Ruling — Summoner Wars: Master Set

You asked

How do I play?

Answered counted as answered

Asked with: Summoner Wars: Master Setbg-93260-en-1e

Setup

1. Unfold the Battlefield and place it on a flat surface between the players with the card piles facing the players.[1]

2. Remove the dice and Wound Markers and place them off to the side of the Battlefield in separate piles within reach of all players.[1]

3. Each player chooses a card deck.[1]

4. Each player checks their Reference Card and puts their 'Starting Setup' cards on the Battlefield as shown on their Reference Card.[1]

5. Each player should place their cards so that they can be placed so that they can be read rightside up from their side of the Battlefield.[1]

6. Players shuffle their remaining cards and place them face-down on their Draw Pile section.[1]

7. For 3-4 players, place 2 Battlefields next to each other.[2]

8. Divide the players into 2 teams.[2]

9. In a 3 player game, 1 player will be on a team by themselves and that player will select 2 decks and play each of the 2 separate decks on 2 separate turns.[2]

10. Everyone rolls a die; the player with the highest roll must take the first turn (re-roll ties).[2][1] (Note: The player who takes the first turn must skip phases 1-3 and begin with the Movement Phase, only moving up to 2 Units instead of the normal 3 [1]).

Turn Sequence

Each turn is divided into 6 phases, which must be played in order:[1]

1. Draw: Draw cards until you have 5 cards in your hand.[3]

2. Summon: You may summon Units to the Battlefield by paying their Summon Cost using Magic Points.[3] Summoned Units must be placed on an empty space adjacent to a Wall Card you control.[3]

3. Play Event Cards: You may play Event Cards, including Wall Cards, one at a time.[3] To play a Wall Card, place it on any empty space on your side of the Battlefield.[3]

4. Movement.[1]

5. Attack.[1]

6. Build.[1]

Objective

The object of the game is to destroy your opponent's Summoner card; you win when you are the only player with your Summoner card left in play.[4]

[1] RULEBOOK Summoner Wars: Master Set — Rulebook · p.8 · Game Setup · Turn Sequence

[2] RULEBOOK Summoner Wars: Master Set — Rulebook · p.19 · Adding More Players · 3-4 Players · Rules for 3-4 Players

[3] RULEBOOK Summoner Wars: Master Set — Rulebook · p.9 · Phase 1: Draw · Phase 2: Summon · Adjacency · Phase 3: Play Event Cards

[4] RULEBOOK Summoner Wars: Master Set — Rulebook · p.4 · Object of the Game · Components · Unit Cards · Anatomy of a Unit Card

That's the page. Back to the table.

