Terra Mystica
Terra Mystica Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
- INTRODUCTION
- COMPONENTS
- SETUP
- CHANGES IN THE MAIN GAME
- GOAL OF THE GAME
- FLOW OF PLAY
- FLOW OF PLAY OVER SIX ROUNDS
- PHASE III: CULT BONUSES AND CLEAN-UP PHASE
- END OF THE GAME AND FINAL SCORING APPENDICES
- END OF THE GAME AND FINAL SCORING APPENDICES
INTRODUCTION
In Terra Mystica each player governs one of 14 factions trying to develop more successfully than their opponents. Terra Mystica is a magical world: its inhabitants are able to transform the terrain they are living in. Each faction is bound to a specific type of terrain: It can only build structures on its “Home terrain”. This is why each faction over the centuries needed to develop Terraforming capability.
A faction either lives in the Plains, the Swamp, the Lakes, the Forest, the Mountains, the Wasteland, or the Desert – and each of them strives to transform the terrain according to its needs.
In the game, the players need to expand to build Dwellings. However, as they gain Power when another player builds Dwellings or upgrades Structures directly adjacent to them, each player has to face the challenge of finding the right balance between adjacency to other players and free space for expansion.
Existing Dwellings can be upgraded in multiple steps: to a Trading house at first, then to a Stronghold or Temple. One Temple can be upgraded to a Sanctuary. Dwellings provide Workers. Upgrading a Structure increases your income in Coins, Power, or Priests.
A Dwelling may become a Sanctuary in three steps. Alternatively, one Trading house may become a Stronghold.
Besides geographic expansion and upgrading Structures, players can also develop four Cults: Fire, Water, Earth, and Air. Progress in these will be displayed on the Cult board. Developing them also provides an increase in Power and other rewards.
In the end, the player who developed their faction the best wins the game.
COMPONENTS
- 1 Game board with the map in its initial state
- 1 Cult board (with the four Cult tracks and Orders)
- 7 double-sided Faction boards (each side displays a different faction)
- 56 Terrain tiles (double-sided)
- 65 natural-colored Workers
- 40 small Coins (value 1)
- 25 medium Coins (value 2)
- 20 big Coins (value 5)
- 65 purple Power tokens (occasionally simply called Power)
- 1 orange Starting player token
- 17 Action tokens (used for Power and Special actions)
- 1 Game end token
- 5 “100 Victory points” tokens
- 28 oval Favor tiles (1+3+3 tiles per Cult)
Note: As this game cannot be played with more than five players, it can never happen that all seven colors are used within the same session.
Per faction color (green, yellow, blue, brown, red, black, grey):
-
8 Dwellings
-
4 Trading houses
-
1 Stronghold
-
3 Temples
-
1 Sanctuary
-
7 Priests
-
7 Markers
-
3 Bridges
-
10 Town tiles
-
8 rectangular Scoring tiles
-
9 Bonus cards (depicted as scrolls)
-
5 “Actions” Overview tiles
-
12 zip-lock bags
-
rule book plus appendices
SETUP
Put the Game board in the middle of the table and the Cult board next to it.
FIRST PLAY
Assignment of factions
For your first game, we recommend you play Terra Mystica with predefined factions. Depending on the number of players, take the recommended factions and distribute them among the players:
| 2 players: | Witches (green), and Nomads (yellow) |
| 3 players: | Witches (green), Nomads (yellow), and Alchemists (black) |
| 4 players: | Witches (green), Nomads (yellow), Halflings (brown), and Mermaids (blue) |
| 5 players: | Witches (green), Nomads (yellow), Halflings (brown), Mermaids (blue), and Giants (red) |
Components in faction colors
Each Faction board has a Transformation cycle. It shows the seven types of terrain with the Home terrain of a given faction highlighted by its larger size. (The color of your Home terrain matches your faction’s color.)
Take all the tokens in your faction’s color:
Priests, Structures, Markers, and the Bridges.
(Priests, Structures, and Bridges are limited by the token quantity.)
Put the 7 Priests and the 3 Bridges next to your Faction board.
Put the Structures on the corresponding spaces on your Faction board.
Distribute the 7 Markers of your color.
Place one Marker on the leftmost space of the Shipping track (value 0).
(Only the Mermaids start with value 1. The Fakirs and Dwarves do not have Shipping and therefore do not need this Marker.)
Place one Marker on the bottommost space of the Exchange track of your Faction board – this is the space where 3 Workers equal 1 Spade.
(The Darklings do not need this Marker.)
Place another Marker on space 20 of the Victory point track on the Game board.
