Setup
Board Setup
- Initiative to random player
- Action cards 2-6 (1-7 in 4p)
- (Campaign) Add 2 Event cards (3 in 4p)
- Court row (Vox/Guild) of 4 cards (3 in 2p)
- (Campaign) Use “CC” Vox/Guild cards, add 1 Lore per player
- (Campaign) Imperial Council “In Session” as leftmost Court card.
- (Campaign) Rules Booklet
- (2p) Guild Envoys Depart in first slot
- Govern the Imperial Reach (3x), shuffle into first available slot.
- (Base/Leaders) Draw a setup card based on player count, mark out-of-play clusters.
- (2 Players): Place resource tokens matching out-of-play planets in ambition boxes.
- (Campaign) Instead of setup card, roll number die: this and successor cluster are Imperial.
- (2p): Imperial cluster resources to ambitions
- Place 1 Imperial ship in each Imperial system.
- Place 1 damaged Blight in each non-Imperial system.
- Roll Event die: place 1 Free City on each matching non-Imperial system.
Player Setup
- (Base Game) A: 3 ships 1 city, B: 3 ships 1 starport, C: 2 ships. Resources from A/B systems.
- (Leaders and Lore)
- Lay out P+1 Leader and Lore cards
- In reverse turn order, choose cards until all players have one of each
- Starting pieces/resources as shown on Leader card
- (Campaign), Act 1
- Draw 2 “A” Fates, simultaneously choose and reveal.
- Set up based on objective card.
- Objective marker per Fate, counts down.
- Each player starts as Regent, First Regent based on setup or goes to player with initiative.
- In turn order: 3 ships + 1 building at a planet with an Imperial ship, gain that resource.
- In reverse order: repeat.
- Free Cities to all empty Imperial planet building slots.
(Campaign) Intermission
- Resolve Resolution card for Fates, in turn order.
- Failed objectives lose power equal to objective marker
- Clear court - discard pile is scrapped
- Clear trophies/captives, frozen resources, imperial trust, (2p) resources from ambitions.
- Repair all damaged blight.
- Destroy all damaged ships, buildings, flagship upgrades/armor.
- Destroy all buildings in systems with blight and no ships.
- Give initiative to player with most power.
- Each player with 1+ power loses half, rounded down. (eg. 15 power, lose 7)
- Choose Fate
- Finishing Act 1, draw “B” Fates. Act 2, draw “C”.
- Completed objective: draw 1 to current fate. Failed objective: draw 2 fresh.
- Simultaneously choose and reveal.
- If choosing new Fate, return current Fate to box, scrap remainder (but keep anything in play). Return all favours, take new Fate set.
- Pack up or Next Act? (See rulebook)
(Campaign) Act 2-3
- Start with lowest-power Ambition marker (Act 3: lowest two) flipped to start.
- Imperial Council is “In Session”
- Add 1 damaged blight on each gate with no blight and no ships
- Roll event die. In each cluster, if marked planet has
- no blight: add 1 damaged blight
- blight: add 1 damaged blight at each planet in cluster with no blight
- (2p): Roll number die twice, resources to ambitions
- Player setup per objective card. Players may rearrange resource tokens.
Chapters
- Shuffle action cards, deal 6 cards each (2p: player without initiative may mulligan). Remainder discarded facedown.
- Play rounds until all players are out of cards.
- Score Ambitions
- Tie for 1st: all tied score 2nd. Tie for 2nd: nothing
- Bonus city power if in first (not tied)
- (2p) Count resources on ambitions as a 3rd player
- Clean Up: return trophies/captives if warlord/tyrant scored.
- Flip lowest-power ambition marker.
- End game if any player has 27/30/33 power, or chapter 5.
Rounds
- Player with initiative Leads a card, or passes initiative.
- Pass: initiative marker to the left, next player with cards, start a new Round. If everyone passes, end chapter.
- After leader’s turn, other players take a turn in turn order.
- Check initiative: goes to player who Seized, or player who Surpassed with highest card.
Turns
- Play an action card.
- Declare an Ambition (optional, leader).
- Seize the Initiative (optional): play an extra card face down. Playing a faceup 7 automatically seizes. Can only be seized once per round.
- Prelude actions: spend a resource, or activate a guild card.
- Take actions from action card:
- Lead: One action per pip.
- Surpass: Higher than lead in same suit: One action per pip.
- Copy: (Facedown) one action from lead card.