🔧 debug — where this ruling came from

outcome: ANSWERED — Answered
corpus profile: live,vps
answerer pin (deploy-frozen, attribution only): gemma4:26b think:false 5571076f3d70
timings: search 211 ms · ask 6025 ms · total 6239 ms
single-flight (PR-5): queued 0 ms · generation 6239 ms
retrieval refs (raw) — what the PASSAGE SEARCH returned, not what the answerer read: [{"page": 19, "score": 0.048139, "snippet": "There is only 1 Battlefield included in this Master Set allowing for 2 players to battle each other. However with the purchase of an additional Master Set, a Starter Set, or an additional Battlefield board you can play with up to 4 players. To play a game with 3-4 players start by placing 2 Battlefi", "headingPath": "Adding More Players · 3-4 Players · Rules for 3-4 Players", "sharpsignalDocId": 475}, {"page": 8, "score": 0.047712, "snippet": "Unfold the Battlefield and place it on a flat surface between the players with the card piles facing the players. Remove the dice and Wound Markers and place them off to the side of the Battlefield in separate piles within reach of all players. Each player chooses a card deck. Each card deck has a u", "headingPath": "Game Setup · Turn Sequence", "sharpsignalDocId": 475}, {"page": 23, "score": 0.046544, "snippet": "Example of how play passes in a 3-4 player game. Player 1 and Player 3 are on one team. Player 2 and Player 4 are on the other team:", "headingPath": "Multiple examples of how to move and attack in a 3-4 player game", "sharpsignalDocId": 475}, {"page": 9, "score": 0.046432, "snippet": "Draw cards until you have 5 cards in your hand (Example: if you start your turn with 3 cards in your hand you will draw 2 cards) . If your Draw Pile is empty, you can no longer draw cards and must finish the game with the remaining cards on the Battlefield (including the Magic Pile) and in your hand", "headingPath": "Phase 1: Draw · Phase 2: Summon · Adjacency · Phase 3: Play Event Cards", "sharpsignalDocId": 475}, {"page": 23, "score": 0.045335, "snippet": "21 Example of how play passes in a 3-4 player game. Player 1 and Player 3 are on one team. Player 2 and Player 4 are on the other team: Player 1 passes to Player 2 Player 2 passes to Player 3 Player 3 passes to Player 4 Player 4 passes back to Player 1", "headingPath": "", "sharpsignalDocId": 475}, {"page": 20, "score": 0.045262, "snippet": "other far side of the Battlefield, as shown in the example on page 20 of this rulebook. Note: moving and attacking from one far side of the Battlefield to the other is not a legal move in the 2 player game. Attacking works the same way as moving does in regards to having multiple Battlefield Boards ", "headingPath": "Rules for 3-4 Players · Lead Game Design · Assistant Game Design · Illustration · Graphic Design · Proofreader", "sharpsignalDocId": 475}, {"page": 17, "score": 0.044557, "snippet": "If the effects from 2 Special Abilities or Event Cards ever trigger at the exact same time, the player whose turn it is determines in which order those effects will resolve. Likewise if an attack ever Hits multiple Units at once the attacker chooses in which order they are Hit. If an Event or Specia", "headingPath": "RELENTLESS · Expanding the Game · Starter Sets · Faction Decks · Reinforcement Packs", "sharpsignalDocId": 475}, {"page": 7, "score": 0.029412, "snippet": "5. Destroying: When a V ine Wall is destroyed, it is placed back onto the owner's V ine Wall Pile rather than a Magic Pile. Some Special Abilities, such as Blerg's Adapt Ability, refer to cards that are placed underneath them and impact them in some unique way. For the sake of interpreting the rules", "headingPath": "Vine Walls · Battlefield", "sharpsignalDocId": 475}]
citations (raw) — what the answer cited, chosen from a retrieval this page cannot show: [{"page": 8, "quote": null, "headingPath": "Game Setup · Turn Sequence", "sharpsignalDocId": 475}, {"page": 19, "quote": null, "headingPath": "Adding More Players · 3-4 Players · Rules for 3-4 Players", "sharpsignalDocId": 475}, {"page": 9, "quote": null, "headingPath": "Phase 1: Draw · Phase 2: Summon · Adjacency · Phase 3: Play Event Cards", "sharpsignalDocId": 475}, {"page": 4, "quote": null, "headingPath": "Object of the Game · Components · Unit Cards · Anatomy of a Unit Card", "sharpsignalDocId": 475}]
boost provenance — errata + base rulebook (E2/E3): no registered errata card matched this query; base rulebook doc 475 boosted; rulesage.errata.boost-enabled=true, rulesage.errata.supersedence-enabled=true
base rulebook doc 475 boosted
answered-before recall: this ruling was answered, so past rulings were not offered
similarity threshold in force: 0.55 (rulesage.answered-before.similarity-threshold; the exact-question tier is not gated by it)
answer fence: passed — letter density 0.89163 of 1578 non-space chars (floor 0.45); 0 glyph-index tokens (max 2)
debug row recorded: Aug 24, 2026 19:45 UTC

retrieval — what the passage search returned

what this block IS: the PASSAGE SEARCH's own results — the same search that fills this page's closest-passages list — and NOT the passages the answerer read. Answering runs its OWN retrieval: a far wider candidate pool, re-ranked down to a final handful, plus floors this search never applies — the base rulebook, surviving errata corrections, and one slot per book on a multi-book read. Each of those armed only if THIS ask sent what it needs: the boost block names the ids it forwarded, and the scope line names the books it read. A document the answer CITES that no row here names is therefore EXPECTED, not a defect: two searches, two candidate pools, two orders. The answerer's own final rows are shown in their own block below, beside these and never mixed into them.

