Vagabond (Ronin) turn — Tabletop Companion

Birdsong

Refresh Items

Flip exhausted items on your tracker back to their ready side, up to your Refresh limit. Your Refresh limit is 3, plus 1 for each Coin-class item you have on your tracker.

Hint Skipping Refresh leaves your items unavailable for the turn. There is almost never a good reason to skip it — always use your full Refresh limit.
Hint Any Swords you exhausted for Swift Strike or moving into Hostile clearings during your last turn come back online here. If you ended the previous turn item-light, Refresh is the moment your fighting capability is restored.

Slip (optional)

Move yourself to an adjacent clearing without exhausting a Boot. If a Hostile faction has pieces in your destination, you must still exhaust a Sword to enter.

Hint Slip saves you a Boot — the only movement that waives that cost. Use it to shift one clearing without spending a Boot, as long as no Hostile faction has pieces in the destination.
Hint As the Ronin, Slip often serves as the first step of a two-step approach: Slip adjacent to your target in Birdsong, then spend a Boot to arrive and fight in Daylight. You've effectively covered two clearings for the price of one Boot.

Daylight

Take Actions

Take as many actions as you like, in any order, as long as you have the required ready items to exhaust. Each action exhausts one or more items:

Move — Exhaust a Boot to move to an adjacent clearing. If the destination is currently Hostile, also exhaust a Sword.
Battle — Initiate combat in your current clearing against any faction with pieces there. No item is required to start a Battle.
Explore — Exhaust a Torch in a clearing with a ruin to draw the item hidden inside.
Aid — Exhaust an item matching a card you play to that faction, then give them the card. Improves your relationship with that faction and scores you VP.
Quest — Exhaust the two items listed on an active Quest card while in the matching clearing to complete the quest and claim its reward.
Strike — Exhaust a Crossbow to remove one enemy warrior or building from your clearing without starting a full battle.
Repair — Exhaust a Hammer to move one of your damaged items back to your tracker.
Craft — Exhaust the item(s) matching a card's craft cost to craft that card from your hand.

Hint Items get damaged during battle and from attacks by Hostile factions. Damaged items sit off your tracker and cannot be used until repaired with a Hammer.
Hint Each Aid action advances your Relationship track with the faction you help, unlocking better bonuses and higher VP per Aid as the relationship improves. As the Ronin, Aid is also your best tool for keeping factions you've fought from turning Hostile.
Hint A faction becomes Hostile toward you after you battle them at Indifferent or higher standing. While they are Hostile, every time you move into a clearing they occupy costs an extra Sword exhaust — a steep price for a faction that relies on Swords for Swift Strike.

Swift Strike (Ronin's Special Action)

After rolling dice in any battle you initiate, you may exhaust a ready Sword to deal one additional hit — on top of whatever the dice already produced.

Swift Strike is not a separate action you take before or after Battle. It is a decision point that opens up immediately after the roll, while you can see exactly how many hits both sides are dealing. Exhaust a Sword and your hit total rises by one; decline and your Sword stays ready for another fight.

The key constraint: you must have a ready (undamaged, unexhausted) Sword on your tracker at the moment you roll. Plan your Daylight around having at least one Sword available if you intend to fight.

Hint Swift Strike is most valuable when that extra hit removes a building, finishes off the last warrior in a clearing, or prevents a defender from scoring a damaging hit back. If your dice already gave you everything you needed, skip it and save the Sword.
Hint Each Swift Strike exhaust means one less Battle action available until Refresh. If you plan to fight twice in one Daylight, think carefully about which fight gets the bonus hit and which one you resolve on dice alone.
Hint Fighting Hostile factions already costs a Sword to enter their clearings. That entry cost and a Swift Strike in the same turn burns two Swords at once — make sure the target is worth it before committing.

Evening

Rest (if in a forest)

If you are currently in a forest, move all your damaged items back to your tracker at no cost. Exhausted items are not affected — they refresh in your next Birdsong as normal.

Hint Outside a forest, you can only repair items one at a time during Daylight by spending a Hammer. Resting in a forest repairs all your damaged items at once — plan your routes to pass through forests when your item load is battered.
Hint A Rest in the forest is especially valuable for the Ronin: it repairs all damaged Swords at once rather than spending Hammers on them one at a time. They return as exhausted items and will refresh in your next Birdsong. If your Sword supply is battered, routing through a forest is worth a Boot detour.

Score by Coins

Score victory points equal to the number of Coin-class items on your tracker.

Hint Coin items both raise your Refresh limit during Birdsong and contribute directly to your Evening score. The Ronin's starting kit includes one Coin — find more through ruins and crafting to compound this passive income.

Draw and Discard

Draw 1 card, plus 1 additional card for each Bag-class item on your tracker. Then discard down to a maximum of 5 cards.

Hint Cards are your Aid currency. Holding a diverse hand across suits means you can hand out Aid to whichever faction you most need to keep warm. The Ronin's draw rate is modest at the start — seek Bags in ruins to widen it.