Arcs: The Blighted Reach Expansion Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup: Act I
• Setup: Acts II and III
• Campaign
• Empire
• Events
• Imperial Council
• Free States
• Summits
• Crises
• Blight
• Edicts
• Imperial Fund
• Flagships
• New Rules and Concepts
• Resources
• Tokens
• Interlude
• Saving the Game

Components

Destiny cards and components.

• Destiny cards (24). Eight each of the destiny cards A, B and C. These large cards show your destiny, which may change over time.
• Destiny sets. Each destiny has its own set of cards and components, which you use in the game (set them out as described below). Cards are marked with the letter C and the destiny set number in the lower left corner. Components for punching out are on sheets in colour-coded areas, marked with the divider symbol and the destiny set number they belong to.
• Destiny set dividers (24). Punch out the dividers for the destiny sets and place them in the middle compartments of the box. Place the small cards of the 24 destiny sets behind the dividers with the matching numbers. Store their components in bags next to the cards or in a separate compartment. Put the large destiny cards in the small raised compartment.

Player components. Each participant has the following set of components. The box contains 4 such sets.

• Player board. Holds your components; the five cities go in the five triangular spaces at the top of it.
• Flagship figure. Some destinies tell you to play as a flagship and add this figure to the board.
• Flagship board. Some destinies tell you to play as a flagship and take this board.
• Mission marker. Shows how close you are to completing the mission set for you by your destiny.

Other cards and sheets.

• Guilds (10). Use in the campaign a new court deck. Cards are marked "KD".
• Lore (5). Use in the campaign a new court deck. Cards are marked "KD".
• Events (3). When setting up, add two or three of these new action cards to the action deck.
• Imperial Council (1). Use this card to exercise imperial policy. The card is marked 01.
• Edicts (4). Place them in the card booklet and activate them during events. Edict cards are marked 02–05.
• Regent and renegade titles (4). Start the game as an imperial regent; you may become a renegade later. Title cards are marked 06–09.
• Flagship upgrade reference cards (4). These reference cards give the rules for flagship upgrades. They are marked 10–13.
• Reference sheets (2). These sheets give the game rules, end-of-game rules and setup for future games.
• Campaign journal. Use it to save your progress between games.

Other components.

• Blight tokens (24). Blight is a mysterious entity spreading across the Reach. Nobody knows its motives or how to make contact with it.
• Free cities and free spaceports (28 cities, 14 spaceports). You may use free buildings that you control.
• Imperial ships (15). These ships control systems in the name of the Empire. Regents may use imperial ships.
• Number die and event die. Roll them during setup and during some events in the game.
• Chapter track tile. Cover the chapter track on the board with this two-sided tile. Use the front side for Acts I and II and the back side for Act III.
• First Regent token. Shows who is currently the First Regent and holds the imperial fund.
• Card booklet. Place the various cards added to the game here.
• Overflow markers (4). Between games, mark components in overfilled areas of the board.
• Other dividers (6). You can store cards and components behind these dividers (see Saving the Game).

Setup: Act I

If you are starting a campaign, read this section. Otherwise, go to "Setup: Acts II and III" on page 7.

Setting up a campaign is very different from setting up a normal game. The important changes are:

• Do not use setup cards. There are no regions outside the game, and all players place their starting components by the rules below.
• Use the guild and lore cards from the campaign (marked "KD"). Do not use the base game court cards (marked "BD").
• Use the same deck of custom cards as the base game (marked "O"), but shuffle the customs into the court deck after the court row has been laid out.

1. General setup

A. Place the board on the table. Take 18 combat dice, 25 resource tokens, 24 blight tokens, 28 free cities and 14 free spaceports.

B. Give the initiative marker to a random player.

C. Shuffle the 20 action cards numbered 2 to 6 and form the action deck.

D. Only in a four-player game. Shuffle the 8 action cards numbered 1 and 7 into the action deck.

E. Shuffle 2 event cards (2–3 players) or 3 event cards (4 players) into the action deck.

F. Place the 3 ambition markers, blue side with the lower numbers up, in the spaces of the "Available Markers" area of the board.

G. Place the chapter track tile, front side "Acts I and II" up, covering the chapter track on the board, and place the chapter marker on its "1" space.

H. Place the zero marker in the declared-ambitions space on the board.

I. Shuffle all 15 campaign lore and guild cards (marked "KD") and form the court deck. Take 3 cards (2 players) or 4 cards (3–4 players) from it and place them face up in a row, the court row.

J. Shuffle 1 random edict card per player from the edict deck into the court deck. Use the same edict deck as the base game. You may add any edict cards from the expansion sets to this deck.

K. Place the Imperial Council card (01), council side up, as the leftmost card of the court row.

L. Only in a two-player game. Place the edict "Departure of the Guild Envoys" (02) in the first space of the card booklet.

M. Shuffle the 3 edicts "Power over the Imperial Reach" (03–05) face down, turn them all face up and place them face up in the first available space of the card booklet.

N. Roll the number die, then set up 2 imperial regions: place 1 imperial ship in each system of the region with the rolled number and of the region following it clockwise. (8 in total.)

O. Roll the event die, then place 1 free city on each planet of the rolled identifier symbol outside the imperial regions.

P. Place 1 damaged blight token (dark side up) in each system outside the imperial regions.

Q. Only in a two-player game. Place 6 resource tokens matching the planets in the imperial regions on the ambition spaces:

• Materials and fuel go on the "Magnate" space.
• Weapons go on the "Warlord" space.
• Relics go on the "Keeper" space.
• Psychotech goes on the "Empath" space.

2. Player setup

A. Each player chooses a colour, takes a player board, 15 ships, 5 cities, 5 spaceports and 10 agents of that colour, and places the cities in the five triangular spaces at the top of the player board.

