Plains Indian Wars Gameplay Overview

Actions

• Major Faction Turn (NPT, SPT, Cavalry, Settlers) — When a major faction disc is drawn, that player plays cards from their hand, places cubes, moves groups, and resolves engagements.
• Placing Cubes (NPT/SPT) — Indian players place cubes from the Ready Box into controlled regions matching their faction color.
• Placing Cubes (Cavalry) — Cavalry cubes enter play through the St. Louis or Sacramento Boxes.
• Placing Cubes (Settlers) — Settler cubes enter play through the St. Louis or Sacramento Boxes.
• Movement — Groups of cubes move from one adjacent region to the next, up to the number of regions allowed by the card played.
• Railroad Movement — U.S. players may use one group move to transfer cubes along the completed railroad track.
• Influenced Movement — Friendly faction cubes not belonging to the activated faction may be moved alongside activated cubes if enough activated cubes are present.
• Engagements — Moving cubes into a region occupied by opponent cubes creates a contested region and initiates an engagement. Engagements are resolved after all movement ends.
• Wagon Train Turn (White Disc) — When the White disc is drawn, the Settlers player manages the wagon trains. No cards are played.
• Railroad Turn (Black Disc) — When the Black disc is drawn, the Settlers player extends the Transcontinental Railroad. No cards are played.
• Enemies Turn (Purple Disc) — When the Purple disc is drawn, the Cavalry player commands the Enemies minor faction. No cards are played.
• Casualty Box Removal — During a faction's turn, a player may spend a group move to shift all of that faction's casualty cubes back to the Ready Box.

Key Concepts

• Region Control — An NPT or SPT region is Indian-controlled when Indian cubes (NPT + SPT) equal or outnumber both U.S. cubes and Enemy cubes (counted separately). If em...
• Stacking Limit — Each region can hold up to 8 Indian cubes (Green + Orange) and 8 U.S. Allied cubes (Blue + Brown + Purple). Wagon and Railroad cubes do not count agai...
• Friendly Factions — NPT and SPT are friendly factions. Cavalry and Settlers are friendly factions. Purple Enemy cubes are friendly with Cavalry but not Settlers.
• Card Types — War Party (Indian), Engagement (Cavalry), and Migration (Settlers) cards provide cube placement, group movement, and trigger engagements. Event cards ...
• Custer Card — The Custer card is the only 'Play Immediately' card. It must be played as soon as it is drawn, even in the opening hand or as a replacement. It may no...
• Trail-End Regions — Three Trail-End regions (Oregon Trail NE1, Northern California Trail N1, Southern California Trail SE1) are where U.S. groups retreat toward in the we...