A duel of sword, shield and scribe

FLOCKADE

Both boards are filled one piece at a time, alternating, from three pieces offered each turn. Then every slot duels the slot facing it across the rule. Sword beats Scribe, Scribe beats Shield, Shield beats Sword — and blessed pieces bend those rules. Take three rounds to win the match.

Opponent
Adversary skill
Board
Shepherd pieces
FLOCKADE Round {{roundNo}} · first to {{target}}
Sword › Scribe › Shield › Sword
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SCOUTED
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Round {{roundNo}} settled

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The match is decided

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Reference

Blessings

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The Shepherd

Its own six blessings

A Shepherd loses to Sword, Shield and Scribe alike, and never arrives from the pool unblessed — the blessing is the whole of its value. Strip it with a Rotten piece and what remains is a plain Shepherd that loses every duel it fights. Shepherd blessings never appear on the three standard categories, and the standard blessings never appear on a Shepherd.

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Rulings this build makes

  • Fallen and Risen shift cyclically — a piece pushed off the bottom of its column reappears at the top. Two opposing shifts in one column cancel out.
  • Rotten resolves the instant it is played and only touches the pieces already standing on that row — anything placed there later keeps its blessing. Playing Rotten early usually wastes it.
  • Scout destroys the enemy piece and leaves its own piece in that slot, owned by that player: any point it wins goes to them. It does not fill a slot on your own board, so you keep placing until every slot on both boards is occupied — a player whose board is already full sits out while the other finishes.
  • Movement blessings resolve one at a time, in view: every Fallen or Risen column shift first, then each Mercenary swap, then each Trickster turn.
  • Trickster resolves after the column shifts and Mercenary swaps, so it moves first and turns second. It becomes a standard piece and keeps no blessing of its own.
  • Guardian ends the round the moment its duel comes up, so slots after it never resolve and points already scored no longer matter. Golden doubles only its own owner's duel wins.
  • Each player draws from their own pool of 33 blessed pieces — 27 standard and 6 Shepherds. A blessed piece leaves that pool only when it is played; the offers you pass on are shuffled back in and can return later. Pools carry across rounds and reset for a new match.
  • Column shifts resolve first, then Mercenary swaps. One Mercenary in a row swaps that row once — two of them in the same row still swap it only once.
  • Scores never fall below zero. A Marked win against a player already on nothing takes nothing away.
  • A round tied on points counts as a win for both players.