Fire Tower: Rising Flames Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Terms
• Components
• Core Expansion
  • Setup
  • Play
  • Firehawks
    • Firehawk Special Scenarios
  • Action Cards
  • Shadow of the Wood (optional for 3+ players)
    • Shadow Objective
    • How to Incorporate the Shadow
    • Shadow Die Rolls, Explained
• Extreme Weather
  • Extreme Weather Setup
  • Event Cards
    • Dry Storm
    • Kettle Flight
    • Mobilization
  • Specialty Cards
    • Heavy Winds
    • Lookout
• Variants
  • Double Tower Variant (two players)
  • Ghost Tower Variant (three players)
• Solo Mode
  • Solo Setup
  • Solo Play
  • Round End
  • Solo Challenge Cards
  • Buckets (Solo)
  • Firebreaks and Firehawks (Solo)
  • Burning an Enemy Tower (Solo)
  • Firestorm (Solo)
  • Game End (Solo)
  • Levels
  • Solo Challenges

Terms

Here are some terms you'll need to know:

Orthogonally Adjacent: This means touching along one of the four sides (up, down, left, or right, but never diagonal). In the example, the blue squares are orthogonally adjacent to the fire gem in the center.

Quadrant: Your quadrant is the quarter of the board that contains your tower. It is an 8x8 square grid, and the compass directions point at the lines that make up the border of your quadrant. Every space on the board is part of a player's quadrant, but there is no overlap between players. In the example, the blue square marks the quadrant of the player with the blue tower.

Components

• 28 Action Cards (each card has a hawk symbol in the bottom right corner)
• 18 Firehawks
• 1 Shadow Power Card
• 1 Shadow Die
• 4 Heavy Winds Cards
• 4 Lookout Cards
• 3 Event Cards (black border, star in the bottom left corner / hawk symbol in the bottom right corner)
• 4 Lightning Tokens

Core Expansion

Rising Flames is a multilayered expansion that adds several new pieces of content. Of course, it is possible to combine all elements of the expansion at once, but we suggest that you do not add everything on your first play. First, add the Core Expansion, then add Extreme Weather.

Setup

Setup is the same as the original game, with the following changes:

1. Before dealing out cards:
   • Remove all expansion Event Cards from the game. Also, remove all Heavy Winds/Light Breeze cards and Lookout/Patrol cards, and the four lightning tokens.
   • Shuffle the base deck together with the remaining expansion cards.
2. Instead of dealing five cards to each player, deal six. The starting hand size for the expansion is six cards.
3. Separate the firehawks into a pile next to the board.
4. Give each player one firehawk that they must place in any vacant space in their quadrant of the board. Note: Firehawks may NOT be placed in a player's Fire Tower Area or on the Eternal Flame.
5. If you are playing with less than three players, remove the Shadow Die and Shadow Power Card from the game. If playing with three or more players, set these components aside for later use.

Play

Play is the same as the original game, with the following exceptions:

1. The starting hand size will increase to six cards.
2. Firehawks and new cards will be incorporated into the game (see below for details).
3. If your tower is destroyed, you will continue to take turns as the Shadow of the Wood (see below for details).

Firehawks

Firehawks carry burning branches to unburnt areas and set small fires to flush out prey. Firehawk Cards allow you to harness the power of these magnificent birds and place them in your quadrant. When fire enters a space they occupy, they will fly it to another part of the forest.

Firehawk Cards will allow you to place either two or three firehawks in your quadrant at a time. They may be placed on any vacant spaces in your quadrant of the board. They may not be placed in your Fire Tower Area or on the Eternal Flame. Unlike firebreaks, there are no other placement rules regarding firehawks. As long as a space is vacant, you may place a firehawk on it. There is no limit to the number of firehawks you may have in your quadrant. If the supply of firehawks runs out during the game, you may remove them from your opponent's quadrant to place in yours.

Firehawks love to flock! Whenever someone plays a Firehawk Card, all players (including the one playing the card) may rearrange any hawks in their quadrant, moving them from the spaces they inhabit to any vacant spaces they choose.

