Hermetica Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• How to Play
  • Start
  • Actions
  • Win Condition
• Game Pieces
• Setup
• Gameplay Rules
  • Spawning
  • Captures
  • End Game
• Adept Piece
• Fire Piece
• Earth Piece
• Water Piece
• Shield Piece
• Wall
• Border
• Example Turn
• Wall Drafting
• Additional Schemes
• Frequently Asked Questions
  • General
  • Adept
  • Fire
  • Earth
  • Water
  • Shield
• Game Contents

How to Play

Pieces are divided into Sun and Moon sets and players are referred to as "Sun" and "Moon" respectively.

Start

The Sun player always has the first draft along with the first turn.

Actions

A player's turn consists of three actions that can be used to either move existing Units or spawn a new Unit.

• Each Unit can only be used ONCE PER TURN.
• Moving a Unit uses ONE OF THE THREE ACTIONS.
• Spawning a Unit uses TWO OF THE THREE ACTIONS.

Win Condition

A player wins when their Adept moves into the opponent's Horizon.

Game Pieces

• Barriers: 12 Walls, 2 Shields
• Units: 2 Adepts, 18 Elements

Sun pieces: 3 Earth, 3 Fire, 3 Water, Adept, Shield. Moon pieces: 3 Earth, 3 Fire, 3 Water, Adept, Shield.

Each player starts off with one Adept (1) and nine Elements (9): (3) Fire, (3) Earth, (3) Water. Each player also has a friendly Shield that can be DEPLOYED by their Adept.

Setup

If this is your first time playing, set up the board according to DAWN SCHEME with all twelve Walls in the preset locations and each player's Adept on a Prime hex. (For Wall drafting, see Wall Drafting below.)

After all Walls and Adepts have been placed, players take turns placing one Element at a time on their Horizon, starting with Sun. This continues until each player has placed three Elements on the board. Afterwards, Sun's first turn begins.

Gameplay Rules

Spawning

• Two actions can be used to spawn (place) an Element piece in the Horizon designated by the back seven white hexes.
• A captured Adept can be spawned for two actions in the Horizon or on their Prime hex, located three hexes forward from the backmost hex.
• A Unit cannot move in the same turn it is spawned.
• Each of the nine Element pieces can only be spawned once per game.
• An Adept can be spawned an infinite amount of times per game.
• Each player cannot have more than five Elements on the board at a time.

Captures

• Whenever an Element is captured, it is removed from the game and cannot be respawned.
• If an Adept is captured, it must be spawned at the beginning of the next turn using two actions.

End Game

A player wins when their Adept moves onto a hex in the opponent's Horizon.

Adept Piece

• The Adept can move up to two times in any direction as long as the hexes are empty.
• The Adept's special move involves DEPLOYING their Shield on any adjacent hex where there is no Barrier or Adept.
• Once per turn, a Shield can be DEPLOYED before, during, or after the Adept's movement.
• Whenever a Shield is placed on the same hex as an Element, the Element is captured.
• Whenever a Shield is DEPLOYED, it is moved to the new location from its old position on the board.
• THE ADEPT CANNOT CAPTURE THE OTHER ADEPT.

Adept can: move up to 2 in any direction (note: Adept can only move on empty hexes) and deploy a Shield on an adjacent hex before, during or after its movement (note: Adept may deploy Shield on an empty hex or an Element to capture it).

Fire Piece

• Fire can move up to four times in any direction as long as there is no Unit in the way.
• Fire is the only piece that can move on top of Barriers. If another Unit moves a Barrier with Fire standing on it, Fire is captured.
• Instead of moving, Fire may SHOOT and capture a Unit up to four linear hexes away if there are no other pieces in between them.
• Fire's SHOT can capture another Fire that is standing on top of a Barrier.
• Fire's special move involves movement on top of its friendly Shield. If Fire is standing on its friendly Shield, any remaining movements can be used to move with or without the Shield.

Fire can either: move up to 4 in any direction (note: Fire can move on top of Barriers), or shoot up to 4 hexes away and capture the first Unit in a line (note: Fire can shoot into a Barrier but not through it).

Earth Piece

• Earth can move up to three times in any direction unless there is: a Wall; the opponent's Shield; the Border.
• When Earth collides with a Unit, the piece is PUSHED in the direction that Earth was moving.
• A Unit would be captured when PUSHED into a hex that is: a Barrier; the Border; off the board (through the Horizon).
• Earth cannot PUSH a Unit or its friendly Shield onto a hex if it is occupied by another Unit. Earth cannot move onto a hex that would cause multiple pieces being PUSHED.
• Earth's special move involves PUSHING its friendly Shield as if it were a Unit.

Earth can: move up to 3 in any direction (note: Earth cannot push Walls), and push to capture a Unit on collision with a Barrier or Border (note: Earth can push only 1 Unit at a time).

Water Piece

• Water can move in a straight line in any direction, but must continue moving until it COLLIDES with: another piece; the Border; the edge of the Horizon.
• Upon COLLIDING with any Unit, the Unit may be placed on any empty hex adjacent to Water.
• Upon COLLIDING with any Barrier, the Barrier may be placed onto any non-Barrier hex adjacent to Water.
• If a Barrier is placed on a Unit, the Unit is captured.
• Water's special move involves moving around its friendly Shield. Upon COLLIDING with its friendly Shield, Water may be placed on any empty hex adjacent to the Shield.

Water can: move until it collides, in any direction (note: Water can relocate a piece directly adjacent to it), and relocate by placing the collided piece on an adjacent hex. A Barrier may be relocated to capture a Unit, or occupy an empty hex. Units can only be relocated onto an empty hex.

