From the Moon
From the Moon Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
Shared
- 3 Mission boards
- 18 Mission tiles
- 3 Launch tiles
- 1 bag
- 1 main board
- 16 Terrain tiles
- 40 Metal Resource cubes (gray)
- 40 Water Resource cubes (blue)
- 40 Polymer Resource cubes (black)
- 40 Food Resource cubes (green)
- 16 Achievement tokens
- 16 x5 Achievement tokens
- 10 Progress tiles
- 8 Building tiles (large)
- 24 Greenhouse tiles ("Basic" side with 1 Food icon, "Improved" side with 2 Food icons)
- 24 Foundation tiles
- 54 Laboratory tiles
- 1 First Player token
- 3 Specialist Power tokens
For Each Player
- 1 player board
- 9 Battery tokens
- 1 Energy pawn
- 2 Player pawns
- 6 Improvement cubes
- 8 Building miniatures
- 3 Rover miniatures
- 4 Metal Astronaut miniatures
- 4 Water Astronaut miniatures
- 4 Polymer Astronaut miniatures
- 9 Specialist markers
- 13 Building tiles (small) (one color per player)
- 1 +50 (front) / +100 (back) token
- 1 +150 (front) / +200 (back) token
Factions
- 8 Faction cards ("Setup" side blued, "Power" side with fewer icons)
- 8 Faction Building tiles (large)
Solo Mode
- 9 Rover Location cards
- 16 Building Zone cards
- 9 Objective cards
Setup
Player Board
Each player performs the following steps:
1. Take the following: a player board, 12 Astronaut miniatures (4 gray, 4 blue, 4 black), 9 Specialist markers (3 of each color), 1 Energy pawn, as well as everything of your chosen color: 3 Rover miniatures, 8 Building miniatures, 2 Player pawns, 6 Improvement cubes, and your 13 small Building tiles.
2. Place the astronauts on their dedicated spaces on your board. You will have 3 left over: one of each color. Place these beside your board; they are your starting team.
3. Place 9 Specialist markers in the slots on your board.
4. Place all the Building miniatures on their dedicated spaces.
5. Give the First Player token to a random player. This player draws 2 random level-1 Building tiles, 2 level-2, and 1 level-3 (the level is depicted on the tile backs). They also take the level-3 Building tile whose back is different from the others. This player places them all in the Building spaces on their player board, respecting the levels. Each other player copies this setup so everyone has identical player boards.
6. The last player takes as many Faction cards as there are players + 1. This player chooses 1, and passes the rest to the previous person in turn order (i.e. counterclockwise). This person does the same, etc. until each player has chosen a faction. Put the card that has not been chosen back to the box.
7. Follow the instructions at the bottom of your Faction card:
a) Complete your starting team by taking whatever astronauts are indicated (if any) from the spaces on your board and/or train a Specialist by taking a Specialist marker from your board and placing it in the backpack of the appropriate astronaut miniature (the color of the marker and the color of the miniature must match).
b) The number depicted in the Battery icon indicates your maximum energy. Place that many Battery tiles on your gauge. Place your Energy pawn on the rightmost Battery tile.
c) If any, take the indicated tile (Greenhouse or Foundation) and add it to your player board.
d) Take the Resources cubes indicated from the general supply (not from the bag).
8. Place your Faction Building tile beside your player board. Place your Faction card "Power" side up above your player board.
9. Place your starting team of astronauts in your rovers. Each rover must contain at least 1 astronaut!
10. Place one of your Player pawns on the first space of the Progress track, and the other Player pawn on space 0 of the score track on the main board.
Main Board
1. Place the main board in the middle of the table.
2. Take the Terrain tiles corresponding to the player count (marked on the tile backs), and return the unused tiles to the box.
- All player counts
- Add for 3 players or more
- Add for 4 players
Each Terrain tile has a Resource space, a Rover space, a Building space, and a Terrain effect.
