Arcs

Overview

Players lead spacefaring societies through an epic saga in the Reach, a dangerous region at the galaxy’s edge. The game is played over a series of chapters (usually 3-5). Each chapter consists of multiple rounds in which players play action cards to move ships, battle rivals, build cities and starports, tax resources, and influence a shared Court of guild cards. Players gain Power (points) by fulfilling ambitions – objectives declared during play and scored at the end of each chapter. The game ends when any player reaches a Power threshold (27 for 4 players, 30 for 3 players, 33 for 2 players) or after Chapter 5. The player with the most Power wins.

Components

Map & Markers

• 1 map board (6 clusters, each with 3 planets and 1 gate)
• 1 chapter marker (tracks current chapter, 1-5)
• 3 ambition markers (double-sided: blue/lower-number side and higher-number side)
• 1 zero marker (covers lead card number when ambition is declared)
• 1 initiative marker (shows which player leads each round)
• 4 path markers (2 long, 2 short; cover gates of out-of-play clusters and connect neighboring gates)
• 6 out-of-play markers (cover planets in out-of-play clusters)
• 4 aid sheets

Player Pieces (per player, 4 sets)

• 1 player board (holds resources, unbuilt cities, Trophies, and Captives)
• 15 ships (can be fresh/upright or damaged/tipped)
• 5 cities (placed from leftmost slot on player board; can be fresh or damaged/flipped)
• 5 starports (built on planets; can be fresh or damaged/flipped)
• 10 agents (placed on Court cards or used for Outrage)
• 2 Power markers (1 for main tracking, 1 for expansions/negative or very high Power)

Cards

• 28 action cards (numbered 1-7 in 4 suits; “1” and “7” cards used only in 4-player games)
• 12 setup cards (4 each for 2, 3, and 4 players)
• 25 Guild cards (gained from the Court; have suit, rules, and raid cost)
• 6 Vox cards (gained from the Court; resolve immediately)
• 8 leader cards (used in Leaders & Lore mode)
• 14 lore cards (used in Leaders & Lore mode)

Other Pieces

• 25 resource tokens (5 each of Material, Fuel, Weapons, Relics, Psionic)
• 18 battle dice (6 Assault, 6 Skirmish, 6 Raid)

Setup

1. Set Up Table

1. Place the map and collect the 18 battle dice and 25 resource tokens.
2. Give the initiative marker to a random player.
3. Shuffle the 20 action cards marked “2” through “6” to form the action deck.
4. 4 players only: Shuffle the 8 action cards marked “1” and “7” into the action deck. (Otherwise, return them to the box.)
5. Place the 3 ambition markers on their blue, lower-numbered sides in the Available Markers section of the map.
6. Place the chapter marker on the “1” space of the Chapter track.
7. Place the zero marker in the Ambition Declared slot on the map.
8. Shuffle all 6 Vox and 25 Guild cards to make the Court deck. Draw 3 cards (2 players) or 4 cards (3-4 players) face up to form the Court row.
9. Shuffle the setup cards matching your player count. Draw 1 setup card.
10. In the clusters marked “Out of Play” on the setup card (2 clusters for 2-3 players, 1 cluster for 4 players), place a path marker over the numbered gate and place 3 out-of-play markers over the planets touching that gate.
11. 2 players only: Place the 6 resource tokens matching the 6 planets covered by out-of-play markers onto the ambition boxes: Material and Fuel go on Tycoon, Weapons go on Warlord, Relics go on Keeper, Psionics go on Empath.

2. Set Up Players

1. Each player chooses a color, collects the matching player board, 5 cities, 5 starports, 15 ships, and 10 agents, and places the cities in the triangle slots along the top of their player board.
2. Each player puts their Power marker on the “0” Power track space on the map.
3. Players simultaneously place starting pieces onto the map as indicated by the setup card:
   • The player with initiative places: 3 ships and 1 city in system 1A (use the leftmost city from the player board), 3 ships and 1 starport in system 1B, and 2 ships in system 1C (in 2-player games, 2 ships spread across 2 systems marked 1C).
   • Going clockwise from the initiative player, the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th players set up identically in systems marked 2A-C, 3A-C, and 4A-C respectively.
4. Each player gains the 2 resource tokens matching the planet icons in their A and B systems, placing them in the leftmost and next-leftmost circle slots on their player board respectively.
5. Each player draws 6 action cards into their hand.
6. 2 players only: The player without initiative may discard all 6 cards and draw 6 new ones (mulligan).
7. Discard all action cards not in players’ hands into a face-down action discard pile on the map, then shuffle it.

