Strionic Resonator and triggered abilities

You can copy any triggered ability, so yes you could copy Hamletback Goliath's and Goblin Rabblemaster's triggered abilities.

You can tell something is a triggered ability based on if it starts with a word indicating that it's stating the triggering condition.

  603.1. Triggered abilities have a trigger condition and an effect. They are written as “[When/Whenever/At] [trigger condition or event], [effect]. [Instructions (if any).]”

So if an ability starts with "when" or "whenever" or "at", it is a triggered ability. This includes Annihilator, because as you can see from the reminder text on most cards with the ability, Annihilator is short for "whenever this creature attacks[...]"

An ability such as the double damage ability on Angrath's Marauders is not a triggered ability; it is a static ability that creates a replacement effect; so you cannot copy it with Strionic Resonator.

Triggered abilities are never on the battlefield. When they trigger, they go on the stack, and when they resolve, they cause some sort of effect to happen. If that effect is something like "target creature gets +1/+1", then often the ability will state how long it lasts, such as "until end of turn".

  611.2a A continuous effect generated by the resolution of a spell or ability lasts as long as stated by the spell or ability creating it (such as “until end of turn”). If no duration is stated, it lasts until the end of the game.

This works exactly the same with a copy of a triggered ability created by Strionic Resonator; if the original ability us "until end of turn", then the copy will be as well.

To sum up, the triggered abilities are never on the battlefield and don't last a certain amount of time. However, the effects generated by triggered abilities may have a limit on how long they last; that limit will be stated in the ability itself.

For your specific examples:

If you copy Hamletback Goliath's triggered ability, then there will now be 2 triggered abilities on the stack, both which say “you may put X +1/+1 counters on Hamletback Goliath, where X is that creature's power.” So when each one resolves, you will add X counters, thus giving you a total of 2*X counters. There’s no difference between the counters created by the original ability and the counters created by the copy; nothing will go away at the end of the turn.

You cannot put a counter on a different creature with this, because it is not a targeted ability. It only puts counters on the Hamletback Goliath that has the ability. If it said “put X +1/+1 counters on target creature” instead, then you could choose a different target for the copy, thus adding counters to 2 different creatures.

Goblin Rabblemaster works just the same. You can copy its ability, and if you do, then the Rabblemaster will get more power twice, ending up with a total of +2/+0 for each other attacking goblin. All this power will go away at the end of the turn because the ability (both the original and the copy) says “until end of turn”.

You could copy the ability given by Thornbite Staff, but it would only untap the same creature twice. If a creature has "Whenever a creature dies, untap this creature.", then copying it would mean that the stack now has 2 instances of "untap this creature". So each would resolve, and each would untap that creature.  This would only help if you tapped that creature again after the first triggered ability resolved, but before the second did.

You can't untap a different creature because the ability says "this creature", not "target creature". If it said "untap target creature", then you would choose which creature you want to untap when you put the ability on the stack, and you could choose a different target with the copy.

Note that "target' has a specific meaning; it's not simply something that is affected by the ability. It's only a target if the ability uses the word "target"; (or if the ability is a keyword whose rules use the word "target").

For an example where the "You may choose new targets for the copy." part of Strionic Resonator helps, look at Weaver of Lightning's "Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell, Weaver of Lightning deals 1 damage to target creature an opponent controls." If you cast an instant while controlling Weaver of Lightning, then you could use Strionic Resonator to copy the triggered ability, and pick a new target for the copy so that you deal 1 damage each to 2 different creatures.


Exploding kittens - playing cards between attacks

The other cards do not end the turn so they have no effect on the number of turns played.

Player A has 1 turn to play.
Player A plays Attack.

This ends the turn of player A
And it forces player B to take 2 turns.

Player B has 2 turns to complete.
Player B plays some other cards (Favour, See the Future or whatever).

This has no effect on the turn because the turn only ends with a draw.

Player B has still 2 turns to complete.
Player B plays Attack

This ends the (first) turn of player B.
It forces player C to take 2 turns.
Because player B has one turn left, this turn moves to player C.

Player C has 2 + 1 = 3 turns to complete.

See also the rules.


Drover of the Mighty + Raptor Hatchling + Fiery Canonnade

Unfortunately no.

After Fiery Cannonade deals 2 damage, you check State-based-actions (SBA).  SBAs happen right before a player would get priority.

It sees Drover as a 3/3 with 2 marked damage, and the Hatchling as 1/1 with 2 marked damage.  So, it puts the hatchling in the graveyard.

Then it checks SBAs again to see if anything should happen again.  It sees Drover as a 1/1 with 2 marked damage, so it puts it into the graveyard.

SBAs check again, see nothing, so then it goes ahead and puts the Hatchling's enrage trigger on the stack.

  704.3. Whenever a player would get priority (see rule 116, “Timing and Priority”), the game checks for any of the listed conditions for state-based actions, then performs all applicable state-based actions simultaneously as a single event. If any state-based actions are performed as a result of a check, the check is repeated; otherwise all triggered abilities that are waiting to be put on the stack are put on the stack, then the check is repeated. Once no more state-based actions have been performed as the result of a check and no triggered abilities are waiting to be put on the stack, the appropriate player gets priority.


Newport has no costs on UK PowerGrid map - A misprint?

Yes, it's a misprint. From the game publisher:

  Oh, that is a misprint. As far as I can check this, all three numbers
  are missing in Newport. Of course this city should have the same
  numbers as all normal cities (10/15/20).

  Sorry!

  Henning (2F-Spiele)


Can Road Building Progress Card be played with only 1 road remaining?

Yes. There are no rules providing conditions that must be met to play development cards other than playing only 1 per turn, and not playing them the turn you buy them. So you would play the card, and then just do what you can to follow the instructions. If the instructions are impossible to follow, then you just do what you can. The same would go for playing a Year of Plenty if there's only 0 or 1 resource cards left in the resource piles.

I don't have a particular rule to quote for this, but it seems like the only logical way to handle it. The rules are clear about when you can and can't play development cards, and there's no mention of requirements of having enough roads left.


I haven't heard of this "Bang! Pocket" edition before and admittedly there isn't a lot of it going on on the Internet either - this very question is the fourth result in Google and the first three are in Portuguese. This leads me to think that it is indeed specific for Brazil.

Due to the lack of information on the card sizes, I can't tell if these cards are compatible with the expansions, but the graphic looks very similar. Normal sized Bang! cards are 87 mm × 56 mm, so if yours are also this size there shouldn't be any compatibility issues.

Hope that helps :)


Does Breaker Bay Grid reduce the cost of ICE hosted on Awakening Center

From the FAQ on Awakening Center:

  Ice on Awakening Center are in the server and do not count as ice
  protecting the server.

So, the ICE on the awakening center do get the cost reduction from Breaker Bay Grid.  Janus 1.0 would only cost 3 credits to rez in this situation.


I believe I can get to 231 using the restrictions of the OP, being a 3 player game and only the Leaders and Cities expansions.

Wonders used are Byzantium (A) West, Babylon (B) You, and Roma (B) East.

A summary of the points are:

Military - 16 - from an Age II Stables

Coins - 27 - finish with 82 coins from neighbours purchasing from you, Gambling House&Den and coins from chaining through Vitruvius Leader

Wonder - 3 - from first stage on Babylon (B)

Civilian - 6 - from Age III Senate

Science - 110 - 5 sets, 11 greens + Spy Ring to copy the 12th, Multis from Babylon Stage 3 and Scientists Guild and 1 more symbol using Courtesans Guild to copy West's Leader

Guilds - 27 - all from Gamers Guild (coins)

Leaders - 42 - 15 from Aristotle for 5 sets and 27 from Midas (coins).

The full log of what is played each turn and how the money flows is in the picture below. Hopefully there are no mistakes, however happy to get corrections and/or improvements.

Enjoy! Brett.


What actions constitute passing priority?

I disagree with the ruling made by the floor judge. I also disagree with upgrading the penalty to a warning.
Ruling
First, let's get some terminology down:

You are the controller of the trigger.
I interpret "action" to mean "game action". For example:

Resting your hands on your lands is not a game action.
Untapping your lands is a game action.
Silence is not a game action.
Saying "Sure." is a game action.

The following is an excerpt from the Infraction Procedure Guide:

Players may not cause triggered abilities controlled by an opponent to be missed by taking game actions or otherwise prematurely advancing the game. During an opponent’s turn, if a trigger’s controller demonstrates awareness of the trigger before they take an active role (such as taking an action or explicitly passing priority), the trigger is remembered.

What this says, quite clearly, is that your opponent cannot cause you, the controller, to miss a trigger by drawing a card, playing a land, or otherwise advancing the game without your active consent. You never assumed an active role before remembering the trigger. Therefore, you didn't miss it.
This is reinforced in the Tournament Rules:

Triggered abilities are considered to be forgotten by their controller once they have taken an action past the point where the triggered ability would have an observable impact on the game.

If your opponent had said "Draw?" and you respond with a "Sure.", then you have assumed an active role by explicitly passing priority. In that case, the trigger is definitely missed.
Penalty
Missed triggers should only be upgraded to a warning if the trigger is considered detrimental to its controller. The game state is not a factor in determining this. As noted in the IPG:

Upgrade: If the triggered ability is usually considered detrimental for the controlling player the penalty is a Warning. The current game state is not a factor in determining this, though symmetrical abilities (such as Howling Mine) may be considered usually detrimental or not depending on who is being affected

According to an L2 judge on Reddit, neither side of Duskwatch Recruiter is considered "generally detrimental". It may be situationally detrimental, but according to the IPG, the judge awarding the penalty should not be using the board state as a factor in determining whether the trigger is detrimental.


Can one show that a majority of bridge hands could have been successfully defended?

What level of play are we talking - world class or novice or somewhere in between.

Any player who is making or defeating an inappropriately large, or small, percentage of contracts weighted by point value is inefficient by definition, and thus is a poor player.

Good players make and defeat the right number of contracts, weighted by point value (for the scoring type - match-points, rubber, IMPS or board-a-match), because that is the definition of competent play. Given the close competition of most world championship finals, those players are all efficient, and thus actually good players.

