Terra Mystica
For 2 -5 Players
In Terra Mystica each player governs one of 14 factions trying to develop
more successfully than their opponents.
Terra Mystica is a magical world:
its inhabitants are able to transform the terrain they are living in.
Each faction is bound to a specific type of terrain:
It can only build structures on its “Home terrain”.
This is why each faction over the centuries needed to develop Terraforming capability.
A faction either lives in the
Plains, the Swamp, the Lakes, the Forest, the Mountains, the Wasteland, or the Desert –
and each of them strives to transform the terrain according to its needs.
In the game, the players need to expand to build Dwellings.
However, as they gain Power
when another player builds Dwellings or upgrades Structures
directly adjacent to them,
each player has to face the challenge of finding the right balance
between adjacency to other players and free space for expansion.
Existing Dwellings can be upgraded in multiple steps:
to a Trading house at first,
then to a Stronghold or Temple.
One Temple can be upgraded to a Sanctuary.
Dwellings provide Workers.
Upgrading a Structure increases your income in Coins,
Power, or Priests.
A Dwelling may become a Sanctuary in three steps.
Alternatively, one Trading house may become a Stronghold.
Besides geographic expansion and upgrading Structures,
players can also develop four Cults:
Earth, Water, Fire, and Air.
Progress in these will be displayed on the Cult board.
Developing them also provides an increase in Power and other rewards.
In the end,
the player who developed their faction the best wins the game.
<Components>
1 Game board :
with the map in its initial state
1 Cult board :
with the four Cult tracks and Orders
7 Faction boards :
each side displays a different faction
56 Terrain tiles :
double-sided and 8 for each color
65 natural-colored Workers
40 small Coins (value 1)
65 purple Power tokens :
occasionally simply called Power
1 orange Starting player token
17 Action tokens :
used for Power and Special actions
1 Game end token
5 “100 Victory points” tokens
28 oval Favor tiles :
1+3+3 tiles Cult
3 Bridges
8 Rectangular Scoring tiles
9 Bonus cards :
depicted as scrolls
5 "Actions" Overview tiles :
one side English, the other German
<Setup>
This section consists of two parts.
For your first play,
please follow the instructions of the static introductory game.
Add the changes for the variable main game in your second play at the earliest.
Put the Game board in the middle of the table and the Cult board next to it.
First Play
'Assignment of Factions'
For your first game,
we recommend you play Terra Mystica with predefined factions.
Depending on the number of players,
take the recommended factions and distribute them among the players:
2 players: Witches (green), and Nomads (yellow)
3 players: Witches (green), Nomads (yellow), and Alchemists (black)
4 players: Witches (green), Nomads (yellow), Halflings (brown), and Mermaids (blue)
5 players: Witches (green), Nomads (yellow), Halflings (brown), Mermaids (blue),
and Giants (red)
'Components in faction colors'
Each Faction board has a Transformation cycle.
It shows the seven types of terrain
with the Home terrain of a given faction highlighted
by its larger size.
(The color of your Home terrain matches your faction’s color.)
Take all the tokens in your faction’s color:
Priests, Structures, Markers, and the Bridges.
(Priests, Structures, and Bridges are limited by the token quantity.)
Put the 7 Priests and the 3 Bridges next to your Faction board.
Put the Structures on the corresponding spaces on your Faction board.
Priests and Bridges are put next to the Faction board forming your “supply”.
Distribute the 7 Markers of your color.
Place one Marker on the leftmost space of the Shipping track (value 0).
(Only the Mermaids start with value 1.
The Fakirs and Dwarves do not have Shipping and
therefore do not need this Marker.)
Place one Marker on the bottom-most space of the Exchange track
of your Faction board – this is the space
where 3 Workers equal 1 Spade.
(The Darklings do not need this Marker.)
Place another Marker on space 20 of the Victory point track
on the Game board.
Distribute the remaining 4 Markers on space 0 of each of the 4 Cult tracks
on the Cult board.
'Faction setup'
The setup for each faction is depicted on its Faction board.
* Starting resources
Collect your starting resources.
They are depicted at the top right corner of your Faction board,
under your faction’s name:
Workers
Coins
Priests of your color
Take the depicted resources and place them on your Faction board.
* Cult Advancements
Your Faction board depicts some Cult symbols
next to the starting resources. For each such symbol,
move the corresponding Marker on the Cult board up one space.
The Nomads (yellow) start on space 1 in the Cults of Fire and Earth,
the Halflings (brown) start on space 1 in the Cults of Air and Earth,
the Witches (green) start on space 2 in the Cult of Air,
and the Mermaids (blue) start on space 2 in the Cult of Water.
* Bowls of Power
Your Faction board displays three Bowls of Power at its top left corner.
Distribute a total of 12 Power tokens(occasionally simply called Power)
between Bowls I and II as indicated on your Faction board.
For your first game,
we recommend you play with the following setup.
What follows is the setup for a 4-player game explained in detail.
The setup for a different number of players follows afterwards.
The Bonus cards and setup for a 2-player game.
The Bonus cards and setup for a 3-player game.
The Bonus cards and setup for a 5-player game.
Changes in the main game
Unlike the introductory game,
randomly select which Bonus cards and Scoring tiles to use.
Then, after these basic parameters are set,
freely choose your factions.
Also, freely place your first Dwellings.
(The positions of the first Dwellings are not preset.)
'Scoring Tiles'
Randomly draw 6 Scoring tiles
and put them face-up on the Game board in random order.
Each tile corresponds to a round.
(Put the remaining two tiles back into the game box.)
Cover the right half of the uppermost Scoring tile
with the Game end token.
'Bonus Cards'
Shuffle the 9 Bonus cards.
The number of cards needed in the game
depends on the number of players.
Randomly draw the required number of Bonus cards
and place them face-up next to one another.
