Sovereign Skies
Sovereign Skies Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
The Objective
The goal in this game is to amass the most Influence for your Old-Earth House. See END OF GAME to see the types of Influence you can earn.
Game Components
- 6 Planet tiles
- 4 Player boards
- 64 Dropships (16 per color)
- 24 Bases (6 per color)
- 4 Motherships (1 per color)
- 9 Activation Influence (3 per level)
- 1 Activation Influence mat
- 24 Politic cards (4 of each type)
- 6 Pledge Influence (1 per Planet)
- 1 Pledge mat
- 15 Senator cards (5 per level)
- 9 Senator Influence (3 per level)
- 1 Senator Influence mat
- 50 Energy
- 33 Standard Influence
- 1 First Player token
- 1 Rulebook
Setup
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Create the game board by shuffling the Planet tiles and placing them face up in the center of the table, connecting them to form a circle.
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Separate the Politic cards by Planetary icon into six stacks, each with a number of cards equal to the player count. Place each Politic card stack adjacent to their respective Planet tiles. Return any remaining Politic cards to the box.
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Create separate piles for the Standard Influence and Energy near the board.
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Separate the Activation Influence chits by color level—Orange, Purple, and Green. Stack each color set in descending order (highest value on top, lowest on the bottom) onto their corresponding spaces on the Activation Influence mat.
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Place the Pledge Influence chits on the Pledge mat. Order does not matter. Place Energy chits on the bonus Energy spaces under each Pledge Influence chit.
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Each player takes 3 Energy. Then take Bases, Dropships, and the Mothership in your player color.
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Place your Bases—Activation icon down—onto your player board where indicated.
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Randomly determine first player and give them the First Player token.
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Shuffle the Senator cards and deal one face up to each player. In player order, each player places exactly one Dropship on each of the two Planets that matches the Politic symbols on their Senator card.
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In player order, each player chooses one other Planet where they have no Dropships to place their 3rd Dropship. Afterwards, return all Senator cards.
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Separate the fifteen Senator cards into three stacks according to the number of dots in the upper right-hand corner of each card. Shuffle each stack and then place Senator card stacks face up in each respective slot matching the number of dots as indicated on the Senator Influence mat.
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Separate the 3 levels of Senator Influence chits by color and number of dots. Stack each set in descending order (highest value on top, lowest on the bottom) onto their corresponding spaces on the Senator Influence mat.
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In reverse player order, each player chooses a Planet tile to place their Mothership on. Only for setup, players' Motherships cannot occupy the same location. Players may choose which direction—clockwise or counterclockwise—their Mothership faces. Place it on the corresponding arrow.
Game Play
Each turn you'll move your Mothership to one of the Planet tiles and perform 1 to 3 of the Planet Actions to help you earn the Energy and Influence you'll need to win the game. You may add a Dropship, collect a Politic card, and/or perform a Planet's Special action. Bonus actions may be performed during your turn as well. After your turn is complete, play passes to the player on your left. Note that you may not visit the same planet two turns in a row.
Turn Structure
The two basic phases of a turn consist of Movement followed by performing Actions.
- Move Your Mothership
- Perform 1-3 Planet Actions + Bonus Actions (Senator Favors, Construction Bonuses)
Moving the Mothership
You MUST move your Mothership to at least one adjacent Planet tile in the direction your Mothership is pointing—clockwise or counter-clockwise—at no cost, moving from one arrow on the Planet tile to the arrow facing the same direction on an adjacent Planet tile. You may advance your Mothership more than a single Planet tile by paying 1 Energy for each extra Planet tile moved.
Before moving, you may pay 2 Energy to reverse course and move your Mothership to the opposite facing arrow on the Planet tile. After reversing, you must still move at least one adjacent Planet tile in the direction you're now pointing. Note that multiple Motherships may occupy the same arrow space.
Example: Liam starts his turn by moving his Mothership 3 tile spaces to Hreja. He pays 2 Energy because the first tile space moved is always free (and required) and each tile space following costs 1 Energy each. On Stella's turn she first chooses to reverse course and turns her Mothership around to go from clockwise to counter-clockwise on Wyrne, then moves two tile spaces to Eylona. She pays 3 Energy because it costs 2 Energy to reverse course, moving to the next Planet is free, but moving an additional Planet tile costs 1 Energy each.
