Gods Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Material
• Preparations
• Display
• Gameplay
  • 1) Collect power
  • 2) Refill hex cards
  • 3) Make two actions
    • The actions in detail
      • a) Place tribe
      • b) Place temple
      • c) Play other hex cards
      • d) Make extra action
      • e) Move desert
      • f) Discard hex card
    • Order of actions
    • Unite a nation
    • A nation falls to pieces
• Game End
• Other Important Things
• Tactical Comments

Material

• 84 hex cards (32 temples, 32 tribes, 12 deserts, 2 whirlwinds, 3 extra actions, 3 decays)
• 8 points cards
• 4 points chips
• 60 god stones
• 4 counting boards
• 4 counting markers
• 1 display
• 1 sack
• 1 rule

Preparations

• Each player chooses a god, takes the fitting counting board, temples and god stones.

• Put a counting marker on the "2" of the counting board.

• Put the points cards, points chips and the display as public stock in the middle.

• Put, depending on the number of players, the following hex cards in the middle. This is the starting constellation and the beginning of the playing field, which is not limited in size.

  • 2 players: 2 hex cards
  • 3 players: 3 hex cards
  • 4 players: 4 hex cards

  (The printed rulebook shows the starting constellation for each player count as a diagram.)

• Note: The colours of the temples in the picture are just an example. Depending on the colours the players have chosen, they have to put the corresponding ones.

• Put all the other hex cards (except temples and the hex cards from the starting constellation) in the sack.

• Put all material that is not needed with fewer than 4 players back in the box.

• Choose a starting player. He begins.

Display

The display is printed with four strips, each showing the actions available from it. Each strip lists "Refill display", "Take 3 power points" or "Make 2 actions:", and the costs below:

• Place tribe: -1 PP/Hex
• Place Temple: -3 PP/Hex
• Move desert: -2 PP
• Place desert: +1 PP
• Place decay: +1 PP
• Whirlwind: free
• Extra action: free
• Discard Hex (sack): free

(The fourth printed strip does not list "Discard Hex (sack)".)

Gameplay

Play clockwise. The turn of a player is as follows:

1. Collect power
2. Refill hex cards
3. Make two actions

After that the next player has his turn.

1) Collect power

The player receives 3 power points. For that he moves his counting marker 3 fields up. It is not possible to have more than 12 points; more points will not be counted and will be lost.

2) Refill hex cards

For each empty field on the display the player draws a hex card from the sack. He puts the hex card face up on the display.

Identical hex card: If there are after the refill two identical hex cards on the display, then one has to be put aside. Now draw from the sack as long as a non-identical hex card appears. Put this one on the display. Put the put-aside card and the rest of the just drawn cards back in the sack. Now there should be two different hex cards on the display.

Example: After the refill, two green tribes are on the display. One is put aside and an additional hex card is drawn from the sack. It is a blue tribe and is put on the display. Now on the display is a blue and a green tribe. The put-aside hex card is put back in the sack.

Early game end: If there are two identical hex cards on the display and in the sack are only identical cards left, then the game ends immediately. The game also ends immediately if there are not enough cards left in the sack to refill the display.

3) Make two actions

The player must do 2 actions. He is not allowed to renounce an action.

The player has (depending on the display) the following possibilities:

• a) Place tribe
• b) Place temple
• c) Play other hex cards
• d) Make extra action
• e) Move desert
• f) Discard hex card

Most of these actions cost power points; then the counting marker has to be moved back the number of points. If the player does not have enough points for a specific action, then the player cannot do this action. "Pay" for an action before you start the next action.

The actions in detail

a) Place tribe

If a player places a tribe from the display into the playing field, the tribe has to be directly adjacent to a hex card. In most cases a god stone has to be put on the tribe. The colour of the god stone shows the religion to which the tribe belongs.

If you place a hex card adjacent to another there are 6 possible places. The number decreases, of course, if places are taken.

The religion depends on the directly adjacent hex cards. There are 5 cases:

• If there are only temples of just one religion directly adjacent to a just placed tribe, then the tribe takes this religion. Put a god stone of the corresponding colour on the just placed tribe. Example: The player places a tribe on the right side of the temple. The tribe takes the religion of the red goddess and gets a red god stone.

• If there are temples of different religions directly adjacent to a just placed tribe, then the tribe takes no religion. No god stone is placed on the tribe. Example: The player places a tribe directly adjacent to temples of different gods. The tribe gets no god stone.

• If there are no temples but tribes of just one religion directly adjacent to a just placed tribe, then the tribe takes this religion. Put a god stone of the corresponding colour on the just placed tribe. Example: The player places a tribe on the left side of another tribe with a red god stone. Because there is no temple directly adjacent and just tribes of one religion, he takes this religion and gets a red god stone.

• If there are no temples and tribes of different religions directly adjacent to a just placed tribe, then the tribe takes no religion. No god stone is placed on the tribe. Example: The player places a tribe on the left side of several tribes with different religions. It gets a red god stone. Editor's note: the rule above says no god stone is placed in this case, but the printed example says it gets a red god stone. Both are kept as printed; the source does not say which is intended.

