THE GAME OF ARBOR

RE IMAGINED

Return to the garden world to grow great forests once again.

Arbor 2 is a sequel that features streamlined rules designed to speed up and simplify the game while staying true to the original feeling of The Game of Arbor.

Play as powerful Ancients, both familiar and new, and wield the power of earth and stars to craft your strategy.

Go forth and grow in the Mother's name.

VARIANTS

CORE RULES

Core Rules

This new version of the game reuses original game components and recycles concepts to allow players to enjoy a whole new game without needing to purchase anything!

The Game of Arbor has always been about adaptability, variability, and change, and Arbor 2 is no different. If anything, this version of the game is even more so.

These core rules will cover how to play Arbor 2 in full for a standard game of 2 players. See the Variants for games of more than 2 players.

THE GOAL OF THE GAME

GLORY

The goal of the game is to reach a set number of Victory Points, or Glory, before your opponent.

In a 2 person game on the Valley of Fate Scenario, victory is claimed by the first player to reach 12 Glory.

NOTE:

The number of Glory required for the game to end can be changed to allow for shorter or longer games as desired by the players. In addition, the Scenario played can necessitate different amounts of Glory.

You earn 1 Glory for every Forest Tile you have placed in a space that is partially covered by a Root Tile. The game ends immediately when a player reaches the required number of Glory.

NOTE:

(1) The Soul of the Forest Rule is important to keep in mind when calculating Glory.

(2) You cannot place a tile in the center of a Root Tile.

Glory

STARTING THE GAME

SETUP

Each player chooses a colour for their Forest and selects the corresponding Forest Deck.

Open the envelope and remove the cards. A Forest Deck includes:

1 Sage Tile

5 Guardian Tiles

25 Tree Tiles

After this, players select the Ancient they want to play in that game.

NOTE:

Ancients are characters that define special rules that only a single player has access to. See the Ancients section of these rules for more information.

Once players have chosen their Ancients, players must choose what Scenario they want to play and set up the board as per the requirements.

Place your Sage Tile in the starting position and place your Ancient piece on top of it.

Finally, take 5 green Cultivation Cards and the 25 Star Cards to form the 30 card Spirit Card Deck.

Shuffle the Spirit Card Deck and place it to the side.

Each player rolls a die, the higher roll can decide which player goes first.

CORE CONCEPTS

Core Concepts

THE FOREST

Your Forest is the collective term for all the tiles present on the board in your color. During your turn, tiles can be placed on the board within spaces in order to grow your Forest. By placing tiles, you are creating the area your Ancient piece can stand on.

THE ANCIENT

At the start of the game, you chose an Ancient as your character. This is a powerful being with unique powers. Each Ancient grants you a Passive rule, an Ancient Blessing power, and an ultimate power.

Your Ancient is represented on the board by a wooden piece placed on a tile of your Forest color. Your Ancient is source of power for your forest, and emanates an Aura that allows you to take Actions on your turn.

THE AURA

Your Ancient emanates an Aura from the tile it is standing on. The Aura extends 2 spaces away from that tile.

You can only move your Ancient to tiles of your Forest color within your Aura, and you can only place new tiles in spaces within your Aura.

THE MANNA

During your turn, you take Actions by spending Manna. Manna is a resource you gain at the start of your turn by rolling the Manna Dice.

Every Action costs 1 Manna, and there are certain ways you can regain Manna on your turn.

However, the maximum amount of Manna you can have at any time is 8. Gaining Manna above 8 nullifies the Manna gained.

THE PLAYER'S TURN

Each player's turn is a single day, separated into 3 phases: Dawn, Day, and Dusk.

DAWN
Roll for Manna

At the dawn of your turn, you roll both dice together. You always choose the higher of the two numbers.

This number becomes your Manna, which you will spend to take Actions during your Day Phase.

If you roll the Ancient Blessing symbol on one of the dice, you gain the number of Manna shown on the other die and you can use your Ancient's Blessing power on your turn.

If you roll Ancient Blessing twice, you can choose to either reroll both your dice or one of your dice.

DAY
Spend Manna on Actions

During the day of your turn, you spend your Manna on Actions to place your Forest Tiles, move your Ancient, as well as draw and play Spirit Cards.

