Hyperborea Rulebook

Table of Contents

Contents
Before You Start
Game Setup
How to Play
End of Turn Phase
- Reset
End of Game Conditions
Scoring and End of the Game
Ruins, Technologies and Cities Effects
Race Effects (Race War Games Only)
The Realms
Credits

6 Central Hexagon Tiles
30 Borderland Hexagon Tiles
6 Homeland Tiles (each one made up of 3 hexagons and printed on two sides: Neutral and Race side)
6 Player Boards (one per player)
36 Development Markers (6 in each color)
6 Cloth Bags (one per player)
180 Wooden Civilization Cubes (24 Red – Warfare, 24 Green – Exploration, 24 Purple – Growth, 24 Blue – Science, 24 Orange – Progress, 24 Yellow – Trade, 36 Grey – Waste)
12 Race Tiles (2 tiles per Race)
60 Race Miniatures (10 miniatures per Race in 6 different colors)
18 Ghost Miniatures (in grey)
48 Fortress Tokens (8 in each color)
64 Advanced Technology Cards
72 Ruin Tokens (12 with golden back, 40 with silver back, 20 with bronze back)
72 Gems, representing Victory Points (VP)
6 Objective Tiles
1 Scoring Pad
This Rulebook

Before You Start

There are several ways to play Hyperborea.

First of all, players should agree if they want to play a short, regular or long game, according to the number of end-of-game conditions they must trigger to end the game (1 in a short, 2 in a regular or all 3 in a long game).

Then, Hyperborea can be played as an "Invasion" game (where all players start from identical Homelands), or as a "Race War" game (where every player starts with a different Homeland and one individual starting ability).

If this is your first game at Hyperborea, we highly suggest you play a short or regular "Invasion" game.

Game Setup

During setup, perform the following steps in order:

Assign components
Determine first player
Mapmaking
Choose the extra Civilization Cube and set the Development markers
Reveal the available Advanced Technology Cards
Get ready to start

1. Assign Components

Assign one Race to each player. This can happen by open choice of Race or color, or by random draw of the Homeland. For games with less than 6 players, the remaining Homelands are put back into the box as they will not be used during the game.

Homelands

Each Homeland has two sides:

A) Neutral population side (the same for all Homelands)

B) Race side (different for every Homeland)

Race War games only: If you decide to randomly draw the Homelands, shuffle them with the Neutral side visible and have each player choose one.

Give each player:

The Homeland of the chosen Race
1 Player Board of the chosen Race
10 Miniatures of the chosen Race
1 Cloth Bag of the corresponding color
6 Development markers
6 Civilization Cubes (one for each color, excluding grey): 1 red, 1 green, 1 purple, 1 blue, 1 orange and 1 yellow

2. Determine First Player

Randomly choose the first player.

3. Mapmaking

Randomly draw one of the six possible Central Hexagon tiles and place it face-down at the center of the table. Randomly draw 6 Borderland Hexagon tiles and place them face-down around the Central Hexagon.

In a game with 5 players, randomly draw 2 extra Borderland Hexagon tiles and place them face-down on two opposite sides of the map.

Each Homeland consists of three territories, one of which is marked as a Capital City. Every player must connect their Homeland to the map, as shown on the setup diagrams for 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 players.

Every player places 3 miniatures of their Race in the hexagon containing the Capital City. These miniatures must be placed outside of the city.

Ruin Tokens

Sort the Ruin tokens according to their back: bronze, silver and gold, then shuffle them separately. Place 2 random Ruin tokens on every visible Ruin space designated by the corresponding icon. Ruin tokens must be placed face-down, creating a small pile, on top of the Ruin space on the face-up tiles (at this stage only Homelands are face-up, so you are placing only the bronze or silver Ruin tokens on some Homeland Hexagons; later on you will place silver Ruin tokens in Borderland Hexagons and/or golden Ruin tokens in the Central Hexagon).

IMPORTANT: On the Central Hexagon place 3 golden Ruins on every Ruin space.

When Hidden Hexagons Will Be Revealed (Fog of War)

The game starts with the Central Hexagon and the Borderland Hexagons face-down. Later in the game, miniatures will enter into hexagons adjacent to a face-down hexagon. As soon as a miniature enters a hexagon adjacent to one or more face-down hexagons, turn the hidden hexagons and place them face-up. Immediately place in the revealed hexagons the random face-down Ruin tokens (over the corresponding Ruin symbols) and also Ghost miniatures (one in each city and on each Ruin stack).

Note that no Ghost miniatures are ever placed in cities or Ruins that are located in the Homeland.

Optional rule: You can instead choose to play with the whole map visible from the very beginning. In this case, simply place all hexagons face-up and immediately place Ruin tokens and Ghost miniatures during setup.

