Via

Nebula

Introduction
For centuries the Via Nebula has been in a Dark Age of monsters. It is now time for brave explorers to
travel through the foggy pathways, exploit resources and build new buildings and towns in the ruins of
the devastated cities. If Nebula can regain its peace and prosperity, you will become the heroes of the
Valley!

Game End and Winning
The game ends after a player has erected his fifth building. He receives the End-of-Game Card, and his
turn is immediately over. All other players take one final turn. Players collect any resources remaining on
their Building Sites, or exploitations and place them on the Storage Area of their Guild Board. Final
Scoring is then conducted, and the player with the most points wins the game.

Setup
1. Place the Game Board in the middle of the table.
a. You may choose to set the board up for a Beginner or an Expert game.
2. Place all 90 Resources (Wood, Food, Stone, Clay, Wheat) next to the Game Board to form the
Supply.
3. Choose a First Player at random. The First Player will:
a. Shuffle the 8 Private Contracts and deal two to each player face down.
i. Return any spares to the box if playing with 2 or 3 players.
b. Shuffle the 33 Neutral Contracts and put them face down in a stack on the Game Board.
c. Reveal the top four Neutral Contracts, and place them face up to form a display.
d. Place the End of Game card face up on its spot in the top right of the board.
4. Randomly remove one of the 5 Special Exploitation tokens (these show no VPs on the front)
and return it to the box. Then shuffle together the remaining 4 Special and 20 Normal
Exploitation tokens face down, and place one on each Meadow Space of the Game Board before
flipping them over to reveal their front.
5. Remove each Special Exploitation token in turn, and replace it with the Resources depicted on
the token, (modified as follows):
a. 4P Game – Place the depicted resources
b. 3P and 2P Game – Place one fewer resources than depicted
These four spaces are now called Neutral Exploitations, and belong to no player.
6. Players each pick a colour (Blue, Brown, White, or Black), and each take one Guild Board, 3 “half
size” Building Sites, 5 Buildings, and 2 Craftsmen in their chosen colour.
a. The Guild Board needs to be flipped to the correct player count (either 3-4 P, or 2P)
b. In the 2P game only, players receive 3 Craftsmen instead of 2.
c. In the 2P game only, players take 3 full-size Building Sites instead of three half size ones.
7. Players take Meadow Tiles as follows:
a. 4P Game – 12 Meadow Tiles (arrange in four stacks of three tiles on their Guild Board).
b. 3P Game – 16 Meadow Tiles (arrange in four stacks of four tiles on their Guild Board).
c. 2P Game – 20 Meadow Tiles (arrange in four stacks of five tiles on their Guild Board).

Course of a Game
Beginning with the starting player, players take turns in clockwise order until the game ends.

A Player’s Turn
On your turn, you must perform two actions from the following six. You may select actions in any
combination (including taking the same action twice), but Action 4 costs both your actions to perform.
1. Place a Craftsman
2. Place a Building Site
3. Explore a Fog Space
4. Explore a Petrified Forest
5. Transport a Resource to one of your Building Sites
6. Erect a Building


Action 1: Place your Craftsman
Place one Craftsman from your Guild Board onto any space containing an Exploitation token. Take the
Exploitation token and place it face down next to your Guild Board. Then:
• In a 4P game, place the number and type of resources depicted on the token onto the space it
came from.
• In a 2P or 3P game, plus one resource less than depicted on the token on to the space it came
from.
• If there are not enough resources to fulfil the Exploration token, place as many as are available.

Action 2: Place a Building Site
Take one of your own building sites and cover half of a Ruins Space not already covered by another
Building Site or Building. All Ruins Spaces have room for two Building Sites. A Ruins Space may
simultaneously contain Building Sites belonging to different players, or two Building Sites belonging to
the same player.
• You may not take this action if you do not have an available Building Site token.
• You cannot have more Building Sites on the board than you have Buildings left on your Guild
Board.
• In a 2P game only, a Ruins Space can only be occupied by one player’s full size Building Site. As
soon as a Ruins Space is occupied, no more Building Sites can be added to it.

Action 3: Explore a Fog Space
Take a Meadow Tile from the left-most stack on your Guild Board, and place it on a Fog Space. This Fog
Space must be either:
• Adjacent to a space occupied by a game element of your colour (Craftsman, Building Site, or
Building), OR
• Adjacent to an empty Meadow Space or Meadow Tile (i.e. this space will not have any Resources
or Exploitation tokens on it).

Action 4: Explore a Petrified Forest (Costs 2 Actions)
Take a Meadow Tile from the left-most stack on your Guild Board, and place it on a Petrified Forest
Space. The Petrified Forest must be either:
• Adjacent to a space occupied by a game element of your colour (Craftsman, Building Site, or
Building), OR
• Adjacent to an empty Meadow Space or Meadow Tile (i.e. this space will not have any Resources
or Exploitation tokens on it).

