Invader
The Invaders have begun to colonize your Island! While not specifically aiming to exterminate you, their colonization and “taming” of the land has upset the natural balance. The goal of the game is to drive off the Invaders by meeting the victory conditions of the current Terror Level. As more Invaders learn to Fear you, the victory conditions will get easier!
Invaders in a land do not automatically harm Spirit Presence 
or Dahan there. Invaders harm things only when Ravaging. Each type of Invader has a specified Health. To destroy an Invader, you must deal Damage that meets or exceeds its Health in one turn. Some effects also destroy Invaders regardless of Damage or Health.
There are three types of Invaders: Explorers 
, Towns 
, and Cities 
. A land containing any number of these is “a land with Invaders”. The number of Invaders is not limited by the supply of pieces; in the unlikely case that you run out, use Energy Markers 
as “1 more / 3 more of this piece” markers.
Destroying Towns and Cities affects the Invaders’ morale. Whenever a Town is destroyed, it generates 1 Fear. Whenever a City is destroyed, it generates 2 Fear.
Explorer
 |
|
| Comes From | Spirit Island (Base Game) |
| Health | 1 |
| Damage | 1 |
| Destroyed | 0 Fear 
|
| Affected By | Badlands  , Isolate  , Strife  , Wilds 
|
Explorers represent Invaders willing to travel into uncharted wilderness: mapping expeditions, the very boldest homesteaders, etc. They have 1 Health and deal 1 Damage during Ravage. Explorers are not themselves a source when Invaders Explore.
Town
 |
|
| Comes From | Spirit Island (Base Game) |
| Health | 2 |
| Damage | 2 |
| Destroyed | 1 Fear
|
| Affected By | Badlands , Disease  , Isolate, Strife
|
Towns represent homesteads and small frontier settlements. They have 2 Health and deal 2 Damage during Ravage. Towns act as a source of Explorers when Invaders Explore.
City
 |
|
| Comes From | Spirit Island (Base Game) |
| Health | 3 |
| Damage | 3 |
| Destroyed | 2 Fear
|
| Affected By | Badlands , Disease , Isolate, Strife
|
Cities are the largest and most pernicious type of Invader piece. They have 3 Health and deal 3 Damage during Ravage. Cities act as a source of Explorers when Invaders Explore.
Tracking Damage
Town and City models are designed to help you track how much Damage will destroy them.
CITIES: 3 Health
|
Cities take 3 Damage to destroy. You can remember this by counting the number of individual buildings on the model’s base (3) as it stands upright. |
 |
This City has taken 1 Damage (2 more will destroy it). It has been laid on its side with 2 buildings facing up. |
 |
This City has taken 2 Damage (1 more will destroy it). It has been laid on its side with 1 building facing up. |
When a piece has taken Damage equal to or exceeding its Health, it is destroyed. Return it to the supply, and earn appropriate Fear (1 Fear for a Town or 2 Fear for a City). At the end of each turn, when Time Passes, Damage clears and all models are reset.
Invader Phase
The Invader Phase has the following parts:
- Blighted Island (once appropriate)
- Fear
- Invader Actions
- Ravage
- Build
- Explore
- Advance Invader Cards
1. Blighted Island
If the Blight Card has flipped to ‘Blighted Island’ follow the instructions there. If you have trouble remembering to do this, put a Blight from the box onto the Fear Space as a reminder.
Event
Draw and resolve one Event Card (except the first turn).
In the Core Game, the Invaders are perfectly predictable, save for what lands they will next be interested in. But in truth, all living things - the Invaders, the Dahan, and Beasts of the wild - sometimes act in unanticipated ways. To represent this, Events occur during each Invader Phase, after any Blighted Island effect and before resolving any Earned Fear Cards.
2. Fear
If any Fear Cards have been earned (see Fear and Terror, page 12), pick up the whole facedown stack, flip it over and resolve the cards one at a time in the order they were earned. Then discard them to the Fear Discard Space on the board. Use only the effect listed next to the current Terror Level. This could be higher than when the card was earned. Fear effects last only for the current turn.
3. Invader Actions
The Invader Board has three Action Spaces: Ravage, Build, and Explore. The Invader Card in an Action Space determines which lands will be affected by that Action. (If there is no Invader Card in a space, no action is taken.)
3a. Ravage Look at the Invader Card in the Ravage Action Space on the Invader Board (if any): the Invaders Ravage in each land of the shown type only. First, Invaders deal Damage to the land and Dahan. Then, any surviving Dahan fight back.
Wherever there are Invaders in the shown lands, Invaders deal Damage: 1 per Explorer, 2 per Town, and 3 per City. Reduce the total Damage by any Defend powers played (page 18), then simultaneously:
- Invaders Damage the Land: If 2 or more Damage is dealt, add a Blight to the land. (See sidebar.) This only happens once, no matter how much Damage is dealt. Partial Damage to the land is ignored.
