Aetherspire Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Components
• Game Setup
  • Cooperation
  • No dexterity
• Gameplay
  • Turn order
  • Solo rules
  • Supply step
  • Build step
    • Place a pillar
    • Reroll any number of dice (once per turn)
    • Build a floor
    • Cast a spell
    • Complete a spire
    • Special actions
  • Invasion step
    • Advance the invader track token
• Difficulty Modes
  • Difficulty 1: The First Wave
  • Difficulty 2: Crisis on Infinite Planes
  • Difficulty 3: What? Chaos is Evolving!
  • Difficulty 4: Jump Start
• Glossary
• Icon Reference
• Completing a Spire Summary

Overview

Aetherspire is a cooperative 3D tile placement and tower defense game for 1-4 players.

You and your companions will take on the role of Elementis heroes, working together to mold elemental power into four spires, one of each element: earth, air, fire, and water. A spire is a set of four floor tiles, one on top of another, all of the same element. Each time you complete a spire, that element's aether fiend is defeated. Once all four aether fiends have been defeated, the heroes share in glorious victory, having restored balance to the realm of Elementis!

However, if the precious aethercore is depleted, or if you take too long to defeat the aether fiends, then the heroes lose the game, and chaos will overtake your world!

Components

• 1 six-fold game board
• 50 pillar cubes
• 8 eight-sided dice
• 41 invader tokens (10 for each element, and 1 invader track token)
• 4 spire toppers (assemble as shown)
• 10 large floor tiles
• 15 character cards (5 starter, 5 advanced, 5 solo)
• 16 aether fiend cards
• 6 spire adaptation cards
• 4 player aid cards
• 12 medium floor tiles
• 16 small floor tiles
• 5 aether core and 4 wall tokens
• 1 cloth invader bag
• 4 spire completion bonus tokens
• 1 active player token

The component, card and floor tile anatomy diagrams in the printed rulebook are illustrations; their labels are not transcribed here.

Game Setup

The setup steps below assume this is your first game and that you have more than 1 player. Refer to the purple notes and the Difficulty Modes section for more setup options:

1. Place the game board in the center of the table.
2. Separate the floor tiles into 3 stacks according to size and shape. Shuffle each stack and place them to the side of the game board, with the multi side face-up.
3. Place two aethercore tokens stacked in the very center of the game board. Place the remaining ones to the side.
4. Place the 4 wall tokens, standing up, surrounding the aethercore tokens in the center of the game board.
5. Find the four level-1 aether fiend cards. Place them, face-down, in a random order in the slots attached to the invader track. Return the remaining aether fiend cards to the game box. For future games, you may select other level sets, or randomly pick one of each element from the entire deck.
6. Place the black invader token, standing up, on the Start space on the invader track.
7. Put the 40 remaining invader tokens in the cloth bag and place it to the side of the game board.
8. Place the 50 pillar cubes in the corner of the game board showing the lava illustration.
9. Place the 4 spire toppers and spire completion bonus tokens, with their unused sides face-up, in the corner of the game board showing the water illustration.
10. Place the 8 dice in the corner of the game board showing the clouds illustration.
11. Draw 1 large floor tile and place it with the multi side face-up in one of the three foundations in the center of the game board. Refer to the Difficulty Modes section for options to ignore this step.
12. Draw 2 random invader tokens from the bag and place them, standing up, on any 2 spaces on the floor tile. Refer to the Difficulty Modes section for options to ignore this step.
13. Return the spire adaptation cards to the game box. Refer to the Difficulty Modes section to incorporate these into a future game.
14. The player who most recently built something epic takes the active player token, with the "reroll any" side (the side showing the eight-sided die illustration) face-up.

You're now ready to play Aetherspire!

Setup diagram: the printed rulebook shows a numbered game setup diagram for a 2-player game; the numbers correspond to the setup steps above.

Cooperation

Aetherspire is a cooperative game, which means all players will win or lose as a team. You can talk, strategize, and suggest ideas to each other as much as you want.

No dexterity

Even though you will be building a 3-dimensional fortress, Aetherspire is not a dexterity game. If a player accidentally bumps some pieces over, just put them back together as they were.

Gameplay

Turn order

Players take turns proceeding clockwise around the table. A player's turn is made up of 3 steps:

Supply → Build → Invasion

After these steps, the player passes the active player token to the player on their left, with the "reroll any" side face-up, and then that player starts their turn.

Play continues like this until one of the win or loss conditions have been met (refer to the Game End section).

Solo rules

In the solo game, the same character keeps performing these steps until one of the win or loss conditions have been met. Simply flip the active player token to the "reroll any" side in between each of your turns.

Otherwise, the flow of the solo game is identical to the multiplayer game.