• If there are no temples and no tribes directly adjacent to a just placed tribe, then the tribe takes no religion. No god stone is placed on the tribe. Example: The player places a tribe on the left side of a desert. There is no temple or tribe directly adjacent, so it gets no god stone.

Placing a tribe into the playing field costs 1 power point per directly adjacent hex card. Example: In the picture before last, placing the tribe costs 2 power points because it is directly adjacent to 2 hex cards.

b) Place temple

If a player places a temple into the playing field, the temple has to be directly adjacent to a hex card.

If the player places a temple, all directly adjacent tribes change in any case their religion and take the religion of the just placed temple. The tribes get a god stone in the colour of the just placed temple. God stones of other players have to be removed. The owners get them back to their stock.

Placing a temple into the playing field costs 3 power points per directly adjacent hex card.

Example: After placing the red temple, all directly adjacent tribes change their religion. The yellow god stones are removed and red ones added. Placing this temple costs 6 power points because two hex cards are directly adjacent.

Example: In the playing field are 3 green tribes. Two of them have blue god stones and one a yellow god stone. Player blue has his turn and places a temple at the tribe with the yellow god stone. The tribe changes the religion and gets a blue god stone. Now 3 green tribes have the blue religion. Player blue gets the green points card and the green points chip. He puts both face up in front of him.

c) Play other hex cards

Desert: If the player places a desert from the display into the playing field, the desert has to be directly adjacent to a hex card. Placing a desert from the display into the playing field costs no power points. Instead, the player gets 1 power point.

Decay: If the player places a hex card "decay" from the display into the playing field, the hex card "decay" has to be directly adjacent to a hex card. The player can take a power point from an owner of a directly adjacent temple if this one has a minimum of one point. Placing a hex card "decay" from the display into the playing field costs no power points.

Whirlwind: This hex card should not be played into the playing field. It gets back into the game box after playing. Then the player can move a desert of his choice to another place in the playing field directly adjacent to another hex card. Placing a whirlwind costs no power points.

Extra action: This hex card should not be played into the playing field. He puts it face up in front of him. In a later turn he can make an extra action with it. Taking a hex card "extra action" costs no power points.

d) Make extra action

If the player owns a hex card "extra action", he can play it to make an extra action. The hex card gets back into the box. Playing an extra action itself is not defined as an action. Playing a hex card "extra action" costs no power points. The extra action itself costs as usual.

e) Move desert

Like the hex card "whirlwind", the player can move a desert of his choice in the playing field to another place in the playing field directly adjacent to another hex card. Moving a hex card "desert" within the playing field costs 2 power points.

f) Discard hex card

The player puts a hex card from the display back in the sack. Putting a hex card from the display back into the sack costs no power points.

Order of actions

The player can do his actions in the order he likes. The player can only do the actions "place tribe" and "make extra action" more than one time in his turn. All other actions he can only do once in his turn.

Unite a nation

If a player has achieved that 3 tribes of the same tribe colour have his religion, then he has united a nation. For that he gets from the public stock a points card in the tribe colour that he puts face up in front of him. And he gets a points chip in the tribe colour that he also puts face up in front of him. But if this points chip already is in front of another player, he does not get the chip.

In each tribe colour exist 8 tribes. Therefore it is possible to unite 2 nations in each tribe colour. This can be achieved even by the same player: when 6 tribes of the same tribe colour have the same religion. Important: To unite a nation it is not necessary that the tribes be near each other. They can be spread all over the playing field.

A nation falls to pieces

If tribes change their religion and a player no longer has 3 of a kind, he must give the points card back to the public stock. Important: Never give the points chip back.

The numbers on the points cards and the points chips are victory points.

Game End

The game ends immediately ...

• ... if a player has points cards and points chips worth 9 victory points. With 2 players the game ends with 10 victory points.
• ... or if the display cannot be refilled with different hex cards.
• ... or if there are not enough hex cards left in the sack for the refill of the display.

"The game end immediately" means that further possible actions of the player who has his turn get lost unused. If no player has achieved 9 or 10 victory points at the game end, then the player with the most victory points wins. In case of a tie, the player with the most power points wins.

Other Important Things

• Don't put hex cards on top of other hex cards.
• If a player runs out of god stones, the tribe stays without a god stone.
• If a player runs out of temples, he can't place temples anymore.

Tactical Comments

• "Discard hex card" is a good option if a player wants to save some power points for a later and expensive action. If there is "desert" or "decay" on the display, there is also the possibility to make even extra points for that.
• With "desert" it is not only possible to block an opponent's temple. It is also possible to save cheaply a bit "own" tribes from the opponent's temples. Then it costs the opponent more points to place a temple there. But "desert" can be moved, so don't feel too safe.
• If you have no desert on the display, you also can have the same effect by placing other tribes. An effective layout is the row (following example). That's the fastest way to raise the costs for the others if they want your tribe.

Example: Red places a violet tribe at the right side of his temple and then a desert at the right side of the tribe. If now another player wants to change the religion of the violet tribe and therefore places a temple on one of the possible 4 light green places, this player has to pay 6 power points.