EXAMPLE: John takes a Move action, first moving his character onto an unoccupied farm, then moving a mech carrying 2 workers onto a territory controlled by Sandra. Sandra has her character, a mech, a worker, and 3 food tokens on that territory.

John has 10 power and Sandra has 4 (this is shown on the Power Track on the board). John turns his dial to select 7 power. He has one combat unit (the mech), so he can add 1 combat card from his hand, but he chooses not to do so.

Sandra decides to spend 4 power on her Power Dial. She has both her character and a mech on the territory, so she can spend up to 2 combat cards if she wants to. She chooses to just play a 3-power card and tucks it behind her Power Dial.

When they’ve both finalized their decisions, they reveal their Power Dials at the same time. Sandra groans—she tied John’s total power (7 to 7), but attackers win ties!

So John takes over the territory and the 3 food, and Sandra’s units retreat back to her home base. John loses 1 popularity because, as the attacker, he forced 1 worker to retreat. John also places a combat victory star on the board.

Sandra’s only compensation is that she gets to draw a combat card since she revealed at least 1 power on the dial or through combat cards.