Energy Bonus for Opponent Majority
If an opponent holds sole majority on the Planet tile your Mothership just moved to, this opponent may take 1 Energy from the Bank. Players tied for majority do not receive this Energy bonus. You do not trigger this Energy bonus for yourself on your turn when you move to a Planet where you have sole majority.
How to Determine Majority
A Planet majority is held by the player with the most Activated Bases, followed by Unactivated Bases, followed by Dropships. Each Activated Base holds majority over any amount of Unactivated Bases and Dropships. Each Unactivated Base holds majority over any amount of Dropships.
Example: Liam has an Activated Base and 3 Dropships occupying Eylona when he moves his Mothership to this Planet. Stella has an Activated Base, an Unactivated Base, and 2 Dropships on Eylona. Stella is awarded 1 Energy from the Bank for having sole majority. The 2 Activated Bases are tied, but the tie is broken with Stella's Unactivated Base holding majority over all of Liam's Dropships.
Planet Actions
After moving your Mothership to a new Planet tile, you may perform up to three Planet actions. You may perform them in any order. However, you can only perform each kind of Planet action once per turn. The available actions are: Add a Dropship, Take a Politic card, and perform the Special action unique to that Planet tile.
Depending on the number of actions you perform, the Energy cost or gain changes:
- Perform 1 action and earn 1 Energy from the Bank.
- Perform 2 actions for no Energy gain/loss.
- Perform 3 actions and pay 1 Energy to the Bank.
(Note that these conditions are printed on each player board for reference)
Add a Dropship
Add one Dropship from your supply to the Planet where your Mothership is located. Dropships that you add to the board remain on the Planets where you place them until you choose to move them with the Relocate action or remove them with the Construct action.
Example: Liam takes a single Dropship from his supply and adds it to Eylona, the Planet tile where his Mothership sits.
Take a Politic card
Take a Politic card into your hand from the Planet where your Mothership sits. You may not perform this action if you already have a Politic card from this Planet. Politic cards are played (discarded back to their respective Planet stack) when performing the Recruit action to acquire Senator cards, or when performing the Pledge action to acquire Pledge Influence.
Example: Liam picks up an 'Allegiant' Politic card from the stack above Eylona and adds it into his hand.
Special Planet Actions
Each Planet tile offers a Special action unique to that Planet. When your Mothership visits a Planet, you may perform this Special action once on your turn.
Recruit a Senator - Deyvas
Discard two Politic cards from your hand that match the Planetary icons on one of the three available Senator cards in the stacks next to the Senator mat. When you acquire a Senator card, you'll also collect the top-most Senator Influence chit from the corresponding Senator card stack and place it on your player board. (See Playing Senator Cards)
Example: Liam has a Cunning and an Allegiant Politic card in his possession and sees an available Eylon Senator card that costs those 2 Politics to obtain. So on Liam's turn, he moves his Mothership to Deyvas so that he can choose the Recruit action. He discards both Politic cards back to their Planet stacks and picks up the Senator card and the top-most adjacent Senator Influence, a two-dot Six-value chit. Liam stacks the chit on his Player Board.
Activate a Base - Hreja
Flip just one of your Unactivated Bases so that its Activation symbol is face up. From the Activation mat, collect the top-most Activation Influence chit from the stack matching the Planet's color level where the Activated Base is located. Note: A Planet's color level is indicated by a Planet icon at the very bottom of each Planet tile.
Example: Stella performs the Activate action on Hreja. She chooses the Unactivated Base she has on Deyvas and flips it over to indicate Activation. She then takes the top-most Activation Influence from the Orange stack on the Activation mat because the Base she Activated sits on an Orange level Planet.
Construct - Utei
Remove a Base from your player board and place it Activation icon side down on any single Planet where you have enough Dropships to Construct. An Orange level Planet requires 4, a Purple level 3, and a Green level Planet requires 2 Dropships to Construct. Return this exact number of your Dropships to your supply from the Planet where you placed your Base. You may only Construct one Base per Construct action.