Race War Games Only

Each player now chooses (randomly or by choice) one of the two Race tiles whose back corresponds to the symbol depicted on their Homeland and applies the effects.

4. Choose the Extra Civilization Cube and Set the Development Markers

Each player takes 1 extra Civilization Cube of the color of their choice (except grey) and places all cubes in their possession inside the bag.

Each player then places the Development markers in the Development Area of their Player Board, one per row. The Development Area has 6 colored rows, each representing the following fields: science, trade, progress, growth, warfare, exploration.

Each player places their markers according to this rule:

1 marker at level 3
1 marker at level 2
1 marker at level 1
3 markers at level 0

5. Reveal the Available Advanced Technology Cards

Divide the 64 Advanced Technologies in four decks of 16 Advanced Technology Cards each, based on the four different types:

Deck I: exploration and warfare
Deck II: trade and growth
Deck III: progress and science
Deck IV: conversion and renewal

After shuffling each deck separately, draw the first 2 cards from each deck and place them face-up close to the map. This way, there will always be 8 Advanced Technology Cards face-up available for the players, 2 from each deck. Place a grey cube on each of them, as a reminder for the player that will gain the card. This grey cube will be placed on the "unused cubes area" on the Player Board.

6. Get Ready to Start

Each player draws (without looking in the bag) three random Civilization Cubes from their own bag and places them on their Player Board in the "available cubes area".

How to Play

The players alternate playing turns until the pre-set number of end-of-game conditions trigger during a player's turn (one in a short, two different in a regular or all three in a long game). When that happens, the other players will play a last single turn and after that, a winner will be declared.

A Player's Turn

During their turn, a player performs as many actions as they can/wish, in any order they like, until they declare the end of their turn.

At each start of a player's turn you must check the following things:

Remove Fortress tokens. Fortress tokens owned by the player that are still in play must be removed. See "Fortress" in the Base Technologies Effects section for more details.

Less than 3 miniatures. A player can never have less than 3 miniatures in play. If that happens, they place new miniatures for free from their reserve into the hexagon with their Capital City to reach a total of 3 miniatures available.

Beginning of the turn effects. All cards that have a continuous "beginning of the turn" effect generate their effects.

Mandatory Actions

During their turn, the player must place the Civilization Cubes which are present in their "available cubes area" either:

on their Base Technologies on their Player Board or on the acquired Advanced Technology Cards;
or in the "unused cubes area" on their Player Board.

On the Player Board, each Base Technology has two sets of activation spaces (a 1st activation set and a 2nd activation set). Each Advanced Technology Card has only one set of activation spaces.

If, when placing the cubes, the player completes one set of activation spaces on the Base Technology or the single set of activation of the Advanced Technologies, the technology gets activated and the player gains the benefits (see Activating Base or Advanced Technologies below).

If a player doesn't want (or cannot, for instance with the grey cubes) to place one or more Civilization Cubes on one of their technologies, they will have to place it in the "unused cubes area" during the end-of-turn phase. A player can't store any cubes on their "available cubes area" at the end of their turn.

A player does not have to complete a set of activation spaces during their turn. They can simply place one or more cubes and then complete the set in a later turn.

Optional Actions

During their turn, the player can also do one or more of the following actions:

activate one or more cities;
explore one or more ruins;
upgrade their civilization.

Every effect generated by an action (mandatory or optional) must be spent during the player's turn, before their end-of-turn phase. Effects can be accumulated and can be spent in the order chosen by the player.

When the player is ready to end the turn, they must announce it and execute their end-of-turn phase.

Please note that the mandatory placement of the Civilization Cubes doesn't have to be done all at the same time, and can be alternated with optional actions, as in the following example: a player can activate a city (and reap the benefits), then place a single Civilization Cube without completing a set, upgrade their civilization, activate a second city (obtaining the benefits, but without spending them yet), place another 2 cubes on a technology, activating it (and obtaining the benefits, spending them together with the benefit obtained from the cities), explore a ruin and finally declare to have finished their turn, proceeding to the end-of-turn phase.

Activating Base or Advanced Technologies

Every technology possesses one or two sets of colored activation spaces that can host the Civilization Cubes.

Single-colored activation spaces can host only the Civilization Cubes of the corresponding color.

Multicolored activation spaces can host cubes of any color, except grey Civilization Cubes (waste) which can only be placed on grey spaces. (At the beginning of the game, players do not possess grey cubes; they will be obtained later on in the game.)

Once one set of activation spaces is completed and entirely occupied by cubes, the technology is activated and the corresponding effect is generated (see Ruins, Technologies and Cities Effects for a complete list and description of effects that are generated by technologies, ruins or cities).

