AlderQuest

AlderQuest Rulebook

Table of Contents

Objective

The objective of AlderQuest is to collect more Acorns than the opposing team before the coming winter. Collecting Acorns is a multi step process:

Hero Actions are spent to match faction runes on the Board to collect resources;
Hero Actions and resources are spent to summon minions onto the Battlefield;
Minions move about the Battlefield in search of enemy Acorns, which they deliver to the Great Tree;
Acorns delivered to the Great Tree are dropped onto the Board;
Players collect (score) enemy Acorns that they match on the Board.

The player with the most Acorn points collected when the fourth Snowflake is matched is the winner.

Factions

Bards – The proclivities of the conniving Rogues have already begun to influence their Minstrel buddies who liltingly lull their prey into the most dire of circumstances. This amphibious and avian clan possesses the ingenuity of natural Preservers. Whether or not it will prove sufficient to win the title remains to be seen.

Guardians – Formed over centuries with the very mission of defending the realm, the Guardians Order played a large role in repelling the first invasion. Battle-proven Clerics and Monks cannot be blamed for believing themselves worthy Preservers, but as members of a humble and honest guild, they are here to compete without complaint.

Hunters – To most, the Fighters and Rangers of Clan Hunters are a ruthless horde devoid of conscience, whose predation is guided by corrupt preoccupations with superiority and dominance. Members of the faction prefer not to be regarded as a "horde."

Thieves – One part utility, two parts convenience, the partnership of Pirates and Ninjas under the unified Thieves Guild has surprised and concerned honest critters throughout the realm. Their interest in the contest is tangential, feeding an ever-present lust for loot and adventure.

Box Contents

40 Minion Cards (10 per faction)
40 Quarrel Cards (10 per faction)
8 Hero Cards (2 per faction)
16 Blue Acorn Tiles (3 three-point, 6 two-point, 9 one-point)
16 Red Acorn Tiles (3 three-point, 6 two-point, 9 one-point)
1 Blue Team Tile Pouch
1 Red Team Tile Pouch
32 Rune Tiles (8 per faction)
10 Snowflake Tiles (5 red, 5 blue)
16 Trap Tiles (8 red, 8 blue)
1 Black Rune Pouch
1 Battlefield Board
1 Matching Board
1 Great Tree

Two Player Rules

AlderQuest can be played with one, two, three, or four players out of this box. First we will cover the rules for a standard head-to-head two-player game (pages 5-19), then explain formats for three or more players (pages XX-XX) and other solo variants (XX).

Game Setup

Set up the Boards and Tree. Place the Battlefield in the center of the table within easy reach of all players. Place the Great Tree on the stump at the center of the Battlefield board. Place the Matching Board on one side of the Battlefield, with the top of the Board (the canopy of the Tree) furthest from the Battlefield, and the bottom of the Board (the roots of the Tree) flush with the Battlefield.
Organize Faction Cards. Separate all cards by type (Minion, Quarrel, and Hero) and faction (Bards, Guardians, Hunters, and Thieves) and keep them nearby.
Create Acorn Pouches. Separate all the tiles by type and color and keep them nearby with the Tile Pouches. Setup the players' tile pouches by adding 2 trap, 2 snowflake, 2 three-point, 5 two-point, and 8 one-point Acorns to the pouch that matches the tile's back (red or blue).
Choose Teams. Players may choose their teams or flip a coin (or tile) to determine who goes first (red team for this example) and second (blue team). Players take the pouch and all remaining tiles of their color to their side. Players stack all of their remaining Trap tiles beside their Tile Pouches.
Choose Factions. Starting with Red Team, players take turns choosing one Faction at a time. When a player chooses a faction, take all Hero, Minion and Quarrel cards associated with that faction and set them on your side of the Battlefield Board.
Setup the Matching Board and Rune Pouch. Take 2 of each chosen Faction's tiles and set them up in the bottom two rows of the Matching Board so that ally factions are next two one another, but each faction is not adjacent to itself (neither orthogonally nor diagonally). Add the 24 remaining Rune Tiles to the Rune Pouch bag and set it near the Matching Board.

[Figure: example setup layout showing both players' Battlefield columns with Heroes, minion decks, Quarrel decks, tile pouches, the Matching Board with its starting faction tiles, the Rune Discard Pile and the hidden 'W' and 'M' tile patterns, with a number marker on each column.]