(Put the remaining cards back into the game box.)
'Choosing a Faction Board'
The Starting player chooses a faction and takes its Faction board.
In clockwise order,
each other player takes one of the remaining Faction boards
and chooses which side to use.
Note: Alternatively, randomly assign the factions.
(Take one Dwelling of each color and randomly distribute them among the players.)
Then choose one of the two factions:
the front or back of
the corresponding Faction board.
Once each player has decided on a faction,
proceed with the faction setup as explained for the introductory game.
Also, distribute the components of your color as explained there.
However, do not
place your Dwellings on the Game board, yet.
Goal of the Game
At the end of the game,
the player with the most Victory points wins the game.
The following figure displays the various ways to get Victory points in this game.
(Victory points are depicted as brown squares containing a laurel wreath.)
There is a Scoring tile for each of the six rounds.
Each of them displays how to get Victory points in a given round:
by building Dwellings, Trading houses, the Stronghold, or the Sanctuary.
Additional Victory points may be awarded
for transforming Terrain spaces(spade symbol)
and founding Towns (key symbol).
You will be facing a dilemma:
on the one hand,
you might want to build the best Structures for your faction(one faction wants a quick
Stronghold, another many Temples),
on the other hand,
you might want to concentrate on the Structures
that
score Victory points this round.
Three out of the nine Bonus cards award Victory points
when you have completed all the actions
you wish to take in the current Action phase (called passing):
Then, Victory points are either awarded for
• all of your Dwellings on the Game board,
• all of your Trading houses on the Game board, or
• your Stronghold and Sanctuary on the
Game board.
Two Favor tiles award Victory points for Dwellings and Trading houses
whenever you build them.
Another Favor tile awards Victory points for already built Trading houses when passing.
You get Victory points when founding Towns.
You also get additional rewards on top of that.
You get Victory points when improving your Shipping.
or
Terraforming skills.
This is why these actions are not only useful in the beginning of the game,
but also towards its end.
Some factions have special abilities to gain additional Victory points.
(For example, the Alchemists are particularly good at converting Coins to Victory points.)
At the end of the game,
Victory points are awarded for the largest connected areas
on the Game board(Area scoring).
Improving your Shipping and Terraforming skills
not only provides Victory points directly,
but is also helpful in creating a large connected area.
Also at the end of the game,
Victory points are awarded for progress on the four Cult tracks (Cult scoring).
On the one hand,
you want to have a lot of Dwellings to create a large connected area
but on the other hand,
the more valuable Temples and the Sanctuary provide a lot of Priests.
These are needed to score well in the Cult scoring
Close adjacency to other players enables you to trade Victory points for Power.
(This is why you start the game with 20 Victory points.)
<Flow to Play>
'Placing the First Structures'
Skip this section when reading for the first time.
In the introductory game,
the first Structures are placed on predefined spaces.
Beginning with the Starting player and in clockwise order,
place one of your Dwellings on an existing Home terrain.
Then, beginning with the last player and in counterclockwise order,
place a second Dwelling in the same fashion.
(The Nomads place their third Dwelling after all players have placed their second one.
The Chaos Magicians place their only Dwelling
after all other players have placed all of their Dwellings – if necessary,
after the Nomads have placed their third Dwelling.)
*Details
• Dwellings may only be placed on a faction’s Home terrain.
(Other than that, there are no restrictions.)
When placing the first Structures,
players may not transform any Terrain spaces.
This will only be possible later in the game.
• All Structures, incl. the Dwellings,
are taken from left to right off your Faction board.
After placing the first Structures,
there will be empty spaces on the Dwelling track.
These spaces define your income(see below).
'Choosing the first Bonus card'
Beginning with the last player and in counterclockwise order,
each choose and take one Bonus card.
Bonus cards provide additional income,
unlock Special actions or award Victory points
for certain Structures at the end of a round.
Place 1 Coin from the general supply on each of the leftover Bonus cards.
(The purpose of these Coins is to make the less frequently taken Bonus cards
more attractive in later rounds.)
At the end of each round,
there will be 3 leftover Bonus cards that each get 1 Coin.
<Flow of Play Over Six Rounds>
Each of the six rounds goes through three phases:
PHASE I: Income Phase
PHASE II: Action Phase
PHASE III: Cult bonuses and Clean-up Phase
PHASE I: Income
Collect new Workers, Coins, Priests, and Power.
* You also go through this phase on the 1st round.
Consequently, you first collect your faction-specific starting income
and then also the income for the 1st round.
Your income depends on the Structures you have built,
on the Bonus card you have chosen,
and (later in the game) on the Favor tiles you own.
On all components,
income is symbolized by an open hand.
'Basic income for Structures'
Workers:
Take a number of Workers from the general supply equal
to the number of visible Worker symbols on your Dwelling track.
In Phase I,
this player collects 3 Workers as indicated on his Dwelling track.
Coins:
Take a number of Coins from the general supply
equal to the number of visible Coin symbols on your Trading house track.
Priests:
Take a number of Priests from your supply
equal to the number of visible Priest symbols on your Temple track.
Another Priest symbol will be visible once you have built your Sanctuary.
(Both the Swarmlings’ Sanctuary and the Darklings’ Sanctuary provide 2 Priests.)
Put the newly gained Workers, Coins, and Priests on your Faction board.
(If the supply of Workers or Coins runs out,
replace the missing components with something else.
Only your supply of Priests is limited.)
Power:
Power is gained according to the visible Power symbols
on the Trading house track.
The Stronghold usually provides additional Power
(except for the Alchemists who collect 6 Coins instead,
or the Chaos Magicians who collect 2 Workers instead,
or the Fakirs who collect 1 Priest instead).
* How to use Power is explained in the next section,
“The Bowls of Power”.
