Volfyirion
Volfyirion Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Overview
In Volfyirion, each player represents one of two Houses of Mysthea. The goal is to defeat the other player by destroying all of their Cities. This is done by playing cards to gain points which can be spent to deploy strategic assets and to attack. Players gain resources and take actions by playing cards from their personal decks, which are upgraded with additional cards during the course of a game.
How to Win
A player immediately wins the game after destroying all enemy Cities.
Components
- 1 Volfyirion token
- 1 Volfyirion's Lair card
- 6 City cards
- 12 Building cards
- 15 Troop cards
- 26 Wonder cards
- 20 starting cards (16 Prospector, 2 Captain, 2 Diviner)
- 36 Command cards
- 4 Mercenary Troop cards
- 2 Saboteur Command cards
- 2 Ascension Path Wonder cards
- 4 Perk cards
- 6 Ploy cards
- 2 Continuum cards
Game Setup
Players sit across from each other.
A player's deck is called House Deck. At the start of the game it is composed of ten Command Cards: eight Prospector, one Captain, and one Diviner.
Both players shuffle their own House Deck then place it in front of themselves.
Shuffle all Troop, Building, and the remaining Command Cards together to form the Asset Deck.
Shuffle all Wonder Cards together to form the Wonder Deck. Asset and Wonder Decks are shared between players.
Place the Asset Deck face down on the side of the gaming area. Asset Deck's top card is always flipped face up.
NOTE: To add a bit more of unpredictability to the game, keep the Asset Deck's top card face down during the game.
Draw the top five cards from the Asset Deck and place them face up in a row to form the "Asset Row".
Place the Volfyirion's Lair Card face up at the end of the Asset Row. Put the Volfyirion Token on the Volfyirion's Lair Card.
Place the Wonder Deck face down next to the Volfyirion's Lair Card. Draw cards until you reveal two that cost no more than 3 Battle Points each, then place them on the spaces of the Volfyirion's Lair Card, face up. Put the other revealed cards, if any, on the bottom of the Wonder Deck.
Each player has three City Cards which represent vital strategic points to defend. Cities have a Defence Value of 8, 9, and 10. Players arrange their three Cities in a line in front of them, which forms the "Cities Area".
The two players have both a "Discard Area" and a "Playing Area". Discarded Cards are stacked in a Pile in the respective Discard Area.
NOTE: In Volfyirion, "Discard" and "Remove" are two different operations. Removed cards (and tokens) leave the game and are put back into the box.
The play area is arranged with, for each player, a Cities Area, a Playing Area, a Discard Area, and a House Deck; between the two players sit the shared Asset Deck, Asset Row, and Volfyirion's Lair (flanked by two Wonder Cards), with a Wonder Deck alongside it.
Command, Battle, and Knowledge Points
Cards in the game provide three resources that can be used in multiple ways.
Command Points are used by players to:
- Acquire cards from the Asset Row
- Redeploy Troops between Cities.
Players Gain Command Points by Playing Command Cards or through In-Play cards such as Building Cards and Wonder Cards.
Battle Points are used by players to:
- Acquire Wonder Cards from Volfyirion's Lair
- Attack a City
Players Gain Battle Points by Playing Command Cards or through In-Play cards such as Building Cards, Troop Cards, and Wonder Cards.
Knowledge Points are used by players to:
- Seal/Unseal Wonder Cards in both Playing Areas
- Replace a card in the Asset Row with a new one
- Move the Volfyirion Token from the Lair Card to an enemy City or from an owned City to the Lair Card
Players Gain Knowledge Points by Playing Command Cards or through In-Play cards such as Building Cards, Troop Cards, and Wonder Cards.
Command, Building, and Troop Cards
A card's anatomy shows: Card Name, Card Type, Command Point Cost, Minor House Color, Main Ability, and Secondary Ability.
The banner in the upper left corner represents the color of a Minor House. The grey banner represents cards that are considered neutral.
Command and Building Cards grant you Points via their Main Ability.
The majority of cards also have a Secondary Ability (see "Activate a Card's Secondary Ability").
Whenever you Play a Building Card, you need to choose the relative slot in a City (see City Cards) to place the card. If there is already another Building Card on the Building slot, the previously placed Building Card is removed from the game and replaced by the new one.