Place the tiles randomly below the main board in a grid according to the player count:
- 2-player game, 3 x 3
- 3-player game, 3 x 4
- 4-player game, 4 x 4
3. Place the Mission boards (Europa, Titan, and Mars) to the left, vertically. For each, place as many Mission tiles (matching the moon/planet) as indicated in the lower-right corner of its board (select the tiles randomly). Return the unused tiles to the box. Also place the Launch tile in the lower-right corner of the board, "Score" side up.
4. Place the 3 Specialist power tokens on their spaces in a random order.
5. Stack the Greenhouse tiles on the left space, then fill the other spaces according to the player count.
6. Place 6 Laboratory tiles randomly on their spaces. Stack several Foundation tiles and several Laboratory tiles on their stack spaces; so you don't have tall stacks that you keep knocking over, temporarily return the rest of the tiles to the box.
7. Place large Building tiles randomly, according to the player count: 2-player game, 3; 3-player game, 4; 4-player game, 5.
8. Place 6 random Progress tiles on the spaces of the Progress track.
9. Place the Achievement tokens (1s and 5s).
10. Put the following Resource cubes in the bag: 30 gray Metal, 30 blue Water, 30 black Polymer. The remaining 10 of each and the green Food cubes form the general supply.
11. Fill each Terrain tile with as many random Resource cubes from the bag as indicated in the upper-left corner of the first Progress tile.
How to Play
Goal of the Game
The goal of the game is to have the most victory points at the end of the game, notably by having worked the most on the colonization vessels. The game ends if all 3 Launch tiles are flipped over on the Mission boards, or if someone exceeds the final space of the Progress track.
Your Turn
Take turns in clockwise order until the end of the game.
On your turn, perform one of the following actions:
- Send One of Your Rovers to a Terrain Tile
- Develop Your Greenhouses
- Develop Your Team
- Construct a Building
- Develop Your Research
- Gather Your Rovers and Gain Your Income
Send One of Your Rovers to a Terrain Tile
Place one of your available rovers on an unoccupied Terrain tile. Then, assign each basic astronaut in the rover to a task, and each specialist (cf. Develop Your Team, p. 7) in it to two tasks.
The possible tasks are as follows:
a) Collect 1 of the Resource cubes on the tile; the cube's color must match the astronaut's color: Gray astronauts collect only metal; blue astronauts collect only water, etc.
b) Only for specialists: Trigger the ability of their specialty (max. once per specialist).
- Gain 1 food per Building miniature of your color surrounding (diagonally adjacent to) your specialist.
- Gain 1 energy per enemy rover orthogonally adjacent to your specialist.
- Gain 1 resource of your choice per rover of your color orthogonally adjacent to your specialist (the resources can be different).
c) Activate the Terrain effect of the tile (you will find a list of Terrain effects at the end of this rulebook). This task can only be activated one time per rover, and only after all the other tasks.
Example: Capucine sends her rover containing a blue specialist and a basic gray astronaut to a Terrain tile. Her gray astronaut collects a gray cube, and her blue specialist collects a blue cube and triggers the Terrain effect of the tile.
Develop Your Greenhouses
This action allows you to construct a new greenhouse and/or to improve an existing greenhouse (even one built during the same action).
a) To construct a greenhouse, spend 1 water and 1 polymer. Take the rightmost available greenhouse from the main board. The rightmost two spaces add no surcharge, but the leftmost space costs 2 additional energy, because these greenhouses are rush-shipped directly from Earth, which is energy intensive.
Place the greenhouse on the bottommost empty Greenhouse space of your player board. If you cover an icon this way, immediately gain the corresponding bonus (food or achievement).
b) In addition to, or instead of constructing a greenhouse, you can also flip a Greenhouse token on your board to its improved side for 1 water.
Develop Your Team
This action allows you to recruit 1 basic astronaut and/or train 1 specialist from the astronauts you already have (even one recruited during the same action).
a) To recruit a basic astronaut, spend 1 energy, then take the leftmost astronaut of the color of your choice from a row of your board, and place the astronaut in an empty space of either one of your available rovers, or one already on a Terrain tile.