Gameplay

AlderQuest is played over a series of turns. The player with the 'W' tile configuration always takes the first turn of the game. Play proceeds back and forth between players until the game ends. When winter has arrived, the team who has collected the most Acorn points and therefore has the highest score wins.

Turn Sequence

Ready. Ready each of your exhausted Heroes by turning them face-up. Ready each of your exhausted minions.

Exhausted minions should be turned 45° so that you can easily track which minions have yet to act.
Set Tiles. If you have any tiles in your hand, set each of them into a space on the Battlefield where there are no minions and no other tiles, excluding canopy spaces. If all spaces are occupied by either a minion and/or a tile, a tile can be set in one of the spaces with the fewest number of tiles.

Note: You can always peek at your own facedown tiles.
Reveal Runes. Draw 3 runes from the Rune Pouch, placing them above the Board.
Action Phase. During this phase, you are free to drop the runes you revealed, take Hero actions, move Minions and play Quarrel cards in any order you wish. This is where the bulk of your turn takes place. This phase is complete when you have dropped all of the revealed runes into the Matching Board and have either spent all of your potential actions or simply opted to end your turn by proceeding to the next phase.

Dropping Runes

Runes must be dropped one-at-a-time. If dropping a rune causes a match to occur, the match is processed immediately (see Matching). You must drop all three of the revealed runes into the Matching Board before you are allowed to end your turn.

Note: If at any time, a rune needs to be added to the Board but cannot be because all columns are full, the bottom row of runes is destroyed and discarded.

Example of dropping your revealed runes.

Matching Runes

When 3 or more like runes are aligned either vertically or horizontally, a match occurs and the following steps are taken in order, immediately:

Remove the matched runes from the Board.
Move all remaining runes in each column downward as space allows (i.e. apply "gravity").
Process the matched runes: a. Ally Match: If the runes match one of your factions, collect them as resources. b. Enemy Match: If the runes are from your opponent's faction, discard them and drop a new line (see Dropping a New Line). c. Acorn and Snowflake matches are detailed later (see Matching Acorns).

Example: If the red player were to drop their runes from left to right in the example on page 9, a match would occur after the first drop. The red player would collect the 3 Thieves runes to their supply as an Ally match.

Example: Dropping the 3rd Hunter rune would trigger an Enemy match. You would remove the 3 Hunter runes, apply gravity and then drop a new line.

Dropping a New Line

Draw a rune from the Rune Pouch and place it over the left-most column that is not full. Do this for each non-full column from left-to-right.
Drop the revealed runes into the columns simultaneously.

New Lines can create cascading combo effects and new matches!

Hero Actions

On your turn, you may take up to one action with each of your Heroes, in any order. When a Hero takes an action, its card is flipped over to show that it is exhausted and cannot be used again in the same turn. Taking some Hero actions costs runes (rune icon). Heroes can spend runes of any faction.

0 Swap: Switch the positions of two horizontally or vertically adjacent runes.
0 Slide: Move a rune into a horizontally adjacent space that is empty. If there is not a rune under the new space, the moved rune drops due to gravity.
0 Drop a Line: Draw a rune from the Rune Pouch and place it over the left-most column that is not full. Do this for each non-full column. Then drop the revealed runes into the columns simultaneously (see the Dropping a New Line example).
1 Summon a Minion: Summon a minion of the faction whose rune was spent, into the space on the Battlefield in front of the Hero you used. The minion enters play exhausted.
X Use Hero Ability: Spend a number of runes of any faction(s), equal to the ability's printed cost to activate it. Each Hero ability is unique and states its effect.

Example of a Swap.

Example of a Slide.

Example card: Sebastian (Merciless Mariner). Cannonball, cost 2: "Destroy a rune held by an opponent. That opponent draws a tile." You could exhaust Sebastian and discard any two of your runes to activate "Cannonball."

Moving Minions

Each ready minion (i.e. not exhausted) can activate once per turn. Each activation allows you to move a minion twice. Moving a minion does not cost runes or Hero actions.

Basic Minions

Artwork. A minion's class is discernible from its artwork (i.e. this is a Cleric, as opposed to a Monk). Class helps determine ability of the upgraded minion.
Faction. The Faction this card belongs to i.e Guardians.

Summon a Minion Example: You spend a Thief rune (placing it in the rune discard pile) and flip over your Hero to Summon a Thief minion in the space in front of Clarence. Minions enter play exhausted and will not be ready to move until your team's next turn.