Turn Structure

A game of Arcs lasts up to 5 chapters. Each chapter consists of multiple rounds. In a round, each player takes one turn. Keep playing rounds until all players run out of action cards, then end the chapter.

Round Structure

Step 1: Initiative Player Takes Turn

The player with the initiative marker must play one action card face up as the lead card. Place it in the “Lead” card slot on the map edge.

• The lead card’s suit determines which actions are available.
• The lead card’s action pips (number in top-left corner) determine how many actions may be taken.

Action suits and their available actions: | Suit | Available Actions | |—|—| | Administration | Tax, Repair, or Influence | | Aggression | Battle, Move, or Secure | | Construction | Build or Repair | | Mobilization | Move or Influence |

The initiative player may take one action per pip, in any combination of the suit’s available actions.

Passing Initiative: If the initiative player has no cards or chooses to skip their turn, they must pass the initiative marker clockwise to the next player with cards in hand, then immediately end the round. If everyone with cards passes consecutively, discard all action cards and end the chapter.

Declaring an Ambition: Before taking any actions, the initiative player may declare the ambition shown on the lead card:

• “1” cards have no ambition (4 players only).
• “2” through “6” cards let you declare the matching ambition.
• “7” cards let you declare any ambition (4 players only).

To declare: take the highest-numbered ambition marker from Available Markers and place it in the matching ambition box on the map. Place the zero marker on the lead card to cover its number (the card number becomes 0, but pips remain unchanged). You cannot declare if all ambition markers are already placed. You can declare an ambition that was already declared in an earlier round (placing another marker in its box). You cannot declare an ambition multiple times using the same card.

Step 2: Other Players Take Turns

After the initiative player, each other player in clockwise order takes a turn. Players with no cards skip their turn. Each player must play an action card in one of three ways:

Play Type	Requirement	Actions Allowed
Surpass	Play face up, matching lead suit, card number higher than the lead card	Actions up to your card’s pip count
Copy	Play any card face down	1 action of the lead card’s suit
Pivot	Play face up, any suit that does NOT match lead suit, any number	1 action of your card’s suit

Note: Surpassing only requires a number higher than the lead card, not higher than all played cards. Pivoting does not change the lead suit.

Seizing the Initiative: Before taking any actions, a non-initiative player may seize the initiative marker by either:

• Playing an extra action card face down alongside their played card (no actions from the extra card), OR
• Surpassing with a “7” card (4-player games only; you still get its actions).

Take the initiative marker and lay it down to show it is seized. For the rest of the round, no other player can seize the initiative. The player who already holds initiative cannot seize it.

Step 3: Check Initiative

After all players have taken turns:

• If someone seized the initiative this round, that player keeps it.
• If no one seized, the initiative goes to the player who Surpassed with the highest card number.
• If no one Surpassed, the initiative stays with its current holder.

Step 4: Discard Cards & Check for New Round

Discard all played action cards (and any extra card used to seize initiative) face down into the action discard pile. If any player has action cards remaining, start a new round. Otherwise, end the chapter.

Prelude

Your Prelude begins once you play an action card and ends once you spend any action pip from your played card. During the Prelude, you may spend resources and use Prelude actions from cards (marked “Prelude:”) with two limits:

1. Resources spent in the Prelude return to the supply at the end of your Prelude, so you cannot regain them until then.
2. You cannot use Prelude actions on cards that you secured from the Court in the same Prelude.

Before Prelude actions, you must choose whether or not to declare an ambition or seize the initiative.

Actions

Tax (Administration)

Choose a Loyal city or choose a Rival city you control. Gain 1 resource of the city’s planet type from the supply. If you tax a Rival city, also capture 1 agent of that Rival from their supply (even if you did not gain the resource).

• Tax Limit: You cannot tax a city more than once per turn.
• Captives: Place captured agents in the Captives box on your player board. They add to the Tyrant ambition.

Build (Construction)

You may build either a building or a ship:

• Building: Place 1 starport or city in an empty building slot in a system where you have a Loyal piece. When building a city, use the leftmost city on your player board (uncovering resource slots and Power bonuses).
• Ship: Place 1 ship at a Loyal starport. Each starport can only build one ship per turn.

When you build anything in a system controlled by anyone other than you, the piece is placed damaged (ships tipped over, buildings flipped to darker side).

Move (Mobilization & Aggression)

Move any number of Loyal ships from one system to an adjacent system.

Catapult Moves: If you move from a system with a Loyal starport, the ships may continue moving (Catapult) – keep moving them as much as you want, dropping ships off along the way, until they move to a gate controlled by anyone else or they move to any planet. You cannot Catapult from Rival starports you control. When taking a Catapult move, check for control before moving in, not after.

