diff --git a/internal/fullnode/build_pods_test.go b/internal/fullnode/build_pods_test.go
index 732b45af..a5f216d5 100644
--- a/internal/fullnode/build_pods_test.go
+++ b/internal/fullnode/build_pods_test.go
@@ -136,4 +136,117 @@ func TestBuildPods(t *testing.T) {
 		got := lo.Map(pods, func(pod diff.Resource[*corev1.Pod], _ int) string { return pod.Object().Name })
 		require.Equal(t, want, got)
 	})
+
+	t.Run("happy path without starting ordinal", func(t *testing.T) {
+		crd := &cosmosv1.CosmosFullNode{
+			ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{
+				Name:      "agoric",
+				Namespace: "test",
+			},
+			Spec: cosmosv1.FullNodeSpec{
+				Replicas:  5,
+				ChainSpec: cosmosv1.ChainSpec{Network: "devnet"},
+				PodTemplate: cosmosv1.PodSpec{
+					Image: "busybox:latest",
+				},
+				InstanceOverrides: nil,
+			},
+		}
+
+		cksums := make(ConfigChecksums)
+		for i := 0; i < int(crd.Spec.Replicas); i++ {
+			cksums[client.ObjectKey{Namespace: crd.Namespace, Name: fmt.Sprintf("agoric-%d", i+int(crd.Spec.Ordinals.Start))}] = strconv.Itoa(i + int(crd.Spec.Ordinals.Start))
+		}
+
+		pods, err := BuildPods(crd, cksums)
+		require.NoError(t, err)
+		require.Equal(t, 5, len(pods))
+
+		for i, r := range pods {
+			expectedOrdinal := crd.Spec.Ordinals.Start + int32(i)
+			require.Equal(t, int64(expectedOrdinal), r.Ordinal(), i)
+			require.NotEmpty(t, r.Revision(), i)
+			require.Equal(t, strconv.Itoa(int(expectedOrdinal)), r.Object().Annotations["cosmos.strange.love/config-checksum"])
+		}
+
+		want := lo.Map([]int{0, 1, 2, 3, 4}, func(i int, _ int) string {
+			return fmt.Sprintf("agoric-%d", i)
+		})
+		got := lo.Map(pods, func(pod diff.Resource[*corev1.Pod], _ int) string { return pod.Object().Name })
+		require.Equal(t, want, got)
+
+		pod, err := NewPodBuilder(crd).WithOrdinal(crd.Spec.Ordinals.Start).Build()
+		require.NoError(t, err)
+		require.Equal(t, pod.Spec, pods[0].Object().Spec)
+	})
+
+	t.Run("instance overrides without starting ordinal", func(t *testing.T) {
+		const (
+			image         = "agoric:latest"
+			overrideImage = "some_image:custom"
+			overridePod   = "agoric-5"
+		)
+		crd := &cosmosv1.CosmosFullNode{
+			ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{
+				Name: "agoric",
+			},
+			Spec: cosmosv1.FullNodeSpec{
+				Replicas: 6,
+				PodTemplate: cosmosv1.PodSpec{
+					Image: image,
+				},
+				InstanceOverrides: map[string]cosmosv1.InstanceOverridesSpec{
+					"agoric-2":  {DisableStrategy: ptr(cosmosv1.DisablePod)},
+					"agoric-4":  {DisableStrategy: ptr(cosmosv1.DisableAll)},
+					overridePod: {Image: overrideImage},
+				},
+			},
+		}
+
+		pods, err := BuildPods(crd, nil)
+		require.NoError(t, err)
+		require.Equal(t, 4, len(pods))
+
+		want := lo.Map([]int{0, 1, 3, 5}, func(i int, _ int) string {
+			return fmt.Sprintf("agoric-%d", i)
+		})
+		got := lo.Map(pods, func(pod diff.Resource[*corev1.Pod], _ int) string { return pod.Object().Name })
+		require.Equal(t, want, got)
+		for _, pod := range pods {
+			image := pod.Object().Spec.Containers[0].Image
+			if pod.Object().Name == overridePod {
+				require.Equal(t, overrideImage, image)
+			} else {
+				require.Equal(t, image, image)
+			}
+		}
+	})
+
+	t.Run("scheduled volume snapshot pod candidate without starting ordinal", func(t *testing.T) {
+		crd := &cosmosv1.CosmosFullNode{
+			ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{
+				Name: "agoric",
+			},
+			Spec: cosmosv1.FullNodeSpec{
+				Replicas: 6,
+			},
+			Status: cosmosv1.FullNodeStatus{
+				ScheduledSnapshotStatus: map[string]cosmosv1.FullNodeSnapshotStatus{
+					"some.scheduled.snapshot.1":       {PodCandidate: "agoric-1"},
+					"some.scheduled.snapshot.2":       {PodCandidate: "agoric-2"},
+					"some.scheduled.snapshot.ignored": {PodCandidate: "agoric-99"},
+				},
+			},
+		}
+
+		pods, err := BuildPods(crd, nil)
+		require.NoError(t, err)
+		require.Equal(t, 4, len(pods))
+
+		want := lo.Map([]int{0, 3, 4, 5}, func(i int, _ int) string {
+			return fmt.Sprintf("agoric-%d", i)
+		})
+		got := lo.Map(pods, func(pod diff.Resource[*corev1.Pod], _ int) string { return pod.Object().Name })
+		require.Equal(t, want, got)
+	})
 }