- Invaders Fight the Dahan: Every 2 points of Damage destroys one Dahan. You must destroy Dahan as efficiently as possible; you cannot disperse Damage among multiple Dahan to avoid killing them. If a Dahan is dealt 1 Damage, turn it over to show that it is Damaged. Any surviving Damaged Dahan will recover at the end of the turn.
After Invader Damage has been fully resolved in a land, any surviving Dahan there fight back. Each Dahan deals 2 Damage to the Invaders. (See page 15 for Invaders’ Health.) The Dahan will fight back even if the Ravaging Invaders deal no Damage (for example, due to Defend Powers), but not if the Ravage Action has been skipped or stopped from happening altogether.
Spirit Presence does not fight back as Invaders do not directly attack the Spirits.
3b. Build Look at the Invader Card in the Build Action Space on the Invader Board: the Invaders Build in each land of the shown type only.
Wherever there are Invaders in the specified type of land, they add either one City or one Town:
- If the land has more Towns than Cities, add a City. (You are not upgrading the Towns, you are adding a new City from the supply.)
- In all other cases, add a Town.
Do not Build in lands without Invaders.
3c. Explore Turn the top card of the Invader Deck face-up. Invaders Explore in accessible lands of the shown type only, venturing forth from Towns and Cities or approaching from the Ocean. If the card has a flag icon and you are playing with an Adversary, first perform the Escalation effect (see sidebar). If there is no card to turn up, time has run out and you lose.
Add an Explorer to every land of the shown type which either:
- Contains a Town or City; or
- Is adjacent to a Town, City, or Ocean.
No matter how many sources are in or adjacent to an Explored land, you only add one Explorer. Explorers are added directly from the supply, not moved around on the board.
4. Advance Invader Cards
After Explore, slide all of the Invader Cards left: Move the Ravage Card to the discard, the Build Card to the Ravage Space, and the Explore Card to the Build Space, so that next turn they will Ravage where they Built this turn and Build where they Explored this turn.
Upgrade & Downgrade
To Upgrade an Invader is to Replace it with the next-largest type: becomes , becomes . can’t be upgraded unless an effect explicitly describes what upgrading a means in that context.
To Downgrade an Invader is to Replace it with the next-smaller type: becomes , becomes . Downgrading an Removes it.
Upgrade and downgrade follow all of the normal rules for replacing an Invader (or removing an Invader, in the case of downgrading an Explorer).
Nothing is added, since the piece is just changing its type. It keeps any attached and all Damage taken, which may cause it to be destroyed
immediately if that Damage equals its new Health.[1]
FAQ
FAQ Invaders
https://querki.net/u/darker/spirit-island-faq/#!Invaders
Definitions
What's the difference between an Invader and an Explorer (the stick figure)?
Explorer refers only to that type of piece, represented both on cards and on the board by a figure of a person.
Invader is a generic term, referring to any of the types of pieces representing the settlers, i.e., an Explorer (stick figure), Town (two buildings), or City (three buildings).
If a rule tells you to do something to an 'Invader', like on Level 3 of the Fear card Isolation, it refers to any one of the three types. If it tells you to count Invaders (like on that same Fear card), it is counting any of the three types equally.
There is no icon referring to a generic Invader, it is always written out as a word.
You're counting pieces. "Invader" in the Glossary is defined as "A City, Town, or Explorer", so a land with three Towns and a City has four Invaders in it. (A few effects instead key off of "N Health worth of Invaders", and in those cases Towns and Cities generally count for 2 and 3, respectively.)
Similarly if checking if Dahan "outnumber" Invaders, you are counting physical pieces.
Yes. "An Invader" may refer to an Explorer, Town, or City. (p. 30) Some Fear Cards remove Invaders based on Health rather than quantity. Those consider all modifiers to current Health (from, eg, England Lvl 5, or an Event/Fear card) - but not Damage, as Damage does not reduce Health. (Health is simply how much Damage it takes to destroy something.)
Are Invader components unlimited?
Yes. Invaders are not limited by the number of figures provided with the game. If you run out of figures, you can mark multiples by putting the Invaders on top of Energy tokens (Invaders, p. 15) You can use 1s instead of 3s if that's more convenient to your board situation.
Invader Actions
Does a damaged Invader or damage Dahan deal less damage than normal?
No. The damage a piece deals doesn't depend on how much damage it has taken - it's 1 per Explorer, 2 per Town, 3 per City, and 2 per Dahan, unless explicitly modified. (Rulebook, p. 9)
No. When resolving any Invader Card, first you note which lands are affected, then you resolve all of them - in an order of your choice, if relevant.
This is also true for Ravage and Build.
Spirits and Innate Powers
Yes, yes, and yes. As usual, if Strife is used, remove 1 Strife. Grinning Trickster Stirs Up Trouble - Why Don't You And Them Fight?
FAQ Explorers
https://querki.net/u/darker/spirit-island-faq/#!Explorer
Definitions
What's the difference between an Invader and an Explorer (the stick figure)?
Explorer refers only to that type of piece, represented both on cards and on the board by a figure of a person.
