PB& Games

0.7.41: the last blows cut from paper, Champions on equal terms, and co-op friends

Version 0.7.41 10 min read

Four pictures in a two by two grid: a giant crowned queen in gold card rays holding her small mirror on a cardboard board in the sky, the mirror in a black cauldron between two imps with a horned red devil leaning in, a queen beside a dark purple cloth that has dropped over her mirror, and a queen inside a stone cave on the board.

0.7.41 is out on Steam, the itch.io downloads, the browser version and the Android download. All 27 last blows that end the Throne of Vows have been rebuilt in cut paper, from the Veiled Order's cloth to the God-Emperor's throw down through the clouds, the earth and the fire into a devil's cauldron. The Houndmaster's Off the Hinges card now shows the bite it makes. At the Champions table the right-hand seat plays by the same rules as the left, so a build plays the same on either side. A co-op council code now stays the same when the game is closed and opened again, and anyone you have marched with can be invited from inside the game. The game is now fully translated into all ten of its other languages.

The last blows, cut from paper

The 0.7.40 post showed a last blow for each of the 27 governments, played by whoever wins the Throne of Vows. Many of their props were shapes drawn in code or old clip art. In 0.7.41 every prop is a piece of cut card standing on the board, with its own soft shadow and the felt's grain on it.

On a cardboard board in the clouds, two queens in blue stand face to face under a PAUL sign. A dark purple cloth drops over one of them and takes her shape, folds cut in layers and a gold fringe at the hem, then whips away. Where she stood there is only a lit candle on her red base, with purple scraps of paper in the air, and the candle goes out in a wisp of smoke

The Veiled Order's conjuror's cloth takes the shape of the warlord under it: the round of the head, the drape over the shoulders, each deep fold cut as its own card, a fringe dipping under every fold and a tassel at the crown. It comes down to the board round the feet.

A queen grows huge inside a burst of gold card rays, picks up her smaller mirror and throws her off the board. The camera falls after her through pink paper clouds, past a village with a church and a windmill, down through brown earth with roots and a buried chest, grey rock with skulls and bones, and a cavern of lava and flame-tipped rock, until she lands in a black cauldron between two red imps with pitchforks while a horned red devil leans in over it. Then the camera climbs back up to the giant queen in her gold rays

The long drop, which ends the Undying God-Emperor's, the Court of Fortune's and the War Assembly's blows, used to fall past flat painted bands. It now falls through scenes laid in paper: the sky, the fields and villages, the earth, the bones and the fire, down to a cavern with stalagmites where the cauldron sits over its coals. The devil, the two imps and the pot are cut-card figures that move by their own parts, and the flames, embers and steam are paper too. The Covenant Republic's long climb goes up through the same paper to pearly gates cut from card, and the gold rays round a giant God-Emperor are layers of card.

On the board in the clouds, a stone cave rises round one of the two queens: an outcrop of grey slabs and arch stones with a torch burning inside. A round boulder rolls across the mouth and seals her in, while an angel archer flies past in front

The Philosopher King's cave is a rock outcrop built of slabs and arch stones round a real mouth, and the boulder that seals it rolls one whole turn and stops the right way up. The rest of the 27 got the same treatment:

  • The Court of Fortune's wheel has a wooden rim, brass pegs and eight panels, and stops on the flame under a leather clapper. The trapdoor opens in the board's own corrugated card.
  • The Shepherd Throne's sheep are black-faced, in shingled fleece, and the crook is ash with a horn hook.
  • The Panoptic Bureaucracy's forms carry carbon copies and staples, and the filing cabinet slides in with its top drawer open.
  • The Princedom of Masks has a gold and plum half-mask, a puppet control with linen strings, and tailor's shears that cut the string.
  • The Lottery Republic's drum is a ten-rod cage, and the lot pops out of its hatch in the winner's colour.
  • The Republic of Omens' crows fly both ways, each drawn for its own direction, and the Crusader Commons' trebuchet hangs its arm between two towers.
  • The lands of the Uncarved Block have a teapot and tea bowl, a bindle, a fingerpost, a paper crane, a winding key, a candle and snuffer, a war horn and a hound.

Here is every one of the 27 at its moment, one column for each peace vow:

Twenty-seven pictures in three columns of nine, each a government's last blow on the cardboard board in the clouds, named in gold underneath. First column: the Commonwealth's hug breaking into coloured scraps, the Lottery Republic's caged drum, the Covenant Republic's loser before the pearly gates in a burst of light, the Watchful Senate's ring of guards, the Merchant Republic's crate, the Republic of Omens' crows, the Legion Republic's shield wall, the War Assembly's loser in the devil's cauldron, and the Crusader Commons' trebuchet. Second column: the Free Villages' tree, the League of Free Towns' paper road, the Cloister Lands' monk on a cloud, the Concord of States' scroll, the Guild Compact's winding key, the Veiled Order's cloth, the Clanholds' loser lifted overhead, the Wild Kingdoms' hound, and the Congregation Militant's great red book. Third column: the Philosopher King's cave, the Court of Fortune's wheel, the Shepherd Throne's sheep, the Panoptic Bureaucracy's forms, the Princedom of Masks' puppet strings, the All-Seeing Throne's eye in a cloud, the Iron Imperium's statue, the Conqueror's Wheel, and the Undying God-Emperor's giant queen in gold rays

Off the Hinges

At his phase break the Houndmaster's near head lunges off his shoulders on its neck and bites the board. His Off the Hinges card used to show a giant head coming out of the sky. It now shows the bite as it happens: his own head on its stretched neck, collar still round it, driven nose down with its teeth in the board and the planks breaking up round it.

