Treeline Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• How to Win
• Components
• Setup (Learning Game)
• Gameplay (Learning Game)
  • On Your Turn
  • 1. Reforest
  • 2. Deploy
  • 3. Claim
  • 3. Claim (continued)
• Game End (Learning Game)
• The Full Game
  • Additional Setup
  • Additional Gameplay
  • Additional Scoring
• Glade Glossary

How to Win

Tenaciously transform the town back into wild forest, using your limited pool of Forest Folk. When a row or column is fully reforested, the one with the most influence there claims the Castle at its edge. Claim the most points worth of Castles to win!

Components

66 Land Cards — The value on the Town side indicates how many spaces are on the Forest side.

16 Castle Tiles — Each one has a Point value, and a Priority letter for breaking ties.

44 Folk Tokens — Eleven for each player. Each one has a Normal side and an Energized side.

2 Starting Tiles — Each one has a Forest side, and Setup reminders on the back.

4 Faction Cards — One for each player. Both sides have rules reminders.

12 Glade Cards — These special Land cards are only used in the Full Game. Full Game rules begin on page 6.

Setup (Learning Game)

What is the Learning Game? This introductory mode doesn't include the Glades. After you've played the Learning Game once or twice, you will be ready for the Full Game (rules start on page 6). You could jump right into the Full Game if you want!

For a 2- or 3-player game, return five of each Land card value (1, 2, and 3) to the box before beginning Setup.

1. Shuffle the Land cards (Town side up), then arrange them into a grid in the center of the play area (return any extras to the box). The grid size is determined by your player count:

   • 2 Players.....6×7
   • 3 Players.....7×7
   • 4 Players.....8×8

   For the top left and bottom right corners of the grid, do not use Land cards; instead use the two Starting tiles, with their Forest side up. Each Starting tile has helpful setup reminders on its back side.

2. Shuffle the Castle tiles (Unclaimed side up). Place one at the top of each column, and one to the left of each row. Return extras to the box.

3. Give each player a set of Folk tokens (called simply tokens in the rules) and the Faction card in their colour. Tokens start the game Normal-side up.

   For a 4-player game, form two teams of two; arrange seating so that each player has an opponent to their right and left.

4. Pick a start player however you like. You are ready to begin!

Strategic Start for experienced players! Before beginning the game, in reverse turn order, each player flips one Town card of their choice to its Forest side, and fills its spaces with tokens from their supply. You may not flip a card that would create an isolation.

Gameplay (Learning Game)

On Your Turn

Your turn has three steps: 1. Reforest | 2. Deploy | 3. Claim

When you are done, play passes clockwise to the next player.

1. Reforest

Choose a pair of two Town cards (of any values) that are next to each other, and flip them both to their Forest side.

• Before flipping, at least one of those two cards must have been next to an existing Forest card (or a Starting tile).

Does diagonal count as "next to"? Nope. Diagonal doesn't count.

What are Town cards and Forest cards? When a Land card is Town side up, it is a Town card; when it is Forest side up, it is a Forest card.

Isolated Town Cards

Reforesting may cause other Town cards to become isolated. A Town card is isolated if it is next to zero other Town cards (Castle tiles do not count as Town cards). Flip all isolated Town cards to their Forest side as well.

2. Deploy

Choose any one Forest card that you flipped in Step 1 (even one that flipped due to isolation), and Deploy to it by filling all of the spaces on it with your own tokens.

• You may use tokens from your supply, and/or from Forest cards where you placed them earlier (in any combination).
• You may not use tokens from your claimed Castle tiles.

What if my token supply runs out? Once you run out of tokens in your supply, you will have no choice but to move tokens off of other Forest cards; you will eventually run out... deciding which spots to abandon is a big part of the game!

After you Deploy, the next player in turn order chooses a different Forest card that you flipped (even one that flipped due to isolation), and they Deploy to that card (following the same rules).

3. Claim

If during your turn a line (meaning a row or a column) became fully restored (meaning that there are now zero Town cards remaining there), the player with the most Influence in the restored line will claim the Castle at its end.

Tally up your own tokens in the restored line. Each Normal token contributes 1 Influence to your total; each Energized token contributes 2 Influence (see page 6 to learn how tokens become Energized).

