Slavika: Equinox

Slavika: Equinox Rulebook

Table of Contents

Aim of the Game and Victory Conditions

Slavika: Equinox is both a stand-alone game and an expansion to the game Slavika. Players take the roles of the heads of mighty houses of the fantastic world of Slavika or, if they wish, representatives of the new faction of Christians. Each of them has a team of 6 heroes. During the game the heroes travel to various lands, fight monsters and gain treasures.

The greater the contribution of a player's heroes to defeating monsters, the more glory points that player earns for his house.

The Pomeranian Lands are ruled by the ancient cycle of light and darkness, day and night, summer and winter. As time passes, depending on the current phase of the cycle, monsters alternately weaken and grow in strength. By the will of Princess Slavika, the player whose house has the most glory points at the end of the game becomes the steward of the Pomeranian Lands!

Box Contents

36 HERO CARDS (6 sets of 6 cards, one for each player)
25 LAND CARDS in which the game is played
54 MONSTER CARDS haunting the lands of Slavika
40 TREASURE CARDS (10 cards of each of 4 kinds)
1 EQUINOX BOARD, used to mark the passing of time and showing the current phase of the game
1 TIME MARKER, used on the Equinox board
6 PLAYER BOARDS for marking the total of glory points earned
10 PLAYER TOKENS (6 sets of 2 tokens for marking glory points earned)
5 HUNTER TOKENS (in 5 colours, 1 per player)
1 MONK TOKEN
2 PLANETNIK TOKENS, for blocking the strongest hero
5 HELP BOARDS explaining the special abilities of heroes and monsters

Setup

Each player receives a set of 6 hero cards of the chosen colour, a Hunter token (Christians: the Monk token), a player board and two tokens of the same colour. Unused hero cards and player tokens are put back in the box.

Hero cards, together with monster cards (details later in the rules), make up the player's hand.
Shuffle the land cards and put them in a face-down stack on the table. Then, depending on the number of players, place the appropriate number of land cards in a column below the land stack, one under another:
- With 2 and 3 players, place 4 lands.
- With 4 and 5 players, place 5 lands.
Shuffle the treasure cards and put them in a face-down stack next to the land stack. Under each drawn land, place as many face-up treasure cards from the treasure deck as the land card indicates. The treasure cards must be arranged so that players can see what kind of treasure cards are assigned to each land.
Shuffle the monster cards and put them in a face-down stack in a place easily accessible to all players. Each player takes 5 monster cards, which together with the hero cards make up the player's hand.
Place the Equinox board above the land cards so that all players can see the current phase of the game. Put the time marker on the space corresponding to the sum of the time symbols on all the laid-out land cards.
Choose the starting player by any method.

You are ready to play!

Example: setup for a two- or three-player game. The play area is divided into a field for playing hero cards and a field for playing monster cards.

Description of the Cards

There are 4 kinds of cards in Slavika: Equinox.

Hero Cards

Each hero card shows: the hero's symbol, the hero's strength, the hero's name, the faction symbol, and the set symbol.

Most heroes have special abilities. They are described at the end of the rules and on the player help cards.

Each player starts the game with 6 heroes making up the deck of his house. The decks differ in card backs, the colour of the artwork on the fronts, and an icon showing which faction the hero belongs to.

Monster Cards

Each monster card shows: the monster symbol, the monster strength, the monster's special ability, and additional treasure cards for defeating the monster.

Land Cards

TIME SYMBOLS: indicate the number of treasure cards to be placed under this land when it is revealed, and the number of spaces by which to move the time marker on the time track.
SHIP SYMBOL: in this land the sea travel rule applies.
MAXIMUM NUMBER OF MONSTERS: if the card has two values, during the light phase use the value marked with the sun symbol, and during the darkness phase the value marked with the moon.
MAXIMUM NUMBER OF HEROES: if the card has two values, during the light phase use the value marked with the sun symbol, and during the darkness phase the value marked with the moon.
GLORY POINTS: awarded to the player with the greatest total hero strength, to the player with the second greatest total hero strength, and possibly to the third player.
SPECIAL ABILITY OF THE LAND: the special abilities of lands are described at the end of these rules.

Treasure Cards

Each treasure card shows glory points (awarded to the player at the end of the game) and a colour/type of treasure.

There are 4 types of treasure cards in the game. Players gain treasures as described below in these rules. All different treasure cards make up a set. The more different treasure cards a player has, the more glory points he earns at the end of the game.