A Houndmaster fight on a ring-shaped cardboard board. On the left, the card Off the Hinges is held up, its picture a black and tan dog's head on a long neck with a spiked red collar, biting down into broken planks in a kennel yard. On the right, the Houndmaster's own head is stretched out off his shoulders on its neck with its jaws wide open

Champions: both seats on the same terms

The right-hand seat at the Champions table now plays by the same rules as the left.

  • Its energy is added up from the pins it holds, the same way the left seat's is. It used to be read off a stored number, so a build code a friend sent you could play differently depending on which side you stood it on. It plays the same on either side now.
  • It has a purse, starting empty. Its Cutpurses fill it, its Money Gunners are paid out of it instead of firing for free, and its Sellswords and Hoard Wyrms count it.
  • The table plays in turns only, for every seat, so the left side can no longer hold energy back for the clash.
  • Nobody at the table carries a potion belt, so a card or pin that brews a potion brews it for neither side.
  • During the right side's turn, the console shows the right side: its draw, discard and exhaust piles and its energy. Your hand, your flasks and your run bar step aside until your turn comes back.
  • One press of Fight starts one fight. A quick second press used to start a second.

Co-op: a code that stays, and friends

A player called lancer told us that their council code changed after they left the game to send it to a friend. The game had been closed while they were away, and when it started again it drew a new code, so the invite they had sent led nowhere. They also asked for a way to invite people they had played with before without leaving the game. This update does both, and our thanks go to lancer for the report and the idea.

Each copy of the game now keeps one council code of its own. Every council you gather opens under it, after a restart, after the game has been closed and after a day away, so an invite you sent earlier still brings your friend to your table.

Anyone at the table when a march begins is kept as a friend. The invite sheet lists your friends and what they are doing (gathering a council, on a march, or playing), each with an Invite button that rings them. The ring shows over whatever screen they are on, with Join and Not now. If a friend is gathering a council, that council comes first on the join note.

The lower half of the Invite Friends sheet, headed Friends you have marched with: Lancer, Playing now; Coral, Gathering a council; Wren, On a march; Sam, Away; each with an Invite button, and Done at the bottom
The War Council table with the host's seat card and three open seats. A cream note hangs over the top on a string, reading Lancer invites you to their war council, with Join and Not now buttons

Puptential's family

The 0.7.40 post showed Puptential's nine final forms. The pup and its three middle forms have now been cut by hand in the same style, so the whole line reads as one family. All thirteen share the pup's scowling eye and cream scarf, and each middle form carries hints of the finals it can become: Pyret has sooty legs with ember cracks, a cinder crest and fox ears, Puddel a navy saddle and a shark's fin, Beagloom leaf ears, a flower bud and a thorny vine collar.

The Puptential line in two rows on a dark board, named in gold: Puptential, Pyret, Puddel and Beagloom. The top row, marked 0.7.40, shows four stiff jointed dogs in tan, orange, blue and green. The bottom row, marked 0.7.41, shows the same four redrawn: a tan pup with big ears and a cream scarf, an orange fox-eared dog with a flame tail and sooty legs, a blue dog with a shark's fin and a fluke tail, and a green dog with leaf ears, a pink bud and a vine collar

Ten languages, complete

German, French, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Polish, Russian, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese now each cover every string in the game, about 10,900 of them. Card, pin, potion and unit text that ran out of its box in German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish and Russian has been shortened to fit.

The browser version

The first load no longer waits for the soundtrack. Only the title theme comes down with the game, and the rest of the music follows once the title is up, while the title theme plays. In our tests the title came up in 37.5 seconds where it took 46 on a 50 Mbit line, and in 71 seconds where it took 86 on a 25 Mbit line. On the 50 Mbit line the rest of the music was in about 9 seconds after the title.

Phones

  • When you aim a spell, summon or potion with your finger, the count of how many it will hit is lifted clear of your fingertip, and a small old-TV screen in the opposite corner shows the field under your finger.
  • A second tap now puts down a card you cannot play, such as a curse or a card you lack the energy for. It used to open the card again.
  • A card slid up out of the hand plays when you lift it just past the line. It was being read as a tap and put back.

Also in this update

  • The government's nameplate on the run recap and the crown's room dressed for your land, both shown in the 0.7.40 post, now appear in a real game. Before this they only appeared in our test screenshots.
  • The War Council seat card's body-type switch is the same cut ticket switch as Champions' Play and Auto.
  • The Chimera's On Strike heal now pays on the killing blow too.
  • When a unit that stands still is thrown off its summoning spot, the spot is free again at once, so another summon can stand there.
  • The High Roller achievement unlocks when you put up a stake at The Bone Casino, not when you walk past the table with your purse shut.

This post went out to players on Steam and itch.io on 28 October 2026, and is kept here. Comments and questions are read on either of those, in the Discord, or through the quill in game.