'Additional income for cards and tiles'
Beside the income collected via your Faction board,
add the income depicted on your Bonus card and Favor tiles.
If you got the depicted Favor tile and Bonus card,
you would get the following:
[The Bowls of Power]
Each player has 12 Power tokens
that are distributed among three Bowls.
Power actions require Power in Bowl III.
(the one on the right)
In this scenario,
you have 5 Power at your disposal.
You may use all of the Power in Bowl III
regardless of the number of Power tokens in Bowls I and II.
Whenever you gain Power in the game
(as income, when an opponent builds Structures,
or by advancing on the Cult tracks),
you do not get new Power tokens,
but rather move the existing ones from Bowl to Bowl.
Also, when spending Power on a Power action,
you do not lose Power tokens,
but move them around again.
Power tokens move (always in clockwise order)
according to the following rules:
(Gaining Power)
When gaining Power,
proceed in the following order.
1. If there are Power tokens in Bowl I,
for each 1 Power you gain move one token from Bowl I to Bowl II.
2. Once Bowl I is empty,
for each 1 Power you gain move one token from Bowl II to Bowl III.
3. Once all Power tokens are in Bowl III,
you cannot gain further Power.
If you gain 3 Power in this scenario,
move the 2 tokens from Bowl I to Bowl II first,
then move 1 token from Bowl II to Bowl III as now Bowl I is empty.
(Spending Power)
Move them to Bowl I when spending them.
After gaining 3 Power in the above scenario,
you can now spend up to 6 Power for a Power action.
More about these later.
PHASE II: Actions
During the Action phase,
beginning with the Starting player and in clockwise order,
each player takes exactly one Action.
Continue to do so until no player wants to take any more Actions.
There are eight possible Actions to choose from.
Except for passing,
all Actions can be taken multiple times during the same Action phase
(but only once per turn).
'1 Transform and Build'
First, you may change the type of one Terrain space.
Then, if you have changed its type to your Home terrain,
you may immediately build a Dwelling on that space.
(Building a Dwelling)
In order to build a Dwelling on a Terrain space,
this space needs to be :
• of your color (i.e. it needs to be your Home terrain)
• unoccupied
• directly or indirectly adjacent to one of your Structures
(“Adjacency” is defined in the next section).
Also, you need to pay its building costs.
Each Dwelling costs 1 Worker and 2 Coins.
(Exceptions: The Engineers build Dwellings for 1 Worker and 1 Coin,
the Swarmlings for 2 Workers and 3 Coins.)
(Transforming a Terrain space)
To ensure the first condition is met,
you are allowed to transform one unoccupied Terrain space
into your Home terrain immediately
before building a Dwelling.
Place a Terrain tile of your color on that space.
Transformation has its price:
Each step between the source and destination terrain
on the Transformation cycle of your Faction board costs 1 Spade.
Thus, transforming adjacent types of terrain
(on the Transformation cycle)
into one another costs 1 Spade,
with a maximum cost of up to 3 Spades
if they are on opposite sides of the cycle
as you can move in either direction on the cycle.
(Exception: Giants always have to pay
exactly 2 Spades to transform any type of terrain into their Home terrain.)
Spades can be acquired in a variety of ways.
You may exchange Workers* for Spades.
The Exchange track of your Faction board displays the Exchange rate:
At the beginning of the game,
this is usually 3 Workers for 1 Spade.
The Marker indicates that the Exchange rate is 3 Workers for 1 Spade.
1 or 2 Spades can be acquired via certain Power actions.
One of the Bonus cards provides 1 Spade
(Halflings and Giants gain additional Spades
for immediate use after building their Stronghold.)
Spades may only be applied to a single Terrain space.
However, there are two special cases:
• If the Spades gained via a Power action
or Bonus card do not suffice to transform a Terrain space into your Home terrain,
you may exchange Workers*
for the missing Spades
(at the current Exchange rate of your Exchange track).
(* The Darklings pay 1 Priest for each missing Spade instead.)
• When gaining 2 Spades,
if you only need one of them to transform a Terrain space into your Home terrain,
you may apply the second Spade on another Terrain space.
However, you may not place a Dwelling on this second space.
(The same is true when the Halflings build their Stronghold,
immediately gaining 3 Spades)
(Details on building Dwellings)
• When building, take Structures (incl. Dwellings)
from left to right off your Faction board.
• If the current Scoring tile depicts a Dwelling,
you get 2 Victory points for each Dwelling you build.
This Scoring tile awards 2 Victory points for building Dwellings.
(Details on using Spades)
• You may not save Spades for future Actions.
Spades need to be used immediately.
• If the left side of the current Scoring tile depicts a Spade,
you get Victory points for using Spades
during the current Action phase.
This Scoring tile awards 2 Victory points for using Spades.
• After transforming a Terrain space,
you do not need to build a Dwelling immediately.
You can do this in another Action at a later point in time.
• You do not need to transform a Terrain space into your Home terrain,
you may stop at any other type of terrain
(e.g. if you can not afford more Spades).
However, during their turns, your opponents may claim that Terrain space for themselves.
(Terrain spaces with Terrain tiles on them but no Structures are considered unoccupied.)
• Even when transforming a Terrain space without building a Dwelling,
the transformed Terrain space needs to be directly
or indirectly adjacent to one of your Structures.
• You may not transform a Terrain space containing Structures.
• You may also get Spades via Cult bonuses.
As these Spades are gained outside the Action phase,
you may not build a Dwelling immediately afterwards,
nor do you get to exchange Workers for more Spades.
(You have to wait for the next Action phase to build a Dwelling.)
(Adjacency)
Due to some other rules,
it is important to distinguish between direct and indirect adjacency of Terrain spaces.
(This distinction does not matter when building Dwellings,
which is what this section is all about.)
