Etherium Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Goal of the Game
• Setup
• Round Overview
  • 1- Reveal a New Season
  • 2- Draw a Flash Card
  • 3- Play Flash Cards
  • 4- Program Actions
• Actions
  • Move Unit
  • Gather Resources
  • Increase Unit Level
  • Transform Ether
  • Connect
  • 5- Reveal and Perform Actions
• Resources
• Units
• End of the Game
  • Victory Tokens
  • Ability tokens
  • Guide
  • Ether
• Conflicts
  • General concepts
  • Pillage
  • Assault
  • Siege
  • Conflict Resolution
  • Retreat
  • Clarifications
• Tribes
  • Barbarians of Reces
  • Architects of Psolos
  • Shamans of Ertis
  • Harmonics of Hivalia
• Iconography

Contents

• 17 pre-assembled boxes that form the game board (4 Forest terrain, 4 Mountain terrain, 4 Mine terrain, 1 Ether terrain, and 4 Cities)
• 12 Seasons cards, 1 Night card
• 44 Flash cards
• 14 Ability tokens (2 of each)
• 80 Resource cubes (16 in each color: red, green, yellow, blue, black)
• 4 Combat dice
• 33 Victory tokens (10 Soldier, 10 Ether, 6 Connection, 4 Booster, and 3 Pillage)
• 2 Player Aids
• 1 rulebook
• 2 storage boxes
• 4 Tribe boxes. Tribes have their own set-up, permanent power and temporary season bonus indicated on their box.

For each Tribe: 2 meeples (1 Soldier and 1 Gatherer), 6 Action tokens, 4 Guide tokens, 4 City tokens, 6 Level bases.

Goal of the Game

Be the player with the most prestige at the end of the final season.

Earn prestige in various ways represented by stars: Victory tokens, Abilities, your Guide, and Ether.

Setup

1. Assemble the game board. Start building the game board by placing blue Ether terrain on the 4 red Mine terrains. Then place the green Forest terrains on the red Mine terrains. Finally, place the yellow Mountain terrains and the Cities, by referencing the colored borders on each terrain.
2. Place the Victory and Ability tokens on one side of the board.
3. Prepare the Season deck:
   • Set the Night season aside.
   • Randomly select 6 different colored seasons and mix them together.
   • Place them in a facedown stack, with the Night season faceup on top.
4. Each player chooses (or is randomly given) a tribe and completes their specific setup.
   • a. Adjust unit levels: Gatherer (add one base per level), Soldier (add one base per level), Guard (add one marker per level), Guide (add one marker per level; certain tribes begin the game with a Guide).
   • b. Take the number of resources indicated.
5. Place your Gatherer and Soldier in front of your City on the yellow Mountain space.
6. Keep the season and Flash card picks, as well as the supply of resources, within easy reach.
7. Take the 4 first Action tokens. Set tokens 5 and 6 aside for now.

Round Overview

Etherium is a programming game. Players will secretly plan their actions in advance, then reveal them, and finally perform them one at a time.

A single round represents a season on Etherium and has five phases:

1. Reveal a new Season card.
2. Draw a Flash card.
3. Play Flash cards.
4. Program Actions.
5. Reveal and Perform Actions.

1- Reveal a New Season

A game always includes 7 seasons of different colors. They are placed in random order, except for the Night season, which always comes first.

Each round, reveal a new Season card. Each Season card has three pieces of key information:

1. Bonus or penalty. Each Season card influences the current round by introducing a bonus or penalty. Ex: The Ertis season lets you gather 2 extra Wood resources.
2. Initiative order. Seasons can also offer to perform an action when they are revealed. This optional action must be performed, in order of initiative, as soon as the season is revealed. Each season imposes an order of initiative, so that actions can be resolved in a hierarchical fashion for each turn. Ex: During the Ertis season, the Ertis tribe have a higher initiative than the Hivalia tribe, who have a higher initiative than the Meinas tribe, etc. At the action resolution phase, Ertis will play his first action first, followed by Hivalia then Meinas etc...
3. Tribe with an affinity for the season. Each tribe has an affinity with a particular season. This allows them to unlock a power that will only be active for that particular season. This seasonal power is added to the people's power. Ex: In the Ertis season, the Ertis people can trigger their seasonal power to harvest two more Wood resources on any harvest and have one more die in their Connection rolls.

Triggering abilities at the start of the season: Abilities with the season icon trigger their effects when the Season card is revealed, in initiative order. Ex: The Resource ability lets you take 1 basic resource when the new season is revealed.

