Gamehelphomeworlds

Homeworlds is an epic space opera in which the players each control an interstellar space fleet. It's all done with clusters of colorful pyramids arranged upon the table.

Each player begins with one star system: the Homeworld. Each will then build a fleet of ships and expand to colonize other star systems, spreading out across the galaxy until one side conquers the other, either by capturing or destroying the enemy's Homeworld.

Fundamentals of space travel

• Star systems are marked on the playing field with upright pyramids (seen as squares from above).
  • This "star map" displays only the star systems currently being visited by spaceships.
• Spaceships are represented by non-vertical pyramids (seen as triangles from above).
  • The direction in which they point indicates who controls them.
  • Your ships always point away from you.
• When a ship Discovers a new star system, the star is added to the star map, and when the last ship leaves the system, the star piece is immediately returned to the Bank.
• You can move a ship from one star system to another ONLY if the stars are of different sizes.
  • Differently-sized star systems are connected, but same-sized stars are not. (Why? It’s just the way the wormhole technology works...)
• A Binary Star (a system with two stars) is only connected to another star if that star is a size not included in the Binary Star.

The first turn

The game begins with a setup round, during which the players choose their initial pieces.

1. To begin, create your Homeworld made of two upright pyramids in your choice of sizes and colors. Put them together to form a Binary Star.
2. Now take a Large spaceship (of any color) and place it by your Homeworld.

The decisions you make during setup will greatly affect the entire game. If this is your first game, we suggest both players start with a Large Green ship, with one player starting with a Large Blue/Small Red Homeworld and the other player starting with a Medium Red/Small Blue Homeworld.

Turn options

During each turn, you may

• perform one Basic action,
• OR you may Sacrifice one of your ships, putting it back into the Bank in order to gain one or more Sacrifice actions,
• OR you can choose to pass. (This is rarely useful, but doing nothing may be a player’s best option during certain endgame situations.)

Also, at any time during your turn, you may invoke the Catastrophe option (described later) for any Overpopulation situation on the star map.

Basic Action

You may perform your Basic action in any system where you control a ship, using any power you can access in that ship's system.

Sacrifice Action

The number of Sacrifice actions you get is equal to the pip count of the ship you Sacrificed. You get that many actions, of that ship's color, in any systems where you still control a ship, regardless of which colors you have access to in said system.

Color powers

A ship of ANY COLOR can use any power that it has access to. Color access is provided by any of the following:

1. Star: Color of the system's star
2. Ship: Color of a ship YOU control there
3. Sacrifice: Color of a ship you dismantle

Each color provides a different power.

• Green = Build (The green Colonists construct the starships.)
• Yellow = Move (The yellow Navigators grok the wormholes.)
• Red = Capture (The red Warriors wield the weapons.)
• Blue = Trade (The blue Ice-Traders offer exchanges.)

Green

Build a new ship by taking a piece from the Bank and placing it next to one of your existing ships.

• Same Color: The color of your new ship must be the same as one of the ships you control in the system where the new ship is being Built.
• Smallest Size: The ship you Build must be the smallest size of that color currently available in the Bank.

Yellow

Move a ship from the system it's in to any other connected system (known or newly Discovered).

• Travel: Move to any connected system whether it is currently populated with your ships, your opponent's ships, or both.
• Discovery: Take a piece of your choice from the Bank, add it to the field as a star, then move your ship to that star.
• Abandonment: Return a basic star to the Bank immediately if zero ships are located there.

Homeworld abandonment

It’s OK to momentarily abandon your Homeworld as long as you have a ship there again by the end of your turn. However, you are eliminated from the game if both stars in your Homeworld are destroyed, or if you don’t control any ships at your Homeworld when your turn is over. Note that Homeworlds are different from basic stars and thus are not returned to the Bank if the star is temporarily abandoned. (Even if you send your whole fleet away for a brief time, Earth is still the Earth and you don’t remove it from the active star map the way you do with basic stars.)

Red

Capture an enemy ship by turning the piece around so that it points away from you. (Traditionally, this power was referred to as attacking, and many players may continue to use that term, but it’s more accurate to say Capture since the goal of the attack is to seize the ship, not destroy it. Starships are valuable.)

• Size Matters: You can only Capture a ship if it’s the same size as, or smaller than, the biggest ship YOU control in that system.

But note that a Small Red CAN be used to Capture a larger ship — you just need to have your own larger ship (of any color) in that system, which can attack the enemy's ship using the power of your Small Red.

• Example: Suppose you have a Small Red and a Medium Yellow, and the other player has a Medium Red in the same system.

Your Small Red is not big enough to Capture the Medium Red, and your Medium Yellow cannot attack on its own (except when the star is Red). But together they can prevail, because the Medium Yellow can "borrow" the power of the Small Red.

Blue

Trade one of your ships with a differently colored piece of the same size from the Bank. You can only Trade exact size for exact size; if the size you want is not available, you cannot Trade.

Overpoulation and Catastrophe

Too much of one color in one system can trigger a disaster called a Catastrophe. Overpopulation exists any time a single system contains four or more pieces of the same color — including ships on both sides AND the star system itself.

At any point during your turn, if you notice an Overpopulated star system, you have the OPTION to declare a Catastrophe in that system (even if you don’t have a ship there). If called, all pieces of the Overpopulated color are returned to the Bank. If this includes the star itself, then ALL ships at that location are destroyed (unless the star was half of a Binary Star, in which case it becomes a single-star system, but still a Homeworld). If a Catastrophe leaves a basic star unoccupied, the piece is immediately returned to the Bank.

How to win

There are three paths to victory (not including resignation by the other player):

1. Direct Assault: Use Red to take control of all enemy ships at the enemy's Homeworld.
2. Fleet Catastrophe: Destroy all enemy ships at their Homeworld by causing a Catastrophe.
3. Star Demolition: Cause two Catastrophes, each destroying half of the Homeworld.

Sources

This description of the rules was adapted from

• The Pyramid Quartet version https://www.looneylabs.com/sites/default/files/literature/Homeworlds%20Rules13.pdf
• This older version https://www.looneylabs.com/rules/homeworlds