Impendium Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• Gameplay
  • Round Structure
  • 1. Generate Resources and Score Victory Points
  • 2. Activate Harbingers of the Void
  • 3. Action Turns
    • Move
    • Build a Colony
    • Federation Project
    • Recruit a Faction
    • Faction Abilities
  • 4. Pass the Starting Player Marker Clockwise, Reset Factions, and Begin a New Round
• Faction Card Clarification
• Variants/Expansions
  • Single Player
  • Semi-Cooperative
  • Cooperative
  • Nova Lux Integration
  • Nova Lux Legacy
  • Loyalty Expansion
  • Turmoil Expansion

Components

• 50 star cards
• 1 Central Federation Colony Card
• 36 Galactic Diplomacy Cards
• 18 faction cards
• 14 Harbinger of the Void Cards
• 10 Ruler of the Galaxy cards
• 6 Player Mats
• 1 Victory point/ subverting faction Mat
• 30 Resource counter cubes
• 10 action marker cubes
• 60 Colony discs (10 per player color)
• 2 dice
• 6 Ark of Salvation Meeples

This rule book will explain the game experience in the following progression:

• Setup
• Gameplay and Round structure
• Variants and expansions

Setup

• Place federation colony card in the middle of the table.
• Each player draws one star card and places it adjacent to the federation leaving space between the cards in clockwise order beginning with the owner of the game. For a 5 or 6 player game, the fifth and sixth player will place their star cards adjacent to one of the other star cards. If possible, they cannot place two star cards of the same color next to each other during setup.
• Each player is dealt a player mat and sets their resources to 3 of each.
• Each player is dealt 9 colony discs matching their colony (set aside off of the player mat). The discs will move onto the Mat when they become available to build.
• Each player draws a random faction card and places it above their mat.
• Place the Victory point/subverting faction mat to the side, draw 4 more factions and place 1 below each of the resource symbols in the subverting faction section.
• Each player places a colony disc on the victory point track at zero.
• Draw 3 star cards and place them below the subverting factions. These represent federation projects. (Place 4 star cards out for a 5 or 6 player game.)
• Each player places 3 colonies out 1 at a time rotating in clockwise direction starting with the owner of the game. These colonies are placed on the bottom symbols of the star cards. Multiple players can occupy the same star as long as there is room, however, during setup, colonies cannot be placed on the right-most circles which only have numbers with no resource symbols.
• Do not place colonies on the federation projects (only on the map).
• Each player places your Ark of salvation anywhere on the map.
• Give the starting player marker to the owner of the game.
• Place Harbinger of the Void, Galactic Diplomacy, and Star decks to the side.

The setup page carries a labelled component diagram (victory points track, federation star projects, star deck, federation, Ark of Salvation, Galactic Diplomacy, Harbingers of the Void, faction, player mat, subverting faction and colony discs). It is a reference picture of the components listed above and is not reproduced as text.

The story interlude on the following page is flavour fiction and is not transcribed.

Gameplay

Impendium is played over the course of multiple rounds until a player reaches 25 Victory points or one galaxy of each color has been constructed at which point, each player may take one more turn before the game ends.

Round Structure

1. Generate Resources and Score Victory Points
2. Activate Harbingers of the Void
3. Action Turns
4. Pass the starting player Marker and reset factions

1. Generate Resources and Score Victory Points

Increase your resource counter per colony (indicated by the top row of the star card the colony is on) as well as according to the star card that your Ark of Salvation is currently occupying. The federation star card represents a wild resource generator that every player can take advantage of each round to take 1 free resource as indicated by the card.

Increase Victory points and additional resources according to your ruler of the Galaxy cards.

Note: there are also faction abilities which may influence your resource generation which will be explained shortly.

Note: Federation projects do not count for resource generation.

The page's example caption reads: "+ 2 Life Forms, 1 Water, 1 Artifact, and 5 Hydrogen", with two star diagrams (colony discs on slots, resource numbers on the bottom rows) illustrating the generation. The diagrams are not reproduced as text.

2. Activate Harbingers of the Void

Activate all harbingers of the void that are in play. Do what the card says and resolve any consequences. Consult the card clarification section for any questions. If a star card is destroyed as the result, flip the card over. This now represents space dust. And can be moved through and rebuilt upon with new star cards. Space dust spaces require only 1 hydrogen to move off of rather than 2.

3. Action Turns

Each player may take all available actions during their turn starting with the starting player marker until every player passes or can't do an action. Once a player passes they cannot perform additional actions that round.

A player may not repeat the same action in the same turn. For instance you cannot move, build a colony, and then move again in the same turn. The actions available to all players are as follows:

Move, Build a Colony, Federation Project, Recruit a Faction

Move

Move your Ark of Salvation in cardinal directions as far as you would like and can afford paying the following to do so:

• 2 Hydrogen to move off a star card onto a space between cards,
• 1 hydrogen to move from a space between star cards onto a star card,
• 1 hydrogen to move off a destroyed star card (flipped upside down) onto a space between cards.
• Movement advantage based on your Ark of Salvation's color: 1 hydrogen to move off of a star card that shares the same color as your ark of salvation.

