Ranger

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Ranger
Info
Cost
Type(s)	Action
Kingdom card?	Yes
Set	Adventures
Illustrator(s)	Claus Stefan
Card text
+1 Buy Turn your Journey token over (it starts face up). Then if it's face up, +5 Cards.

Ranger is an Action card from Adventures. It is a powerful terminal draw card, but only every other play; it is also a +Buy card.

FAQ

Official FAQ

• At the start of the game, place your Journey token (the one with the boot) face up.
• When you play this, you get +1 Buy, and turn the token over.
• Then if it is face down, nothing more happens.
• If it is face up, you draw 5 cards.
• So, every other time you play a Ranger, you will draw 5 cards.
• It does not matter what turned over the Journey token; you could turn it face down with Giant, then face up with Ranger.

Strategy

There is no strategy article for Ranger, but the card has been discussed on the forum.

Ranger is a cheap-ish terminal draw card, that plays a similar role to Smithy and Envoy. It draws fewer cards on average than Smithy - in two plays, it draws 5 cards for a net handsize increase of 3, whereas Smithy draws 6 cards for a handsize increase of 4. However, it does have +buy to compensate for this; the extra buy comes in handy both in Big Money and engine strategies.

The difficulties of using Ranger are mostly about the careful calibration of when you want it to fire. The first time you use Ranger, it is pretty much useless, but the second time it offers explosive draw. As soon as your engine starts firing, it is advised to make sure the first play of Ranger is the one that draws five cards, even at the cost of losing terminal space the turn before. For example, you draw your deck with Villages and Rangers and maybe some other draw card, and then you play one more Ranger to ensure that your token is face down, so the next time you play a Ranger you'll get +5 cards.

Synergies

• Pilgrimage. Draw your deck with some other draw card, use Ranger to flip the Journey token, buy Pilgrimage to gain three awesome action cards.
• Throne Room, King's Court, and Royal Carriage can ensure drawing.
• Expensive cards in general, since Ranger can cause swingy turns

Antisynergies

• Giant doesn't synergize with Ranger in the way Pilgrimage does, but just makes calibrating the Journey token more difficult
• Something that offers more reliable draw and +Buy, like Margrave

Versions

English versions

Print	Digital	Text	Release	Date
		+1 Buy Turn your Journey token over (it starts face up). If it's face up, +5 Cards.	Adventures 1st Edition	April 2015
		+1 Buy Turn your Journey token over (it starts face up). Then if it's face up, +5 Cards.	Adventures 2nd Edition	August 2017

Other language versions

Language	Name	Print	Digital	Text	Notes
Dutch	Woudloper (lit. bushranger)
Finnish	Samooja
French	Forestier (lit. forester)
German	Wildhüter (lit. gamekeeper)			+1 Kauf Drehe deinen Reise-Marker um. Liegt die Vorderseite oben: +5 Karten	(2015)
German	Wildhüter (lit. gamekeeper)			+1 Kauf Drehe deinen Reise-Marker um (er beginnt mit der Vorderseite nach oben). Liegt dann die Vorderseite oben: +5 Karten.	(Nachdruck 2021)
Japanese	山守 (pron. yamamori, lit. mountain guardian)			+1 購入 旅人トークンを裏返す(開始時は表向き)。そして表向きになった場合、+5 カードを引く。
Russian	Лесничий (pron. lyesnichiy)

Trivia

Official card art.

Secret History

One of the simple things to do with a token was just to use it to make something work at a different speed. With the easiest speed being half speed. Originally this only gave +1 Buy when you got the token face up, but it got the +Buy full time to be slightly simpler, and costs instead of the original because now it doesn't compare poorly to Smithy.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, The Secret History of Dominion: Adventures