Core Concepts

Table of Contents

The Arc of Play

In a game of Arcs, you play through a number of chapters, usually three to five. Each chapter is made up of several rounds.

Broadly, in a round, each player will take one turn by playing an action card to do various actions, starting with the player who has initiative. After everyone takes a turn, players check who gets initiative for the next round. You'll learn more in Playing a Chapter (page 8)!

Keep playing rounds until everyone runs out of action cards in their hand. At this point, the chapter ends, players gain Power from ambitions they fulfilled, and everyone draws a new hand of cards. You'll learn more in Ending a Chapter (page 18)!

Power & Ambitions

Players gain Power by fulfilling ambitions. The player with the initiative marker may choose to declare the ambition shown on the action card they play on their turn, marking the matching ambition box on the right map edge.

At the end of the chapter, players gain Power from declared ambitions that they fulfilled best. It doesn't matter whether another player declared an ambition—anyone can fulfill it.

The Map

The map is made of 6 clusters. Each cluster has 4 systems: 3 planets and 1 gate, which lists the cluster number.

A system is adjacent to other systems sharing a thin border. Adjacency is most important when moving (page 13).

• Each gate is adjacent to the 3 planets in its cluster and to the gates of its 2 neighboring clusters.
• Each planet is adjacent to the gate in its cluster, and it is adjacent to one or both neighboring planets. Planets separated by a thick, irregular border are not adjacent.

The center of the map with the Arcs logo is not in play.

In setup, 1 or 2 clusters are covered with out-of-play markers on its planets and a path marker on its gate. These clusters are out of play in every way. The path marker joins together the gates of the two neighboring clusters, allowing for movement between them in a single move.

Each planet has a planet type, along with 1 or 2 building slots where you can build cities and starports. (Each planet also has an ID symbol of [ID Symbol 1], [ID Symbol 3], or [ID Symbol 3], used in expansions.)

Resources & Cities

There are 5 types of resources matching the 5 planet types. Usually, you gain them by taxing cities (page 12) and raiding Rivals in battle (page 16).

Resources can be spent for various actions (page 17), and some of them add to the Tycoon, Keeper, and Empath ambitions (page 18).

You hold resource tokens in the resource slots on your player board. As you build cities, you open resource slots and uncover Power bonuses for winning ambitions.

Agents & The Court

Your agents are the bureaucrats and diplomats that administer your cities and influence powerful interests in the Reach.

Through play, you can place agents on cards in the Court, a row of cards along the edge of the map (Influence, page 13). If you have the most agents on a card in the Court, you can take it (Secure, page 13).

Damage & Control

Pieces start off fresh—ships are fresh when standing upright, and buildings are fresh on their fully colored side.

By battling, fresh pieces can become damaged, shown by f lipping or tipping it over. If a damaged piece is damaged again, it is destroyed, removing it from the map.

You control a system and its contents if you have more fresh ships there than each Rival (other player). On a tie, no one controls the system.

Controlling a system lets you tax Rival cities there and capture their agents, restricts how their ships move, and damages pieces they build. See: Standard Actions (pages 12-13).

Trophies & Captives

If you destroy a Rival's pieces, put them in the Trophies box on your player board. Trophies add to the Warlord ambition. Actions such as Battle (page 14) let you destroy Rival pieces.

If you capture a Rival's agents, put them in the Captives box on your player board. Captives add to the Tyrant ambition. Actions such as Tax (page 12) and Secure (page 13) let you capture Rival agents.