B. Each player takes 2 destiny cards "A" (the "A" is on the back of the card) and secretly chooses one. When everyone has chosen, reveal them and take the matching destiny sets (see page 2).

C. Each player performs the setup described on the mission card, the first card in the destiny set, and then turns it over, mission side up.

D. Each player places their mission marker on the space of the power track marked with a large clock on the mission card.

E. Each player places their power marker on the "0" space of the power track on the board.

F. Each player takes a regent/renegade title card (06–09) and tucks it under their destiny card, regent side up, so that the title is visible. If nobody received the First Regent token during setup, the player holding the initiative marker takes it.

G. In turn order, each player places 3 ships in the system of a planet with an imperial ship, plus 1 building in an empty construction space on that planet, and takes 1 resource token of that planet's type. (Competitors' components may be on the planet.)

H. Repeat the previous step in reverse turn order, starting with the last player and moving counterclockwise.

I. Place free cities in all empty construction spaces on planets with imperial ships. (In a four-player game this may not be necessary.)

J. Each player takes 6 action cards into hand. Only in a two-player game: a player without the initiative marker may discard action cards from hand, except events, and draw the same number of new action cards from the deck.

K. Place all unclaimed action cards in the action discard pile on the board face down, then shuffle that pile.

Setup: Acts II and III

Only for two players (see step D below).

Prepare for Act II or III the same way as described above, including power, with these changes:

A. In Act II, flip the ambition marker with the lowest power value to its side with the higher value. In Act III, flip the two ambition markers with the lowest power values to their sides with the higher values. Place the other markers with their side showing the lower power value up.

B. Shuffle the court deck and place 3 cards (2 players) or 4 cards (3–4 players) from it in a row, the court row. Place the Imperial Council card council side up.

C. Place 1 damaged blight token on each gate that has no blight and no ships.

D. Roll the event die. Place 1 damaged blight token on the planet of the rolled identifier symbol in each region, if that planet has no blight. If there is blight on it, place 1 damaged blight token on each planet of that region that has no blight. Only for two players: roll the number die twice. Place 6 resource tokens matching the planets in the two rolled regions on the ambition spaces, as in step Q of the Act I setup. (If the resource supply runs out, place as many as you can.)

E. Each player sets up according to the setup side of their mission card, and then turns it mission side up. Each player may also redistribute their resource tokens. If players must make a choice during setup, they make it in turn order. (To speed things up, you can choose at the same time!)

F. Each player places their mission marker on the power track space shown at the top of their mission card. In Act III, only players with destiny "C" do this.

G. Place the chapter track tile, with its side for the current act up, and place the chapter marker on its "1" space. Take and discard action cards in the same way as steps K–L of the Act I player setup.

Campaign

The campaign of The Blighted Reach lasts three games, called acts. Acts of the campaign end differently from a game of the base game.

• Acts in this expansion do not last 5 chapters. Acts I and II end after 3 chapters, and Act III ends after 4 chapters.
• Do not end an act early if any player has enough power to do so. Ignore the marks on the power track.

When you set up for Act I, you choose destiny "A". You can play all three acts with it, or swap it for a new one.

• If you swap your destiny after Act I, choose destiny "B".
• If you swap your destiny after Act II, choose destiny "C".

At the end of Act III, the winner is the player with the most power points in total over all three acts. A tie between the player with destiny "A" and the player with destiny "B" is resolved in favour of the player with destiny "A". A tie between the player with destiny "B" and the player with destiny "C" is resolved in favour of the player with destiny "B". If a tie remains, use turn order to resolve it.

You can also win by completing the final mission (see page 9).

Cover the chapter track of the base game with the chapter track tile. Use the front side for Acts I and II and the back side for Act III.

In Acts II and III you may need to gain large amounts of power. Use the second power marker from the base game: place it on the "+50" or "+100" space when you reach the corresponding amount of power.

Mission

In Acts I and II your destiny brings you a mission.

• During setup, place your mission marker on the starting space of the power track shown at the top of your mission card. Sometimes the starting space changes depending on the number of players, shown by the player symbols.
• The mission card lists the ways to advance your mission marker towards "0" on the power track. When your marker reaches "0", you complete your mission!
• Won ambitions. Some missions require you to win an ambition. This means you must take first place in it without a tie.

Example mission texts:

• "Awaken faith in your cause": If you are a renegade, advance 3 for each ambition you win.
• "Cast off the emperor's power": At the end of a chapter, if you are a renegade, advance 1 for each system you rule. You may become a renegade when you declare an ambition using "Parade of Fleets", or when you call a summit.

Example: The chapter ends. Lina is a renegade, she has won 2 ambitions and rules 3 systems, so she advances her mission marker 9 spaces!

After Acts I and II there is an interlude. During the interlude you receive the bonus for completing your mission, you may choose a new destiny, and many damaged components are destroyed. If you fail your mission, you lose as many power points as the power track space where your mission marker is located shows. (See Interlude, page 28.)

Great ambitions

In Act III, destinies "A" or "B" bring two great ambitions, marked with the gold target symbol. Great ambitions give you more ways to gain power points, and they do not use the mission marker.

At the end of a chapter you receive points for your great ambitions at the same time as for declared ambitions.

• If you completed one great ambition, you receive the smaller value shown under the current chapter on the chapter track.
• If you completed both, you receive the larger value.

Chapter	1	2	3	4
One great ambition / both great ambitions	2 / 4	3 / 8	4 / 14	5 / 20

Your great ambitions work all the time, so you do not need to declare them. Rivals cannot gain power points for them.

Example: The end of chapter 3 has come. Daniil completed one great ambition, so he gets 4 power points for it.

