-Off Double-Barrel.
- Roach's action: an attack. He puts a card face-down on his side of the Combat Zone and taps 2 Stamina, all he has. Kira sees the cost, not the card. It is the Ferro Switchblade, a cost 1 card: he paid 1 more than it costs, a legal bluff (never less).
- Kira may block with one or more cards from her hand, paying their costs, on her side of the Combat Zone (their Blocks add up). She reads the 2: it could be a strong attack. She keeps her two Stamina for her own turn and takes the hit.
- Reveal. The Switchblade turns face-up. The Reveal is also the check: had Roach declared less than the card's cost, the attack would fizzle: the card to his Inertia Zone, the Stamina paid still spent, any block returned to Kira with its Stamina, Roach spent for the round, and the turn hers.
- Now comes the React step, the defender first: each player in turn may play a Tactical card with Reaction, face-up, or pass. Kira's Guard-Breaking Kick is a Reaction, but it would take both her Stamina; she keeps them for her own turn and passes, and Roach passes.
- The math: 1 Damage minus 0 Block is 1 Health lost. Kira taps minus once on her half of the tracker: 30 to 29.
- The attack was successful, so the Switchblade goes to Roach's Momentum Zone, untapped. A Momentum card is Stamina too: while it stays there it can be tapped to pay any cost, like a Stamina card. Successes pile up there; the player with fewer may unlock a Mantra. (Its Conceal would let him take it back and put another card of his hand there instead; he leaves it.)
- What if Kira had blocked? She lays the Doctrine Katana face-up in the Combat Zone and pays its block cost, 1. The math: 1 Damage minus 2 Block is 0 Net Damage, so the block is successful. The Katana goes to Kira's Momentum Zone, untapped. The unsuccessful Switchblade goes to Roach's Inertia Zone, which holds his cards until the next Reload. The Switchblade is not Quick, so the successful block takes the turn: Kira acts next. Its Piercing Attack 1 still costs her 1 Health, even blocked. In this game she took the hit; back to the real table.
The second turn: Roach's Slow attack
A success waits untapped in the Momentum Zone: one more Stamina for the round. Overcommit adds what was overpaid; a Slow card makes its player spent.
Roach across the table, Kira Vance on your side
- Back to the game: Kira took the hit. A successful attack gives its player another turn (a Quick attack gets one even when it is blocked). Roach's Stamina cards are all tapped, but the Switchblade stands untapped in his Momentum Zone: 1 Stamina. He puts the Double-Leg Slam face-down and taps the Switchblade: declared at 1.
- A declared 1 looks cheap. Kira keeps her two Stamina for her own turn and takes the hit again.
- Reveal. The Double-Leg Slam costs 0, so Roach overpaid by 1. Both pass in the React step. Its Overcommit 2 adds the overpaid Stamina to its Damage, up to 2: +1. Roach's Passive adds 1 to an overpaid Overcommit attack. 1 Damage + 1 + 1 minus 0 Block is 3 Health lost: Kira 29 to 26.
- Successful: the Slam goes to his Momentum Zone, untapped. But it is Slow: once it has resolved Roach is spent, even after a successful attack, with no turn, block or Reaction for the rest of the round, even with the Slam standing untapped.
The third turn: Kira's Quick attack on a spent opponent
A spent player is out: no turn, no block, no Reaction. A Quick attack gives its player the next turn, and a successful Stunning Attack makes the next attack unblockable.
Roach across the table, Kira Vance on your side
- Roach is spent; Kira goes on until she is out too. Her first turn of the round starts with her free take. Every Gear card in this Room carries a Tier, and no Mantra is unlocked yet, so none of them could be played this round. She takes The Road Home, a Stamina card: tapped for now, a third Stamina for her from the next round on. The First Broadcast, from the top of the Environment Deck, takes its place.
- Roach cannot block, so there is nothing to bluff: Kira plays the Doctrine Katana face-up, at its cost of 2, tapping both her Stamina cards.
- 2 Damage minus 0 Block, plus 1 from Kira's Passive on an unblocked attack: 3. Roach taps minus three times: 37 to 34.
- Successful: the Katana goes to Kira's Momentum Zone, untapped, one Stamina for her. It is Quick, so Kira takes the next turn. It is also a Stunning Attack: the attack she plays as that turn's action is unblockable.
The fourth turn: Kira presses on and ends the round
Cascading Attack counts every card in the Momentum Zone. A Deployed card stays on its Exile. A Yield taps 1 Stamina and keeps your turns; an End is free, but it makes you spent for the round. With both players out, the round ends.