Shield Piece

• The Shield is a special piece created by the Adept.
• While the Shield cannot move on its own, each Unit can interact with the Shield in a unique way.
• Your Shield (friendly) is a valuable tool for your Units.
• Your Shield is a Barrier (Wall) to the opponent's Units.
• SHIELDS CANNOT BE CAPTURED.

Shield and Adept: Adept may deploy Shield on an Element to capture it.

Shield and Earth: Earth may push the friendly Shield as if it were a Unit.

Shield and Water: Water may relocate itself around the friendly Shield, into an empty hex.

Shield and Fire: Fire may move with or without the friendly Shield (up to 4).

Wall

• Walls act as obstacles to the Units.
• Walls can only be moved by Water.
• Fire is the only piece that can move on top of a Wall.
• If a Wall is on a Horizon hex or a Prime hex, then a Unit cannot spawn on that hex until it is moved.

Border

The Border is an immobile Barrier.

• Earth can capture units that are PUSHED into the Border.
• Fire cannot move on top of the Border.
• Water cannot RELOCATE the Border.
• Adept cannot DEPLOY a Shield on the Border.

Example Turn

1st action: Earth moves three in the direction of Water, PUSHING Water with it.

2nd action: Water moves and COLLIDES with Fire, then RELOCATING Fire to be in line with the Adept.

3rd action: Fire SHOOTS and captures the Adept instead of moving.

Wall Drafting

For more advanced strategy and game play, Walls can be drafted to define a custom playing area (Draft Scheme).

Both players place their Adept on a Prime hex, then starting with Sun, players take turns placing one Wall at a time until all twelve Walls have been placed.

While drafting, Walls cannot be placed on:

• the Border or the Horizon
• a hex that would connect three contiguous Walls

Additional Schemes

Dawn Scheme, Noon Scheme and Dusk Scheme are preset Wall layouts shown as board diagrams in the printed rulebook.

Frequently Asked Questions

General

Q: What are Barriers and Units? A: Walls and Shields are Barriers. Elements and Adepts are Units.

Q: Can I use a Unit multiple times in a turn? A: No. Each Unit can only be used once per turn.

Q: Can I use a Unit in the same turn it was spawned? A: No. Spawned Units cannot move until the next turn.

Q: Can I capture my own Units? A: Yes.

Q: How are Walls moved again? A: Only Water may RELOCATE Walls (all Units have a way to maneuver a friendly Shield however).

Q: Do I have to use all my actions? A: No. Similarly, a Unit doesn't need to move the max number of spaces possible.

Adept

Q: Can the Adept capture the other Adept? A: No.

Q: My Shield is in my Adept's way. Can I move through that hex? A: The DEPLOY action of the Adept's ability is a discrete step (ie. Move, DEPLOY, move). In order to move into the Shielded hex, the Adept would first have to DEPLOY the Shield elsewhere, and therefore, would be unable to DEPLOY again once past that hex.

Q: What if I captured my own Adept with my first action? Am I required to use my remaining two to respawn the Adept? A: No, first action of the following turn.

Q: Where do I spawn my Adept if its Prime hex is occupied? A: The Adept may be alternatively spawned on any empty hex in your Horizon.

Fire

Q: Can Fire SHOOT and move in the same turn? A: No.

Q: Can Fire capture a Unit while it's on top of a Barrier (Wall or Shield)? A: Yes.

Q: Can Fire capture a Unit when moving with the Shield? A: No, Fire may only move with the Shield into an empty hex.

Q: How can Fire be captured while on top of a Barrier? A: Another Fire may SHOOT it (if there are no occupied hexes in between). Alternatively, if the Wall is moved for any reason (Water / friendly Shield interaction / Adept REDEPLOY), Fire will be captured.

Earth

Q: If Earth PUSHES, where do I move the affected Unit? A: Into the next hex in a line / same direction as Earth.

Q: Can Earth PUSH Walls? A: No, however they may PUSH a friendly Shield as if it were a (un-capturable) Unit.

Q: If I PUSH my own Fire Unit with Earth, can I move that Fire on top of a Wall? A: No. It would be captured instead.

Q: What happens if Earth were to PUSH two Units at once? A: Earth can only PUSH one Unit at a time. Entering a hex that would cause cascading PUSHES is not allowed.

Water

Q: Does Water move into the hex of the occupied piece when COLLIDING? A: No. Water stops at the hex prior to the COLLIDED piece.

Q: Can Water RELOCATE a piece directly adjacent to it without moving? A: Yes.

Q: Can Water decide not to RELOCATE a piece it collided with? A: Yes.

Q: Can Water RELOCATE a Barrier (Wall or Shield) on top of another Barrier? A: No.

Q: Can Water RELOCATE the opponent's Shield? A: Yes, the opponent's Shield acts just the same as any other Wall to you.

Shield

Q: Can the Shield be placed on a Wall or the other Shield? A: No.

Q: Can the shield be captured? A: No.

Q: How do I get this Shield out of the way? A: Once DEPLOYED, a Shield will forever be in play on one hex or another. It may not be captured, UN-DEPLOYED, or removed from the board for any reason except to RE-DEPLOYED on another hex. Remember, Water may RELOCATE it as if it were a Wall.

Q: Does my Shield benefit my opponent with their unique interactions with the Elements? A: No.

Game Contents

• 18 Elements: 9 Sun (x3 Fire, Earth, Water), 9 Moon (x3 Fire, Earth, Water)
• 12 Walls
• 2 Shields (1 Sun, 1 Moon)
• 2 Adepts (1 Sun, 1 Moon)
• 5 Reference Cards
• 1 Board Mat
• 1 Game Container Bag