Ethnos rules

Two to six players compete to become the next Lord of Ethnos by earning more Glory than their rivals — controlling the six Kingdoms on the game board and recruiting the most Allies.

You accomplish this by collecting scattered members of the twelve Tribes, represented by cards, and playing them in Bands to gain control over the Kingdoms.

Any cards you don't use when you create a Band must be discarded face up, creating opportunities for your rivals. You must also choose wisely who leads each Band, since only Leaders can use their Tribe's special ability.

The player who gathers the most Glory over three Ages (two in a 2-3 player game) is crowned Lord of Ethnos and wins the game.

• 1 main game board, depicting the land of Ethnos divided into 6 Kingdoms.
• 12 Tribe decks, 12 cards each, except the Halfling Tribe with 24 cards.
• 12 Setup cards, used to randomly select which 6 Tribes are in play.
• 3 Dragon cards.
• 18 Glory tokens, 3 per Kingdom.
• 156 Control markers, 26 per player color.
• 1 double-sided Merfolk board (used only if the Merfolk are in play).
• 1 double-sided Giant token (used only if the Giants are in play).
• 6 Troll tokens (used only if the Trolls are in play).
• 6 Orc Horde boards, one per player (used only if the Orcs are in play).

1. Place the game board in the middle of the table.
2. Shuffle the Glory tokens face down and randomly place one face up in each Glory space on the board (3 per Kingdom, 2 per Kingdom in a 2-3 player game — remove the "4+" tokens first). Within each Kingdom, arrange the tokens in ascending order, lowest in the "I" space.
3. Each player chooses a color and takes the matching Control markers. Place one marker on the "0" space of the Glory Track — this is your Scoring marker.
4. Shuffle all 12 Setup cards and turn over 6 of them (5 in a 2-3 player game). These determine which Tribes are in the game. Shuffle their Tribe decks together to form the Allies Deck. Unused Tribe decks and Setup cards return to the box.
5. Set up whichever optional pieces match the Tribes in play — the Merfolk board, Giant token, Troll tokens, or an Orc Horde board per player.

Each Age, on your turn, you choose one of two options: recruit one Ally, or play a Band of Allies.

To recruit, draw one card — any face-up Ally card on the table, or the top card of the Allies Deck. A face-up card is not replaced. Your hand limit is 10 cards; at 10 you must play a Band instead.

If you draw a Dragon card from the deck, reveal it immediately beside the board, then draw again. The first two Dragons have no other effect, but the third ends the Age immediately.

A Band of Allies is a group of 1 to 10 cards played together from your hand, all belonging to the same Tribe (same name and art) or the same Kingdom (same color). Skeletons are wild and can join any Band.

1. Lay down the cards you want to include in the Band in front of you.
2. Choose one card in the Band to be the Leader, placed on top.
3. If the Kingdom matching the Leader's color has fewer of your Control markers than the number of cards in the Band, you may place one there (1 card for your first marker, 2 for your second, and so on).
4. You may use the ability printed on the Leader's card — other cards in the Band have no effect (except Skeletons, which are always wild).
5. Any cards left in your hand must be discarded face up next to the board, available for any player to recruit.

When the third Dragon is drawn, the Age ends immediately. All players discard every card left in their hand.

Kingdom control is scored independently for each of the 6 Kingdoms. First Age: the player with the most Control markers earns the "I" token. Second Age: most earns "II", second-most earns "I". Third Age: most earns "III", second-most earns "II", third-most earns "I". Ties combine the Glory and split it evenly, rounded down.

Every player then scores Glory for each Band of Allies they control, based on its size.

Finally, all Ally cards are discarded — both from hands and from played Bands — and shuffled into a new deck for the next Age.

After the First or Second Age, reshuffle all Ally cards together (setting the 3 Dragon cards aside) to form a new Allies Deck, then begin the new Age as before.

Control markers already on the main board, the Merfolk board, and Orc Horde boards remain for the next Age. Troll and Giant tokens return to the side of the board.

After the Third Age (Second Age in a 2-3 player game), the game ends.

The player with the most Glory wins. Ties are broken, in order: the most Control markers on the board, then the largest Band of Allies played in the last Age, then the next-largest, and so on.

A 2 or 3-player game plays only two Ages. All normal rules apply, with these changes.

• Setup: remove the "4+" Glory tokens before shuffling, leaving 2 per Kingdom instead of 3. Turn over only 5 Setup cards instead of 6.
• Placing a marker (2-player games only): you need a Band with more cards than the total Control markers already in that Kingdom, from every player combined.
• Scoring (2-player games only), Second Age: the most Control markers earns the highest token; the second-most player earns nothing. If only one player has any markers there, that player earns both tokens.
• In a 3-player game, both Ages score normally.

Each of the 12 Tribes has a unique ability. Only the Leader of a Band may use it.

• Setup: randomly place Glory tokens ascending per Kingdom, randomly pick 5 or 6 Tribes, shuffle their decks into the Allies Deck.
• New Age: each player draws 1 card, reveal face-up cards equal to twice the player count, shuffle the 3 Dragons into the bottom half of the deck, determine the first player.
• Turn: recruit one Ally (face-up or deck, watch for Dragons, 10-card hand limit) or play a Band of Allies (1-10 matching cards, pick a Leader, maybe place a Control marker, use the Leader's ability, discard the rest).
• End of Age (on the 3rd Dragon): discard all hands, score every Kingdom by Control markers, score every Band by size, discard all Bands, then reshuffle for the next Age or end the game after the last one.
• Winner: most total Glory; ties broken by total Control markers, then the largest Band played in the final Age.