Update:
It's widely accepted that defense in Bridge is more challenging than offense. Is that not semantically equivalent to stating that, double-dummy, most contracts could be defeated (by perfect defense). Only a naïve or extremely weak declarer is not going to bid aggressively, on the premise of taking proper advantage of the greater difficulty of defending.


Why do all Go board sizes have an odd number of lines? Why is a 19x19 board so much better than a 20x20 board?

Almost all go boards are x by x, where x is an odd number (e.g. 9, 13, or 19).

The point is to have the product yield an odd number of potential points. So that there would be an odd number of points in the game and a clear winner.

(In the Japanese counting style of "points," it is possible for both players to have the same number, but under the Chinese counting style of points plus stones played, the sum of the two players' results will be an odd number.)


The two relevant rules for this are 702.7b and 702.89c; 702.7b does not stop 702.89c from occurring unless the creature with infect dies before it can deal damage itself.

Essentially if the infect creature either has first strike itself, or survives the first strike damage step, an appropriate number of -1/-1 counters will be added to the creature with first strike.

  702.7b If at least one attacking or blocking creature has first strike or double strike (see rule 702.4) as the combat damage step begins, the only creatures that assign combat damage in that step are those with first strike or double strike. After that step, instead of proceeding to the end of combat step, the phase gets a second combat damage step. The only creatures that assign combat damage in that step are the remaining attackers and blockers that had neither first strike nor double strike as the first combat damage step began, as well as the remaining attackers and blockers that currently have double strike. After that step, the phase proceeds to the end of combat step

  702.89c Damage dealt to a creature by a source with infect isn’t marked on that creature. Rather, it causes that source’s controller to put that many -1/-1 counters on that creature.


Is it possible to defeat Azathoth when playing with only 1 Investigator?

Investigator count

Look at these statistics calculated from hundreds of logged plays: Eldritch Horror Statistics.

With the original reference cards, you can see the normal win rate for 1 investigator is 23% versus 66% for 4. If I play this game with four or fewer players, I always play with four investigators. I find this much more enjoyable.

The updated reference cards you've heard about are now considered a variant of the game: Revised Reference Cards. They make the game slightly easier for 1 or 5 investigators, and slightly harder for any other number (which you can see in the above statistics). But the difference between 1 and 4 investigators is still 32% vs 55%. So "easier" with 1 investigator is still harder than the "harder" 4 investigators.

Reckoning

From the rules reference, last bullet point on page 9:

  If a Monster is spawned or an investigator gains a component while investigators are resolving [reckoning] effects, they do not resolve the [reckoning] effect on that Monster or component.

So no, reckoning effects don't apply to monsters or possessions gained during the reckonings step. Remember also that the icons on mythos cards are resolved left to right, and the event text is resolved last of all - so if a gate opening or a monster surge spawns a monster with a reckoning effect, or if the event spawns such a monster or gives players possessions with reckoning effects, those effects will not trigger this round because the reckonings step has already been resolved.

Eldritch Tokens

The eldritch tokens on the omen track serve one and only one purpose with azathoth: they cause you to advance doom even if no green gates are open. If green gates are also open, the eldritch tokens cause additional doom on top of the normal amount.


When combining Boss Monster with Boss Monster: The Next Level you still use the standard hero allocations, i.e.

  Two Players: 13 Heroes, 8 Epic Heroes
  Three Players: 17 Heroes, 12 Epic Heroes
  Four Players: 25 Heroes, 16 Epic Heroes

But you choose the hero sets from either two packs. For example, you can use the regular Heroes from Boss Monster, and the Epic Heroes from The Next Level, or vice-versa.

Heroes marked with a star can then be added on top of those numbers, or used in place of ones marked with the appropriate number of players (the star heroes are mostly promo ones, and are intended to make the game harder/more interesting).

You also combine each of the Spells, Rooms, and Bosses decks from both sets to form larger decks.


How do the Monopoly odds change when the board is played in reverse?

The key change in reversing the direction of movement is the fact that players now leave Jail in the opposite direction. The oranges and reds are particularly profitable because they are within 1-2 rolls of Jail, among other reasons. When moving counterclockwise, the dark purples and dark blues are now in a more often visited area, so I would expect their value to increase significantly, while the value of the orange and reds would decrease commensurately. Even the light blues, which are already among the best property groups, would get a boost from being in front of, rather than behind, Jail.


What are the odds of getting a double run in four-handed pinochle?

Depending on the probability being asked for, this is somewhere between one in a million, and one in six hundred hands.

Pinochle has a deck with 48 cards, consisting of two each of six ranks (A, T, K, Q, J, 9) in four suits. The deck is dealt exhaustively between the four players, so each is dealt a hand of twelve cards. A double run consists of ten specific cards: two lots of the ace, ten, king, queen and jack of trumps.

So we can now calculate the chance of being dealt a double run. There are 48C12 possible hands (where nCr is the notation for the choose function). Ten of the cards are fixed as part of the double run, but the other two can be any of the remaining 38 cards. So there are (10C10)*(38C2) possible hands that contain a double run (in trumps), which makes the probability of being dealt a double run:

(10C10)*(38C2) / (48C12)
= 1*703 / 69,668,534,468
~ 1 / 100,000,000

In some versions of pinochle, passing cards from the partner to the winning bidder is allowed. In the question four cards are passed, so we can look at the chance of getting 10 specific cards in a 16 card hand:

(10C10)*(38C6) / (48C16)
= 1*2760681 / 2,254,848,913,647
~ 1 / 1,000,000

This doesn't give a true reflection of the odds though, as it's fairly normal for players to pass their best cards to their bid-winning partner, as it will help melding points. Let's assume that if the partner has up to four trumps then they'll pass them all across. The chance of getting a double run is now the sum of the chances of a 6-4 split, a 7-3 split, an 8-2 split, a 9-1 split and a 10-0 split. That is, the sum over the number of passed cards p, of the probabilities of the player getting (10-p) of the 10 cards and the partner getting the remaining p:

Sum( (10C(10-p))*(38C(12-(10-p)))/(48C12) * (pCp)*((38-(12-(10-p)))C(12-p))/((48-12)C12) ) over p in {0,1,2,3,4}
= Sum( (10C(10-p))*(38C(2+p))/(48C12) * ((36-p)C(12-p))/(36C12) ) over p in {0,1,2,3,4}
~ 1/10,000

So far I've assumed that the trump suit is random, but since the player won the contract, they actually got to choose the trump suit. Most of the time a player will choose the suit they have most of as trumps (especially if they have 6 of them), so roughly speaking the chance of a double run now becomes 1/2500.

All this is for a particular player, but it might be fair to say that if any player in the round got a double run then the same question would have been asked on this site. Since there are four players we can roughly multiply the probability by four to get 1/600. (We've actually done a bit of 'double counting' here, but it doesn't affect the result very much. E.g. We've considered the rare case where each player receives all of a single suit four times).

So the probability being asked for could be as low as 1/1,000,000 or as high as 1/600, depending on how the question is interpreted.


The problem with larger games in Bang! is that they tend to be unbalanced by the way the game is played. In a 7 or 8 player (in 6 also really) it is very easy for players to be killed before they get a turn. Depending on what character you get and the cards everyone has it is possible that there is nothing that can be done to prevent yourself from being eliminated before your turn. And this is something that would only be magnified in a 9 player game.

From the very fact that it is very possible for people to be eliminated from the game before they had a chance to play I would call it unbalanced.

That is not even mentioning the fact that in the standard rules for 8 players that there are two renegades who are working against each other. As a quick example if an 8 player game comes down to the sheriff, and both renegades one of which accidentally kills the sheriff the game ends with the outlaws winning even though they had all been eliminated.


What's the difference between ante and blinds?

Ante and blinds are both forced bets.

Ante is a bet that everyone in the game must make in order to stay at the table. It forces there to always be at least some payout in the pot, increasing the relative value of playing a hand to folding.

Blinds are bets that only one or two players are forced to make, usually a small blind and a big blind, the small blind at half the big blind. They are bet by the two players after the dealer, and thus rotate around as the dealer rotates. The blinds start betting off; bidding starts with the player after the big blind, and players must call or raise the blind bet to stay in the game, otherwise they fold. It puts less in the pot than ante does, thus it does less to incentivize staying in the game, but it still puts enough in that it's worth it for some people to stay in as they do stand to win something, and the players who played the blinds stand to lose them if they simply fold.


Do you get a gold when playing Trading Post?

No, you do not receive any coins. It is indicating a discount. You only pay {1} Coin instead of the normal {2} from the neighbor in the direction to which the arrow points. You can contrast this with the Tavern card.
7-Wonder's rule book (page 12).

Tavern Icon - the card is worth the amount of coins pictured, the coins are taken from the bank only once, when the card is played.
Trading Post Icon - starting on the turn following the one in which this building was constructed, the player purchases raw materials from the neighboring city indicated by the arrow for 1 coin instead of 2.
Clarification for the Eastern Trading Post, the Western Trading Post and the Marketplace: arrows show to which neighboring city or cities to which the discount applies.


Line of sight is required according to the game's designer.

  The card in your core set is the most up-to-date.


Doctor Who Fluxx - do Dalek cards affect all doctors

The text on the Dalek creeper is not exactly clear: "if the Doctor is anywhere on the table, during your turn you can discard both him and this". But all doctors are "the doctor" (The third doctor, the nineth doctor etc..) so you can safely assume this counts for a single "the doctor" card.

If you look at the the FAQ:

  Q: Can I trash someone else’s Doctor to get rid of my Dalek, instead
  of my own?

  A: The Dalek says you can discard the Doctor from anywhere on the
  table. You’re not required to kill your own Doctor first, so, it makes
  the most sense, strategically, for your Dalek to target someone else’s
  Doctor.

There is no indication that you can discard both. It just discards one instance of "the Doctor". It is up to you to decide Who.