2- Draw a Flash Card

Each player draws a Flash card.

• Flash cards provide instant bonuses, which are described on the card.
• They are acquired automatically during this phase, but players can also buy them during the dedicated Transformation action.
• At the end of the season, you can only have 6 Flash cards in hand. You can have more than that during the season, but when changing seasons, you must discard down to six.
• If the deck is empty, shuffle the discard pile to make a new deck.

3- Play Flash Cards

There are two types of Flash cards, identified by a symbol in the top-left of the card.

• Season symbol: Only playable during Phase 3: Play Flash Cards.
• Flash symbol: Playable any time.

You can play as many Flash cards as you want, regardless of the phase. Resolve Flash cards in the order in which they are played. Discard them once resolved.

Flash cards cannot be played on an opponent.

4- Program Actions

This phase is the core of the game. Each player has an Action board printed inside their Tribe box that they will use to program their actions for the current season. They must anticipate the other players' strategies and moves. At the beginning of the game, each player has 4 available actions, represented by Action tokens numbered 1 through 4.

This phase happens simultaneously and secretly, hidden behind the lid to your Tribe box.

There are 5 possible actions:

• Move Unit
• Gather Resources
• Increase Unit Level
• Transform Ether
• Connect

To program your actions, place your Action tokens on your programming board in the order in which you want to resolve them. Token 1 represents the first action you want to resolve, token 2 represents the second, etc. You may only place one Action token per space.

Any Action token gained or lost during the season cannot be used until the next season.

Actions

Move Unit

Take this action to move units on the board 1 space to an adjacent terrain. Show your destination space with an Action token on your Action board, taking into account any bonuses (movement, abilities, etc). Differences in elevation between terrains may affect your movement. For example, moving to a lower terrain gives you momentum and provides a bonus movement. You can chain several bonus movements in this way, as long as you continue descending. The bonus movement is optional.

Ex: You want to move a Gatherer unit from a Forest terrain (green) to an Ether terrain (blue). Since you are descending to a Mine terrain (red), you gain a bonus movement that lets you reach the blue space. Place a blue token on your Action board.

You do not need to specify which type of unit (Soldier or Gatherer) you are moving when you program your action. You can decide while performing the action, even if it alters your initial destination space.

It is possible to cross terrain containing enemy units without causing conflict.

Gather Resources

Your Gatherer can gather resources (see Resources) from their current space. They collect resources up to their level, plus any bonuses.

Ex: A level 2 Gatherer can gather 2 resources from their current terrain.

Show this action by placing an Action token on the space you want to gather from (Mountain, Forest, Mine, Ether) on your Action board. Remember: you must move to this space before taking the Gather Resources action.

Increase Unit Level

This action lets you increase the level of one of your units by paying the corresponding cost in resources. This cost is unique to each tribe and is indicated on each Action board.

The resources needed to increase a level depend on the unit:

• Stone for the Guard
• Wood for the Gatherer
• Metal for the Soldier
• One of each resource for the Guide

X represents the new level.

Ex: You want to increase your Gatherer's level from 2 to 3. The cost to increase your tribe's Gatherers is X, so you must pay three Wood resources.

You may only increase a unit by one level per action.

Show this action by placing an Action token on the type of unit whose level you want to increase on your Action board.

Transform Ether

Transformations are all tied to Ether. The cost is specific to each tribe and is indicated directly on their programming panel. This cost is not cumulative, except for the Etherization transformation.

There are four different types of transformation actions:

• Etherization: Gain 1 blue Ether cube by spending x total basic resources of any type. You may do this exchange multiple times. Ex: You may spend a mix of any 9 basic resources to gain 3 blue Ether cubes.
• Cards: Gain x Flash cards by spending x blue Ether cubes.
• Ability: Choose 1 ability token for X Ethers and place it next to your city. Each ability brings victory points and permanent bonuses. There are 7 different ability tokens, of which players can only hold one. Certain abilities require you to pay an activation cost in resources.
• Booster: Gain 1 black Booster cube by spending 3 blue Ether cubes.
  • The first Booster unlocks Action token 5.
  • The second Booster unlocks Action token 6.
  • The third Booster lets you take the Booster token worth 4 victory points.
  • Place Booster cubes in your City as treasure. They may be stolen by opponents during an attack on your City. In this case, you lose the associated action token from the following season onwards. There's no limit to the number of booster units in your city.

