Ars Alchimia
Ars Alchimia Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
What's in the Box?
Game Board
Here you place the different card piles in the game. They represent where you send your workers, i.e. what action you take.
On the left side, by the fountain, is the town square, it's here your workers go when they've done their work.
Factory Cards (4 pcs)
Numbered 1–4. They double as marking playing order and how many workers you gain this round.
Order Cards (42 pcs)
These are orders for magic items that you can create by transmuting resources. The number at the top is how many points you get when you fulfill the order, and below you find the list of necessary resources.
There are four resources: mana flower, ancient snow, primal fire and soul sand. There is also the elixir, which is special and also works as an almighty resource.
Order cards also have a type, represented by a symbol in the top right. There are four types: daily, industrial, mythic and academic. Fulfilling many of the same type earns the player a speciality bonus.
Lastly, all orders have an A~C rank (noted in the bottom left), where C is lowest. At first, players can only fulfill rank C orders, but completing academic orders allow the players to take on higher ranks.
Location Cards (10 pcs)
These are places where you gather resources. You have a guaranteed result, and bonus that you get on a good die roll.
Assistant Cards (20 pcs)
These are temporary helpers at your factory. They cost a worker to upkeep, but they have special skills that you can use many times (some skills are once-per-round).
Transmutation Forges (8 pcs)
Here you transmute your resources to fulfill your orders. Forges are large and costly, that's why all factories must share the Academy's forges. Apart from creating the items you have orders for, you can also create the almighty resource elixir here, from two different other resources of your choice.
Forges vary in quality, and so does the number of transmutations you may do each time you use them. Like the locations, forges also generate a bonus on a good die roll.
Other Components
In the box, there is also:
- One die
- 4 player boards
- 20 resource cubes (4 each of 5 colours)
- Point markers
- 80 workers (20 each of 4 colours)
Setup
If you're playing on 3 players, put the '4' Factory card, all workers of one colour and 2 workers of each remaining colour back into the box. They're not used.
- Each player gets a player board, one cube of each colour, and lastly 9 workers and the point marker of any colour they prefer.
- Place the resource cubes on their respective starting positions on your player board. This is how many resources you have when you begin the game (1 each of primal fire, ancient snow and mana flower, but no soul sand or elixir). You can never have more than the player board shows.
- Place the remaining workers in the lid. Players begin the game with 9 workers, and can never have more than 20 (or 18, if you play on 3 players).
- Lastly, prepare the board:
- Shuffle the order cards after rank, and place in three face down piles beside the board. Draw and place face up on the board as many cards as the board shows (three rank C, two rank B and one rank A).
- Shuffle the locations, assistants and forges separately to three face down decks. The assistant deck should beside the board, but the location and forge decks are placed on the board on their respective places. Then draw and fill up the board spaces with face-up cards: 3 locations, 2 forges and 3 assistants (only 2 assistants for 3 players).
Brief Game Overview
The game goes on for four rounds, each round representing a year.
Each round, players take turns placing one or more of their workers on one action they want to do – gather resources, take up an order, employ an assistant or transmute at the alchemy forges. The trick is that the more workers on one spot, the less effective it becomes – if you want to place workers on a spot where there already are some, you'll have to exceed the number of workers already there.
When you run out of workers, you pass. When all players have passed, the round ends, the board is reset, and a new year starts. Most points after four years wins.
Flow of the Game
The game consists of four rounds (years), and each round consists of three steps:
- Start of round: determine playing order, get workers, pay upkeep for assistants.
- Main step: players take turns placing one or more of their workers, until all players have passed.
- End of round: reset the board, prepare next year.
Each Player Has
- Order deck
- Assistant deck
- (1) Orders
- (2) Locations
- (3) Forges
- (4) Assistants
- (5) Central square
- (6) Player board
- (7) Player's accepted orders
- (8) Fulfilled orders
Start of Round
First, the playing order is determined, with the Factory cards. The first round it's random (just shuffle and deal), but from the second round and on, players get to choose which Factory card to take, in order of points, lowest first. In case of a tie in points, the player who had the lowest card the previous round goes first.
Second, all players gain as many workers as their Factory card says. These workers are taken from those you put in the box lid, and placed before each player. Please note these increase the work force for the player for the remainder of the game – you get to keep them even when the round ends.
Lastly, all players pay the upkeep if they have any assistants from a previous round. For each assistant you want to keep, put one of your workers on the town square (the fountain). If you don't want to pay, return the assistant to the bottom of the deck.
Main Step
In Factory card order, players now take turns placing workers.
As you can see on the board, there are 16 spots to place workers on: 6 orders, 4 locations (of which one is the face-down deck), 3 transmutation forges (of which one is the face down deck) and 3 assistants (only 2 if you play on 3 players).
The turn player chooses one spot, and places one or more workers on the little rectangle beside it. The minimum amount of workers you must place is [number of workers already there + 1]. So, if there were no workers there, you must place at least 1. If there were 3 workers there, you must place at least 4.