How to store cards when game boxes don't have slots for them

Hair Bands

Similar to using rubber bands, but they don't deteriorate and stick to the cards over time. If possible get metal free ones, rather than the type on the right - less likely to catch on the cards.

Small Cardboard Boxes

Have a look around your house, you'll probably find something that's the right size. Plasters often come in boxes that are a good fit for cards.


Why does Cryptbreaker need to specify "untapped" Zombies?

You are correct that the word is unnecessary; it would function the same without.

There are various times that MTG adds extra words for the sake of clarity; even when they have no effect on functionality.

A very common example are cards such as Aetherstorm Roc, which use the wording "Aetherstorm Roc or another creature enters the battlefield under your control..."

This could have simply been written "Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under your control" for the exact same effect. But there would be some less experienced players that would not know if it should count itself or not. The longer wording makes this explicit.

"Tap an untapped creature you control" works the same way. If it simply said "Tap a creature you control", then you wouldn't be able to activate it without actually tapping an untapped creature, due to the rule:

  701.20a To tap a permanent, turn it sideways from an upright position. Only untapped permanents can be tapped.

However, the extra word helps make it clear that this is the case. Especially due to the fact that a "tap target creature" ability can in fact target a tapped creature, some people would wonder what stops them from choosing tapped creatures to pay the activation cost for "tap a creature you control".


Do Collectible Card Games without shuffling exist?

Not sure how applicable it is, since it never had an actual physical card-based implementation (and ergo isn't strictly on-topic for this site), but Alteil was an online game based on CCG deck-building mechanics. While the original Japanese game still appears to be in active development, this answer is based on the English localization of it that has been defunct since 2017.

Decks are built of thirty cards, limited only by a maximum of three copies of any given card.  One card can be played each round, and this card is freely chosen from all available cards so there is no shuffling or randomization involved; the player has full access to his own deck.

(Again, this doesn't strictly meet your requirements of "letting the players arrange their decks beforehand" as there's no actual drawing involved — the player's "hand" is effectively his entire deck throughout the game — but it arguably does meet "so they know exactly which card they draw when" so I'll keep going...)

All the randomization that's not in the card selection is found in the actual card abilities themselves.  For example, whereas targetting is common in a typical CCG (at least the ones I've played), it's actually an exception in Alteil.  Most attacks — even the default attack action — only hit random units within range, but the player has no control over which units beyond ensuring the intended targets are "within range".  Targetted attacks do exist, but usually with a trade-off (e.g. higher cost or lower damage).  As such, gameplay itself is much more akin to a tactics game than most CCGs, with a higher emphasis on field layout and timing.

Detailed rules can still be found in the Wayback archive of Alteil's Rule Book; the fundamentals of game phases and stack resolution and card-text-trumps-everything are clearly in-line with existing deck-building games, even if the whole game is probably too complex to (enjoyably) play as a physical CCG.


Can more threats be active than threat slots?

Designer here. Uncleared threat tiles remain and 1 new tile per player are revealed, so it is possible to have more than 4 active threat tiles.


Is it possible for a 6-player game of BSG + Exodus to only ever have one Cylon?

You are correct it is possible to have only one Cylon.

This situation can occur if one player is dealt two You Are A Cylon or Sympathizer cards, and the remaining Loyalty card with that name is the last undrawn Loyalty card.

Using the standard Execution rules for Exodus, if you were human, you would add a You Are Not a Cylon card to the Loyalty deck when selecting a new character. This won't change the possibility of having only a single Cylon though, because the Loyalty deck will still have one extra card. If you were a Cylon, you just get moved to the Resurrection Ship, keeping both your Loyalty cards, which also doesn't change the situation.

The only exception to this, is if you were playing with both Exodus, and Pegasus expansions. Step 2 is revised to hand off the unrevealed You Are a Cylon card to another player. So you would have two Cylons in the game. This is covered on page 22 regarding Handing Off Excess Loyalty Cards

  Execution - The rules for execution are slightly revised for the Exodus
  expansion. Use the rules as they are described on page 7 of this rulebook, even when playing with the Pegasus expansion, with the following exception. During step 2, “Prove Loyalty,” a player with one or more “You Are a Cylon” Loyalty Cards reveals one and gives all his remaining facedown Loyalty Cards to a human player of his choice, as described on page 12 of the Pegasus rulebook.


Is there an online site to play Titan Boardgame

There's not a site I know of, but there is Java-based software:

http://colossus.sourceforge.net/


Gloomhaven: Does it count as me landing the killing blow if a monster dies to my retaliate?

I would say yes based on the fact I have seen retaliate being a persistent bonus (rulebook p25).  In this case at least, using the retaliate actively takes something away from your character.

Contrarily, in the case of the wound, the status affect has already been applied and nothing is taken away from your character when it harms.

Tangentially, I also think the wound ruling is to prevent the complexity of trying to keep track of who did what wound (as far as I've seen not accounted for in the game; you'd need to either markup tokens, keep paper track, etc.).  Retaliate it's obvious since it's reactive.


Vorinclex, does my opponents land untap if they were tapped before i summoned him?

Whenever an opponent taps a land for mana, that land doesn't untap
  during its controller's next untap step.

This is a triggered ability. If your opponent already had tapped lands before you played Vorinclex, his ability will not trigger. Conversely if your opponent taps lands while Vorinclex is in play, and Vorinclex then leaves play, Vorinclex's ability will have already triggered and your opponent's lands will not untap during your opponent's next untap phase.


In Game of Thrones, is it possible to moving back units after winning a combat following March Order?

The attacker does not have the opportunity to retreat if the attacker wins the combat.  The only allowance for retreating is for the losing army:

  After suffering casualties, the losing army must retreat from the embattled area (supporting units do not retreat.)

There is no mention of what happens to the winning units after combat because nothing needs to happen to them.  Combat began by them moving to the territory they are trying to conquer.  Thus, all that needs to happen in cleanup following an attacker victory is the removal of order tokens:

  After combat is completed, remove the attacking player’s March
  Order token from the game board.

  If the combat was won by the attacker, remove any Order token the
  defender had assigned to the embattled area (if one remains) as well
  as any Power token in the area (which would exist if the defending
  player had previously established control there, see page 24)

One pseudo-exception to this is Loras Tyrell, who moves the march order with the attacking units if they are victorious.  You can use Loras to move attacking units back to their original territory after they win a battle, but doing so is not a retreat (these units will remain upright) and is not immediate (this cannot be done before your next turn in order resolution).


When are good times/circumstances to build harbor settlements in Settlers of Catan?

There are 2 types of Habour (or port) in the game, and they have different best times.

The 3:1 ports are always handy, more so in the late game. However, there are few reasons to have one early.
The 2:1 ports are worth building if, and only if, you have an excess of production in a particular resource.  This may just develop late game (especially with brick and wood once you've got no expansion), or you may purposefully give yourself an excess with initial placement.  This is most common with sheep.

However, rarely is it worth starting on a harbour unless it has excellent numbers (5-8, for example).  In general, you should be able to build on a 3-resource hex and have an uncontested build to the harbour for your first settlement, which should give you more resources early on before the trade would be useful.


In Quarriors, can the Portal Dice be used multiple times?

As of the Quarmageddon expansion, the rulebook has been updated. The change is this: dice (such as Portals) that are spent during the turn are placed into a separate Spent Pile, where they are ineligible to be put back into the bag until the end of the turn. This is a change from the earlier FAQ, and makes it much less likely that in the given situation, the Portals would end up producing Quiddity.


Can you stop all attacks with Pramikon and Helm of the host?

If you look at the rulings on the gather page for Pramikon, Sky Rampart that is the case.

If two Pramikons on the battlefield disagree on which direction three or more players must attack, players can’t attack at all.


You can buy more than one per turn.

According to the official Monopoly Millennium Edition rules, you can buy multiple houses per turn.

  Following these rules, you may buy and erect at any time as many houses as your judgement and financial standing will allow.

Also, you don't have to be on the space that you want to make houses on to put houses on them.


Is False Lead's effect activated when it is forfeited by another card's effect?

False Lead is not activated when forfeited by another card.  That's because the ability on False Lead is a Paid Ability, not a Conditional Ability.

A card’s trigger cost is always listed in its text box before the
effect, following the format “cost: effect.” A paid ability can be
triggered an unlimited number of times as long as the cost is
paid and any restrictions specified by the effect are observed.

By being a Paid Ability, forfeiting False Lead is an explicit cost of the ability, and must be paid in service of activating the ability.
As a result, you can't both forfeit False Lead to pay for Archer (which requires forfeiting an agenda as part of it's rez cost) and to pay for False Lead's ability.  False Lead can only be forfeited once.  Since, both cards require False Lead to be forfeited as a cost, you have to chose one.
In order for False Lead to work as you imagine, it would need to say something like: "When you forfeit False Lead, the runner loses [click] [click]."


So cascade is good because it is a powerful card advantage engine. This is why Bloodbraid Elf is banned in Modern and Shardless Agent has made a tier 1 deck in Legacy.

There are a few strong counters to cascade. My favorite it Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir. Since they can only cast spells at sorcery speed, they can never cast the cascaded spell. Other spells like counterflux can counter all spells on the stack.

Considering it is commander, you will probably need a collection of cards like this to fight against cascade. However, considering the problem is the commander, honestly just packing more removal for it, such as go for the throat, swords to plowshares, flame slash, etc is your best bet


How exactly do cures affect future infection in Pandemic?

Scenario 1: continue adding cubes, as you have been doing all the way along. The example of "Playing the Infector" specifically states: "Even though the Black disease is Cured, it can still spread!")

Scenario 2: nothing happens. The rules state:

  Eradicating a Disease

  If a cure for a given disease has been discovered and all of the disease cubes of that color have been removed from the board, flip the Cure Marker for the disease to the "Sunset" side. From now on, cards of this color have no effect when drawn on the Infector's turn (emphasis mine -- StasK). Take all of the cubes of the eradicated color and place them back in the box -- they will not be used again for the rest of the game.

So finding a cure affects the game via the change in how "Treat Disease" action is played.

