Volcanic Isle Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• The Goal of the Game
• Components
• Setting Up the Game
• Playing the Game
• Game Rules
  • 1. Move a Settler (1 AP)
  • 2. Build a Village (2 AP)
  • 3. Create a Settler (1 AP)
  • 4. Sculpt a Moai (1 AP)
  • 5. Raise a Moai (1 AP)
  • 6. Obtain a Prayer Token (AP cost varies)
• Eruptions
• Sinking of Areas
• Awarding Victory Points During the Game
• The End of the Game
• Awarding Victory Points at the End of the Game
• Advanced Setup
  • Invalid placements in Phase 1

The Goal of the Game

Each player leads one of the ancient tribes trying to expand their culture and raise idols across the unstable continent of Mu, each doing their best to survive nature's devastations and become the strongest tribe. At the end of the game, the player with the most Victory Points will be declared the winner.

Components

• 8 Volcanoes
• 16 Action Point tokens (4 per player)
• 22 Area tiles
• 1 Volcano die
• 47 Lava tiles
• 4 Boat tokens
• 26 Fissure tiles
• 12 Prayer tokens
• 24 Villages
• 20 Settlers
• 8 Volcano tokens
• 56 Moai
• 1 Scoreboard
• 1 First Player token
• 4 Score Markers

Setting Up the Game

PLAYING TIP: Here you'll find how to set up the game for your first few plays. For skilled players, rules for the Advanced Setup are available at the end of this rulebook.

ATTENTION: In the box you'll find punch-out cardboard sheets with 22 tiles of different sizes called "Areas." Each Area tile has 1, 2, or 3 hexagons called "spaces." These Areas will be very important later on when determining how portions of the board will sink.

On the back of each Area tile, you can find the Area number. The Areas numbered from 1 to 8 are the ones that contain the 8 active Volcanoes of the continent of Mu.

Following the example illustrated in the rulebook, rebuild the continent of Mu using the numbers found on the backs of the Area tiles. Place the tiles face up.

Place the 8 plastic Volcanoes in the holes of the Areas numbered 1 to 8, sliding the Volcanoes through the holes from the back.

In each Area with a Volcano, place 1 Lava tile in each of the "Lava Channel" spaces closest to the Volcano in all directions. Also, place Lava tiles on each space of an area that does not have a Volcano.

These tiles represent the rivers of lava available at the start of the game, which can be used for the sculpting of Moai and the construction of Villages.

Then, mix the Volcano tokens together in a face-down pile (the numbers corresponding to the Volcanoes must not be visible).

Each player then selects a color and takes the matching Settlers, Villages, Moai, Boat token, Action tokens, and Scoring marker.

Place the Boat token and 1 Settler for each player in the landfall bay (the sea in front of the 3 hexagons indicated in the illustration).

Choose the First Player randomly and hand them the First Player token. Play will proceed clockwise.

Playing the Game

The raising of the Moai is the most important action in the game. Each time this action is performed, the player raising the Moai:

• Obtains Victory Points, awarded immediately (see Awarding Victory Points During the Game);
• Places a Fissure tile, contributing to the splitting of the continent and causing Areas completely surrounded by Fissures or sea to sink (see Sinking of Areas); and
• Rolls for the possibility of an eruption, which will result in the placement of new Lava tiles that could cause the destruction of Villages or Moai (see Eruptions).

Lava can be used to construct new Villages and Moai. Players may choose to build and expand their holdings near the Volcanoes (a risky but also rewarding choice) or far from them, hoping to preserve their Villages and their people.

The Moai are paramount to your strategy and can influence the other players as well: They are used to obtain Victory Points, but also to trigger and hasten the irreversible process of the continent's destruction—and thus to reach the game's end.

Concentrating one's Moai in the same Area could award you many Victory Points, but also makes that Area more prone to sinking due to the many Fissures created. What strategy will you choose?

Game Rules

During their turn, a player has 4 Action Points (called "AP") that they can spend to perform the following actions, at the indicated cost. All actions except Obtain a Prayer Token can be repeated as long as the player has AP to spend, and they can be performed in any order:

1. Move a Settler (1 AP)
2. Build a Village (2 AP)
3. Create a Settler (1 AP)
4. Sculpt a Moai (1 AP)
5. Raise a Moai (1 AP)
6. Obtain a Prayer Token (1 or more AP)

Every player has a set of 4 Action tokens of their color, numbered 1 to 4, which they can use as a reminder of how many APs they have spent.

Here are the different actions in detail:

1. Move a Settler (1 AP)

This action allows the player to move one Settler to an adjacent space (which can be in another Area). Settlers cannot cross over a Fissure tile.

