Boreal
Boreal Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 1 game board (5 parts to assemble)
- 44 cards, including:
- 12 Starting Place cards
- 24 Place cards
- 2 Exploration tokens: one white arrow, one black arrow
- 8 Archive cards
Goal of the Game
In Boreal, you build a pyramid of cards representing the places you will explore throughout the game.
At the end of the game, each card in your pyramid will earn you Victory Points.
The player who has accumulated the most Victory Points at the end of the game wins.
Setup
- Assemble the 5 parts of the board and place it in the center of the table between the 2 players.
- Place the 2 Exploration tokens on either side of the board, under the value-5 spaces of the matching color.
- Shuffle the 12 Starting Place cards and randomly deal 8 of them face up onto the spaces of the board (the 4 remaining cards are returned to the box; they will not be used during this game).
- Shuffle the 8 Archive cards. Take 3 of them at random and add them, without looking at them, to the 24 Place cards (the other 5 Archive cards are returned to the box, without looking at them; they will not be used during this game).
- Shuffle the deck made up of the 24 Place cards and 3 Archive cards. Place this deck face down next to the board.
- The player holding the Exploration token with the white arrow starts the game.
Card Anatomy
Each card shows the following information:
- Family/Families: the family or families the card belongs to (nature, sky, water, or fire), shown top left.
- Placement constraint: any restriction on where the card may be placed in the pyramid, shown below the family icon(s).
- Cost: the number of compasses required to play the card, shown at top center.
- Compasses granted: the number of compasses the card grants during the Rest phase, shown top right.
- Victory Points: the Victory Points the card is worth at the end of the game, shown bottom left.
- Power: the card's special power, if it has one, shown bottom right.
The Exploration token belonging to each player indicates 2 pieces of information:
- the number of compasses available for that turn.
- the zone in which cards are accessible to that player.
Accessible cards are always those ranging from space 1 of the board up to the space occupied by the active player's Exploration token.
Example: here, Élodie has 6 compasses, and only these 6 cards are accessible to her.
Sequence of Play
A game turn always consists of 2 phases:
- an Exploration phase
- a Rest phase
Each player carries out her entire turn (both phases) before play passes to the other player.
1. Exploration Phase
The active player must choose between 2 actions: Discovery or Scouting.
Discovery (playing a card)
Choose a card from the board — one that is accessible to you and whose cost is less than or equal to your number of compasses — to play into your pyramid.
Reminder: a card is only accessible if it is on the same space as, or to the left of, your Exploration token.
You may instead play a card from your reserve (see Scouting, below) into your pyramid, in place of a card from the board. This card, too, must have a cost less than or equal to your number of compasses.
Move your Exploration token to the left by as many spaces as indicated by the card's cost.
If the card played was taken from the board, it is immediately replaced by the top card of the deck.
Finally, the player places the card in her pyramid and applies its power (if it has one).
Pyramid Placement Rules
- The pyramid consists of 4 levels: 4 cards on the 1st level, then 3 on the level above it, then 2 above that, and finally 1 at the very top.
- A card must always be placed adjacent to a card already in the pyramid. To be placed on a higher level, there must necessarily be 2 cards on the level directly below it.
Scouting (reserving a card)
Choose any card from the board — even one that is not accessible to you — and place it in your reserve. Then place the top card of the deck onto the board to replace it.
Important: in this case, the active player's Exploration token does not move.
There is no limit to the number of cards in a player's reserve. Cards in reserve remain face up.
Important: there are restrictions concerning Archive cards.
- Each player may only play one Archive card into her pyramid.
- Players cannot reserve another Archive card if they have already played or reserved one.
Example of an Exploration Phase: Lana's Exploration token is on space 5. She chooses to play the card on space 3, which has a cost of 4 compasses (A). She moves her Exploration token from space 5 to space 1 (B), then adds the card to her pyramid. She cannot play the card she already has in her reserve (C), since it has a cost of 6 compasses. Instead of playing this card, she could have taken the one on space 6 (D), located outside her accessible zone, and put it in her reserve. In that case, her Exploration token would not have moved.
2. Rest Phase
Whatever action was chosen during the Exploration phase, the player always carries out a Rest phase.
The player counts all the compasses shown in the top-right corner of the cards in her pyramid. She then adds any compasses found on the space occupied by her Exploration token (spaces 0 or 1).
She moves her Exploration token to the right by as many spaces as her total number of compasses (up to the limit of the board, i.e. 8 compasses maximum).