Each Base Construction awards a bonus action that you must take immediately after placing the Base on a Planet. A Base removed from the first column allows you to gain 2 Energy from the Bank, removed from the second column allows you to add an extra Dropship to any one Planet, or removed from the third column allows you to collect any one Politic card that you do not already own. You may choose to remove a Base from any available column of choice. Once both Bases have been removed from a column, you may not trigger its bonus action again in the game.
Example: Stella has 4 of her Dropships on Hreja. While on Utei she performs the Construct action and replaces those 4 Dropships with one of her 6 Bases from her Player Board. She chooses to use a Base from the "Take a Politic card" Bonus action column. Stella then chooses to take a Strategic Politic card from Wyrne.
Pledge - Eylona
To Pledge, discard a Politic card from your hand to its Planet stack and gain its matching Pledge Influence chit and an adjacent bonus Energy from the Pledge mat. Majority does not matter. If however, the chit isn't on the mat, you may steal a Pledge Influence chit from an opponent when Pledging, only if you hold sole majority on that Planet. If you can't steal it from an opponent or if you already have this Pledge chit, you collect 1 Standard Influence instead. You may do this up to three times, Pledging one, two or three cards when you perform a Pledge action on Eylona.
Example: At Eylona, Liam chooses to Pledge three Politic cards: Allegiant, Cunning, and Courageous. The Allegiant card came from Eylona and though he doesn't have majority there, the Influence is available on the Pledge mat so he takes that chit and the bonus Energy with it. Even though Stella already has the Cunning Pledge Influence chit, Liam steals it from her because he has majority on Deyvas where he returns the Cunning card. Stella however has the Courageous Influence chit and majority on Hreja, so Liam's Courageous card Pledge only earns him a single Standard Influence chit.
Relocate - Wyrne
To Relocate, select one or two of your Dropships from the same or two different Planets and move each to any other Planet tiles. The origin and destination may be the same or different for each Dropship moved.
Example: Liam performs Relocate on Wyrne to move 2 of his Dropships, one from Eylona and one from Solenmere, to Deyvas where he already has 2 Dropships. Now with 4 Dropships there, he'll be able to meet Deyvas' requirement for Construction on his next turn.
Refuel - Solenmere
Take 2 Energy from the Bank. Also, collect an additional 1 Energy per Base—Activated or not—that you have on all Planet tiles.
Example: Stella Collects 2 Energy plus an Energy for each of her Bases. She has an Activated Base on Hreja and an Unactivated Base on Wyrne, so she'll get 2 more Energy. Stella adds the 4 Energy collected to her personal supply.
Playing Senator Cards
Playing a Senator card does not count as one of your available actions and can be performed any time on your turn. When playing a Senator, choose one of the two favors on the card to enact, and then discard the Senator card from the game. You may only play one Senator card per turn.
Senator Favors
- Collect 3 Energy from the Bank.
- You may pay 2 Energy to Construct one Base on any Planet where you meet the Dropships requirement. (see Construct on Utei)
- Discard a Politic card you own back to its Planet. Take a Politic card you don't own from any Planet.
- Pay 1 Energy to Pledge—discard 1 to 3 Politic cards, acquire a Pledge Influence chit or 1 Standard Influence per Politic card Pledged. (see Pledge on Eylona)
- Pay 1 Energy to Relocate up to 3 Dropships to and from any Planets.
- Add one Dropship from your supply to any one Planet.
End of Game
The game ends when two stacks of Senator Influence or two stacks of Activation Influence or one stack from each have been depleted. Finish the current round to ensure each player has an equal number of turns.
Note that players may still score from depleted Influence stacks before the game ends by taking Standard Influence equal to the amount printed on the board.
Score Points
Tally up all of your Influence to determine your final score: Activation, Senator, Pledge, and Standard Influence. Every 3 Energy owned counts as 1 additional point of Influence.
In the event of a tie, the winner is the player with the most in Activation Influence. If still tied then by most in Senator Influence. If still tied then by most in Pledge Influence. If still tied then by most in Standard Influence. If still tied then by most Energy owned. If somehow still tied then wow... tied players share in the victory.
Houses Rising
In the Houses Rising Expansion, you'll have two player powers special to your House.
Setup
Take the House card matching your chosen player color or draft a House card in reverse player order.
Game Play
You may use one of your two powers, once per turn. Note that all of these powers are considered Bonus actions, and do not count against your three Planet-action limit.
