Rise of the Kage FAQ for the printed rules

(Nov 2015)
1. If a ninja is detected but all guards in the area are unalerted
what can the guards do to the ninja during their turn?
Unalerted guards can attempt to detect a ninja regardless of
whether it is detected or undetected in order to become alert.

2. Is the Boss counted as a guard?

Yes (although he cannot be deployed in setup).

3. Is the Boss always Alert?

Yes.

4. When a detected ninja starts his turn next to an alert guard, are
his options (a) move away (automatically creating a noise token
from the auto-failed evade check) or (b) try and attack the guard,
potentially using a stealth dice to avoid any noise being generated?
Yes, those are both correct and viable options. He could also open a
door, exchange equipment or make a ranged attack.

5. How about if one ninja has no stealth die; I presume this means
that can no longer search? Or are they allowed to "try" and search,
auto-fail, at least to get a card?
They cannot search; you need a stealth die to perform a stealth
action.

6. The rules seem to regard diagonally-connected squares as

adjacent. And it says melee attacks can be made against adjacent
targets. But can melee attacks be made against squares which the
model could not reach in 1 movement point; e.g. diagonally through
a doorway, or around a corner?
Yes, attacks can be made against models diagonally through
doorways or across corners.

7. Does that mean you can make a range attack diagonally around
corners, through doorways as long as you have LoS?
Yes, the requirement for a ranged attack are that the targeted
model is within LoS, the weapons range. Additionally in the case of
guard models the targeted ninja has to be detected and in the
guard’s AoI.

8. Is it true that as long as a ninja has the appropriate dice (stealth

dice in this case) they can perform actions. As a follow-on corollary
of that, it would never make sense to roll 2 or more stealth dice to
search for a tile; the ninja would always be better off rolling those
dice individually, to potentially get more equipment (should earlier
attempts fail)?
Yes that is correct.

9. We had a situation where a ninja wanted to round the corner, fire

their bow, then retreat back a few squares. So can multiple move
tokens occupy one square? In the end, given the corridor is two
squares wide, the player just used the full width of the corridor to
prevent this, which created the interesting layout of move tokens
such that there was no clearly defined path - he was just
surrounded by move tokens in every direction! I presume in this
(less common) situation, the ninja is still supposed to abide by the
intended path they laid out, even though the arrangement of move
tokens could actually allow several different paths due to their
clumping?
Yes, multiple move tokens can occupy one square. In this case the
ninja player should be trusted to make their move as planned.

10. I presume the ninja have no hand limit; they can collect in hand
as many bonuses and equipment cards as they would like?
Yes that is correct, a ninja player may have an unlimited hand size
but how many cards they can play is restricted by the number of
equipment slots available on the ninja player mat.

11. I also presume ninja cannot swap equipment cards without first
adding them to a ninja's mat, meaning the act of trading forces
them to assign the equipment onto a ninja's playmat?
Ninja players can trade cards from their hand or their ninja
playmat.

12. Once equipment added to a slot, is there anyway of removing

the equipment other than trading? E.g. can equipment be
voluntarily discarded at any stage to make room for a new piece?
Yes they can be discarded, however cards cannot be taken back
into the hand.

13. When can ninja cards be played?

Event: Immediately
Bonus: Any time
Equipment: Only during their activation

15. I wonder whether bonus cards should be treated similarly to the

bosses and guard cards (i.e. can only play a bonus card if there is a
spare slot on the playmat of the ninja). The other issue is do the
Ninjas pool their cards or should each one keep their own hand of
cards that they gather?
Yes a free equipment slot is needed on the ninja play mat. Each
ninja keep their own pool of cards.
16. I presume there is a plastic limit for guards of each type on the
board?
There is no limit to the number of guards that can be played. If you
have none available then you cannot play a guard.

17. When are alert effects applied E.g. a ninja makes some noise,
moving the alert level up to the "Alert two guards" special space.
Can I immediately alert two guards, say ones standing right next to
the ninja who made the noise? Or does this effect wait until the end
of the ninja's move / start of the guards turn? I ask as some of
these effects can be very disruptive for the current ninja's move
The effects are applied to the alert level at the start of the guard
player’s turn.

18. Where can guards be placed during setup?

Anywhere.

19. When can cards relating to lanterns and bells be played?

These can only be played in the guard turn.

20. "When do I use escape cards?

When a mission's value or special requirement is met, and the ninja
need to escape, draw a card from the escape deck to designate
where the ninja need to escape from.

21. Combat test after trap token - How many dice does the guard
player roll for this test? It is not a guard performing this test, so
there is no hint.
A single dice, remember this test is modified by the ninja’s reaction
value as found on the ninja play mats.

22. What happens when a detected ninja leaves the AOI of an

alerted guard?
If a detected ninja enters OR leaves the AoI of an alerted guard
they automatically fail the stealth test and make a noise (see the
evade action).

23. Can the guard player play a recruitment card during the ninja
turn and then possibly put the recruited guard close to the
movement path of a ninja or should recruitment cards only be
played when the guard player can recruit guards?
No, recruitment cards can only be played in the guard turn.