On your turn, at any point when you occupy the same space as another player you may immediately Attack or Trade with that player. Trading resources has no guideline aside from no trading for zero meaning you must actually exchange resources.

Attacking is resolved as follows: Each player rolls a dice. Add your lowest resource value to the dice roll. The higher number wins. The winner then takes resources from the losing player equal to THE DIFFERENCE OF THE DICE ROLL (not the added value of resources and dice) meaning the most you could possibly take is 5.

Transcriber note: the printed page reads "takes resources form the losing player"; "form" is read as "from".

Build a Colony

On a star card occupied by your Ark of Salvation, you may pay the resources of an available colony slot (represented by the bottom row of the card). On a slot where there is no resource symbol indicated, you must pay that number of a single resource type of your choosing. Once you pay the appropriate resources, you may place one of your available colonies. The colonies you have on the map or on federation projects already also count as available colonies and you may remove one to place the new one if you'd like.

If placing a colony shifts control of a galaxy into your hands, take a "Ruler of the Galaxy" card of your choosing from the incumbent ruler of the galaxy. See Galaxies under federation project section 1. Help construct a federation star.

Note: colony slots available to be built are represented by the cards on the actual map and are different than the 3 star cards below the VP Mat which represent federation projects.

Note: Available colonies are determined exclusively by the number of factions that you have. Each Faction gives you 3 available colony discs which are either in play or on your mat.

Federation Project

There are two forms of federation projects to be undertaken, both of which typically benefit all players while rewarding the player who embarks on them: help construct a federation star or battle a Harbinger of the Void.

Note: On a player's turn they may place only one colony disc on a federation project.

Note: You may use all 9 of your colony discs to embark on federation projects, however, you may only have 3 actual colonies on the map per faction under your control (represented by colony discs on constructed federation stars on the map).

1. Help construct a federation star: Your Ark of Salvation must be on the central federation star card. Similar to building a colony, satisfy one of the available bottom row slots of a federation project star card (the 3 star cards below the VP Mat). This has nothing to do with where your Ark of Salvation is located on the map. Once all slots with resource symbols are satisfied (excluding the slots on the right that just have numbers), that star is constructed. All players' colony discs will remain on the card as it is placed on the map. The player who completes the star card chooses its placement on the map adjacent to another star card then immediately replaces the federation project star card below the VP Mat. Every player who participated in the construction of the star receives 1 vp per colony disc at the time of its construction.

   There are 5 colors of star cards indicated by the color of the star itself in the center. If a star card is placed next to another star card of the same color, the player constructing the star, draws a harbinger of the void card and places it adjacent to the star card that was just placed if possible. If not, it must be adjacent to a star card of the same color of the placing player's choosing.

   Note: You cannot build new star cards adjacent to harbingers of the void.

   Galaxies

   If a star card that is placed on the map creates a connection of 3 star cards of the same color, this connection of 3 or more star cards of the same color now represents a federation Galaxy. The player with the most colonies in this galaxy immediately draws a ruler of the galaxy card which will have an ongoing impact on their resource and VP generation while in their control.

   Note: Use 2 star cards to create galaxies for a faster game. This is recommended for 4+ players but can be used at any number of players.

2. Battle a Harbinger of the Void: You must be on a card adjacent to a harbinger of the void to battle it. Pay the cost of a slot on the bottom of a harbinger of the void card which is in play and place an available colony disc on the slot. Once all slots are completed, the harbinger is discarded and the player with the most colony discs on the card receives the corresponding victory points on the card. In the case of a tie, the tying players each receive 2 VP. Every player who participated in the battle also receives 1 VP per colony disc they contributed. Colony discs go back to the players mat as available colonies.

Recruit a Faction

While your Ark of Salvation is occupying the federation card, you may recruit one of the available subverting factions. Each has a resource symbol above it. You must pay 14 of that resource minus the number of colonies that you have which are capable of generating that resource. For instance if I want to recruit the faction below the water symbol and I have 4 colonies that can produce water, I must pay 10 water to recruit that faction.

Recruit the faction by placing the faction above your player mat. You may only have 3 factions at a time but you may replace them by recruiting a new faction and placing the old faction at the bottom of the faction deck. When you recruit a new faction be sure to add 3 new colonies to your available colonies on your player mat.

Galactic Diplomacy cards: When you recruit a faction, draw 3 galactic diplomacy cards and choose two to keep. These can be played at any time during the game. See card reference section for more details. Place the other card at the bottom of the deck.

Faction Abilities

You may use all of your factions' abilities once per round at any time on any player's turn. You may apply the ability to you or to another player. To use an ability, simply turn the faction 90 degrees to represent that you have used that power during the round and reset them at the beginning of the next round.