Example great ambitions printed on the cards:

• "Secure the Empire's position in the Reach": You are a regent, and the Empire rules all renegade cities, or there are no renegades.
• "Secure the Empire's position in the Reach": You are the First Regent, and the number of resources in the imperial fund exceeds the number of the current chapter.

Final mission

Destinies "C" that appear in Act III have a final mission. At the end of a chapter, after scoring points for ambitions, you win the campaign if your final mission is complete: your mission marker is on "0" and you have at least 1 power point!

• Winning by completing the final mission is worth more than winning by the most power points.
• If you have a final mission, you can still win at the end of chapter 4 simply by having the most power points.
• If several players must win because they completed their final missions, the winner is the one with more power points.

There is no penalty for failing a final mission. It is just one more path to victory!

Card booklet

During the game your destiny will tell you to add many cards to the card booklet. It is double-sided: you can use one side for the edict cards and the other side for law and summit cards. In rare cases, if the space on one side has run out for certain cards, you can use the other side.

Each slot holds 1 to 3 cards without sleeves. If the cards are in sleeves, take them out first.

When adding cards to the booklet, be sure to read their text aloud, because their rules apply to everyone.

Empire

Everyone starts the game as a regent of the crumbling galactic Empire, as shown by the regent title cards tucked under the destiny cards.

One regent becomes the First Regent. The First Regent commands the Empire (see page 20) and manages the imperial fund (see page 21): resources that they collect from the regents as tribute for the distant emperor.

A regent may become a renegade by calling a summit (see page 16). The Empire may attack renegades, but renegades may also fight against regents and not pay into the imperial fund.

Control and command

The Empire controls all systems with any number of undamaged imperial ships. All loyal ships of the players are not counted for this.

The First Regent controls all imperial systems for ambitions, missions and during events (see page 12).

On their turn, a regent commands the imperial fleet, following the law of presence. They control the systems with loyal components where the Empire rules, and in them they may use the imperial fleet to perform actions: move and repair ships, use the Empire's ships in battle, construct, and tax the cities they rule. If a rule allows you to ignore the law of presence, you command the imperial fleet in all systems, even where there are no loyal components.

Law of presence. To command the imperial fleet, a regent must have loyal components in a system, that is, figures of their colour.

Example: A renegade has 4 undamaged loyal ships in a system. A regent has 2 undamaged loyal ships in it. However, there is also 1 undamaged imperial ship in it, so the Empire rules the system. On the regent's turn, they rule the system. On a renegade's turn, the Empire rules the system, so the renegade builds components in this system already damaged.

Movement

Regents also follow the law of movement: they may move 1 imperial ship for each loyal ship that they move with it, at the same time and to the same system.

• If the Empire rules a gate, hyperjumps of renegade components end there, but not those of regents or of the Empire.
• If a regent rules a gate, hyperjumps of rival components that move without imperial components end there.
• If a renegade rules a gate, hyperjumps of rival components and of the Empire end there.

Law of movement. Imperial ships do not move alone. Each of them needs a moving loyal ship. Rival components are components coloured in another player's colour. Most often you will make a hyperjump if you start your movement from a system with a loyal spaceport.

Example: A regent makes a hyperjump with 2 imperial and 3 loyal ships, leaving 1 loyal ship along the way. Then the regent continues the hyperjump with 2 imperial and 2 loyal ships, leaving 1 imperial ship along the way. The regent ends the hyperjump by moving 1 imperial and 2 loyal ships.

Battle, damage and taxes

Law of enmity. Imperial ships do not allow regents to damage each other, and also do not allow them to tax each other. Damage means battle, a hit, harm or destruction (see page 27). The law of enmity in no way limits crises (see page 18).

To hit a regent's buildings, a renegade must destroy all defending ships, even imperial ones.

Example: If a renegade fights a regent, the regent adds an imperial ship, so that the regent now has 3 defending ships. If a renegade fights the Empire, the Empire has 1 defending ship. If a regent fights a renegade, the regent may add an imperial ship to their 2 loyal ships.

Regents also follow the law of enmity: they cannot damage imperial ships, except when those ships are hit as attackers in a battle, and they cannot damage other regents or tax them in systems with imperial ships.

• When a regent attacks in a battle, they may add the imperial ships in the battle system to their attacking ships.
• When a regent defends in a battle, they must add the imperial ships in the battle system to their defending ships.

Battles of renegades

Renegades may choose either a regent or the Empire as defender.

If the Empire defends, the defending components are the imperial ships in the battle system, and the First Regent takes any destroyed renegade components as trophies. If there is no First Regent, those components return to the renegade.

Illustrated cases: "Regent + Empire..." (the renegade fights a regent with the Empire's ships) and "...or only the Empire."

Events

There are three types of events in the game: summits, crises and edicts.

• During a summit, players may freely make deals to exchange components and services.
• During crises, blight attacks the ships on the board and some guild and lore cards create chaos.
• When edicts are activated, the First Regent commands the Empire. Over time, the number of edicts grows.

Players trigger events by playing an event card or by claiming a card of the Imperial Council from the court (see page 14).

Event cards

Event cards are a new type of action card, added during setup. They cannot be removed from the game.

On your turn you may play an event card. You cannot make it the lead card, use it to copy, or use it to seize the initiative.

When you play this card, you may perform all the actions of the lead card. However, your event card does not give you any actions if earlier in this round someone else has played another event card or claimed a card of the Imperial Council (see page 14).

Card text, event card: "Repeat the lead card; add the event to the end of the round." Perform the actions of the lead card unless a rival has played an event card or claimed the Imperial Council card this round. You cannot make this card the lead card, use it to copy, or use it to seize the initiative. At the end of the round, after the initiative has been passed, the player with the initiative may call a summit, then must roll the event die. If it shows the crisis symbol, activate crises. If it shows the edict symbol, activate edicts. If the Imperial Council card was claimed this turn, play it instead of this card.