Supply step

In the supply step of your turn, perform the following actions in order:

1. Draw a floor tile of any size, with the standard side face-up (not multi), and place it into your "reserve." The reserve is an area near the game board where you keep floor tiles that are available to be built in the fortress. You may then exchange 1 floor tile: Discard any floor tile in your reserve (place it on the bottom of its stack) and draw a new one of the same size, with the standard side face-up.
2. Draw 3 invader tokens from the bag, placing them in the area on the elemental wheel that matches their element (air tokens are placed on the air section of the elemental wheel), laying down. While invader tokens are laying down on the elemental wheel they are considered shards, usable to cast spells (refer to the Build step section).
3. Roll 5 dice. You will use these during the build step.

Build step

There are many actions you can take during the build step of your turn, including:

• Basic actions (explained in detail below).
• Special actions (explained on your character card).

You may perform these actions in any order, and as many times as you wish (except where indicated otherwise).

Place a pillar

Most floor tiles have spaces on them to hold a pillar. You can place a pillar cube on one of these spaces by discarding a die or dice from what you rolled this turn that meet the requirements of the space.

Examples:

1. To place a pillar on this space, you need to discard a die showing fire or a star symbol.
2. To place a pillar on this space, you need to discard a die showing fire or star AND a die showing earth or star.
3. To place a pillar on this space, you MUST discard a die showing a star symbol.

Additional restrictions:

• You cannot place a pillar on a space that already contains a pillar or currently has an invader.
• You cannot place a pillar in a room that has a spire topper.

Reroll any number of dice (once per turn)

Once per turn you may reroll any number of dice you have not yet used. When you do, flip the active player token to the other side as a reminder you have used this action.

Note that you can use this action to reroll the dice you initially rolled during the supply step and/or any additional dice you may have rolled afterward, such as ones rolled from casting the Mudslide spell.

Build a floor

Place a floor tile from the reserve into the fortress. A large floor tile may be placed directly on an empty foundation space on the game board. Floor tiles may also be placed on completed rooms (rooms with a pillar on every space) that match their size and have no invaders.

For example, a small floor tile may be placed on top of a completed room (see the diagram in the printed rulebook).

Some floor tiles have special effects. These effects happen immediately when the tile is placed in the fortress, and they do not happen again unless a hero action says otherwise.

In the printed example, Magma Eruption would immediately destroy all invaders in the fortress - a powerful effect, indeed!

Multi floor tiles are placed like any other, but be careful - placing too many multi floor tiles (or floor tiles with special effects, for that matter) means you will have less spaces available for building pillars and containing invaders.

Note: If a floor tile doesn't have any room outlines shown, then only another tile of the same size may be placed on it.

Cast a spell

Elemental shards are used to cast spells from the elemental wheel. You gain shards during each supply step, and also whenever you crystallize invaders through an action or other game effect.

To cast a spell, spend (discard) the required shards from the elemental wheel (they immediately go back into the invader bag) and then perform the spell's effect.

With the shards you have available, you may cast the following spells:

• Mudslide: Spend the earth and water shards to immediately roll 3 additional dice.
• Ice Beam: Spend the water and one of the air shards to crystallize 2 invaders that are in the same room (those invaders immediately become shards and are added to the elemental wheel).
• Lava Bomb: Spend the earth and fire shards to destroy any 2 invaders in the fortress (they go back into the bag).
• Firestorm: Spend the fire and one of the air shards to move 1 invader in the fortress from one space to another, and then also place 1 pillar on any available space.
• Floor Crafting: Spend any 2 shards to draw 1 floor tile into the reserve, and then you may exchange 1 floor tile (as described in the supply step). If you spend a 3rd shard, you may draw a multi floor tile instead.

Complete a spire

If your fortress has 4 floors of the same element, one on top of another, then you are ready to complete a spire! To complete an element's spire, place the spire topper on the top floor, within a small room "footprint."

Some clarifications:

• The stack of floors may be made up of floor tiles of the element and/or multi floor tiles, which count as all elements. A spire may even consist entirely of multi floors, though you will need to decide which element that spire represents.
• The 4th floor (the top floor) cannot have anything on it: pillars, invaders, or another spire topper.
• The 4th floor must have a small room "footprint," meaning it has a place where a small floor tile could normally be added (regardless of the floor's size) OR it is a small floor tile that has a special effect on it.
• You are not required to complete the spire immediately once the 4th floor has been added. You may wish to wait until later, for various strategic reasons.