Firehawks are triggered when a fire gem is placed on the same space as a firehawk. Take the following actions:

1. If a fire gem triggers a firehawk in your quadrant, immediately move that gem to any vacant space on the board that is orthogonally adjacent to a pre-existing fire gem (this may happen at any time, even during an opponent's turn).
2. Remove the firehawk from the board. Firehawks may be triggered by other players, or Event Cards like the Firestorm. You may also trigger your own firehawks.

Unlike firebreaks, firehawks do not block the fire. Patterns of fire can be played unimpeded through spaces containing firehawks. When an opponent places a fire pattern that triggers one or more of your firehawks, wait until they have laid the full pattern of gems before taking your action with the firehawk(s).

Diagram captions: Above are three pre-existing fire gems (gray) and a firehawk. A Flare Up (orange) is played and triggers the firehawk. The player whose firehawk was triggered moves the gem to another space on the board, orthogonally adjacent to any pre-existing gem. They then remove the firehawk token from the board. The other two fire gems remain.

Firehawk Special Scenarios

• If firehawks are triggered by a Firestorm, complete the Firestorm before resolving the hawk's gem placement in turn order (lay the firehawks flat and place a gem on top of them to show they have been triggered).
• During the team variant, you may place firehawks in your teammate's quadrant.
• If firehawks are triggered in a Shadow's quadrant, the Shadow may still move the gem triggered by the hawk.

Action Cards

The Rolling Firebrand is a rolling, flaming log. It allows you to select two orthogonally adjacent fire gems on the board and move them, as a pair, two spaces in any direction, horizontally or vertically. You can use a Rolling Firebrand Card to move fire towards your opponents or away from yourself.

The gems must not be obstructed by other fire gems or firebreaks, but may move into spaces occupied by firehawks. Rolling Firebrands will trigger firehawks if they either move through or end up in spaces occupied by firehawks. As usual, the player whose firehawks were triggered will move the gem(s) to another space, and the firehawks will be removed from the board.

A Crown Fire occurs when a fire spreads from treetop to treetop. A Crown Fire Card allows you to place a pattern of up to two fire gems in a line, orthogonally adjacent to any other fire gems on the board. Unlike any other card, you may play two Crown Fire Cards on your turn to place four gems. These two patterns of two must be orthogonally adjacent to each other, but can connect in any direction to form various patterns. At the end of your turn, make sure to draw back up to your hand size.

Creeping Fires spread slowly and burn with a low flame. Creeping Fires Cards allow you to add three fire gems to the board. Each gem must be orthogonally adjacent to a pre-existing fire gem. However, the three gems added by Creeping Fires cannot be orthogonally adjacent to each other.

Helitack crews use helicopters to quickly reach fires. The Helitack Card allows you to extinguish a pattern of two orthogonally adjacent fire gems and then one other gem. The two gems and the one gem can be adjacent or separate. The pair of two gems and the single gem do not need to relate to each other in any way.

Backburns are created by intentionally setting an area on fire to consume fuel. The result is a burned out area that acts as a barrier to approaching flames. Use the Backburn Card to replace a fire gem on the board with a firebreak token. This token must follow all firebreak placement rules (it can't be placed orthogonally adjacent to pre-existing firebreaks).

Intercardinal Northwest, Northeast, Southwest, and Southeast Wind Cards have also been added to the deck. These allow you to take one of the following actions:

1. Change the wind direction to either of the cardinal directions on the card (for example, a Northwest Card can change the wind to north OR west).
2. Roll for a new wind direction.
3. Place one gem in the direction on the card (for example, one gem northeast of another gem). This is a rare instance in the game where you may place a gem diagonally adjacent to another.

Please Note: You may not change the general wind direction to northwest, northeast, southwest, or southeast using these cards.

Shadow of the Wood (optional for 3+ players)

The Shadow of the Wood is the vengeful spirits of burned towers. In the base game, the Shadow of the Wood Card allows players whose tower has been burned to take an action when it comes up in the deck and, in some cases, win the game. Rising Flames increases the power of the Shadow(s) and gives more opportunities for them to win the game. Any player whose tower is burned will become a Shadow. On your first turn as Shadow, you will not take any action, as your Shadow has not yet formed, and play will pass to the next player.