The Equinox Board

This board has a track on which players mark the passing of time. The game ends when the time marker reaches or passes the space marked with the red gem on the time track. The track is divided into two parts: the light part (on the left) and the darkness part (on the right). If the time marker is on the left side, light reigns in the lands of Slavika; if on the right, darkness.

During the reign of darkness it is harder to defeat evil in some lands, because more monsters can appear there than during the reign of light.

In the example in the rulebook, the time marker is on the darkness side, which means that in some lands more monsters must appear before a fight against evil takes place.

Course of the Game

The game consists of a series of player turns. Beginning with the starting player, players take turns clockwise. When the time marker reaches or passes the space marked with the red gem on the time track, the players play the current round to the end, and then the game ends (so that every player has had the same number of turns).

On his turn a player has 3 actions, which he must perform in the following order:

1st action: Add 1 hero from your hand to one of the lands. If this is impossible, the player skips this action.
2nd action: Add 1 hero from your hand to one of the lands, other than the one chosen in the first action. If this is impossible, instead of a hero the player adds 1 monster from his hand to one of the lands (other than the one chosen in the first action).
3rd action: Add 1 monster from your hand to one of the lands, other than those chosen during the first and second actions.

At the end of his turn the player discards one monster from his hand onto the monster discard pile and draws monster cards so as to have 5 in hand.

Adding a hero: The player places one hero card from his hand next to one of the land cards on the table. He lays it on the side marked with the hero symbol, as close to the land card as possible, behind all hero cards previously added to it. Then he performs the action connected with the special ability of the added hero (if it is performed at the moment the hero is laid out).

Adding a monster: The player places one monster card from his hand next to one of the land cards on the table. He lays it on the side marked with the monster symbol, behind all monster cards previously added to it. Then he performs the action connected with the special ability of the added monster (if it is performed at the moment the monster is laid out).

Example: At the start of his turn Maciek, playing the Owl clan (in a three-player game), finds the situation shown in the rulebook illustration. In his hand he has: Heroes: the Hunter and the Seer (Wieszczek). Monsters: Prus, Rokitnik, Polewik, Wieszczy and Raróg.

In the first action he must add a hero. He decides to add the Seer to the third land and, thanks to its special ability, changes the order of heroes at this land: he moves the Boar clan's Warrior from position 2 to 3.

Because there is no room for heroes in the lands, in the second action Maciek must lay a monster. He decides to add Polewik to the 4th land.

In the third action Maciek adds Rokitnik to the first land, which triggers the fight against evil, that is, the resolution of the land. Thanks to this Maciek will gain the first reward in the land (10 glory points), and in addition will be the first to choose a treasure card.

At this moment the land is resolved. At the end Maciek discards Prus from his hand and draws 3 monster cards from the monster deck.

Had Maciek added Rokitnik to the first land in his second action, the fight against evil would have taken place before his 3rd action. In his third action Maciek would have had to add a monster from his hand to the second, third or fourth land. After the land was resolved, a new one would have to be drawn in its place, so Maciek could have added a monster card to it.

Land Cards (details)

A land card contains the following information:

Time symbol. Corresponds to the number of treasure cards to draw from the treasure deck and place under this land at the moment it is placed on the table. Treasure cards are always placed face up. At the same time, the number of time symbols indicates the number of spaces by which to move the time marker on the Equinox board.
Glory points gained by players after a victorious fight against evil. The highest value is for the player with the greatest strength in that land, the second for the player with the second greatest total strength, and possibly the third for the next strongest player in the land.
Monster symbol indicates the side on which players lay monster cards, and the number indicates the maximum number of monster cards in the land. When the indicated number of monsters is in the land, the fight against evil occurs, that is, the land is resolved. In some lands there are two numbers, one connected with the light icon and the other with the darkness icon. In these lands the maximum number of monsters is variable and depends on the current phase on the Equinox board.
Hero symbol indicates the side on which players lay hero cards, and the number indicates the maximum number of hero cards that may be in the land.

Sometimes a land has two values for the monster and hero limits. Which of them applies at a given moment is decided by the position of the time marker. If it is on the left side of the time track (light zone), the value by the sun icon is used. Likewise, if it is on the right side of the time track (darkness), the value by the moon icon is used.