score = the fused retrieval score (reciprocal-rank fusion over the search arms) — NOT a cosine similarity. This ruling ran the THREE-ARM fuse (full-text + vector + the doc-priority boost arm, which carried the base rulebook and/or the errata corrections this query matched), whose arithmetic ceiling is 0.04918 — all three arms ranking the same chunk #1 (ceiling = arms/(k+1) at k=60). The measured healthy band 0.016–0.033 was measured on TWO-arm asks and does not bound this one: its high end is the two-arm ceiling, and a third arm has room above it. A chunk only one arm ranked highly lands near 0.016 (that one arm's #1 vote), so 0.03 here is an excellent hit, not a 3% match.

per-arm ranks (the rank each search arm gave a chunk): NOT DISCLOSED by the gateway. Fusion happens gateway-side and only the FUSED score crosses the wire, so rulesage cannot show them without a gateway change. The rank column below is the FUSED rank (position in the returned list), which is real.

token count per chunk: NOT DISCLOSED — chunk token counts are not reported on the ask path. The character counts below are of the bounded snippet/quote rulesage actually received — a real measurement of what we hold, never an estimate of the chunk.

fused rank	document	heading	page	fused RRF score	snippet chars
#1	RULEBOOK Summoner Wars: Master Set — Rulebook (corpus doc 475)	Adding More Players · 3-4 Players · Rules for 3-4 Players	p.19	0.048139 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one))	300
#2	RULEBOOK Summoner Wars: Master Set — Rulebook (corpus doc 475)	Game Setup · Turn Sequence	p.8	0.047712 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one))	300
#3	RULEBOOK Summoner Wars: Master Set — Rulebook (corpus doc 475)	Multiple examples of how to move and attack in a 3-4 player game	p.23	0.046544 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one))	132
#4	RULEBOOK Summoner Wars: Master Set — Rulebook (corpus doc 475)	Phase 1: Draw · Phase 2: Summon · Adjacency · Phase 3: Play Event Cards	p.9	0.046432 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one))	300
#5	RULEBOOK Summoner Wars: Master Set — Rulebook (corpus doc 475)		p.23	0.045335 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one))	252
#6	RULEBOOK Summoner Wars: Master Set — Rulebook (corpus doc 475)	Rules for 3-4 Players · Lead Game Design · Assistant Game Design · Illustration · Graphic Design · Proofreader	p.20	0.045262 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one))	300
#7	RULEBOOK Summoner Wars: Master Set — Rulebook (corpus doc 475)	RELENTLESS · Expanding the Game · Starter Sets · Faction Decks · Reinforcement Packs	p.17	0.044557 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one))	300
#8	RULEBOOK Summoner Wars: Master Set — Rulebook (corpus doc 475)	Vine Walls · Battlefield	p.7	0.029412 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one))	300

what the answerer read — the passages it actually had in front of it

what this block IS: the passages the ANSWERING read put in front of the answerer, in the order it read them — the other half of the two reads described above, and the one that decides what the answer could possibly say. Each row names the book it came from and where in that book it sits, what it scored when the search arms were fused, which arm carried it there, and whether the re-ranker chose it or a floor guaranteed it a slot. A row here that no passage-search row names is EXPECTED: a far wider pool, re-ranked, with floors the passage search never applies.

candidate pool: the answering read scored 24 passages, out of a ceiling of 80 set gateway-side. Both figures are reported by the gateway for THIS ask — measurements of what actually happened, not constants read out of anyone's source and printed here on faith.

floors armed for this ask: the base rulebook — armed · surviving errata corrections — not armed · one slot per book on a multi-book read — not armed. Every floor is stated on every ask, armed or not, so a floor that did not apply here is never mistaken for one this app does not know about.

arms fused for this ask: vector + full-text + the doc-priority boost arm. Stated separately from the rows because an arm that ran and carried nothing is a different fact from an arm that never ran.