Updating cards in a two-player game. When in a two-player game at the start of a chapter you decide to discard and draw cards, you must keep all your event cards in hand and draw exactly as many action cards as you discarded.

If you are the holder of the initiative and your hand contains only event cards, you must pass the initiative. If you have played an event card that gives you no actions, you may still perform the prologue actions.

Example: Lina plays the card "Design 2" as the lead card. Daniil plays an event, so he may perform 4 design actions. Then Maria also plays an event, but gets no actions for it.

Event activation

• If several event cards were played, activate only one.
• Roll the number die and the event die, even if no summit was called.
• For now, ignore the number die and the planet identifier symbols on the event die. They are used in crises (see page 18).

At the end of a round in which at least one event card was played, immediately after the new initiative holder is determined, do the following:

1. The player with the initiative may call a summit (see page 16).
2. Then they roll the event die and the number die, and apply the result shown on the event die:
   • If the crisis symbol shows, activate crises (see page 18).
   • If the edict symbol shows, activate edicts (see page 20).

Imperial Council. If a card of the Imperial Council (see page 14) was claimed in the same round in which event cards were played, activate the Council card and do not activate the event card.

Example: Daniil and Maria have played event cards and did not seize the initiative, so the initiative stays with Lina. Lina calls a summit. After this she rolls the event and number dice, provoking crises.

Imperial Council

The Imperial Council is a court card with two sides: "Imperial Council in session" and "Imperial Council has decided". At the start of each act it lies council side up.

If the Imperial Council lies council side up, players may influence this card or claim it. The Imperial Council cannot be hidden, removed from the game or discarded.

Claiming the Council

When you claim the card, turn it to its decision side up and tuck it under your played card, so that its name is visible, as a reminder to activate it later.

At the end of this round, return the Imperial Council card, decision side up, to the court row, and then:

1. You may call a summit (see page 16).
2. If you are a regent, take the First Regent token together with the resources of the imperial fund lying on it (see page 21).
3. If you are a renegade, steal from the imperial fund on the First Regent token as many resources as you have empty resource spaces. The First Regent loses 1 power point for each resource stolen.
4. You must choose: activate crises (see page 18) or edicts (see page 20).

Event cards. If the Imperial Council card is claimed in the same round in which event cards were played (see page 12), activate the Council card and ignore the event cards.

Decision of the Council

After a card of the Imperial Council is claimed, turn it to its decision side up. While it lies decision side up, players cannot influence the Council card or claim it.

Turn it back to its council side at the start of an act (see page 7). You can also do this if you call a summit and submit a petition to the Council (see page 16). If you must turn the Council card while it lies under another card, return it to the court row.

Cards may be attached (see page 26) to the Council card even when it is decision side up. Some cards, for example "Court Wardens", also interact with it.

Unlike activating an event card:

• You, not the player with the initiative, decide whether to call a summit.
• You decide whether to activate crises or edicts, without looking at the event die.

Example: You are the First Regent and you have claimed the Council card. When the round ends, you call a summit and become a renegade, losing your title. Then you steal 3 resources from the imperial fund, forcing the new First Regent to lose 3 power points. Such a career climb is hard for anyone to foresee!

Card text, decision side: "At the end of the round, return the Imperial Council card to the court, decision side up, then: 1. You may call a summit. 2. If you are a regent, become the First Regent. 3. If you are a renegade, steal resources from the First Regent token (see the Empire rules reference). 4. You must activate crises or edicts. You cannot influence this card or claim it. You may turn this card to its council side if you call a summit and submit a petition to the Council."

If you turn the Council card back to its council side, do not activate it at the end of the round, even if you were supposed to!

Free States

Taxing a free city does not let you seize agents. Destroying a free city also imposes a ban.

The Empire is falling apart, and some peoples have fled its iron grip, declared independence and formed free states.

You may perform actions with the free buildings that you rule: tax free cities, build ships in free spaceports and make hyperjumps from them, and repair free cities and spaceports.

• Damage and trophies. Just like player buildings, free buildings can be damaged: they can be chosen as defenders in battle, hit, damaged and destroyed. Take destroyed free buildings as trophies.
• Battles. If you choose the free states as defenders in a battle, all free buildings in the battle system become defending components. They receive hits according to the values rolled on the dice, just like player buildings.
• Raids. You may raid the free states. Take exactly 1 resource matching the type of the planet, by paying the raid cost shown on the planet. This action counts as theft. You cannot take several resources from the free states in one battle.
• Empty supply. In the rare case that you must place a free building but the supply has run out, use any substitute.

Summits

Event cards and the Imperial Council allow players to call a summit. It has two stages: the call to order and then the negotiations.

First, during the call to order, you may return favours (agents of your rivals on your destiny card) to your rivals, to force them to perform negotiation actions. You may also take part in imperial politics.

Then, during the negotiations, everyone may freely perform negotiation actions, including exchanging favours, which can be returned during the next summits.

Call to order

The player who called the summit may perform as many call-to-order actions as they like, as listed below:

• Return favours. Return favours to your rivals' supplies to force them to perform negotiation actions (see page 17) of your choice, and declare yourself their target. By default, each negotiation action costs you 1 favour.
• Submit a petition to the Council. Turn the Imperial Council card council side up.
• Leave the Empire. Turn your title card renegade side up. If you are the First Regent, pass the First Regent token to the player with the most power points. Resources remain in the imperial fund. If there are no regents, return all resources from the imperial fund to the supply, lose 1 power point for each resource returned, and place the First Regent token back in the supply.
• Revive the Empire. If there are no regents, turn your title card regent side up and take the First Regent token.