Shadow Objective

As a Shadow, your goal is to cause mayhem in the forest and claim victory by making all other players lose. To win, you must burn all towers in the forest before the start of the next active tower's turn. If there is another Shadow, you work as a team to achieve this goal (there can never be more than two Shadows). Shadows and active players continue to take turns in turn order as before.

In a four player game, the Northwest and Southeast towers are both Shadows and the other two towers are active. If the Northwest Shadow manages to burn the Northeast (purple) tower on their turn, the Southeast Shadow now must burn the Southwest (green) tower on their next turn for the Shadows to win the game. Otherwise, the Southwest (green) tower automatically wins. If the Northwest tower burns the Southwest (green) tower on their turn, but NOT the Northeast (purple) tower, the Northeast tower wins.

If the two Shadows are next to each other in turn order, this task is slightly easier. In the second example, the Southeast and Southwest towers need to burn both active towers (red and purple) before the start of the Northwest (red) tower's turn. This can be done in any order, since their turns are consecutive.

How to Incorporate the Shadow

If your tower is the first to be eliminated, shuffle the Shadow of the Wood Card into the draw deck (as in the base game). This card and its functions will stay the same. Then, place the Shadow Power Card in front of you to use as a guide. On your first turn after your tower is burned you will not take any action. Your shadow has not fully formed, and play will pass to the next player.

On your second turn after your tower has been burned, you may start rolling the Shadow Die. Take the following actions:

1. Roll the Shadow Die. (You may only roll the die once per turn, unless the action involves rolling more.)
2. Perform the corresponding action shown on the Shadow Power Card.
3. If you manage to eliminate a tower on your turn you get a bonus roll. Repeat Steps 1 and 2 immediately after the first die roll is resolved.

Shadow Die Rolls, Explained

1 - Take one of the following actions:

• Activate a firehawk: Take one firehawk of your choice from any part of the board. That hawk will move a gem from the quadrant it was in to another quadrant. You choose which gem to move and where to place it, as long as the gem came from the same quadrant as the firehawk and moves to a new quadrant. Of course, the gem must be placed orthogonally adjacent to a previously existing gem.
• Remove a firebreak: Remove one firebreak token of your choice from the board.

2 - Place one gem in the space of your choice (it must be orthogonally adjacent to a pre-existing gem). Then roll again.

3 - Draw three cards from the deck. You may immediately play up to two of them and take their actions. Discard any remaining cards. You do not have to take the actions of any cards.

4 - Place one fire gem in the direction of the wind. Then, choose a new wind direction (you may not choose the same direction the wind was previously).

5 - This roll uses a "push your luck" mechanic. Place one fire gem on top of the Shadow Card. You may now roll as many times as you want. For each roll under 5, you gain one more gem (place it on top of the Shadow Power Card). If you ever roll a 5 or a 6, you must remove all these gems and finish your turn. However, you may stop at any time before a roll. If you stop rolling before you roll a 5 or 6, you may place all the gems on the Shadow Power Card on the board. These gems need to be orthogonally adjacent to other gems, and can build off each other, if you want.

6 - This roll is the same as playing a Creeping Fires Card. Place three gems. They must be touching (orthogonally adjacent to) previously existing gems, but they must NOT be touching (orthogonally adjacent to) each other.

A few other quick details about the Shadow:

• If your tower is eliminated by a Shadow, discard your entire hand. All active players will draw one card to increase their hand size by one.
• If a tower is eliminated by a Shadow (even in the middle of their turn), it immediately triggers a Firestorm, just as with normal players.
• As a Shadow, if any of the hawks in your quadrant are triggered, you may still move them.
• Shadows take part in Mutual Aid, Kettle Flight, and Mobilization.

Extreme Weather

Once you are comfortable with the Core Expansion, add Extreme Weather.