Direct adjacency
Terrain spaces and Structures are considered directly adjacent to one another
if they share a hexagon edge.
Additionally, Terrain spaces and Structures separated
by a River but connected via a Bridge are also considered
directly adjacent to one another.
These Terrain spaces are directly adjacent to one another.
As soon as you build a Structure on the other Terrain space,
both Structures will be considered directly adjacent as well.
Indirect adjacency Terrain spaces and Structures are considered indirectly adjacent
to one another if they are (not directly adjacent to one another, but) separated
by one or more River spaces and your Shipping value
is high enough to cover the distance.
(Terrain spaces and Structures that Dwarves
can reach via Tunneling and Fakirs via Carpet Flight
are also considered indirectly adjacent to one another.)
In order to make these Structures indirectly adjacent to one another,
you need a Shipping value of at least 2.
Note:
When building Dwellings,
your opponents get the chance to gain Power.
Before that, let us have a look at the following two Actions
that facilitate building Dwellings for the remainder of the game:
advancing on the Shipping track and lowering the Exchange rate for Spades.
'2 Advancing on the Shipping track'
Terrain spaces and Structures need to be indirectly adjacent to one another
if you want to expand beyond River spaces.
In order to transform Terrain spaces or build Structures beyond River spaces,
as an Action,
you may move the Marker on your Shipping track forward one space.
Your Faction board displays the costs of this Action:
1 Priest and 4 Coins.
As a reward for taking this Action,
get a number of Victory points as indicated on the Shipping space you move to.
'3 Lowering the Exchange rate for Spades'
At the beginning of the game, Spades cost 3 Workers each.
In order to reduce this cost down to 2 Workers or even down to 1 Worker,
as an Action,
you may move the Marker on your Exchange track up one space.
Your Faction board displays the costs of this Action:
2 Workers, 5 Coins, and 1 Priest.
(Exception: Halflings pay fewer Coins,
and Darklings do not even have an Exchange track as they exchange Priests for Spades.)
As a reward for taking this Action,
you get 6 Victory points.
'4 Upgrading a Structure'
Structures can be upgraded step by step.
The costs for each upgrade are depicted on the Faction board
to the left of a Structure.
(Details)
• Always take newly placed Structures from left to right off your Faction board.
• When upgrading,
you are replacing Structures by one another.
Take the Structure that you wish to upgrade off the Game board
and return it to your Faction board.
This reduces your income for the given type of Structure.
(When returning Structures to your Faction board,
always put them as far to the right as possible on their proper track.)
Place the new Structure on the same space on the Game board
where the just removed Structure has been.
Upgrading a Dwelling to a Trading house costs 2 Workers and 6 Coins.
If there is at least one opponent’s Structure directly adjacent to that Dwelling,
you only need to pay 3 Coins instead of 6.
If the current Scoring tile depicts a Trading house,
get 3 Victory points for this upgrade.
cUpgrading a Trading house to a Stronghold costs
a number of Workers and Coins depending on the faction.
After building its Stronghold,
each faction gains a specific special ability.
If the current Scoring tile depicts a Stronghold,
get 5 Victory points for this upgrade.
Upgrading a Trading house to a Temple costs 2 Workers and 5 Coins*.
As a reward,
immediately choose and take one Favor tile** and put it face-up in front of you.
(You may immediately take advantage of the newly gained Favor tile,
or use it during the current Action phase, respectively.)
You may not take a Favor tile that you already have.
(*Engineers pay less and Swarmlings pay more
when upgrading to a Trading House or Temple.)
Upgrading a Temple to a Sanctuary costs a number of Workers and Coins
depending on the faction.
This is also awarded with a Favor tile**.
If the current Scoring tile depicts a Sanctuary,
get 5 Victory points for this upgrade.
(**Chaos Magicians always get 2 Favor tiles instead of 1.)
Power via Structures
: Each Structure has a Power value.
The Power value of each Structure is depicted
to the right of its track on the Faction board:
When building a Dwelling or upgrading a Structure,
you must inform the owners of Structures directly adjacent to your Structure
that they may gain Power:
In order to determine the total number of Power an opponent may gain,
add up the Power values of their Structures directly adjacent
to your newly built Structure.
Details:
• You do not gain Power for your own Structures.
Power can only be gained when an opponent builds Structures.
• Beginning with the player to the left of the active player and in clockwise order,
each affected opponent needs to decide whether to actually gain the Power or not.
(The next section explains why you might want to refuse to gain Power.)
The price of Power:
Unfortunately,
Power gained via Structures is not free.
To gain that Power, you need to lose a number of Victory points
equal to one fewer than the number of Power gained.
Thus, gaining 1/2/3/4/… Power costs 0/1/2/3/… Victory points.
In the above example, the Nomad player may gain 3 Power.
If he does, he will lose 2 Victory points.
Details:
• You may not end up with a negative score when losing Victory points.
• You may not gain less Power in order to save Victory points.
Either take it all or gain nothing.
(Exceptions: If you have not enough Power tokens in Bowls I and II,
gain as many Power as needed to move all of them to Bowl III
and lose Victory points accordingly.
Also, you may gain less Power to avoid a negative score.
In this case, only gain as many Power as needed to end up with 0 Victory points.)
• You only lose Victory points when gaining Power via Structures.
You do not lose any Victory points when gaining Power otherwise.
Summary: How do I gain Power?
You gain Power:
• when an opponent builds Structures (as explained above)
• as income from your Trading houses and Stronghold
(and Temples if you are playing the Engineers)
• as income from two specific Bonus cards
• as income from two specific Favor tiles
• as a one-time reward when founding a Town and taking the specific Town tile
• as a one-time Cult bonus in Phase III
if the specific Scoring tile is up for the current round
• when advancing on the Cult tracks.