The Actions you can take are as follows:

Move your Ancient to a space within your Aura.

Place a Tree Tile in an open space within your Aura.

Replace a Tree Tile with a Guardian or Sage Tile within your Aura.

Draw a Spirit Card (if there is one available).

Play a Spirit Card from your hand.

Invoke your Sage Tile in order to use your Ancient's Invocation.

All Actions cost 1 Manna.

When you run out of Manna, your Day Phase ends.

You do not need to use all your Manna in your turn, but unspent Manna does not carry over to your next turn.

DUSK
Reveal Spirit Cards

At the end of your turn, you replenish the revealed Spirit Cards by drawing Spirit Cards until there are 3 Cards visible to players.

Spirit Cards have a color which corresponds with their associated Spirit.

The player who goes first does not have access to Spirit Cards on their first turn. The first 3 Spirit Cards are revealed at the end of that player's turn.

THE PLAYER'S TURN

GAMEPLAY RULES

SPIRIT CARDS

Up to 3 Spirit Cards are available to be drawn.

By spending 1 Manna, you may choose 1 of the 3 Cards to add to your hand.

NOTE:

Ignore the text on the back of the card, this is only relevant for the original Game of Arbor. In Arbor 2, cards are denoted by their color. Consult below or on your Ancient Guide to remember the mechanics of the Spirit.

New Spirit Cards are only revealed during your Dusk Phase. If you draw all 3, you can't draw any more.

You may only hold up to 5 Spirit Cards in your hand at any time.

There are 6 Sacred Spirits from whom you can draw power:

Esh'to | Spirit of Fire

Use a Fire Spirit Card to burn any Tree Tile off the board. Burned Tree Tiles are immediately removed from the board.

Lau'su | Spirit of Light

Use a Light Spirit Card to grow a Tree Tile of your Forest in any unoccupied space.

Shai'al | Spirit of Storm

Use a Storm Spirit Card to gain 2 Manna and block reduce your opponent's maximum Manna by 1 on their next turn. You still must spend 1 Manna to use the card, so you gain a net of 1 Manna.

Xin'eth | Spirit of Shadow

Use a Shadow Spirit Card to move any 2 Tree Tiles to a different space within your Aura. You can move an opponent's Trees in this way.

Ool'lan | Spirit of Fate

Use a Fate Spirit Card to grow cancel any single Action of an opponent. Fate Spirit Cards do not cost Manna to use.

Arbor | Spirit of Life

Use a Life Spirit Card to activate your Ancient's Blessing.

Spirit Cards

GUARDIAN TILES

Guardian Tiles are special tiles you can place on the board to safeguard your forest.

Guardian Tiles can only be placed by replacing the central Forest Tile from a set of 5 adjacent Forest Tiles.

Guardian Tiles

Eternity

ETERNITY

Eternal tiles cannot be moved or removed by any effect.

The Sage Tile, all Guardian Tiles, and the Forest Tile your Ancient is standing on are all Eternal.

INVOKING YOUR SAGE

Your Ancient gives you access to a powerful ultimate ability

You can use this ability by invoking your Sage for 1 Action. Wh: en you invoke your Sage, you must remove it from the board.

In exchange, you activate your Invocation power.

You can replace a Tree Tile with your Sage Tile in the same way as you would place a Guardian Tile on the board.

Invoke Sage

Soul of the Forest

SOUL OF THE FOREST

Your Ancient is the soul of your forest, and it is via connection to the Ancient that the forest is granted its power.

Tiles are only considered "part of your forest" if they are connected to the tile your Ancient is standing on through an unbroken chain of tiles.

If part of your forest is separated from your Ancient, it loses all benefits, including Glory gained through connection to a Root or Eternity (in the case of Guardians).

CORE RULES

ANCIENTS

VARIANTS

Ancients

THE ANCIENTS

ANCIENT MECHANICS

Your choice of Ancient defines the following special rules for you:

Passive

This is a special rule that is always active for you, and only applies to you.

Blessing

This is a special ability that you can use when you have played a Life Spirit Card, or when you have rolled the Blessing symbol when rolling at Dawn.

Invocation

This is a powerful special ability that you can use when you have invoked your Sage. You cannot use this ability again until you have placed your Sage back on the board.