Roach across the table, Kira Vance on your side
- Her action: the Closing Knife-Hand, face-up (an unblockable attack is never a bluff), paid by tapping the Katana in her Momentum Zone. Roach is spent, so he cannot block, even with the Slam still untapped.
- 1 Damage. Its Cascading Attack adds 1 for each card in her Momentum Zone, tapped or not: the Katana, +1. Kira's Passive adds 1 to an unblocked attack: 3. Roach: 34 to 31.
- Successful: the Knife-Hand goes to Kira's Momentum Zone, untapped: her one Stamina now. The Knife-Hand is not Quick, but a successful attack keeps the turn: Kira takes the next one.
- She taps the Knife-Hand for the Compression Fight Sleeves, a Tactical card, cost 1. It is Deployed: it stays on her Exile card, its Passive working from now on. It is not Quick, so the turn passes, but Roach is spent: Kira goes on.
- Kira has no Stamina left. Her last card, the Guard-Breaking Kick, costs 2, and a Yield taps 1 Stamina. With none, a player may still take an action that costs nothing, or must End. She ends: free, and she is spent, with no turn, block or Reaction for the rest of the round.
- With both players out, the round ends. Kira 26, Roach 31. Every Stamina card is tapped, and so are Kira's two Momentum cards; Roach's Slam still stands untapped, Stamina he could not use once spent. Nothing carries over to the next round.
Round two
The player who did not take the last action starts. Phase 1 refreshes the Stamina and reloads the hands. The first-turn take comes first. A player behind on Momentum cards may spend an action on an Unlock. Then the fight is yours.
Roach across the table, Kira Vance on your side
- Kira took the last action of round one, her Compression Fight Sleeves (a Yield or an End does not count), so Roach has the first turn of round two. Round two starts with Phase 1.
- Phase 1, Refresh. Every Stamina card stands up again: three for Roach now, with The Iron Graveyard, and three for Kira, with The Road Home. Nothing carries over; a round's Stamina is spent in that round or lost. The Room was refilled after every take, so it still holds five.
- Reload. Momentum and Inertia empty back into the hands: the Switchblade and the Slam to Roach, the Katana and the Knife-Hand to Kira. The Sleeves stay Deployed on her Exile. The hand limit is five cards, at all times. Roach holds four and Kira three, so nothing is given up. Whenever a hand goes over five, its player gives up cards at once: a Gear card is dropped onto the Room and a Move is destroyed. The Room never holds more than five: a card dropped into a full Room pushes out the card nearest the Environment Deck, the oldest, which is destroyed.
- Phase 2. Roach's first turn: his free take, the Sawn-Off Double-Barrel, and the Spike Maul fills its place. The Sawn-Off is Tier II, so it waits in his hand, counting toward the limit, until he unlocks his Tier II Mantra. Then his action: he yields, tapping 1 Stamina. He keeps his turns.
- Kira's first turn. Her first-turn choice is not optional: she takes a Room card or makes a Transition. She takes The First Broadcast, a Stamina card: tapped for now, a fourth Stamina for her from the next round on. The Buckle Push Dagger fills its place.
- Nobody may unlock a Mantra yet. The Unlock is an action, read from the Momentum Zones as they stand, and the Reload emptied both. Once a player lands a success this round, the other is behind; with fewer Momentum cards than the opponent, a turn's action may be the Unlock: as many Stamina tapped as the Mantra's Tier (1, 2 or 3), the Mantra of their choice flips face-up for good, its New Move or New Gear comes to hand, and every card of its Tier becomes playable: Roach's Sawn-Off the moment his Tier II Mantra turns. No card is destroyed, and like a Slow card it leaves its player spent for the round.
- The game ends when an Exile's Health falls below 1. If the Environment Deck ever runs so low that the Room holds no card at all, it ends at once as a draw. Your table looks like this one. Play on from here.
Continue from where you are.
Your table looks like the one above. Kira has taken her card; her action comes next: an attack, a Tactical card, a Yield or an End. Play the round out as round one went; when you block, count it as in the what-if of Roach's first attack: Block subtracted at the Math, a successful block to your Momentum Zone and the next turn to you unless the attack was Quick, an unsuccessful card to Inertia unless its keyword sends it elsewhere. When a card's word is new to you, the keywords page explains it; the rulebook settles everything else.