Stolemë Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Box Content
• Game Setup
• Stolem Cards
• Gameplay
  • Removing the Knocked silly tokens
  • Placing Family tokens – once per game round
  • Drawing the Action and Hit or Miss cards
  • Players Actions
  • MOVE
  • ROCK THROW
    • Hit effect
  • Terrain tokens
  • GODS' ACTION
    • Drawing the Gods' Disapproval card
    • Exchanging the Gods' Disapproval cards
    • Playing the Gods' Disapproval cards
• You Winning the Game
• FAQ

Box Content

• 20 Hit or Miss cards – 5 for each player
• 12 Knocked silly tokens
• 16 Family tokens – 4 for each player (The Boulder, Wool Cap, Sprint, Super Throw)
• 20 Action cards – 5 for each player
• 16 Gods' Disapproval cards
• 4 Activity tokens (double-sided)
• 16 Stolem cards (double-sided) – 4 per each family
• 4 Point tokens
• Gameboard, dice and guide cards
• 16 cardboard Stolem game pieces
• 20 Terrain tokens (the printed token designs are labelled The Clearing, The Hill, The River and The Lake)
• 8 Rock tokens

Game Setup

1. Place the gameboard within the reach of all players.
2. Choose your Stolem family.
3. Choose 4 Stolem cards and their game pieces from the Stolem family of your choice.
4. Each player gets:
   • 1 set of 5 Action cards: Rock Throw x2, Move x2, Gods x1
   • 1 set of 5 Hit or Miss cards: Hit x3, Miss x2
   • 4 Family tokens
   • 1 Activity token
   • 1 Point token
   • 1 Guide card
   • 1 randomly drawn Gods' Disapproval card
5. Around the gameboard put:
   • Gods' Disapproval deck
   • Terrain tokens, Knocked silly tokens and Rock tokens
6. Every player chooses 1 starting hexagon. Every player chooses a starting Stolem and puts his/her Stolem game piece on the starting hexagon.
7. The rest of the Stolem family is placed on the adjacent hexagons.
8. How to choose the first player? The person who most recently threw rocks at other giants starts the game. Or, jokes aside, you can roll the dice and choose the best score.

Diagram labels on the printed board: Starting hexagons; Human Village; Winning bars.

Stolem Cards

After first hit a Stolem is Dazed and his/her card is turned over. After second hit a Stolem is Knocked silly. Put the Knocked silly token on his/her card.

• Movement points – which show how far your Stolem can go.
• Range – which shows how far your Stolem may throw the rock.
• Special ability of your Stolem. (Not every character has it.)

The back side of the card shows how the Stolem's statistics change, after he/she is hit with the first Rock. Some of the Stolems may be even more dangerous when hit.

Gameplay

In the first round points 1-3 are omitted.

Game round order:

1. Removing the Knocked silly tokens: Players choose one Knocked silly Stolem (from their characters) and remove the Knocked silly token from the Stolem card.
2. Placing the Family tokens: Players put 1 Family token (face down) on every Stolem card.
3. Drawing Action and Hit or Miss cards: Players draw cards, always maintaining 5 of each type on hand.
4. Player Actions: Every player performs one Action, until no more Actions can be performed.

Removing the Knocked silly tokens

After the Stolem is Knocked silly, his/her game piece is knocked over.

Each player chooses one of his/her Knocked silly Stolems, removes the Knocked silly token from the Stolem card and returns the Stolem game piece to the upright position. Your Stolem may now move and throw rocks normally.

If (after removing the Knocked silly tokens) there is any Stolem left Knocked silly on the gameboard, this Stolem will not be able to take part in any quarrel. This Stolem's game piece and Stolem card are now removed from the game.

Placing Family tokens – once per game round

Each player puts one Family token (face down) on each Stolem card in the Stolem family. If, in future rounds, you lose any of your Stolems, the Family tokens need to be placed on other Stolems:

• When you have 3 Stolems left in a Family, put 2 Family tokens on 1 Stolem card and divide 2 remaining tokens between 2 other Stolems.
• When you have 2 Stolems left, put 2 Family tokens on 1 Stolem card and 2 on the other Stolem card.
• When you have 1 Stolem left, put all Family tokens on his/her card.