Base Technologies (the ones printed on each Player Board) possess two separate sets of activation spaces and therefore they can generate two different effects according to which set is activated, as follows:

Warfare: RED + MULTICOLOR = Attack OR Fortress + Fortress; RED + GREEN = Attack + Movement
Growth: PURPLE + MULTICOLOR = Miniature + Fortress; PURPLE + RED = Miniature + Attack
Progress: ORANGE + MULTICOLOR = 1 Develop on each of 2 different rows; ORANGE + BLUE = 2 Develops on the same row
Trade: YELLOW + MULTICOLOR = 1 VP; YELLOW + ORANGE = 1 VP + 1 Develop
Science: BLUE + MULTICOLOR + MULTICOLOR = Advanced Technology Card; BLUE + YELLOW + MULTICOLOR = Advanced Technology Card + 1 VP
Exploration: GREEN + MULTICOLOR = Movement + Movement; GREEN + PURPLE = Movement + Miniature

The players are not forced to spend all the generated effects from activated technologies, they can simply decide not to spend them. Sometimes they may not be able to use them (in such cases, the effects are lost).

In any case, they must use them immediately during the turn in which they completed the sets of spaces: they cannot store effects to use them in a later turn.

IMPORTANT: Once a set has been chosen on the Base Technology of the Player Board, the player must complete that set if he wants to activate that Base Technology. He cannot use the other set. It is not mandatory to complete the set; a player simply cannot use the other set.

Activating Cities

To activate a city the player must move one of their miniatures inside the city itself and immediately gain the corresponding benefits. Such action is possible only if the city is free, i.e. if there is no other miniature inside (either their own, of an opponent player, or a Ghost).

Activating a city does not require movement points and can be done at any time during a player's turn (before or after the activation of a technology or the exploration of a ruin). The miniatures inside a city cannot leave the city until the next Reset (see End of Turn Phase).

Activating a city generates the corresponding effects (see Ruins, Technologies and Cities Effects). Remember: the effects of cities, ruins and technologies can be accumulated and can be spent by the player in the order they like before the end of the turn.

The players are never forced to spend the effects generated by the cities; they can simply decide not to spend them (if so, they are lost).

Exploring Ruins

To explore a ruin the player must move one of their miniatures inside that ruin space, taking the topmost Ruin token. Then the player secretly looks at the effects and decides whether to use the Ruin token immediately or to store it for later use. If the player decides to use it, the token is revealed to all players and the corresponding benefits are gained, then the token is discarded (see Ruins, Technologies and Cities Effects).

A player doesn't have to use a Ruin token immediately - a player can keep the Ruin token in the VP area of their board and use it later, during the same turn or even a future turn.

IMPORTANT: A player can store only one single Ruin token at any moment during the game. Therefore, if a player already has one Ruin token stored, explores another Ruin and wants to store the new token, he must immediately play the old one.

To explore a ruin, it must be free, that is, without any miniature (from their own supply, from another player, or from a Ghost) and it must still contain a Ruin token. A depleted ruin can't be explored: treat its space as if it doesn't exist anymore.

Exploring a ruin, like activating a city, is a free move and can be done at any time during a player's turn (before or after the activation of a technology or a city).

Just like the ones inside cities, miniatures inside a ruin cannot leave the ruin or do anything until the next Reset (see End of Turn Phase).

IMPORTANT: Miniatures used to explore a ruin or activate a city are "frozen" until the Reset. Such miniatures are basically useless, and can't move or do anything. They can still be protected by placing a Fortress in the hexagon (see "Fortress" in the Base Technologies Effects section).

Upgrading the Civilization

During their turn, a player may increase the level of the Development markers through the develop effects obtained through the activation of cities, technologies or ruins.

At any time during their turn (but before the end-of-turn phase), a player may reduce to level 0 one of their Development markers which has reached level 4 (or 5). In this case the player immediately puts 1 Civilization Cube of the corresponding color into their bag, taking it from the reserve.

In the same way, the player may reduce to level 0 one of their Development markers which has reached level 6. In this case, the player immediately puts 2 Civilization Cubes of the corresponding color inside their bag, taking them from the reserve.

If the Civilization Cubes of the corresponding color are depleted, the "upgrading the civilization" action has no effect (or has a partial effect, in the case where two Civilization Cubes should have been added and only one of that color is left in the reserve).

IMPORTANT: Upgrading the civilization can be done at any time during a player's turn, before or after having activated a technology, a city or a ruin but before the end-of-turn phase (just like activating a city or exploring a ruin).

