Corvid Conspiracy

Plant your schemes face-down across the forest, then spring them all at once before anyone can stop you.

Hard

Background

The Corvid Conspiracy are a network of scheming crows who have turned the Woodland into their private operation. They arrived without armies and they have no intention of building any — instead they work in shadows, planting plot tokens face-down in clearings across the map.

Nobody knows what lies beneath a Corvid token until it is too late. Is it a bomb ready to vaporize an entire garrison? A snare that will lock down a critical trade route? An extortion scheme bleeding cards out of a rival's hand? Opponents can try to guess and expose your plots, but guessing wrong just makes you richer. Every facedown token on the board is leverage.

You win not by dominating the map but by exploiting it — moving freely into any clearing, planting fear in every corner, and flipping your plots at the moment they hurt most.

How you win

The Corvid Conspiracy scores victory points by flipping plots face-up during Birdsong. When you flip a plot, you score one point for every face-up plot currently on the map — including the one you just flipped. That means the first flip earns 1 VP, the second earns 2, the third earns 3, and so on.

The scoring engine rewards patience. A single well-timed flip when four plots are already exposed can be worth 5 VP in one Birdsong step. Your goal is to get as many plots on the board as possible — and keep them from being exposed by opponents — so that each flip triggers an avalanche.

Secondary income comes from extortion tokens: while one is face-up, you draw an extra card in Evening, giving you the hand size to keep planting and maneuvering.

How they play

Your turn is built around seeding the board with plots and choosing the perfect moment to reveal them:

Birdsong: Craft using your facedown or face-up plots as activators. Then flip any plots face-up in clearings where you have warriors, scoring VP for each one revealed and triggering their effects — bombs detonate, extortions steal cards. Finally, spend a card to recruit warriors into one or more clearings matching that card's suit.
Daylight: Take up to three actions from your menu. Move warriors freely regardless of who rules a clearing. Battle where you have warriors. Plot — spend warriors from a clearing (one base cost, plus one more per plot you've already placed this turn) to set a facedown token there. Trick — swap two plot tokens on the map so long as both are facing the same direction.
Evening: Optionally spend your draw phase to take one extra Daylight action instead. Then draw cards — one base draw plus one per face-up extortion token on the map — and discard down to five.

Exposure is the sword hanging over you: opponents can declare a guess and spend a matching card to flip one of your facedown tokens. A correct guess removes the plot and scores them 1 VP. A wrong guess gives you that card.

As a defender in a clearing with a facedown plot, you deal one extra hit in battle — a silent reminder that disturbing the Corvids is never entirely safe.

Strengths

✓
The VP payoff for flipping a plot grows with every face-up token already on the board. A late-game flip into a board saturated with exposed plots can generate more points in one Birdsong step than some factions earn in two turns.
✓
Corvid warriors move freely regardless of who rules the origin or destination clearing. No other faction can lock you out of a position — you go where the plots need to go.
✓
Every facedown token on the map is a threat that opponents must account for, even if some of them are low-priority. The psychological pressure alone can force rivals into suboptimal decisions as they try to preempt plots that may never flip.

Weaknesses

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You start with only 15 warriors and no way to mass-recruit. Plotting costs warriors, moving costs warriors, and if opponents keep clearing you out of clearings you need to flip in, your whole plan stalls.
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A savvy opponent who correctly guesses your plot type eliminates that token, scores a free VP, and denies you the flip you needed. Against experienced players, obvious plot placement will be punished regularly.
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You can only flip a plot during Birdsong if you have warriors in that clearing. If you get pushed out of a clearing before you flip, the token sits there doing nothing — and opponents have another turn to guess it.

Tips & tricks

Tip
Resist the urge to flip plots the moment they land. Build up several facedown tokens first, then start flipping — you'll score more VP per flip each time, and the board-control effects hit the table simultaneously, making them much harder to recover from.
Tip
A board of identical tokens is easier to guess. Mixing bomb, snare, extortion, and raid plots forces opponents to weigh a wider range of bad outcomes when deciding whether to expose — and wrong guesses keep filling your hand.
Tip
Always keep at least one warrior in any clearing where you intend to flip a plot. A single warrior is enough — you just need presence. Spreading thin is acceptable as long as each target clearing has a body in it come Birdsong.
Tip
Face-up extortion tokens are your secondary engine: each one adds a card to your Evening draw. Flip extortions early to build hand size, which funds more recruits and faster plotting in subsequent turns.

Walk through a turn →

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