If you recruit an astronaut from the 2nd column, immediately gain 1 victory point. If you recruit an astronaut from the 3rd column, gain 1 achievement.
b) To train a specialist, spend 2 energy and 1 food, then choose one of your astronauts already in one of your rovers. Take the leftmost Specialist marker from your board matching this color, and place it in the astronaut's backpack. If this is the 2nd or 3rd time you've trained a specialist of this color, gain the associated bonus.
Note: Recruiting an astronaut or training a specialist in a rover already on a Terrain tile does not grant any extra task when you do it.
Construct a Building
This action allows you to construct a building either from 1 of your 6 small building tiles OR from a large building tile.
a) To construct a building with a small tile, spend the resources indicated on your board according to the level of the building. Insert the small building tile into the slot on the left side of your board. You will get its bonus each time you gain your income (cf. Gather Your Rovers and Gain Your Income, p. 10).
Then, place the matching Building miniature on one of the empty Building spaces between the Terrain tiles (the spaces on the edge are also available). You can then activate the Terrain effect of one of the Terrain tiles adjacent to your new building, for free.
b) Instead of constructing a building with a small tile, you can construct a building with a large tile (from your faction or otherwise). To construct a building from the main board, spend the resources indicated on the tile. Take it and place it on your player board. To construct your faction building (currently beside your board), spend the resources indicated on the tile, and place it the same way. Take an achievement (as indicated by the icon you just covered). Then, take the Building figurine from the space and place it like a building built with a small tile. Activate the Terrain effect of one of the Terrain tiles adjacent to your new building, for free.
Develop Your Research
This action allows you to construct a foundation and/or a laboratory.
a) To construct a foundation, spend 1 metal, 1 polymer, and 1 energy. Take a Foundation tile and place it on the right side of your player board. You must always start in the upper-left slot; then each subsequent tile must be placed following the order shown on your player board.
b) To construct a laboratory, spend 1 polymer, and a possible additional energy surcharge (cf. Surcharge, p. 13) according to the row of the main board from which you take the laboratory. Immediately refill its space by sliding the laboratories above it down; then fill the topmost space from the laboratory stack.
Place the laboratory you just bought in an empty space on one of your Foundation tiles.
If you place the laboratory in the 3rd row of foundations, gain 1 achievement.
Each Foundation tile can accommodate up to 2 laboratories.
When you place your laboratory, you may activate each laboratory in its row and column one time. Activate them in any order you like; however, you must fully complete each lab's effect before continuing to another.
Tip: To avoid losing track of which laboratories you've activated, and which you haven't, you can temporarily place a resource cube on each one as you activate it. Once you've activated all of them in the column and row, return the resource cubes.
Note: If the laboratories or foundations run out, resupply the empty stack from the leftovers in the box.
Example: Johannes decides to spend 1 polymer, 1 metal, and 1 energy to construct a foundation. He places his foundation in the 4th space, according to the order shown on his player board.
Johannes also decides to acquire the left laboratory from the second row; he spends 1 polymer (for the cost of the laboratory), and 1 energy (for the 2nd row's surcharge). Immediately, the laboratory from the top row slides down to fill the empty space, and Johannes refills the empty space in the top row with the top tile from the Laboratory pile. Then he places his new laboratory on one of his foundations. He decides to place his laboratory on the lower-center empty space. Because he placed it in the bottom row, this earned him 1 achievement.
Then, in whatever order he likes, he activates each laboratory in that row, and in that column: a) He spends 1 energy to gain 1 point for each building he's constructed (cf. Laboratory Tiles, p. 15). b) He receives 1 metal. c) He spends 1 energy to gain a resource of his choice: 1 polymer. d) He chooses to gain approval for his mission to Mars.
Gather Your Rovers and Gain Your Income
Important: You can only take this action if all three of your rovers are on Terrain tiles.
Start by bringing all of your rovers back from the Terrain tiles to your player board.
Then, gain your income (indicated by all the tiles you have with the income icon) in whatever order you like:
- Your Greenhouse tiles generate green Food cubes.