Example: Denise has just finished her turn and she knows she still has 1 cube in the bag. She actually has one Development marker at level 4 (blue) and one Development marker at level 6 (purple). If she does nothing and proceeds to end her turn, she will only draw 1 cube, and this would leave her with very limited options on her next turn. Before declaring the end of her turn, she instead upgrades her civilization in the growth area, and she does so by moving the purple marker back to level 0. This means she can put 2 extra purple cubes inside her bag (from the reserve). She leaves the blue marker untouched because she doesn't want to have 4 cubes in the bag, because that would mean being back to only 1 cube left in the bag after drawing. Then she completes the end-of-turn by drawing all the 3 cubes left in her bag; next turn she will likely Reset since her bag is now empty.

End of Turn Phase

Once a player has declared that they want to end the turn, the first thing for that player to do is to move all cubes still present in the "available cubes area" into the "unused cubes area" of the Player Board. Then:

A) If the player still has cubes inside the bag, he must draw up to 3 random cubes from their bag, and place them in the "available cubes area". If the player only has 1 or 2 cubes inside the bag, they still draw them all.

B) Or, if the player has no more cubes inside the bag, the player immediately performs a Reset.

Reset

When a player performs a Reset, they do the following:

The players' miniatures inside the cities are moved to the outside (they remain in the same hexagon) and they will be free to move again during the following turns of that player.
The players' miniatures inside the ruins are moved off the stack (they remain in the same hexagon) and they will be free to move again during the following turns of that player.
All cubes in the "unused cubes area" (including grey cubes just obtained with an Advanced Technology Card) and cubes in technologies that were activated must be placed inside the bag. This does NOT apply to technologies with continuous effect (see Continuous Effects below).
Cubes placed on technologies that have not been completed, or that have been activated and then partially depleted due to a "cube restoration" effect (see "Cube Restoration" description in the list of Advanced Technologies and ruins effects), may be left on the technologies or put back into the bag: it's up to the player to decide what to do for each of these cubes.
Cubes placed on continuous technology (see Continuous Effects) may be left on the technologies or put back into the bag: it's up to the player to decide what to do for each of these cubes.
Finally the player shuffles the cubes inside their bag and draws 3 random cubes placing them in their "available cubes area".

After a player has finished their end-of-turn phase, the turn goes on to the next player.

Strategy tip: Careful players will always manage to have the right number of cubes inside the bag, since drawing just one cube (or even two) will likely result in a less effective use of their resources.

End of Game Conditions

In a short game, anytime a player, during their turn, can fulfill one of the following conditions:

Has 12* or more Victory Points in their "Victory Points area" (* with 2 players this condition is set at 15 Victory Points);
Obtains their fifth Advanced Technology;
Puts their last miniature on the map;

they immediately gain the corresponding Objective tile and then conclude their turn (if they fulfill other end-of-game conditions, that player would also get the other corresponding Objective tiles).

All other players will be allowed to play their turn (and, should they fulfill one of the end-of-game conditions, they would also obtain the corresponding Objective tile).

Please note that even if there are only 2 tiles for each end-of-game condition, in the unlikely event that more than two players fulfill the same conditions all of them still have the right to get an Objective tile (mark it somehow).

Then the game ends, players proceed to scoring and the winner is determined.

In a regular game, the end-of-game conditions to be fulfilled must be 2 out of the possible three. They can be fulfilled by the same player or by two or more different players. The game ends after the second condition has been fulfilled.

In a long game, all 3 end of game conditions must be met. The game ends after the third condition has been fulfilled.

Scoring and End of the Game

All players extract their Civilization Cubes from their bag and count their final score adding all the following:

Victory Points earned during the game: 1 VP per Gem present on the "Victory Points area"
Ghosts killed by a player: 1 Ghost = 1 VP; 2 Ghosts = 3 VP; 3 Ghosts = 6 VP; every Ghost beyond third: +1 VP
Enemy miniatures killed by a player: 1 VP per enemy miniature killed. The second or successive miniature of an enemy is worth VP only if a complete set of enemy miniatures has been killed by that player (see Attack, under Base Technologies Effects in Detail)
Civilization Cubes: 1 VP per cube owned (excluding grey cubes)
Objective tiles: 2 VP for each Objective tile owned
Victory Points for Advanced Technologies: according to the value in VP printed on the card in the top right-hand corner
Control of territories: 1 VP each for controlling Homeland Hexagons; 2 VPs each for controlling Borderland Hexagons; 4 VPs for controlling the Central Hexagon

A player controls a hexagon if the relative majority of miniatures in that hexagon belongs to that player (example: the blue player has 2 miniatures inside the Central Hexagon, while there is one Ghost and the red player has one miniature: the blue player controls the hexagon and gains 4 Victory Points).

The player with the most total VP is the winner. In case of a tie, the player who controls the most hexagons (in terms of number, not in terms of VP value) wins. If there is still a tie, the player who owns the most cubes (grey excluded) wins. In case of further tie, the player who played last in turn order, wins.