Each Family token may be used once per round. After using its ability, discard the token. You will receive it the next round.

• The Boulder – a Stolem may use it before a Rock Throw. If the Boulder hits a Stolem's adversary, then the adversary is not just dazed but immediately Knocked silly (the player whose Stolem was hit with The Boulder must immediately put the Knocked silly token on the Stolem card).
• Wool Cap – The Stolem uses it to protect its head from thrown Rock effects.
• Sprint – The Stolem gets an additional Movement point to be used during the current Action.
• Super Throw – The Stolem throws the rock 1 hexagon further than his/her assigned range.

Drawing the Action and Hit or Miss cards

Every player takes Action cards set: Rock Throw x2, Move x2, Gods x1.

The Hit or Miss cards, which were used in the previous round, are revealed (face up). The first player chooses one of them and adds it to his/her hand. The next to choose a card is the player on his/her left and so on, until all players have 5 Hit or Miss cards in their hands.

If a player has 5 cards in hand, he/she may not draw more cards.

Players Actions

To perform an Action, discard one of the Action cards (face down) to the discarded pile. All players discard the cards into the same pile.

After discarding, choose an Action card (currently in your hand) and put it face up in front of you. Choose the Stolem who will perform this Action.

There are 3 available Actions in game:

• MOVE
• ROCK THROW
• GODS' ACTION

Once you have performed the Action, turn the Activity token to the Hourglass side and pass this Action card to any player of your choice (this player's Activity token cannot be on the Hourglass side). Now, the player who took the card from you puts it in their hand and starts his/her turn. If, while passing the Action card, all the players have Activity tokens set to the Hourglass side, they (except for the one who passed the card) turn them back over.

Players perform their actions until no further Actions are available (a player needs to have at least 2 Action cards in their hand, one to play, the second to discard) or the Action that a player has in their hand cannot be performed (i.e. you have 2 Rock Throw Actions in your hand, but none of your adversaries is in your range).

If the Action card goes to a player who cannot perform any more Actions, that player can turn his/her Activity token (Hourglass side up) and point at the next player to perform the Action (without passing the cards further).

In a two player game, you do not use Activity tokens!

The player who last received an Action card will be the first player in the next round.

MOVE

Every Stolem has his/her movement points assigned on the Stolem card. A Stolem can move as far as the movement points allow. A Stolem may pass through occupied hexagons but may not stop.

Some hexagons on the gameboard (as well as some Terrain tokens placed on the gameboard) affect the Stolem's movement.

• The Lake – If the Stolem wants to cross the Lake, it will cost 2 Movement points.
• The Clearing – Crossing the Clearing costs no Movement points.
• The River – Doesn't affect the Stolem's movement but there are special rules applied to it.
• The Hill – While moving, a Stolem may jump from one Hill to any other Hill and pay 1 Movement point.
• Human Village – Stepping into the Human Village won't affect Stolem's movement, but if the Stolem stays in the Village at the end of the round, he/she will get Knocked silly (if the Stolem was already Knocked silly – nothing happens).

Hexagons which are occupied by Knocked silly Stolems or Stolems who have turned to rock may not be crossed! Terrain tokens and gameboard terrain work in the same way when it comes to movement.

ROCK THROW

Point at an adversary within your throwing range. Shuffle the Hit or Miss deck. Draw one card and place it (face down) on the discard pile.

Now, randomly choose another Hit or Miss card (currently in your hand) and reveal it to all players. If you draw a Hit card, it means your Stolem aimed correctly and hit the other Stolem. If you draw a Miss card, it means the Rock missed the target and hit the ground.

Diagram labels for the Hit and Miss cards: MISS; HIT.

After using the Hit or Miss card, pass it to your adversary, who will put it in their hand.

You can always peek and check your Hit or Miss deck. The only moment in the game when you may not peek is when you use the Rock throw.

Hit effect

If your Stolem is hit for the first time, he/she is only dazed and the Stolem card is turned over.

If your Stolem gets hit for the second time, he/she is Knocked silly and the game piece of this Stolem is knocked down and the Knocked silly token is placed on a Stolem card.