- The small tiles of your constructed buildings trigger.
- Your energy fully recharges (cf. How the Energy Gauge Works, p. 12).
Then you must feed the astronauts in your rovers. Each miniature (basic astronaut or specialist) requires 1 food. For each astronaut/specialist you cannot feed, lose 3 victory points.
Note: It is possible to have a negative score, as a result!
Advance your Player pawn 1 space to the right on the Progress track.
Important: If your Player pawn is the first one to enter a new space, refill the resources. On each Terrain tile, place a number of random Resource cubes from the bag indicated in the upper-left corner of the Progress tile; however, each Terrain tile can hold a maximum of 4 resources.
Note: When the bag becomes empty, refill it using the gray, blue, and black Resource cubes from the general supply, except for 4 of each of those colors, which remain in the supply. The bag will very likely have an imbalance of colors.
Important: If your Player pawn is the first one to enter a new space, also refill the empty Greenhouse spaces on the main board.
Permanent Abilities
During your turn, you can always transform 2 energy into 1 food, and/or transform 2 food into 1 energy, as often as you wish.
This does not count as an action.
Game Concepts
Using Approval for a Mission
To construct or improve colonization ships, you must gain approval. The color of the approval icon indicates which ship you are allowed to work on: white, yellow, and red for the ships to Europa, Titan, and Mars, respectively.
When you gain approval, immediately perform only 1 of these 2 actions:
- Construct one part of the ship
- Improve one part of the ship
Important: If an approval specifies construction (e.g. construction icon + red), you cannot improve (and vice versa).
Important: If you can (or wish to) neither construct nor improve, you can always gain 1 victory point instead.
1/ To construct one of the parts of the ship that are still available, spend the resources indicated on its Mission tile, then immediately gain the indicated victory points. Place the tile near you, face up, so everyone can see which missions (Europa, Titan, or Mars) you have taken part in.
2/ To improve a part that has no more Mission tiles, spend the cost indicated on its space, then place one of your Improvement cubes on that part of the ship. Each part of the ship can only be improved one time each game. Immediately score the indicated points.
Then, you may perform one Special Research action: by spending 2 energy, you can either take 1 Foundation tile, or take 1 laboratory tile from the 6 that are face up.
Important: In this one exceptional case, do not pay the surcharge if you choose a Laboratory tile from the first 2 rows.
Tip: Constructing ship parts makes the game progress, and eventually triggers the end of the game. If you can build quickly, you can force your tempo on the other players, catching your opponents off guard!
Mission Launch
When you take the final Mission tile of a ship, it will launch.
You receive additional victory points (the launch bonus) according to your involvement in the mission.
If you have the most of the tiles for this mission, you get the main bonus indicated on the Launch tile. If you are in second place, you get the secondary bonus.
If there is a tie for 1st place, divide the sum of the points for 1st and 2nd place among the tied players, rounding down. If there is a tie for 2nd place, share the points of 2nd place, rounding down.
Flip the Mission Launch tile on the Mission board to indicate that no further work on this mission is possible.
Note: If you gain approval for this mission later, simply gain 1 victory point.
How the Energy Gauge Works
Your energy gauge is composed of Battery tiles and an Energy pawn.
At the beginning of the game, your Faction card indicated your initial energy level: You placed as many Battery tiles as necessary on your gauge to reach this level, and you placed your Energy pawn on the rightmost tile.
Your Energy pawn can never go to a space without a Battery tile (except space 0, all the way to the left end of your gauge). If you gain energy when your Energy pawn is already on the rightmost Battery tile, the surplus immediately goes to waste.
The capacity of your energy gauge can change over the course of the game. All you have to do is add Battery tiles to the gauge, or remove them. Adding a Battery tile does not move your Energy pawn up (the new batteries arrive discharged).
On the other hand, if you must remove the tile on which your Energy pawn sits, move your Energy pawn to the left until it is on a tile.
Each time you must gain a Battery tile when you already have 9, gain 1 Achievement instead.
