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Gamehelpahoy

2025-08-29T22:46:46Z

Hwesta: Expand faction descriptions

Ahoy is played over a series of rounds until someone wins at the end of a round.

In a round, players take one turn at a time, placing 2 dice and taking the associated actions. You may also do actions that don't require dice, such as recruiting Crew and handling Cargo. Gold can be spent to adjust dice up or down by 1 per gold, but values do not wrap.

== Common Actions ==

* Sail: Move your Flagship 1 or 2 spaces orthogonally (not diagonally). You cannot cross sandbars. If you move off the edge of the map, you get to place a new tile, if any remain.
* Tailwind: Teleport your Flagship directly to any space on the map with matching die to the die you placed on the Tailwind die slot.
* Cannons: You have loaded cannons, and will initiate/defend in battles.
* Repair: Remove up to 2 damage tokens from any of your die slots.
* Recruit Crew: Get Crew from the market, if they match the suit of the island you're on by paying the cost (1-2 gold or a die)

== Bluefin Squadron ==
Bluefin Squadron gets 5 dice (instead of the usual 4), Patrols and Strongholds.

Patrols can be placed when you sail or tailwind and battle just like the Flagship. When damaged, it returns to the supply.

Strongholds always have loaded cannons and add 2 to battles. You can recruit Crew there. Enemies cannot recruit Crew, smuggle or deliver Cargo while at a Stronghold. When damaged, it returns to the supply.

=== Bluefin Squadron Actions ===

* Bombard: Remove all Comrades from the Island in your Flagship’s region.
* Order: Move up to 4 different Patrols, each 1 space. They can explore and battle.
* Deploy: Place 1 Patrol in your Flagship’s space or an adjacent space
* Place Stronghold: Remove 2 patrols from an island to place a Stronghold at the end of your turn.

== Mollusk Union ==
Mollusk Union has Comrades and Plans.

Comrades can be collected from the supply into Ready Comrades and then placed on islands. When you anchor at an Island, you may either place 2 Comrades on the Island or gain 2 Ready Comrades. Comrades cannot be battled but contribute towards region control.

Plans are a deck of powerful cards. Each turn, draw 2 until you run out. Plans include the Cutter and Gunship, which are additional Mollusk pieces.

=== Mollusk Union Actions ===

* Inspire: Place 1 Comrade each on up to 4 different Islands.
* Assemble: Place 4 Comrades on the Island in your Flagship’s region
* Rally: If your Flagship is at an Island, gain 4 Ready Comrades
* Cutter and Gunship actions
* Play plan card

=== Mollusk Union Plans ===

* Cutter: Cannot have Loaded Cannons and doubles the control of Comrades in its region. Remove 2 Comrades to place the ship there. Place dice to Sail 1-3 spaces or Tailwind. Damage goes on the card and cannot be repaired.
* Gunship: Always has Loaded Cannons and adds 3 to the roll. Remove 2 Comrades to place the ship there. Place dice to Sail or Tailwind. Damage goes on the card and cannot be repaired.
* Close Call: Ignore a battle and keep moving.
* Dynamic Entry (2x): Increase your Cannons die by 2 (not above 6) then Tailwind.
* Enlist: Choose an Island with Comrades and recruit any number of Crew of that suit, ignoring cost.
* Evacuation: Remove all Comrades from an island and place them on other Island(s).
* Secret Weapon: Roll 2 battle dice and add them. If you win, deal an extra damage.
* Sneak Attack (2x): Remove up to 2 Patrols from a region where the Island has Comrades.
* Weapon Cache (2x): Increase your roll in battle by the number of your Ready Comrades.

== Smuggler ==
The smuggler can hold Cargo and has a Rewards board for completing deliveries.

Cargo is picked up from islands matching its suit (top left corner) and delivered to islands matching the bottom.

=== Smuggler Actions ===

* Smuggle: take a card from the Market whose suit matches your Island’s suit. You can only hold 2 Cargo
* Deliver cargo: deliver cargo to an island matching the Cargo's target. Gain 2 Fame, increase the island's wealth, gain a reward from your board, and secretly pledge the cargo.
* Full Sail: Move your Flagship up to the value of the die spent
* Negotiate: At an island, recruit any crew. Remove a Comrade to do this again.

