Lost Ruins of Arnak: Solo Mini Expansions
Lost Ruins of Arnak: Solo Mini Expansions Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Rival Objectives
This mini-expansion provides the rival expedition with additional motivations. Each time they accomplish an objective, they will score additional points. You can thwart their plans by accomplishing their objectives first.
New Components
This mini-expansion uses 5 new cards called rival objectives.
Setup
Use the two-player setup, as you usually do for an Arnak solo game. Six of the 2-point temple tiles will be left over after the temple is set up. Keep these tiles handy – they represent rewards your rivals can win by accomplishing objectives. You may need some of the leftover 6-point tiles as well.
Keep the 5 objective cards in a face-down stack within easy reach.
Gameplay – One Round
Your rival is the starting player each round, as usual in the solo game.
Before your first turn each round, shuffle the objectives face down. Draw 3 at random and place them on the table face up. These are the actions your rival wants to take before you do.
Because the rival expedition has already taken one action this round, it is possible they have already accomplished one of these objectives. They don't get points for that. Replace that objective with one of the two remaining in the deck, drawn at random.
If you are the first player to accomplish a particular objective, just flip it face down – your rival will not get points for it this round.
If your rival is the first player to accomplish a particular objective, flip it face down and give your rival a 2-point tile – these points will be added into their final score.
Thus, in each round, your rival can earn 0, 2, 4, or 6 points from objectives. You do not earn points, but you can reduce the amount of points your rival gains.
Notes
You can accomplish an objective (and thus prevent your rival from scoring it) even if the action is not your main action. For example, an effect that lets you gain an item for free counts as "buying" the item, which would accomplish the Buy an Item objective.
It is possible to accomplish multiple objectives on one turn. Because the Discover a New site objective overlaps with the Archaeologists objective, even your rival could accomplish two on one turn.
Tile Shortage: If you aggressively pursue the objectives, the rival expedition will accomplish objectives only when they get lucky, and you will have enough 2-point tiles to last the entire game. However, if you are pursuing a less antagonistic strategy, you may occasionally need to give your rival a 6-point tile so you can return three 2-point tiles to the supply.
Tweaks
We feel that 3 objectives per round gives the game good variety and increases the challenge of the usual solo game. It is possible to get a taste of this expansion by dealing only 2 objectives each round. You can also increase the challenge by using 4 objectives, but the variety is best with 2 or 3.
Another way to tweak the expansion is to make the first card turned up worth 4 points. Put two 2-point temple tiles on it to denote that it is a higher-priority objective.
Key
- Be the first player to buy an item this round.
- Be the first player to buy an artifact this round.
- Be the first player to discover a new site this round.
- Be the first player to advance their magnifying glass token this round.
- Be the first player to have a lot of archaeologists on the main board. Your rival needs 3; you need 2. Tip: To help you remember this objective, put 3 rival archaeologists on the card – or 2, if your rival has already sent one to the main board.
Purple Actions
Congratulations on winning the Lost Ruins of Arnak solo variant. Multiple times. At the highest difficulty level. Many fans of Arnak have written to us telling us how they have already beaten our toughest solo game and are looking for a bigger challenge. Here it is:
Components
The action tiles that came with your game are replaced by these print-and-play action cards.
Setup
Instead of a stack of action tiles, you will make a deck of action cards. Use the 5 archaeologist action cards, as usual:
And add 5 purple or red action cards, one of each type:
Your difficulty level increases by 1 for each red card and 2 for each purple card, giving you a range from 5 to 10.
We have also included print-and-play versions of the green tiles, in case you want to use them, too.
The other difference in setup is that the rival expedition will now have a notebook token to go with their magnifying glass.
Actions
Purple actions are mostly the same as red and green actions ... but nastier.
Research
In round V, the rival expedition advances their magnifying glass twice. Thus, it is possible for them to get 2 temple tiles in one turn.
Overcome a Guardian
After overcoming a guardian (or researching with the magnifying glass when no guardian is available) the rival expedition will research with their notebook – unless that would move their notebook above their magnifying glass.
Their notebook can remove research bonus tiles, and it will score notebook points at the end of the game.
Note: If you are using the Rival Objectives mini-expansion, the notebook has no effect on the magnifying glass objective.
Buy a Card
Your rival buys two cards with one action, one of each type. One card is the one with the highest point value in the indicated type. The other is the card with lowest point value.
Discover a New Site
The action follows the same rules as before. However, at the end of the game, each of the rival expedition's idols is worth one extra point. (That's 4 points for each unique, face-up idol, and 3 points for those in the -1 stack.)
Note: This rule applies only if this purple card is among those chosen for the game.