The Cup of the Wrath of God and the Invaders

Languages: English · Español · Português

← Back to the manual index

Promised Land is not only a contest between tribes: it is also a race against time. To the right of the map stands the Cup of the Wrath of God, a meter that rises with every disobedience and with every round the Canaanites remain in the promised land. When it overflows, judgement falls on everyone.

The meter

The panel shows the accumulated Wrath against its threshold: 13. Each time it is reconciled, the panel reports how many points went in that round and why — or that none did.

What fills the cup

Every line has its fine print:

• Israel and Judah are the only regions that weigh on you by omission, and the point is one per round, not one per settlement: it takes just one of them still being Canaanite. It is the only source that rises on its own, with nobody doing anything — and it is what gives the game its clock.
• Tax costs no Wrath at all if you hold that region’s Judge title. Taxing what is yours is your right; taxing another’s is greed.
• The Assassin costs no Wrath when the player of the reigning (non-captive) King plays it. Nor does it when a Squire intercepts and no real general dies — but the card is spent all the same.
• The **Prophet** only costs 3 points when killed by a player’s hand: combat cards, or an execution with Justice. Death by plague, revolt or the invaders adds nothing, and a Squire dying in the prophet’s place spares both.
• The **Sacrifice for the Guilt** is the only way to make the meter fall. It costs 20 coins, requires the Tabernacle, and the meter never drops below zero.

The one-round delay

Every point is logged the moment the act happens, but the meter is only added up in the **following Announcements phase**, which summarises the whole previous round.

In practice: what you do in round 5 shows on the cup in round 6. That is not a glitch in the meter — it is the ledger closing the month.

The judgement

When the reconciliation reaches 13, a judgement is declared: the cup is emptied back to zero and a fresh wave of Canaanite invaders enters the board. The cycle begins again — and nothing stops it from repeating several times in one game.

The invaders

Who they are

The invaders come from 8 Canaanite general cards that exist in the catalogue but never enter the deck — no player ever draws them. They take the field in pairs, and with 8 cards the board holds at most 4 pairs at a time.

Each invader arrives commanding 6 troops and with strength 3 by default. That strength is a difficulty option chosen when the game is created: Weak (1), Average (2) or Strong (3).

How they arrive

A new wave appears only on a judgement round. How many pairs come each time is also a difficulty setting: 1 pair (2 generals), the default, or 2 pairs (4 generals).

The target is drawn at random from all the settlements on the board’s ring, discarding those already razed and those already under siege. And note: any owner will do — including the Canaanites’ own towns. The judgement takes no side.

If a prophet is in play, their owner chooses where each new pair strikes first — but not the direction it will travel afterwards.

What happens on arrival

Landing on a settlement, the pair checks whether anything defends it:

• An undefended settlement — no garrison troops and no free generals — is razed on the spot, with no battle. It leaves the game, and if it was a judge’s city, the title is extinguished with it.
• A defended settlement is put under siege, and the battle goes to the Combat phase.

How they move

At every Announcements phase, each pair already on the board teleports to the next settlement around the board’s ring, skipping razed ones and those already besieged. They do not march across the map: they hop from settlement to settlement.

The old siege is lifted as they leave, and a new one begins where they land.

Direction depends on the difficulty: with 1 pair per wave (the default), every pair circles clockwise. With 2 pairs per wave, the first goes clockwise and the second counterclockwise, closing on the land from both sides.

How they fight

The invaders declare battle automatically — the neutral tribe never takes a turn. They commit a number of troops drawn at random between zero and what they command, and they face the wall or city bonus like any other attacker: walls do count against them.

What sets them apart from a human rival is the outcome, because they never take or become captives:

• if the pair loses, both generals die, and their cards never return to the deck;
• if the pair wins, every defeated general is executed — not captured — and the settlement is **always razed**. There is no choice between conquering and looting, no coins, and no Wrath added. Only destruction.

Invader sieges of Canaanite-held settlements resolve on their own, with both sides committing troops by chance, and they show up in the battle reports as normal.

A Sandstorm postpones a battle in the desert as it would any other: the siege simply carries over to the next round.

What they leave behind

A razed settlement is gone for good. And there is a limit to what the board can take: once fewer than 3 regions can still support a judge — each needs 4 standing settlements — the game ends and everyone loses. Letting the invaders run loose does not only hurt whoever is being attacked.

How to hold the cup back

• Take Israel and Judah back first. It is the only source that rises on its own; while a single settlement of those two regions stays Canaanite, the clock ticks every turn.
• Secure the title before taxing. The same Tax costs 1 point or none, depending on who holds the region’s judgeship.
• Prefer conquering to looting. Looting pays coins now, but it is 3 points at once — the same 3 as killing a prophet.
• The Tabernacle is the only relief valve. Without it, nothing makes the meter fall.