Power via Cult tracks:
Power can also be gained on the Cult tracks of Earth, Water, Fire, and Air.
You gain 1/2/2/3 Power when advancing to the 3rd/5th/7th/10th space of a Cult track.
You only gain this Power once when advancing to or passing by these spaces.
Only one player on space 10:
Only one player may advance to space 10 of each Cult track.
To do so, you also need to have founded a Town for each space 10
you want to advance to.
'5 Send a Priest to the Order of a Cult'
There are 4 spaces below each of the Cult tracks of
Earth, Water, Fire, and Air that each can hold exactly 1 Priest.
As an Action, you may place one of your Priests
on one such space to advance 3 or 2 spaces (as indicated on the space)
on the corresponding Cult track.
Details:
• You may gain Power when advancing on a track.
• There is no way of getting these Priests back.
Keep in mind that you only have a total of 7 Priests at your disposal.
If you do not want to lose a Priest, alternatively,
return him to your supply (next to your Faction board)
and only advance 1 space.
[6 Power actions]
There are two types of Power actions:
fully-fledged Actions and auxiliary Actions.
Power actions on the Game board:
The Power actions on the Game board(indicated by orange octagons)
may only be taken once per round – first come, first served.
Whenever taking one of these Actions,
move a number of Power tokens from Bowl III to Bowl I equal to its indicated cost.
Then, put an Action token on its space on the Game board to indicate
that this Action may not be taken any more this round.
Conversions (anytime) :
Anytime during your turn,
on top of your Action,
you may do any number of Conversions.
Therefore, you have the following options
(also depicted in Bowl III on your Faction board):
• Spend 5 Power for 1 Priest.
• Spend 3 Power for 1 Worker.
• Spend 1 Power for 1 Coin.
• Convert a Priest to a Worker.
• Convert a Worker to a Coin.
This illustration reminds you of the available Conversions.
Details:
• A Conversion is not considered your Turn action.
• On your turn, you may do any number of Conversions before or after your Action.
Sacrificing Power:
If you do not have enough Power in Bowl III
to take a specific Power or Conversion action,
on top of your Action,
you may move Power tokens from Bowl II to Bowl III
and then immediately take the desired Action.
However, for each Power token moved in this fashion,
you need to remove 1 Power token from Bowl II from the game.
From now on,
you will irrevocably have to deal with fewer Power tokens in your cycle.
(You may not sacrifice Power if you only have 1 Power token in Bowl II.)
'7 Special actions'
Each Special action may be taken only once per round.
Special actions, like Power actions, are indicated by orange octagons
and can be gained in a variety of ways.
Some factions unlock a Special action when building their Stronghold.
One Favor tile and one Bonus card provide a Special action to advance 1 space
on a Cult track.
Another Bonus card provides a free Spade for transforming a Terrain space.
Use Action tokens to cover taken Special actions.
'8 Passing and new Starting player'
On your turn,
if you cannot or do not want to take any more Action,
you have to pass and stop taking Actions for the remainder of this round.
The first player to pass becomes the Starting player for the next round
(and takes the Starting player token).
When passing, immediately return your Bonus card
and take one of the three available ones.
This may be a card another player has already returned this round.
(Exception: Do not take any Bonus cards in the last round of the game – round 6.)
If there were Coins on the newly taken Bonus card,
put them on your Faction board.
You may get Victory points when returning certain Bonus cards.
When passing and returning the Bonus card depicted on the right,
get 1 Victory point for each of your Dwellings on the Game board.
When passing and returning the Bonus card depicted on the left,
get 2 Victory points for each of your Trading houses on the Game board.
When passing and returning the Bonus card depicted on the right,
get 4 Victory points if you have already built your Stronghold and/or 4 Victory points
if you have already built your Sanctuary.
Details:
• Freely choose which one of the three available Bonus cards you want to take.
(You may not immediately take the card that you have just returned.)
• You may wish to put the newly taken Bonus card face-down
in front of you to indicate that you have already passed.
• There is no limitation for how many resources you may keep for the next round.
• You may take as many Actions as you wish,
even if all other players have already passed.
As long as there is at least one player left taking Actions,
the current Action phase continues.
'Founding a Town'
During the course of the game, one or more Towns may be founded.
Towns are founded automatically whenever these two conditions are met:
• There are at least 4 Structures of one color directly adjacent to one another.
Exception: Only 3 Structures are required if one of them is a Sanctuary.
• These Structures have a combined Power value of at least 7.
Indicate a founded Town by choosing and taking a Town tile
and placing it under one of the Structures forming that Town.
Founding a Town has three benefits:
• Immediately get a number of Victory points as indicated by the chosen Town tile.
Get additional Victory points
if the current Scoring tile depicts a key.
• Immediately and only once,
collect the rewards depicted on the chosen Town tile
(either +1 space on each of the Cult tracks,
1 Priest, 2 Workers, 6 Coins, or 8 Power).
• Each Town provides a key.
Each key allows you to advance to the last space of one Cult track (space 10).
(Without a key, you have to stop at space 9.)
Details:
• When founding a Town,
all Structures directly adjacent to one another form that Town
(Bridges are key here),
even if there are more than the required number of Structures.
• Indirect adjacency (especially via River spaces) has no relevance
when founding a Town.
(Exception: The Mermaids may ignore any one River space when founding a Town.)
• Building new Structures directly adjacent to an existing Town expands
that Town rather than forming a new one.
• When a Structure is built combining two existing Towns to one larger Town,
these Towns do not lose their individual rights or functions
(despite the fact that you cannot tell anymore where their borders are).
• The total number of Towns for one game is limited to 10.
PHASE III: CULT BONUSES AND CLEAN-UP PHASE
When all players have passed, the current Action phase is over.
