Aether Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Summary
• Game Contents
• Setup
• Player Turn
  • Swapping the Tiles
• Elementals
  • Counter Elements
  • Power Example
• Aether Tiles
  • An Example
• Game End and Scoring
• Team Variation

Summary

In the game of Aether, the players place element tiles and elementals on the gameboard in pursuit of gaining control of the aether tiles.

Each elemental on the board has its type defined by the type of element it is placed on. The elemental gains power from this type of element tiles: from the one it is sitting on as well as the ones surrounding it.

In addition, each element has its counter element and all counter element tiles touching the elemental reduce its power.

The player with the most elemental power surrounding an aether tile wins it for him/herself.

Game Contents

• 92 element tiles (23 of each kind)
• 56 elementals (14 of each color)
• 14 aether tiles
• 4 player screens
• gameboard
• a cloth bag for the tiles
• rules of the game

Setup

1. Put all the element tiles in the supplied cloth bag.
2. Each player takes:
   • a player screen
   • 14/11/9 elementals of one color (2/3/4 player game)
   • 4 element tiles which are placed hidden behind the screen.
3. Lay the aether tiles on the gameboard on hexagons marked with the same number as on the tiles.
4. The players choose between standard and variant (longer) game and set up the gameboard accordingly.

Standard game: All the gray empty hexagons are filled with random element tiles.

Variant game: Only the lighter gray empty hexagons are filled with random element tiles. This leads to extended and less random game play.

Player Turn

The starting player is chosen randomly. Players take turns in clockwise order.

On his/her turn the player must always place one element tile on the gameboard from his/her tiles behind the player screen. Additionally, the player may:

• Swap his element tiles (before placing a tile)
• Place one unused elemental on top of the tile he just placed

Finally, the player picks randomly a new element tile from the cloth bag and places it behind his/her player screen. A player should always have four tiles at the end of his/her turn.

Swapping the Tiles

If a player is not happy with his/her element tiles, he/she can swap them before placing an element tile. If a swap is done, the player must sacrifice one elemental.

Procedure:

1. Put one of the unused elementals in either one of the sacrifice pits
2. Put all the current element tiles aside
3. Take four new element tiles from the tile bag
4. Put the old element tiles into the bag.

Notes: Sacrificed elementals are still worth 3 points (see Scoring), but cannot be used otherwise in the game anymore. Multiple swaps can be made by sacrificing more elementals.

Elementals

When an elemental is placed on an element tile, its native element is determined. If, for example, it is placed on a fire tile, the elemental becomes a fire elemental.

Each elemental has a power attribute which is determined as follows:

1. The number of the elemental's native element tiles touching the elemental (including the one it is placed on) are counted (including occupied ones)
2. From this number, the number of the elemental's counter elements touching the elemental is reduced.

Note: Only tiles immediately adjacent to the elemental are counted when determining its power.

Counter Elements

The counter elements are shown in the rulebook diagram. The arrows show which element beats which. Water beats fire, fire beats earth, earth beats air and air beats water.

Power Example

The yellow elemental in the picture is a fire elemental. It gets 3 power points from the three fire tiles it is touching and 1 minus from the water tile (fire's counter element) summing up to total elemental power of 2. The earth tile does not affect the fire elemental's power.

Aether Tiles

The aether tiles ultimately determine the winner of the game. Their worth is determined by the number on them.

The player with the most total elemental power surrounding an aether tile at the end of the game wins the tile for himself and can pick it up for scorekeeping.

If many players have equal power around an aether tile, its value is divided between those players (rounded down).

An Example

In the picture (see rulebook diagram), the yellow player has two elementals touching a 10 point aether tile while the red player has one elemental touching the same tile. As the powers of the yellow elementals add up to 3 and the single red elemental has power of 4, the red player has the control of the aether tile.

Hint: The yellow player could improve his/her situation by placing an earth tile next to his/her earth elemental, thus boosting its power. Alternatively, the yellow player could place a water tile next to the red player's fire elemental. The effects of both moves are shown in the rulebook diagram.

Game End and Scoring

The game ends once the last empty slot on the game board is filled. However, if at some point during the game all players agree that no aether tile can change its owner any more, they may proceed to scoring immediately.

Players score points for:

• All the aether tiles they control at the end of the game. (In a tie situation a tile's point value is divided by the number of players in control, rounded down.)
• The number of elementals not put into play, including sacrificed elementals. Each elemental is worth three points.

The player with the highest score wins the game!

Team Variation

If you are playing a four player game you can play Aether in two teams as well.

In team play the first and third player and second and fourth player form teams. Each team's elementals work together, so instead of summing up each player's elemental power individually when determining the owners of the aether tiles, the total power of each team is added up. The players also score as teams.

Otherwise the game is played normally.