The time marker is moved after the resolution of the fight against evil is finished, specifically after the new land is drawn. This means that during a given player's turn the light phase may change into the darkness phase (or vice versa). Before taking the next action such a player must check whether, as a result of this change, any of the remaining lands needs to be resolved (the maximum number of monsters has dropped in it) or whether it has excess heroes (the maximum number of heroes has dropped in it). If, as a result of the coming of light, the monster limit is reached in a land (see below), such a land must be resolved immediately.

Warning! Players should be careful, because a change of phase can lead to an avalanche of land resolutions. If as a result of the coming of darkness the maximum hero limit in a land drops, the last hero in that land returns to its owner's hand.

Boat symbol indicates that after the given land is resolved, the player controlling the first hero in that land (the first is the one nearest the land card) must leave it in the newly drawn land (in place of the one just resolved).
Special rules. Most lands have special rules. They are described at the end of these rules.

Resolving a Land (Fight Against Evil)

At the moment the number of monster cards in a land reaches the limit given on the card, the game is interrupted. The heroes set out to fight evil, and the players resolve that land. The fight against evil lasts from the moment the last monster is added to the land until a new land is drawn (in place of the resolved one).

Procedure of resolving a land:

Add up the strength of all monsters in the land (taking into account all special abilities on hero, monster and land cards).
Add up the strength of all heroes in the land (taking into account all special abilities on hero, monster and land cards).
Compare the two values.
If the total strength of the heroes is equal to or higher than the total strength of the monsters, good wins; players gain glory points and treasure cards (see: Victory of Good).
If the total strength of the monsters is higher than the strength of the heroes, evil wins; players get nothing (see: Victory of Evil).
Then, regardless of the result, all hero cards from the land return to their owners' hands, and the monster cards go to the monster discard pile.
The current land card is discarded and a new one is drawn in its place. Players place under it as many face-up treasure cards as it has moon symbols (time symbols), and move the time marker along the time track by the same value.

(Translator's note: the Polish text says "moon symbols" here and in the land card section speaks of "time symbols"; "time symbols" is used above for consistency, as the Polish text says elsewhere.)

Victory of Good (the Heroes)

If the total strength of the heroes is equal to or higher than the total strength of the monsters, good wins and players gain glory points and treasure cards.

Each player counts his individual strength in the given land. The player with the highest strength receives the largest number of glory points, the second the second, and so on, according to the information on the land card. This is called scoring.

In case of a tie, the player who has at least one hero card closer to the land card (i.e. further left) than any hero card of the other tied player wins.

Next, players divide the treasure cards among themselves (both those from the land and those provided by powerful monsters). The player with the highest strength in the land chooses one of them, then passes the rest to the player next in strength. This process is repeated until the cards run out. If there are more treasure cards than players taking part in the division of loot, begin another round of choosing.

Victory of Evil (the Monsters)

If the total strength of the monsters is higher than the strength of the heroes, evil wins:

players receive no victory points;
treasure cards (both those from the land and those provided by powerful monsters) are discarded;
players take into hand the hero cards that lay in the resolved land;
monster cards from the resolved land are discarded onto the monster discard pile.

At the end, discard the card of the land just resolved, lay the next land from the deck in its place, and move the time marker the appropriate number of spaces on the time track. Then the game continues.

Example: Przemek, playing the Fox clan (orange), adds the last monster, the Południca. Since it is the last monster in this land, the fight against evil occurs, that is, the land is resolved. First, however, the Południca's ability must be resolved.

Because of the Południca's arrival, the weakest hero is moved to the monsters' side. Here it is the Przechera (Trickster) with strength 1.

TOTAL MONSTER STRENGTH is 12 (7 + 4 + 1 for the hero). TOTAL HERO STRENGTH is 14 (5 + 3 + 6).

Krysia, playing the Boar clan (green), has total strength 5;
Przemek, playing the Fox clan (orange), has strength 6;
Maciek, playing the Owl clan (blue), has strength 3;
Tomek has no heroes in this land and does not take part in the fight against evil.

Przemek (Fox clan) wins and earns 10 glory points for first place. In addition, as first he takes one of the available treasures, knowing that there are enough of them for him to take a second time.

Krysia (Boar clan) is second and earns 6 glory points for second place. In addition she takes one of the available treasures, knowing that she will take one more.

Maciek (Owl clan) is third and receives 4 points for third place. He takes one of the available treasures. Unfortunately, it will be the only one he gets from this land.