Whenever you Play a Troop Card, you need to choose the relative slot in a City to place the card. If there is already another Troop Card on the Troop slot, the previously placed Troop Card is removed from the game and replaced by the new one.
A Troop Card adds its Defence to the Defence Value of the City where it is placed.
Wonder Cards
A Wonder Card's anatomy shows: Battle Point Cost, Card Type, Card Name, Main Ability, and Secondary Ability.
Wonder Cards do not have House colors.
Whenever you Acquire a Wonder Card you may immediately remove from the game another card from your Discard Pile, from your hand (no Points will be gained from it), or from your Playing Area (after having gained the card Points). This is indicated by the Remove icon.
City Cards
City Cards' Defence Value is displayed in the upper right corner.
The slot for Troop Cards is on the bottom left, the slot for Building Cards is on the bottom right.
In-Play Cards
Most cards you play are usually discarded onto the Discard Pile by the End of a Turn. Some cards though are not discarded: Building, Troop, and Wonder Cards remain In-Play and continue to provide you their Main Ability Points during each of your turns' Main Phases, as long as they are not destroyed or sealed.
Secondary Abilities do also benefit from this same rule and if the requirements are met they may be triggered every turn.
NOTE: Acquired cards are always put onto the Discard Pile. When shuffled back they enhance your House Deck.
How to Play
The player who has most recently seen a dragon, real or fictional, goes first.
Each player's turn has 3 Phases. When these 3 Phases are completed, the other player may take their turn. The 3 Phases are:
- Draw Phase
- Main Phase
- End of a Turn
1. Draw Phase
Draw five cards from your House Deck.
NOTE: Only on their first turn, a player may decide to shuffle their starting hand back into the House Deck, then Draw five new cards.
During a game, there will often be no cards left to Draw from the House Deck, both during Draw and/or Main Phases. In either Phase, when this happens, shuffle back your Discard Pile into a new House Deck, then Draw the cards you need.
During a turn Main Phase, if you played all of your cards and there are no more cards left in both the House Deck and the Discard Pile, you will have to continue your turn only with the cards currently in the Playing Area and Cities Area.
2. Main Phase
During the Main Phase you may perform any of the following actions, in any order, as many times as you like:
- Play a card from your hand
- Gain Points from a card
- Use Command Points to Acquire an Asset Card*
- Use Command Points to Redeploy a Troop
- Use Battle Points to Attack a City
- Use Battle Points to Acquire a Wonder Card*
- Use Knowledge Points to Seal/Unseal a Wonder Card
- Use Knowledge Points to Replace a card in the Asset Row
- Use Knowledge Points to Move Volfyirion
- Activate a card's Secondary Ability
*Acquired cards are always put on top of your Discard Pile.
As special action, once per game, one of the players may be able to:
- Use Battle Points to Defeat Volfyirion
Actions
Play a Card from Your Hand
Playing a card means to put it down from your hand into the Playing Area. This is the core mechanic of the game and has no cost. Unplayed cards are kept in your hand and will be discarded to the Discard Pile during the End of a Turn Phase.
When performing this action, Building and Troop Cards must be assigned to an available slot of your Cities.
NOTE: You can Play cards one at the time to trigger specific effects in a precise order. As an example, you may:
- Play a card that triggers a Building's Secondary Ability.
- Gain all bonuses (from both cards).
- Put In-Play a new Building (removing the old one from the game while doing so).
- Gain all bonuses from the new Building.
Gain Points from a Card
You Gain as many Command Points, Battle Points, and Knowledge Points as depicted by a card's Main Ability. You can Gain Points only from cards in your Playing Area or in your Cities Area.
You may Gain Points from every card In-Play from previous turns in both Playing and Cities Areas, such as Wonder and Building Cards.
You may still Gain Points from cards that are about to leave either Playing or Cities Area, regardless of them being either discarded or removed from the game.
You can Gain Points from a card ability only once per turn.
Example: Player 1 has played five cards and gains the following Points from the Main Abilities:
- 5 Command Points — 1 from Prospector, 1 from Diviner, 1 from Apothecary, 2 from Flawless Deploy.