Connect

This action symbolizes your tribe's ability to connect with Etherium. It's a high risk, high reward action that could have a great impact on the outcome of the game.

Roll a die and consult the Connection table below to determine the result.

All rolls, including this one, can be modified with card effects, Abilities, Guide level, or by Tribe powers.

Ex: You roll a die and get a 4. Since your Guide is level 2, you can increase the result to a 5 or 6. You decide to make it a 6, which means you gain 1 Ether, according to the Connection table.

When your season affinity is active, you may roll an additional die during the Connect action.

Show this action by placing an Action token on your Action board. You can only take this action two times per season.

Connection table (the printed numbers for the first six rows are not legible in the source; rows are listed in printed order, top to bottom, for results 1 to 6):

Result	Effect
1	Lose any 4 resources.
2	Lose 1 Flash card.
3	Lose any 2 resources.
4	Draw 1 Flash card.
5	Steal 2 resources from 1 player.
6	Gain 1 Ether.
7	Gain any 4 resources.
8	Gain 2 Ether.
9	Increase your soldier without paying the cost.
10	Draw 2 Flash cards.
11	Gain 1 Booster.
12	Gain 1 Connection Victory token.

5- Reveal and Perform Actions

Once all players have finished programming their actions, reveal them simultaneously.

Each action is resolved, one after the other, for all players in order of initiative. Each player plays his first programmed action, in order of initiative, then each player plays his second action, and so on...

Ex: During the Reces season, the Recesian tribe is first in initiative order. They perform their first action, followed by the Ertis tribe who is second, etc. Once all the 1st actions have been played (and resolved), Reces restarts action resolution with the 2nd action.

Do not resolve any conflicts immediately; wait until all players have performed their action for the round, then resolve them (see Conflicts). Once all conflicts are resolved, continue to the next round of actions.

• Ex 1: François goes to the Mountain terrain with his 2nd action. Alexis leaves the Mountain terrain on the same action, so there is no conflict at the end of this action.
• Ex 2: François moves his army to the Mountain terrain. Alexis does not move his army from the Mountain terrain. Since they are both on the same terrain, at the end of the current action, the conflict is resolved before moving on to the next action.

If a player cannot perform their programmed action, for any reason, they may gain any 1 basic resource from the reserve. You must perform your programmed action if you are able.

If one player has more actions than the others, thanks to a card or Booster, they take their final action(s) while the other players wait.

Resources

There are 3 types of terrain that each provide a different basic resource:

• red Mine terrain provides Metal
• green Forest terrain provides Wood
• yellow Mountain terrain provides Stone

Gain resources with your Gatherers, who gather as many resources as their level. Resources are represented by red, green, and yellow cubes. Place them next to your City, so that all players can see the amount and color. Resources are limited. You can't collect more than the number of resources in the reserve.

Blue Ether and black Booster cubes are advanced resources:

• The central blue Ether terrain produces 1 victory point token, in addition to a number of blue Ether cubes when gathering.
• Gain black Booster cubes during the Transform Ether action.

Units

There are 4 types of units. You can increase or decrease their levels from 1 to 4. Indicate a unit's level either with the number of bases under mobile units (Gatherer or Soldier) or by the number of markers in your City for stationary units (Guard or Guide). Units cannot be reduced below level 1.

• Gatherers: Mobile production units that move around the board. When taking the Gather Resources action, they gather as many resources from their current terrain equal to their level. Increase their level by spending Wood.
• Soldiers: Mobile offensive units that move around the board. They are used in pillages, assaults, and sieges. During conflicts, roll dice equal to their level. Increase their level by spending Metal.
• Guards: Stationary units that represent your City's defense level. They are used in sieges and let you roll dice equal to their level. Increase their level by spending Stone.
• Guides: Stationary units that represent your tribe's collective leadership. They reduce randomness by adding their level to die rolls, whether for Soldiers, Guards, or Connections. You can add their full level to die rolls, or just a portion. Ex: Your Guide is level 2, so you may add up to 2 to all your die rolls (Conflicts, Connections, etc). At the end of the game, Guides also provide victory points equal to their level. Increase their level by spending 1 Wood, 1 Metal, and 1 Stone, regardless of the new level. Certain tribes start with a Guide, otherwise you gain a level 1 Guide by paying 1 Wood, 1 Metal, and 1 Stone with the Increase Unit Level action.

End of the Game

A game plays over a year, each made of 7 seasons. After players have performed their final action of the final season, proceed to final scoring.