== Battles ==
If you have loaded cannons, when you move into a space with other tokens you attack them. If you move into a space with a figure with loaded cannons, you attack them. If no one has loaded cannons, the no battle happens. If a token is placed (not moved) it does not trigger a battle.

In battle, the attacker and then the defender can reduce the value of their Cannons dice to add that value to their battle roll. Then both roll a d6, and the higher total wins. On a tie, the attacker wins.

The winner gets to deal damage according to their faction. When you take damage, dice squares on your board are blocked and cannot be used until they are repaired.

Battling ends movement.

=== Bluefin victory ===

* Deal 1 damage and steal 1 gold from the defeated player.
* Deal 2 damage.
* Mollusk Union Ship: Deal 1 damage and remove 1 Comrade from the Island in the region of battle.

=== Mollusk victory ===

* Deal 1 damage and steal 1 gold from the defeated player.
* Deal 1 damage and place 1 Comrade on the Island in the region of battle

=== Smuggler victory ===

* Deal 1 damage and move 1 or 2 spaces immediately, ignoring all other battles
* Deal 1 damage and gain a reward as if you delivered Cargo.

== End of round ==
Bluefin Squadron and Mollusk Union score Fame equal to the region's wealth die for each region they control. Ties go to neither.

Bluefin Squadron gets 1 control per patrol, and 2 per stronghold or flagship. Mollusk Union gets 1 control per Comrade and Union ship. Smugglers do not affect control.

If the game has not ended, dice are rerolled, first player moves left, and a new round is started. In 2 player, the first player increases a region's wealth die. Mollusk Union draws 2 plan cards.

=== End of game ===
The game ends at the end of the round if a player has 30 Fame.

Smugglers score pledged Cargo. For each Cargo, the Smuggler gains 1 Fame for each region that the pledged faction controls whose Island matches the Cargo’s top-left suit.

The player with the most Fame wins! On a tie, the tied player with the most gold wins

Gamehelpahoy

2025-08-25T22:31:38Z

Hwesta: Summarize rules

Ahoy is played over a series of rounds until someone wins at the end of a round.

In a round, players take one turn at a time, placing 2 dice and taking the associated action. You may also do actions that don't require dice, such as recruiting Crew and handling Cargo. Gold can be spent to adjust dice up or down by 1 per gold, but values do not wrap.

== Actions ==

* Sail: Move your Flagship 1 or 2 spaces orthogonally. You cannot cross sandbars. If you move off the edge of the map, you get to place a new tile, if any remain
* Tailwind: Teleport your Flagship directly to any space on the map with matching die to the die you placed on the Tailwind die slot.
* Cannons: You have loaded cannons, and will initiate/defend in battles
* Repair: Remove up to 2 damage tokens from any of your die slots.
* Recruit Crew: Get Crew from the market, if they match the suit of the island you're on by paying the cost (1-2 gold or a die)

=== Bluefin Squadron only ===

* Place a patrol after sail or tailwind. When damaged, it returns to you.
* Place Stronghold: Remove 2 patrols from an island to place a stronghold.
** Strongholds always have loaded cannons and add 2 to battles. You can recruit Crew there. Enemies cannot recruit Crew, smuggle or deliver Cargo. When damaged, it returns to you.
* Bombard: Remove all Comrades from the Island in your Flagship’s region.
* Order: Move up to 4 different Patrols, each 1 space. They can explore and battle.
* Deploy: Place 1 Patrol in your Flagship’s space or an adjacent space

=== Mollusk Union only ===

* When you anchor at an Island, you may either place 2 Comrades on the Island or gain 2 Ready Comrades.
* Play plan card
* Inspire: Place 1 Comrade each on up to 4 different Islands.
* Assemble: Place 4 Comrades on the Island in your Flagship’s region
* Rally: If your Flagship is at an Island, gain 4 Ready Comrades
* Cutter and Gunship actions

=== Smuggler only ===

* Smuggle: take a card from the Market whose suit matches your Island’s suit. You can only hold 2 Cargo
* Deliver cargo: deliver cargo to an island matching the Cargo's target. Gain 2 Fame, increase the island's wealth, gain a reward from your board, and secretly pledge the cargo.
* Full Sail: Move your Flagship up to the value of the die spent
* Negotiate: At an island, recruit any crew. Remove a Comrade to do this again.