- Pivot: (Offsuit) one action from your card.
- Event: (Campaign) take actions as lead card, or nothing if subsequent/council secured.
Actions
Basic
- Tax: Gain 1 resource at a Loyal or Controlled city.
- Taxing Rival captures an agent.
- City can be taxed once per turn.
- Build
- Starport or City in an empty slot in a system with a loyal piece.
- Ship at a loyal starport. Starport can build once per turn.
- Building in a system controlled by another, piece enters play damaged.
- Move
- Any number of loyal ships to an adjacent system.
- Catapult move from loyal starport, move until you reach a planet or system controlled by another. Can drop off on the way.
- Repair: 1 loyal ship or building anywhere, from damaged to fresh.
- Influence: Place 1 agent on any Court card.
- Secure: Take a card from Court if you have more agents than all other players.
- Return your agents, capture rival agents.
- Resolve “When Secured” action.
- Draw a replacement immediately.
- Battle
- Choose battle system, your ships there are the attacking ships.
- Choose defender, a rival in the system, these are the defending pieces.
- Collect dice: 1 per attacking ship, Raid dice only if defending buildings or defender has no buildings in play.
- Roll and resolve dice:
- Hit your ships 1/flame
- Hit your ships 1/fresh defending ship, if any intercepts
- Hit defending ships 1/blast (hit buildings if out of ships)
- Hit defending buildings 1/blast triangle
- Raid resources and cards per raid key
- Hitting fresh ships damage them, hitting damaged ships destroys them (move to opposing player’s Trophies).
- Destroying cities:
- Provoke Outrage (discard matching resources/guild cards, place an agent to cover Outrage icon, can no longer use for prelude actions)
- Ransack Court (secure any card with any number of defender’s agents, take all rival agents as Trophies, not Captives)
Prelude
- Material: Build/Repair
- Fuel: Move
- Weapon: This turn, Battle from action card actions
- Relic: Secure
- Psionic: an action listed on lead card
- Return resources spent in Prelude to supply at end of prelude.
- Cannot use Court card prelude actions the same turn you secure them.
Guild Cards
- Cards may grant new actions: An action lists the name of a standard action in parens, you may take this action instead of that standard action.
Campaign
- Lasts three Acts. Acts have 3/3/4 chapters.
- Do not end Acts early, ignore victory thresholds on power track.
- (Act 1-2) Fate has an Objective, and tells you how to advance (down) your objective token.
- Between Acts there’s an intermission, which gives a bonus for completing your objective. You might choose a new Fate.
- (Act 3) “A” and “B” Fates give two Grand Ambitions, which grant more power at the end of each chapter as marked - lower value fulfilling one, higher value fulfilling both.
- (Act 3) “C” Fates have a Final Objective, you win the game at end of a chapter if you complete it and have at least 1 Power.
- You can still win by simply having the most power.
- Fates also add many cards to the Rules Booklet. Use one side for Edicts, another for Laws and Summits.
New Rules
- Some guild cards are Protected (X), cannot be removed from holders play area unless they Provoke Outrage.
- Court cards can attach a second card above existing cards.
- When securing a card, secure its attached card.
- When force attaching, if unable to fulfill all requirements, still attach ignoring fewest requirements to attach it.
- If a card is removed and has an attached, refill court by sliding down the attached card.
- Frozen resources cannot be spent, given, or discarded, except as described.
- But they can be stolen!
- When counting, count everything in your play area.
- Harm
- choosing as defender in battle, damaging, destroying, or hitting.
- Tokens, added by Fates
- By default, cannot be harmed.
- By default, not Loyal.
The Empire
- Players start as Regent to the Empire.
- One Regent is First Regent, and holds Imperial Trust.
- A Regent can become an Outlaw by calling a Summit.
- Control: The Empire controls all systems with at least one fresh imperial ship.
- The First Regent controls all Imperial systems for ambitions, objectives, events.
- Presence Law: On Regent’s turn, they control Imperial systems with Loyal pieces present, may take actions with Imperial ships.
- If a rule lets you ignore Presence Law, you Command the entire Imperial Fleet.
- Movement Law: Regents can only move 1 Imperial ship for each Loyal ship moving along.
- Truce Law: Regents cannot harm Imperial ships (except when attacking), and cannot harm or tax Rival Regents in Imperial systems.
- Regent attacking may add Imperial ships.
- Regent defending must add Imperial ships.
- Outlaws may attack Empire alone, First Regent collects Outlaw Trophies.
