Winter Queen Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Object of the Game
• Game Components
• Setup
• Gameplay
  • Place an Ice Floe on the Game Board
  • Place an Ice Floe on a Spellbook
  • Use a Spellbook
• End of the Game
• Final Scoring
• Spellbooks
• Spellbook Effects
  • Forest Lights
  • Wind Rose
  • Border Guard
  • Magic Clouds
  • Bright Path
  • Northern Lights
  • Polar Star
  • Secret Knowledge

Object of the Game

Players become royal sorcerers who lay out magical ice patterns and compete for the position of chief counsellor to the Winter Queen.

By placing ice floes on the game board in particular ways, you will earn victory points (VP) for:

• the location of ice floes on the board;
• the effects of the spellbooks you have obtained;
• the colours of the ice floes placed on the spellbooks.

The player with the most points is declared the winner and receives the post of chief counsellor to the Winter Queen.

Game Components

• 45 magical ice floes (9 each in blue, green, yellow, purple and red)
• 4 ice floe stands
• 4 player aids
• Winter Queen token (first player token)
• 36 victory point (VP) tokens
• Double-sided game board with a map of the kingdom
• 8 royal domain tokens
• 20 spellbook tokens
• Ice floe bag
• Rulebook

Setup

1. Place the game board in the middle of the table and give each player 1 player aid.

   Note: the two sides of the game board differ only visually.

2. Place the ice floe stands. In a 3- or 4-player game, put 1 stand between each pair of players (there must be 1 stand to the right and to the left of each player). In a 2-player game, put 3 stands so that both players can reach all of them.

3. Put the magical ice floes into the ice floe bag. In a 2-player game, first return 3 ice floes of each colour to the box; in a 3-player game, return 1 ice floe of each colour. In a 4-player game, use all 45 ice floes.

4. Place random ice floes from the bag on each stand. In a 3- or 4-player game, place 4 ice floes on each stand; in a 2-player game, place 3 ice floes on each stand.

Players	Ice floe stands	Unused ice floes	Ice floes on a stand
2	3	3 of each colour	3
3	3	1 of each colour	4
4	4	0	4

5. Place the royal domain tokens. Shuffle all these tokens face down, put 1 token on each of the 5 spaces of the game board that show a tower or a palace, and turn all the tokens face up. Return the remaining 3 tokens to the box.

6. Place the spellbook tokens next to the kingdom's provinces. The game board is divided into 4 provinces: red, green, purple and blue. Shuffle the 20 spellbook tokens and divide them into 4 equal stacks (5 tokens in each). Place 1 stack face up next to the coat of arms of each province. The top token of each stack is always visible to all players.

7. Place the victory point (VP) tokens where everyone can reach them. During the game you may exchange tokens at any time.

8. A random participant, or whoever most recently saw snow, receives the Winter Queen token and becomes the first player.

Gameplay

Starting with the holder of the Winter Queen token, players take turns (clockwise) until the ice floes in the bag run out. On your turn you must perform one of three actions:

• place 1 available ice floe on an empty space of the game board;
• place 1 available ice floe on an empty page of one of your spellbooks;
• use 1 of your spellbooks and gain VP.

When you take the last ice floe from a stand, immediately gain 1 VP and place new ice floes from the bag on that stand (4 in a 3- or 4-player game, 3 in a 2-player game).

Place an Ice Floe on the Game Board

Choose any ice floe available to you and place it on an empty space of the game board. A royal domain token is also a space: you may place an ice floe on it if it has no ice floe on it (placed or depicted). Each space may hold only one ice floe (including depicted ones).

Note: in a 3- or 4-player game, only the ice floes lying on the stands to your left and right are available to you. In a 2-player game, the ice floes on all 3 stands are available to you.

When you place an ice floe in a province of the game board, you may take the top spellbook token from that province's stack. A province's stack of spellbooks lies next to the coat of arms in that province's colour. After you take a spellbook, a new top token in the stack is automatically revealed. If there are no more spellbooks in the province where you placed the ice floe, you do not get a new spellbook.