== Battles ==
If you have loaded cannons, when you move into a space with other tokens you attack them. If you move into a space with a figure with loaded cannons, you attack them. If no one has loaded cannons, the no battle happens.

When you take damage, dice squares on your board are blocked and cannot be used until they are repaired.

Battling ends movement.

=== Bluefin victory ===

* Deal 1 damage and steal 1 gold from the defeated player.
* Deal 2 damage.
* Mollusk Union Ship: Deal 1 damage and remove 1 Comrade from the Island in the region of battle.

=== Mollusk victory ===

* Deal 1 damage and steal 1 gold from the defeated player.
* Deal 1 damage and place 1 Comrade on the Island in the region of battle

=== Smuggler victory ===

* Deal 1 damage and move 1 or 2 spaces immediately, ignoring all other battles
* Deal 1 damage and gain a reward as if you delivered Cargo.

== End of round ==
Bluefin Squadron and Mollusk Union score Fame equal to the region's wealth die if they control the region. Ties go to neither.

Bluefin Squadron gets 1 control per patrol, and 2 per stronghold or flagship. Mollusk Union gets 1 control per Comrade and Union ship. Smuggler's do not affect control.

If the game has not ended, dice are rerolled, first player moves left, and a new round is started. In 2 player, first player increases a region's wealth die. Mollusk Union draws 2 plan cards.

=== End of game ===
The game ends at the end of the round if a player has 30 Fame.

Smugglers score pledged Cargo. For each Cargo, the Smuggler gains 1 Fame for each region that the pledged faction controls whose Island matches the Cargo’s top-left suit.

The player with the most Fame wins! On a tie, the tied player with the most gold wins

Tips abandonallartichokes

2021-09-20T18:37:20Z

Hwesta: Created page with "There are 2 broad strategies in Abandon All Artichokes: remove all artichokes from your deck, or have such a large deck that you have good odds of drawing a hand with no artic..."

There are 2 broad strategies in Abandon All Artichokes: remove all artichokes from your deck, or have such a large deck that you have good odds of drawing a hand with no artichokes.

Good early game cards:
* Carrot - composts 2 artichokes, with no opportunity cost since you have no other cards to play
* Potato - good odds of finding an artichoke to compost in the first rounds
* Broccoli - likely to have at least 3 artichokes in hand
* Eggplant - compost an artichoke, though the passing probably won't have an effect
* Beet - random card from hand is almost certainly an artichoke to be traded or composted

Good late game cards:
* Leek - steal non-artichokes from opponents
* Eggplant - if you have at least 3 artichokes in hand, lets you compost one and pass the other two. If you're lucky, they might not have enough artichokes in hand to pass you 2
* Pepper - stack your deck so you're more likely to draw non-artichokes. Can also put an artichoke there for Potato to compost
* Beet - play the Beet when you only have artichokes left in your hand so the artichoke is randomly selected for trade/compost. Maybe you'll get something useful from an opponent!

Good no artichokes strategy cards:
* Carrot - compost 2 artichokes
* Onion - compost an artichoke
* Eggplant - compost an artichoke

Good big deck strategy cards:
* Corn - get extra cards into your deck. Disadvantage: have to hold on to an artichoke to play
* Peas - get extra cards into your deck: Disadvantage: gives to your opponents
* Pepper - stack your deck so you're more likely to draw non-artichokes

Gamehelpraceforthegalaxy

2020-06-18T18:06:45Z

Hwesta: Rules summary for Xeno invasion

== Rules for the Base Game ==

Players control competing civilizations exploring space, discovering planets to conquer or settle, building an economy by consuming a planet's goods and building developments. The object of the game is to earn the most victory points from planets and developments played in their tableau, from consuming goods, and from bonuses from special developments.

There are five phases to choose from: explore, develop, settle, consume and produce. Players pick one phase per turn (two phases in a two-player game). Then everyone plays only the chosen phases in phase order. Players who chose that phase get an extra benefit. At the end of each round, players with more than 10 cards discard down to 10 and a new round begins.