Victory points are represented by stars and are gained throughout the game.

Victory Tokens

In order to claim a Victory token, you must fulfill its unique conditions. These tokens are limited; when there are no more on the table, you can no longer claim them.

• Soldier tokens: Gain each time your Soldier or City defeats an opposing Soldier. Worth 2 victory points.
• Booster tokens (1 max per player): Gain as soon as you add a third Booster cube to your City. Once acquired, you cannot lose it, even if you have fewer than three Booster cubes in your City. Worth 4 victory points.
• Pillage tokens (1 max per player): Gain when you steal a Booster cube from an opposing City. Worth 6 victory points.
• Ether tokens: Gain when gathering Ether from the central terrain of the board. Do not gain when performing the Transformation: Etherization action. Worth 1 victory point.
• Connection token: Gain when you achieve a 12 on the Connection table. Worth 4 victory points.

Ability tokens

Purchase with the Transformation: Ability action. Worth variable victory points.

Guide

Worth 1 victory point per level.

Ether

Every 2 cubes is worth 1 victory point. All other resources are worth no victory points at the end of the game, but are used to break a tie.

Conflicts

General concepts

A conflict occurs if, at the end of an action, your unit is on the same terrain as an opposing unit.

Ex: The players have all played their 2nd action, they look to see if there is a conflict.

Conflicts can be of three types:

• Pillage
• Assault
• Siege

Pillage

You pillage if your Soldier is on the same terrain as an opposing Gatherer.

No resolution, the soldier is automatically victorious.

• It steals any 2 basic resources from the defeated Gatherer's City.
• The Gatherer loses a level and must retreat.

Assault

You trigger an assault if your Soldier and an opposing Soldier are on the same terrain.

Resolve Assaults by rolling dice (see Conflict Resolution).

• The winning unit stays on the terrain and takes 1 Soldier Victory token, then the defeated unit must retreat.
• At the end of combat, both affected units must lose 1 level.

Siege

You trigger a siege if your Soldier enters an opponent's City.

Resolve Assaults by rolling dice (see Conflict Resolution).

• If the Guard wins, they gain 1 Soldier token.
• If the Soldier wins, they can steal the City or reduce the opposing player's Guide by one level.

Steal the City: If the Soldier decides to steal the City, they choose either to take:

• 2 Ether cubes
• 1 Booster cube. They also take the Pillage token. If they already have one, they take 1 Soldier token instead.
• 4 basic resource cubes

Reduce the opposing player's Guide: If they decide to reduce the Guide's level, the opposing player discards a Guide token and the winning player takes a Soldier Victory token.

The Soldier (whether it wins or loses) must retreat to the Mountain space just outside the City.

After resolving the conflict, both the winning and losing players must reduce their affected units by 1 level.

Reminder: Units cannot be reduced below level 1.

Conflict Resolution

Assault and siege conflicts are resolved using dice.

You and your opponent take turns rolling, in reverse initiative order, a number of dice equal to your respective Soldier levels or Guard levels (for the defending player during a Siege), and adding the results of each die.

You can modify your dice roll with card effects, abilities, Guide level, or by powers, but only before your opponent rolls their dice. The highest result wins the conflict; in case of tie, roll again.

Assault example: Soldier A is level 2 and Soldier B is level 3. B has a lower initiative than Soldier A, so they roll first with 3 dice. They add their Guide level and use a card power for a final result of 12. Then A rolls 2 dice and adds their Tribe power and bonus for a final result of 8. B has the higher result, so they win the conflict.

Siege example: A has a level 2 Army and B has a level 4 Guard. B has lower initiative, so they roll first with four dice. They use their tribe power for a final result of 9. Then A rolls two dice and uses a card power for a final result of 13. A has the higher result, so they win the conflict.

Retreat

Defeated units must always retreat to an adjacent terrain (not blue) that would not involve them in a different conflict. If no adjacent terrain is available, the defeated unit retreats one space further, and so on, until they reach an available space.

Clarifications

• If multiple Soldiers are on the same terrain or City at the same time, each player rolls dice in reverse initiative order. The player with the highest result wins and takes 1 single Soldier token. The other affected players are all defeated and must retreat.
• Do not resolve conflicts that occur through cards or powers during Phase 1 through 4.
• Your Gatherer can share a space with an opposing Gatherer without triggering a conflict.
• You must resolve all conflicts before continuing to the next action.
• If you have questions about the order in which to resolve multiple simultaneous conflicts, the affected player with the highest initiative order decides the order of resolution.
• If a city loses a booster during a theft, it loses the action token that was previously associated with it. Ex: If a city loses its 3rd booster, it loses no action token, but if it loses its 2nd booster, it loses its n°6 action token.
• The stolen Booster goes directly into the attacking player's reserve, allowing him to unlock an additional action for the next turn or to acquire the Booster token.