- 3 Battle Points — 3 from Flawless Deploy.
- 6 Knowledge Points — 3 from Diviner, 1 from Apothecary, 2 from Flawless Deploy.
No Secondary Abilities' Synergy Chains are triggered.
Acquire an Asset Card
To Acquire an Asset Card from the Asset Row you must pay the amount of Command Points depicted on the card's Cost icon. The newly acquired card is immediately moved onto the Discard Pile. The empty space in the Asset Row is not refilled until the End of a Turn Phase.
NOTE: Only during their first turn and before acquiring any card:
- The player who goes first may freely discard a single card in the Asset Row to the bottom of the Asset Deck, then refill the Asset Row with the card at the top of the Deck.
- The player who goes second may freely discard all cards in the Asset Row to the bottom of the Asset Deck, then refill the Asset Row with another five cards from the top of the Deck.
Example: Following the example above, Player 1 places the Elite Trooper Card and the Apothecary Card in two of their cities. Then decides to Acquire cards by spending the Points they just gained. With 5 Command Points, they Acquire Suicide Mission for 3 Command Points and Hidden Cache for 2 Command Points. For 2 Battle Points, they Acquire Sharp Qoam. These new cards are put directly onto the Discard Pile. The player is left with 1 Battle Point and 6 Knowledge Points to spend for other actions.
Redeploy a Troop Card
You may pay the cost of an In-Play Troop Card to reassign it to one of your other Cities.
Attack a City
Attacking a City without a Troop Card: you must spend Battle Points equal to the City's Defence Value. Resolution: the City is destroyed. Then, if a Building Card is present, remove it from the game. Lastly, flip the City Card on the other side to show that it has been destroyed.
Attacking a City guarded by a Troop Card: you must spend Battle Points equal to the City's Defence Value plus the stationed Troop's Defence Value. Resolution: the Troop Card is removed from the game but the City is safe.
NOTE: If you have enough Battle Points, you may Attack a City guarded by a Troop twice in a row. First to destroy the Troop Card, then to destroy the City itself while unguarded.
Acquire a Wonder Card
To Acquire a Wonder Card from the Volfyirion's Lair, you must pay the amount of Battle Points depicted on the Wonder Card's Cost icon. The newly acquired card is immediately moved to your Discard Pile. The empty space on the Volfyirion's Lair Card is not refilled until the End of a Turn Phase.
Defeat Volfyirion
You may pay 16 Battle Points to Defeat Volfyirion.
If you manage to accomplish this incredible feat, immediately remove the Volfyirion Token from the game, then gain the Wonders on its Lair Card, if any left. After that, you also claim the Volfyirion's Lair Card as a new City: take the Lair and place it in your Cities Area. Owning the Lair also provides you 4 Battle Points during each and every Main Phase.
When the Lair is claimed, it is no longer possible to either Acquire Wonders nor Move Volfyirion until the end of the game.
Seal/Unseal a Wonder Card
You may Seal or Unseal a Wonder Card in either Playing Area by paying the equivalent of the card's Cost in Knowledge Points, as reminded by the Cost icon on each Wonder Card.
When you Seal a card, rotate it on one side. When a Wonder is sealed, neither of its Abilities may be used until it is unsealed.
You may only Unseal cards that are sealed. Rotate them back to vertical position to represent this.
All Wonders are put into play "Unsealed".
Replace a Card in the Asset Row
You may pay 2 Knowledge Points to Replace a card in the Asset Row with the top card of the Asset Deck. The discarded card goes on the bottom of the Asset Deck. The new card is immediately available to be acquired. You may not fill an empty space of the Asset Row this way.
Tip: you should replace cards before Acquiring from the Asset Row.
Move Volfyirion
You may pay 8 Knowledge Points to Move the Volfyirion Token.
The dragon can only perform two kinds of movements:
- From the Volfyirion's Lair Card over an enemy City.
- From one of your Cities back onto the Volfyirion's Lair Card.
If you have enough points, you may perform both movements in the same turn.
During your opponent's next End of a Turn Phase, if Volfyirion is not repelled or defeated, it will destroy the enemy City you moved it onto and everything on top of it. See "End of a Turn" for more details.