Universus
You may swap a single Senator card from your hand with any one Senator card that has been discarded.
or
You may play both favors on a Senator card instead of just one.
The Universus pride themselves on proper manners, tradition, and formal high-class Neo-Victorian dress. They are well versed in banking, law, war, and politics. Dirty, dirty politics.
Iron Sun Division
When you use the Construct action, you may remove one less Dropship by paying 1 Energy.
or
Gain 3 Energy when you remove 2 of your Dropships from any one Planet.
The Iron Sun are militaristic and brutal, yet often charming and quite persuasive. They adorn themselves in offset pieces of armor and high-tech byzantine headware. Superior firepower is held in the highest regard.
Temporum
You may move one of your Activated Bases to a Planet tile next to the one where it sits.
or
No matter where your Mothership sits, you may pay 1 Energy to move it to the Hreja Planet tile (must place it pointing in the same direction) at the start of your turn.
The Temporum are unmatched in developing sleek tech and advanced AI. They often don sleek couture with long lapels, high collars, and glowing ocular-hud implants. They are savvy marketers and even better deal-makers.
Voldan
You may turn your Mothership around without paying the required 2 Energy.
or
You may pay 2 Energy to remain on the Planet tile where you played last turn to play this same Planet this turn.
The Voldan are driven by the doctrines and prophecies of a mysterious dark religion. Their shiny black attire is often detailed with intricate golden maze patterns. Writhing face tattoos appear to determine rank. They campaign to extinguish sin by recruitment before the coming "end of light."
Solo Variant: The A.I.
You will be playing against an A.I. and attempting to best its score. The A.I. plays much like a 2nd player. However, it will NEVER spend Energy, enact Construct Bonus actions, or use recruited Senator favors.
A.I. Rules
The A.I. will have a deck consisting of Politic cards shuffled and placed face down in a stack.
Whenever the A.I. deck has 2 or fewer cards, you'll shuffle all discarded A.I. cards into the A.I. deck.
IMPORTANT: The flipped card from the A.I. deck does NOT count as its hand. The A.I. deck area consists of the A.I. discard, the A.I. deck, and the A.I.'s Active card. The area below the A.I. deck area is provided for a separate A.I. Hand Row.
The A.I. has a hand of Politic cards just like a player, but it keeps them in the order it receives them. It may never have 2 of the same card in its Hand Row.
Setup
Set up the game as in a 2 player game except:
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Build the A.I. deck. Take 2 of each Politic card, and shuffle them together into a deck. Place this deck face down near the board.
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Place the A.I.'s Mothership onto Solenmere aimed clockwise. The A.I. will always move clockwise.
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Flip cards in the A.I. deck until 3 different Politic types are revealed. Place a Dropship (in the color chosen for the A.I.) on each of the three Planets matching the icons on the cards. Return the cards to the A.I. deck and reshuffle.
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Keep the A.I. play area organized as shown in this example: Discard, A.I. Deck, Active Card, A.I. Hand.
Playing with the A.I.
You will always go first. The A.I. will take the last turn in the game. All standard rules apply during your turn.
The A.I.'s turn consists of:
- Creating an Active card by flipping it from the A.I. deck and placing a Dropship on the matching Planet tile.
- Adding a card to its hand or discarding it (if the A.I. already has this card in its hand).
- Performing a Special action based on the final location of its Mothership.
Placing a Dropship
Flip the top card of the A.I. deck to indicate the Active card for its turn. Place an A.I. Dropship (not its Mothership) onto the Planet that has the icon matching the card. Unlike you, the A.I. does not necessarily place a Dropship on the location of its Mothership.
Collecting a card
The A.I. will only ever 'collect' a card (into hand) that was flipped from the A.I. deck. This card never comes from the Planet boards.
If the A.I. does NOT already have a card in its hand (row of Politic cards below the A.I. deck area) matching the card flipped (Active card), add the Active card to its hand at the right-most end of its Hand Row, maintaining the order from oldest to newest.
If the A.I. already has a copy of this card, lay the Active card face up in the A.I. deck discard pile to the left of the A.I. deck. Do not flip a new card from the A.I. deck until its next turn.
