Sandstone
Sandstone Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Set Up
Each player chooses a color and takes all of the pieces of that color (8 Towers and 3 Strongholds). Give each player 1 Reference card and 1 Action card (the basic rules and game flow are covered on these cards).
Shuffle together the 12 Terrain cards and place them in a 3x4 grid in the middle of the play area. Shuffle together the 3 Bonus cards and deal 1 to each player. Return the remaining card to the box. Any cards dealt to players are a secret to the other player.
Shuffle together the 18 Ability cards and deal 1 to each player. Return 1 to the box face down. Place the remaining Ability cards in a face down deck in the middle of the play area. Reveal the top 3 cards of the Ability deck and place them in the middle of the play area, next to the Ability deck.
The person who last lost a game takes the Priority card. The other player places one of their Stronghold pieces on an unoccupied space and places one of their Tower pieces on an unoccupied space that is orthogonally adjacent to their placed Stronghold piece. The player with the Priority card then does the same, but cannot place either of their pieces on an space that is orthogonally adjacent to either of the other player's placed pieces.
The game begins.
Playing Sandstone
Sandstone is played over a series of at least 5 Years (or rounds). Each round, each player beginning with the player with the Priority card receives a turn. On their turns, players use their 2 Actions to place (or remove the opposing player's) pieces from the Terrain cards several ways. If at the beginning of the player's turn, they have achieved one of the three game winning conditions, they immediately win the game. Otherwise, the game ends at the end of the fifth Year, with players earning points for their placed pieces and Bonus spaces.
Pieces
Each player has a set of 11 pieces: 8 Towers and 3 Strongholds.
Players place these pieces to gain control of Spaces.
- A player controls all spaces that their Tower pieces occupy (are placed on).
- A player controls all unoccupied spaces orthogonally adjacent to the spaces their Stronghold pieces occupy (but never the space that their Stronghold pieces occupy). A player's Stronghold pieces are never moved or removed by the other player.
Each player's pieces are either placed (occupying a space) or unplaced (not occupying a space - pieces begin the game unplaced).
When a player places a piece, they take one of their unplaced pieces and places it on an unoccupied space on a Terrain card. If a player removes a piece (either player's), it is removed from the space it occupies and is returned to the unplaced pieces of the player to which it belongs.
Figure caption: Both the gray and gold players control the spaces their Tower pieces occupy. The other spaces that players control are indicated by the arrows. The placed gold Tower piece occupies a Forest space orthogonally adjacent to a gray Stronghold piece, and since it is occupied, the gray player does not control that space.
Figure caption: Since the Forest space between the gray and gold player's Stronghold piece is unoccupied, both players control that space.
Terrain Cards and Spaces
There are 12 Terrain cards. Each Terrain card has 2 spaces. There are 3 different types of spaces: Forest, Desert, and Mountains. Each of these different spaces offer different benefits to the player controlling them.
When a player places a Stronghold piece, they may remove one of the other player's orthogonally adjacent placed Tower pieces for each Forest space that the placing player controls.
When a player places a Tower piece on a Terrain card that the opposing player has a placed Tower on, compare the number of controlled Forest spaces. If the placing player controls more Forest spaces than the other player, they remove that player's Tower piece from that card and place one of their unplaced Tower pieces on that space.
Example: The gold player places this Tower piece on this Terrain card. The gold player controls 3 Forest spaces. The gray player controls 1 Forest space. The gold player removes the gray player's Tower piece and then places one of their unplaced Tower pieces on that space.
Years and Priority
The game is played over a series of Years. Each year, the player with the Priority card chooses if they will go first or second for the Year. If they choose to go first, they gain a special option. Each player receives 1 turn each Year.
Player Turns
At the beginning of the player's turn, they check to see if they have completed one of the game winning conditions:
- they control seven spaces of a single type, or
- they have at least four more placed Towers than the other player, or
- all three of their Strongholds are still placed.
If a player has achieved one of these conditions, they immediately win the game. Otherwise, they take a turn.
On a player's turn, they receive 2 Actions. For each Action, they may take a Tower Action, a Stronghold Action, or an Ability Action, in any order.
A player cannot select the same Action twice in a single turn.
- Tower Action: The player places 1 Tower on an unoccupied space orthogonally adjacent to one of their Strongholds, -or- they place a Tower on an unoccupied space on a Terrain card in which they already have a Tower.
- Stronghold Action: The player removes two of their Towers from one Terrain card and places a Stronghold on an unoccupied space on that card, -or- they Exchange one of their placed Strongholds with one of their placed Towers. They remove that Tower.
- Ability Action: The player plays an Ability card from their hand, -or- they play an Ability card from the center.
A player cannot select an action that they cannot complete.
Ability Cards
When a player plays an Ability card, regardless of where it was played from, the card is placed face up in their play area, and they complete the top of the Ability card's effect.
If the Ability card is played from the player's hand, then the player uses the bottom portion of that Ability's effect instead.
If the other player has played more (has more face up copies of that particular Ability card) of that Ability card than the player, then the player uses the bottom portion of that Ability's effect instead.
Domain Check
After each player has taken a turn for the Year, Domain Check occurs. During Domain Check, beginning with the player with the Priority card, each player gains Gold and must pay for their placed pieces.
Each player gains 2 Gold for each Mountains they control. The player then spends their Gold on the upkeep of their placed pieces, in any order.
- Each of the player's Tower pieces require 1 Gold.
- Each of the player's Stronghold pieces require 1 Gold for each of their Stronghold pieces.
If a player does not have the required Gold for a piece, they must remove that piece.
Example: the gold player has 2 placed Strongholds and 3 placed Towers. They control 3 Mountains, so they gain 6 Gold. Their pieces require 7 Gold (2 for each Stronghold and 1 for each Tower). They do not have enough Gold, so they must either remove 1 Tower or 1 Stronghold piece.
Note on the printed rule above: the Stronghold upkeep bullet reads "1 Gold for each of their Stronghold pieces", while the worked example charges 2 Gold per placed Stronghold (2 Strongholds = 4 Gold, 3 Towers = 3 Gold, total 7). The text is transcribed as printed; the example is consistent with 2 Gold per Stronghold.
The player that controls the most Deserts takes the Priority card. If neither player has the most Deserts, the Priority card is passed to the player who does not have it.
The player with the Priority card chooses to go first or second for the next Year. Each player flips their Action card to the other side.
Discard any remaining Ability cards in the center (return them to the box). Add 3 new Ability cards from the top of the Ability deck to the center. The game ends if there are no Ability cards to add. Otherwise a new Year begins.
Ending the Game and Scoring
If the game ends in the Domain Check, each player reveals their Bonus card.
Each player gains 1 point for each of their placed pieces. Then, each player gains Bonus points based on their revealed Bonus card, and the spaces they control. The player with the most points wins the game. In the event of a tie, the player with the most Bonus points wins the game.