Lilypad Diaspora

You come in peace — but if the Woodland fears you, your enclaves turn militant and your warriors march.

Hard

Background

The Lilypad Diaspora are amphibious wanderers seeking to plant enclaves as cultural safe havens across the Woodland. In doing so they introduce an entirely new suit — the frog — along with 14 frog cards shuffled into the shared deck and the Pond, a separate face-up discard pile where frog cards land instead of the normal discard.

Each enclave token is double-sided: the Peaceful side adds the frog suit to its clearing (making it dual-suited), while the Militant side replaces the clearing's native suit with the frog suit entirely. That distinction matters deeply — Peaceful enclaves score points and grow your hand; Militant enclaves produce warriors and provoke mandatory battles. Every enemy attack on a Peaceful enclave risks triggering Fears Come to Pass, which can flip multiple enclaves to Militant in a single moment.

How you win

You score points in Evening through Integrate: spend one card whose suit matches one or more of your Peaceful enclaves, and score 1 VP for each matching Peaceful enclave on the map. The frog suit cannot be matched for Integrate. The more Peaceful enclaves you hold, the bigger that Evening payout — and your hand grows in parallel, because your draw in Evening scales with your Peaceful enclave count (+1 card for 2–3, +2 for 4–7, +3 for 8 or more).

The central tension of the faction is keeping enclaves on their Peaceful side. Peaceful means scoring and cards; Militant means warriors and forced battles. Master the flip between the two states and you'll accelerate away from the rest of the table.

How they play

Each Birdsong you must choose Rally or Reconcile (after optional crafting by activating enclaves). Rally places 1 warrior at every Militant enclave — a fast way to build up forces when you're threatened. Reconcile flips any number of Militant enclaves back to Peaceful — when you do, any player who rules the flipped clearing draws 1 card, which can be a useful diplomatic gesture.

In Daylight you take up to three Settle or Provoke actions in any order. Settle lets you move into a clearing from multiple adjacent clearings at once, then either battle or plant a new Peaceful enclave (if you rule the clearing and it has none). Provoke flips a Peaceful enclave to Militant or plants a new Militant enclave on the river or at one of your warriors — then places 1 warrior at every Militant enclave — but forces you to discard a random card.

In Evening you Retaliate (must battle at every Militant enclave), Integrate (score), then draw and discard.

Movement is distinctive: the Diaspora treat rivers as paths and can move along a river linking two clearings regardless of rule, giving you sweeping board reach.

Strengths

✓
Frog cards discarded to the Pond create a secondary card pool visible to everyone. Because you craft with enclaves in Birdsong and Integrate in Evening, you're well-positioned to draft from the Pond whenever a useful frog card sits on top.
✓
Treating rivers as paths (ignoring rule) means you can shift warriors across large stretches of the map in a single Settle action. No other faction moves quite like this — use it to respond quickly to threats or to surge into a scoring position.
✓
Your Evening draw scales with your Peaceful enclave count — up to 4 cards per turn with 8 or more Peaceful enclaves. A large hand gives you more Integrate options, more crafting fodder in Birdsong, and more tools to weather attacks.

Weaknesses

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Every Militant enclave triggers a mandatory Retaliate battle in Evening — you must fight there whether you want to or not. If enemies are dug in or if you have many Militant enclaves, you'll spend your Evening burning warriors on unfavorable fights.
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Fears Come to Pass is brutal: when an enemy attacks a Peaceful enclave or removes one outside battle, every Peaceful enclave with that enemy's pieces flips to Militant simultaneously. A single aggressive move by one faction can cascade into a swarm of Militant enclaves across the whole board.
!
Provoke is your fastest warrior-production tool, but it forces you to discard a random card from your hand each time. Provoking repeatedly in a tight-card turn can strip you of the very cards you need for Integrate or crafting.

Tips & tricks

Tip
The Reconcile / Rally choice defines your turn rhythm. Rally once to produce warriors when threatened, then Reconcile the next Birdsong to flip those enclaves back and restore your scoring. Letting Militant enclaves accumulate locks you into a cycle of mandatory battles you can't easily escape.
Tip
Enemies can flip Militant enclaves to Peaceful via Negotiations (once per turn, for free if they rule the clearing). Welcome this — it saves you a Reconcile action. But do everything you can to prevent enemies from attacking your Peaceful enclaves, which would trigger Fears Come to Pass and cascade Militant flips.
Tip
Settle lets you move from multiple adjacent clearings into one destination — useful not just for placing enclaves but for concentrating warriors before a battle. Don't limit yourself to thinking of it purely as an enclave-planting action; it's your best tool for repositioning forces in a single step.

Walk through a turn →

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