Activate a Card's Secondary Ability
The Secondary Ability of a card offers you additional bonuses. It can be activated at any time during your Main Phases if its conditions are met. During each turn, a card's Secondary Ability can only be triggered once.
1. The Synergy Chain Abilities
Some cards display a set of icons called the Synergy Chain. To trigger the Synergy Chain you need to check if there are other cards which match the color requirements, in both your Playing and Cities Areas (Buildings and Troops colors count).
If the requirements are met, you Gain all the depicted bonuses.
NOTE: A card's color does not count for its own Synergy Chain.
Example: The Synergy Chain is triggered when there is at least a turquoise card in Playing Area or in Cities Area. The player gains 2 Knowledge Points.
Example: The Synergy Chain is triggered when there is at least one turquoise card AND one red card in Playing Area or in Cities Area. The player gains 2 Battle Points and 2 Knowledge Points.
2. Remove Abilities
Some cards, like the Wonders and Troops, have a Remove Ability. During the Main Phase, you may decide to Remove such cards from the game to gain the depicted bonus. You still Gain the Main Ability Points before the card gets removed from the game this way. You may also decide to Remove a card from the game just to thin your House Deck.
Example: The Player may decide to use the Remove Ability of this card, gaining 3 Knowledge Points for that turn but permanently removing the card from the game.
Secondary Abilities effects are listed below:
NOTE: You may decide to only partially gain the depicted bonus or to completely ignore the bonus offered by a card.
- Draw a Card — Draw a card from your House Deck. You may Play it this turn.
- Remove a Card — Choose any card from either your Playing Area, your Discard Pile, or your hand. The chosen card is immediately removed from the game.
- Remove a Troop — Choose a Troop stationed in an enemy City: that Troop is destroyed and its card is removed from the game.
- Remove a Building — Choose a Building in an enemy City: that Building is destroyed and its card is removed from the game.
- Move Volfyirion — You may immediately perform a Move Volfyirion action.
3. End of a Turn
When you are done performing actions, the End of a Turn Phase begins. Follow the steps below in order.
- Except for Wonders, every card in the Playing Area is discarded onto the Discard Pile.
NOTE: Buildings and Troops are in the Cities Area.
- Discard all unplayed cards from your hand.
- All unspent Points are lost.
- If the Volfyirion Token is on one of your opponent's Cities, leave it there.
- If the Volfyirion Token is on one of your Cities, that city is destroyed by the creature's wrath! Turn face down that City Card. Any Building Card or Troop Card on top of it is also removed from the game. Then Move the Volfyirion Token back to its Lair Card.
- Refill all the empty spaces in the Asset Row and on Volfyirion's Lair Card with new cards drawn from the appropriate decks.
Finally, end your turn.
Extra Cards — Game Variants
Here is a list of additional cards to provide players with further layers of challenge. We highly recommend to add these variants only once you have mastered the classic game. Each set of cards come with its own rules and is independent from the others. Feel free to combine more than one to enhance your experience.
Mercenary Troop Cards (x4)
During setup, shuffle them into the Asset Deck.
Just like a standard Troop, a Mercenary Card adds its Defence Value to the one of the City it is guarding.
If a legit Attack a City action is performed against a City guarded by a Mercenary, first shuffle the Mercenary Troop Card back into the Asset Deck, then destroy the City.
Ascension Path Wonder Cards (x2)
During setup, shuffle them into the Wonder Deck.
Ascension Path cannot be Sealed by any means.
You may pay 4 Battle Points (this card's own printed Cost) to move the Card from your opponent's Playing Area to yours, gaining control of it.
Saboteur Command Cards (x2)
During setup, shuffle them into the Asset Deck.
When you Acquire a Saboteur Card from the Asset Row, place it onto the opponent's Discard Pile.
Saboteur Cards are unremovable by other cards' effects (e.g.: Wonders).
Perk Cards (x4)
Perk Cards are meant to provide an asymmetrical experience.
During setup, shuffle them and randomly deal one to each player. Both cards are immediately revealed and placed aside the respective Playing Areas.
Perk Cards provide ongoing effects for an entire game, and are unremovable by any means.
- Qoam Armory — You may perform the Defeat Volfyirion action by spending just 14 Battle Points.
