Solenia
Solenia Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
- 1 Giant Airship figurine
- 5 double-sided gameboard strips
- 48 Delivery tiles
- some star-shaped Gold tokens, the money of the game
- 15 resources each of 4 types: wood, wheat, stone, water
- per player: 16 Airship cards and 1 player board
- 24 Improvement tiles
- 1 die for the solitaire game
The rest of these rules are about the game using the summer side of the player boards, for 2–4 players. The other versions are explained at the end of the rules and in the appendix (solitaire game).
Setup
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Assemble the gameboard by arranging the 5 strips in either the order night/night/dawn/day/day, or the order day/day/dusk/night/night.
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Place the Giant Airship figurine on the middle space of the middle strip.
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Sort the Delivery tiles and arrange them in 2 face-down decks: a Day deck and a Night deck. Create a display as follows:
- 2- or 3-player game: Reveal 3 Day tiles and 3 Night tiles.
- 4-player game: Reveal 4 Day tiles and 4 Night tiles.
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Each player: Choose a player color, and set the player board of that color in front of you, summer side up.
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Each player: Shuffle the deck of Airship cards of your chosen color to form your personal deck, and place it face down to the left of your board.
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The player who most has "their head in the clouds" is the first player.
- 3-player game: Give the 3rd player 1 wood.
- 4-player game: Give the 3rd player 1 wood, and the 4th player 1 stone.
Place your resource on a storage space of your player board.
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Place the Gold tokens and the resources nearby, in reach of everyone, to form the reserve.
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Each player draws 3 cards from their personal deck. Now the game can commence!
Notes:
- Resources are not limited by the components. If you run out, use a substitute.
- Leave the Improvement tiles in the box: They are not used when playing the game using the summer side of the player boards.
Two kinds of empty spaces are marked on the gameboard:
- Spaces adjacent to the Giant Airship (marked A)
- Spaces adjacent to another card you already played (marked B)
Example: Noélie spends a stone and a wood to be able to place a card 3 spaces away from one of her cards (2 empty spaces lie between them).
Example: Anaëlle plays a value-2 card on a floating wood production island; she immediately gains 2 wood, which she places on her storage spaces.
Playing the Game
The game spans a series of rounds, during each of which, each player plays one card from their hand. The game ends when each player has played all 16 of their cards.
At the start of your turn, you have 3 cards in your hand (except for the last 2 turns of the game, of course). Starting with the first player and continuing clockwise, each player MUST play a card on the gameboard, which is composed from the strips.
You must respect the following rules:
- You must place the card on an empty space (i.e. one without a card in it) on a strip of the gameboard.
- Adjacency rule: The space must be adjacent to the Giant Airship figurine (A) or another card you already played (B).
- You are totally allowed to play a card in the Giant Airship's space (if it has no card, of course)!
- In the very rare case that it is impossible to play a card adjacent to the Giant Airship or one of your cards, you must either lengthen your voyage (see below), or simply discard a card from your hand to advance the Giant Airship. With the second option, you do nothing else on your turn!
Lengthening a Voyage
It is possible for you to lengthen your voyage, which is to say not respect the adjacency rule. In order to do this, you must spend one resource (from your storage) per space (empty or occupied) between the Airship or one of your cards, and the space you wish to reach. Discard the resources you used this way, returning them to the reserve.
Note: The resources can be of any type(s).
You can play the card on either of the following:
- a floating production island (types: Wood, Stone, Wheat, or Water).
- a floating city (types: Day or Night).
Playing on a Floating Production Island
Gain as many resources as the value of the card you played (either 0, 1, or 2 resources) of the type corresponding to this space (visible through the porthole in the card). Place each resource you gain on a storage space on your player board.
Important: You can never keep more than 8 resources. If you ever have more than 8, you must immediately discard resources of your choice until you have only 8.
Playing on a Floating City
Gain as many gold stars as the value of the card you played (either 0, 1, or 2 stars).
Then, you MUST fulfill a Delivery tile by delivering the resources depicted on it.
- If the floating city is a day city, the Delivery tile must be a day tile.
- If the floating city is a night city, the Delivery tile must be a night tile.
Take the Delivery tile and place it in the first empty slot of your player board: day tiles go above it, night tiles go below it. Return the delivered resources to the reserve, and immediately reveal a new Delivery tile of the same type to refill the display.
Placing a Delivery tile immediately earns you the bonus depicted by the slot on your player board (you earn the bonus after the display has been refilled). The slots, from level 1 to level 6, grant:
- 1 wood (day) / 1 stone (night)
- 1 wheat (day) / 1 water (night)
- 1 wood or 1 wheat (day) / 1 stone or 1 water (night)
- 1 wood and 1 wheat (day) / 1 stone and 1 water (night)
- 5 gold stars (day) and 5 gold stars (night)
- 5 gold stars (day) and 5 gold stars (night)
Example: Madeline plays a value-1 card on a floating night city. She gains 1 gold star, then she delivers 1 wood and 2 wheat to claim the corresponding night Delivery tile. She places the Delivery tile in the first empty night slot, which grants her 1 water.
Advancing the Giant Airship
When you play a value-0 card, the Giant Airship immediately moves 1 space straight forward.