When you complete a spire and place the spire topper, proceed as follows:

1. Defeat the aether fiend: Detach that element's aether fiend card from the board and place it to the side, even if it never awakened. That aether fiend will no longer have any effect on the game. If this was the 4th aether fiend, you have won the game - proceed to the Game End section.
2. Gain a spire completion bonus: Choose one of the unused spire completion bonus tokens to activate. Gain its effects immediately and then flip it to the used side.
3. Diminish the element: Remove 5 invader tokens of the spire's element from the bag and place them on the defeated aether fiend card, making it less likely that this element's invaders will cause further damage to the fortress. If fewer than 5 tokens were in the bag, remove invaders from the fortress and/or shards from the elemental wheel until 5 tokens are set aside.

Note (from the printed rulebook): How can we build 4 spires when there are only 3 foundations on the game board? At least one spire won't be able to start on the ground floor. It will start somewhere above a floor that's divided into multiple rooms, such that two (or more) elements will be built up over the same foundation. Note that the spire will still require 4 full floors of the element, meaning its top floor will be at a height of level 5 or higher!

Special actions

Each character card has 3 or more unique actions that only they can use. There are 3 different types of actions, as follows:

• Trigger actions: These actions have a cost, usually discarding or destroying something. Pay the cost indicated to proceed with the action's effect.
• Passive actions: These actions are "always on." Whenever the action's specified condition applies, proceed with the action's effect.
• Spell upgrades: These actions modify how a standard spell works. When casting the indicated spell, modify it as indicated.

Invasion step

With the build step completed, it's time for the invasion.

Advance the invader track token

Move the invader track token down one space on the game board.

If the invader track token reached a space connected to a dormant (face-down) aether fiend that hasn't yet been defeated, flip that aether fiend card over to awaken it. From this point on, the aether fiend has some extra effect to make the game harder for the heroes. The effect lasts until the aether fiend is defeated or some other effect makes it dormant again.

If the invader track token reached the Lose space, you have lost the game - proceed to the Game End section.

Draw new invaders

The number next to the invader track token indicates how many invaders will enter the fortress, infesting pillar spaces or attacking the core. Draw the indicated number of invaders from the bag and then proceed as follows for each token:

• The invader will go to an unoccupied pillar space (one without an invader) in a room matching its element, if possible. If not, then it will go to an unoccupied pillar space in a multi room, if possible. If not, then it will attack the core.
• When going into a room, the invader will go to the highest space possible. A floor at level 4 will be invaded before a floor at level 3. Within a level, a space with a pillar will be invaded before a space without a pillar (because it's higher).
• When attacking the core, the invader destroys the wall token of its element (remove it from the game board), if present. If not, it destroys one of the aethercore tokens. In either case, the invader token is also destroyed.

In cases where the draw order matters (usually involving characters referring to the "first invader"), draw 1 at a time. In cases where the placement order matters (usually involving multi floor tiles), the active player decides the order in which the invaders enter the fortress.

Example (from the printed rulebook): Let's say you have just these 2 tiles in play, with the pillars and invaders on them as shown.

• If you drew 3 new fire invaders, two of them would go to the pillar spaces on the fire tile and the last one would go to an open space in the other room on the fire tile.
• If you drew 1 earth and 2 water invaders, one of them would go to the pillar space on the multi tile, one of them would go to the open space on the multi tile, and the last one would attack the core. In this case, you would get to choose the order for these invaders, since it could matter.

End of turn

Discard any unused dice. Floor tiles in the reserve and shards on the elemental wheel remain as they are for future turns.

Pass the active player token to the player on your left, with the "reroll any" side face-up, and then that player starts their turn.

Game end

The game ends immediately when one of the following occurs:

Win condition: The fourth spire topper has been placed. You have focused the power of the spires and sealed away the aether fiends for good. Great job!

Loss conditions:

• The last aethercore token is destroyed. With the last line of defense against the planar chaos now destroyed, the realm of Elementis is overrun with raw elemental energy and sent into ruin.
• The invader track token reaches the Lose space on the invader track. You have taken too long, and the invasion is at full force. You will not withstand the onslaught.
• There are no pillar cubes available at the start of a turn. You have squandered your resources and chaos now rules the land.

If the last aethercore token was destroyed, you have lost the game - proceed to the Game End section.

Difficulty Modes

After you've beaten the basic game, try progressing through these increased difficulty modes, in order. Each difficulty mode builds on the one before, so once a change is introduced it should be included in every subsequent game.

Difficulty 1: The First Wave

You gotta start somewhere!

The game setup rules above describe the basic way to play.

Spire adaptations add extra requirements to complete that element's spire. You may not place that element's spire topper until the extra requirements have been met.

Example: The Stable adaptation is tucked under the fire aether fiend. You cannot complete the fire spire until the combined number of pillars on the base floor and every floor above it (even those that may not be part of the spire itself) is 18 or more.

After you've successfully completed an adapted spire, rotate the tucked spire adaptation card so that only the Completed side is showing. This will present either an immediate bonus or ongoing effect that remains active for the rest of the game. If two effects should ever trigger at the same time (such as two adaptations that each give a benefit during the gather supplies step), the active player may decide the order.

