Tiny Epic Galaxies
Tiny Epic Galaxies Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Objective
Galactic empires are competing to colonize newly discovered planets. Earn victory points (VP) by colonizing planets and increasing your empire's level. Whoever has the most victory points at the end of the game wins!
Components
- 5 Galaxy Mats
- 1 Control Mat
- 40 Planet Cards
- 12 Secret Mission Cards
- 7 Action Dice
- 20 Ships
- 5 Empire Tokens
- 5 Energy Tokens
- 5 Culture Tokens
Game Setup
- Give each player a Galaxy Mat in a color of their choice. The back of the Galaxy Mats, the Rogue Galaxies, are only used for solo play, described under The Rogue Galaxy — Rules for Solo Play.
- Give each player 4 Ships, 1 Culture Token, 1 Energy Token, and 1 Empire Token in their color.
- Players start the game with 2 ships on the center of their Galaxy Mat, standing upright. These are the player's starting ships. The other 2 ships are placed on the ship track on the number spaces outlined with a square.
- Players keep track of their culture and energy levels by placing the corresponding tokens on the resource track on their Galaxy Mat. Start the game with 1 culture and 2 energy.
- Players keep track of their empire's level by using the Empire Token on the empire track on their Galaxy Mat. The empire level determines how many dice and ships you are able to use during your turn. The level of your empire also earns you victory points. Start the game with the empire token on the first space (star) of the empire track.
- Shuffle the deck of Planet Cards. Draw 2 more than the number of players and place each one face up in the center in a line. In a 5 player game, only draw 6 Planet Cards. These are newly discovered planets, ready for colonization. For example, in a 3 player game, you would place 5 planets in the center.
- Place the Control Mat and the 7 Action Dice in the center of the table.
- Shuffle the Secret Mission Cards and deal two to each player. Each player looks at both, selects one and slides it under their Galaxy Mat, then discards the other. These cards are kept secret from other players until the end of the game. Put any remaining Secret Mission cards back into the box face down.
Gameplay
The youngest player goes first or choose your own method to determine and remember first player. Players take turns rolling and activating a number of dice determined by their empire level. Play continues until one player reaches 21 or more victory points. After that occurs, continue play until the beginning of the starting player's next turn, when the game ends instead.
On your turn, refer to the empire track on your Galaxy Mat. Take the number of dice specified for your empire's level and roll them. For example, on the first player's first turn, they'll get 4 dice and 2 ships. The dice you roll determine the actions you may take that turn. You may activate the dice in any order you wish. You do not have to activate all of the dice during your turn.
Activating Dice
To use the action shown on a die, move the die to the Activation Bay on the Control Mat and perform the action. A die cannot be used more than once in a turn; once used it must remain in the Activation Bay.
Rerolling Dice
During your turn, you may reroll any number of your dice that have not yet been activated. The first reroll of each turn is FREE; thereafter, a reroll, of any inactive dice, costs 1 energy.
Follow Another Player
After that player has activated a die and performed its action, all other players have a brief moment before the player continues their turn to decide whether they want to follow that action. Each following player must spend 1 culture. Those players now copy that die's action immediately.
Only perform 1 follow action per die. Following order should be resolved in clockwise order, starting from the player to the left of the active player.
Dice Actions
Move a Ship
Move one of your ships from its current planet or galaxy to another planet. When arriving at a planet, a ship may do one of two things:
- Land on the Planet's Surface — After landing a ship on a planet's surface (standing upright), you may immediately perform the action on that planet's card.
- Orbit the Planet — If you choose to orbit the planet, place your ship (lying on its side) on the starting position of the card's orbit. The symbol at the end of the track determines which action will allow you to advance the ship further along the track: Diplomacy or Economy. The first player to reach the end of the track will colonize the planet.
General Movement Rules:
- When you move, you must switch planets. You cannot move from the surface to the colony track on the same planet, and vice versa.
- You can have ships on both the colony track and planet surface of the same planet.
- You can only have one ship on each planet's orbit.
- You can only have one ship on each planet surface.
- Ships from different players can occupy the same colony track spaces or planet surfaces. If at any point during the game your ship becomes displaced, it is returned to your Galaxy Mat.
- You may move from a planet back to your Galaxy Mat. Multiple ships can land on your galaxy.
- You may not land on another player's Galaxy Mat or their colonized planets.
Acquire Resources
Planets can produce two different kinds of resources: energy and culture. When an "Acquire Resource" die is activated, acquire 1 of that resource for each of your ships on, or orbiting, planets with the matching symbol. Acquire 1 energy for each ship on your Galaxy Card. For example, a player would acquire 2 culture from a planet if an Acquire Culture die is activated (1 for orbiting plus 1 for landed).
Move the culture or energy cube up or down on the Resource Track to track how much you have acquired or spent.
You may only have a maximum of 7 of either resource. If you spend all of a resource, remove the cube from your Galaxy Card until you acquire more.
Advance Colonization
While orbiting a planet, ships work toward colonizing it by advancing along its track. Based on the planet type, use either Diplomacy or Economy to do so: the symbol on the final space of the track determines which action you must use. Activate the corresponding die to advance one ship forward one space on one planet's track.
Colonizing Planets: When you advance to the final space in the orbit and reach the diplomacy or economy symbol, you have colonized the planet! All ships on the card are returned to their owners' Galaxy Mats.
Take the planet card and slide it under the action section on your Galaxy Mat so that the planet's text and point value are still visible. Announce your new victory point total. A new planet card is then drawn to replace it and is placed in the gap left by the colonized planet.
Utilize a Colony
Activate this die to perform either the action on your Galaxy Mat or the action on one of the planets you have colonized. For instance, if you have colonized 3 planets, you can use one of the 3 planets' actions OR the galaxy's action.