Normal Movement

Moving from one space to an adjacent space is a normal move. Minions with no special movement are limited to two consecutive normal moves and are then exhausted.

The Battlefield is made up of twenty-four (24) ground spaces surrounding the Great Tree and four (4) canopy spaces in it. Unless specifically stated, rules and cards that refer to "spaces" refer only to the ground spaces.

Above is an example of a normal move. Remember that each minion may move twice per turn before exhausting.

Moving into an Enemy Minion

When a minion moves into a space occupied by an enemy minion, a "Squabble" occurs and both minions are destroyed. Any Acorns held by these minions are dropped in the space where the Squabble occurs. If there are any unrevealed tiles on the space where a Squabble took place, they remain unrevealed.

Example: On my turn, I move my Thief minion to squabble with my opponent's Hunter minion that has grabbed one of my Acorns. Both minions are discarded and placed at the bottom of their respective minion decks. The Acorn tile stays revealed face-up in the space.

Elbow Drop!

If your minion is exiting the Great Tree and jumping down on top of an enemy minion in the ground space directly below them, your minion destroys the enemy minion unharmed and remains in play.

Confronting an Enemy Hero

When you move a minion beyond an outer Battlefield space in the direction of an enemy Hero, a "Hero Squabble" occurs. Your opponent draws two tiles and discards a Quarrel if able, and you draw a Quarrel. Then, if your minion has a "Confront" trigger, it activates. Finally, your minion is destroyed.

Example: On my turn, I first move my Thief minion to the space in front of my opponent's center Hero. Then with my minon's second move, I confront the enemy Hero. My minion is destroyed, but the sacrifice is worth it because my opponent will be forced to set more tiles (and potential acorns) next turn.

Minion Movement

Encountering Enemy Tiles

When you move a minion into a space with an unrevealed enemy tile, you can choose to reveal or dismiss the tile.

Dismissing Tiles. If you suspect your minion has encountered a trap, you may discard it to your opponent's pouch without revealing it!

If you don't dismiss, you must reveal:

If it's an Acorn, your minion may carry it from space to space, or pass it to adjacent ally minions (see Passing Acorns between Minions below).
If it's a Trap, your opponent chooses to either destroy your minion, or activate one of their armed trap cards.
If it's a Snowflake, add it to the rune discard pile and flip over your minion to its upgraded side.

Passing Acorns between Minions

Orthogonally-adjacent ally minions can freely pass enemy Acorns to one another. This can occur any time during your Action Phase; passing Acorns has no cost and does not need to be followed or preceded by either minion moving; each minion involved is still entitled to move.

Entering/Exiting the Great Tree

Minions can move into a canopy space of the Tree ONLY by using a normal move from the space directly beneath it. When a minion exits the Tree, it MUST use a normal movement to move to the ground space directly beneath.

Tributing Acorns

If a minion is ever holding an enemy Acorn and occupying a canopy space (after resolving any events related to moving into the canopy), the Acorn is "Tributed".

When your minion tributes, the minion is exhausted and you drop the Acorn into any column of the Matching Board. If your minion is basic, flip it over to its upgraded side.

One Minion per Space!

No more than one minion can ever occupy the same space.

A minion cannot be summoned nor move into a space with an ally minion. If a player wishes to summon or move a minion into a space where there is an ally minion, they need to first move the minion in order to make the space available.

If a minion would be summoned into or move into a space with an enemy minion, the two minions squabble (see Moving into an Enemy Minion).

Card effects that cause minions to move do not override this rule. If a card effect would cause a minion to move into a space with an ally minion, that part of the effect does not happen.

Upgraded Minions

Example card: Rabbit Cleric. Tribute: Summon a Guardian minion into an adjacent space.

Minion Name. Animal type followed by class.
Ability. Trigger followed by the ability effect.
Special Movement. Some minions have special movement denoted by a symbol in their center gem.

Special Movement

If a minion has special movement, one of the minion's two consecutive movements can be replaced by one of the following moves:

Charge – moving as many spaces as possible in one direction, not interacting with enemy tiles in the intervening spaces – usable only if the movement will result in a squabble with an enemy minion;
Flight – moving two spaces in one direction, skipping over the intervening space;
Sneak – moving from one space to a diagonally adjacent space;

Other types of special movement denoted are as follows:

Judo – the first time that this minion is attacked each turn, its controller may move it to an adjacent space, evading the would-be squabble.
Speed – the minion may make one additional normal movement per turn;

Examples of Charge, Flight and Sneak are shown on page 15.

