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Overview

Score the most points when someone places their 6th Star

Turn

On your turn, move your action piece to a space other than where you were

On the new location, first resolve the upper ability if desired

After, resolve the lower ability if desired

This means you can perform no actions if you wish, but still have to move to a new location than where you were at start of turn

In addition to taking up to 2 actions, you can resolve objectives if they apply

Any effect which is red is a cost you must pay, any effect which is green is a benefit you will gain

Every player board has slightly different pairings of top and lower actions, but everyone can perform the same actions in some combination. Also, the Cost of the lower actions vary per player, but all have something that costs 2/3/4/4

Upper action benefits start with cubes on them which stops you from gaining the full benefit, lower action costs have some of the cost in a broken black border which forms part of the cost at start of game, but there are ways of moving cubes from blocking benefits to blocking costs as long as they have that broken black border

Each player is a Faction, and this brings with it unique bonuses and abilities

Actions

As mentioned, each player board is configured differently, but all the available actions can be found somewhere

The Upper actions are:

Move

Bolster

Trade

Produce

The Lower actions are:

Upgrade

Deploy

Build

Enlist

Move

To start, this action lets you either move 2 different units or gain 1 coin

A point of movement allows a unit to move to an adjacent hex

Units moved can carry resources from their start hex to destination hex if desired

Mechs can carry Workers from their start hex to destination hex, and this only counts as moving the Mech, not the Workers

Rivers and Lakes are impassible terrain at the start with the exception of certain abilities

All Tunnels are adjacent, so a single move can take a unit from one Tunnel to any other Tunnel

If an opponent has Workers occupying a Hex, your Workers cannot move in alone, whilst your Mech and Character scare them off to their Faction Home Base however you cannot move any further with that unit and lose 1 Popularity for each opponent Worker removed this way

If an opponent has just a Structure occupying a Hex, you a free to move into it and then are considered controlling it once you do

If an opponent has a Character or Mech occupying a Hex, your Workers cannot move in alone. Your Character and Mechs can move in, but nothing happens until all your movements have completed, then battle occurs.

A Home Base, including your own, cannot voluntarily be moved into

Some spaces have Encounter tokens, if you end the movement phase still occupying a space with one of these tokens, resolve an Encounter

Each Hex has unlimited space for models of the same player

Bolster

You have to pay one coin, then at the start you can gain either 2 Power or 1 Combat card, both of these features will help you in a Combat

Trade

You have to pay one coin, then at the start you can either gain 2 Resources to place on Hexes where you have Workers or gain 1 Popularity

Produce

At the start, this action is free. At the start, you can choose two different Hexes where you have Workers, and produce the resource depicted on the Hex multiplied by the number of Workers you have there, these resources are placed on the Hex chosen to produce

There is no limit to the quantity of resources which a Hex can hold

Upgrade

This costs a stated amount of Oil, gives you 3 coins, and lets you move a blocking cube from a green space to a red space with a broken black border, the two spaces do not have to be from the same segment

Going forward, now something has an additional benefit and something else has a reduced cost

Deploy

This costs a stated amount of Metal, you gain 2 coins, and can place a Mech into a Hex where you have at least one Worker

Choose which Mech you deploy carefully, as each Mech covers a space which gives you a new Mech ability, these do not have to be unlocked in a specific order, so its up to you which ability you wish to gain first

It is important to note that the different Factions will provide different Mech abilities

Build

This costs a stated amount of Wood, you gain 1 coin, and can place a Structure into a Hex with no other Structures and at least one of your Workers

Like Mechs, the different Structures will provide different benefits as shown on the space on the action board they come from, so choose carefully which you wish to place when

Structures are never destroyed, but if an opponent occupies a Hex with your Structure, then they control the Hex, but you still get your Structure bonus

The Structure Bonus goal card will give points at end game if you place your Structures in certain ways e.g. adjacent to certain other features

Enlist

This costs a stated amount of Food, take a cylindrical Recruit from any action segment you wish and place it on the one time bonus and take that bonus.

The space the Recruit came from is now revealed, any time you or the player to your left or right takes the associated action, you gain the bonus listed

Combat

Whenever a Combat is triggered, resolve each Combat separately before moving on to another

Each player involved in the Combat takes the power dial and can secretly choose an amount of power they wish to spend, they can only pick a value which they can actually afford to spend on the Power Track

In addition, for each Character & Mech, a player can secretly add combat cards to this

When each player is ready, reveal the dials and any chosen cards

The player with the highest total value wins the combat, ties are won by the attacker

Each player pays the power they chose to set on their dials and discards used combat cards

The winner gains control of the Hex, places a star on the Combat space of the Triumph track if a space is available, and resolve any Encounters which may have been present. If the attacker won, they also lose Popularity for each opponent Worker forced to retreat.

The loser retreats all their units on that Hex to their Home Base, if they used at least 1 power via the dial or cards, they gain 1 combat card as compensation.

Encounters

At the start of game, Encounter Tokens were scattered across the map

If you move your Character onto one of these spaces, and if Combat is successful if applicable, the Encounter triggers

A Character cannot move beyond an Encounter Token space, they must end their move on it and cannot pass through it

Draw an Encounter card and select one of the options, as long as you can afford the cost of an option then it is available to you to select

The Factory

The Factory is the central purple Hex, it provides no resources during game but is worth 3 Hexes for end game purposes

When your Character enters the Factory for the first time, look through the available Factory cards and pick one to add to your action board, this becomes a new space which you can move to with your action pawn and use on any future turn like a regular action space

All Factory Cards have the same Lower Action, move one unit two spaces, but the Upper Action will vary

You can never have more than one Factory Card, and cannot exchange it later

Objectives

Each player starts with two objectives, you can only complete one of these and when you do gain a star for completing the objective and discard the one you didn't

Stars

A few ways to gain a Star have already been mentioned, but the full list is as follows:

Complete all 6 Upgrades

Deploy all 4 Mechs

Build all 4 Structures

Enlist all 4 Recruits

Deploy all 8 Workers

Complete one of your two starting Objectives

Win Combat (x2)

Have 18 Popularity

Have 16 Power

There are 10 ways to gain a Star, but you only have 6 Stars to place

Once a Star is gained, you cannot lose it even if game state changes

Game End

The game ends when any player places their 6th Star, the rest of their turn is voided

Count up the number of actual coins held

Gain the Structure Bonus if you achieve it

Then gain coins for your Stars, Controlled Hexes (remember The Factory counts as 3), and pairs of resources. The coins you gain for these areas depends on your Popularity, as follows:

0-6 Popularity scores 3 (Stars), 2 (Hexes), 1 (Resource Pairs)

7-12 Popularity scores 4 (Stars), 3 (Hexes), 2 (Resource Pairs)

13-18 Popularity scores 5 (Stars), 4 (Hexes), 3 (Resource Pairs)

The player with the most points, wins!