Energy for Majority
The A.I. gets an Energy from the Bank when you land on a Planet where it has sole majority. You get an Energy from the Bank when the A.I.'s Mothership lands on a Planet where you have sole majority. Energy cannot be gained from a Planet with a tied majority. Note that the A.I. may place a Dropship on a Planet that differs from its Mothership location. Energy collection for majorities only applies to the location of a Mothership.
Performing a Special Action
The A.I.'s Mothership will move 1 Planet at a time in clockwise order until it finds a Special action it is able to perform. Note that if it cannot perform the Special action of a Planet or doesn't meet the conditions as stated in the next section, the A.I. Mothership will skip to the next Planet at no cost to the A.I.
Special Planet Tile Actions
Deyvas
The A.I. will Recruit, choosing the Senator card and Senator Influence chit according to the highest value Influence it can afford. If two or more Senator Influence stacks are tied for highest value, the A.I takes Influence from the stack with the fewest chits. Place both Politic cards used to Recruit, into the A.I. deck discard and place the collected Senator card and Senator Influence chit in the A.I. play area. Lay the Senator card face down. The A.I. does not play Senator favors.
SKIP IF: the A.I. cannot Recruit a Senator.
Utei
Starting from the Planet where an A.I. Dropship was placed (Active A.I. card) and proceeding clockwise, the A.I. will Construct a Base on the first Planet where it has the required amount of Dropships. The A.I. performs this action as would a player, by removing Dropships from the Planet where it has the required amount to Construct and placing a Base on the Planet. The A.I. will not use any Construct bonus actions.
SKIP IF: the A.I. cannot Construct a Base.
Hreja
The A.I. will Activate a Base that rewards it with the highest valued Activation Influence chit. If two or more Activation Influence stacks are tied for highest value, the A.I Activates based on the Influence in the stack with the fewest chits. If it has two Bases constructed of the same color, it will activate the Base nearest clockwise to the Planet matching the Active A.I. card.
SKIP IF: the A.I. cannot Activate a Base.
Eylona
The A.I. will Pledge if it has 3 or more Politic cards in its Hand Row and can acquire at least one Pledge Influence chit into its possession. Starting with the oldest Politic card in its Hand Row, it will pledge 3 cards for Pledge Influence chits, or Standard Influence. Place each Pledged card into the A.I. deck discard pile.
SKIP IF: the A.I. cannot acquire at least one new Pledge Influence chit or has less than 3 cards in its Hand.
Wyrne
The A.I. will Relocate a Dropship by moving it from a Planet with the fewest Dropships to a Planet where one Dropship is needed to fulfill a Construct requirement. If no Construction requirement can be met with this Dropship Relocation, place the Dropship on the Planet tile where the A.I. has the most ships. Ties for most and fewest are broken by choosing Planet tiles closest moving clockwise from the Planet matching the Active card. The A.I. will always Relocate a second Dropship using the same method above. Note that the second Dropship must never be taken from, or placed into a Planet that has enough Dropships to meet its Construction requirement.
SKIP IF: the A.I. can Construct or Activate a Base on any Planet.
Solenmere
The A.I. will Refuel by taking 2 Energy plus 1 Energy per Base it has Constructed.
SKIP IF: the A.I. can Construct or Activate a Base on any Planet.
End of Solo Game
At the end of the game, tally all of the A.I.'s acquired Senator, Activation, and Pledge Influence. Then add Energy to this score according to the chosen difficulty level:
- Every 4 Energy = 1 point (Easy)
- Every 3 Energy = 1 point (Medium)
- Every 2 Energy = 1 point (Hard)
- Every 1 Energy = 1 point (Very Hard)
Thanks
Catherine Wilson, Daniel Newman, JonPaul Riggle, J Alex Kevern, Gil Hova, Tony Miller, Justin Brown and all of the various playtesters and Kickstarter backers who helped to make this game a reality.
Credits
- Sovereign Skies designed by Aaron Andrew Wilson
- Solo Variant designed by John Prather and Aaron Andrew Wilson
- Developed by Ian Zang
- Illustrations by Giacomo Tappainer
- Graphic Design by Aaron Andrew Wilson
- Rules Editing and Proofing by Travis D. Hill and Donny Behne
Sovereign Skies Game Play Tips from the Deep Water Team
When learning the game, try doing each of the Special Planet Actions to get a feel for how they work together. Try this order for your first 6 turns: Refuel, Relocate (send two Dropships to Utei), Construct on Utei, Activate, Recruit, Pledge.
