Exiles may seem like a simple little minis game, but beneath its carefree, slapdash exterior is a deeply strategic skirmish game that can be a merciless bitch if you aren’t prepared!

Exiles is an intensely cooperative game. If you want to survive, you’ve got to learn how to work together.

There’s all kinds of ways you can work together with your buddies, like making sure to stay together for Chrissake! There’s lots of great skill combos and play strategies, but the most basic part of working together is learning how to manage your Cheatin’ tokens and +1 tokens.

The great thing about Cheatin’ tokens and +1 tokens is that they are effectively posse-wide resources. Any Character can get rid of their own Cheatin’ token to let a Character re-roll a die. That could be you, or it could be any of your buddies, no matter where they are on the table.

You can’t use your own +1 token on a buddy, but when you take the Yee Haw! action you can put a +1 token on any Character, meaning yourself or any of your buddies.

If you want to survive on the frontier, you need to learn how to share these valuable resources. Cheatin’ tokens and +1 tokens allow you to manipulate the odds in your favor, and this is a whole lot more effective if a posse is working together towards a goal.

For example, consider the power a single Cheatin’ token can have if it’s being used on a Character with a fat stack of +1 tokens. If it really comes down to it, you can virtually guarantee a roll will succeed if you throw enough Characters behind it.

You should always be thinking about what actions and die rolls are the most important and directing your resources towards whatever Characters are doing the most important shit.

Is the only Doctor getting mobbed? Probably a good idea to dump a bunch of +1 tokens on him.

Will a few extra inches of movement make or break the game? Stop being selfish and dump some +1 tokens on the dude.

Once you have a fat stack of +1 tokens, your options open up dramatically. Your odds of failure are 10 percent lower, you can re-roll, and if that fails, you might even be able to use a second Cheatin’ token to pile a few more of those +1 tokens on the roll.

At the end of the day, you survive when the posse survives, and the quicker you finish a game, the better your chances of survival. If you want to stay alive, learn to share with your friends.