When you place on a spot where there already were workers, put the old workers in the town square (the fountain).
The workers that you place, stay on the spot for the remainder of the round, or until they're moved to the town square because someone else places there.
For some actions, you gain a benefit if you place more than the minimum, but it also makes it harder for the next player to place there, as it becomes more expensive.
When you've chosen a spot and placed there, the action happens (see below for how they work), and then it's the next players turn. Give him the die to show it's his turn.
If you run out of workers to place, or don't want to place any more, then announce that you pass. Once you've passed, you can't do anything more that round. Continue the round until all players have passed.
Gather Resources (Location)
You send out your workers to gather resources for magical items. Three spots are known, and then there is the random magic portal (face down deck), which is unknown. If you placed on the face down deck, draw the top card to see where you end up, and when the action is done, return this card to the bottom of the location deck.
First, you gain the basic resources indicated by the location card (adjust the cubes on your player board). Then roll the die. If you roll the indicated number or above, you also gain the bonus resource.
When you roll, you get +1 to the die roll for each worker above the minimum that you placed. For example, if there were 2 workers there before you, that means the minimum was 3. If you placed 5 workers, you'd get a +2 on the bonus die roll.
Note that the location card stays where it is. It's not consumed by your gathering, nor replaced. The location cards are there for the whole round, and are only replaced between each round.
Taking Up Orders
Orders for magical items exist in three ranks, A~C where C is lowest. At the start of the game, you are only allowed to take orders of rank C.
Just take the card, and put it on an empty card slot on your player board. Then draw a card from the corresponding order pile (if any left) to replace the one you took.
Once you have fulfilled one (1) academic order, you reach rank B (you can still take rank C orders). When you have fulfilled two (2) academic orders, you reach rank A, which is the top rank and allows you to take up orders of any rank.
The final round 4, all players can take any order, regardless of rank.
Note that you can only have three orders at a time (though assistants may allow you a fourth order) and you can't abandon orders. Also, having unfulfilled orders when the game ends will be negative points for you.
Employing Assistants
You go out to get some special help. Just take the card and put beside your player board. Then draw the top card from the assistant deck to replace the card you took.
The assistant effect is applied immediately and is active at all times. If it's something that you need to activate, you can activate it whenever you wish and as often as you wish, unless it specifically says it's once per round. When you use such an ability, tilt the card sideways to mark that it has been used.
Note again that assistant abilities can be used at any time, even out of turn. For example, you can use the Nymph's ability to get a resource when you return an assistant, just before paying the upkeep.
There is no upper limit to how many assistants you can have at a time, but you must pay the upkeep (1 worker per assistant) at the start of each round.
Transmuting (Forges)
You get to transmute materials into items you have orders for, or create elixirs.
Each year, there are two forges available, and a random one from the reserves (the face down deck). If you chose the deck, then draw the top card, and when the action is done, return it to the bottom of the deck.
Roll the die to see if you have a perfect day at the forge. If you reach the number indicated or above, each transmutation you do this turn will gain you bonus points (see below). As for resource gathering, you get +1 to the die roll for each worker above the minimum that you placed.
Then you can transmute as many times as the forge has transmute symbols. For each transmutation, you can choose whether to create a magic item (from an order that you have) or create elixir. You can do items/elixirs in any order, and you don't have to use the transmutations if you don't want to.
When you are done, the forge stays where it is. It's not consumed by your action.
Transmuting Item (Fulfilling Order)
Deplete your resources as indicated by one of your order cards. Elixirs may be used as "any resource" here. Place the order to the side, and gain as many points as the card says. If the transmutation was perfect, you get +1 point for a rank C order, +2 for a rank B, and +3 points for a rank A order.
Transmuting to Elixir
Convert any 2 different resources (not 2 of the same) into 1 elixir. If the transmutation was perfect, you gain 1 point as a bonus.
End of Round
Once all players have passed (because they ran out of workers, or didn't want to place any more), the round ends, and the following is done:
- Return all workers in play (on spots, and those in the town square) to their respective owners.
- Refresh any assistants that are tilted sideways (their abilities can be used again).
- Shuffle all face up cards on the board separately after type, and put them, without looking, face down at the bottom of their respective piles. Then fill up the board as you did during first setup. (If a deck runs out of cards, then it runs out. Nothing more to it.)
Score Calculation
When 4 rounds have been played, players compare their scores. An unfulfilled order is half its point value in penalty (rounded down). Then players get a bonus for how many orders of each type they have fulfilled: one: +0p, two: +1p, three: +3p, four: +6p, five: +9p, six+: +12p.
Finally, all players get +1 point per elixir and still employed assistant.
Most points wins. In case of a tie, academic rank is the tie breaker.
Credits
Ars Alchimia
Game design: Kuro
Manual help: Guramu, Umeyu
English manual: Zimeon
Art:
- Box & board: Iro
- Logo, player board: TARO
- Assistants, forges: Kinako Mameno
- Locations: kokuzu, salada, Aderi Fujioka, Romannu, bou-kun
(first print run May 2014)