Extreme Weather Setup

Add the following steps during setup:

1. Deal each player the two Speciality Cards (Heavy Winds and Lookout) face up in front of them, next to their Bucket (the flip symbol on the bottom left corner of each card should be face up).
2. Choose which Event Cards (black border with a star in the bottom left corner) you would like to add to your deck, along with the Firestorm. For more on which event cards to add, see below.
3. After dealing six cards to each player, shuffle the chosen Event Cards (except for the Firestorm) into the deck.
4. Cut the Firestorm into the center.

If you are playing with the Dry Storm, please note the additional setup requirements explained below.

Event Cards

Event Cards must be played as soon as they are drawn. Feel free to experiment with Event Cards and their order, but we suggest that you continue to play with the Firestorm as one of your events. We also recommend adding no more than two other events: one natural event (Dry Storm or Kettle Flight) and one firefighting event (Mobilization or Mutual Aid).

Dry Storm

Dry Storms are weather events with heavy thunder and lightning, but with little or no rain. When the Dry Storm Card is drawn, lightning will strike on your board.

When playing with the Dry Storm, add the four lightning tokens to the board during setup. Place a lightning token on the space that is diagonal to each space of the Eternal Flame (see image).

As the game progresses, the lightning will move around the board. If you place a pattern of fire gems or firebreak tokens on the same space as a lightning token, you must then move the lightning token to a vacant space orthogonally adjacent to the gems or tokens you just placed. In this way you can move lightning tokens towards your opponents and away from yourself.

Diagram caption: In the image above, the lightning token is near some pre-existing fire gems (gray) on the board. An Explosion is played (orange), and one of the gems covers the lightning token. The player who played the Explosion must now move the lightning token to any of the blue squares (orthogonally adjacent to any of the newly placed fire gems or firebreak tokens).

If a lightning token is ever displaced and there is no empty available space to place it, it must be removed from the board. Firehawks may not be placed on a space with a lightning token, and Water Cards do not affect lightning tokens. Lightning tokens may NOT enter Fire Tower areas or the Eternal Flame.

When the Dry Storm Card is drawn, you must play it immediately. Take the following actions:

1. Roll the wind die.
2. Place a fire gem in the direction shown on the Wind Die, orthogonally adjacent to each lightning token. For example, if the direction is north, place a fire gem to the north of each lightning token. If there is a gem in that space, continue north until there is a vacant space, and place a gem there. If you run into a firebreak token or the edge of the board before a vacant space, do not place a fire gem. If you run into a firehawk before a vacant space, activate the firehawk, who will pick up and move the gem.
3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 four times.
4. Discard the Dry Storm Card and leave the lightning tokens as lightning may strike again!

Diagram captions: The images show where you would place a fire gem with each die roll. The pre-existing gems are gray, and the ones placed with the Dry Storm are orange. North: since there are already gems to the north, the fire gem is placed on the first vacant space. East: no gem would be placed because of the firebreak. South: directly south of the lightning token. West: the gem will trigger the firehawk.

Kettle Flight

Kettle Flights cause a large group of hawks (known as kettles) to take flight! When the Kettle Flight Card is drawn, you must play it immediately. Take the following actions in turn order, starting with the player who drew the card.

Players with two or more firehawks:

• You must activate two of your firehawks: Move two fire gems from your quadrant of the board to any vacant space on the board that is orthogonally adjacent to a pre-existing fire gem. Then remove two firehawks from your quadrant.
• You may rearrange any remaining firehawks in your quadrant.

Players with less than two firehawks:

• Add two firehawks to your quadrant.
• You may rearrange any firehawks in your quadrant.

Mobilization

When Mobilization is drawn, you must play it immediately. Draw one more card than the number of players and play one of them. Then, pass the remaining cards to your left. The player to your left will play a card, and pass the remaining cards to their left. Continue playing and passing until each player has played a card and discard the remaining card.

In a two player game draw five cards. Play and pass until each player has played two, and then discard the remaining card.