Achievement Bonus for Progress
When you perform an action indicated on the Progress tile in front of your Player pawn, immediately gain an achievement.
Here, each time Johannes (red) takes a Foundation tile, he gains an Achievement token. Capucine and Gilles (yellow and green, respectively) gain an Achievement token when they take a Mission tile.
Note: You can also gain achievements via your player board.
Surcharge
Certain actions required you to pay a surcharge in addition to the normal cost.
Example: If you take a Greenhouse tile from the stack on the left (instead of one of the two spaces on the right) of the main board, no matter how (e.g. by taking a "Develop Your Greenhouses" action, or by triggering a Terrain effect), you must pay 2 energy in addition to the normal cost.
Having More Than 50 Victory Points
The first time your Player pawn completes a lap of the score track, add a +50 token to the main board.
The second time, flip the token over so the +100 side is face up. The third time, replace it with your +150 token. The fourth time, flip the token over so the +200 side is face up.
End of the Game
If you trigger the launch of the 3rd mission, or if you move your Player pawn beyond the final space of the Progress track, you have triggered the end of the game. Finish the current round, so everyone has had the same number of turns. Now it is time for the final scoring, as follows:
a) The player with the most achievements earns 24 victory points; second earns 12.
If there is a tie, add the points and divide them between the tied players, rounding down. In a 2-player game, only award the points for 1st place; there is no award for 2nd place.
b) The player who has made the most improvements to ship parts earns 8 victory points; second earns 4. If there is a tie, add the points and divide them between the tied players, rounding down. In a 2-player game, only award the points for 1st place; there is no award for 2nd place.
c) Convert each two resources into 1 victory point (they don't need to be matched pairs).
d) Convert each achievement into 1 victory point (in addition to whatever points it earned you in the first step).
e) Each large Building tile with an hourglass icon earns its owner points according to its criteria.
The player with the most victory points wins!
Solo Mode
Setup
Setup is identical to 2-player setup. You will only use some of the 2nd player's components: 6 of the Building miniatures, and 3 empty rovers.
After setting up everything for yourself, use the Building Zone cards to randomly determine the spaces for your opponent's 6 buildings.
Then, randomly determine the initial positions of your opponent's 3 rovers using the Rover Location cards.
Choose your difficulty level and draw the corresponding number of Objective cards:
| Difficulty | Objectives |
|---|---|
| Easy | 2 objectives |
| Normal | 3 objectives |
| Hard | 4 objectives |
| Expert | 5 objectives |
Finally, choose your faction from the available Faction cards.
Changes to the Rules
Play your turns as usual; however, when you decide to perform the "Gather Your Rovers and Gain Your Income" action, use the following steps, instead:
a) Gather your rovers.
b) Gain your income, and recharge all of your energy.
c) Feed all your astronauts. If you cannot do so, you immediately lose the game.
d) Replenish resources only on Terrain tiles that are not occupied by your opponent's rovers.
e) Move your opponent's rovers using Rover Location cards. Reshuffle the deck only once it's empty, which is only at the end of Round 3.
When a colony ship launches, you only earn the main launch bonus if you have improved at least 2 parts of the ship. Earn the secondary bonus, instead, if you have improved only 1 part of the ship. If you have improved no parts of the ship, you earn no launch bonus.
End of the Game and Victory
You win the game if you manage to launch all 3 ships AND achieve all your objectives. Only then do you count your victory points.
Perform final scoring as in a multiplayer game, except for the bonuses for achievements and improvements to ship parts, which work as follows:
- Rather than achievements being worth 1 victory point each, they score in stages: If you have 0-7 achievements, you earn no victory points. If you have 8-15 achievements, earn 12 victory points. If you have at least 16 achievements, earn 24 victory points.
- For ship part upgrades, earn 4 victory points if you made upgrades in 2 different missions; earn 8 victory points if you made upgrades in all 3 different missions.