Then Przemek and Krysia take one treasure each.

End of the Game

The game ends at the moment the time marker is on the red gem space of the time track or passes it. When this happens, the current round must be finished so that every player has played the same number of turns.

Then players determine how many points their treasure cards are worth. To do this, players combine the treasures they have won into sets: one card of each kind of treasure per set. At the end of the game a player may have more than one full set (4 different cards) and some number of incomplete sets.

For each set of 4 different treasure cards the player receives 10 glory points;
For a set of 3 different cards the player receives 6 glory points;
For a set of 2 different cards the player receives 3 glory points;
For a single card the player receives 1 glory point.

Players add their points for treasures to the glory points earned earlier. The player with the most glory points wins the game. In case of a tie, the tied player with more treasure cards wins.

Example: At the end of the game Maciek has 8 treasure cards: 4 sword cards, 2 shield cards and one each of helmet and armour. He therefore has one full set of treasure cards, one set of two cards (sword and shield), and two single sword cards. In total this gives him 15 glory points (10 for the full set, 3 for the set of two cards, and 1 point each for the two sword cards).

Christians

Slavika: Equinox introduces a new faction into the world of Slavika: the Christians. Playing with the Christians is completely optional. If players decide to introduce the Christians into their game, they replace one of the Slavic houses (i.e. in a 3-player game two players will play Slavs and the third the Christians).

Playing the Christians follows these rules:

Christian heroes are treated the same way as Slavic heroes of the same strength, e.g. a monster affecting Slavs with strength 3 will affect Christians with strength 3, etc.
At the end of the game the Christians receive points for treasures on the same rules as the Slavs.
Christians do not gain the glory points listed on land cards. Instead, they receive points for every baptised Slav.
Christians baptise during the fight against evil in a land. For a Slav to be baptised, the following conditions must be met:
- a) the heroes must win in the given land,
- b) at least 1 Christian hero must be in the winning land,
- c) he must be adjacent to a Slavic hero who has lower strength (after applying all special abilities).
Each Christian hero may baptise only one Slavic hero during one land resolution. If there are 2 Christian heroes in a land, each of them may baptise one Slavic hero (it may be the same hero!).
For each baptised Slavic hero, the Christian player gets 5 points for each time symbol on the land being resolved (e.g. if the land has 2 time symbols, each baptised Slav is worth 10 glory points).
Although the Christians do not receive the glory points listed on land cards, they still take a place in the scoring order of the land. In other words, if they have the highest strength in the land, then none of the Slavic players will receive points for the highest strength.

Example: A land with 2 time symbols and glory points 12/7/4 is resolved. The Christians are second in strength and manage to perform one act of baptism.

The player whose heroes have the most strength gets 12 points and 1 treasure,
The player playing the Christians gets 10 glory points and 1 treasure,
The player with the third total hero strength gets only 4. Nobody gets the 7 points for 2nd place.

The Slavs are rather unruly, and one baptism may not be enough to turn them from their faith. Therefore a Christian player may baptise again a Slavic hero who has already been baptised before. In other words, during baptism it does not matter how many times that Slavic hero was baptised earlier in the game.

The Christians gain treasure cards, and points for them, on the same rules as the Slavs.

Rules for Combining Sets

General Rules for Combining Sets

In Slavika there are two overriding rules for combining cards. First, monsters and heroes can be combined, but never lands (in other words, players must decide on a single set of lands). Second, the totals and values of the cards must always match (a player must always have six heroes with strength 1-6). If players decide to play with the Equinox board and the light and darkness phase rules, they must use the lands from Slavika: Equinox.

Combining Clans

This is the simplest way of combining sets. Players choose which set of lands and monsters they will play with, and then each player chooses his clan: either a clan from the Slavika base set or a clan from Slavika: Equinox.

Combining Heroes

Players choose which set of lands and monsters they will play with, and then each player chooses his heroes. A player may freely combine characters from Slavika and Slavika: Equinox, but must always have one character of each of the four special classes (strength 1-4) and two warriors (one with strength 5 and one with strength 6).

Combining Monsters

Players choose which set of lands they will play with. Then they choose the monster deck from the base game or from Slavika: Equinox.

Alternatively, players divide all monsters (from both games of the Slavika series) into two piles: ordinary monsters and special monsters. Then each pile is shuffled thoroughly. Finally they draw 42 cards from the ordinary monster deck and 12 cards from the special monster deck, and shuffle them together. This forms a new monster deck.