Action 5: Transport a Resource to a Building Site
Choose and take a resource from any exploitation that is:
• Occupied by one of your Craftsmen
• Occupied by the Craftsman of an opponent
• Occupied by no Craftsmen (Neutral Explotation)

Transport the chosen resource to one of your Building Sites via an uninterrupted path of empty Meadow
Spaces. These Meadow Spaces may be Meadow Tiles that players have placed during the game, or they may
be Meadow Spaces that previously contained an exploitation by have been depleted.

If the resource you took was the last one on that Exploitation, the owner of the Craftsman retrieves it, and
puts it back on his Guild Board. This space is now an empty Meadow Space.

Rules for Transporting Resources
• You may never transport a resource across a space that is not empty
• You may not deliver a resource to an opponent’s Building Site
• When using the half-hex building sites, they are not directional – a path that can be traced to any
edge of that Space can deliver a resource to either building site present.
• A resource transported to a Building Site can never be moved again.


Action 6: Erect a Building
You may erect a building on one of your building sites if it contains all the resources required by a
Contract. That Contract may be either:
• A Private Contract from your hand
• A Neutral Contract from the four in the display on the Game Board.
After you have picked up (or revealed) your desired Contract Card, you must:
• Return the Resources from the Building Site being used to fulfil the Contract
• Return the Building Site to your Guild Board.
• Place one of your Buildings on the newly vacated space.
• Immediately use the power of the Contract card you just fulfilled (if you wish to do so).
o If you do not use the Contract Card power immediately, it is lost.
• Place the fulfilled Contract Card face down next to your Guild Board.
o If the Contract Card came from the Game Board display, replace it with another Contract
card from the draw deck.

NB – You may Erect a Building if you have more resources than needed on your Building Site. However, you
will be penalised for the left-over resources at the end of the game.

End of Game
The game ends after a player has erected his fifth (and final) building. He receives the End-of-Game Card,
and his turn is immediately over. All other players take one final turn. Players collect any resources
remaining on their Building Sites, or Exploitations and place them on the Storage Area of their Guild
Board. Now proceed to Final Scoring.

Final Scoring
Player add up the following:
1. The points shown on your exploitation tokens (including those that have not been depleted?)
2. The points on your fulfilled (face down) contracts (ignore any Contracts you have remaining in
hand).
3. The points revealed on your Guild Board by having placed Meadow Tiles.
4. The player who ended the game receives 2 points from the End-of-Game card.
5. Deduct 1 point for each resource in your Storage Area.

The player with the most points wins. In the case of a tie, the tied player with the least resources in his
Storage Area wins. If there is still a tie, all tied players win.

Types of Spaces

 Card Powers
Name Cost Effect # in V
Wo Fo St Cl Wh Deck P
Private Contracts (8)
Quiet Town 1 1 0 0 1 None 2 4
Express Delivery 0 1 1 1 0 Choose any resource from supply and place it 2 2
on one of your Building Sites. If the resource
you want is not available from supply, you must
pick a different one.
Secret Plan 1 0 1 1 0 Draw a Neutral Contract card from the draw 2 3
pile on the Game Board and add it to your
hand. It is now a Private Contract.
Shortcut 1 0 1 0 1 Remove the two left-most Meadow Tiles from 2 3
your Guild Board and place them in the Tile
Reserve.
Neutral Contracts (33)
Abundance 0 1 1 0 0 Remove an exploitation token of your choice 2 2
from the game board and put it back in the box.
Replace it with the resources depicted. Do not
place a Craftsman – this opens a new neutral
exploitation.
Architect 0 1 1 1 1 At the end of the game, receive 1 additional 1 ?
point for every contract you have fulfilled,
including itself.
Adventurers 0 0 0 1 1 You may play a Meadow Tile on any forbidden 2 2
space (ignoring normal exploration rules).
Mayor 1 1 1 1 1 At the end of the game receive an extra 2 1 ?
points for every contract requiring two
resources that you have fulfilled.
Caravan 0 1 1 1 0 Remove one resource from one of your 2 3
Exploitations or Building Sites and return it to
supply. OR Remove one resource from your
Storage Area and return it to supply.
Distillery 1 1 0 1 1 You may perform one additional action of your 6 4
choice. If your first action was to fulfil this
contract, you are allowed to use your next two
actions to explore a petrified forest if you wish.
Lazy Explorer 2 Resources of same type At the end of the game, receive one additional 1 ?
point for each unrevealed explorer you have.
Exportation 1 1 1 1 0 Remove up to two resources and return them 2 4
to general supply. Each resource removed can
come from one of your Exploitations, Building
sites or from your Storage Area.
Store 1 1 1 0 1 Swap one of your resources on an Exploitation 6 4
or Building Site for one of your choice from the
general reserve. If the resource you want is not
in the supply, pick a different one.
Merchant 1 1 1 1 0 At the end of the game, receive 1 additional 1 ?
point for every Exploitation tile you have.
Workshop 0 0 1 1 1 You may play a Meadow Tile on any Petrified 4 3
Forest, disregarding all rules of Exploration
Priest 3 resources of different types At the end of the game, receive 3 points. 1 3
By Air! 1 1 1 0 1 Move any Meadow Tile from the Game Board 4 4
and place it on any Fog Space, disregarding all
rules of Exploration.