This is a simple “trick” to speed up the setup and play of Blackstone Fortress.

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I liked the idea and vibe of the 2018 game Blackstone Fortress. After playing a bunch of it before the pandemic - I’ve been thinking of ways to tweak it so it’s smoother to play. This is the first of these “mods” and it’s the simplest. (… and I haven’t done a real post in a while so … how’s this?)

This won’t change the “ease” of the game - just make bookkeeping easier.

Unified Exploration Mod

Moist of the time - you’re tasked with separating the “Challenge” and “Combat” cards when making the “Exploration” deck The Exploration deck is then built as an “eight card” deck with four of each. We believe that this can be simplified by leaving the cards in one “deck.”

To do this;

1. combine all relevant Exploration cards into one deck
2. shuffle as usual
3. draw (or redraw) a card from the mega-deck as usual
   • if it’s the 8th card; treat it as you usually would treat the 8th card for the Exploration deck
   • if it’s the 4th Challenge or 4th Combat card; burry it and redraw

You’ll need to keep a pile of “drawn” Exploration cards … but … that’s a small price to pay - right? If you’re using some other type of expedition, with some other numbers; adapt those accordingly.

Anyway … follow me on Twitter to see the next one and more shenanigans. They should be more … elaborate.