In rounds 1 to 5, the Action phase is followed
by a Clean-up phase preparing the next round.
(There is no Clean-up phase after the last round.)
Cult Bonuses:
First, the Cult bonuses depicted on the current Scoring tile
need to be awarded.
Each player with enough progress in the depicted Cults
gets the depicted reward,
multiple times if need be.
Details on the Cult bonus “Spades”:
• The Cult bonuses are awarded in the play order of the next round.
(This is relevant for Spades.)
• You may not acquire additional Spades when getting them as a Cult bonus.
(Neither may the Fakirs do a Carpet Flight,
nor the Dwarves do Tunneling when getting Spades as a Cult bonus.
A Carpet Flight and Tunneling have costs
that cannot be paid outside the Action phase.
Also, if the Giants get only a single Spade as a Cult bonus,
this Spade will be forfeit.)
• You may not save Spades for future turns.
• You may apply these Spades on different adjacent Terrain spaces.
• You may not build a Dwelling in Phase III.
Return Action tokens:
If there are any Action tokens on
• Power action spaces on the Game board,
• Special action spaces on Faction boards, or
• Favor tiles and Bonus cards,
remove them from there.
Coins on Bonus cards:
Put 1 Coin from the general supply on each of the three leftover Bonus cards.
(If a card has not been taken by any player for two rounds,
it will now have 2 Coins on it.)
Turn the Scoring tile face-down:
As the last act of the current round,
turn the current Scoring tile facedown
so that only the Scoring tiles of the following rounds remain face-up.
<END OF THE GAME AND FINAL SCORING>
The game ends after all players have passed in the Action phase of the last round.
Afterwards, there is a final scoring.
(As indicated by the Game end token,
there are no Cult bonuses in the final round.)
'Cult scoring'
Score each of the four Cult tracks individually:
• 8 Victory points for the player highest on a track.
• 4 Victory points for the player second highest on a track.
• 2 Victory points for the player third highest on a track.
These values are also depicted in the top left corner of the Game board.
You cannot gain any Victory points when being still on space 0.
In case of a tie, evenly divide the Victory points of the respective tiers
among the tied players
(round down if necessary).
Area scoring Determine the number of your Structures
directly or indirectly adjacent to one another.
With the proper Shipping value,
scattered areas may be indirectly adjacent to one another
(and, thus, considered connected).
• The player with the highest number of connected Structures gets 18 Victory points.
• The player with the second highest number of connected Structures
gets 12 Victory points.
• The player with the third highest number of connected Structures
gets 6 Victory points.
These values are also depicted in the top left corner of the Game board.
In case of a tie,
evenly divide the Victory points of the respective tiers
among the tied players (round down if necessary).
Resource scoring:
Finally, get Victory points for left-over resources:
get 1 Victory point per 3 Coins.
(All other resources may be converted to Coins for this purpose.)
(The Alchemists get 1 Victory point per 2 Coins.)
The winner of the game:
The player with the highest number of Victory points wins the game.
In case of a tie,
there is more than one winner.
<APPENDICES>
Appendix I explains the Power actions.
These Actions are depicted on the Power action spaces on the Game board.
Appendix II is about the Favor tiles,
Appendix III presents the Town tiles,
Appendix IV explains the Bonus cards,
Appendix V features the Scoring tiles,
and Appendix VI elaborates on the special rules of all factions.
[Appendix I: The Power action spaces on the Game board]
In each round, there are six Actions available to all players,
but once they are taken,
they may not be taken again for the remainder of the current round.
Building a Bridge:
By moving 3 Power tokens from Bowl III to Bowl I,
you may build a Bridge over a River space.
In order to do this,
you need to have a Structure on at least one of the Terrain spaces
connected by the Bridge.
Building the Bridge connects these Terrain spaces
and they become directly adjacent to one another.
Details:
• Without Shipping, you can only reach a Terrain space beyond a River space
by building a Bridge.
During your next Action or later,
you may then transform this Terrain space and/or build a Dwelling on it.
• Structures connected via Bridges count towards the founding of a Town,
whereas indirect adjacency via Shipping does not.
• Once built, you cannot reclaim your Bridges.
Keep in mind that you can only build a total of three Bridges.
1 Priest:
By moving 3 Power tokens from Bowl III to Bowl I,
you may take 1 Priest from your supply and put it on your Faction board.
2 Workers:
By moving 4 Power tokens from Bowl III to Bowl I,
you may take 2 Workers from the general supply and put them on your Faction board.
7 Coins:
By moving 4 Power tokens from Bowl III to Bowl I,
you may take 7 Coins from the general supply and put them on your Faction board.
1 Spade
By moving 4 Power tokens from Bowl III to Bowl I,
you may take Action #1 “Transform and Build”
getting 1 free Spade for this purpose.
(If this Spade does not suffice to transform a given Terrain space
into your Home terrain,
you may exchange Workers* for the missing Spades – at the current Exchange rate
on your Exchange track.)
2 Spades
By moving 6 Power tokens from Bowl III to Bowl I,
you may take Action #1 “Transform and Build” getting 2 free Spades for this purpose.
(If these Spades do not suffice to transform a given Terrain space
into your Home terrain,
you may exchange Workers* for the missing Spade – at the current Exchange rate
on your Exchange track.
If you only need one Spade to transform a Terrain space into your Home terrain,
you may spend the second Spade on another Terrain space.
However, you may not place a Dwelling on this other space.)
(*Darklings need to exchange 1 Priest for each missing Spade.)
'Appendix II: The Favor tiles'
After building a sacred Structure (Temple or Sanctuary),
immediately choose and take one Favor tile.
(Chaos Magicians always take two Favor tiles.)
Put the Favor tile(s) face-up next to your Faction board.
You may only have one tile of each type.
There are 12 different types of Favor tiles.
