Missing Link Expansion Rule Supplement
The Wheel of Time CCG Missing Link Expansion brings new allegiances and new effects on cards that can be played along with old cards from Precedence. Here is an explanation on how these cards work and how they may be played. If these explanations are not clear enough, you can ask your questions to the designers in the About page. You may also ask them in the Yahoo Wheel of Time Mailing lists (see the Links page).
New Allegiances
Three new allegiances have been added to the existing ones in the first WoT Missing Link Expansion :
"Weapons." Rand agreed. They had to be weapons, all of them. "Anything they can learn but that most of all."
"A ship is alive, and he is like a man, with a true man's heart. Treat him well and care for him properly, and he will fight for you against the worst sea. He will fight to keep you alive even after the sea has long since given him his own deathstroke. Neglect him, though, ignore the small warnings he gives of danger, and he will drown you in a flat sea beneath a cloudless sky."
My heart rises with the sun.
To the chime of swords
I die at sunset...
-Saldaean poem
Moreover, a few cards have allegiance-like traits (Tarabon, Shienar...) but these traits are *not* considered allegiances for now, though they may become allegiance in the future, just like Faile's Sadaea trait in Dark Prophecies.
New Traits
Many new traits are brought by the expansion A Sign of Hope. Most them are mostly here for thematic flavor : Raker, Wavemistress, Shienar... There is no specific rule about these traits. Yet a few new traits are associtated to new game mechanics or restrictions :
This trait is the extension of the existing Starting Hero and Starting Villain traits. The new Starting Characters (Pedron Niall, Siuan Sanche...) are usually associated with a specific allegiance that is neither Dragon nor Dark One. It can be Children of the Light, Aes Sedai, Andor, Cairhien...
A Starting Character can be used either as a Starting Hero or as a Starting Villain. It is affected by any effect that target either trait. Before the game begins, you must decide if your Starting Character is a Hero or Villain. If your opponent is playing a Hero, your starting character is a Villain and if your opponent is playing a Villain, your starting character is a Hero. In Wheel of Time tournaments, you must decide beforehand which deck is your Hero deck and which deck is your Villain deck.
Weather events are a new type of events. They behave more or less like Terrain events. They can normally target only card based challenges and only one Weather event may target each challenge. Therefore one can play a Terrain and a Weather event on any card based challenge. Yet it is impossible to use two Terrains or two Weathers on the same challenge.
This trait is the extension of an effect available on a couple of cards from the Premier Edition : Two Rivers Archers and Marksmen. There is a new step in the Challenge Resolution Round : the First Strike Step. This new step is placed at the beginning of the Challenge Resolution Round, before the Opening Moves.
During the First Strike step, all characters and troops that have First Strike may rotate to roll their dice. Note that this is not mandatory, they may roll their dice normally during the Opening moves or Coming to Grips steps. Add all ability symbols, supports and oppositions to your pools normally. Treat character and troop damage pools normally. First Strike damage are assigned during the First Strike step and all damage pool are emptied afterwards. Its is possible to play events in Dominance order like during the Opening Moves and Coming to Grips steps.
Cards from the MLE expansion may have the trait Restricted to X, where X can be an allegiance, a trait or a card name. An advantage with this Trait must have its cost paid with symbols from a character corresponding to X. If it is a character or troop advantage, then its target must have the X allegiance or trait. If any cost must be paid to activate the effect of the advantage, the cost is paid normally, there is no limitation due to the "Restricted to" trait.
Let's use a couple of examples :
Tar Valon Banner
Advantage, Player
Restricted to Aes Sedai.
Rotate and pay P or I to target a Mercenary character or troop. The target loses the Mercenary allegiance and permanently gains +1 Politics or +1 Combat, and the Aes Sedai allegiance.
Cost : P OP
The cost of Tar Valon Banner must be paid entirely with symbols with the Aes Sedai allegiance. Yet, the effect cost of [Politics] or [Intrigue] may be paid with any symbols, even if they don't have the Aes Sedai allegiance.
Thakan'dar Blade
Advantage, Character
Restricted to Myrdraal.
Put a wound token on any character that took damage from the target. During each Ready Round, all characters take one damage for each wound token on them. Remove all wound tokens from a character if he is completely healed.
Cost : I C
The cost of Thakan'dar Blade must be paid entirely with symbols with the Myrdraal trait. It must then target a character with the Myrdraal trait. Therefore you may play it on a Fade (Premier Edition) or on a Neverborn (A Sign of Hope), but you may not play it on a Trolloc or on Shaidar Haran (Premier Edition) since these characters do not have the Myrdraal trait.
An event with the Trait "Restricted to X" must have its cost paid with symbols corresponding to X. There is no limitation in the targets or effects of the event due to X.
Eyes and Ears
Event
Restricted to Dragon or Aes Sedai or Dark One.
Rotate a character whose highest ability is three or more to play this card. Name a non-character, non-troop card. Your opponent must discard all copies of the named card from his hand.
Cost : P I IThe cost of Eyes and Ears must be paid entirely with symbols with the Dragon or Aes Sedai or Dark One allegiance. Note that you can pay [Politics] with the Aes Sedai allegiance and [Intrigue Intrigue] with the Dark One allegiance. Once the cost is pay, you may rotate any character to play this card as long as its highest ability is legal. This character does not have to be a Dragon or Aes Sedai or Dark One to be a legal target for Eyes and Ears. You may then name any Wheel of Time card, even if is not a Dragon or Aes Sedai or Dark One card.