Out-of-Play Clusters: You cannot move into systems in out-of-play clusters. The path marker on the out-of-play gate makes its two neighboring gates adjacent for movement purposes.

Repair (Construction & Administration)

Stand up 1 damaged Loyal ship or flip over 1 damaged Loyal building to its fresh side. This can be done anywhere on the map.

Influence (Mobilization & Administration)

Place 1 agent from your supply on any card in the Court (the card row along the map edge).

Secure (Aggression)

Take 1 card from the Court if you have more Loyal agents on it than each Rival. Return all Loyal agents on the card to your supply and capture all Rival agents from the secured card (place them in your Captives box).

Resolve the card’s “When Secured” action, if any. If it says to discard, place it in a face-up Court discard pile near the Court deck.

Finally, draw a card from the Court deck and place it face up in the Court in the same spot as the secured card.

You cannot immediately use Prelude actions on a card secured in the same Prelude.

Battle (Aggression)

1. Choose Battle System: Choose 1 system that has any Loyal ships. These are your attacking ships.
2. Choose Defender: Choose 1 Rival whose pieces are in the battle system. These are their defending pieces.
3. Collect Dice: For each attacking ship, collect 1 die of your choice:

Die Type	Effect
Assault	Damages the defender quickly at some cost to you
Skirmish	Damages the defender slowly but keeps you safe
Raid	Steals resources/cards from the defender, might damage them, but risky

• You may collect fewer dice than attacking ships, and you may mix types, but you cannot collect more than 6 dice of a single type.
• Raid Dice Limit: You can only collect raid dice if there are defending buildings OR if the defender has no Loyal buildings anywhere on the map.

1. Roll and Resolve Dice: Roll all collected dice and resolve all faces in this strict order:

   1. Self-Hits: Hit any of your attacking ships once per self-hit icon rolled.
   2. Intercept: If you rolled any intercept icons, the defender intercepts – hit any of your attacking ships once per fresh defending ship. (This can only happen once per battle regardless of how many intercept icons are rolled.)
   3. Ship Hits: Hit any of their defending ships once per ship-hit icon. Once no defending ships remain, hit defending buildings instead.
   4. Building Hits: Hit any of their defending buildings once per building-hit icon.
   5. Raid: If you have any attacking ships remaining, spend raid icons to steal resources and Guild cards (see Raiding below).

Hits: If you hit a fresh piece, it becomes damaged (tip ship over or flip building). If you hit a damaged piece, it is destroyed (remove from map). The attacker takes destroyed defending pieces as Trophies. The defender takes destroyed attacking pieces as Trophies.

Trophies: Place pieces taken as Trophies in the Trophies box on the respective player board. These add to the Warlord ambition.

Raiding

If any attacking ships remain after taking hits, you may spend raid icons to steal resources and Guild cards from the defender, one at a time. Each resource or Guild card has a raid cost (shown above the resource slot on the player board or in the top-left corner of the Guild card) indicating how many raid icons must be spent to steal it.

Destroying Cities

If you destroy a city (even outside battle), perform these steps:

1. Provoke Outrage: Discard all resources and Guild cards you have of that city’s planet type (place discarded cards in the face-up Court discard pile). Place an agent to cover the Outrage icon of that type on your player board – that resource is now Outraged.
2. Ransack the Court: Secure any card in the Court that has any number of the defender’s agents. Take all Rival agents on the card as Trophies (not Captives).

Outrage: You cannot spend Outraged resources for their normal Prelude action. You can still tax Outraged resources and add them to your ambitions. If you already have Outrage of the city’s type, still perform both steps except placing the agent.

Scoring / Victory Conditions

Power Thresholds

The game ends when any player reaches the Power threshold or after Chapter 5:

• 4 players: 27 Power
• 3 players: 30 Power
• 2 players: 33 Power

The player with the most Power wins. On a tie, the tied player earliest in turn order wins.

End-of-Chapter Scoring (Step 1: Score Ambitions)

Score each ambition that has any ambition markers in its box on the map:

Ambition	What It Counts
Tycoon	Most total Fuel and Material icons from resources and Guild cards
Tyrant	Most Captives on your player board
Warlord	Most Trophies on your player board
Keeper	Most Relic icons from resources and Guild cards
Empath	Most Psionic icons from resources and Guild cards

• First place gains the higher Power shown on all ambition markers in that box.
• Second place gains the lower Power shown on all ambition markers in that box.
• Ties for first: Tied players get second-place Power only. Other players gain nothing.
• Ties for second: Tied players gain no Power.
• Qualifying: You cannot gain Power from an ambition if you have none of the thing it counts (e.g., if Warlord is declared and you have no Trophies, you gain nothing).