4. Pass the Starting Player Marker Clockwise, Reset Factions, and Begin a New Round

Transcriber note: the round-structure list above names step 4 "Pass the starting player Marker and reset factions"; the heading printed on the page is the longer form used here. The printed page carries this heading with no body text beneath it (the page is followed by the Faction Card Clarification), so no further rules for step 4 are transcribed.

Faction Card Clarification

• SUB 2 (water): Treat 2 water as a wild resource. Substitute up to 2 water to pay the cost of 2 of any other resource.
• -2 water, Cost for Federation Project: Reduce the cost of a federation project by 2 water. The project slot must specifically demand water.
• +2 water: Gain 2 water.

The clarification page shows the three example faction cards (labelled as above) beside their text.

Variants/Expansions

Single Player

Must build at least one galaxy of each color and make it to 25 victory points. Easy: 2 star cards= a galaxy, Hard: 3 star cards= a galaxy. Lose immediately if you have no colonies on the map. Do not use Galactic Diplomacy cards.

Semi-Cooperative

Must build at least one galaxy of each color for any player to win. Once accomplished, all players with 20+ victory points win.

Cooperative

You all represent factions united around the cause of building a new galactic federation. Either everyone wins or everyone loses. Must build at least one galaxy of each color and a total of 8 galaxies. Lose immediately if you have less than 3 colonies per player on the map in total.

Nova Lux Integration

Add in the faction cards from Nova Lux as well as the space cards. Any time a star is destroyed place a random space card on the space. Star cards can be built on top of space dust cards but not on top of black holes, neutron stars, or worm holes.

Nova Lux Legacy

After a game of Nova Lux, leave the map as is and set up a game of Impendium around it by doing the following:

• Give the winner of Nova Lux the starting player marker.
• Replace the colony that the winning player built with the federation Card.
• Each player will place one star card out on an available space dust card beginning with the starting player.
• The winner of Nova Lux will give 2 of his factions to other players (1 if playing with 2 players) and deal out 1 random faction for every additional player so that all players start with 1 faction.
• Place out Star colony discs as in the normal setup.
• Reset resources to 2 for each resource for each player.

Play a game of Impendium. You may still harvest any remaining stars as an action just as with Nova Lux until they are all collapsed. Use the factions and star cards from Nova Lux as described in the integration section above.

Loyalty Expansion

(Also compatible with Nova Lux. Not recommended for 1st time play.)

Your civilization finds itself in an ultimate fight to survive. They desperately search for a leader to find one of the last places to survive. Do you have what it takes to balance wishes, needs and necessities? Your factions will reward good leadership with additional resources. Use these resources to build and move forward, but you should never forget: A civilization which faces famine will lose their confidence and unity...and corruption will ensue.

The page shows a Loyalty card (a reference card with a 1-5 scale and resource icons); its small print is not legible at this scan resolution and is not transcribed here.

Turmoil Expansion

(Also compatible with Nova Lux. Not recommended for 1st time play.)

Setup:

Place the 1, 2, 3 and 4 directional markers on each of the cardinal directions of the map (North, East, South, West).

Once there are 8 star cards, roll the dice for each turmoil marker (merchants, raiders, neutron storms and mercenaries) to define their starting positions (row/column) AFTER the players choose their starting spots. The effect of the gamma-ray burst will be immediately solved, if a player is located on its star (even before the first turn – what a lucky day!).

The page shows four turmoil markers: Raiders, Mercs, Neutron Storm (lose 3 of a resource) and Merchants (2:1).

Gameplay:

Move the turmoil markers every time before the starting player begins his turn.

*The turmoil cards can never enter a neutron star and will stay at their spot if that situation occurs (re-roll the dice if that occurs while placing them on the map).

*Regarding the movement of the turmoil markers, the map is considered to be "endless", meaning that if they for example would "leave" the map to the left, they enter back on the right - this does not apply to actual players.

Roll one dice per turmoil marker and move them accordingly. Merchants, neutron storms, raiders, and mercenaries are always moving one star in the corresponding direction. 5,6 = no change of position.

At any time during the game if the a player finds themselves on a star with one of the turmoil markers, the following will occur:

• Raiders = battle occurs (player adds lowest resource value, raiders add nothing), if player loses: -1 of each resource. If defeated, they reestablish with a dice roll (row/column) at their next movement.
• Neutron storm = -3 life forms for every player on the star (at the moment it appears or by entering a star with a neutron storm).
• Mercenaries = if on a star with the player, this player can pay 3 artifacts or hydrogen to hire them for an immediate attack on another player (mercenary battles are executed ONLY with the dice, no resource amount added). No resources will be gained if the

Transcriber note: the printed mercenaries entry ends mid-sentence ("No resources will be gained if the"); it is transcribed as printed.

• Merchant ship = Trade any amount of resources you'd like (always trade 2:1 = pay 2 of any resource, get 1 of any resource).

The printed Credits block at the end of the page (design, creative direction, playtesting, publisher logo and copyright line) is attribution and is not transcribed.