Resources. You may spend any number of resources in the prologue of your turn, after playing an action card but before using its symbols. Frozen resources cannot be spent on prologue actions. Restrictions (bans) are described under the battle action.

Favours. Rivals' agents on your destiny card are favours. You normally get favours from negotiations (see page 17) and from imperial requirements (see page 20).

Example: Lina calls the summit to order. She returns two favours to Daniil, forcing him to give her a relic (transfer of value), because the raid cost of the space where the relic is located is 2! Then she submits a petition to the Council and turns the Council card council side up. She may do this despite having called the summit, by claiming the Council card.

Negotiations

If you replace a component, return the original to the supply and place the other in its place. If the original component was damaged, place the new component damaged too.

Transferring values does not allow you to give away cards. But with some destinies this is possible.

After the call to order, all players may freely perform any number of negotiation actions, described below. Each negotiation action affects a rival. To perform a negotiation action, you need the consent of the rival it affects.

• Cede rule. Replace 1 loyal component on the board with a component of the same type belonging to a rival. You may replace a loyal building only if there are no loyal ships in its system, and you may not replace your last city, spaceport or ship on the board.
• Delegate authority. Replace 1 loyal agent on a court card with an agent of a rival.
• Promise a favour. Give a rival 1 loyal agent from your supply, placing it on the rival's destiny card. Rivals' agents on a destiny card are called favours.
• Transfer values. Give 1 captive, 1 trophy, 1 favour or 1 resource to a rival. If this is a loyal component for the rival, return it to the rival's supply. If you are forced to give a resource by returning favours (see page 16), you must receive back a number of favours equal to the raid cost of that resource.
• Invite into the Empire. If you are the First Regent, turn the renegade title card of the invited player regent side up.

Multilateral negotiations. You may agree with any players to perform, simultaneously, any number of negotiation actions that can be performed immediately.

Example: Maria wants Daniil to replace 1 of his loyal agents with hers on the court card "Construction Union" (delegate authority). Daniil wants Maria to replace 2 of her loyal ships on the board with his (cede rule). They agree and perform these actions simultaneously! All the required components are taken from the corresponding supplies and returned to them.

Ending negotiations. If nobody is negotiating, the player who called the summit may call the participants to negotiate, wait a moment and then count 5 seconds. If nobody starts negotiating, the summit ends.

Crises

Event cards and the Imperial Council may provoke crises. When this happens, first activate the blight crises, then the destiny crises, and finally the court crises.

Blight crises

In each system with blight, a blight crisis takes place: each undamaged blight in them deals 3 hits, and each damaged blight deals 1 hit.

Blight hits imperial ships first. If no imperial ships remain, it deals each remaining hit to the loyal ships of each player in that system. In both cases undamaged ships receive hits before damaged ones.

For flagships in blight crises, see "Flagships and events" on page 24. Blight hits buildings only during the interlude (see page 28).

Note: An undamaged blight deals a hit! It deals two hits to an undamaged imperial ship, destroying it. Then it deals hits to 1 loyal ship of each player in the system.

Destiny crises

Some destinies add cards with crisis text to the game. Activate all these cards in turn order.

Court crises

Roll the event die and the number die, if you have not just rolled them to play an event card.

Activate the crisis text on each Lore card in the court row, from left to right.

Attached cards. If a Lore card has another Lore card attached to it (see page 26), activate the attached card first.

Dice. Some crises are activated according to the symbols and numbers on the event die and the number die. The key phrases associated with the dice results are:

• Rolled region. The region whose number was rolled on the number die.
• Planets of the rolled symbol. Each planet whose identifier symbol was rolled on the event die.
• Rolled planet. A planet from the rolled region that has the identifier symbol rolled on the event die.
• If the symbol was rolled. Check whether that symbol was rolled on the event die.

When you check whether certain identifier symbols were rolled, ignore the crisis or edict symbols rolled together with them.

Removing court cards. If a crisis requires you to remove a card from the court row, return all agents on it to their owners' supplies, and take a new card from the court deck to refill the court row.

Hiding cards. Many cards must be hidden after their crises. "Hide" means placing the card under the bottom of the court deck.

Blight

Blight is a mysterious entity spreading across the Reach. It is not known what its motives are or how to make contact with it.

During crises (see page 18), blight hits ships. During the interlude (see page 28), it destroys buildings in systems without ships.

• Damage and trophies. Blight can be damaged: you can fight it, hit it, damage it and destroy it. However, blight is persistent: you must deal 2 hits to damage or destroy it. One hit has no effect. Take destroyed blight as a trophy.
• Battle. If you choose blight as a defender in a battle, all blight components in the battle system become defending components. Blight receives hits from the first symbol shown in the rule (a star), but not from the second (a burst). Blight does not defend.
• Gate movement. Players making a hyperjump must end their movement if they enter a gate with blight (even a damaged one), as if the gate belonged to a rival.
• Empty supply. If you must place blight on the board but the supply has run out, take it from the trophies of the player with the most blight trophies.

Example: You have chosen blight as a defender in a battle. You roll two dice, and a ring symbol and two star symbols come up. You take no hits and damage the blight by turning it to its damaged side.

Edicts

Event cards and the Imperial Council card may provoke the activation of edicts. Activate them in order, from the edict with the lowest number to the highest.

The game begins with the edict "Power over the Imperial Reach" (edict 03), and also with the edict "Departure of the Guild Envoys" (edict 00) in a two-player game.

Power over the Imperial Reach

The First Regent must either reinforce or change the imperial policy shown on this edict card.

• Reinforcing the policy: the First Regent collects what is listed in the imperial requirements, and then performs the imperial action, as described in this section.
• Changing the policy: the First Regent chooses a new "Power over the Imperial Reach" edict card and places it on top of the other two cards.