Ruins, Technologies and Cities Effects

Base Technologies Effects in Detail

MOVEMENT. Movement is used to move the miniatures of the players around the map. Each Movement effect generates 1 movement point for the active player.

Moving 1 miniature from one hexagon to an adjacent hexagon costs 1 movement point. However, some type of terrain costs extra movement to enter or exit a hexagon:

To enter a forest hexagon costs 1 additional movement point.
To exit a swamp hexagon costs 1 additional movement point.
To enter or exit a mountain hexagon costs 1 additional movement point.

EXCEPTION: Moving between hexagons of the same type costs no extra movement cost.

It is possible to move one single miniature throughout several hexagons, paying the movement point cost for each Movement.

IMPORTANT: If a miniature enters a hexagon where there are miniatures that belong to other players, that are not inside a city or a ruin, the miniature must interrupt its movement for the turn. If the player wants to move this miniature again in the same turn, he needs to kill the blocking enemies on the hexagon before moving again.

Remember that as soon as a miniature enters a hexagon adjacent to a face-down hexagon, turn the hidden hexagon and place it face-up (see "Fog of War" under Game Setup).

ATTACK. Attack is used to kill opponent miniatures or Ghost miniatures on the map (it cannot be used to kill the player's own miniatures). Each effect generates 1 attack point for the active player.

To use one or more attack points the player must have a miniature in the hexagon containing one or more enemy miniatures (either Ghost miniatures or opponent miniatures).

For every attack point (unless absorbed by a Fortress, see below), the player can remove from the map one Ghost or opponent miniature and then put it on the "Graveyard" on their Player Board. Each opponent or Ghost miniature will be worth Victory Points at the end of the game.

If a player kills an opponent miniature of a color already present amongst their killed miniatures, this miniature is given back to the owner who puts it back in their reserve. When this happens, if the player has already killed one miniature per enemy opponent (i.e. the player has completed a set of one killed miniature per enemy), they immediately get 1 Gem from the reserve when they give the miniature back.

FORTRESS. The Fortress is used to protect miniatures from attacks of opponents. Each Fortress allows the player to take a Fortress token of their color and place it on one of the hexagons in which they have their own miniatures. Every Fortress token can absorb one attack point generated by an opponent, and is then removed.

If an opponent attacks one or more miniatures in a hexagon with one or more Fortress tokens, the Fortress tokens must be removed first, before killing the miniatures.

IMPORTANT: Fortresses stay in play only until the beginning of that player's next turn and they only protect the miniatures of their own player's color.

MINIATURE. The player can put into play one miniature from the reserve. The miniature must be placed in one hexagon of the player's Homeland that contains a city (outside the city).

ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY CARD. The active player is entitled to get one Advanced Technology Card, which could then be activated by filling the spaces with Civilization Cubes (even in the same turn in which this card has been obtained).

Before choosing the Advanced Technology, the player may draw 2 new Advanced Technology Cards from the top of one of the 4 decks in order to replace the 2 currently available from the same deck, which are placed on the bottom of the deck. The player is not forced to choose one of the new technologies but can choose between all the eight face-up cards.

When a player gets a new Advanced Technology, they also get the grey Civilization Cube on it. This grey cube will be put into the bag by the player during their next Reset. Until the next Reset, the player will put the grey cube in the "unused cubes area" of their Player Board.

After the Advanced Technology is acquired the player must reveal a new Advanced Technology from the same deck that became available and put a grey cube on it.

Any Advanced Technology Card has depicted a number of gems on their top-right hand corner. These gems will be worth VP at the end of the game.

DEVELOP. For each develop effect, the active player may advance the level of one of their markers on one Development row, according to the number of icons present: single develop, triple develop, 2x develop, and so on.

If a multiplier appears on the Development symbol (ex. 2x, 3x or 4x etc.) the player may apply the develop effects on different rows or on the same row or a combination of the two.

If the develop effect must be applied on a single row and there aren't enough spaces available, the extra effects are lost.

GEM. For each Gem effect, the active player gets 1 Gem, worth 1 Victory Point. If a number appears on the gem symbol, the number of gems gained is equal to that number.

Advanced Technologies and Ruins Effects in Detail

Some of the Advanced Technologies display grey activation spaces. Only grey cubes may be placed in these spaces (representing waste).

Symbols on the Advanced Technology Cards:

Effect substitution. Any time you generate one effect, you actually generate this effect instead. Example: "any time you generate a movement point, you generate a flying movement point instead."

Bonus effect. Any time you generate one type of effect, you generate an additional bonus effect. This can be done several times during a turn. The limit is one additional point per activation. So if two VP are generated with the activation of one technology, only 1 additional VP is generated, not 2. Example: "any time you generate attack points, you generate one additional attack point."

