Soldier

Soldier
Info
Cost
Type(s)	Action - Attack - Traveller
Kingdom card?	No
Set	Adventures
Illustrator(s)	Harald Lieske
Card text
+ + per other Attack you have in play. Each other player with 4 or more cards in hand discards a card. When you discard this from play, you may exchange it for a Fugitive. (This is not in the Supply.)

Soldier is an Action-Attack-Traveller card from Adventures. It is a mild handsize attack, and a potentially powerful source of +. It is not in the Supply, but can be exchanged for using a Peasant. Soldier itself, once discarded from play, can be exchanged for a Fugitive. There are only 5 copies of Soldier in the Soldier pile.

Soldier is the second step in its line of Travellers: Peasant - Soldier - Fugitive - Disciple - Teacher.

FAQ

Official FAQ

• This gives +, and then an additional + per other Attack card you have in play.
• Then each other player with 4 or more cards in hand discards a card.
• So for example if you play Soldier, then another Soldier, and have an opponent with 5 cards in hand, you will get + and that opponent will discard a card, then you will get + and an extra + while that opponent discards again.
• Soldier only cares about Attack cards in play, not Attack cards played that turn; for example using Disciple on Soldier will not produce an extra +, because there is no other Attack card in play.
• Duration Attacks played on the previous turn are Attack cards in play and so do count for Soldier.

Strategy

To better understand the Kingdoms and contexts in which Soldier appears, it may be useful to refer to the overall strategy section for this Traveller line.

Soldier is a discard attack and terminal payload card whose value scales up rapidly with the number of other Attacks you can play. In most cases, its primary relevance is as a step towards Disciple or Teacher, with the providing a useful but relatively minor boost to your turn in the process. The attack is not particularly strong in the early game, as your opponent is likely to be able to discard a low-value card (often an Estate); and even if they can’t, this means their starting hand is probably strong enough to weather the loss of a single card.

In certain Kingdoms, however, Soldier's interaction with other Attacks (including other copies of itself) means that it can function as payload that is worth building your deck around. Doing so requires the ability to play a large number of Attacks, which can be difficult, especially if they use up your terminal space. Thus, the most likely types of card to make this approach viable are:

1. Non-terminal Attacks, such as Urchin and Scrying Pool;
2. Attacks that also function as terminal draw (e.g. Rabble), enabling you to make dual use of the terminal space.

Under these circumstances, each Soldier you play can generate a very large amount of , with every additional copy also generating more than the last. When Soldier payload is viable, it’s usually best to advance your first few Travellers as usual to build up your deck, then add several extra copies of Peasant in the midgame with the goal of keeping them at the Soldier stage.

Versions

English versions

Print	Digital	Text	Notes	Release	Date
		+ + per other Attack you have in play. Each other player with 4 or more cards in hand discards a card. When you discard this from play, you may exchange it for a Fugitive. (This is not in the Supply.)		Adventures	April 2015
		+ + per other Attack you have in play. Each other player with 4 or more cards in hand discards a card. When you discard this from play, you may exchange it for a Fugitive. (This is not in the Supply.)	Digital version may show a cost of rather than .	Adventures (2017 printing)	August 2017

Other language versions

Language	Name	Print	Digital	Text	Notes
Dutch	Landsknecht (note: name for historical mercenary soldier in the Holy Roman Empire)			+ + per andere aanvalskaart die je in het spel hebt. Iedere andere speler met 4 of meer handkaarten legt er 1 af. Als je deze kaart vanuit het spel aflegt, mag je deze tegen een Vluchteling ruilen. (Deze kaart bevindt zich niet in de voorraad).	(2015)
Finnish	Sotilas
French	Soldat
German	Soldat			+ + pro anderer Angriffskarte, die du im Spiel hast. Jeder Mitspieler mit 4 oder mehr Handkarten legt eine Handkarte ab. Ist diese Karte im Spiel, darfst du sie gegen einen Flüchtling eintauschen anstatt sie abzulegen. (Diese Karte gehört nicht zum Vorrat.)	(2015)
	Soldat			+ + pro anderer Angriffskarte, die du im Spiel hast. Alle Mitspieler mit 4 oder mehr Handkarten legen eine ihrer Handkarten ab. Wenn du diese Karte aus dem Spiel ablegst, darfst du sie in einen Flüchtling eintauschen. (Diese Karte gehört nicht zum Vorrat.)	(Nachdruck 2021)
Japanese	兵士 (pron. heishi)			+ 場にある他のアタックカード1枚につき+。手札が4枚以上の他のプレイヤーは全員、1枚捨て札にする。 これを場から捨て札にするとき、これを脱走兵と交換してもよい。 (このカードはサプライに置かない。)
Russian	Солдат (pron. soldat)

Trivia

Official card art.

Secret History

Soldier briefly was a mix of Militia and Ghost Ship; then Soldier and Warrior handed out the -1 Card and - tokens respectively. Later on I had two other attacks using those and decided it would be more fun if these cards did something else. So Soldier is a Militia variant with variable money and Warrior is a Knight variant with variable attack depth.

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

Why does Soldier not count itself?

In general you should do the math for people if you can. There may be a reason not to but you know. In this case there was no reason not to. So, I added that +$1 in there for you. It's not much but it was easy.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, Interview with Donald X.