At the end of your turn, resolve the power (see "Powers of Expelled Airship Cards" below) of each card on the first strip. Then, return these cards to their respective owners' discard piles. Flip the first strip over and place it as the last strip; then, shift all the strips to keep the board in the same position on the table.
Example: Noélie played a value-0 card on a floating night city. So, she immediately advances the Giant Airship figurine. She returns a wood, a stone, and two wheat to complete the night delivery, and places the Delivery tile in the first empty night slot below her board. At the end of her turn, she resolves the power of each card on the first strip: Noélie receives 1 stone and 1 wheat, thanks to her expelled value-0 card, while Madeline receives 1 water, thanks to her expelled value-1 card. Noélie places her value-0 card in her discard, and Madeline places her value-1 card in her discard. Finally, Noélie flips the first strip and moves it to the last position, and shifts all the strips to keep the gameboard in the middle of the table.
End of the Game
The game ends after everyone has played all 16 of their cards (and after resolving any expelled cards, if the Giant Airship advanced).
Your first 4 day/night pairs of tiles earn you gold stars (1 for the 1st pair, 2 for the 2nd pair, 3 for the 3rd pair, 4 for the 4th pair, but nothing for any beyond the 4th).
For every 2 remaining resources on your storage spaces, you also earn 1 gold star.
Add the gold stars of your Delivery tiles and all those earned over the course of the game. The player with the most gold stars wins. In a tie, the tied players share the victory.
Powers of Expelled Airship Cards
Each Airship card that is expelled from the first strip (see "Advancing the Giant Airship" above) resolves one of four powers, depending on the card:
- Gain 1 or 2 resources produced by the island on which the card was lying (or gold stars if it was on a city).
- Gain 1 copy of the resource indicated on the card, regardless of the type of island/city on which the card was lying (for example, a wood).
- Gain 1 copy of each resource indicated on the card, regardless of the type of island/city on which the card was lying (for example, a stone and a wheat).
- Gain 1 gold star if the card was on an island that produces the resource indicated on the card.
Example: Anaëlle gains 1 gold star thanks to her value-2 card (her card is on a floating wood production island) and 2 water from her value-0 card (two resources produced by the island on which her card is lying). Noélie gains 2 gold stars thanks to her value-0 card (her card is on a city). Madeline gains 1 water thanks to her value-1 card (1 water regardless of the type of island/city on which her card is lying).
Example: During setup, Madeline took a level-1 Improvement tile, which she immediately placed on the space of her player board provided for this purpose. She did the same for the two parts of her level-3 Improvement tile. Over the course of the game, she fulfills a day delivery, but she still cannot use her level-1 Improvement tile. In order to do so, she first will need to fulfill a night delivery, and place it across from the day Delivery tile.
The powers of the winter side of the player boards and the Improvement tiles are explained in the appendix.
The Game Using the Winter Side of the Player Boards
Setup
Identical to the game using the summer side of the player boards, but use the winter side of your player boards; rather than having one day/night slot for each of levels 1–6, this side has two day/night slots each of levels 1–3.
Playing the Game
The game plays exactly the same way as the game using the summer side of the player boards, except for the following: When you claim a Delivery tile, rather than simply placing it in the first empty matching (day/night) slot of your player board, you must choose which slot you wish to activate, respecting this rule: A power can only be activated if there is already a lower-level power activated in the same row. In the same way, a second power at the same level can only be activated if there are already 2 lower-level powers activated in the same row.
Example: In order to activate a level-2 day power, you must already have a level-1 day power activated. In order to activate a second level-3 day power, you must already have two level-1 and two level-2 day powers activated.
- On the winter side of your player board, you have only 6 storage spaces.
- Over the course of the game, you can increase your storage capacity by two spaces, increasing your total to 8.
- At the end of the game, day/night pairs of tiles do not earn gold stars.
The Game with the Improvement Tiles
Setup
Identical to the game using the winter side of your player boards. Then, reveal as many level-1 Improvement tiles as there are players. Form as many level-3 Improvement tiles as there are players by making random pairs of a day half-tile and a night half-tile (the powers of the two half-tiles must be different).
Starting with the last player and going in reverse turn order, each player chooses a level-1 or a level-3 tile. Then make a second round of selections, choosing the other level, so you each end up with a level-1 and a level-3 tile. Each player places their 2 Improvement tiles on the spaces designated for this purpose on their player board, respecting the level (level 1 / level 3) and the type (for level 3, day half-tile / night half-tile).
Playing the Game
The game plays identically to the game using the winter side of the player boards, except that your powers have changed. In order to activate the level-1 Improvement tile, you must have Delivery tiles on both sides of the Improvement tile; however, you can activate each level-3 half-tile independently: A Delivery tile on the night slot activates the night half-tile; a Delivery tile on the day slot activates the day half-tile.
The powers of the winter side of the player boards and the Improvement tiles are explained in the appendix.
Note: The base rulebook (the source document for this transcription) is a 4-page booklet that repeatedly refers players to "the appendix" for the specific power text of each winter-side/Improvement-tile slot and for the solitaire-game rules using the die. That appendix is a separate booklet not included in the scanned rulebook file this transcription was made from, so its slot-by-slot power text and solitaire rules are not reproduced here.