The game continues until any player has 12 cards in their tableau, or when the VP pool is exhausted. At the end of that round points are added up. The player with the most points is the winner!

In case of a tie, the player with the most goods on the board plus cards in hand wins.

Cards may generally be played into your tableau by "paying" for them by discarding other cards. For instance, a planet of cost 3 (the large number) requires you to discard 3 cards to place it. (The smaller number next to it is the number of VPs you earn from having that card in your tableau.)

There are different types of planets:
* Production: A colored circle indicates that this planet generates the corresponding good during the production phase.
* Windfall: A white circle with a colored ring indicates that this planet generates a good immediately upon settling, but not during production.
* Non-producing worlds: Gray worlds never produce goods.
* Military: A red ring indicates that a planet cannot be settled by paying for it: instead, you need a sufficient military force (the red +X number present on some cards). No discards are needed in this case.

'''Summary of Phases'''
* Explore = draw 2 cards; keep 1, discard the other
* Develop = place and pay for a development
* Settle = place and pay for a world, receiving any windfall good as indicated
* Consume = use consume powers if possible, typically to discard goods for VPs. Note that once a consume power is activated, you must exhaust it (e.g. if you have 3 Novelty Goods, then if you trigger Consumer Markets to consume the first good, then the other two must also be consumed on Consumer Markets). To consume a good in the BGA interface, click on the world with the good, and then click on the world with the consume power.
* Produce = place a good on each world without a good that produces one

Most cards indicate bonuses for certain phases; these are activated once they are in your tableau.

'''Phase Bonuses'''
These are the bonuses you gain for choosing each phase:
* Explore = draw 5 additional cards OR draw 1 additional card and keep 1 additional card
* Develop = discard 1 less card when paying for the development
* Settle = draw 1 card after settling a world
* Consume = Gain double victory points for consumed goods OR trigger a trade phase prior to Consume, which allows you to discard a good to draw cards equal to its trade value
* Produce = Produce a good on one windfall world that does not already have a good

Note that in two-player games it is possible for one player to trigger both phase bonuses in Explore or Consume (e.g. in Explore, to draw 6 extra cards and keep 2), but the phase only happens once. It is not possible to trigger Produce twice. It is possible to trigger Develop or Settle twice, in which case the phase happens twice in a row.

'''Summary of Goods'''
* Yellow = Alien Tech (trade value = 5)
* Green = Genes (4)
* Brown = Rare Elements (3)
* Blue = Novelty Goods (2)

== Expansion Rules: The Brink of War ==

===Prestige===

'''Gaining Prestige:'''
* Playing a card with a purple prestige symbol next to its point value provides 1 prestige to the owner when it is played.
* Various card powers provide prestige, typically as a result of taking another action, such as goods consumption. (Note: the Consume x2 action bonus does NOT double prestige gained using consume powers)

'''Prestige Leader:'''
At the end of each phase, if one player has more total prestige than any other player, they take control of the Prestige Leader tile. The Prestige leader can also change hands immediately when a prestige leader spends prestige for an action, causing them to lose the lead. The prestige earned by the new leader in that phase and any subsequent phase while they remain prestige leader is counted as being ''on the tile''.

At the start of each round, if the leader has prestige ''on the tile'', they remove all the prestige from the tile (it remains part of their personal supply) and receive 1 VP chip and 1 card. If the prestige leader has no prestige ''on the tile'' (because they didn't earn any new prestige in the last round), then they receive only the 1 VP chip and no cards.

When there is a tie for the prestige leader, none of the tied players collect prestige ''on the tile'', but all tied players will earn 1 VP chip at the start of the round.

'''Prestige at Game End'''
Each prestige chip is worth 1 VP at game end.
If a player has 15 or more prestige at the end of a round, the end of the game is triggered.

===Prestige Search/Action Bonuses===

Once per game, each player can use their prestige bonus card for ''either'' a search bonus OR an action bonus.