Note: you may not have more than 3 spellbooks at the same time.

Empty royal domain tokens are not part of any province. When you place an ice floe on such a token, you may take the top spellbook token from the stack of any province.

Place an Ice Floe on a Spellbook

Choose any ice floe available to you and place it on an empty page of one of your spellbooks. (This action cannot be performed on the first turn.)

Only 1 ice floe can be placed on each page of a spellbook. This ice floe may be of any colour. Both pages of a book may even hold ice floes of the same colour.

Note: when you place an ice floe on a spellbook, you do not apply the effects of its pages and you do not receive a new spellbook!

Use a Spellbook

Choose any 1 of your spellbooks that has at least 1 ice floe on it.

The book has only 1 ice floe

1. Apply the effect of the spellbook page, using the colour of the ice floe lying on that page. Take the VP you earned and place them in front of you face down.
2. Discard the used spellbook and the ice floe lying on it (they leave the game).

Example: Maxim applies the "Border Guard" effect using the red ice floe on its page and gains 2 VP (1 VP for each red ice floe on a space at the edge of the game board). He then discards this book together with the red ice floe.

The book has 2 ice floes

When using a spellbook with 2 ice floes, apply both effects one after the other, in any order.

1. Apply the effect of one of the spellbook's pages, using the colour of the ice floe lying on that page. Take the VP you earned and place them in front of you face down.
2. Apply the effect of the other page of the spellbook, using the colour of the ice floe lying on that page. Take the VP you earned and place them in front of you face down.
3. Discard the used spellbook and the ice floes lying on it (they leave the game).
4. Return 1 ice floe of your choice (except one depicted on a royal domain token) from the game board to the bag.

Example: First Mikhail applies the "Northern Lights" effect, using the green ice floe on that effect's page, and gains 3 VP (1 VP for each province and royal domain with a green ice floe). Then he applies the "Border Guard" effect, using the red ice floe on that effect's page, and gains 2 VP. In total he gains 5 VP. He now discards this book and both ice floes, and must remove 1 ice floe from the game board into the bag. Mikhail sees that Maria has the spellbook "Forest Lights (purple)" with a red ice floe. To keep Maria from using it, he removes the purple ice floe.

The effects of all spellbooks are described under "Spellbook Effects" below.

When applying an effect, explain to the other players what you are getting VP for and how many, so that they can check that you have not made a mistake. You may not look at the VP tokens lying in front of other players, but you may look at your own at any time.

Note: when you perform this action, you do not take a new spellbook token!

End of the Game

As soon as the last ice floe is drawn from the bag, the final phase of the game begins.

Put all the remaining ice floes on one stand. From now on, all ice floes are available to all players.

Players continue taking turns until it is the turn of the holder of the Winter Queen token. After that, everyone takes 1 more turn, and then final scoring begins.

Once the last ice floe has been drawn from the bag, you can no longer use spellbooks and, accordingly, can no longer remove ice floes from the board. You can only place ice floes on the game board (as usual, gaining available books for this) and on books. Spellbooks will be used during final scoring, so it may be beneficial to fill them with ice floes in this phase.

Final Scoring

Starting with the first player and continuing clockwise, all players in turn apply the effects of all their spellbooks that have at least 1 ice floe and gain VP for them.

Do not discard books and ice floes, since the books of other players may make use of them. Also, do not remove ice floes from the game board when using books with 2 ice floes.

After using all spellbooks with at least 1 ice floe, players turn over their VP tokens and count the points they have earned.

The player with the most VP wins and becomes the Winter Queen's new counsellor! In case of a tie, there are several winners.

Spellbooks

Victory points are awarded for spellbooks used during the game and during final scoring. You may apply only the effects of spellbooks that have at least 1 ice floe on them. The colour of that ice floe determines which ice floes you gain VP for.