A Settler can move from a Boat to an adjacent land space (at the beginning of the game) as a normal move.

Carrying a Moai: When a player moves a Settler, they can carry a Moai in the same space with them to an adjacent space or they can leave the Moai there (to move or raise over a geyser later) and the Settler may move on its own.

IMPORTANT: Settlers can NEVER cross a Fissure tile when moving.

2. Build a Village (2 AP)

This action allows the player to place a new Village by replacing a Lava tile with a Village of their color. To perform this action, they must have a Settler in the space where the Village is built. The Village is placed in the Lava Channel the Lava tile was removed from.

Note: Once a Village is built, it cannot be moved, but a Volcano's eruption or the sinking of an Area can remove the Village from the board.

3. Create a Settler (1 AP)

The player can add a new Settler of their color to an Area that has at least one Settler and one Village of their color.

IMPORTANT: Each turn, a player can only create a number of new Settlers equal to the number of Villages present in each Area. If you want to create a second Settler in the same Area, you'll have to build a second Village first.

4. Sculpt a Moai (1 AP)

This action allows the player to create a Moai statue by replacing a Lava tile with a Moai of their color. To perform this action, they must have a Settler in the space where the Moai is sculpted. The Moai statue is placed on its side in the Lava Channel that the Lava tile was removed from. It can later be moved or destroyed by an eruption or by the sinking of the Area.

5. Raise a Moai (1 AP)

A player may raise a Moai, placing it on top of one of the geysers in the same space. In order to perform this action, the player must have a Settler in the space where that Moai is raised.

Every time a new Moai is raised, the obstruction of the geyser will increase the pressure beneath the continent, possibly triggering a new eruption. After a Moai is raised, follow these steps:

• Place a Fissure tile in front of the Moai, on the border between its Area tile and the adjacent tile; then
• Roll the Volcano die to see if one of the Volcanoes erupts (see Eruptions).

If a Moai is raised so that it is already facing a Fissure tile, do not add a new Fissure to the board, but roll the Volcano die as usual.

Once a Moai has been raised, it cannot be moved: only the sinking of an Area can remove a raised Moai from the board.

6. Obtain a Prayer Token (AP cost varies)

Maximum 1 per turn: The player can take a Prayer token from the supply. If the player has no Prayer tokens, performing this action costs 1 AP. The cost of this action goes up 1 AP for each Prayer token already in the player's possession: 2 AP for the second, 3 AP for the third, and so on. A player can only obtain one Prayer token each turn.

A player may use a Prayer token at any time (even in the same turn it was acquired or during another player's turn) to prevent the destruction of their Moai or Village during an eruption. The Prayer token is removed from the game when spent. A player is never forced to use the Prayer tokens in their possession.

A player can spend multiple tokens at the same time to save multiple Moais or Villages (1 token per Moai or Village).

Eruptions

As previously described, each time a Moai is raised, there is the possibility that one of the Volcanoes on the board may erupt.

The player who raised the Moai must roll the Volcano die: If a white face is rolled, the Volcanoes remain quiet and nothing happens. If a Volcano symbol is rolled, an eruption occurs immediately.

The active player draws a random Volcano token to determine which of the Volcanoes erupts. When a Volcano erupts, one Lava tile is placed on the first empty Lava Channel surrounding the Volcano in every direction. A space is "empty" for this purpose if there is no Lava tile there. If the space is occupied by an unraised Moai or Village, those pieces are destroyed unless the player uses a Prayer token to prevent the destruction.

The destruction of a player's Village or Moai does not result in the loss of any Victory Points. The pieces are simply returned to the player's reserve. Once placed, Lava tiles cannot be moved, but they can be transformed into a Moai or Village with the corresponding actions.

Return the revealed Volcano token(s), face down, to the pool and mix the Volcano tokens together in preparation of the next eruption.

Note: If a Volcano is removed from the game due to an Area sinking, remove the matching Volcano token from the game.

IMPORTANT: If, at any point in the game, there are no Lava tiles on the board, immediately resolve two eruptions: The active player draws 2 random Volcano tokens at the same time and proceeds as described above for both Volcanoes drawn.

Sinking of Areas

If any part of the continent of Mu becomes completely surrounded by Fissures and/or the sea (i.e., any part of the table not covered by an Area tile), that part of the island is doomed to sink into the darkness beneath the waves.

(Illustration caption: "This area is surrounded by crack tiles so it sinks into the sea!")

IMPORTANT: The part that sinks is always the one with least spaces. If the island is divided into two (or more) parts of the same size, the doomed part is the one with the fewest Volcanoes. Should the island of Mu be divided into multiple parts of the same size with the same number of Volcanoes, the active player draws one random Volcano token, and the part that sinks is the one that contains the corresponding Volcano.