Apply to adjacent opponents. Apply the effect depicted inside the symbol to all adjacent opponents. The effect included in this icon must be applied to any players who possess at least one miniature in the same hexagon or on an adjacent hexagon where the active player has at least one miniature. Example: "two develop and all adjacent opponents must perform one negative develop."

Remove action. There are three possible cases:

Remove a Cube: the affected player sacrifices a non-grey cube from the visible ones (either on their Player Board or their Advanced Technologies) and puts it back in the general supply. The cube can even be the very one used to generate this effect, if possible.
Remove a Miniature: the affected player must remove a miniature from the map and puts it back in their reserve. He can choose the hexagon from which the miniature is removed.
Remove a Gem: the affected player removes 1 Gem from their Player Board and puts it back in the general supply.

This effect is usually followed by other effects, which will occur only if the "remove" effect was possible.

IMPORTANT: In the case where a player removes a cube to gain a different cube, this new cube is positioned in place of the removed cube, even if it would not be possible due to color requirement. Example: "remove one non-grey cube in order to gain 1 VP."

In addition to effects already seen in Base Technologies, Advanced Technologies or ruins may also generate the following special effects:

CLONING. For each "cloning" effect, the active player may place a new miniature directly on any hexagon in which they already have at least one miniature, instead of placing it in one hexagon of their Homeland with a city.

CUBE DRAWING. For each "cube drawing" effect, the active player draws one cube from the bag and places it in the "available cubes area". Those cubes must be placed either on their Base Technologies on their Player Board, on the acquired Advanced Technology Cards or in the "unused cubes area" on their board. If one number is present on the top-right corner of the icon, this number specifies how many cubes the player should draw. If there are fewer cubes in the bag than those he should draw, he just draws those that are available.

CUBE GENERATION. The player takes a cube from the reserve of the depicted color and immediately places it into their bag. If the icon is a multicolor cube, the player may choose the color.

CUBE RESTORATION. For each "cube restoration" effect, the active player takes one single cube from anywhere on their Player Board or the Advanced Technology Cards and puts it back into the bag. Note: If the cube is taken from a technology that was previously activated, the technology can be activated again, by placing another valid cube in the space that was thus freed.

ESPIONAGE. For each "espionage" effect, the active player may immediately generate the same effect of an Advanced Technology controlled by an opponent.

FLY. Each "fly" effect generates 1 flying movement point for the active player. To move a miniature from one hexagon to an adjacent hexagon consumes 1 flying movement point, regardless of the type of terrain of the two hexagons. Furthermore, a miniature that uses flying is not forced to interrupt its movement when it enters (or leaves) a hexagon where there are enemy miniatures on the outside of cities or ruins.

RANGED ATTACK. Each "Ranged Attack" effect generates 1 ranged attack point for the active player. For every ranged attack point the player may remove one Ghost or one opponent miniature located on a hexagon adjacent to where the player possesses one or more miniatures. Note: Contrary to the Attack effect, the Ranged Attack effect does not generate VP for the kill; the Ghost is put back in the box, while the miniature is placed back in the original owner's reserve.

NEGATIVE DEVELOP. This effect forces the affected player to decrease a level of one of the Development markers. If all Development markers are on the zero space of the Development area, this effect is ignored. The affected player gets to decide which marker to decrease.

Continuous Effects

Some Advanced Technologies, marked by the "infinite" symbol inside the activation spaces, once activated generate continuous effects (effects that last until the end of the game). Some of these continuous effects generate one effect at the beginning of the turn.

IMPORTANT: During Reset, the cubes placed on the Advanced Technologies with continuous effect are not placed back into the bag.

Race Effects (Race War Games Only)

In a Race War game, each player chooses one of their Race's two Race tiles (Tile A or Tile B) and applies its effect for the rest of the game.

RED DUCHY

Tile A: Activation of any technologies that possess the Attack effect costs the player one fewer multicolor cubes.
Tile B: The player puts 2 Fortress tokens with the symbol of the race face-up on their Race tile. Each token grants one of the following effects: Fortress/Attack/Ranged Attack. The player can spend those tokens during the game, at any moment during their turn.

EMERALD KINGDOM

Tile A: The player puts 1 Fortress token with the symbol of the race face-up on their Race tile. This token grants 1 movement point. The player can spend this token at any moment during their turn, but only once until the next Reset. When the player executes the end-of-turn phase and resets, the token is put back on the tile.
Tile B: The player ignores terrain penalties for Movement.