Heroes and Their Special Abilities

(All numbers in parentheses indicate the strength value of the hero or monster.)

Przechera / Trickster (1): during scoring, reduces to 0 the strength of one adjacent hero (the player chooses which during the resolution of the land).
Wieszczek / Seer (2): +2 strength for each hero with odd strength (1, 3, 5) in the land; swap the order of heroes in the land.
Przepatrywacz / Scout (3): after placing the Scout in a land, as your next action you may add another character (hero or monster) to the same land.
Łowca / Hunter (4): after placing this hero in a land, cover one monster there and put your Hunter token on it. A covered monster has no influence on the land it is in: its abilities do not work and it does not add its strength during the fight against evil. Nevertheless, it still takes up a space in the land. If there is no monster in that land, take 1 card from the top of the deck and, without showing it to anyone, place it face down in that land. If for any reason the Hunter's ability stops working, remove his token and reveal the covered monster card.
Warriors (5 and 6): have no special ability.
Mnich / Monk (1): copies the ability (but not the strength) of one of the adjacent heroes. To mark the hero whose ability is currently being copied, the Christian player puts the Monk token on the chosen hero. If the adjacent hero ceases for any reason to be an adjacent hero, the Christian player must choose a new target for this ability.
Misjonarz / Missionary (2): +1 strength for each hero in the land that is base-stronger than he is. Swap the order of heroes in the land.
Kapłan / Priest (3): may be placed in a land in which the hero limit has been reached. If possible, he takes a normal hero space.
Biskup / Bishop (4): reduces the monster limit in the land in which he is by 1.

Monsters and Their Special Abilities

(The monsters Prus (1), Rokitnik (2), Kikimora (3) and Polewik (4) are listed in the printed rulebook by name and strength only, with no special ability text.)

Czart (5): +1 treasure card for defeating a powerful monster.
Wieszczy (6): +2 treasure cards for defeating a powerful monster.
Raróg (7): +3 treasure cards for a powerful monster.
Stolem (0): the required minimum level of hero strength in the land is 3+. Heroes of lower strength already in that land return to their players' hands. Players cannot play heroes of strength lower than that set by the minimum level into the land.
Płanetnik (0): immediately cover the strongest hero in the land (and put a Płanetnik token on him). The covered hero has no influence on the land he is in: his abilities do not work and he does not provide his strength during the fight against evil. Nevertheless, he still takes up a space in the land.
Boginka (0): the strength of an even number of warriors drops to 0 (e.g. when there are 3 warriors in the land, the strength of the first 2 is 0, while the strength of the third remains unchanged).
Ogniki (0): after placing Ogniki in a land, immediately place another monster in another land. It cannot be a land in which you have already placed a card (hero or monster) during this turn.
Południca (0): pulls the weakest hero in the land over to the monsters' side (this hero does not take up a space, but provides his strength to the monsters).
Brzeginia (0): each player who has a hero in this land puts 1 hero from his hand under this card. The hero cards under Brzeginia return to the players after this land is resolved.

Special Rules of Lands

(Listed in the order printed in the rulebook; the land names/icons are not given in the text.)

If you lay a monster here, lay the next monster in another land. It cannot be a land in which you have already placed a card (hero or monster) during this turn.
In this land heroes of the same kind cannot be placed next to each other.
Each monster receives a +1 strength bonus here for each other monster of the same kind.
Maximum monster level = 5.
Maximum monster level = 4.
Minimum hero level = 2.
Minimum hero level = 3.
Monsters with strength 5 take two monster spaces in this land.
Monsters with strength 6 or 7 take two monster spaces in this land.
When this land enters play, place 1 random monster from the monster deck in it.
Monsters with strength 1, 2 and 3 get -1 strength (minimum 0).
The ability of the Przechera / Złodziej (Slavika) does not work in this land.
The ability of the Wieszczek / Guślarz (Slavika) does not work in this land.
The ability of the Przepatrywacz / Tropiciel (Slavika) does not work in this land.
The ability of the Łowca / Łucznik (Slavika) does not work in this land.
In this land warriors have +1 strength.
In this land each Przepatrywacz / Tropiciel has +1 strength.
In this land each Łowca / Łucznik has +1 strength.
Monsters of the same kind take up only one space here.