The Medic character starts treating the disease without spending an action: if say the red vaccine has been discovered, whenever the Medic is in the city with these red cubes, he or she can take them out without spending an action. This also means that the Dispatcher (or the Airlift special event) can throw the Medic into a red city that is about to outbreak, and the city will be cured with no other actions spent by any of the players.
All other players can remove all of the cubes in one action (rather than just one cube) when they treat disease in a city.

In the longer term, discovering the cure makes you one step closer to the victory -- you need to discover all four cures to win the game. The Infection step, however, is not affected by the discovery per se -- only by eradication.


Wikipedia has quite a collection, and the site you mention also has a page with further links. You might find more online if you also search for "patience", the more common name for "solitaire" outside North America.


Too many Tech-Victories seen in 2-player rules for Civilization

For simplicity, I will focus on the base game (Sid Meier's Civilization the Board Game, as published in 2010) without any expansions because this is what I assume you are currently playing.

Tech victories are common while learning the game rules.  This is because the Research phase acts as a sort of timer; if everyone acquires approximately 1 technology per turn, then someone's tech victory is likely to happen close to the 15th turn regardless of other game events.  Tech victory is what eventually happens if the empires are grown without focussed strategies, or if opportunities to advance are often missed (fewer strategically useful actions per player per turn).

However, after the learning phase is over, you will see that tech victories are not at all that common.  In fact a tech victory is quite a feat for anyone except Russians, whose espionage is the easiest way to speed up research.

And some speed up is very much necessary.  Games played between seasoned players are won around the 11th turn in one way or another.


Can I return Verdant Eidolon with the spell I casted with?

The latest possible time you can activate the Eidolon to pay for (part of) the multicoloured spell is during the process of casting that spell, right before paying for it (601.2a-i details the process of casting a spell, in order):

601.2g If the total cost includes a mana payment, the player then has a chance to activate mana abilities (see rule 605, “Mana Abilities”). Mana abilities must be activated before costs are paid.
601.2h The player pays the total cost in any order. Partial payments are not allowed. Unpayable costs can’t be paid.

(This is the reason some mana abilities, in particular random or unpredictable ones, have a restriction to only be activated whenever you could play an instant: It would be very strange to activate them at this stage, when you've revealed the card from your hand, chosen targets and modes, and then hope you can afford it.)
The trigger for a spell being cast comes later (emphasis mine):

601.2i Once the steps described in 601.2a–h are completed, effects that modify the characteristics of the spell as it’s cast are applied, then the spell becomes cast. Any abilities that trigger when a spell is cast or put onto the stack trigger at this time. If the spell’s controller had priority before casting it, they get priority.

At this stage, regardless of how you chose to activate the Eidolon, the mana ability has already been activated, paid for, and the mana received and used, so the Eidolon is in the graveyard, and it will therefore trigger.


Kindle the carnage, repercussion and safe passage

Repercussion's ability is a triggered abillity, so it goes on the stack just like spells and activated abilities. And just like with those, it can be responded to before it resolves, so the opponent will be able to prevent the damage with Safe Passage.

To be specific, the events occur as follows:

You cast Kindle the Carnage.
Both you and your opponent have a chance to respond to Kindle the Carnage. Either of you could play instants or activate abilities.
Kindle the Carnage resolves and deals damage to every creature (probably). Repercussion's ability triggers once for each creature that was dealt damage. Those abilities go on the stack in any order you choose.
Both you and your opponent have another chance to respond to the triggered abilities on the stack.
One of the triggered abilities resolves, and deals damage to the controller of the corresponding creature.
Repeat steps 4 and 5 until the stack is empty.

If the opponent casts Safe Passage in step 4, as you describe, they will take no further damage from Repercussion. If, instead, they cast Safe Passage during step 2, then their creatures will take no damage when Kindle the Carnage resolves, and they will take no damage from Repercussion.

So, if as you describe, the oppponent casts Safe Passage in step 4, it plays out like this (assuming nobody else responds with other spells):

You cast Kindle the Carnage.
Kindle the Carnage is the top item on the stack, so it resolves and deals damage to every creature (probably). Repercussion's ability triggers once for each creature that was dealt damage. Those abilities go on the stack in any order you choose.
Your opponent responds by casting Safe Passage.
Safe Passage is now the top item on the stack, so it resolves. Further damage to your opponent and their creatures this turn is prevented.
One of the triggered abilities is on top of the stack, so it resolves. If it would deal damage to your opponent, instead that damage is prevented because of Safe Passage's effect.
Step 5 repeats until the stack is empty.


I have cards to buy a road or settlement, can I buy settlement first and not place it on the board?

No, you may not.

As per the rulebook, under "Build" (on page 4) it says:

  Take the appropriate number of roads, settlements, and/or cities from your supply and place them on the game board.

An explicit part of the building process is putting the built items onto the board, so no, you can't buy it and place it later.


A&A 1942 2nd ed: Is it necessary to build an industrial complex in order to mobilize units?

If you look at the setup charts for each country, some territories have "Industrial Complex" listed of one of the units to be placed.  I suspect that they were not printed directly on the board because they could then get covered up by other pieces.

You can find a copy of the setup charts at
http://www.axisandallies.org/resources-downloads/setup-chart-axis-allies-1942-second-edition/


Double the rent doubles the house value also in monopoly deal

22m - the rent is the total you need to pay, house and property, not just the base value of the property with the houses added in afterwards.


How are holographic trading cards printed in an industrial setting?

This is only a partial answer.
The core technology originated out of 3M. I'm not sure their Laminates & Security Features page describes the "actual" technology used in the cards, but this is an application of that technology.
3M developed the first holographic driver's licenses etc.


Can I tap Rupture Spire to pay for its own ability with an Amulet of Vigor in play?

Yes, you can.

When Rupture Spire enters the battlefield, 2 different abilities trigger. The next time someone (usually you) you would gain priority, you put both of those abilities on the stack, in an order you choose.

  603.3b If multiple abilities have triggered since the last time a player received priority, each player, in APNAP order, puts triggered abilities they control on the stack in any order they choose.

Choose to put Rupture Spire's ability on the stack first, with Amulet of Vigor's on top. Amulet of Vigor's ability will resolve first, untapping Rupture Spire.

Then Rupture Spire's ability will resolve, at which point you are free to tap Rupture Spire for the 1 mana you need to pay.

A key point here is that Rupture Spire's ability doesn't do anything until it resolves; it does not require mana payment ahead of time.

You also have priority between Amulet of Vigor's ability resolving and Rupture Spire's ability resolving. You could just tap Rupture Spire at this time and float the 1 mana until Rupture Spire's ability resolves. Either of these would result in the same net effect. It's just like the difference between tapping a Mountain and then casting Lightning Bolt; or beginning to cast Lightning Bolt and tapping a mountain to pay for it when you get to the pay costs part of casting.


What are some of the different interactions with empty remote servers in Android: Netrunner?

A remote server requires at least one piece of ICE protecting it or at least one card installed in the server itself (i.e. agenda/asset/upgrade) to exist. The three central servers always exist. "Empty" would refer to a server with only ICE protecting it, and nothing in it.

Empty servers already exist so is different from a new server. Cards like Mushin No Shin, which specify a new server, must interact with a new server (i.e. that they create).

If a server ceases to exist during the run (e.g. as the result of a Jackson Howard removal that you describe), the run immediately ends, and is considered neither successful nor unsuccessful.
The same is true if the trashed card is an ICE. For instance, if an empty server is defended only by a Data Mine which triggers, the server ceases to exist.


What are the possible archetypes in Innistrad draft?

In my Innistrad drafts so far, I've noticed the following as dominating archetypes:

Red-black vampires. This is a classic red aggro strategy, since there lots of small, fast vamps that get big to put a major hurt on your opponent, especially the Bloodcrazed Neonate and the Falkenrath Marauders. The bombs in this deck are the Bloodline Keeper or Olivia Voldaren -- if you see either of those in pack one or two, then jump into black-red vamps with both feet.

Green-red werewolves. This is another aggro deck, though it's slightly slower than the vamp deck since the werewolves are a little bit bigger and take a while longer to flip and become monsters. The Mayor of Avabruck is a good keystone card here, as are the Kessig Cagebreakers -- but really, all of the werewolves in this set are strong enough once flipped to win the game in a few turns. This is my favorite of the current archetypes.

Blue-white flyers (or "Things with Wings" as I like to call it). This deck runs lots of humans, spirits, and angels. In the early game it tends towards control rather than beat-down, since this deck will not win a race against werewolves or vampires, but towards the late game it'll amass a critical mass of flyers to hit for the win. Bombs include the Angel of Flight Alabaster, The Geist of Saint Traft, Geist-Honored Monk, and Intangible Virtue as a key enchantment. In my experience, this is one of the weakest archetypes, since there isn't enough good removal or cheap common flyers to build out a strong deck, and the good blue utility cards are heavily competed for by people playing the following archetype.

Blue-black zombie mill. This is a control deck, relying on removal and counterspells to clear out the early threats, then bring down the skaabs once there are plenty of creatures in the graveyard. The bombs in this deck include Grimgrin, Corpse-Born and the Skaab Goliath. This deck benefits the most from flashback -- conveniently, since blue has the most flashback of any color in Innistrad. There is also a pure mill variant of this deck which I had the misfortune to play against once, when my lucky opponent had managed to draft pretty much every mill card in the set, including 2x Nephalia Drownyard and 2x Curse of the Bloody Tome. This strategy can be very effective, but it's very hard to draft enough cards to make it viable.

Green-white humans should be mentioned to round out the color wheel, though in my experience the synergies among the humans in the set aren't strong enough to really call this a tournament archetype. If you're running green-white you're probably doing it to get the most value out of Travel Preparations, but in that case you'll probably want to construct your deck around white flyers or green werewolves instead, and splash to cover the off-color costs of Travel Preparations.


Small World: Why does it use 3-point coins?

I think the simplest answer is to allow players to hide their score better. If you only had 1s, 5s and 10s, you'd just have to remember how many 5s and 10s someone earned - adding a third variable makes it really complicated, especially three-plus player games.