- Free States
- You may tax/build ships/catapult move/repair in systems you control.
- Attacking: all free buildings in system are defending. Take as trophies when destroyed. Raid for exactly 1 resource of planet type for 1 key.
- Unlimited supply, if not enough tokens use a proxy.
- Imperial Trust
- Held by First Regent
- Resources are Frozen (can’t be raided/spent/given, but count for ambitions)
- Emptied during intermission.
Blight
- Blight is Tough, requires two hits to damage/destroy.
- Blight is hit on blast, but not blast+triangle. Blight does not intercept.
- Blight stops Catapult moves.
- If adding Blight and supply is empty, take from player with most Blight trophies.
Events
- Trigger at end of round.
- If Imperial Council was secured this round, the Securing player:
- may call a Summit
- if Regent, take First Regent
- if Outlaw, steal resources from Imperial Trust, First Regent loses 1 Power for each
- choose either Crises or Edicts
- Otherwise, if an Event card was played, just after checking whether initiative changes, the player with initiative:
- may call a Summit
- roll event die: blast -> Crises, scroll -> Edicts.
Summit
- Call to Order - take any number of actions
- Return Favor to force a Negotiation action targeting you, costs 1 favor
- Petition the Council back to In Session
- Leave the Empire
- If First Regent, give to Regent with most Power.
- If no Regents, empty Imperial Trust and lose 1 power per resource returned
- Revive the Empire
- If no Regents, become a Regent and take First Regent
- Negotiations - all players take any number of actions, needs consent of affected Rival
- Cede Control - replace 1 Loyal piece with a Rival’s. Can only cede buildings if no Loyal ship in system, cannot cede last city, starport, or ship on map.
- Delegate Authority - replace 1 Loyal agent on a court card with a Rival’s.
- Promise Favor - give a Loyal agent from your supply to a Rival
- Transfer Asset - give a Captive, Trophy, Favor, or Resource to a Rival
- forcing a resource transfer costs Favors equal to raid cost
- Invite to Empire - If you’re first regent, return an Outlaw to Regent
Crises
- Blight Crises - Blight deals damage in each system, damages Imperial ships first, then damages every player in the system.
- Fate Crises - resolve in turn order.
- Court Crises - Roll Event+Number dice unless already rolled to indicate target systems. Resolve left to right, attached first.
Edicts
- Resolve in order from low to high.
- Govern the Imperial Reach
- First Regent must either enforce it, collecting 1 piece from each Regent (if unable take Favor, if unable may make them Outlaw), and then take the Imperial Action or
- change it, choosing a new edict card to place on top of the other two.
Flagships
- May be given to you by a Fate
- Replace all Loyal buildings with same Free buildings
- Setup as described on back of Flagship board
- Cannot build cities/starports on may, can build on Flagship as Upgrades and Armor.
- Can build 1 ship at Flagship per turn.
- Battle: Collects variable dice, does not intercept by default.
- Upgrades & Armor
- To build, must be at a planet of matching type.
- Must build upgrade before Armor.
- Can Repair.
- Cannot tax, use to build ships, or catapult move. Destroying does not Provoke Outrage or Ransack the Court.
- Cannot cede control in Summits
- Attacking
- Armor and Upgrades are hit like ships
- Armor must be destroyed before Upgrade takes hits.
- Flagship collects dice up to number of fresh Starports on upgrades and armor.
- Defending
- Armor and Upgrades are hit like buildings (must destroy other ships first, can be attacked with Raid dice)
- Only intercepts with Defence Array upgrade
- Events
- When taking hits in Crisis, only takes hits if no other fresh Loyal ships in system, take hits to Armor, right to left, then Upgrades, right to left.
- Resettling - via “C” Fate
- Clear flagship board, return to box.
- Replace Flagship with Loyal ship.
- Place 1 city and 1 starport in empty buildings on map, if none replace Free buildings.
- Place ships in systems with Loyal pieces until you have 8 Loyal ships on the map.
Specific Upgrades
- Ship Crane (M>F): Build up to 2 ships from Flagship
- Defense Array (W>P): intercepts with fresh Starports
- Slipstream Drive (F>R): O/T, in Prelude, Catapult flagship alone, or other ships from flagship
- Control Array (P>M): While in gate, may tax any cities in cluster as if they were Loyal
- Tractor Beam (R>W): When defending, attacker cannot collect Raid dice
- Hull (Any>Any): No defined benefit