Bonus City Power: Each time you get first place (not tied) in an ambition, gain extra Power based on uncovered city slots on your player board:

• +2 extra Power if the “+2 to won ambitions” city slot is uncovered.
• +5 extra Power total (not +7) if both the “+2 to won ambitions” and “+3 to won ambitions” city slots are uncovered.
• You can only gain bonus Power once per ambition, regardless of how many ambition markers it has.

Two-Player Scoring

The 6 resources placed on ambition boxes during 2-player setup count as if a third player had them. Weapons on the Warlord box count as Trophies. Otherwise, these resources are out of play.

End-of-Chapter Cleanup (Step 2)

1. If Warlord was scored, return all Trophies (to their original supplies/player boards).
2. If Tyrant was scored, return all Captives.
3. Return all ambition markers to the Available Markers spaces on the map.
4. Flip over the ambition marker with the lowest Power that hasn’t been flipped yet to its higher-Power side.

End Game or Advance Chapter (Step 3)

If any player has reached the Power threshold or the chapter marker is on Chapter 5, the game ends. Otherwise, advance the chapter marker to the next space.

Draw Cards (Step 4)

Shuffle all action cards. Each player draws 6 action cards. Discard remaining cards face down into the action discard pile, then shuffle it. The player with initiative starts the next chapter.

2-player mulligan: After drawing, the player without initiative may discard their hand of 6 to draw 6 new cards. They must accept the new hand.

Special Rules & Edge Cases

Resources

There are 5 resource types matching the 5 planet types. Resources are held in slots on the player board. As you build cities (removing them from the board), you open additional resource slots and uncover Power bonuses.

When you gain a resource, place it in an empty slot. You may rearrange resources in your slots at any time when placing, but must discard any you cannot hold. If a city returns to your board and covers a slot, rearrange and discard as needed.

Resource Prelude actions (spend during your Prelude):

Resource	Prelude Action
Material	Take a Build or Repair action
Fuel	Take a Move action
Weapon	This turn, you may spend any action pips to take Battle actions
Relic	Take a Secure action
Psionic	Take an action listed on the lead card

Spent resources return to the supply at the end of your Prelude.

Guild Cards

Guild cards are gained by influencing and securing them from the Court. They have 3 parts:

• Suit: Matches 1 of the 5 resource types. Material and Fuel Guild cards add to Tycoon. Relic cards add to Keeper. Psionic cards add to Empath. Weapon cards do not add to any ambitions.
• Rules: Grant new actions, modifiers, or Prelude actions.
• Raid Cost: How many raid icons an attacker must spend in battle to steal the card.

Some cards hold resources. These resources can be spent and count for ambitions but cannot be stolen in battle unless explicitly allowed. If a card holding resources is stolen, resources stay on it. If the card is buried, discarded, or scrapped, resources return to the supply.

New Actions and Modifiers (from Cards)

• New Actions: Cards may grant a new action followed by a standard action name in parentheses, e.g., “Assassinate (Battle).” When you would take the standard action, you may instead take the new action.
• Modifiers: Cards can modify standard actions (shown in bold text). Modifiers do not modify new actions but do modify standard actions contained within new actions.

Control

You control a system and its contents if you have more fresh ships there than each Rival. On a tie, no one controls the system. Controlling a system lets you:

• Tax Rival cities there
• Capture Rival agents
• Restrict how their ships move
• Cause pieces they build there to be placed damaged

Damage and Destruction

• Fresh pieces: Ships standing upright, buildings on their lighter/fully colored side.
• Damaged pieces: Ships tipped over, buildings flipped to their darker side.
• A fresh piece hit becomes damaged. A damaged piece hit is destroyed (removed from the map).

Elimination Recovery

If a player has no starports or ships on the map, they place 3 fresh ships in any gate at the end of their turn.

Piece Limits

Pieces are limited by the box contents (5 cities, 5 starports, 15 ships, 10 agents per player). Exception: if you need an agent for an Outrage slot but none are in your supply, use a placeholder piece until an agent becomes available.

If a rule makes you place pieces, this refers to fresh Loyal pieces by default. Pieces come from and go to their original supply, except cities which come from and go to the rightmost empty city slot on their original player board. If you must place or return more pieces than possible, do the maximum possible.

Replacing a piece: Return it and place another piece in its place. If the old piece was damaged, the new piece is placed damaged. Replacing does not destroy a piece.