Carrying out the imperial requirements

The First Regent must take from each regent 1 component listed in the requirements of the imperial policy:

• Peace: relics or psychotech.
• Escalation: materials, fuel or weapons.
• War: trophies or captives, but not components of regents or of the Empire.

They place the resources on the First Regent token, adding them to the imperial fund (see page 21). The First Regent must also add 1 resource listed in the requirements, if they have one.

The First Regent places trophies and captives on their own trophy and captive spaces, respectively. The First Regent does not need to take a trophy or captive from themselves.

If another regent does not have the required components, the First Regent must take 1 agent from that regent's supply as a favour. If that regent has no agents either, the First Regent may make them a renegade.

Card text, Peace policy: "1. Collect the requirements. Take 1 relic or 1 psychotech from each regent (including yourself). Place them in the imperial fund on your First Regent token. If another regent does not have these resources, take 1 agent from their supply as a favour. If they have no agents either, you may make them a renegade. 2. Imperial action. Each regent receives the power bonus from each open city space on their player board."

Card text, War policy: "1. Collect the requirements. Take 1 trophy or 1 captive (but not components of the Empire or of regents) from each other regent. If a regent has neither, take 1 agent from their supply as a favour. If they have no agents either, you may make them a renegade. 2. Imperial action. Give 1 weapon from the supply to each regent. If the supply is empty, give the weapon from the imperial fund."

Imperial action

After the imperial requirements, the First Regent must perform the imperial action, as described below:

• During peace, glorify the regency. Each regent receives a power bonus from each open city space on their player board.
• During escalation, requisition ships. Place 2 undamaged imperial ships in a system where the Empire rules. If there are no such systems, place them in a loyal spaceport.
• During war, distribute weapons. Give 1 weapon from the supply to each regent. If the supply is empty, take the weapons from the imperial fund.

During war, if there are not enough weapons, you choose which regents receive them.

Example: The First Regent reinforces the imperial policy and performs the imperial action. One regent has built all 5 of their cities, so they receive 5 power points. No one else has built at least 4 cities, so no further power bonuses are awarded.

Example: The Empire's policy is peace, which requires relics and psychotech. Lina, the First Regent, takes the matching resource from each regent: a relic from Maria, a psychotech from Boris, and an agent as a favour from Daniil, who has neither a relic nor a psychotech. Lina adds both resources to the imperial fund on her First Regent token. Lina has neither relics nor psychotech, so she does not add a resource herself.

Frozen resources. Resources in the imperial fund that are frozen (see page 27) cannot be spent, discarded or given, even if you have placed a ban. But they still count towards your ambitions!

Departure of the Guild Envoys

This card is used only in a two-player game.

Hide all guild cards with no agents from the court, then refresh the court.

This way you can hide only guild cards, not lore cards or cards of other types!

Imperial Fund

When enforcing the imperial policy, the First Regent adds resources to the imperial fund on their First Regent token.

• Frozen resources. Resources in the imperial fund are frozen (see page 27), unless they are used to perform imperial actions.
• Theft. These resources have no raid cost, so they cannot be stolen in battle. However, they can be stolen with cards such as "Skilled Orators". Renegades can also steal them by claiming the Imperial Council card (see page 14).
• Interlude. Resources in the imperial fund return to the supply during the interlude (see page 28).

Flagships

When you choose some destinies, you take a flagship figure, its board and its reference cards. When you receive a flagship, you also replace all your loyal buildings on the board with free buildings of the same type.

The setup of the flagship is described on the reverse side of its board.

A flagship is an undamaged loyal ship that cannot be removed from the board. A game with a flagship follows some new rules:

• You cannot build loyal cities or spaceports on the board. Instead, you build them on your flagship board as upgrades and armour (see "Upgrades and armour" below).
• You can build no more than 1 ship per turn on your flagship, regardless of the number of spaceports on your flagship board.
• In battles, your flagship receives a different number of dice. By default, it does not defend (see "Defence", page 23).

Upgrades and armour

Your flagship board has 6 upgrade spaces, and above each of them is an armour space. In these spaces you can build loyal buildings.

Upgrades give you advantages (see page 25). Hits are dealt first to the armour space, not to the upgrade connected with it.

• To build an upgrade or armour, your flagship must be on a planet of the same type as that space.
• You can build armour only over an upgrade that is already built and undamaged.
• To repair a flagship, repair its upgrade or armour.

Upgrades and armour are different from buildings on the board:

• Players cannot tax these cities, nor use spaceports on the flagship board to build ships or make hyperjumps.
• When these cities are destroyed, no ban is imposed, and the court is not ransacked.

Example: Your flagship is on a planet of materials, so you can build a city or spaceport in the upgrade space "Lifting Crane". You build a spaceport in this upgrade space. A rival rules the system, so the spaceport is placed damaged. When you repair your "Lifting Crane" upgrade, you will be able to build armour for the crane when you are on a planet of fuel.

Caption: "Your flagship on a planet of materials can build a city or spaceport in the upgrade space "Lifting Crane"." (The example illustrates the rule above.)

Flagships and events

• When you receive hits during a crisis, your flagship receives them only if no other undamaged loyal ships remain in the system.
• All hits against your flagship are received by your rightmost armour space. If no armour remains, the rightmost upgrade space receives the hit. (The illustration shows this order: first the top row from right to left, then the bottom row from right to left.)
• During a summit you cannot cede rule to replace your loyal buildings on your flagship board with components of a rival.