'''Search Bonus''':
A search bonus costs no prestige to use. Any player(s) declaring a search will get to execute the search action before any other phase is resolved in that round. The searching player first declares one of the 9 search categories. Then cards are revealed from the deck until a card matching the chosen category is found. The searching player can choose to take that card into their hand (ending the search action), or continue searching for a second matching card. If they continue to search for a second card, the second matching card ''must'' be taken, and the search ends.

'''Search Categories''' (Visual aid: https://boardgamegeek.com/image/693945/race-galaxy-brink-war)
* Developments that provide +1 or +2 military (ignore temporary or specialized military)
* Military Windfall worlds with 1 or 2 defense
* Windfall worlds with 1 or 2 cost
* Worlds (of any type) with a chromosome symbol (green X)
* Windfall or Production worlds that produce Alien goods (ignore other alien cards)
* Cards with Consume powers that consume 2 or more goods
* Military worlds with 5 or more defense
* 6-cost Developments
* Cards with settle takeover or defense powers (can only be chosen if takeover rules are on)

'''Prestige Action Bonus''':
A prestige action bonus costs 1 prestige to use. The player may then choose an enhanced bonus for their phase selection. (In a 2-player game, the player may select a second phase as normal)

'''Prestige Bonus Options'''
* Explore: draw +13 (into hand), discard 11 (keep +2)
* Explore: draw +9 (into hand), discard 6 (keep +3)
* Develop: -3 cost
* Settle: -3 cost and +2 military, draw card after settling
* Consume: Sell one good with +3 card draw AND 2x points for other goods consumed AND discard 0-2 cards for 1 VP each
* Consume: 3x VP for all goods consumed
* Produce: Draw 3, produce 2 windfall goods

== Expansion Rules: Xeno Invasion (with Invasion) ==

The Xenos are invading! In addition to building your empire, you must defend yourself from the Xenos every round. This is a standalone expansion, only played with the base game.

All Explore phases have the 'mix with hand' power.

In the first round, Settle is already selected.

'''Xeno Invasion'''

In the third round, the Xenos start attacking.
* After discarding for hand size, each player is given an Invasion card with the strength of the attacking Xenos. Players with a higher military vs Xenos get higher values
* To defend, military vs Xenos + defense vs Xenos must exceed (not just tie) the Invasion value
* Settle powers may be used for extra military. Each player has a Bunker, which lets you discard a card for 2 defense vs Xenos
* If you defend, you get 1 or 2 VP (weaker players get more)
* If you don't defend, you select a world to be damaged. Damaged worlds lose their good, are worth 0 VP, and have no powers or keywords, but count towards tableau size.

The invasion has 3 waves. Wave 1 and Wave 2 are 2 rounds each (in 2 player game: 1 round each). Wave 3 is until the end of the game
* Wave 1 invasion values: -1 to 4
* Wave 2 invasion values: 0 to 7
* Wave 3 invasion values: 3 to 9, your base military + 3/4/5

'''Produce changes'''

Produce has several changes.
* At the start of Produce, each player may contribute goods to the war effort. Each good contributed gives you 1 VP and reduces the Xeno repulse value by 1
* Repair damaged worlds by discarding 2 cards from hand, or 1 good, or using a repair power
* Produce has a second option: "Produce: Repair". Instead of producing on a windfall world, repair 2 worlds

'''Endgame'''

There are 2 new endgame conditions
* The Xenos are defeated! The Xenos are defeated when the combined military vs Xenos of all players matches or exceeds the Xeno repulse value. No final invasion happens
* All players fail to defend vs invasions twice. No bonus for Greatest Admiral or Greatest Contributor are given out.

Endgame bonuses
* Greatest Admiral = 5 VP for largest military vs Xenos
* Greatest Contributor = 5 VP for most goods contributed to war effort

Note:
* Military vs xenos: For settling worlds with Xeno, contributes to defeating Xenos, counts when determining strength for Invasion cards
* Defense vs Xenos: only counted when defending each round

== New Worlds ==

Race for the Galaxy: New Worlds Promo is a set of 6 new start worlds. They can be added to any game (base game or expansions).
* Star Nomad Raiders
* Industrial Robots
* Galactic Trade Emissaries
* Terraforming Colonists
* Abandoned Mine Squatters
* Gateway Station

Image of the new start worlds: https://boardgamegeek.com/image/3884855