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So, in the previous conflict, Jason’s character devastated the mine foreman because he hadn’t anticipated Jason’s tactic. The mine foreman gave up and stepped back, because Michelle didn’t think continuing the conflict was worth it. However, if something like this happens, there is another option to get out of terrible loss, and that is reallocation. Here’s an example of a conflict with reallocation.

In this scene, Jason’s character Eckhardt is ambushed by the villainous mine owner, and he has to defend herself.

Michelle: You’ve reached the breach, and you can see the head-sized hole that leads back into the magical dimension. It’s a swirl of darkness and fire, and an eerie howling that sounds nearly human is emerging from it.

Jason: OK, I’m stuffing the artifact back inside.

Michelle: Just as you approach, a figure looms from the darkness. It’s Jakkot, the mine owner, and he steps in your way. “Give me the artifact, Eckhardt, and you won’t get hurt,” he says, in a menacing growl.

Jason: Like fun. Conflict. I’m putting the artifact in the hole.

Michelle: And he’s going to get the artifact from you, by hook or by crook. Let’s allocate.

Jason decides that Grace is the best faculty to use to get the artifact in the hole. He’ll throw it if need be. He’s backing that with Occult Investigator, and he drops all but one of his action tokens there. He decides to go all in on this one, and puts the last one into Will to resist whatever the foreman is dishing out. He sets his Policeman with that action.

Michelle looks at Jakkot, and drops his main action, for 5 action tokens, in his Grace associated with his Thug aptitude to shoot Eckhardt dead. She also drops two action tokens in his Force, to block Eckhardt’s move for the hole, and uses Thug there again.

Michelle: OK. Let’s reveal. Jakkot’s using his Force action to physically block you from the hole, and Grace is going to him shooting you with his gun.

Jason: He’s shooting me? That bastard. My Grace action here is to throw the artifact back in the hole, and I’m using Will here to try to face down Jakkot, and stop him from shooting me, it looks like.

Michelle: I want to resolve the shooting action first, but whether or not you get plugged, the throwing action is still up against his Force to block. Jakkot’s Grace is 4, and his Thug aptitude is also 4. He put five tokens toward this, so his total is 13.

Jason: My Will is 4, and Policeman is 3, and I had only one action token going toward this. My total is 8. Not good.

Michelle: Definitely not good. He’s beating you by 5, that’s a spectacular success. He will maim or kill you with this shot. Let’s see how the toss turned out.

Jason: I’m using Grace of 3 and Occult Investigator of 2, and I put six action tokens behind this. That’s a total of 11.

Michelle: Occult Investigator is pretty weak for this situation, but Jakkot’s using Thug to counter, and that’s not any better. No bonus on either side. His Force is 3, Thug is 4, and he had two action tokens here. That’s 9. You win a success by a margin of 2. So, you’ll throw the artifact in the whole, but be possibly fatally shot by Jakkot.

Jason: The question is how bad do I want it… I’m not willing to take that hit, at this point. I’m going to reallocate.

Michelle: OK. That will cost you some action tokens.

Jason: I know, but it’s worth it to get out of the way of this speeding bullet.

Jason and Michelle cover their allocation again. Jason decides to move four action tokens over to his Will action, bumping it well up out of the realm of serious harm. Michelle decides not to reallocate in order to save Jakkot’s tokens for any follow-up conflicts.

Jason: Here’s how I reallocated. Now, the Will action is worth 12, and the Grace action is 7.

Michelle: OK. Jakkot gets the better of you in both actions now. He wins by one in the shooting action, so that means Eckhardt is scratched. He also gets a success in the block, by a margin of 2, so he steps forward and grabs the artifact, wrestling it away from you.

Jason: I’m not happy about that, but I am pleased to not be dead. Basically, Eckhardt can’t stop the stronger man from taking the artifact, but a cold look from his eyes makes Jakkot’s gun waver and the shot creases Eckhardt’s chest and he stumbles back, losing his grip on the artifact.

Michelle: Jakkot, chuckling evilly, runs back up the mine shaft toward the entrance, the artifact tucked under his arm.

Jason: Now, I’ve got to bring my tokens back. I went all in, so I am fatigued. That’s one spent action token. He winged me with the gun, for a scratch, so that’s a second action token spent. He would have scratched me when he seized the artifact, too, but two scratches don’t increase the spent tokens and I don’t have to worry about that. I also reallocated, so that’s a third action token spent. I’m down to four action tokens, and Jakkot’s still at full. I’m not in good shape to stop him now. I hope Lucy is up there at the mine entrance, and I hope she’s got a gun!