read at	document	heading	page	fused rank	fused RRF score	carried by	how it got its slot
#1	RULEBOOK Summoner Wars: Master Set — Rulebook (corpus doc 475)	Adding More Players · 3-4 Players · Rules for 3-4 Players	p.19	#1	0.048139 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one))	vector + full-text + the doc-priority boost arm	the re-ranker chose it
#2	RULEBOOK Summoner Wars: Master Set — Rulebook (corpus doc 475)	Multiple examples of how to move and attack in a 3-4 player game	p.23	#3	0.046544 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one))	vector + full-text + the doc-priority boost arm	the re-ranker chose it
#3	RULEBOOK Summoner Wars: Master Set — Rulebook (corpus doc 475)	Game Setup · Turn Sequence	p.8	#2	0.047712 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one))	vector + full-text + the doc-priority boost arm	the re-ranker chose it
#4	RULEBOOK Summoner Wars: Master Set — Rulebook (corpus doc 475)	Deck Building · Mercenaries · How to Build a Custom Deck	p.18	#12	0.028205 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one))	vector + full-text	the re-ranker chose it
#5	RULEBOOK Summoner Wars: Master Set — Rulebook (corpus doc 475)	Object of the Game · Components · Unit Cards · Anatomy of a Unit Card	p.4	#10	0.028485 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one))	vector + full-text	the re-ranker chose it
#6	RULEBOOK Summoner Wars: Master Set — Rulebook (corpus doc 475)	Vine Walls	p.6	#18	0.013514 (below 0.016, the low end of the measured band — a weak fuse (that band was taken on two-arm asks; only its low end, one arm's #1 vote, carries over to a 3-arm one))	vector	the re-ranker chose it
#7	RULEBOOK Summoner Wars: Master Set — Rulebook (corpus doc 475)	Phase 1: Draw · Phase 2: Summon · Adjacency · Phase 3: Play Event Cards	p.9	#4	0.046432 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one))	vector + full-text + the doc-priority boost arm	the re-ranker chose it
#8	RULEBOOK Summoner Wars: Master Set — Rulebook (corpus doc 475)		p.23	#5	0.045335 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one))	vector + full-text + the doc-priority boost arm	the re-ranker chose it

chosen chunks — what the answer actually cited

#	document	heading	page	quote chars
[1]	RULEBOOK Summoner Wars: Master Set — Rulebook (corpus doc 475)	Game Setup · Turn Sequence	p.8	no quote on the wire
[2]	RULEBOOK Summoner Wars: Master Set — Rulebook (corpus doc 475)	Adding More Players · 3-4 Players · Rules for 3-4 Players	p.19	no quote on the wire
[3]	RULEBOOK Summoner Wars: Master Set — Rulebook (corpus doc 475)	Phase 1: Draw · Phase 2: Summon · Adjacency · Phase 3: Play Event Cards	p.9	no quote on the wire
[4]	RULEBOOK Summoner Wars: Master Set — Rulebook (corpus doc 475)	Object of the Game · Components · Unit Cards · Anatomy of a Unit Card	p.4	no quote on the wire

generation — timing and the path taken

timing split: retrieval 211 ms · first delta 2470 ms · total 6239 ms (retrieval and first-delta both measured from the START of gateway work, so first-delta INCLUDES retrieval — do not subtract)
full breakdown: queued 0 ms · retrieval 211 ms · ask 6025 ms · gateway work 6239 ms · total 6239 ms
tokens in (the prompt the answerer read): 2536
tokens out (what the answerer generated): 501
tok/sec: 134.8 tok/sec — 501 output tokens in 3.717 s of generation
live seat (read from the running child): answering — gemma4:26b think:false · num_ctx 32768 (live-verified 6s ago)
answerer host (measured by rulesage): reachable (for 23h, checked 8s ago)
answerer node (the seat proxy's own header — this probe, not this ask): node1
stream path: streamed — the gateway pushed at least one accumulated draft
watchdog: first-token watchdog: 30s per arming window (rulesage.table.first-token-watchdog-seconds), re-armed once by the passages frame — so the worst case before a reader falls back to polling is 60s. Whether it actually fired is a BROWSER-side decision that never reaches the server, so it is not recorded here. The stream path above is the server's half of that story: whether a delta was emitted at all.
num_ctx · think posture: both are the CHILD's settings, not rulesage's, and no ask reply carries them — an answer never states which context window or think posture produced it. The live-seat line above reads them from the running child instead, where the gateway can answer for itself; it describes the child NOW, not this ask.

disposition

outcome: ANSWERED — Answered
abstain rationale (n/a — this ruling answered): answered — no abstain rationale applies

setup-shape — why the checklist band did or didn't render

decision: NOT_SETUP_SHAPED — no setup-shape pattern matched this question

errata registry — what the gate above had to match against

this game registers NO errata cards (edition 406), so "no registered errata card matched" above could never have matched one

Errata scope: the gate above matched this ruling's own edition only. When an ask also reads an expansion, that expansion's own registered errata cards stay outside the match — a stated phase-1 limitation, not a failed lookup.