CELESTIAL REIGN

Tile A: The player starts the game with an Advanced Technology chosen between "Alchemy" and "Diplomacy" (these technologies are marked by the Race symbol in the bottom right corner). This doesn't count toward the end-of-game condition of 5 Advanced Technologies. The player doesn't get a grey cube.
Tile B: Any time the player generates a science effect, they then generate for free a "2x Cube Drawing" effect.

CORAL THRONE

Tile A: During their turn, the player can use a multicolor and a grey cube to eliminate one grey cube and to gain 1 VP (it can even be the same grey cube used to generate this effect).
Tile B: The player can use grey cubes on the orange spaces (but not on the multicolored spaces).

GOLDEN BARONY

Tile A: The player starts the game with 2 VP.
Tile B: During their turn, the player can sacrifice 1 VP to generate one of the following effects: Attack/2x Movement/Triple develop/3x Cube Drawing.

PURPLE MATRIARCHY

Tile A: Whenever the player executes an Attack action against a Ghost, instead of killing that Ghost they can convert it into one of their own miniatures. In such a case, the Ghost miniature goes back in the box and not on the "graveyard" on the Player Board and will not count in the end-of-game Victory Point scoring.
Tile B: The player starts the game with the Advanced Technology "Outposts" (this technology is marked by the Race symbol in the bottom right corner). This doesn't count toward the end-of-game condition of 5 Advanced Technologies. The player doesn't get a grey cube.

The Realms

The Red Duchy

Only one advanced military Hyperborean outpost was spared by the magical apocalypses that destroyed the mainland. Redpost become a shelter for the early survivors, but the tension between civilians and soldiers quickly escalated in disorders, anarchy and basically a "survival of the fittest" society. That is, until Duke Khoris defeated in combat all the other gang leaders and established his Dukedom based over very simple rules: every three years the "Duchy Tournament" is held in Redpost main plaza (later an arena was built to the purpose). The winner is the Duke, and the bearer of the Red Mantle (symbol of power and nobility) until the next tournament and up to that day every man in the Duchy must obey him (or her, since quite a few Duchesses have earned the title so far), or they will be put to death. This brutal system proved itself quite effective and the warriors with the crimson mantle (only the Duke can wear the red one) are a force not to be underestimated. In the meantime, not everyone aims for the Duchy, and many inhabitants devoted themselves to less bloody occupations, giving the Duchy its fair share of merchants, farmers, scientists and architects.

The Emerald Kingdom

When the magical apocalypse struck Hyperborea, a few dozen workers and researchers were busy establishing an outpost in a big, unexplored forest. Left to themselves and with no link with the destroyed civilization, the survivors learned to live in harmony with the forest, hunting and collecting food to survive. The smallest among the six realms in population, with the possible exception of the Celestials, they aren't technically a kingdom, even if they call themselves as such. The Emerald King, indeed, is the spirit of the forest they follow and worship, and a council of elders, said to be inspired by and bonded with the forest soul, makes political decisions. They are excellent trackers and unmatched archers, and it is impossible to enter their forest and contact them against their will, but if you dare to make a few steps in their territory, they will surely find you (and may end your life with their emerald-feathered arrows, before you can even realize it).

The Purple Matriarchy

Very little is known about the birth of the Purple Matriarchy. It can be only hypothesized that in the early days after the death-bringing calamity, the few survivors realized that humanity was on the very verge of extinction, so life become more sacred than ever and the Cult of the Life Goddess began to spread and gather more and more followers. Women, as givers of life, were kept in the highest respect and consideration. Thus the Matriarchy started, as an evolution of such fanatical worship. What is certain is that now the Purple Matriarchy is a force to be reckoned with. Not simply overcoming the other realms with their numbers, the purple people have excellent farming, crafting and fighting skills, and the magical healing and cloning abilities developed in centuries of worshipping life in all its forms make a war of attrition against the Matriarchy basically impossible to win. It doesn't matter how many purple warriors fall to the axes of the crimson mantles, the swords of the coral knights or the lightning of a celestial - two more will take his or her place within seconds.

The Golden Barony

Most of the territories outside Hyperborea are actually desert. That made survival difficult for the few left out of the magical barrier. Resources, even food and water, were scarce, so small groups of people started organizing themselves in nomadic communities, skilled in both trading and fighting (mostly for self-defense, but nomadic raiders weren't unheard-of). Nomadic tribes would have been forever fated to be irrelevant buffer states between the other five realms if it wasn't for Baron Thannis. An incredibly skilled diplomat, crafty warrior and natural leader, a few years ago he reunited the tribes under his banner and his shiny gilded armor. Since then, the wealth and power of the Barony have only increased until it is the most influential of the six realms. Without the Barony diplomats the underlying tensions between the realms would already have degenerated into an open conflict.