Galaxy Mat Action: Pay the number of resources equal to the next level of your Empire Track. This cost must be paid either entirely in energy or entirely in culture; they cannot be combined. For example, to upgrade from the second to the third space, Empire Level 3, you need to spend either 3 energy or 3 culture, not a combination.
Upgrading your empire increases the number of victory points it is worth, as indicated by the leftmost track. It also increases the number of dice and ships you can use. Immediately place a new ship into your galaxy (this ship can be used on the same turn). New dice gained are ONLY usable on your next turn. Announce your new victory point total.
Converting Dice
Found on the Control Mat, this is used to turn an inactive die to any die face of the player's choice. This requires 3 dice: 2 for the Converter and 1 that gets "converted." Place any two inactive dice into the Converter two slots, and then change the face of a third inactive die to the face of your choice. This can only be done once per turn. The two dice in the Converter are considered spent, may not be activated, and cannot be followed.
Finishing Your Turn
Once you have activated as many of your dice as you wish to activate, your turn is over. Other players get a brief moment to follow the final die activated. Remove all dice from the Control Mat, and then pass the mat and dice to the next player seated clockwise. It is now their turn.
End of Game and Secret Missions
Once a player reaches 21 or more victory points, the end of the game is triggered. Victory points from the Secret Missions do not count towards ending the game. Play continues until all players have taken an equal number of turns.
After the last player finishes their turn, all players reveal their Secret Mission Card. If a player has completed the objective on their card, they are awarded the bonus points detailed on the card.
End of Game
Add the victory points you've gained from colonized planets, Empire level, and your Secret Mission Card. The player with the most victory points wins!
If tied, follow these tie-breakers in order to determine a winner:
- Has the most colonized planets
- Has the highest Empire level
- Has highest combined total resources
If still tied, enjoy your shared victory.
The Rogue Galaxy — Rules for Solo Play
From the blackest depths of the universe, a Rogue Galaxy rises from the chaos. Its savage inhabitants have only one mission: conquer all life in the cosmos. Our galaxy's only hope is you, Commander! You alone must lead our empire and use our power to defeat the oncoming Rogue armada. If you fail, there will be nowhere safe for us amongst the stars.
Game Setup
The game is set up like a normal 2 player game with the following exceptions:
- Select a Rogue Galaxy Mat, which are found on the reverse sides the Galaxy Mats, for your opponent. Each player color has a unique Rogue Galaxy with a different difficulty level. Difficulty levels range from Beginner to Epic!
- Flip the Control Mat to the Rogue Galaxy side.
- The Rogue Galaxy starts with zero energy and zero culture, but starts with all 4 ships on the center of its Galaxy Mat.
- Do not deal out Secret Mission Cards.
You will take the first turn. You play your turns as usual, but the Rogue Galaxy plays by a different set of rules.
Rogue Actions
On the Rogue Galaxy's turn, using dice noted on its current Empire level, roll one die a time. Place each onto the Control Card, and perform that action for the Rogue Galaxy. This continues until all of the Rogue Galaxy's available dice have been activated.
By spending 1 energy and 1 culture, you can force the Rogue Galaxy to reroll a single die before it is activated. You can do this as many times as you have resources to spend.
You may follow a Rogue Galaxy's activated die by spending 1 culture. However, if a die's action is unusable by the Rogue Galaxy (such as a "Move a Ship" action without available ships) the die is discarded and it cannot be followed. For increased difficulty, reroll each unusable Rogue die one time before discarding it.
Move a Ship
Move one ship from the Rogue Galaxy Card to the leftmost planet in the row that does not have a Rogue ship orbiting, and place it in orbit's starting space. A Rogue ship can never land on a planet's surface.
Advance Colonization
When either a Diplomacy or Economy action is taken, advance ALL Rogue ships on that type of orbit track forward one space. Colonized planets are placed under the Rogue Galaxy Mat as usual.
Acquire Resources
The Rogue Galaxy acquires resources just as if it were a player, except that its Galaxy Card produces both energy and culture.
At the end of its turn, if a resource marker is at max level, one (or both) of the special actions below will occur. If both special actions occur, resolve energy first then culture. These special actions cannot occur again until the end of the Rogue's next turn.
- At Max Energy — The Rogue Galaxy upgrades its Empire, advancing the Empire Token 1 space. Move the Energy Cube back to zero.
- At Max Culture — The Rogue Galaxy takes a bonus 3 actions. Clear the Control Card, and use only 3 dice, rolling each one and performing its action (since culture is maxed out, "Acquire Culture" dice are considered unusable). After all 3 actions are performed, move the Culture Cube back to zero. You cannot follow these bonus actions.
Utilize a Colony
Perform the action listed at the Rogue Galaxy's current Empire level. Do not use the actions of colonized planets. If the action is listed as "only once per turn", any additional Utilize a Colony dice rolled are considered unusable.
End of Solo Game
The Rogue Galaxy wins instantly if it reaches 21 or more victory points or if its empire token reaches the skull and crossbones space on the empire track. You win instantly if you reach 21 or more victory points.
Credits
Designer: Scott Almes Game Developer: Michael Coe Illustrator: William Bricker Graphic Designer: Benjamin Shulman Editors: Brittany Coe, Andy Harrison, and Richard A. Edwards
Honorary Producers: Craig Wheatley, Dr. Matthias Knelangen, Stephen B. Eckman, Andrew Scarlatelli, Luke Fortier, SSJ4GOGETA12, Lee Brumbaugh, Matt Pemberton, Nicholas Gyore, Robert Corbett
© 2015-2020 Gamelyn Games, LLC all rights reserved. No part of this product may be reproduced without specific permission. Tiny Epic Galaxies, Gamelyn Games, and the TEG logo are trademarks of Gamelyn Games, LLC.