What if multiple lines are restored on my turn? Resolve them in alphabetical order by their Castle's Priority letter, fully completing each line's process before moving to the next.

3. Claim (continued)

The winner is the one with the most Influence in the restored line. They flip the Castle to its Claimed side, and must choose one of their own tokens from that line to station permanently on that Castle, placing it on the tile.

• Once you claim a Castle it is yours for good, even if the Influence totals in the line change.

Finally, all players except the winner (in turn order after the winner) choose one of their own Normal tokens in that line (if there are any), and flip it over to its Energized side.

Energized Tokens

Each Energized token should be treated as a single token in all respects (including for stationing), except that it contributes an extra point of Influence towards claiming Castles.

• Normal: 1 Influence
• Energized: 2 Influence

What if there is an Influence tie to claim a Castle?

• In the event of a tie, the active player wins. If the active player isn't part of the tie, the tied player that is next in turn order wins.
• The tie-winner must permanently station two of their tokens from the line (instead of one as normal) in the claimed Castle.
• In the rare case that the tie-winner has only one token in the line, they must take the second one from any other place (except one already stationed on a Castle).

Game End (Learning Game)

If four or fewer Town cards remain at the end of your turn, the game immediately ends. Add up the points of your claimed Castles to get your final score... the player with the highest score wins!

• It is irrelevant how many tokens you have on your claimed Castles, or whether they are Normal or Energized.

For a 4-player game, teammates add their totals together, and the team with the highest score wins!

If it's a tie, the tied player (or team) who claimed the Castle with the earliest Priority letter in alphabetical order wins!

The Full Game

The Full Game introduces the Glades to Treeline; they add new scoring opportunities beyond claiming Castles to the game for all players! You can always return to playing the Learning Game if you prefer a simpler experience.

Additional Setup

1. Shuffle the Glade cards (Town side up), then draw three random ones (without looking at them) and return the rest to the box unseen.
2. Replace any three value-1 Town cards in the grid with your three Glade cards, keeping them Town-side up; return the removed Town cards to the box. You can have one player decide which Town cards to replace, or discuss it as a group; it's up to you.

Additional Gameplay

A Glade functions like a normal Land card in most respects; it has a Town side and Forest side, and you Reforest it and Deploy to it in the same way as you would any other Land card. Each Glade has one space for a deployed token on its Forest side.

Each Glade introduces a unique scoring opportunity, described on its Forest side. Since they begin Town-side up, players won't know which specific Glades are in play until they are Reforested.

A Glade's scoring effect only becomes active when the card is Forest-side up and there are no tokens on the card. This means that if a token is deployed to it when it is flipped, that player must deploy (or station) that token to somewhere else in order to activate the effect.

Who owns an active Glade? Nobody! Once a Glade becomes active, no specific player controls it; anybody can potentially benefit from its scoring effect.

Additional Scoring

At game end (in addition to Castle scoring), check each active Glade and calculate the points you earn from it; add those points to your final score!

What if there's a tie for a Glade? Some Glades award points to the player with the "most" of something; in the event of a tie, all tied players earn the points.

Check the Glade Glossary below for a reference clarifying all of the Glade scoring effects.

Glade Glossary

• 1 pt per token of yours on cards next to this Glade.
• 1 pt per token of yours on cards diagonally next to this Glade.
• 4 pts if you have the most Energized tokens on cards surrounding this Glade.
• 1 pt for every two tokens of yours on cards surrounding this Glade.
• 2 pts for every two tokens you have on cards in the same row as this Glade.
• 2 pts for every two tokens you have on cards in the same column as this Glade.
• 2 pts for every two tokens you have on cards that are on the edge of the grid.
• 4 pts if you have the largest connected group of cards with your tokens on them (diagonal isn't connected).
• 1 pt per token of yours on cards with zero tokens of any player's on the Forests or Castles they are next to.
• 2 pts for every Energized token you stationed in a Castle.
• 4 pts if you have the most Energized tokens on non-edge cards of the grid.
• 2 pts per Energized token you have on cards surrounding any remaining Town cards.