Terrain tokens

Every Rock throw, no matter if it hits or misses, affects the Terrain on which the Rock landed.

• If your Stolem is hit, you pick the Terrain token and place it on the board, outlined side down.
• If your Stolem is missed, you need to roll a die to check which adjacent hexagon was deformed by your adversary's rock. Then you pick the Terrain token and place it on the board, outlined side down.

Die roll indicates on which hexagon the Rock landed.

If, on the hexagon that is hit by a Rock, there is a Terrain token, remove it and replace it with a terrain token of your choice. Every hit transforms the Terrain differently, so you may not replace one Terrain token with a Terrain token of the same kind.

Note! The Terrain token with the river on it may only be placed on the hexagon adjacent to a lake or river. It does not matter if it is a gameboard hexagon or token.

If the rock landed in the Human Village, the Gods are disappointed with your behavior and they Daze and Knocked silly your Stolem.

GODS' ACTION

As a result of this Action, a player is allowed to:

• play the Gods' Disapproval card
• draw a new Gods' Disapproval card (you can have a maximum of 2 such cards in your hand)
• Exchange one Gods' Disapproval card from your hand

Drawing the Gods' Disapproval card

At the beginning of the game, each player gets a Gods' Disapproval card. After playing a Gods' Action, you may draw another Gods' Disapproval card.

Exchanging the Gods' Disapproval cards

Discard a Gods' Disapproval card from your hand (it is reshuffled back into the deck), then draw the top card from this deck.

Playing the Gods' Disapproval cards

Gods do not approve of the Stolems' quarrels and how these quarrels change the landscape. When they get really angry, they may even turn the misbehaving Stolems into Rocks.

If there is a Terrain token set on the gameboard matching the set from the Gods' Disapproval deck, you may use the Gods' Action to determine which Stolem's family has been "naughtiest" in changing the Terrain most significantly.

The player at the head of the "naughty" family must choose one Stolem and the Gods change him/her into a Rock. The Stolem card and his/her game piece is removed from the game board and the Rock token is placed on this hexagon.

After playing the Gods' Disapproval card, the Terrain tokens revealed while playing the card are now turned over (outlined-side up).

Note! When playing Gods' Disapproval cards, you only consider the Terrain tokens placed on the map during the game (the ones with the outlined-side down). Terrain which is a permanent part of the gameboard is excluded.

If playing the Gods' Disapproval card was successful and the Gods show their disapproval, place the card next to your Stolem family. If this was your only Gods' Disapproval card, immediately draw another. Playing 3 Gods' Disapproval cards is one of three ways of winning the game.

You Winning the Game

Immediately when:

• 1st winning condition: You have Knocked silly your adversaries:

  • 3 times when playing the 2-player version
  • 4 times when playing the 3-player version
  • 5 times when playing the 4-player version

  Every time a Stolem is Knocked silly, mark it with a Point token on the Winning bar on the gameboard.

• 2nd winning condition: You played 3 Gods' Disapproval cards.

• Note! If any player uses the Rock throw Action and has to put down a Terrain token, but there are no Terrain tokens left, the game is also over. Or, if there are only river Terrain tokens left and there are no available hexagons to put the river on, the game is also over. In both of these cases, the winning Stolem Family is the Family with the most Stolems standing (not Dazed or Knocked silly).

• 3rd winning condition: Only your Stolem Family is left on the gameboard.

Enjoy your Boulder Throwing and may the Gods grace you!

FAQ

Q: What happens if my rock landed outside the gameboard hexagons?

A: You need to continue rolling the dice until a hexagon on the map is indicated.

Q: What if, after playing all Terrain tokens, two or more players have the same number of Stolems standing? Who wins?

A: You need to check which Stolem family has the least number of Dazed Stolems. If the number of Dazed Stolems is also the same, then we call it a tie.

Q: Who is the first player? The player who got the last Action card or the player who got the card and performed an Action?

A: The player who got the last Action card. Action isn't required.

Q: Is there any way to return a Dazed Stolem to its original health?

A: No, once the Stolem is Dazed, he/she remains Dazed until the end of the game.