NOTE: Even inland Areas not touched by the ocean will sink if they are completely surrounded by Fissure tiles.

When an Area sinks, follow these steps:

1. The active player "saves" ALL of their Settlers located in the Area about to sink, moving them into a single space adjacent to the sinking Area.
2. Each of the other players saves ONE of their Settlers located in the Area about to sink, moving it into an adjacent space.
3. All other pieces located in the Area about to sink are removed and returned to their respective reserves.
4. All of the Area tiles located in the part of the island that is sinking are removed from the game and placed back into the box.
5. Any Volcanoes located on the Area tiles that sank are removed from the game and placed back into the box together with their corresponding Volcano tokens.

If a player should notice at a later time that part of the island was surrounded by Fissure tiles and/or sea and was supposed to sink as described above, that player is awarded 3 Victory Points and then performs the sinking procedures as normal—but manages to save ALL of their Settlers located in that part of the island to an adjacent space. Each of the other players may save only one of their Settlers, moving it to a space adjacent to the Area about to sink.

Awarding Victory Points During the Game

During the course of the game, players earn Victory Points by performing the following actions:

1. For each Village built = 1 VP
2. For each Moai raised on an Area tile without any of that player's Villages = 1 VP
3. For each Moai raised on an Area tile containing one or more of that player's Villages = VP equal to the number of Moai they have in that Area times the number of Villages they have in that Area a. For example, for each Moai raised in an Area containing one Village of the same color: i. 1 VP for the first Moai (1 x 1) ii. 2 VP for the second Moai (2 x 1) iii. 3 VP for the third Moai (3 x 1) b. For each Moai raised in an Area containing two Villages of the same color: i. 2 VP for the first Moai (1 x 2) ii. 4 VP for the second Moai (2 x 2) iii. 6 VP for the third Moai (3 x 2)

Victory points are recorded on the Scoreboard.

The End of the Game

The game ends when there are two or fewer Volcanoes left on the board after part of the island sinks. When this occurs, the game continues until the player to the right of the First Player has completed their turn (in this way, all players will have the same number of turns). Then it's time to add up the VPs!

Awarding Victory Points at the End of the Game

At the end of the game, players may earn Victory Points in addition to those already earned during the course of the game:

1. For each Village they have remaining on the board: 3 VP
2. For each Settler they have remaining on the board: 4 VP
3. For each unspent Prayer token in that player's reserve: 2 VP
4. For each of that player's Moai remaining on the board: 2 VP
5. In addition, they receive a BONUS for each Moai they have on the board that is adjacent to another Moai of the same color: 2 VP times the number of adjacent Moai. a. For example: i. 2 adjacent Moai = (2 x 2) 4 VP ii. 3 adjacent Moai = (2 x 3) 6 VP iii. 4 adjacent Moai = (2 x 4) 8 VP

The player with the most VP is declared the winner. In the case of a tie, the winner is the tied player with the highest number of Settlers on the board. In case of a further tie, the winner is the one with the highest number of Villages, and then finally the highest number of Moai.

Advanced Setup

By following these instructions, you'll be able to create different types of islands, with different maps and starting landing places for your Settlers.

Inside the box you'll find 22 different Area tiles composed of different numbers of spaces. Tiles numbered 1 to 8 have Volcanoes; tiles numbered 9 to 22 have no Volcanoes.

In order to create a completely new continent, set up the tiles following this procedure:

Start with the innermost Areas.

• Phase 1: Take the 5 straight-edged tiles that have a Volcano (numbered 1 to 5) and arrange them together, forming a compact zone without any gaps (each tile must be in contact with at least two other tiles).
• Phase 2: Take the 3 coastal tiles that have a Volcano (6 to 8) and join them to the Areas assembled in Phase 1 so that only 2 straight edges of each tile remain open for the following phases. Then position the outer Areas.
• Phase 3: Now join the tiles left over after the previous phases to the map, making sure each time that no more than 2 straight edges of each tile are left open for the placement of later tiles. At the end of this step, you should be left with no straight edges, and all of the outer edges should be coasts (irregularly shaped).

The rest of the Advanced Setup is identical to the standard setup, except for the placement of the Boat tokens. Mix the Boats face down then choose a different landfall bay for each Boat, placing them in more or less equally distant bays. Finally, turn over the Boats and place a matching Settler on each one.

Once the players have revealed their respective starting points, hand the First Player token to a randomly chosen player and start to play, proceeding clockwise.

Invalid placements in Phase 1

• A tile that touches only 1 tile instead of 2 is invalid.
• A placement that leaves a hole in the board is invalid.