- Anomaly Collider — Once per turn you may Seal one of your Wonder Cards to immediately Gain Knowledge Points equal to the Wonder Card's cost.
- Qoam Oracle — You may Acquire the top card of the Asset Deck as if it were part of the Asset Row.
- Heroes Party — You may spend 4 Battle Points to Acquire the Wonder Deck's top card without paying its cost.
Ploy Cards (x6)
Ploy Cards are meant to provide an asymmetrical experience.
During setup, shuffle them and randomly deal one to each player. Keep your card secret from your opponent.
A Ploy Card is immediately triggered upon meeting a certain condition, even during your opponent's turn. As soon as the requirement is met, reveal the card and resolve its effect. After that, remove the triggered Ploy Card from the game.
- Double Shift — Requirement: The opponent performs their first Attack action against one of your Cities. Effect: For this turn, raise the Defence of your City by 2 Defence Points. Battle Points spent by your opponent are lost.
- Qoam Instability — Requirement: There are two In-Play Buildings Cards across the two Cities Areas. Effect: Immediately destroy both Buildings currently In-Play.
- Afterthought — Requirement: There are two In-Play Troop Cards across the two Cities Areas. Effect: Immediately destroy both Troops currently In-Play.
- Crystallization — Requirement: There are three In-Play Wonder Cards across the two Playing Areas. Effect: Immediately destroy all three Wonder Cards currently In-Play.
- Second Chance — Requirement: Your opponent uses the Remove Ability of a Troop Card to Attack one of your Cities. Effect: You may immediately recover that Troop Card and place it onto one of your Cities.
- Mirage City — Requirement: The opponent Moves Volfyirion over one of your Cities. Effect: Immediately Move Volfyirion back to the Volfyirion's Lair Card.
Extra Rules
Extended Game Mode — Rebuilding Cities
To rebuild a City, spend the amount of Points shown on its destroyed side, then flip the City Card on its pristine side. If that City gets destroyed a second time, remove that City Card from the game.
Volfyirion's Lair — Back
Use the backside of the Volfyirion's Lair Card when playing the 2vs2 Team mode. Please consider that this mode requires two copies of the game.
If you want to expand your gameplay experience, try one of the special rules available on our website! Face Volfyirion alone in Solo Play, ask a friend for help with the Co-op mode, join forces with the 2vs2 Team mode, or experiment with all the other extra rules available!
You can find all Volfyirion additional rules visiting this link: https://tabula.games/extrarules/volfyirion
Credits
Game Design Federico Tini — Game Designer Alessandro Veracchi — Game Designer & Founder
Art Travis Anderson — Illustrator & Lead Artist Valentina Biagiotti — Graphic Designer Alessandro Depaoli — 3D Sculpting Federico Frenguelli — 3D Rendering Valerio Palmerini — Videomaker Eleonora Teloni — Graphic Designer
Marketing & Production Andrea Bellezza — Project Manager Leonardo Bertinelli — Product Manager Jasmin Movahedian — Copy Editor Andrea Veracchi — Founder
Translation Claudio Coppini — Japanese; Kwstas Fanakis — Greek; Danail Gechev — Bulgarian; Martin Hellwich and Carsten Pettan — German; Tomáš Hubka — Czech; Alie Koffeman — Dutch; Jakub Križan — Slovak; Yegor Minin — Ukranian; Roy Shaul — Hebrew; Tim Squarta — Norwegian; Dusanka Stanoeva — Swedish; Paweł Stróżyk — Polish; Tomori Tamas — Hungarian; Filipa Tato — Portuguese; Sergio Tirado Alba — Spanish
Playtesting Giacomo Agostinelli, Christian Alunni, Girolamo Amico, Elisa Cecchini, Michele Cristofani, Valerio Frittella, Alessandra Giugliarelli, Valentina Maggi, Luca Toccaceli
Special Thanks Federico Alunno, Silvano Cerza, Alessandro De Angelis, Federico Dolce, Laurent Gaubert, Francesco Mariucci, Metadna, Hydra Games Perugia, Björn Kruse, Alessio Rapini, Tipografia Rossi, Brad Valentine, Paolo Varotto