Read the board before the card
Ordinary movement follows spaces sharing a full border. Corner contact is insufficient. Castle walls are not a route. A pawn may use less than the printed movement allowance. House pawns cannot backtrack within the same turn. [pp.10, 25]
House pawns need an applicable card effect to cross an obstacle. Dark Arts ignores the four obstacle types, but cannot enter or pass through Protected Areas. Do not treat an obstacle and a castle wall as interchangeable. [pp.10, 20]
Special routes
A card must allow a Fly Off Point transfer; that transfer itself costs no movement. Secret Passageways require an appropriate card, are available to House players only, and cost one movement point. Their coloured symbols identify the paired entrances. [p.10]
Who moved into whom?
This is the first question when opposing pawns meet. There is no separate generic duel sequence to invent.
A House pawn ends its move with a Dark Arts pawn
Stun both pieces by laying them on their sides. The House player relocates the Dark Arts pawn to an adjacent space, following the board restrictions. A stunned pawn cannot be moved by movement or effects until recovered. [p.16]
A Dark Arts pawn ends its move with a House pawn
This is a bump. If several House pawns are present, choose one. Send that House pawn to the Great Hall and return the attacking Dark Arts pawn to its reserve. Take that house’s Marker if not already held. Collecting every participating House Marker advances the Dark Arts path once and returns the Markers. [p.20]
As the final step of resolving a bump, the Dark Arts player inspects two cards from its Acquire deck, puts one on top of its draw deck and returns the other beneath the Acquire deck. This acquisition occurs only once per turn, even if more than one bump happened. [p.20]
What a bonus space does
A House pawn must finish movement on the space to trigger its bonus; passing across it is insufficient. Its icon determines which bonus applies: card acquisition, drawing one card, or another turn. [pp.10–11, 24]
Worked check
Suppose a card shows 3 + 3. You may move one pawn up to six spaces, or two different pawns up to three each. You cannot move one two spaces and the other four. This example teaches the allocation rule; it does not recommend a particular route. [pp.16, 20]
Avoid these encounter mistakes
- A House stun and a Dark Arts bump are separate procedures, not a generic duel.
- Do not treat a castle wall as an obstacle that Dark Arts can ignore.
- Passing a bonus space does not trigger it, and its icon determines the effect.
- The bump acquisition reward resolves during the bump procedure and is limited to once per turn. [pp.10–11, 16, 20]
Next
House turns explains recovery and bonus actions. Dark Arts turns explains reserve deployment and the path.