Can I have priority passed back to me during spell resolution, so that I can do more with my own spell?

If you wait for your opponent to respond and your opponent has no response, your lightning bolt resolves before you can twincast it.

  608.1. Each time all players pass in succession, the spell or ability on top of the stack resolves. (See rule 609, “Effects.”)

You'll only get a chance to copy the bolt if they respond, or if you cast both spells before passing priority the first time.


Jadzi, Oracle of Arcavios and Spells with X mana cost

Ingenious Mastery has a Gatherer ruling that says

If you choose to pay one alternative cost, you can’t pay any other alternative costs. For example, if an effect lets you cast a “Mastery” spell “without paying its mana cost,” you can’t also choose to pay its given alternative cost.

The ability of Jadzi to pay 1 to cast a spell is an alternative cost just like "without paying its mana cost" is. If you cast the Mastery that way, you won't cast the Mastery by paying the 2U alternate cost, so you do not get to draw three cards, and your opponent does not get to scry or create tokens.
And X is necessarily set to zero, as per Jazdi's Gatherer ruling:

If you cast a spell with X in its mana cost using Jadzi’s magecraft ability, you must choose 0 as the value of X.

So ultimately, the Ingenious Mastery doesn't do anything as it resolves.


Would Loyalty Abilities be negated by Pithing Needle?

Pithing Needle would always nullify the planeswalker's loyalty abilities.

According to rule 306.5d of the November 11, 2016 edition of the Magic: The Gathering Comprehensive Rules, loyalty abilities are activated abilities that (typically) do not produce mana.

  306.5d Each planeswalker has a number of loyalty abilities, which are activated abilities with
  loyalty symbols in their costs. Loyalty abilities follow special rules: A player may activate a
  loyalty ability of a permanent he or she controls any time he or she has priority and the stack is
  empty during a main phase of his or her turn, but only if none of that permanent’s loyalty
  abilities have been activated that turn. See rule 606, “Loyalty Abilities.”

And this is echoed in rule 606.2 of the same compendium.

  606.2. An activated ability with a loyalty symbol in its cost is a loyalty ability. Normally, only
  planeswalkers have loyalty abilities

Additionally, as Jefromi pointed out, loyalty abilities are never mana abilities according to rule 605.1a

  605.1a An activated ability is a mana ability if it meets all of the following criteria: it doesn’t have a
  target, it could put mana into a player’s mana pool when it resolves, and it’s not a loyalty
  ability. (See rule 606, “Loyalty Abilities.”)


You can do as much purchasing as you like; each time a card is purchased, you draw a new one from the deck, which is available to purchase immediately. If you have somehow saved up 50 energy, you could buy many, many cards. There is no limit to how many cards you are allowed to own, but if you're collecting that much energy, somebody else has probably won already.

If you hate the cards that are available, you may spend 2 Energy to sweep all three available cards away into the discard pile, and replace them with new cards from the deck. You may do this repeatedly, at 2 Energy per time you sweep the cards, and you can do this both before and after buying a card. (You don't actually need to buy a card, either; if you only have 2 Energy, and your opponent is staring at a card you don't want him to have, you can sweep the cards without buying anything.)

(The above bits were paraphrased from the rules, under step three of your turn, "Buying Cards".)


One vs. Many is a fairly recent term concerning boardgames.  There aren't any dedicated lists on Boardgamegeek that I was able to find.  However, there is a tag by that name that you can use to find games.
Also, see the list of One Vs. Many games in a GeekList devoted to Cooperative games.
Cooperative Games
Cooperative games are also a type of game you may wish to consider.  It has become very popular in recent years.  Instead of contesting with each other, the players work together to beat "the game".  In many ways, the game system acts as the GM against the players.  The above list is very thorough if you want to see some examples.
Traitor Mechanic
Another related term to look for is boardgames with a Traitor mechanic. A game with a traitor is cooperative except for usually one traitor who works against everyone else.  However the identity of the traitor is not usually initially known.  These sorts of games can be a lot of fun if your group enjoys playing mental tricks on each other.  A geeklist, of games with a hidden traitor mechanic can be helpful in locating those.


Biome/nature board game- collecting animal cards from different environments

Would it perhaps be a variant of this Biomes Game? No poison dart frog; but it has some of the features you describe.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Biomes-Game-Full-Set-1888612


Can you built a settlement in the middle of someone else's road, or vice versa?

Yes. You can build the settlement in the middle of an opponent's road (as long as your own road connects to it and there is at least one gap before any other existing settlements).

Yes. It does affect the longest road: the road stops at the settlement for counting purposes, and starts again at the other side.

Yes. Both players who possess roads into an intersection have the option of building the third road out, regardless of whether a settlement is there or whose it is.


Am I right in understanding that if my supply drops due to losing territory, this won't affect my armies until the supply card is drawn?

That is correct: The army limit is based on your position on the Supply track, but the Supply track is not automatically adjusted during any of the game phases.  You would only adjust the Supply track (and thus your armies) when the a game effect explicitly commands it (i.e. a Supply card is drawn).

From page 8 of the official rules (second edition, but it plays the same as first edition in this case):

  Though a player may gain or lose Supply icons on the game
  board throughout one or more Action Phases, his armies
  are reconciled only when the Supply track is adjusted (via a
  “Supply” Westeros card, or other game effects).

(Note: The rules also calls out "other game effects" but off-hand I have no clue what those are, or if they're second-edition-exclusive.  From first edition, I don't recall ever needing to adjust the Supply track except from a card explicitly commanding me to.)

The "Supply Example" on that same page also calls this out more clearly (emphasis mine):

  Lannister has recently lost control of Riverrun and
  Seagard to Greyjoy (each of which contains a single Supply
  icon). During a later Westeros Phase, a “Supply” card is
  revealed. Due to the loss of these areas, Lannister must now
  adjust his actual Supply from 5 to 3.

  Before the “Supply” card is drawn, Lannister has four armies
  of 4, 3, 2, and 2 units.

Of note, the bolded text mentions that Lannister still had four armies before the Supply card is drawn (despite the territories being lost before then, given that the Supply card was drawn during "a later Westeros Phase").


If you have multiple planeswalkers, how many of their loyalty abilities can you use in a single turn?

306.5d Each planeswalker has a number of loyalty abilities, which are activated abilities with loyalty symbols in their costs. Loyalty abilities follow special rules: A player may activate a loyalty ability of a permanent they control any time they have priority and the stack is empty during a main phase of their turn, but only if none of that permanent’s loyalty abilities have been activated that turn. See rule 606, “Loyalty Abilities.”

The rules only say something about not activating a single planeswalker's loyalty abilities twice in a turn, not about a hard limit of one loyalty ability activation per player. Therefore, you can use one Ajani's ability first and then the other's ability in the same turn.


Rally the Righteous only targets one creature, and so it'll only trigger heroic on that specific creature. It says "untap target creature" — that's the one that gets targeted. It then further says "and each other creature that shares a color with it" — but it doesn't say "target" in that phrase anywhere, so you're not targeting any of those other creatures. (If it was targeting, it'd say something ike "each other target creature".)

If you target a multicolored creature, like the spell says, it'll affect any creature that shares any color with the one you untap. If you untap a red/white creature, you'll untap red creatures, white creatures, red/white creatures, red/blue, white/black, etc etc — because all of those have a color of at least red or white.


In Go (board game) under Chinese rulings how does the scoring of empty territory work?

It's already clear for you that a group with two eyes is alive.

By extension, a group that has enough room for two eyes is alive, even if the eyes are not formed.

At the end of the game, the human players would indicate - by a click for example - which stones are dead. The computer can then do the scoring.

If you expect the computer to figure out which stones are dead, then it needs to know how to play. There is now open source software that can do it, such as Leela Zero.


What are some common tactics to make runs against servers with unrezzed ICE in Netrunner?

Obviously it depends on the game-state, but here are some tips:

Be aware of how much money the Corp has. The less they have, the less dangerous the ICE they can afford to rez. (Also, don't forget that the more aggressively you run, the more they rez and the less money they have for other plans.)
Run on click one, especially against HB. Judge the threat of bioroids, which are cheap for how dangerous they are, but can be safely face-checked if you have clicks to spare.
Run with redundant cards, especially against Jinteki. You should already be aware of traps in Jinteki servers, but ICE can also hurt you. Related to this, if you have something you absolutely have to keep, get it on the table if you suspect damage from ICE. If you lose one card from a hand of five, of course you'll lose the one you could least afford to!
Run with a click (and two credits) to spare, especially against NBN (and some Weyland). Tags are a genuine threat, and Corps won't ever try to tag you without having something nasty round the corner. Scorched Earth is a game-defining card. Your last click should be reserved for clearing a tag until you know you won't need to.
Don't install any programs. Counter-intuitive, and kind of contradictory to installing cards you need, this makes you particularly resilient against program-trashing strategies. It's surprisingly viable to run very aggressively with no rig. Once you're being consistently kept out, slow down, build a rig and come back ready.
Forewarned is forearmed. Run HQ and R&D aggressively from the start. Missing an agenda is not a waste of a click at the start of the game. Learn from what you do see. You'll almost certainly see ICE at some point, so log it. Especially watch for out-of-faction ICE, or ICE that would be particularly punishing. (Obviously, this applies to more than just ICE.)


Strategies for playing The Masochist in Cosmic Encounter?

You should play as if you don't have an alien power, since Masochist's power is diametrically opposed to setting up 5 foreign colonies and it is extremely difficult to send all your ships to the warp.

I will assume that you are playing with the latest edition of Cosmic Encounter by Fantasy Flight Games, because the Masochist is only available in this version. From the rule book, there are 72 total Cosmic Cards (82 with Flares). If you are playing a 5 player game, then there is just a 38% chance that one of the other 4 players does not have Mobius Tubes in their opening hand. You only have a 18% chance of having drawn a Card Zap to prevent Mobius Tubes in your opening hand. Even without a Mobius Tubes being drawn, you have several things working against you.