Cards and flagships

Cards interact with flagships in the following ways:

• Presence of buildings. Cards that check for loyal buildings in a system, for example "Force Rays", "Gate Ports" or "Secret Harbours", take into account the upgrades and armour of your flagship, unless the card text says "on the board".
• Buildings on the board. Cards that let you build loyal buildings outside construction spaces, for example "Gate Ports" and "Cities in the Clouds", allow you to place loyal buildings on the board again.
• Ship improvements. Cards that improve your loyal ships, for example "Speed Engines" and "Mirror Coating", also apply to your flagship, because it is an undamaged loyal ship.
• Receiving dice. Cards that give dice for loyal ships, as in battle (for example "Galactic Cannons"), let your flagship receive 1 die for each undamaged spaceport on your flagship board.

Note: If you use a card to build loyal buildings on the board again, rivals may raid them as usual.

Battles of flagships

Battles of flagships follow several key rules:

• When a flagship is attacked, its armour and upgrades receive hits as if they were ships.
• When a flagship is defended, its armour and upgrades receive hits as if they were buildings.
• Armour always receives hits before the upgrade it protects.

Attack. When attacking, your flagship receives dice equal to the number of your undamaged spaceports in its upgrade and armour spaces. Your flagship does not defend if it has no defence panel.

When attacking, upgrades and armour take hits in the same way as ships:

• You must receive hits from the flame symbol and the ring symbol on upgrades and armour, if no attacking ships remain.
• You may receive hits on upgrades and armour, instead of on your other attacking ships.

Example: Your flagship has 2 undamaged spaceports. You receive 2 ram dice in addition to the dice from your other attacking ships. You roll the flame symbol, so you choose to take the hit on the Lifting Crane, even though you have attacking ships that could take the hit.

Caption: "Your flagship doesn't receive dice if you have no undamaged spaceports in your upgrade and armour spaces!" Also: "First armour, then upgrades." Other defending ships defend, even if your flagship cannot.

Defence. While you have a flagship, rivals fighting against you use a different rule for receiving dice: they may receive dice if there are defending buildings or a defending flagship in the battle system.

• If the attacker rolls the ring symbol, your flagship does not defend, unless you have a defence panel (see page 25).
• Other defending ships defend, even if your flagship cannot.
• Upgrades and armour receive hits as buildings: the attacker strikes them with the burst symbol. If the flagship is the only defending ship, the attacker strikes your upgrades and armour with the burst symbol in the same way.

Example: The attacker rolls the ring symbol, three star symbols and a burst symbol. You defend with an undamaged ship and a flagship without a defence panel, so the attacker receives 1 hit. Two star symbols destroy an undamaged ship. The third star symbol and the burst symbol hit the "Hull" armour space twice, destroying it.

Caption: "If you have a suitable custom, you can return loyal buildings to the board (see page 24)." Also: "When cities in upgrade and armour spaces are destroyed, no ban is imposed and the court is not ransacked (see page 22)."

Upgrades of the flagship

The upgrades of the flagship are listed here. The resource types in brackets are the planet types where the upgrade and its armour can be built, respectively (first the planet type of the upgrade, then the planet type of its armour).

• Lifting Crane (materials → fuel). You can build 2 ships or fewer in your flagship's system in one turn.
• Defence Panel (weapons → psychotech). When your flagship defends in battle, it deals a number of defensive hits equal to the number of undamaged spaceports on its board.
• Vortex Engine (fuel → relics). Once per turn during your prologue, you may move your flagship by hyperjump without other ships, or move your other ships with it.
• Control Panel (psychotech → materials). While your flagship is on a gate, you may tax any cities in the flagship's region as if they were loyal.
• Grapple Beam (relics → weapons). When your flagship defends in battle, the attacker cannot receive raid dice.
• Hull (any planet → any planet). This upgrade gives no advantage by itself, but building cities opens resource spaces, and building spaceports allows you to receive more dice in battle.

Captions: "The Lifting Crane does not let you build 2 ships with 1 action." "You do not need a Vortex Engine to make a hyperjump from free spaceports (see page 15)." "Do not seize agents if you use the Control Panel."

Caption: "In this case, "remove" means that you return the spaceports from your flagship board to your supply and the cities to your player board."

Dismantling flagships

Destinies "C" allow you to dismantle a flagship, if you have one:

1. Remove all components from the flagship board and return it to the box. Replace your flagship figure with a loyal ship.
2. Place 1 city and 1 spaceport in empty construction spaces on the board. If there are none, replace free buildings.
3. If you have fewer than 8 loyal ships on the board, place ships in systems with loyal components until there are 8 of your loyal ships on the board.

New Rules and Concepts

Protected guild cards. Some guild cards are protected, shown by the symbol "X" instead of a raid cost.

Protected guild cards cannot be removed from their owner's play area, unless the owner imposes a ban on this suit, or the name of the card is not mentioned.

Attaching cards

If you receive an instruction to attach a card, place it over a court card that has no attached card, without an attached card of its own.

When you claim a card, claim its attached card together with it. If both cards have the text "when claimed", activate them in any order.

Forced attachment. If you must attach a card but do not meet all the requirements, you still attach it, ignoring the minimum requirements for attaching.

Removing a card from the court. If a card is removed from the court for any reason and it has an attached card, refresh the court by sliding the attached card down into its place. Place all agents from the removed card on the card it was attached to. If the removed card is the attached card itself, nothing happens to the card it was attached to.

Resources

Sometimes resources become frozen. A player holding frozen resources cannot remove them from the component on which they lie, unless the component with the frozen resources, or some other component referring to it, says so, or the player removes these resources from the game. For example, the edict "Power over the Imperial Reach" allows the First Regent to distribute weapons from the imperial fund.

Tally. When you are told to count how many resources you have, count everything in the play area, including resources on cards and tokens, for example on the First Regent token.

Damage. Some rules refer to damage. This means choosing components as defenders in battle, damaging, destroying or hitting them.