Attention: compasses on cards that have at least 1 other card placed on top of them in the pyramid are no longer counted!
Example: Élodie has just placed a 4th card in her pyramid. During her Rest phase, she has a total of 5 compasses: 2 compasses because her Exploration token is on space 0 (A), and 3 compasses for the following cards (B). The 2 other cards (C) are not counted, because a card is placed on top of them. She moves her Exploration token to the right, to space 5, for her next turn (D).
End of the Game
Players continue taking turns until one of them completes her pyramid (10 cards).
- If it is the player with the white-arrow Exploration token who completes her pyramid, the player with the black-arrow Exploration token then plays one final turn (so that both players have played the same number of turns).
- If it is the player with the black-arrow Exploration token who completes her pyramid, the game ends immediately (both players will have played the same number of turns).
Scoring: each player adds up the Victory Points of the cards in her pyramid. The player with the highest total wins the game.
In case of a tie, the player with fewer cards in her pyramid wins. If the tie persists, victory is shared.
Example: in the rulebook's worked example, Élodie's finished pyramid totals 41 points and Lana's totals 45 points, so Lana wins.
End-of-Game Card Effects (Player Aid)
Some cards have a power that is scored only at the end of the game, once all pyramids are complete:
- 1 Victory Point per adjacent card: this card is worth 1 Victory Point for each card adjacent to it.
- 2, 4, 6, or 8 Victory Points by level: this card is worth 2, 4, 6, or 8 Victory Points depending on whether it sits on level 1, 2, 3, or 4 of the pyramid.
- 2 Victory Points per card of a family, anywhere in your pyramid: this card is worth 2 Victory Points for each card of the indicated family (nature, sky, water, or fire) present anywhere in your pyramid.
- 2 Victory Points per adjacent card of a family: this card is worth 2 Victory Points for each card of the indicated family that is adjacent to it.
- 2 Victory Points per adjacent card of a different family: this card is worth 2 Victory Points for each card of a different family that is adjacent to it.
- 4 Victory Points per family where you lead: this card is worth 4 Victory Points for each family where you have strictly more cards than your opponent.
- 5 Victory Points per full set: this card is worth 5 Victory Points for each complete set of the 4 families present in your pyramid.
- Equal to the card on its left: this card is worth as many Victory Points as the card located directly to its left.
- Equal to the card on its right: this card is worth as many Victory Points as the card located directly to its right.
- Equal to one of the 2 cards below it: this card is worth as many Victory Points as one of the 2 cards (your choice) located directly below it.
Card-Placement Effects (Player Aid)
Other card powers trigger immediately, at the moment the card is placed:
- Level restriction: this card cannot be placed on the 1st level of a player's pyramid.
- Reserve a card: choose a card from the board and put it in your reserve.
- Remove a card: choose a card from the board and remove it from the game.
- Swap two board cards: swap the positions of 2 cards located on the board.
- Swap two pyramid cards: swap the positions of 2 cards located in your pyramid.
- Gain compasses: immediately gain X compasses.
- Opponent loses compasses: immediately make your opponent lose X compasses.
- Peek and take: look at the top 3 cards of the deck, choose one, and put it in your reserve (the other 2 cards are placed back on the bottom of the deck).
Rules to Remember
- If you decide to reserve a card, it can be taken from any space on the board.
- When you reserve a card, you do not move your Exploration token.
- Each player may play or reserve only one Archive card during a game.
- During the Rest phase, if your Exploration token is on space 0 or 1 of the board, you get a bonus of 1 or 2 compasses.
- During the Rest phase, compasses on your Place cards that have at least 1 other card placed on top of them are never counted toward your compass total.
Credits
Boreal
- A game by Masafumi Mizuno
- Illustrated by Yuko Iwase
- Graphic design: Simon Caruso & Ben Renaut
- Development: Spiral Éditions
- Published by Spiral Éditions
- Distributed by Blackrock Games
- March 2024 — Spiral Éditions
Acknowledgements
Thanks to the Nagoya playtesting association. Thank you to you, who I hope discover this game with great excitement! — Masafumi Mizuno
A huge thank you to the players and to the Spiral team! — Yuko Iwase
Spiral Éditions thanks its main playtesters: Cécile, Clarisse, Côme, Élodie, Lana, Max, Prune, Sened, Robin, Takako, La Ligue des Gentlemen, and La Cafetière.
And a huge thank you to Nico for the programming work.