Embark
Embark Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components & Setup
- 79 Victory Point (VP) Tokens: place in easily accessible supply piles.
- 20 Farm Tiles: set these aside for later.
- 15 Key/Unlock Tokens: place 1, key side up, on every exploration track spot marked with a key. Return any unused tokens to the box.
- 5 Double-Sided Island Boards: shuffle and place 1 per player in the center of the play area, random side up, in alphabetical order from left to right (for example, use 3 islands for a 3-player game).
- 36 Boat Cards: shuffle and deal 1 boat card face up to each lettered slot below the Island Boards. Set the remaining deck aside nearby.
- 60 Ore Tokens: stack the indicated number of ore tokens on the ore spaces of each island board.
- 1 First Player Token: give this to the player who has most recently gone on a voyage. This will be the starting player for the first round.
- 16 Talent Cards: shuffle and reveal 2 more than the number of players in the game (for example, in a 3 player game, reveal 5 talent cards) and return the rest to the box. Starting with the player to the right of the starting player and proceeding in reverse turn order, take turns choosing one of these talent cards to use during the game. The starting player will choose last. Return unused talent cards to the box.
- 5 Player Boards & Player Screens: give 1 set to each player and return the rest to the box, they won't be used this game.
- 150 Voyager Cubes (in 5 colors): give 30 cubes to each player matching their player boards and screen. Return the rest to the box.
Play Overview
The game progresses through the following stages in each of six rounds:
- Allocation Stage
- Boarding Stage
- Landing Stage
- Island Stage
Allocation Stage
During the allocation stage, take 5 new voyagers, plus any in your pub, and assign them to the various available boats (A-K) shown on your player board. This is done simultaneously with other players, and in secret behind screens. You may assign all of your voyagers to the same boat, or spread them out across several boats in any combination. You must assign all of your voyagers for the turn.
Once all voyagers have been assigned to boats, remove your screen and move the voyagers from each space on your player board to the area below the associated boat card where they will attempt to board. Be careful to avoid assigning voyagers to spaces not used in your game (to islands that are not in play). Any voyagers mistakenly placed on a space with no boat are then moved to your pub.
Boarding Stage
Starting with the player who has the first player token and progressing to the left, take turns transferring 1 voyager from below a boat into any open job space on that boat. Thus, after you have transferred your first voyager to a boat, all other players will have the opportunity to assign one of their own before you assign your next one. When assigning jobs, keep in mind that boats will be unloaded in alphabetical order and from front to back during the next stage!
When a boat is filled, move any of your remaining voyagers trying to board that boat to the pub on your player board, unless your talent card grants you an ability to place that voyager elsewhere, such as onto a full boat, or onto an adjacent boat. This continues until all voyagers have been loaded onto boats or returned to player boards.
Voyager Jobs
Voyagers can each have 1 of 5 jobs:
- Colonist: These will be placed in the farming area (farm icon) in the center of the island. They will build farms and help you win an exploration bonus at the end of the game.
- Miner: These will be placed in the mining area (mine icon) of the island, in a vacant mining space (ore space) of the player's choice. They will collect ore (ore icon) each round. At the end of the game, you may earn a bonus for collecting ore.
- Explorer: These will be placed in the exploration area (explorer icon) of the island, in the first available space on the exploration track (exploration track icon). They will score you points each round, and increase an end game exploration bonus (see below). Exploring an island can unlock special bonuses specific to that island.
- Captain: These versatile voyagers can be placed into an empty space in any zone (colonist, explorer, or miner).
- Warrior: A warrior displaces any previously-placed voyager, sending that voyager to its owner's pub. If there is no voyager for your warrior to displace, then instead send the warrior to your pub. Remember, a warrior cannot displace a colonist that has already built a farm.
Landing Stage
After all voyagers have been placed onto boats or are moved to pubs, any completely filled boats are ready to set sail to the islands. Boats that are not completely filled do not set sail, and do not get unloaded at this time.
When landing on the islands, boats are unloaded from A through K. Each boat is unloaded from front to back. Transfer each voyager to the island according to its job (exploration, mining, or farming). Warriors displace existing voyagers, and captains can go to any of the 3 areas (but do not count as warriors).
After a boat lands and all voyagers on it have been unloaded, place that card at the bottom of the deck. It may appear later in the game. Once all landing is complete, add a new boat card from the top of the deck to each slot missing a boat card.
Unlocking an Island Bonus
Each island contains one or more bonuses that can be unlocked during the course of the game. When a player places a voyager on an exploration track spot where there is a key token:
- Pick up the key token.
- Flip it over to the "unlocked" side.
- Place the unlocked token over a locked icon on that island.
This island bonus is now unlocked and ready for play!
Island Stage
Finally, players will explore, mine, and farm the islands:
- Exploration: Score 1 VP for each explorer you have on each island.
- Farming: Each group of 4 of your colonists build a farm. Place them in a 2x2 arrangement with a farm tile on top. These colonists may never be moved, and are immune to warriors for the rest of the game. You may find it saves space to stack additional colonists on top of your already built farms, but that's not a requirement. Each time you build a farm, immediately score 15 VP.
- Mining: Collect 1 ore token from the ore space adjacent to each of your miners, if possible. The ore in each mine will likely run out; miners in an empty mine do nothing. In a mine with 2 miners, ore is collected by the top-most miner first. At the end of the game, you may earn a bonus for collecting ore (see the mining bonus chart in Ending the Game).
At the end of this stage, pass the first player token to the left. That player will be the new starting player for the next round. If this was not the 6th round, then begin a new round with another allocation stage.
Ending the Game
The game ends at the conclusion of the 6th round. Conduct the island stage as normal. After this, return all voyagers on boats that did not land in the final round to their owners' pubs, and then award the following end game bonuses:
- Unlocked island bonuses
- Mining bonus (for each player)
Mining bonus chart (ore collected by each player):
| Ore collected | Score |
|---|---|
| 1-4 | 3 VP |
| 5-9 | 10 VP |
| 10-14 | 25 VP |
| 15+ | 45 VP |
- Exploration bonus
Along each island's exploration track there are scoring flags. At the end of the game, the last flag reached indicates an exploration bonus.
- The player with the most colonists on the island (not explorers) scores the 1st place exploration bonus: 20 VP.
- The player with the 2nd most colonists on the island (not explorers) scores the 2nd place exploration bonus, if there is one: 10 VP.
- The player with the 3rd most colonists on the island (not explorers) scores the 3rd place exploration bonus, if there is one: 4 VP.
If there is a tie, add the points for the tied rewards together and divide evenly between tied players, rounding down if necessary.
Winner
The player with highest score is the winner. If there is a tie, the tied player with the most voyagers in their pub is the winner. If tied players have the same number of voyagers in their pub, then they may rejoice in their shared victory, or demand a rematch!
Island Bonuses
The island boards print these bonus texts. Each bonus is unlocked by the key process described under Unlocking an Island Bonus. The rulebook body does not list them, so they are transcribed here from the boards as printed.
- Miners count as colonists (board A-B): For each key found, miners on this island count as 1 colonist toward the exploration bonus at the end of the game.
- Most explorers (board C-D): If unlocked, award end game bonus for most explorers on this island. 1st: 2 VP / 2nd: 1 VP (score your explorers only).
- Miners score during island stages (board E-F, by layout): Once unlocked, miners on this island score 2 VP during each island stage that they fail to collect ore.
- Farm bonus (board G-H): Once unlocked, farms on this island score an additional 5 VP.
- Keys score per voyager (board J-K): Each voyager currently on a boat bound for this island immediately scores 1 VP for every key found on this island.