Tokens

Many destinies add new tokens to the game. Usually, tokens brought by destinies cannot be damaged. Some tokens state that they can be damaged, and this rule does not apply to them.

Tokens added by destinies are usually not loyal. However, some state otherwise: treat them as painted in your colour, and rivals treat them as components of your colour. You may build buildings in systems with loyal tokens, and you may repair damaged loyal tokens. Loyal tokens count towards the requirements for loyal components in some rules, for example the law of presence (see page 10).

Interlude

The interlude takes place after Acts I and II. Carry out all of the following steps in order.

A. Play your destiny card

Each player plays an outcome card from their destiny set for the current act. Depending on whether you completed or failed your mission, you will receive or discard cards, or add cards to the court deck or the card booklet.

Each player who failed their mission loses as many power points as the power track space where their mission marker is located shows.

Notes:

• If you have 0 or fewer power points, you cannot win by the final mission in Act III (see page 9).
• Do not forget to return attached cards (see page 26) to the court deck.
• "Remove from the game" means to take a component out of the campaign until the end of the campaign. Place it behind the "Removed" divider in the box.

Example: Daniil failed his mission. His mission marker is on space "5", so he reduces his power from 2 to -3. He places his power marker on space "3" and his extra power marker on space "(-)" of the power track, to show that the value is negative.

B. Remove components from the court

1. Return all cards from the court, except the Imperial Council card, to the court deck.
2. Return all agents from the court to their players.
3. Remove the court discard pile from the game.

C. Remove components

1. Return all trophies and captives to their owners.
2. Return to the supply all frozen resources (see page 27), including those lying in the imperial fund on the First Regent token.
3. Only in a two-player game: return all resources from the ambition spaces to the supply.

D. Repair and destroy components

1. Repair all damaged blight.
2. Destroy all damaged ships, buildings, flagship upgrades and armour.
3. Destroy all buildings in systems with blight where there are no ships.

Caption: "In rare cases, when you have neither ships nor spaceports on the board, place 3 undamaged ships on any gate, following the rule for losing components from the base game."

E. Pass the initiative and lose power

1. Pass the initiative marker to the player with the most power.
2. Each player who has more than 1 power point loses half of their power, rounding so that they lose less.

Admission of defeat. In a two-player game, if your rival is ahead by at least 15 power points after the halving, we advise you to admit defeat, unless you feel you can still snatch victory at the last moment.

Example: Lina has 7 power points, and Daniil has -3. Lina halves her power to 4, and Daniil still has -3.

F. Choose destiny

Each player who completed their mission takes 1 destiny card. Each player who failed their mission returns their destiny card to the box and takes 2 destiny cards.

• If you are completing Act I, take the destiny cards "B".
• If you are completing Act II, take the destiny cards "C".

Each player secretly chooses one of the two destiny cards they have, which they will play in the next act. Then all reveal their chosen destiny cards at the same time.

If you have chosen a new destiny card, do the following:

• Return your current destiny card to the box.
• Remove from the game all the other components of your destiny set. Do not remove what is in play, including your flagship if you have one!
• Return all favours on your destiny card to your rivals.
• Take the new destiny set from the box.

Captions: "If you choose between your current destiny and a new one, do not show the back side of the card of your chosen destiny." "Favours are the agents of rivals on your destiny card."

G. Another act?

Discuss together whether you want to start the next act or to save the game to come back to it later.

• If you are starting the next act, set it up as described in "Setup: Acts II and III" on page 7.
• If you are saving the game, read the "Saving the Game" section on the next page. Note that you will not be able to play a game of the base game Arcs until you complete the campaign or decide to abandon it!

Saving the Game

For the next act, save everything that is on the board, in the common supply and in the play areas of the participants as follows:

• In the campaign journal, record your names, colours, destinies, power points, bans, upgrades and armour of your flagship. If your destiny tells you to write something else, use the reverse side of the journal sheet.
• Store the components from the board in the 2 board organizers. They have compartments for each planet (marked with the identifier symbols) and each gate (marked with the letter "G"). If there are too many components in a system, place an overflow marker in the corresponding compartment of the organizer and put the components of that system together with the marker.
• Store the contents of the players' play areas in the 4 player organizers. Place the cards that remain in your destiny set in the large compartment of your organizer, on top of the cards you keep in your set. In the small compartment, store everything else from your play area, except the player board and the flagship.
  • You do not need to keep track of the order of resources.
• Do not take the cards out of the card booklet.

Captions: "Use abbreviations: M for materials, G for cities, K for spaceports and so on." On the sample campaign journal: player name and colour; destiny and power in Act I; ban; flagship components.

Storing components

All components of the base game go in the box. The box has 6 compartments: 1 small, 4 medium and 1 deep.

• Small compartment. Large destiny cards, the campaign journal and lore cards from the base game.
• 4 medium compartments. Use the dividers in these compartments to store unneeded destiny sets, the action deck, the court decks from the campaign and the base game, the custom deck, the small cards of the base game and removed cards.
  • You can store the bags of components for destiny sets together with the cards behind their divider, or in a separate compartment. If you have cards in sleeves, place them in a separate compartment.
  • Place the board, the player boards and the flagship boards on top of the medium compartments.
• Deep compartment. This holds 8 removable organizers: 4 player organizers, 2 board organizers, 1 base game organizer and 1 campaign organizer.
  • You may arrange the components in the base game and campaign organizers differently, but we recommend distributing them as shown in the illustrations, and using the organizers during games to keep the table tidy.
  • Place the base game and campaign organizers in the deep compartment, and the 4 player organizers on top of them. Place one of the rulebooks on top. Put the 2 board organizers on it. All other rulebooks and reference sheets go on top.

Caption: "Additional imperial ships can be placed in one compartment with the free spaceports."