Playing Quarrels

The cost to play a Quarrel is always one (1) rune of the Quarrel's faction. There are two types of Quarrels, which operate differently from one another.

Example card: Resistance Trap.

Quarrel Name.
Faction / Rune Cost. Discard one rune of the displayed faction to play this card.
Type. Either a Scheme (Scheme icon) or Trap (Trap icon).
Effect. Follow these actions and effects when the card is played.
Draw. When you have dropped all of your revealed runes and completed your Action Phase, the last phase of your turn occurs. Before drawing as described below, you may discard any number of Quarrel cards. Then, draw one Quarrel card if you are holding fewer than three (3) in your hand, and draw a tile from your Tile Pouch. Drawing ends your turn.

Schemes

Schemes are effects that occur immediately when the card is played. After executing the effect, the Scheme is discarded.

Traps

Traps are cards with delayed effects that are "armed" face up beside the player's Tile Pouch when played. When a player arms a Trap, they take a trap tile to their hand (to be placed at the start of their next turn).

When you reveal an enemy trap tile on the Battlefield, your opponent can choose to activate one of their armed traps by executing its "trigger" effect or they may destroy the minion who revealed their trap tile. Either way, the trap tile is returned to your opponent's unused trap tiles.

Example card: Resistance Trap. Trigger: Destroy the enemy minion that activated this trap and all surrounding enemy minions.

Matching Acorns

Over the course of the game you will be working to find, tribute, and then match Enemy Acorns to collect them as points. Acorns can be matched with other Acorns of their same color or with Snowflakes which acts as either a blue or red Acorn.

Enemy Acorns Match: The matched Acorn(s) are claimed by you and added to your "Collection".
Ally Acorns: Your matched Acorn(s) are discarded, postponing your opponent's ability to score your Acorns.
Snowflakes: The matched Snowflake(s) are placed at the bottom of the Board, into the designated snowflake spaces.

Figure: "Each of these Rows is a valid way of matching Acorns and/or Snowflakes." (four example rows of Acorn and Snowflake tiles)

Ending the Game

When four snowflakes have been matched, winter has arrived and the game ends. The player whose Collection has the highest Acorn point total is the winner. If players are tied when the fourth Snowflake is matched, tiebreakers are considered in the following order:

Controller of the currently Exalted faction;
Player who has collected the most Acorn tiles;
Player with the fewest Acorn points on the Board;
Player with the most minions on the Battlefield;

Example Turn

This section walks you through a detailed turn as the Red player. For the sake of this example, "you" refers to the Blue player and "I" to the Red player. In order to show off minion movement and other concepts of the game, this is not a first turn example.

Current Battlefield State (figure).

Ready: I start my turn by readying all 3 of my Heroes and my 2 minions (the Basic Thief Minion and the Porcupine monk).
Set Tiles: I have 2 tiles in my hand from a Confrontation last turn. 1 is a trap tile and the other is three-point acorn. I want to protect my revealed Acorn so I decide to set my trap face-down on the space to the north of that acorn. The other tile is a high point acorn so I want to place it as far away from the enemy minions as possible.
Reveal Runes: Next I reveal my runes and get a Hunter, Thief and Guardian Rune.
Action Phase: Before dropping any runes, I decide I want to try and tribute and collect the acorn my Thief minion is holding. I move my Thief minion one space south (onto the trap tile I just placed) and then move up into the canopy above to tribute my Acorn. I drop the Acorn into the left-most column so that I will collect 3 acorn points. This also matches a Snowflake which moves the game towards its end. My Thief Minion upgrades into a Racoon Ninja causing you to draw 2 tiles from your pouch.

Board panels A to D (figure): The Red player's runes are dropped in order. A: drop the Thief Rune and exhaust Lily to perform a swap. B: drop the Guardian Rune and use Clarence's Action to swap the lower Guardian rune. C: the new line drops. D: the resulting ally match.

I started this turn with no runes, so I decide to drop my Thief Rune [A] and exhaust Lily to perform a swap. My Thief faction becomes exalted as a result of the match-4. I collect all 4 runes.

I decide to drop my Guardian rune next [B] and use Clarence's Action to swap the lower Guardian rune to make an Enemy Match (Bards) and trigger a new line drop.

The new line that drops [C] causes an Ally match, so I collect 3 Guardian runes [D].