Tribes

Barbarians of Reces

Several millennia ago, a collision with a meteor influenced the revolutions of the satellite Reces, leaving one side of this moon perpetually battered by the sun's rays, while the other endured in utter darkness. Reces became an arid and hostile moon, whose harsh living conditions frequently forced its inhabitants to raid Etherium to ensure their survival, earning their reputation as Barbarians.

Through these circumstances, their entire society developed around war and conquering new territories. Adolescents are sent to Etherium to prove themselves, their first successful raid marking their passage into adulthood.

Recesian makers are recognized for their skill in manufacturing weapons. They have also developed high-performance mining machinery to increase production during conflicts with opposing tribes. With an all-powerful leader at its helm, their soldiers are the pride of Recesian citizens.

Gameplay: Since their relationship with Ether is rudimentary, they are often driven to steal it from other tribes. Their actions are primarily offensive, with a powerful spiritual guide leading them into battle.

Power: The Barbarians of Reces win conflicts if tied. They also gain an extra basic resource when pillaging enemy Gatherers.

Season Bonus: During the Reces season, their Soldier adds +3 to all their die rolls. They also gain an extra die during Connection rolls.

Architects of Psolos

Psolos is a moon circled by tall mountains, astonishingly rich in mineral resources. The Psolosians, known as the Architects, have lived in seclusion for several centuries, protected from attacks by these natural ramparts. Developing in secret, the Architects have become construction and fighting machines.

They are not a very aggressive tribe, preferring to take refuge in their tall fortress. They transform Ether behind their borders, instead of venturing outside their walls to gather it. While the Architects prefer avoiding conflict, they are still a threat to the other tribes since their ambitions for construction gradually encroach on neighboring territories.

Gameplay: Their strategy tends toward resource management and defensive maneuvers. Their dependence on the mountains gives them easy access to stone.

Power: The Architects of Psolos gain an extra Stone when performing the Gather action.

Season Bonus: During the Psolos season, they gain two extra Stone when performing the Gather action. They also gain an extra die during Connection rolls.

Shamans of Ertis

The moon of Ertis is the closest to Etherium. Due to this proximity and the chaotic properties of Ether, lush flora blossomed in impressive quantities. The Shamans of Ertis manipulate Ether to twist the laws of probability during sacred rituals. They play with chance, letting chaos express itself freely in every aspect of their lives.

This relationship with Ether allows them to accelerate plant growth. They can bolster their food supplies, but it can sometimes prove hazardous through excessive vegetation that invades their civilization's structures.

Gameplay: This tribe excels at managing dice rolls and gathering plant resources efficiently.

Power: The Shamans of Ertis may reroll a result of 1 or 2 during die rolls. They also gather one extra Wood from Forest spaces.

Season Bonus: During the Ertis season, they gain two extra Wood when performing the Gather action. They also gain an extra die during Connection rolls.

Harmonics of Hivalia

The moon of Hivalia has synchronized with Etherium and for many millenia, their revolutions have been identical. The people of Hivalia – the Harmonics – have developed a symbiotic relationship with Ether, feeling the slightest vibrations and taking advantage of them. Like alchemists who created the Philosopher's Stone, they have developed their own transmutation process that allows them to generate Ether from raw material.

Through this special relationship, they can even take advantage of their opponent's Ether collections, since everything Ether-related benefits them. The Hivalians prefer to live peacefully, in harmony with Ether and their neighbors, instead of seeking conflict.

Gameplay: Their strengths focus on creating Ether and developing defense.

Power: The Harmonics of Hivalia can take two basic resources from the reserve each time any enemy gathers Ether.

Season Bonus: During the Hivalia season, they pay one fewer Ether when performing the Transform Ether action. They also gain an extra die during Connection rolls.

Iconography

The final page of the rulebook is an icon legend (resources: Wood, Stone, Metal as basic resources, Ether and Booster as advanced resources; terrains; actions; units; cards and timing; conflict types: Pillage is Gatherer vs Soldier, Assault is Soldier vs Soldier, Siege is Soldier vs Guard). It consists of pictograms and is not transcribed further.