Rounds of Play

Factions is played in rounds. Each round is broken into 2 turns. Skyhawks (white) take their turn first, followed by Psiclones (black). Skyhawks is the active team during their team’s turn while Psiclones is the inactive team. Psiclones then take their turn.

In each turn, take the following steps.

Free Step

During Free, only the ACTIVE team can:

- Trade loot between heroes (p. 11).

- Pick up loot off the ground (p. 11).

- Use special abilities tagged as Free (p. 22).

Action Step

Only for the ACTIVE team.

Each hero on the active team takes one action. You choose the order in which the heroes take their actions.

Don’t wait for your teammates to finish. Take your actions at the same time.

- Move the hero (p. 9).

- Slip Away: Trade places with an enemy and move a small distance (p. 9).

- Shoot a ranged weapon (p. 19).

- Unleash one minion (p. 23).

Reaction Step

Only the INACTIVE team acts during the Reaction step.

Each hero on the inactive team can take one reaction, in any order.

- Shoot a ranged weapon (p. 19).

- Use special abilities that are tagged as used during Reaction (p. 22).

Melee Step

During Melee, each hero from BOTH teams can make one melee attack against one adjacent enemy (p. 18).

Adventure Step

Each ACTIVE team’s hero that is now standing on an adventure space may challenge that adventure (p. 14).

Reinforce Step

All heroes start the game off map. They enter during Reinforce.

During Reinforce, the ACTIVE team selects 1/3 (rounded up) of their heroes and brings those into the game by dismissing them, one by one. Choose a hero and then draw a challenge card. See the Dismissal rules to the right.

So, when playing with six heroes per team, bring on two heroes in round 1, two in 2, and two in 3.

With eight heroes per team, bring on three heroes in round 1, three in 2, and two in 3.

With nine, it is three in rounds 1, 2, and 3.

So, after three turns, all of a team’s heroes have entered the map.

Round 1 is short. With no heroes yet on the map, the only step taken by each team is Reinforce.

Mark Round

When Psiclones (black) finishes their turn, move the turn marker on the defeat board to the next round.

Interstep Events

Some special abilities happen between steps. These are labeled with start of or end of. Consider these tiny steps of their own.

For example, “End of Free” occurs once the Free step is complete.

If multiple interstep events occur at the same time, the active team determines the order in which they are resolved.

End of Game

The game ends when the round marker is on the chosen number of rounds, and team black finishes their turn.