The Regroup step isn't optional, so every turn you must return 1 ship to your colonies, which means that it would take a minimum of losing 7 Offensive Encounters (I will get to Defensive Encounters in a moment) instead of winning 5 Encounters. In general, your opponents should see you attempting this strategy long before you can actually win with it. They will avoid allowing you to lose ships quicker by preventing you from allying with them (so you cannot lose more than 4 ships a turn). Additionally, when you win your first offensive encounter, you are allowed to take another turn. You do not have the same luxury when losing encounters, so even the 7-5 ratio is a little bit misleading.

Once you have lost a planet in your color home system, all other colors can choose to attack your 0 defense planet in your home system. This means that it is even harder to lose ships on the defense, since any player that hasn't established a foreign colony on your home system can just attack your defenseless planet (the other ships are just bystanders), and not make you lose any more ships. When they do have to attack your home system with ships on it, they can always aim the Hyperspace Gate at the planet with the fewest ships on it.

As for when to hurt yourself, you might consider all the possible Flares, Cosmic Cards, and situations that would benefit/hinder your progress at losing all your ships.

Beneficial

Amoeba Flare: Its ability to allow you to lose up to 8 ships in a turn is useful.
Masochist Flare: Once you have your flare, you put a clock on your opponents.
Clone Flare: returning Plague would be useful.
Kamikaze Flare: Free sacrifice
Loser Flare: Auto losses each turn.
Machine: Two turns, although admittedly, this would be just as good if not better trying to get 5 foreign colonies.
Filch (Classic) Flare: cheat legally, returning whatever card you want from the discard/retrieve from the deck/etc. once per turn, or "lose a ship." I think I like those choices.
Negotiate Cards: These will ensure a loss, or at a minimum a loss of 3 ships if you cannot "come to a deal." Good thing these cards make up 15 of the 82 cards
Warrior Flare: Useful for extra attacks to lose ships after defense.

Harmful

Healer: Healer so definitively makes Masochist a non-power, since it can heal ships removed from the game.
Mobius Tubes: A complete setback.
Reincarnator and/or Flare: Can make you switch powers, whenever you lose.
Sorcerer Flare: Negate your power

You can only be certain of half of the Flares are in the deck, based upon the Aliens your opponents are playing as. The remaining 5 Flares are random. All in all, it is much more likely that your opponents will draw a Mobius Tubes, and you won't have a Card Zap to counter, than you will have a good selection of beneficial flares in the deck that you actually draw. Masochist is one of the weaker powers, and since you are allowed to choose between two different aliens at the start of the game, it might be best to consider which alien race is worse than Masochist.


What are the differences between the oldest (EON) version of Cosmic Encounter and the newest (Fantasy Flight)?

Here are most of the major changes (including expansions).  (Since a lot of Eon Cosmic fans also played the Mayfair 2nd ed, I've mentioned a it where relevant.)

Main gameplay

The basic game mechanics are unchanged.
Hand size is now 8.
Flares are Eon-style, not Mayfair-style (once played they return to the hand, and are only lost when a new hand is redrawn).
FFG counters allows for up to 8 players with all expansions.  Team play rules have just been added for once you go over 6.
The fixed player boards of Eon/Mayfair are replaced by separate coaster-sized planets.  This seems like a cosmetic change but it's not; several powers and flares now take advantage of the fact that planets can be moved around independently.  (e.g. one alien power actually steals whole planets.)
The main deck contains positive attack cards, negotiates, reinforcements, artifacts and flares.  The confusing array of Eon / Mayfair zaps have been simplified down to the Cosmic Zap (unchanged), and the Card Zap, which zaps artifacts, flares, and zaps.  There's also a 'morph' challenge card, which duplicates your opponent's challenge card.

Optional rules

Destiny cards:

In addition to the wild cards, three special destiny cards are included which all pick a 'well-off' player (e.g. fewest tokens in the warp).
The 'rewards reversed' destiny cards have been improved into an entire expansion mechanic, the hazard deck.  One card in each colour is a 'hazard' card which calls for an alternate rule for the encounter to be drawn.  This deck includes the old 'reversed ally rewards' rule, but also many others that change the encounter feel and require tactical adjustments (e.g. one hazard sends both players to the warp if the total of their attacks is too high).  Three of the cards are long-lasting; they change the rules for all encounters until another one of the three replaces them.

Removed: Most of the more random or bookkeeping-intense optional rules.

In particular, moons and lucre are gone. (Along with all powers that needed them.)

Added: Several major optional card decks.  The hazard deck is mentioned above; there are also:

Tech research.  If this rule is used, each player starts with a random tech card, which can be researched by putting tokens on it at the rate of one a turn until its cost is paid.  This means having fewer forces available on-board, in return for a reward later.
These powers can be low-cost and small, or expensive but extremely powerful.  (e.g. one card creates an entire new planet.)
Rewards deck.  Intended to make being a defensive ally a stronger option; defending allies may draw rewards from the main deck or this one.  This deck includes attack cards (including some negative cards, and not going as high as the main deck attack-30 and -40, but averaging pretty high), crooked negotiates which penalise your opponent more for not dealing, kickers, artifacts, and some cards which retrieve lost ships.  Those cards in this deck also explode and destroy tokens if an opponent ever steals them from you.  (Reward cards have different backs, to discourage being taken by theft powers.)

Powers

In general, the full range of classic powers have been included, but where there were several similar powers, FFG have picked only one.
Powers are rated by complexity, so that the hardest-to-use can easily be removed for beginners' games.
There are no powers that depend on certain optional rules being in play.  Any power will work in any game.  Some powers get better with certain rules in play, of course.
Powers or flares which had ambiguous or interpretative effects (Judge, Witch, etc.) have been reworded to be unambiguous.  (For old-school Eon players, some of the reworded flares have the original version included as an alternative.)
A significant number of new powers are added.  Generally they're well-designed, and surprisingly original - several do odd things with the basic game mechanics, like destroy planets or change the victory conditions.  Many are previewed in the news feed at Fantasy Flight's Cosmic Encounter website, so check there for examples.


When a creature is exiled with Nightmare Shepherd, does Teysa Karlov create two copies of the creature when dying?

You get two 2/2 zombie tokens and up to one 1/1 Doomed Dissenter token.

Both Doomed Dissenter's ability and Nightmare Shepherd's ability trigger twice on Doomed Dissenter's death (i.e. it moved from the battlefield to the graveyard).

  700.4. The term dies means “is put into a graveyard from the battlefield.”

These abilities are now on the stack. Dissenter's own ability will resolve, no matter what happens to the Doomed Dissenter card in the graveyard, and you will eventually get 2 zombie tokens.

When it comes to resolving Nightmare Shepherd's ability, assuming you choose to exile the Dissenter card with the first instance, you get a 1/1 Dissenter token. The second Shepherd ability will no longer have a Dissenter card to exile, so that instance does nothing. If you don't choose to exile the Dissenter with the first ability, you can still do so with the second.

There are no replacement effects involved with these cards. None of the abilities have the words "instead" or any other term required for identifying as a replacement effect.

  614.1a Effects that use the word “instead” are replacement effects. Most replacement effects use the word “instead” to indicate what events will be replaced with other events.


tap and sacrificing an already tapped land to get it's ability

No, for two reasons.

Evolving Wilds' ability has the tap symbol in its cost. If it is already tapped, then you can't pay that cost, so you can't activity the ability.

Worse, you can't even tap it for 1 colorless mana in the first place! Evolving Wilds has no ability that lets you tap it for mana whatsoever.

You can tap basic lands for mana because the rules grants them an ability to do so, but that ability is only granted to basic lands (Plains, Islands, Mountains, Forests and Swamps). You can't tap other lands for mana unless they have an ability allowing it.


Can Silent Gravestone prevent someone from casting an Aftermath spell from the graveyard?

If you cast Memory from a graveyard, nothing is targeting a card in graveyard. Therefore Silent Gravestone won't prevent you casting Memory. When Memory resolves, both players shuffle their hand and graveyard into their library, then draw seven cards. Silent Gravestone only prevents the casting of a spell (or ability) that targets a card or cards in a graveyard.


Who determines the target creature or player when a card says "deals 1 damage to target creature or player"?

Whoever controls Vigilante Justice chooses the targets. The ability is a triggered ability, and the rules for triggered abilities say

603.3a A triggered ability is controlled by the player who controlled its source at the time it triggered, unless it's a delayed triggered ability. To determine the controller of a delayed triggered ability, see rules 603.7d–f.
603.3d The remainder of the process for putting a triggered ability on the stack is identical to the process for casting a spell listed in rules 601.2c–d. If a choice is required when the triggered ability goes on the stack but no legal choices can be made for it, or if a rule or a continuous effect otherwise makes the ability illegal, the ability is simply removed from the stack.
601.2c The player [who controls the ability] announces his or her choice of an appropriate player, object, or zone for each target the spell requires.

The "source" of the ability is the object that has the ability, which in this case is Vigilante Justice, so Vigilante Justice's controller controls the ability. When the ability triggers, as part of the process of putting it on the stack, that player chooses the targets.


How to teach strategic thinking to non-gamer players?

Talk about it.

That's it; make the game a topic of conversation. Talk about it at random moments. Talk about your strategy when you're breaking out the game to play again. Talk about other players' moves while they're moving, and what plans they might be laying. Talk about how to break up an opponent's strategy, or even how to break up your own strategy. When the game ends, talk about how the winner pulled it off.

You should try to avoid boring the other people to death, of course, but the mere act of hearing about how you can plan for (some particular game) will put more tools in their toolbox the next time they play. These "non-strategic" players haven't put much thought into how to win these games, and probably don't know how you can do long-term planning for those games. Most games have a particular strategy that works well; some work best with purely-tactical moves, some work best when you've planned your strategy 15 turns ahead, some work with a mix of strategic planning and proper tactics as opportunities crop up. If you really want these players to improve, and they haven't figured it out themselves, share your hard-earned insights into the game. Don't keep your secret game-winning strategy to yourself just because you're a knowledge miser.