Rules Hierarchy

• This rulebook supersedes the aid sheets and player boards.
• Cards supersede the rulebook, but any rule using the term “cannot” is absolute and cannot be overridden unless explicitly named using “ignore.”
• Sidebars, italics, and parenthetical text are clarifications, superseded by core rules they reference.

Negotiations

Players may make deals and promises, but they are not binding. Players cannot give each other pieces unless a rule allows it.

Private Information

Players cannot show the action cards in their hand to anyone else.

Turn Etiquette

Declaring an ambition and seizing the initiative technically happen before any other actions, but players may do them during their turn as long as no new information has been revealed (dice rolled, cards drawn) and any relevant modifiers are followed.

Split Discard Piles (Variant)

Normally all action cards are discarded face down. For a more strategic (but slower) game or tournaments, split the action discard into two piles: one for cards played face down, one for cards played face up. When prompted to draw from the discard pile, draw from the face-down pile. If it lacks enough cards, shuffle both piles together first.

Tiebreakers & Choice Order

If a tie’s tiebreaker is not specified, break it in turn order (starting with initiative holder, going clockwise). If players must make a decision in unclear order, resolve in turn order. If multiple things happen simultaneously but must be resolved in order, the active player chooses the order; if no one is taking a turn, the initiative player chooses.

Two-Player Specific Rules

• Do not use “1” and “7” action cards.
• 2 clusters are out of play (vs. 1 for 4 players).
• Court row starts with 3 cards (vs. 4 for 3-4 players).
• 6 resources placed on ambition boxes act as a phantom third player for scoring.
• The non-initiative player gets a mulligan after each card draw (may discard and redraw 6 cards once).

Leaders & Lore (Advanced Mode)

Recommended after 1-2 games. Replaces steps N-O of setup:

1. Lay out lore cards and leader cards face up, each row with cards equal to the number of players plus one.
2. In reverse turn order (counterclockwise from the player to the right of the initiative player), each player takes 1 leader or lore card.
3. Continue until each player has exactly 1 leader card and 1 lore card. You cannot take a second leader or a second lore card.
4. Each player places starting pieces as shown on their leader card (A, B, C systems per setup card; pips under ship icons indicate ship count).
5. Each player gains the 2 resources shown on their leader card.
6. If any leaders have extra setup steps, perform them in turn order.

Optional: For more chaos, allow a second lore card per player (add 1 extra lore card per player to the starting row).

Leader cards give unique powers, starting pieces, and starting resources. Lore cards give persistent powers but have no guild icon or raid cost, so they do not add to ambitions and cannot be stolen.

Player Reference

Action Suits Quick Reference

Suit	Actions
Administration	Tax, Repair, Influence
Aggression	Battle, Move, Secure
Construction	Build, Repair
Mobilization	Move, Influence

Resource Prelude Actions

Resource	Action
Material	Build or Repair
Fuel	Move
Weapon	Unlocks Battle from action pips this turn
Relic	Secure
Psionic	Any action on the lead card

Ambitions

Ambition	Counts
Tycoon	Total Fuel + Material icons (resources and Guild cards)
Tyrant	Total Captives
Warlord	Total Trophies
Keeper	Total Relic icons (resources and Guild cards)
Empath	Total Psionic icons (resources and Guild cards)

Battle Dice Summary

Die	Self-Hit	Intercept	Hit Ships/Buildings	Hit Buildings	Raid
Assault	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Skirmish	No	No	Yes	Yes	No
Raid	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes

Resolve order: (1) Self-hits, (2) Intercept (once per battle, 1 hit per fresh defending ship), (3) Ship hits (then buildings if no ships), (4) Building hits, (5) Raid.

Card Play Options (Non-Initiative Players)

Option	Card Requirement	Actions
Surpass	Same suit as lead, higher number	Up to your card’s pips
Copy	Any card, played face down	1 action of lead suit
Pivot	Different suit from lead, any number	1 action of your card’s suit

Power Thresholds

Players	Power to End Game
2	33
3	30
4	27

Key Numbers

• Chapters per game: up to 5
• Cards per hand: 6
• Action cards in deck: 20 (2-3 players) or 28 (4 players)
• Court row size: 3 cards (2 players) or 4 cards (3-4 players)
• Starting pieces per player: 3 ships + 1 city (system A), 3 ships + 1 starport (system B), 2 ships (system C)
• Starting resources: 2 (matching planet types of A and B systems)
• Max pieces per player: 15 ships, 5 cities, 5 starports, 10 agents
• Battle dice: 18 total (6 Assault, 6 Skirmish, 6 Raid)
• Resource tokens: 25 total (5 each of 5 types)