For the first half of the game, pay the Energy to do all three Actions for each Planet if possible. If not now, then later you'll need Politic cards for Senators and Pledging. Add Dropships early on. Even if you aren't trying to win a majority on a Planet, you'll need Dropships to Construct. Dropships can always be moved with the Relocate action.
Don't hoard Energy. Using it to perform more Actions will get you more Influence faster.
Eye a Senator card and look at which Politic cards are needed to Recruit it. If a Senator requires Cunning, note that this Politic card can be taken on the same turn as the Recruit action, as both can be acquired at Deyvas.
Only Construct as many Bases as you'll be able to Activate. Unactivated Bases at the end of the game will not help your score.
Pay attention to where opponents are amassing Dropships/Bases and focus on less crowded Planets to hold majorities in for Pledging.
It's OK to focus on one type of Influence (Pledge, Senator, or Activation) but make sure to also get a bit of the other two. It's rare that you'll win without all three.
Component Anatomy
Senator Mat
The Senator mat has a Single-dot Senator card stack slot, a Double-dot Senator card stack slot, and a Triple-dot Senator card stack slot, each above its own matching Senator Influence stack space (Single-dot, Double-dot, and Triple-dot).
Pledge Mat
The Pledge mat shows, for each of the 6 Planets, a marker indicating that you collect 1 Standard Influence for each Pledged Politic card that you cannot collect a Pledge Influence for, a space for the 6 Pledge Influence chits, and a space for the one-time Bonus Energy that is taken with each Pledge Influence taken above.
Activation Mat
The Activation mat shows an Orange Planet level Activation Influence stack space, a Purple Planet level Activation Influence stack space, and a Green Planet level Activation Influence stack space.
Senator Card
Each Senator card shows Politic icons (the Politic cards you need to match to purchase this card), a Card level (stack all Senator cards of the same level together for purchase, shown by dots in the upper right-hand corner), and Senator favors (bonus actions to choose from before discard).
Planet Tile
Each Planet tile shows a Politic icon to denote which Politic card stack is placed in the slot above, Directional arrow spaces to track which direction Motherships are moving, the 3 available actions (Add Dropship, Special action, and Take Politic card), the Planet Color Level, and the Construction Requirement (the number of Dropships required to Construct a Base on this Planet).
Player Board
Each Player board shows a Chit space for all Senator and Activation Influence you acquire, Pledge Influence chit spaces (do not stack acquired Pledge Influence), Base spaces, Construction Bonus Action columns, and a Gameplay Reference summarizing actions per Planet and the number-of-actions-taken Energy conditions.
Quick Reference Guide
1. Move Your Mothership
2. Perform 1-3 Planet Actions + Bonus Actions (Senator Favors, Construction Bonuses)
Special Planet Actions
- Recruit: Discard the 2 Politics needed to take a Senator card and top-most adjacent Senator Influence from Senator Mat.
- Activate: Flip over 1 Unactivated Base to Activated side. On Activation mat, take top-most Activation Influence matching Planet level of Base.
- Construct: Remove Dropships (2 on a Green Planet, 3 on a Purple Planet, or 4 on an Orange Planet) and add a Base from your Player Board. Perform Construct Bonus action indicated in Base column.
- Pledge: Discard up to 3 Politic cards. For each, take a Pledge Influence or 1 Standard Influence.
- Relocate: Move up to 2 of your Dropships from any Planets to any other.
- Refuel: Take 2 Energy + 1 Energy for each of your Bases.
Senator Favors
- Collect 3 Energy from the Bank.
- Pay 2 Energy. Remove Dropships to Construct a Base.
- Discard a Politic card to take a new one from any Planet.
- Pay 1 Energy. Pledge up to 3 Politic cards. For each, take a Pledge Influence or 1 Standard Influence.
- Pay 1 Energy. Relocate up to 3 Dropships.
- Add a Dropship to any Planet.
Construction Bonus Actions
- Gain 2 Energy from Bank
- Add a Dropship to any Planet
- Take a Politic card that you do not already own