Specialty Cards

Specialty Cards are added abilities that each player has access to during the game. Each card has two sides. The front is marked with an arrow in the bottom right-hand corner. The front sides are each one-time use abilities that may be used instead of playing a card or discarding cards on your turn.

Once you have used the front side, flip the card over to reveal another ability that you may now use as many times as you want for the rest of the game (but only once during your turn). Please note: You must take the action on the front of the card (Lookout, Heavy Winds) before gaining access to the ability on the back.

Heavy Winds

For your turn, play as many Wind Cards from your hand as you wish. For each card, place a fire gem in the direction shown on the card (as if you were using the third option on each Wind Card). Then discard any Wind Cards used, draw back up to your hand size, and flip Heavy Winds. For example, if you have three South Wind Cards and one North Wind Card in your hand and activate Heavy Winds, you can now place three fire gems orthogonally adjacent to the south of any fire gem on the board, and one to the north. Gems placed during Heavy Winds can build off each other, but they do not have to be placed together.

Light Breeze (backside of Heavy Winds): Any time you play a Wind Card, you may play one additional Wind Card and place a fire gem in the direction shown on the card (as if you were using the third option on the Wind Card). Draw back up to your hand size.

Lookout

For your turn, draw three cards from the top of the deck and play one of them. Discard the other two.

Patrol (backside of Lookout): For your turn, discard one card from your hand, without taking its action. Draw two cards from the top of the deck and play one of them. Put the other into your hand.

Variants

In addition to the Team Variant in the base game rulebook, there are two more variants available: one for two players and one for three players.

Double Tower Variant (two players)

In this variant, each player occupies two adjacent towers in their half of the board. For example, one player could occupy the Northeast and Northwest towers, while the other player occupies the Southeast and Southwest towers. The first player to successfully burn both of their opponent's towers wins the game. As usual, each player receives one of each Specialty Card and one Bucket, which they can use in either tower. Their starting hand size is still six.

When placing firehawks, they can place them anywhere in their half of the board (the two tower quadrants combined). When a tower is burned, it does not trigger a revenge firestorm and the hand size will not increase.

Ghost Tower Variant (three players)

In this three player variant, we introduce the Ghost Tower (not to be confused with the Shadow of the Wood). If your tower is burned first, you take over the fourth (unoccupied) tower and continue play as the Ghost Tower when your new tower comes up in turn order. After the first tower is burned, either of the two remaining towers can immediately win the game by burning one more tower, either the Ghost Tower or the other remaining tower. The Ghost Tower, however, must burn both other towers to win the game.

Remember, to burn someone's tower, you must be the player to place the fire gem in the back corner of their tower (outlined in orange).

If the Ghost Tower manages to burn one of the other towers, the player whose tower was burned may choose to play as the Shadow of the Wood and still only needs to burn one tower to win the game.

Solo Mode

The other towers have joined in an alliance against you. You will be pushed to your limits as you attempt to withstand their onslaught and take them all down. There are multiple levels of Solo Mode with increasing difficulty. In each level, you must defend your tower and burn the three other towers to win. Note: Please learn the base game and Rising Flames Expansion before proceeding.

Solo Setup

In this example, you will be occupying the red tower. If you would like to change your tower color, please adjust the Wind Cards in the Enemy Deck so that they are the directions that most directly attack your tower. For example, if you'd like to occupy the blue tower, add South and East cards to the Enemy Deck. You must also choose from these directions if you face punishment (see below). Solo Mode requires cards from the Base deck and the Rising Flames Expansion, so make sure you have both handy.

We suggest that you start with Level One and try to work your way up through the levels. Setup for Level One is as follows:

1. Separate all Solo Challenge cards. Shuffle them together to form the Challenge Deck and place it within reach.

2. Create an Enemy Deck with the following cards:

   • 1 Burning Snag
   • 1 Flareup
   • 1 Explosion
   • 1 North Wind
   • 1 West Wind

   Shuffle these cards and place them within reach by the side of the board.

3. To create the Player Deck, remove all Firebreak Cards, Event Cards, Specialty Cards, and Buckets from the remaining cards and shuffle them together.