I want to defend my revealed Acorn, so I move my Porcupine minion two spaces to the east.

Now that I have 6 runes, I decide to discard 1 Guardian rune and 2 Thief runes and flip Maggie to activate her ability: Misdirection (cost 3). Misdirection allows me to add a Trap tile to my pouch and summon a Thief minion onto any ally tile. I choose the one furthest from my side.

I am out of Hero actions, but I still have 3 runes left. I take a look at my hand of Quarrel cards.

I decide to spend my last Thief rune to play and arm my "Swift Heist" trap.

To end my turn, I draw 1 tile from my pouch and 1 Quarrel card because I have fewer than 3 in hand.

Advanced Matching

Empty Board

When the Board is completely empty and all matches that just occurred have been fully processed, drop a new line.

Full Board

When the Board is completely full and one or more new runes would be added by a player, first destroy the bottom row.

Faction Match 4+

The first time per game that a player creates an ally match-4 (or match-5), the matched faction becomes exalted. The exalted faction's banner is displayed atop the Great Tree, the faction's exalted effect card is displayed beside the rune grid on the Board, and exalted status will be retained by that faction until it is changed due to a new match-4 or match-5.

Opponents can remove exalted status by creating a match-4 or match-5 of the exalted faction or can steal Exalted status by creating a match-4 or more of their own faction runes. Only one faction at a time can be Exalted.

Faction Match 5

In addition to affecting exalted status identically to a match-4, when a player creates a match-5, they draw a legendary Quarrel. Legendary Quarrels have very powerful effects and can be played by spending a rune of any faction.

Team Variant

If you are playing with 4 players, the game is played as a 2v2 team battle. If you have 3 players, the game is played as 2v2, but with one player conrtolling both player turns for their team.

Each player uses two Heroes (one of each ally faction) setup as shown below;
Effects that refer to "opponent" are referring to teams, therefore the effect occurs once in 2v2, not once per opposing player;
Players take individual turns, alternating between teams after each player turn (see player order outlined below);
Players have their own action budget on their turn, controlling only their two Heroes, but share their team's runes, minions, Quarrels, tiles, and Acorns scored.

Teammates can play more individualistically, or can discuss and collaboratively strategize on everything from where to place tiles, to where to drop revealed runes, to where to move minions.

Hero setup differs slightly for a 2v2 game, with the center column empty and each teammate's Heroes left or right-of-center.

Teams must alternate between turns. Red team still goes first. The red team player on the left (1) starts the game, followed by a blue team player (2), then back to red team's other player (3), and finishing with the other blue team player (4).

Team's share the same tile pouch, hand of quarrels, runes, minions etc.

Glossary of Terms

Acorn: Refers to an Acorn anywhere in play – in a player's Collection, on the Board, or revealed on the Battlefield. While most tiles are Acorns, facedown tiles should not be referred to as "Acorns." (see Tile)
Adjacent: Always means orthogonally adjacent. Diagaonal exceptions are always specifically mentioned in the rules and in card text.
Ally: Refers to you and your team and is usually followed by an identifier (i.e. Ally minion).
- An Ally Acorn refers to Acorns of your team color.
Board/The Board: Refers to the Matching Board.
Collection: Refers to the set of Enemy Acorns that a player or team has acquired as points, usually by matching them on the Board.
Enemy: Refers to your opponent(s) and is usually followed by an identifier (i.e. Enemy minion) to specify the effect.
- An Enemy Match is when you match your opponent's faction runes.
Open: A space on the Battlefield is 'open' if it does not contain a minion.
Rune: Refers to a tile that is either on the Board, in the rune discard, or held by a player as a resource. The Board and discard are known as the rune "cycle", wherein matched runes that are neither collected as resources nor points, and those collected as resources and then spent back to the discard, will cycle indefinitely.
- Adjacent Runes: (and other directional references pertaining to runes) Refers to runes on the Board that are adjacent to one another.

Minion Triggers

All upgraded minions have abilities that trigger under one or more circumstances. Activating a minion's triggered ability is always optional for the minion's controller.

Reveal – occurs when the basic minion becomes upgraded;
Move – occurs when the minion has finished moving for the turn, if it has not been destroyed;
Tribute – occurs whenever the minion tributes an enemy Acorn;
Squabble – occurs whenever the minion squabbles (with a minion or Hero);
Confront – occurs whenever the minion squabbles with a Hero;
Destroyed – occurs when the upgraded minion is destroyed;