• 4 of the Favor tiles, immediately and only once,
increase your influence in a given Cult by 3.
There is one each of any such tile.
• 8 of the Favor tiles immediately unlock a special ability.
Additionally, immediately and only once,
they increase your influence in a given Cult by 1 or 2.
There are three each of any such tile.
(While advancing on the Cult tracks, you may pass by certain spaces and gain Power.)
From now on, when founding a Town,
your Structures only need to have a combined Power value of 6 instead of 7.
From now on, as a Special action (once per Action phase),
you may advance 1 space on a Cult track of your choice.
Use an Action token to keep track of using this Special action.
In Phase I “Income”, gain 4 additional Power.
In Phase I “Income”,
collect 1 additional Worker and gain 1 additional Power.
In Phase I “Income”,
collect 3 additional Coins.
When upgrading a Dwelling to a Trading house,
immediately get 3 additional Victory points.
From now on, when passing,
get 2/3/3/4 Victory points for 1/2/3/4 of your Trading houses on the Game board.
When building a Dwelling,
immediately get 2 additional Victory points.
'Appendix III: The Scoring tiles'
Each Scoring tile on the Game board represents one round.
Their leftside indicates how to get additionalVictory points during theAction phase.
Their right side displays the Cult bonuses awarded
at the end of that round (in Phase III).
These bonuses depend on your progress on the Cult tracks
(and may be awarded multiple times for the same track).
You do not need to spend the progress to get the bonus.
Action phase: Get 2 additional Victory points when building a Dwelling.
End of the round: Put 1 Priest from your supply on your Faction board for every 4 spaces you have advanced in the Cult of Water.
Action phase:
Get 2 additional Victory points when building a Dwelling.
End of the round:
Gain 4 Power for every 4 spaces you have advanced in the Cult of Fire.
Action phase:
Get 3 additional Victory points when building a Trading house.
End of the round:
Get 1 Spade for every 4 spaces you have advanced in the Cult of Air and
apply them immediately (in the play order of the next round).
Action phase:
Get 3 additional Victory points when building a Trading house.
End of the round:
Get 1 Spade for every 4 spaces you have advanced in the Cult of Water
and apply them immediately (in the play order of the next round).
Action phase:
Get 5 additional Victory points when building your Stronghold or Sanctuary.
End of the round:
Put 1 Worker from the general supply on your Faction board for every 2 spaces
you have advanced in the Cult of Air.
Action phase:
Get 5 additional Victory points when building your Stronghold or Sanctuary.
End of the round:
Put 1 Worker from the general supply on your Faction board
for every 2 spaces you have advanced in the Cult of Fire.
Action phase:
Get 2 additional Victory points for each Spade when using them.
End of the round:
Put 1 Coin from the general supply on your Faction board
for every space you have advanced in the Cult of Earth.
Action phase:
Get 5 additional Victory points when founding a Town.
End of the round:
Get 1 Spade for every 4 spaces you have advanced in the Cult of Earth and
apply them immediately (in the play order of the next round).
'Appendix IV: The Bonus cards'
There are nine different Bonus cards (depicted as scrolls).
Their main purpose is to get additional income in Phase I. Bonus cards are only valid for a single round. They are returned at the end of each round.
In Phase I “Income”,
collect 1 additional Priest.
In Phase I “Income”,
gain 3 additional Power.
Also, in Phase II and for this round only,
your Shipping value is increased by 1.
If you got this Bonus card in round 6,
this increase will not count for the final scoring.
(Dwarves and Fakirs do not gain any advantage from this card.)
In Phase I “Income”,
collect 2 additional Coins.
Also, when returning this card after passing,
get 1 Victory point for each of your Dwellings on the Game board.
In Phase I “Income”,
collect 1 additional Worker and gain 3 additional Power.
In Phase I “Income”,
collect 2 additional Coins.
Also, in Phase II as a Special action,
you may take Action #1 getting 1 freeSpade forthis purpose.
Use an Action token to keep track of using this Special action.
(You may acquire additional Spades
by paying Workers if this Spade does not suffice to transform
into your Home terrain.
Darklings pay 1 Priest per Spade.)
In Phase I “Income”,
collect 1 additional Worker.
Also, when returning this card after passing,
get 2 Victory points for each of your Trading houses on the Game board.
In Phase I “Income”,
collect 6 additional Coins.
In Phase I “Income”,
collect 4 additional Coins.
Also, in Phase II,
you may take a Special action to advance 1 space
on a Cult track of your choice for free.
Use an Action token to keep track of using this Special action.
In Phase I “Income”,
collect 2 additional Workers.
Also, when returning this card after passing, get 4 Victory points
if you have already built your Stronghold and/or 4 Victory points
if you have already built your Sanctuary.
'Appendix V: The Town tiles'
There are two each of 5 different Town tiles.
When founding a Town,
choose and take one of the remaining Town tiles and with it mark a building in that Town.
Each Town tile immediately provides a one-time bonus.
(You may have multiple copies of the same Town tile.)
When taking this Town tile,
get 9 Victory points and put 1 Priest from your supply on your Faction board.
When taking this Town tile,
get 8 Victory points and move 1 space forward on each of the 4 Cult tracks.
When taking this Town tile,
get 7 Victory points and put 2 Workers from the general supply on your Faction board.
When taking this Town tile,
get 6Victory points and gain 8 Power.
When taking this Town tile,
get 5 Victory points and put 6 Coins from the general supply on your Faction board.
'Appendix VI: The Factions'
This section provides further details on the 14 factions, their special abilities,
and the rewards for building their Stronghold.
The factions are sorted by Home terrain.
Some factions gain an Action token after building their Stronghold.
This token may already be used on the same round.
AUREN
Ability:
Stronghold:
After building the Stronghold,
immediately and only once get 1 Favor tile.