4. Deal yourself six cards from the Player Deck, then cut the Firestorm into the Player Deck.

5. Place one Bucket, one Heavy Winds, and one Lookout face up in front of you.

6. Deal one Bucket to each opponent, face up near their tower.

7. Remove any remaining cards from the game.

8. Roll the Wind Die to determine the starting wind direction.

Solo Play

Each turn consists of two parts:

Part One: Enemy attack. The enemy always starts. Draw the top card of the Enemy Deck and take its action (see below). Then, discard the card into a discard pile next to the Enemy Deck. You must take the Enemy action in your quadrant of the board.

If you draw a Fire Card, add patterns of fire gems inside your quadrant. These patterns may be placed on firehawks, and any gems carried away by your hawks count as placed gems.

• Burning Snag: Place a full pattern of four fire gems in a square inside your quadrant. At least one gem must be orthogonally adjacent to a pre-existing fire gem or the Eternal Flame.
• Flareup: You must place a full pattern of three gems in a line inside your quadrant. At least one gem must be orthogonally adjacent to a pre-existing fire gem or the Eternal Flame.
• Explosion: Choose a fire gem in your quadrant and replace it with a firebreak token. Then place fire gems on all the vacant spaces around it. You must place at least four fire gems inside your quadrant to successfully place an Explosion.

If you cannot place the required pattern inside your quadrant, take the following actions as punishment:

1. Discard the card in the Enemy discard pile.
2. Trigger a Firestorm that only affects gems in your quadrant to either the north or west (this works in the same way as Wind cards, explained below). You can choose which direction.
3. Draw the next card in the Enemy Deck and immediately take its action.
4. If you cannot take the action on the following card, continue these steps until you can.

If you draw a Wind Card, you will trigger a Firestorm in that direction that only affects gems in your quadrant. For example, if you draw North, add a fire gem to any vacant space that is north of a pre-existing fire gem. Do not roll for a new wind direction.

Part Two: Your Play. Your play functions the same as a multiplayer game of Fire Tower: Rising Flames. Place one fire gem in the direction of the current wind, then take your action phase by either playing a card, discarding and redrawing, or using one of your Specialty cards (Heavy Winds, Lookout, or Reckless Abandon). Then, draw back up to your hand size.

Continue taking turns (Parts One and Two) until the round ends.

Round End

When the Enemy Deck has been depleted and you've finished your turn, the round ends. Shuffle the Enemy Deck and place it back into position. Draw a Solo Challenge Card.

Solo Challenge Cards

Each Solo Challenge Card contains a task you must undertake that will make the next round more difficult. If you fail to complete a Challenge you will either suffer a punishment or immediately lose the game. In Level One, you may skip up to two challenges of your choice.

Buckets (Solo)

As in the multiplayer game, you can use your Bucket to remove a line of three gems from your tower, in addition to taking an action on your turn. You can also gain access to Reckless Abandon once your Bucket has been used.

Unfortunately, the Enemy Towers each have a Bucket as well. Unlike the multiplayer game, each Enemy will use their bucket immediately when fire enters their tower. This could happen after you place a fire gem in the direction of the wind, or after you've played a card from your hand. Their bucket will remove a line of up to three fire gems. You may choose which gems to remove, but you must follow these guidelines:

• First, prioritize removing gems inside your Enemy's tower.
• Second, prioritize removing as many gems as possible.

For example, if there are two fire gems in your enemy's tower, but you could remove three by removing one inside the tower and two outside the tower, you must remove the two gems inside the tower instead.

Firebreaks and Firehawks (Solo)

In higher levels of the game, the Enemy will start with firebreaks and/or firehawks in their quadrants. If you ever trigger an Enemy's firehawk, remove the hawk and the gem that triggered them, then place the gem in your quadrant, orthogonally adjacent to pre-existing fire.

Burning an Enemy Tower (Solo)

As in the multiplayer game, you can destroy an Enemy's tower by placing a gem in the back corner, outlined in orange. This will trigger a partial Firestorm as usual, but your hand size will not increase if you already have a hand size of six. If you are playing a higher level with a smaller starting hand size, draw a card and increase your hand size by one.