Distribute the remaining 4 Markers on space 0 of each of the 4 Cult tracks on the Cult board.
Faction setup
The setup for each faction is depicted on its Faction board.
Starting resources
Collect your starting resources. They are depicted at the top right corner of your Faction board, under your faction’s name:
- Workers
- Coins
- Priests of your color
Take the depicted resources and place them on your Faction board.
(On top of these starting resources, you will get your income for the first round.)
The Witches get 3 Workers and 15 Coins during setup.
Cult advancements
Your Faction board depicts some Cult symbols next to the starting resources. For each such symbol, move the corresponding Marker on the Cult board up one space.
Bowls of Power
Your Faction board displays three Bowls of Power at its top left corner. Distribute a total of 12 Power tokens (occasionally simply called Power) between Bowls I and II as indicated on your Faction board.
Game and Cult board
For your first game, we recommend you play with the following setup. What follows is the setup for a 4-player game explained in detail. The setup for a different number of players follows afterwards.
From left to right, take the Dwellings off your Faction boards and place them on the Game board as depicted.
The map consists of Terrain and River spaces.
Lay out the Favor tiles in a 3x4 pattern.
There is a predefined order of Scoring tiles. Cover the right half of the uppermost Scoring tile with the Game end token. The covered part shall be ignored during the game.
Put one Action token above each of the 6 Power action spaces on the Game board. Put the remaining Action tokens next to the Game board.
Sort the Workers, Coins, and Town tiles and put them easily accessible next to the Game board. Turn the 10 Town tiles face-up.
The Bonus cards are depicted as scrolls. Which ones you use depends on the number of players. The figure shows the cards used in a 4-player game.
The player who most recently has dug a planting bed in their garden takes the Starting player token and becomes the Starting player.
Note: Each faction (but one) has two special abilities: one from the beginning of the game on, the other one once its Stronghold has been built. These abilities are depicted on the Faction board and explained in detail on the last page of this rule book: Make sure all players know the special abilities of the participating factions before starting the game.
CHANGES IN THE MAIN GAME
Unlike the introductory game, randomly select which Bonus cards and Scoring tiles to use. Then, after these basic parameters are set, freely choose your factions. Also, freely place your first Dwellings. (The positions of the first Dwellings are not preset.)
Scoring tiles
The Game shows 6 spaces for the Scoring tiles (numbered 1-6). Each such space corresponds to one round. Shuffle the Scoring tiles and place them face-up on these spaces one after another, beginning with space 6. If you draw the Scoring tile with a Spade on its left side for spaces 5 or 6, put it aside and draw another one instead. Then shuffle it back in. (In the example, this tile is on space 3). Finally, cover the right half of the Scoring tile on space 6 with the Game end token.
Bonus cards
Shuffle the 9 Bonus cards. The number of cards needed in the game depends on the number of players.
| No. of players | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. of Bonus cards needed | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
Randomly draw the required number of Bonus cards and place them face-up next to one another.
(Put the remaining cards back into the game box.)
Choosing a Faction board
The Starting player chooses a faction and takes its Faction board. In clockwise order, each other player takes one of the remaining Faction boards and chooses which side to use.
Note: Alternatively, randomly assign the factions. (Take one Dwelling of each color and randomly distribute them among the players.) Then choose one of the two factions: the front or back of the corresponding Faction board.
Once each player has decided on a faction, proceed with the faction setup as explained for the introductory game. Also, distribute the components of your color as explained there. However, do not place your Dwellings on the Game board, yet (see “Placing the first Structures”, page 8). TODO
GOAL OF THE GAME
At the end of the game, the player with the most Victory points wins the game. The following figure displays the various ways to get Victory points in this game. (Victory points are depicted as brown squares containing a laurel wreath.)
There is a Scoring tile for each of the six rounds. Each of them displays how to get Victory points in a given round: by building Dwellings (Action #1, page 9), Trading houses, the Stronghold, or the Sanctuary (Action #4, page 11). Additional Victory points may be awarded for transforming Terrain spaces (spade symbol) and founding Towns (key symbol). You will be facing a dilemma: on the one hand, you might want to build the best Structures for your faction (one faction wants a quick Stronghold, another many Temples), on the other hand, you might want to concentrate on the Structures that score Victory points this round.
... ... ...
FLOW OF PLAY
Placing the first Structures
Skip this section when reading for the first time. In the introductory game, the first Structures are placed on predefined spaces.
Beginning with the Starting player and in clockwise order, place one of your Dwellings on an existing Home terrain. Then, beginning with the last player and in counterclockwise order, place a second Dwelling in the same fashion.
