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How to Play

Radlands

2-2 players 20-40 min 7.8 Board Game Geek Rating

In this post-apocalyptic dueling card game, players lead survivor tribes battling to destroy each other's three camps. Using water as your primary resource, deploy people and events while leveraging powerful card synergies. Cards from a shared deck can be played normally or discarded for immediate benefits. Victory requires strategic resource management and tactical timing.

Published 2021

Radlands

Get Ready

Setup the game with these step-by-step instructions before diving into your turn.

1
Position players
Sit on opposite sides of the table facing each other
2
Shuffle camp deck
Shuffle and place the camp deck in the center, accessible to both players
3
Place extra water supply
Place the black extra water discs in the center of the table
4
Prepare draw deck
Shuffle and place the draw deck (46 person cards & 20 event cards), leaving space for a discard pile beside it
5
Draw camp cards
Each player draws 6 cards from the camp deck
6
Select camps
Place 3 of your drawn camps facedown in your play area in a row, leaving space for 2 cards in front of each camp for people
7
Reveal camps
When both players have selected, flip your camps faceup and return all unselected camps and the camp deck to the box
8
Take personal cards
Each player takes a Water Silo and Raiders card, placing them faceup in their play area
9
Form water supply
Each player takes 3 white water discs to form their personal supply
10
Take player aid
Each player takes a player aid card
11
Draw starting hand
Draw cards equal to the total sum shown in the black rectangles on your three camps
12
Determine start player
Flip a water disc; if it lands water side up, you are the start player

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

1
Resolve ready events
If you have an event in the 1-bomb space, resolve its effect and discard it
2
Advance event queue
Move all events in your queue 1 space forward toward your opponent
3
Draw a card
Draw one card from the draw deck
4
Collect water
Collect your 3 water discs for use this turn
5
Play person card
Place a person from your hand in front of any camp, spending water equal to its cost
6
Play event card
Place an event in your event queue in the space matching its numbered bomb icon
7
Draw card action
Spend 2 water to draw a card from the draw deck
8
Junk card
Discard a card from your hand to receive the junk effect shown in the top left corner
9
Take Water Silo
Spend 1 water to take your Water Silo into your hand for future junking
10
Use ability
Use an ability on one of your ready camps or people
11
Resolve raid icon
When gaining a raid, play or advance your Raiders event
12
Mark zero-cost cards
When using a 0-cost ability or playing a 0-cost card, mark it as not ready with an extra water disc showing the pink dash
13
Actions cleanup
When finished, return all water and extra water discs to their respective supplies
14
Damage cards
Turn damaged cards sideways; if damaged again, destroy them
15
Destroy cards
Destroyed people are discarded; destroyed camps are flipped to their destroyed side; destroyed punks return facedown to the top of the draw deck
16
Restore cards
Rotate one of your damaged cards upright; if a person, mark it as not ready
17
Check ready status
Camps are always ready unless an ability was used this turn; people are not ready if played, restored, used an ability this turn, or are damaged
18
Protect cards
Cards with at least one of your cards in front of them are protected and cannot be targeted by standard damage effects

Winning

How to claim victory.

1
Destroy all opponent camps
You win immediately when all three of your opponent's camps are destroyed
2
Deck depletion first time
If the deck runs out during the game, shuffle the discard pile to form a new deck
3
Deck depletion second time
If the deck runs out a second time, the game ends in a draw

watch & Learn

Let the pros teach you with these top videos.

How to Play RADLANDS!

How to Play RADLANDS!

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Radland Rules and Review

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FULL rules

Looking for the full details? Grab the complete rulebook as a downloadable PDF.

PDF RULEBOOK

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