Note: ice floes depicted on royal domain tokens count as ordinary ice floes and are taken into account when using spellbooks!

Spellbook Effects

Forest Lights

(red, blue, purple, yellow, green)

Choose any ice floe on the game board of the same colour as the ice floe depicted on this page or placed on this page. Gain 1 VP for each ice floe of the page's second colour lying on a space adjacent to the chosen ice floe.

Example: Maria applies the "Forest Lights (purple)" effect, on whose page lies a red ice floe. She may choose any purple or red ice floe on the game board and gain 1 VP for each ice floe of the page's second colour on adjacent spaces. Maria chooses the upper purple ice floe and gains 3 VP (1 VP for each red ice floe on adjacent spaces). She could have chosen a red ice floe, but then she would have gained only 1 VP (for 1 purple ice floe on an adjacent space).

Wind Rose

Choose any ice floe on the game board of the same colour as the ice floe placed on this page. Gain 1 VP for this ice floe. Then draw an imaginary straight line from each side of this ice floe's space, and gain 1 VP for each ice floe of the same colour on the resulting 6 lines.

Example: Maxim applies the "Wind Rose" effect, on whose page lies a green ice floe, and gains 1 VP for the chosen green ice floe on the board and 5 more VP for green ice floes on the imaginary lines drawn from its space. In total he gains 6 VP.

Border Guard

Gain 1 VP for each ice floe located at the edge of the game board that is of the same colour as the ice floe placed on this page. These ice floes do not have to lie on one continuous line.

Example: Mikhail applies the "Border Guard" effect, on whose page lies a red ice floe, and gains 3 VP for 3 red ice floes on spaces at the edge of the board.

Magic Clouds

Gain 1 VP for each ice floe or group of adjacent ice floes on the game board of the same colour as the ice floe placed on this page. All ice floes of one colour located on adjacent spaces of the game board form a single group.

Example: Maxim applies the "Magic Clouds" effect, on whose page lies a green ice floe, and gains 3 VP for 2 single green ice floes and 1 group of green ice floes.

Bright Path

Choose any ice floe on the game board of the same colour as the ice floe placed on this page. From any side of its space, draw an imaginary straight line in one of the 6 directions, along which all the adjacent ice floes are of unique colours (including the starting ice floe). The line may not pass through more than 5 spaces. Gain 1 VP for each ice floe on this line.

Example: Maria applies the "Bright Path" effect, on whose page lies a purple ice floe. Starting from the upper purple ice floe on the board, she draws an imaginary straight line passing through adjacent ice floes of unique colours. The line passes through 3 spaces: with purple, red and green ice floes. Maria gains 3 VP for this line. Although beyond the second green ice floe there is a blue one, Maria cannot continue the line to it, because colours on the line may not repeat.

Northern Lights

Gain 1 VP for each of the 5 zones (4 provinces and the royal domain tokens) that contains at least 1 ice floe of the same colour as the ice floe placed on this page. This effect can bring no more than 5 VP.

Example: Mikhail applies the "Northern Lights" effect, on whose page lies a green ice floe, and gains 4 VP for green ice floes in the red, blue and purple provinces and on the royal domain tokens.

Polar Star

Choose an ice floe on the game board of the same colour as the ice floe placed on this page. Gain 1 VP for each empty space adjacent to it.

Example: Maxim applies the "Polar Star" effect, on whose page lies a purple ice floe, and gains 2 VP for the 2 empty spaces adjacent to it.

Secret Knowledge

Choose an opponent. Gain 1 VP for the ice floe on this effect's page and 1 VP each for other ice floes of the same colour on your books and on the books of the chosen opponent (including those depicted on the pages of the "Forest Lights" effect).

Example: Maria applies the "Secret Knowledge" effect and chooses Mikhail. She gains 1 VP for the purple ice floe on this effect's page, 1 VP for one more purple ice floe on another of her books, and 2 VP for purple ice floes on Mikhail's books (1 placed and 1 depicted). In total Maria gains 4 VP.