There may be times when you want (or need) to create spires consisting of more than 4 floors. Unless otherwise indicated, this is allowed.

A floor can only ever be part of one spire. However, requirements about a different tile being associated (such as with the Turbulent adaptation) do not count that other tile as being part of the spire.

Difficulty 2: Crisis on Infinite Planes

You've thwarted the attack on Elementis, but even more destructive fights are taking place in parallel realms!

Assume the following changes to the Game Setup section:

• Step 5: Use one of the other sets of aether fiends, or randomly pick one of each element from the entire deck:
  • Level 2: End of the Rainbow - these aether fiends diminish the power of star dice and multi rooms.
  • Level 3: Wrecking Crew - these aether fiends want to break through your elemental walls.
  • Level 4: Legion of Destruction - these aether fiends dispatch more invaders that hit harder.
• Steps 11-12: Ignore these setup steps. You will no longer start the game with a large multi floor tile or invaders on the game board.
• Step 15: You may use starter and advanced heroes. You can choose to either let players select a desired hero, or deal them out randomly.

Difficulty 3: What? Chaos is Evolving!

The aether fiends are getting smarter, tougher, trickier. The spires you've been building thus far won't cut it anymore.

Assume the following changes to the Game Setup section:

• Step 5b (NEW): After placing out the aether fiends, shuffle the spire adaptation cards and randomly deal one next to each aether fiend (if this proves too difficult, you can reduce the difficulty by only dealing adaptations to the first 1, 2, or 3 aether fiends instead). Tuck the spire adaptation card under the aether fiend card so that only the requirements side is showing.

Difficulty 4: Jump Start

You've taken some time to fortify your defenses. Meanwhile, the aether fiends have also taken time to fortify their attacks.

Assume the following changes to the Game Setup section:

• Step 3: Start with 1 extra aether core token.
• Step 6: Start with the invader track token down 1 space.

You may further increase the challenge, adding an extra aether core token per additional space you move the invader track token down. If the token starts at or below an aether fiend awakening space, awaken that aether fiend at the start of the game.

Glossary

• Aethercore: The lifeblood of the fortress. If the last aethercore token is removed, the heroes lose the game. Aethercore tokens may be added by various game effects, up to a maximum of 5. See also "Wall."
• Aether fiend: The "boss" monsters of the game. There will always be 4 aether fiends each game, one for each element. An aether fiend can be either active (face-up) or dormant (face-down).
• Base floor: The lowest-level floor tile of the stack making up a spire.
• Crystallize (invader): Put an invader from the fortress onto the appropriate space on the elemental wheel as a shard.
• Destroy: In general, anything that is destroyed is removed from the fortress and put back where it originally came from.
  • Destroy (floor tile): Put a floor tile from the fortress on the bottom of its stack. Any pillars on the tile are also destroyed. Unless otherwise stated, you cannot destroy a floor that has any invaders or other floors above it.
  • Destroy (invader): Put an invader from the fortress into the bag.
  • Destroy (pillar): Put a pillar from the fortress back into the pillar supply, keeping the invader in the same space, if any. Pillars underneath a floor tile cannot be destroyed.
• Dice: See "Roll X dice."
• Discard: In general, anything that is discarded is removed from an area outside the fortress and put back where it originally came from.

Icon Reference

Each icon is shown as an image in the printed rulebook; the entries below give the meaning printed beside each icon.

• Earth element: Usually references a die showing this symbol.
• Air element: Usually references a die showing this symbol.
• Fire element: Usually references a die showing this symbol.
• Water element: Usually references a die showing this symbol.
• Star: Usually references a die showing this symbol.
• Any floor tile / random floor tile.
• Multi floor tile.
• Floor tile of the indicated element.
• Any die.
• Any invader / random invader.
• Invader of the indicated element.
• Any shard / random shard.
• Shard of the indicated element.
• Trigger action.
• Passive action.

Completing a Spire Summary

If your fortress has 4 floors of the same element, then you may place the spire topper on the top floor, within a small room "footprint." Proceed as follows:

1. Defeat the aether fiend: Detach that element's aether fiend card from the board and place it to the side, even if it never awakened. That aether fiend will no longer have any effect on the game. If this was the 4th aether fiend, you have won the game!
2. Gain a spire completion bonus: Choose one of the unused spire completion bonus tokens to activate. Gain its effects immediately and then flip it to the used side.
3. Diminish the element: Remove 5 invader tokens of the spire's element from the bag and place them on the defeated aether fiend card, making it less likely that this element's invaders will cause further damage to the fortress. If fewer than 5 tokens were in the bag, remove invaders from the fortress and/or shards from the elemental wheel until 5 tokens are set aside.