The Coral Throne

Old Hyperborean society was highly class-based. Powerful wizards were the dominant caste, and status and wealth were determined mostly by family (and to a lesser degree by magical skills and knowledge). Not everyone agreed. A few people thought that all humans were born with equal rights and should be given equal opportunities and a fair share of the common wealth. They referred to themselves as "the coral people", and just as corals take their strength from their interdependence and connections, so did the coral people with no kings or wizards to rule. They were a minority, however, and their beliefs never had a chance to become real. After the disaster, a few "corallists" survived, gathered together, and tried to design a society according to their principles, which became what now is called the Coral Throne, from the name of the book that contains the teachings of corallism. Even if in theory all corallists are equal in front of the laws of the realm, in reality the coral knights, the military branch of the corallists, have a higher influence and status than the other corallists. They strive to extend their beliefs and teachings to the outsiders, sometimes through propaganda and proselytism, but more often with brute strength.

The Celestial Reign

Ruled by scientists and wizards, the Celestial Reign tries constantly to recover the lost Hyperborean knowledge. The least populous and the most secluded, they make up for what they miss in numbers with the strength of their techno-wizardry. Able to conjure and bend the very forces of the elements in battle, and always looking for hidden knowledge and new technologies, they might prove to be an unstoppable force. While they are lead by a Celestial King, the office is gained through elections held every four years. The choice usually falls to the wisest and most studious celestial, though after four years of managing the day-to-day requirements of running a government, the king usually steps aside for a new candidate, to ensure balance in the reign.

Credits

Game design: Andrea Chiarvesio and Pierluca Zizzi Additional design: Maurizio Vergendo Additional content and editing: Massimo Bianchini Graphic design: Alessandro Rossi Rulebook layout: Mario Brunelli Cover art: Federico Musetti Interior art: Miguel Coimbra (Cards), Fabio Gorla (Races), Roberto Pitturru (Tiles) and Giacomo Tappainer (Concept Design) Senior character sculptor: Lorenzo Giusti (www.greebo.it) Art direction: Massimo Bianchini Project managing: Luca Cattini Executive producers: Massimo Bianchini, Luca Cattini, Giovanni Intini, Riccardo Sandroni, Massimo Tolazzi and Maurizio Vergendo

Playtesting and support: Isabella Fattori, Pierluigi "Pigi" Guarini, Alex Rizzatto, Michele Ciani, Roberto Pestrin, Giovanni Bernardis, Mattia Pellegrini, Boucha Miani, Mattia De Colle, Hjalmar Hach and Francesco Zan.

Playtesters: Katiuscia Adami, Mauro Adriano, Maurizio Belluardo, Mirko Bindinelli, Luca "Ash" Bobbio, Fabio Boero, Nestor Borgo, Antonio Borrelli, Nicola Calisi, Danilo Callegari, Davide Capraro, Michael Cepile, Pietro Cremona, Massimo Cressano, Lorenzo Cudicio, il Cuoco, Paolo D'Andreis, Ivano D'Aronco, Mattia Davolio, Jacopo De Luca, Emanuele Degano, Alessio Elpi, Carlo Feragotto, Federico Fieni, Dennis Floreano, Alessandro Gariup, Cinzia Gasperini, Alessandro Gelosini, Luca Gelosini, Giampiero Giacomini, Gianco, Danilo Guasco, Andrea Incerti, Angela Lavarini, Roberto Lega, Marco Legato, Andrea Ligabue, Alessandro Luciani, Luca Malaguti, Luca Marinatto, Alan Mattiassi, Giovanni Michelotti, Mattia Michelotti, Andrea "Mix" Missana, Paola Mogliotti, Francesco Mondini, Marco "Morsac", Giancarlo Nicolò, Sonia Palumbo, Barbara Parutto, Mario Pascoli, Fabio Pavarotti, Chiara Pezzi, Dario Pinese, Marco Pizzolini, Barbara Polidori, Alessandro Prete, Pietro Quadrelli, Andrea Ratti, Ale Ro', Roberto Rua, Paolo Ruffo, Mario Sacchi, Mariano Sacco, Massimo Salvador, Fiorenzo Sartore, Alessandro Seren Rosso, Sirio Smeriglio, Federica Tinelli, Fabio Tiraboschi, Francesco Tomiato, Alessandro Tonon, Christian Varini, Denise Venanzetti, Stefano Venturini, Jacopo Vuga, Daniel Willis, Manlio Zaninotti, Christian Zoli, Giampiero Zorzi, Gabriele Zuttion, all the guys from Quarta Dimensione of Udine, and last but not least the guys from Bari: Daniele Monterisi, Garzone, Fabio Giannace, Danilo Laterza, Robba Pasqua and Vincenzo Chieppa.

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