Overview

Aim of the game: Score the most points (coins) when someone places their 6th Star.

Objectives

Each player starts with two objectives, you can only complete one of these. When you do, gain a star for completing the objective and discard the one you didn't.

Turn

On your turn, move your action piece to one of the action spaces on your player mat other than the space you were on last turn. (You may not take the same action two turns in a row)

1. On the new space, first resolve the upper action, if desired. (The Upper actions and how to take them are described below)

2. Then, resolve the lower action, if desired. (The Lower actions and how to take them are described below)

You may perform no actions if you wish, but still must move to another action space on the start of your next turn.

• After to taking up to 2 actions, you may then resolve objectives if they apply

• Each player is a Faction, and this brings with it unique bonuses and abilities

Actions

Each player board has slightly different pairings of top and lower actions, but everyone can perform the same actions in some combination.

• The Cost of the lower actions vary per player, but all have something that costs 2/3/4/4

• Upper action benefits start with cubes on them which stops you from gaining the full benefit.

• Lower action costs have some of the cost in a broken black border which forms part of the cost at start of game.

• There are ways of moving cubes from blocking benefits to blocking costs as long as they have that broken black border

Note: The squares with a red background are costs. The squares with a green background is a benefit you gain from taking the action.

Upper actions

• Bolster

• Move

• Produce

• Trade

Lower actions

• Build

• Deploy

• Enlist

• Upgrade

Upper Actions

Bolster

You have to pay one coin, then at the start you can gain either 2 Power or 1 Combat card, both of these features will help you in a Combat

Move

To start, this action lets you either move 2 different units or gain 1 coin

• A point of movement allows a unit to move to an adjacent hex

• Units moved can carry resources from their start hex to destination hex if desired

• Mechs can carry Workers from their start hex to destination hex (or pick up/drop off workers along the way), and this only counts as moving the Mech, not the Workers

Rivers and Lakes are impassible terrain at the start, with the exception of certain abilities

All Tunnels are adjacent, so a single move can take a unit from one Tunnel to any other Tunnel

• If an opponent has Workers occupying a Hex, your Workers cannot move in alone, whilst your Mech and Character scare them off to their Faction Home Base however you cannot move any further with that unit and lose 1 Popularity for each opponent Worker removed this way

• If an opponent has just a Structure occupying a Hex, you a free to move into it and then are considered controlling it once you do

• If an opponent has a Character or Mech occupying a Hex, your Workers cannot move in alone. Your Character and Mechs can move in, but nothing happens until all your movements have completed, then battle occurs.

A Home Base, including your own, cannot voluntarily be moved into.

• Some spaces have Encounter tokens, if you end the movement phase with your Character occupying a space with one of these tokens, resolve an Encounter.

• Each Hex has unlimited space for units of the same player.

Produce

At the start, this action is free.

• At the start, you can choose two different Hexes where you have Workers, and produce the resource depicted on the Hex multiplied by the number of Workers you have there, these resources are placed on the Hex chosen to produce

• There is no limit to the quantity of resources which a Hex can hold

Trade

You have to pay one coin, then at the start you can either gain 2 Resources to place on Hexes where you have Workers or gain 1 Popularity

Lower Actions

Build

• This costs the pictured amount of Wood, gives you 0-3 coins (depending on Faction), and lets you place a Structure into a Hex with no other Structures and at least one of your Workers

• Like Mechs, the different Structures will provide different benefits as shown on the space on the action board they come from, so choose carefully which you wish to place when

• Structures are never destroyed, but if an opponent occupies a Hex with your Structure, then they control the Hex, but you still get your Structure bonus

• The Structure Bonus goal card will give points at end game if you place your Structures in certain ways e.g. adjacent to certain other features

Deploy

• This costs a stated amount of Metal, gives you 0-3 coins (depending on Faction), and lets you place a Mech into a Hex where you have at least one Worker.

• Choose which Mech you deploy carefully, as each Mech unlocks a space which gives you a new Mech ability. These do not have to be unlocked in a specific order, so its up to you which ability you wish to gain first.

• It is important to note that the different Factions will provide different Mech abilities.

Upgrade

• This costs a pictured amount of Oil, gives you 0-3 coins (depending on Faction), and lets you move a blocking cube from a Top Row Action green space to a Bottom Row Action red space with a broken black border, the two spaces do not have to be from the same segment.

• Going forward, now something has an additional benefit and something else has a reduced cost.

Enlist

• This costs a stated amount of Food, gives you 0-3 coins (depending on Faction), and lets you take a Recruit from any action segment you wish and claim a one time bonus.

• The space the Recruit came from is now revealed, any time you or the player to your left or right takes the associated bottom-row action, you gain the bonus listed.

Combat

Whenever a Combat is triggered, resolve each Combat separately before moving on to another

• Each player involved in the Combat takes the power dial and can secretly choose an amount of power they wish to spend, they can only pick a value which they can actually afford to spend on the Power Track, up to a max of 7

• In addition, for each Character & Mech, a player can secretly add a combat card to power amount

When each player is ready, reveal the dials and any chosen cards

• The player with the highest total value wins the combat, ties are won by the attacker

Each player pays the power they chose to set on their dials and discards used combat cards

• The winner gains control of the Hex, places a star on the Combat space of the Triumph track if a space is available. If the attacker won, they resolve any Encounter which may have been present and also lose Popularity for each defending Worker forced to retreat.

• The loser retreats all their units on that Hex to their Home Base. If the defender loses, and they used at least 1 power via the dial or cards, they gain 1 combat card as compensation.

Encounters

At the start of game, Encounter Tokens were scattered across the map

• If you move your Character onto one of these spaces, and if Combat is successful, if applicable, the Encounter triggers

• A Character cannot move beyond an Encounter Token space, they must end their move on it and cannot pass through it

• Draw an Encounter card and select one of the options, as long as you can afford the cost of an option, then it is available to you to select

The Factory

The Factory is the central purple Hex, it provides no resources during game but is worth 3 Hexes for end game purposes

• When your Character enters the Factory for the first time, look through the available Factory cards and pick one to add to your action board, this becomes a new space which you can move to with your action pawn and use on any future turn like a regular action space

• All Factory Cards have the same Lower Action, move one unit two spaces, but the Upper Action will vary

• You can never have more than one Factory Card, and cannot exchange it later

Stars

A few ways to gain a Star have already been mentioned, but the full list is as follows:

• Complete all 6 Upgrades

• Deploy all 4 Mechs

• Build all 4 Structures

• Enlist all 4 Recruits

• Deploy all 8 Workers

• Complete one of your two starting Objectives

• Win Combat (x2)

• Have 18 Popularity

• Have 16 Power

There are 10 ways to gain a Star, but you only have 6 Stars to place

Once a Star is gained, you cannot lose it even if game state changes

Game End

The game ends when any player places their 6th Star, the rest of their turn is voided

1. Count up the number of actual coins held

2. Gain the Structure Bonus if you achieve it

3. Then gain coins for your Stars, Controlled Hexes (remember The Factory counts as 3), and pairs of resources. The coins you gain for these areas depends on your Popularity, as follows:

• 0-6 Popularity scores 3 (Stars), 2 (Hexes), 1 (Resource Pairs)

• 7-12 Popularity scores 4 (Stars), 3 (Hexes), 2 (Resource Pairs)

• 13-18 Popularity scores 5 (Stars), 4 (Hexes), 3 (Resource Pairs)

The player with the most coins wins!