The Game's Cards

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Every card in Promised Land comes from a single shared deck. They fall into four categories, each with a different role:

Category Cards Distinct types Where it goes
Generals 24 24 become pieces on the map
Items 13 7 attach to a general
Single-use 35 9 stay in hand until played
Events 16 4 go straight to the Events Area
Deck total 88 44
(Canaanites) 8 8 never enter the deck

Long-press any card — in your hand, on the Players panel, or in the Events Area — to open its details.


Generals (24 cards)

Every general is unique: there is only one card of each. They have two printed stats:

The table is sorted from the strongest to the weakest.

General Movements Strength
Joab 2 4
Samson 2 4
Joshua 4 3
David 3 3
Josiah 3 3
Abimelech 2 3
Hezekiah 2 3
Jephthah 2 3
Shamgar 2 3
Gideon 3 2
Jonathan 3 2
Solomon 3 2
Caleb 2 2
Ibzan 2 2
Jair 2 2
Othniel 2 2
Saul 2 2
Barak 4 1
Isaiah 4 1
Ehud 3 1
Samuel 3 1
Ahab 2 1
Elon 2 1
Tola 2 1

Note the trade-off: the strongest generals (Joab and Samson, strength 4) are also the slowest (2 movements), while the fastest (Joshua, Barak and Isaiah, 4 movements) have strength 3 or 1. Joshua is the exception that combines both.


Items (13 cards, 7 types)

An item never goes onto the map by itself: it is attached to a general already placed and travels with them. When the bearer dies or is captured, all of their items go to the discard pile.

Item Copies Effect
Squire 4 Dies in place of their general when an Assassin or an Ambush strikes them. If the Assassin kills only the Squire, the attacker gains no Assassin title and no Wrath of God is added (the card is spent all the same).
Chariot 3 +3 strength in combat on the plains — and only in the open field: inside a settlement the bonus does not apply.
Prophet 2 The bearer cannot initiate battle (they may not move onto a hostile hex or lay siege) but defends normally. In exchange, their owner chooses which terrain each event card lands on and where a new pair of invaders strikes first, instead of the dice. The privilege survives capture — the owner decides, not the captor. Killing a prophet by a player’s hand adds +3 Wrath of God.
Ark 1 +3 to the defending side while its bearer defends the hex. Unlike walls, this bonus is not cancelled by Siege Weapons or by a Secret Passage. Only the Ark’s bearer can build the [[60. Projects/Promised Land - manual/en/terrain
Sword of Goliath 1 +3 strength in any combat, with no terrain condition.
Anointed 1 Its bearer (if not captive) is crowned King automatically, skipping the election. They are also the automatic heir when a king dies.
Bride 1 No effect implemented so far. The card is dealt and can be attached, but it changes nothing in play.

Single-use cards (35 cards, 9 types)

Played once and discarded. Each can only be used in certain phases.

Card Copies When Effect
Secret Passage 7 [[60. Projects/Promised Land - manual/en/movement Movement]]
Siege Weapons 4 [[60. Projects/Promised Land - manual/en/combat Combat]] (original attacker only)
Blessing 4 [[60. Projects/Promised Land - manual/en/draw-cards Draw Cards]], [[60. Projects/Promised Land - manual/en/acquisitions
Ambush 4 Combat Kills every enemy general on that hex. Their leftover troops stay but do not fight, and are eliminated if their side loses. A Squire dies in his general’s place.
Tax 4 Only in Draw Cards Taxes a region: that round its settlements pay their owners nothing, and you collect twice the value of all of them. Adds +1 Wrath of God — unless you hold that region’s Judge title.
Mercenaries 4 Combat +4 strength to your side in the battle. Adds +1 Wrath of God.
Revolt 4 Draw Cards or Movement Can only be played against a region taxed this round. Applies the same effects as the Plague to every hex of that region.
Assassin 2 Any phase except Combat — and also inside a battle Kills an enemy general anywhere on the board. One of your generals takes the blame and receives the Assassin title, and the play adds +1 Wrath of God. The reigning King is the exception: he assassinates without anyone taking the title and without adding Wrath.
Justice 2 Any phase except Combat Executes a general carrying the Assassin title, with no Wrath of God at all. It can never target a reigning King.

Event cards (16 cards, 4 types)

Event cards never enter anyone’s hand. When drawn they go straight to the board’s Events Area (3 slots; the oldest is discarded when it overflows) and are resolved in the following round’s **Announcements** phase.

Each event is rolled onto a terrain with a six-sided die — 1-2 plain, 3-4 mountains, 5-6 desert — and strikes everything on that terrain. If a prophet is in play, their owner picks the terrain instead of rolling.

Event Copies Effect
Hunger 6 Each settlement on the struck terrain earns −1 income that round.
Abundance 4 Each settlement on the struck terrain earns +1 income that round.
Plague 4 Rolls a die against every garrison and every general standing on that terrain. On a 4, 5 or 6 the target loses half its troops (rounded up); a general commanding 0 or 1 troop dies, and their card goes to the discard pile.
Sandstorm 2 Always lands in the desert — it is never rolled onto another terrain. It seals every desert hex and its neighbours against movement, and prevents combat on desert hexes, for one round.

Hunger is the most common event in the deck (6 copies) and the Sandstorm the rarest (2).


Canaanite cards (8 cards)

These 8 cards exist in the catalogue but never enter the deck — no player ever draws them. They stand for the invading generals that the **Wrath of God** looses on the land when the cup reaches 13.

Each invader arrives with 6 troops and strength 3 by default (the difficulty chosen when the game is created can set it to 1, 2 or 3). They do not move across the map like a normal general: they teleport from settlement to settlement around the board’s ring each round. With 8 cards, the board holds at most 4 pairs of invaders at a time.

The eight are: Jabin, Sisera, Og, Sihon, Balak, Eglon, Adoni-zedek and Jobab.


A note on the numbers printed on the cards

Some cards’ details show a strength number that corresponds to no effect in play: Ambush (4), Siege Weapons (6) and the Anointed (3) display values no rule uses — those cards act in the other ways described above. In the opposite direction, the Chariot shows no number at all, yet grants +3 strength on the plains.

The only printed numbers that match their effect exactly are the Sword of Goliath’s (+3) and the Mercenaries’ (+4).