Pandemic Legacy: Season 2

Setting up Pandemic Legacy Season 2 requires placing the main board, filling the stockpile with supply cubes based on the current month, naming the three initial havens, and preparing both the player and infection decks. Players draw starting hands from the player deck, shuffle and place numbered infection cards, and set trackers for incidents and infection rates. Crucially, players must strictly follow the rules without opening any sealed boxes, confidential dossiers, or reading ahead in the legacy deck until explicitly instructed to do so.

The main objective varies by month, centered around completing mandatory objectives displayed on the board. Players must establish supply lines by building supply centers, reconning new areas of the world map, and ensuring that known cities maintain stable populations. Successfully completing these objectives advances the campaign calendar, while failing requires repeating the month with adjusted rationing levels.

A player's turn consists of four sequential phases: checking for exposure if starting in an infected city, performing up to four actions (such as driving, sailing, charting boats, sharing knowledge, building supply centers, reconning, making supplies, or delivering supplies), drawing two player cards from the deck (resolving any epidemics immediately), and finally infecting the grid by drawing infection cards equal to the current infection rate and placing or spreading plague cubes.

Campaign progression and final scoring are tracked on the game calendar, rewarding players who succeed in their first attempt at a month rather than needing a second chance. Maintaining high population on the grid and completing months efficiently improves overall campaign standing.

The game concludes instantly when the players successfully fulfill all mandatory objectives for the current month, resulting in a win. Conversely, players lose immediately if the incident marker reaches the final skull space, if they are unable to draw two player cards when required, or if the infection rate track maxes out. Upon winning or losing, players perform end-of-game steps to update the campaign calendar, adjust population levels, and apply permanent legacy upgrades.