Firestorm (Solo)

If an Enemy Tower is burned or you draw the Firestorm card, a firestorm will take place in the same way as a multiplayer game. It will affect the entire board, not just your quadrant.

Game End (Solo)

If, at any point during the game, you are forced to play a fire gem on the back corner of your tower, you immediately lose the game. You also lose the game if you fail certain Challenges and are unable to skip them.

When you have placed a gem on the back corner of the last remaining Enemy Tower (barring some special conditions detailed on Challenge Cards), you have won the game! Count the number of spaces that remain unburned in your tower. This is your score for the Level (a perfect score would be nine). Now, move on to the next level or try to beat your score!

Levels

The varying conditions of each level of Solo Mode are more difficult than the last. You may have to decrease your hand size, set up firebreaks or firehawks, and more.

Level One

• Starting Hand Size: 6
• Starting Set Up: Clear Board
• Challenge: Draw a Challenge at the end of each round. You may choose to skip two Challenges during the game.

Level Two

• Starting Hand Size: 6
• Starting Set Up: 2 firebreaks per Enemy tower
• Challenge: Draw a Challenge at the end of each round. You may choose to skip one Challenge during the game.

Level Three

• Starting Hand Size: 5
• Starting Set Up: 2 firebreaks/2 firehawks per Enemy tower
• Challenge: Draw a Challenge at the end of each round. You may not skip any Challenges during the game.

Level Four

• Starting Hand Size: 5
• Starting Set Up: 4 firebreaks/2 firehawks per Enemy tower
• Challenge: Draw a Challenge before you begin the game and at the end of each round. You may not skip any Challenges during the game.

Level Five

• Starting Hand Size: 4
• Starting Set Up: 4 firebreaks/3 firehawks per Enemy tower
• Challenge: Draw a Challenge before you begin the game and at the end of each round. You may not skip any Challenges during the game.

Level Six

• Starting Hand Size: 4
• Starting Set Up: 6 firebreaks/3 firehawks per Enemy tower
• Challenge: Draw a Challenge before you begin the game and at the end of each round. You may not skip any Challenges during the game.
• Bucket: You do not get a bucket. The Enemy Towers still have buckets.

Level Seven

• Starting Hand Size: 3
• Starting Set Up: 6 firebreaks/4 firehawks
• Challenge: Draw a Challenge before you begin the game and at the end of each round. You must draw two Challenges at the end of one round, before the game finishes. You may not skip any Challenges during the game.
• Bucket: You do not get a bucket. The Enemy Towers still have buckets.

Solo Challenges

Smoldering Fire: Before each turn this round, place a fire gem in your quadrant orthogonally adjacent to pre-existing fire gems. If you cannot place the gem, you lose the game immediately.

Red Flag Warning: Double the effects of one Enemy Card this round. You must choose to double the card before revealing it.

Heavy Smoke: Each turn this round choose two cards from your hand. Shuffle them together and then choose one blind. Play the card you drew and return the other to your hand.

Sturdy Construction: Choose an Enemy tower that is not yet burned. In order to win the game, you now must fill all nine spaces inside this tower with fire gems or firebreaks (in the case of an Explosion). Hitting the back corner of this tower alone will not destroy it.

Dry Season: For the rest of this round, all water cards you play only remove up to two gems in their pattern.

Implementation Plan: Immediately place three cards from your hand face up in front of you in the order of your choice. You must play these cards in order as your action for the next three turns.

Sanctuary: Place a firehawk on its side on a vacant space of your choice in your quadrant. This space is a hawk sanctuary. If this space is burned, lose the game immediately. The sanctuary cannot be inside your Fire Tower Area.

Wet Line: By the end of this round, you must have three Water cards in your hand. If you do, discard them immediately when the round ends. If you do not, add a 3x3 square of fire gems to your quadrant (9 gems total). If you cannot place this full pattern, immediately lose the game. This pattern may be placed on spaces containing fire hawks.