(The Nomads place their third Dwelling after all players have placed their second one. The Chaos Magicians place their only Dwelling after all other players have placed all of their Dwellings – if necessary, after the Nomads have placed their third Dwelling.)
Details
- Dwellings may only be placed on a faction’s Home terrain. (Other than that, there are no restrictions.) When placing the first Structures, players may not transform any Terrain spaces. This will only be possible later in the game.
- All Structures, including the Dwellings, are taken from left to right off your Faction board. After placing the first Structures, there will be empty spaces on the Dwelling track. These spaces define your income (see below).
Choosing the first Bonus card
FLOW OF PLAY OVER SIX ROUNDS
Each of the six rounds goes through three phases:
- Income Phase
- Action Phase
- Cult bonuses and Clean-up Phase
PHASE I: INCOME
Basic income for Structures
Additional income for cards and tiles
The Bowls of Power
Gaining Power
Spending Power
PHASE II: ACTIONS
1 - Transform and Build
Building a Dwelling
Transforming a Terrain space
Details on building Dwellings
Details on using Spades
Adjacency
2 - Advancing on the Shipping track
3 - Lowering the Exchange rate for Spades
4 - Upgrading a Structure
Details
Power via Structures
Details
The price of Power
Details
Summary: How do I gain Power?
Power via Cult tracks
Only one player on space 10
5 - Send a Priest to the Order of a Cult
Details
6 - Power actions
Power actions on the Game board
Conversions (anytime)
Details
Sacrificing Power
7 - Special actions
8 - Passing and new Starting player
Founding a Town
PHASE III: CULT BONUSES AND CLEAN-UP PHASE
END OF THE GAME AND FINAL SCORING APPENDICES
Cult scoring
Area scoring
Resource scoring
The winner of the game
The player with the highest number of Victory points wins the game.
In case of a tie, there is more than one winner.
END OF THE GAME AND FINAL SCORING APPENDICES
Appendix I: The Power action spaces on the Game board
In each round, there are six Actions available to all players, but once they are taken, they may not be taken again for the remainder of the current round.
Building a Bridge
By moving 3 Power tokens from Bowl III to Bowl I, you may build a Bridge over a River space. In order to do this, you need to have a Structure on at least one of the Terrain spaces connected by the Bridge. Building the Bridge connects these Terrain spaces and they become directly adjacent to one another (see “Adjacency”).
Details
- Without Shipping, you can only reach a Terrain space beyond a River space by building a Bridge. During your next Action or later, you may then transform this Terrain space and/or build a Dwelling on it (see Action #1, page 9).
- Structures connected via Bridges count towards the founding of a Town (see page 14), whereas indirect adjacency via Shipping does not.
- Once built, you cannot reclaim your Bridges. Keep in mind that you can only build a total of three Bridges.
Of all the factions, Swarmlings are the most sociable ones. They simply cannot bear loneliness. They always wander about in large groups, being in water most of the time, yet they get along on land just as well. And when a Swarmling needs work done, he may be assured of the help from friends and relatives who will give strong support. This way they even get the toughest work done.
1 Priest
By moving 3 Power tokens from Bowl III to Bowl I, you may take 1 Priest from your supply and put it on your Faction board.
2 Workers
By moving 4 Power tokens from Bowl III to Bowl I, you may take 2 Workers from the general supply and put them on your Faction board.
7 Coins
By moving 4 Power tokens from Bowl III to Bowl I, you may take 7 Coins from the general supply and put them on your Faction board.
Alchemists strive for a deeper knowledge of the elements forming the world and how to use them for their purposes. They know how to create gold – the process, however, is very elaborate and is only worth its while when you really need that gold. Alchemists prefer to settle in Swamps as these provide a steady supply of sulfur and other reagents.
1 Spade
By moving 4 Power tokens from Bowl III to Bowl I, you may take Action #1 “Transform and Build” (see page 9) getting 1 free Spade for this purpose.
(If this Spade does not suffice to transform a given Terrain space into your Home terrain, you may exchange Workers for the missing Spades – at the current Exchange rate on your Exchange track.)
2 Spades
By moving 6 Power tokens from Bowl III to Bowl I, you may take Action #1 “Transform and Build” (see page 9) getting 2 free Spades for this purpose.
(If these Spades do not suffice to transform a given Terrain space into your Home terrain, you may exchange Workers for the missing Spade – at the current Exchange rate on your Exchange track. If you only need one Spade to transform a Terrain space into your Home terrain, you may spend the second Spade on another Terrain space. However, you may not place a Dwelling on this other space.)
(Darklings need to exchange 1 Priest for each missing Spade.)