Also, take an Action token.
As a Special action (once per Action phase),
you may advance 2 spaces on a Cult track of your choice
(only advancing to space 10 if you have a key).
Use the Action token to keep track of using this Special action.
WITCHES
Ability:
Get 5 additional Victory points when founding a Town.
Stronghold:
After building the Stronghold, take an Action token.
As a Special action (once per Action phase),
you may build 1 Dwelling on an unoccupied Forest space.
Neither pay 1 Worker, nor 2 Coins for this Dwelling.
For this build only, ignore the adjacency rule.
You may build on any free Forest space as long as
it has been Forest at the beginning of this Action (Witches’ Ride).
(Thus, you may not transform a Terrain space beforehand.)
Use the Action token to keep track of using this Special action.
ALCHEMISTS
Ability:
You may trade 1 Victory point for 1 Coin, or 2 Coins for 1 Victory Point
anytime and any number of times (Sorcerer’s Stone).
Stronghold:
After building the Stronghold, immediately and only once gain 12 Power.
From now on, gain 2 Power for each Spade
you get throughout the remainder of the game
(regardless of the way you get the Spade).
DARKLINGS
Ability:
You need to pay Priests (instead of Workers) when transforming Terrain spaces.
Pay 1 Priest and get 2 Victory points for each step of transformation.
Stronghold:
After building the Stronghold,
you may immediately and only once trade up to 3 Workers for 1 Priest each
(Ordination of Priests).
HALFLINGS
Ability:
Get 1 additional Victory point for each Spade you get throughout the game
(regardless of the way you get the Spade).
Stronghold:
After building the Stronghold,
immediately and only once get 3 Spades to apply on Terrain spaces
following the general rules.
You may build a Dwelling on exactly one of these spaces
by paying its costs.
CULTISTS
Ability:
Whenever at least one of your opponents decides
to take Power due to your building activity,
advance 1 space on a Cult track of your choice.
(You only get to advance 1 space in total
regardless of the number of opponents taking Power.
If all of your opponents refuse to take Power,
do not advance on a Cult track.)
Stronghold:
After building the Stronghold, immediately and only once get 7 Victory points.
ENGINEERS
Ability:
As an Action, you may build a Bridge for 2 Workers.
(You may take this Action any number of times during a round.
You may still build Bridges via the respective Power action.)
Stronghold:
After building the Stronghold, each round when passing,
get 3 Victory points for each Bridge connecting two of your Structures.
DWARVES
Ability:
When taking the “Transform and Build” action,
you may skip one Terrain or River space by paying 2 more Workers (Tunneling).
Get 4 Victory points each time when Tunneling.
You have no Shipping.
In the final Area scoring,
any Structures that can be reached via Tunneling are considered connected
(regardless of the number of your leftover Workers).
Stronghold:
After building the Stronghold,
only pay 1 more Worker instead of 2 when Tunneling.
MERMAIDS
Ability:
You may skip one River space when founding a Town.
(You decide if and when you want to use this ability.
When founding a Town in this fashion,
put the Town tile on the skipped River space.
Of course, you may build Bridges as usual.)
Stronghold:
After building the Stronghold,
immediately and only once move forward 1 space on the Shipping track.
Neither pay 1 Worker, nor 4 Coins for this movement.
(Take the rewards associated
with the new level as indicated on your Faction board.)
SWARMLINGS
Ability:
Collect 3 Workers when founding a Town.
Stronghold:
After building the Stronghold, take an Action token.
As a Special action (once per Action phase),
you may upgrade a Dwelling to a Trading house.
Neither pay Coins, nor Workers for this Trading house.
Use the Action token to keep track of using this Special action.
CHAOS MAGICIANS
Ability:
You start the game with only one Dwelling.
You may only place this Dwelling after all the other players have build all of theirs
(if necessary, after the Nomads have placed their third one).
You get 2 Favor tiles instead of 1
whenever you build a Temple or your Sanctuary.
Stronghold:
After building the Stronghold, take 1 Action token.
As a Special action (once per Action phase),
you may take a double-turn.
(On this double-turn, take any 2 Actions one
after another – passing is also considered an Action.)
Use the Action token to keep track of using this Special action.
GIANTS
Ability:
You always pay exactly 2 Spades to transform a Terrain space
into your Home terrain – even for Mountains and Desert.
(A single Spade will be forfeit
when gained in Phase III as a Cult bonus.)
Stronghold:
After building the Stronghold, take an Action token.
As a Special action (once per Action phase),
get 2 free Spades to transform a reachable Terrain space into your Home terrain.
On this space, you may immediately build a Dwelling by paying its costs.
Use the Action token to keep track of using this Special action.
FAKIRS
Ability:
When taking the “Transform and Build” action,
you may skip one Terrain or River space by paying 1 more Priest (Carpet Flight).
Get 4 Victory points each time when doing a Carpet Flight.
In the final Area scoring,
any Structures that can be reached via Carpet Flight are considered connected
(regardless of the number of your leftover Priests).
Stronghold:
After building the Stronghold,
you may now skip 2 Terrain, or 2 River spaces,
or one each when doing a Carpet Flight.
(This also affects the final Area scoring.)
NOMADS
Ability:
You start the game with 3 instead of 2 Dwellings.
Place the third one after all players have placed their second ones
(but before the Chaos Magicians have placed their only Dwelling).
Stronghold:
After building the Stronghold, take an Action token.
As a Special action (once per Action phase),
you may transform a Terrain space directly adjacent to one of your Structures
into your Home terrain (Sandstorm).
On this space, you may immediately build a Dwelling by paying its costs.
(This ability is not applicable past a River space or Bridge.)
Use the Action token to keep track of using this Special action.
(The Sandstorm is not considered a Spade.
Social