To illustrate, here are a few examples of things I didn't even realize were important until long after I started playing that particular game. (I make no claims to being a genius.) Withholding key insights from games can really cripple someone's ability to play well. Share some insights like these, and they'll start seeing how the game is more subtle than it initially looks.

Puerto Rico: you can screw other players by choosing Captain to force players to ship their valuable trade goods, and Craftsman is frequently a bad move.

Glory to Rome: it's a bad idea to play Craftsman cards to lead the Craftsman role, because the player to your left will Patron, and pick up a Craftsman client. Playing Craftsman cards to follow the role is only a good move if the player to your right led the Craftsman action.

Dominion: Coppers are bad, and should be actively removed if reasonably possible. If you want to afford Provinces, you really have to get your average-coins-per-card up.

Race for the Galaxy: I still don't understand how to do a proper mix of military and trading strategies. Sure, there are plenty of developments that support both, and no military tableau should purely be military developments and military worlds, but the major source of victory points for a military strategy is the high-value military worlds, right?

Power Grid: Don't buy a power plant every round; only do it when it's a significant improvement over what you already have.


Where can I find the rules for Game of Life 1991 UK version?

I haven't been able to find them online anywhere, but I believe I can narrow your search.

This particular box was marketed exclusively to Great Britain, which makes them less popular than most English versions which were aimed at US buyers. Thus it's likely no one ever bothered to upload a pdf version of the game. Although the copyright is 1992, it's called the 1991 UK edition.

You can verify that it is the Great Britain marketed version by checking the bottom left corner (assuming you're looking at it with University going left and Career going right, as you do in your photo) and seeing the characters 4560GB written vertically. It's quite small, but is just next to the Hurricane tile.

You can ask Hasbro themselves for the rules to this edition at their customer service website at https://hasbro-new.custhelp.com/app/utils/login_form/redirect/ask (note, a login is required) or you can write them at

  Hasbro UK Ltd
  PO BOX 43
  Newport
  Gwent
  NP19 4YH

I hope this helps focus your efforts on finding the rulebook appropriate for your game!


What is the maximum number of dice you can roll in Arkham Horror 2nd Edition?

There is no maximum number of dice you can roll - it is infinite as the rules never explicitly call out a maximum dice total.

Considering the mechanics of the game though the extreme theoretical limit would be somewhere over 70 (but likely less than 80).

In theory....

I don't have the time to go through every card to work it out, but given the example from the rulebook as a basis where Ashcan Pete has 16 dice (it was 13 after accounting for the monster he was facing), we could easily add a further 2 by replacing his .45 Automatic with another copy of Shrivelling, bringing us to 18.

We then account for the fact there should be 48 Clue tokens in the game according to the rulebook (extremely unlikely a player could ever get all of them, but we are talking pure theory here), we are up to 66 dice.

Then considering a few monsters give a positive combat modifier, and some skills give further bonuses, and (it's been a long time so I don't quite remember) there may be character abilities that can add a few more points (situationally or by spending resources), we could push past 70 dice for a single combat roll.

In actuality....

Around 15 dice will do in most real cases, and any player who does stack up a larger hit has the satisfaction of rolling multiple handfuls of dice (and the pain of keeping a running tally if they really want to roll all of them).

My personal copy of the game has 30+ dice, but that is more for spreading them around the table within easy reach of all players, than in the expectation of a massive roll.


How many cards can I gain in a buy phase with a single buy?

You can gain over 200 extra cards without using extra buys.  The limit to the number of buys will come from component limits rather than anything inherent in the game, the most important number being the number of each treasure card you play with (as there are at baseline only 136 cards to gain).  Ignoring that, the number of types of kingdom cards and the number of each kingdom card in play is also a substantial limitation as you can only pick a subset of the following abilities to use together in an actual game.

Mechanisms of gaining extra cards

There are four distinct ways to gain extra cards during the buy phase.

Extra buys.  This is the normal way, and so is not what we're considering here.  Via action chaining and action replication, the limit on extra buys you can get comes purely from component limits.
Action hacks.  The Innovation project lets you play an action card during your buy phase, and there are a bunch of actions that let you gain cards.
Triggered abilities that cause you to gain cards.
Free cards.  Treasure Chest gives you an extra card every buy phase.

All of this assumes arbitrary setup and that you are going to buy a King's Court for maximum action hacking.

Action Hacks (260 extra cards*)

Have the following in your hand:

9 King's Courts
10 Throne Rooms
9 Thieves
9 Beggars
9 Remakes
9 Develops

Now when you buy a King's Court, you use that to play an extensive tree of King's Courts and Throne Rooms, which will letting you then play a bunch of other action cards that will happen many times.  I believe the optimal way to play it is Throne Rooms first and King's Courts second, giving you ability to play 18 actions 3x each and 11 actions 2x each.

If we rig the game (let's say everyone is playing big money with massive decks) and it's 6 player, Thief will gain you five cards every time, so that's one of the one we want to use on the 3x actions.  Beggar gives the second most (3 cards per shot), so this is what we want to use the rest of the 3x actions on.  This is already 216 cards*.  We can then use the remaining 2x actions on Develop/Remake (2 cards per shot) for another 44 cards.

* This number may be lower in practice depending on how many coppers (and silver if you use Trader) are in the supply.

Triggered Abilities (100+ extra cards)

The cards in this category I know of that work with the action hack above are:

Haggler
Cache
Border Village
Death Cart
Market Square
Catacombs
Hunting Grounds
Skulk

(Hoard and Port aren't going to work because they only trigger off of buying a certain type of card.)

Taking component limits into account, we're only going to be able to use 10 of each of the triggered ability cards.  The cards listed above let you gain over 100 extra cards (given we have some way to trash cards during the buy phase).

Maximum without projects (50 extra cards)

Without using the Innovation project, the limit here is going to be the most triggers we can chain off of one buy.

In this case, I believe the optimal move is to play 10x Hagglers, 10x Hoards, and then buy a Province.  This will let you get 20 extra cards, 10 of which can be Border Villages, which can in turn let you get 10 Caches or Death Cards, which will give you 20 more cards.  This gives you a total of 50 extra cards.


Is the China Card removed from the Early War deck before the initial shuffle in Twilight Struggle?

Yes, the china card is removed from the Early War cards before the shuffle.  You are right, it is harder to make a mistake with your explanation.  However I think that the rules are clear as they are.
As a side note, there is a computer implementation of the game that enforce the rules. Playing that version can help discover rules that you might have missed.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/406290/Twilight_Struggle/


No, you cannot.

614.6. If an event is replaced, it never happens. A modified event occurs instead, which may in turn trigger abilities. Note that the modified event may contain instructions that can’t be carried out, in which case the impossible instruction is simply ignored.
614.7. If a replacement effect would replace an event, but that event never happens, the replacement effect simply doesn’t do anything.

Once you choose to apply the first Life from the Loam's ability, you are no longer drawing a card; you are instead milling 3 and returning the card to your hand.  Thus, as soon as you apply one replacement effect (and replacement effects must be applied one after the other), there is no card draw for the other Life from the Loam to replace, and so you can't dredge twice.


Are you allowed to move backward on a monopoly board?

No.  moves after rolling dice are clockwise/forward.
from the rules here

Place your token on the corner marked "GO," throw the dice and move
your token in the direction of the arrow the number of spaces
indicated by the dice. After you have completed your play, the turn
passes to the left. The tokens remain on the spaces occupied and
proceed from that point on the player's next turn.

The direction of the arrow is pointing clockwise; on future turns you "proceed" from that point.  There is no choice as to direction moved under normal Monopoly rules.
The exceptions are is a card tells you to move backwards. Or if you're playing with the speed dice then

If you roll a three-of-a-kind (all of the dice show the same number),
you can move anywhere you want on the board!

But under standard rules you move clockwise only.


What spaces are considered not 'in Arkham'

From the Arkham Horror FAQ:

  The Sky is considered part of Arkham (since it is on the Arkham board)

And

  A monster that is arriving in Arkham is moved to the Outskirts if its arrival would exceed the monster limit.

So the sky is considered part of Arkham. The outskirts are never considered part of arkham.

(Also, it is impossible for Cthonians and Dholes to get to the sky)


What variables should a Zendo game contain if it's being played with new players?

The most basic, and easily visible, attributes are best for beginning players are the most obvious and easy to see. Color, size, basic orientation, number of pieces.

Rules that involve simple combinations of these attributes are good (a koan has the Buddha nature if it has a small red piece). Rules that have too many relations going on (touching, pointing) at once are somewhat more difficult (a koan has the Buddha nature if it has a small red piece touching a large green piece). Rules that involve pip count arithmetic can be quite difficult for beginning players. Rules with an "and" in them (a koan has the Buddha nature if it has a red piece and a flat piece) are OK for beginning players, as long as they aren't too complicated; an "or" (a koan has the Buddha nature if it has a red piece or a flat piece) are more difficult and should probably be avoided at first.

There are a few features that can be fairly non-obvious or hard to express for beginners (groundedness, weird orientation) and so should probably be avoided at first and introduced slowly. Also, introducing non-standard relationships (corner pointing, nesting without touching) should be avoided until people have a little more familiarity with the game.

Another way to simplify the game for beginners is to remove one color. With only three colors, it becomes much easier to figure out and test rules that involve colors.

One thing to remember with Zendo is that it's almost always better to err on the side of a rule that's too easy rather than a rule that's too hard. It's frustrating when no one figures out the rule in Zendo. It's very easy to come up with a rule that's too hard, especially if you're trying to be "clever" about it (one of the more frustrating rules I've played with was "the sum of yellow and blue pips must be a fibonacci number"; that was especially bad, because 0, 1, 2, 3, and 5 are all fibonacci numbers, and you run out of pieces quickly when trying to test higher numbers to figure out the pattern).


If it's somewhere other than on the stack or if it's fused, a split card's CMC is the sum of each half's CMC.

708.4. In every zone except the stack, the characteristics of a split card are those of its two halves combined. This is a change from previous rules.
708.4b The mana cost of a split card is the combined mana costs of its two halves. A split card’s colors and converted mana cost are determined from its combined mana cost.
Example: Assault/Battery’s mana cost is {3}{R}{G}. It’s a red and green card with a converted mana cost of 5.  If you cast Assault, the resulting spell is a red spell with a converted mana cost of 1.