Invader is a generic term, referring to any of the types of pieces representing the settlers, i.e., an Explorer (stick figure), Town (two buildings), or City (three buildings).
If a rule tells you to do something to an 'Invader', like on Level 3 of the Fear card Isolation, it refers to any one of the three types. If it tells you to count Invaders (like on that same Fear card), it is counting any of the three types equally.
There is no icon referring to a generic Invader, it is always written out as a word.
What does the slash mean in effects like "Push up to 3 (Explorer)/(Town)"?
It means "pieces of either or both types" - you are Pushing up to 3 pieces; those pieces may be Explorers and/or Towns. Similarly, "1 Damage to each [Town]/[City]" means "1 Damage to each piece that is either a Town or a City". (Or, in theory, both - though this would require some bizarre new piece considered both a Town and a City in order to be a relevant case.)
This is described in the reference on the back cover of the rulebook. (Formally, the slash is a union operator.)
Invader Actions
Yes, if there is a source of invaders, you add one Explorer, whether or not there is anything there already. A Town or City in the land itself does count as a source of Invaders. (See Explore Example A on p. 11.)
Power Cards
Yes, Explorers can take Damage. You can destroy Explorers before Dahan. (And will usually want to do so.) You can also mix-and-match - destroy an Explorer or two, then deal damage to a Dahan - if for some reason you want to leave some Explorers alive. Voice of Command
FAQ Towns
https://querki.net/u/darker/spirit-island-faq/#!Town
You're counting pieces. "Invader" in the Glossary is defined as "A City, Town, or Explorer", so a land with three Towns and a City has four Invaders in it. (A few effects instead key off of "N Health worth of Invaders", and in those cases Towns and Cities generally count for 2 and 3, respectively.)
Similarly if checking if Dahan "outnumber" Invaders, you are counting physical pieces.
When does destroying a Town or City cause Fear?
Always, regardless of how it's destroyed: directly via a Power that says to destroy one, from damage done by a Power, from damage done by Dahan counterattacking, due to a Spirit's special rules, from a Fear or Event card, etc. [p. 18]
Fear from destruction is independent of any explicit Fear the Power does - e.g., Lightning's Shatter Homesteads reads "1 Fear. Destroy 1 Town." It will usually generate 2 Fear: 1 explicitly, and 1 for destroying a Town.
Note that when you remove or replace a Town or City, it does NOT cause any automatic Fear. Removing Invaders happens most frequently via Fear Cards, and usually represents the Invaders fleeing, which doesn't make them any more afraid. Replacing an Invader represents some sort of transformation or change; if it's a scary change, the effect will explicitly specify how much Fear to do.
What does the slash mean in effects like "Push up to 3 (Explorer)/(Town)"?
It means "pieces of either or both types" - you are Pushing up to 3 pieces; those pieces may be Explorers and/or Towns. Similarly, "1 Damage to each [Town]/[City]" means "1 Damage to each piece that is either a Town or a City". (Or, in theory, both - though this would require some bizarre new piece considered both a Town and a City in order to be a relevant case.)
This is described in the reference on the back cover of the rulebook. (Formally, the slash is a union operator.)
FAQ Cities
https://querki.net/u/darker/spirit-island-faq/#!City
You're counting pieces. "Invader" in the Glossary is defined as "A City, Town, or Explorer", so a land with three Towns and a City has four Invaders in it. (A few effects instead key off of "N Health worth of Invaders", and in those cases Towns and Cities generally count for 2 and 3, respectively.)
Similarly if checking if Dahan "outnumber" Invaders, you are counting physical pieces.
When does destroying a Town or City cause Fear?
Always, regardless of how it's destroyed: directly via a Power that says to destroy one, from damage done by a Power, from damage done by Dahan counterattacking, due to a Spirit's special rules, from a Fear or Event card, etc. [p. 18]
Fear from destruction is independent of any explicit Fear the Power does - e.g., Lightning's Shatter Homesteads reads "1 Fear. Destroy 1 Town." It will usually generate 2 Fear: 1 explicitly, and 1 for destroying a Town.
Note that when you remove or replace a Town or City, it does NOT cause any automatic Fear. Removing Invaders happens most frequently via Fear Cards, and usually represents the Invaders fleeing, which doesn't make them any more afraid. Replacing an Invader represents some sort of transformation or change; if it's a scary change, the effect will explicitly specify how much Fear to do.
What does the slash mean in effects like "Push up to 3 (Explorer)/(Town)"?
It means "pieces of either or both types" - you are Pushing up to 3 pieces; those pieces may be Explorers and/or Towns. Similarly, "1 Damage to each [Town]/[City]" means "1 Damage to each piece that is either a Town or a City". (Or, in theory, both - though this would require some bizarre new piece considered both a Town and a City in order to be a relevant case.)
This is described in the reference on the back cover of the rulebook. (Formally, the slash is a union operator.)
- ↑ Nature Incarnate rulebook, p. 10