Compare your score to the following table:
| Medal | Score |
|---|---|
| Bronze | Fewer than 150 victory points |
| Silver | 150-200 victory points |
| Gold | More than 200 victory points |
List of Objectives
- Finish the game with at least 12 achievements.
- Finish the game having constructed at least 6 buildings.
- Finish the game having improved at least 2 parts of colony ships.
- Finish the game with at least 4 improved greenhouses.
- Finish the game with at least 8 laboratories.
- Finish the game having 9 Battery tiles.
- Finish the game with 7 specialists.
- Launch the Mars ship while being on the 4th space of the Progress track, the Titan ship while being on the 5th space, and the Europa ship while being on the 6th space.
- Have 4 connected buildings when being on the 4th space of the Progress track.
Glossary
Laboratory Tiles
Each time the laboratory is activated:
- Gain 1 energy OR 1 Battery tile
- Gain 1 food OR 1 energy
- Improve 1 greenhouse OR gain 1 energy
- Gain 1 energy OR immediately score 2 victory points
- Gain 1 food OR recruit 1 astronaut
- Gain 1 Europa approval for constructing only (not for improving) OR gain 1 water
- Pay 2 energy: immediately score 1 victory point per laboratory you have
- Pay 1 energy: gain 2 food
- Pay 1 energy: 1 approval of your choice, for constructing only (not for improving)
- Pay 1 energy: immediately score 2 victory points per ship part you have improved
Terrain Effects
- Gain 1 resource of your choice: water, food, polymer, or metal
- Pay 1 energy: train 1 specialist
- Gain 1 food and 1 Battery tile
- Gain 1 approval for the Europa or Mars mission
- Pay 1 energy: 1 free greenhouse (paying only the surcharge, if applicable)
Building Tiles (small)
For each "Gather Your Rovers and Gain Your Income" action:
- Gain 1 victory point per specialist you have
- Train 1 specialist
- Recruit 1 astronaut and gain 1 victory point
- Gain 2 victory points per orthogonal connection between 2 of your Building miniatures
- You may construct a greenhouse for free, without even paying the surcharge. Pick the tile from the Greenhouse stack.
- Improve a greenhouse
Building Tiles (large)
- At the end of the game, earn 3 victory points for each specialist on your team
- At the end of the game, earn 2 victory points for each Battery tile in your gauge
Factions
Pioneers
- Each time you place one of your rovers on a Terrain tile on a corner, gain 1 energy.
- If you place a Building miniature on a space on the edge of the Terrain tiles, activate the Terrain effect of both adjacent Terrain tiles. This even applies to the Building miniature you get with this very tile.
Cyborgs
- These cyborgs don't need to eat when you Gather Your Rovers. On the other hand, recruiting an astronaut costs an additional 1 energy and 1 metal; this always applies: You must pay this additional cost for every astronaut you obtain.
- Each time you gain a Battery tile, train a specialist for free.
Workers
- Each time you improve a part of a ship, get 1 resource (water, food, polymer or metal) of your choice.
- When you place a rover, get 2 energy for each of your rovers adjacent to the rover you just placed.
Unifiers
- Each time you build a part of a ship, recruit a basic astronaut for free.
- Each time you recruit an astronaut, gain 2 victory points.
Architects
- Each time you perform a Construct a Building action, get a Foundation tile for free.
- Each time you want to place a building, pay 1 fewer Energy for each adjacent rover you own. This effect does not apply to this very building.
Biofarmers
- Each time you perform a Develop your Greenhouses action, gain an approval for any mission.
- Each time you flip a Greenhouse token to its improved side, gain 1 food and 2 energies.
Survivors
- Your permanent ability is improved: you can transform 1 food (instead of 2) into 1 energy.
- Each time you gain a Foundation tile, gain 1 Greenhouse tile (only pay the surcharge, if any).
Survivors (sic — printed as "Survivors" a second time in the official rulebook)
- Each time you perform a Develop your Team action, you may also perform a Special Research action (cf. Using Approval for a Mission, p. 11).
- Each time you train a specialist, gain 1 Battery token and 1 energy.