708.4b is rather poorly worded. As the example shows, the mana cost and converted mana cost of a split card is only the combined mana costs or converted mana costs of its two halves when it's not on the stack or when it's fused.


Where can I find price-lists for Star Trek CCG cards?

Ebay is a good way to offload cards, although the "value" you get is sometimes questionable. For example, the Future Enterprise can sell for anything from £20 to £40 depending who is watching/buying, but then you might buy 1,000 cards for £12 and get 2 of them (i've recently won a bid for 1,000+ cards for £22, and the only reason I went this high is because I could see a small stack of cards which i have hardly any from that set!).

Bulk sales will sell the cards quicker, and will get more people at least watching, but you will get less in return. I have tried to sell stacks of 200 randoms starting at £2, but had no interest at all - yet a friend sold half-a-dozen 3/4 card lots for £1-2 each, simply because the buyers could see the cards.

If you know your cards, it might be worth splitting them into lots of 3/4 Rares, and start these listed at £1 or some similar value. You again will be unlikely to get their full "value" but will get more from a sizable collection than either blind-bulk sales, or holding on to them for a "rainy day" - because as people have said, they are unlikely to increase in price.

Depending what you have... I might even be interested!! :¬D


You could draw a 2D array of 2D boards, like this:

▢▢▢ ▢▢▢ ▢b▢
aaa ▢▢▢ ▢▢▢
▢▢▢ ▢▢▢ ▢▢▢

▢▢▢ ▢▢▢ ▢▢▢
▢▢▢ ▢b▢ ▢▢▢
▢▢▢ ▢▢▢ ▢▢▢

c▢▢ ▢▢▢ ▢▢▢
▢▢▢ ▢c▢ ▢▢▢
▢b▢ ▢▢▢ ▢▢c

You'd probably want a 4x4 array of 4x4 boards, though I used 3s everywhere instead to make the example smaller. The example shows a few of the many winning lines (a-c). If it's not clear what counts as a winning line, let's go back to 2D tic-tac-toe and think in terms of coordinates. You could label the normal 2D board like this:

(0,0) (1,0) (2,0)
(0,1) (1,1) (2,1)
(0,2) (1,2) (2,2)

You win by getting a straight line of 3. A straight line will always be one where each coordinate either increases by 1, decreases by 1, or stays the same. So you can win with (2,0), (1,1), and (0,2) because the first coordinate is decreasing by 1 and the second increases by 1.

Higher-dimensional tic-tac-toe works the same way! So in 4D tic-tac-toe we'd use 4 coordinates - in the visualization above, 2 for which board and 2 for where on that board. Then a winning line follows the same rule, e.g. line b above is (2,0,1,0), (1,1,1,1), and (0,2,1,2): the first coordinate (which column of boards you are on) continually decreases by 1, the second coordinate (which row of boards) increases by 1, the third (which column of a given board) stays the same, and the fourth (which row of a given board) increases by 1.


Princess & Dragon with Traders & Builders

Yes,

The dragon eliminates followers, builders and pigs according to the Carcassonne annotated FAQ p37.

  Whenever the
  dragon enters a tile occupied by game figures (followers, builders or pigs), they are all returned to
  the relevant player

The rules on what happens to a builder or pig when the last follower is removed from a feature have changed since the initial release of the rules.  The Carcassonne Big Box contains this rule.

  When a player’s last thief, knight, or farmer is removed from a road or city with a
  builder, or field with a pig, the player takes take his builder or pig, putting it in his supply

Just noticed that the Carcassonne Big Box 3 is available.  I checked and the rules are the same in there for this situation.


In Axis and Allies, Should An Attacker Be Allowed to Relinquish Certain "Prerogatives?"

In the case of Karelia versus Norway, the infantry must attack; all attacks other than sub sneak-attacks are considered simultaneous, and you've already declared your attackers, so you must go down the line and attack with everything.

If you didn't want to take Norway, you shouldn't have attacked with so many models.  You can always place your reinforcements in Karelia at the end of the turn.


As GendoIkari mentioned in a comment, the way you've asked your question makes me wonder if you may misinterpreting what Insult does. It does two things:

Stops damage from being prevented this turn, if anything would otherwise prevent damage
Doubles damage dealt by sources you control, if any source you control would deal damage

Without Insult's effects, when you attack with your 4/4 creature and your opponent blocks with their 4/4, your creature would deal 4 damage to theirs and theirs would deal 4 damage to yours, killing both. But what actually happens instead, taking into account Insult's effects, is this:

Insult stops damage from being prevented, but nothing is preventing any damage, so that effect doesn't do anything
Insult doubles damage dealt by sources you control, so the 4 damage your creature would deal to your opponent's is doubled to 8

Thus your creature deals 8 damage to your opponent's, and your opponent's creature deals 4 damage to yours, meaning that they both die.

Insult's first effect, which stops damage prevention, is only relevant if someone plays a spell like Djeru's Resolve, controls a permanent like Protection of the Hekma, or activates an ability like the +1 loyalty ability on Gideon, Ally of Zendikar. All of these may normally cause some damage to be prevented, which you can tell because they include the phrase "prevent...damage".1 Insult stops these kinds of damage prevention effects from working.

1It can happen that damage is prevented without something explicitly saying "prevent...damage", such as with the protection ability, but I don't believe any recent cards (current Standard) have that ability.


Who dies if Defenderer has the 2nd most votes?

The rules for the Defenderer:

The rules for the role are that the Defenderer protects whoever they point to except in the case where the Defenderer herself has the most votes in which case the person she is pointing to is instead caught.

The situation:

The Defenderer pointed to another player, let's call him Player 1.
Player 1 received the most votes.
The Defenderer has the second most votes.

The resolution:

The Defenderer does not have the most votes, so the exception does not apply.
Player 1 has the most votes, but he is protected by the Defenderer so Player 1 is not caught.
The player with the second most votes, the Defenderer, is next. So she is caught.


How does Ashaya, Soul of the Wild interact with Blood Moon?

When Ashaya and Blood Moon are on the battlefield at the same time, no matter their relative timestamps, Ashaya will die immediately as a state-based action. Your other creatures are briefly mountain creatures with no relevant abilities.
Blood Moon's effect depends on Ashaya's effect:

613.8a An effect is said to “depend on” another if (a) it’s applied in the same layer (and, if applicable, sublayer) as the other effect; (b) applying the other would change the text or the existence of the first effect, what it applies to, or what it does to any of the things it applies to; and (c) neither effect is from a characteristic-defining ability or both effects are from characteristic-defining abilities. Otherwise, the effect is considered to be independent of the other effect.

Both effects are applied in layer 4, type-changing effects (a), applying Ashaya changes what objects Blood Moon would apply to (b), and neither are characteristic-defining effects (c). Therefore, Blood Moon depends on Ashaya, and the normal timestamp system for ordering effects within a layer is not used:

613.8. Within a layer or sublayer, determining which order effects are applied in is sometimes done using a dependency system. If a dependency exists, it will override the timestamp system.

Because of the dependency, Ashaya is applied first:

613.8b An effect dependent on one or more other effects waits to apply until just after all of those effects have been applied. [..]

Your creatures are now non-basic forests with all their abilities intact, plus "T: Add G":

305.8. Any land with the supertype “basic” is a basic land. Any land that doesn’t have this supertype is a nonbasic land, even if it has a basic land type.

305.6. The basic land types are Plains, Island, Swamp, Mountain, and Forest. If an object uses the words “basic land type,” it’s referring to one of these subtypes. An object with the land card type and a basic land type has the intrinsic ability “{T}: Add [mana symbol],” even if the text box doesn’t actually contain that text or the object has no text box. [..]

Next, Blood Moon is applied and can affect your creatures. By setting a land to mountain, that land loses all abilities from its printed rules text, it loses the "T: Add G" ability from the forst type, and it gains "T: Add R" from the mountain type:

305.7. If an effect sets a land’s subtype to one or more of the basic land types, the land no longer has its old land type. It loses all abilities generated from its rules text, its old land types, and any copy effects affecting that land, and it gains the appropriate mana ability for each new basic land type. Note that this doesn’t remove any abilities that were granted to the land by other effects. Setting a land’s subtype doesn’t add or remove any card types (such as creature) or supertypes (such as basic, legendary, and snow) the land may have. If a land gains one or more land types in addition to its own, it keeps its land types and rules text, and it gains the new land types and mana abilities.

That means all your non-token creatures, including Ashaya, are mountain lands in addition to their other types, and they have no abilities except "T: Add R".
Ashayas's power and toughness are defined through a characteristic-defining ability. Her power and toughness are undefined if she loses that ability, and thus treated as zero.

107.2. If anything needs to use a number that can’t be determined, either as a result or in a calculation, it uses 0 instead.

Ashaya is now a 0/0 creature, and goes to the graveyard the next time a player would gain priority. All other non-token creatures you control revert back to being only creatures, with all their abilities.
You will generally not be able to generate mana from any of your creatures while they are mountains. Mana abilities don't use the stack, but you still need to have priority (or be required to pay a mana cost) in order to activate them.


In Lords of Waterdeep, how is Accelerated Plans played?

No, that is incorrect. On your turn, you first place an agent in Waterdeep Harbor, and then, as a result of doing so, you get to play an Intrigue card. So by the time you play that card, you automatically have at least 1 agent in the Harbor (the one you just played).

Now it is possible to play an Intrigue card in other ways, such as a reward for completing a quest. In this case, it's possible that you wouldn't have an agent in the Harbor.

See discussion on this same question here: http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/781681/question-about-accelerate-plans-intrigue-card


If a "Protection from" effect negates damage, is it still considered "damage dealt"?

No, damage which is prevented is not dealt at all.

615.1a Effects that use the word “prevent” are prevention effects. Prevention effects use “prevent” to indicate what damage will not be dealt.
615.6. If damage that would be dealt is prevented, it never happens. [...]