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Emberleaf
In Emberleaf, your hand becomes a living board: each hero you place on it moves and activates chain abilities as you play new ones. Explore the forest, clear hazards and rebuild the village before the rest of the Emberlings take your space.
- Players
- 1–5
- Playing time
- 90–120 min
- Min. age
- 14+
- Year
- 2025
Setup
Place the game board in the center of the table and the construction board to its right.
Sort the general building tiles by type and place them in the corresponding spaces on the construction board.
Place the trophy board under the construction board (face 1-3 or 4+ depending on the players) with the marker disc on top of the battle flag trail.
Distribute the six trophies randomly on the trophy board.
Shuffle the favor cards, form a face down pile and reveal 5 face up cards next to it.
Shuffle the hero cards, form a face down pile and reveal 5 face up cards next to it.
Put all danger area tokens into the creature bag, draw 9 at random, and place them green face up in the 9 spaces marked with a gray flag.
Build a general stockpile of resources (wood, food, stone, hive) near the board.
With 1-2 players, place 3 buildings of each type in the 3+/4+ spaces of the clearings; with 3 players, place 2 of each in the 4+ spaces; with 4-5 players don't place any buildings at the start.
Each player chooses a color, places their brotherhood board with the starting buildings, the 20 villagers of their color, a hive, the chosen brotherhood deck (A-E), the hero figure in Hawker's Crossing, the favor discs in the rest of the bonfires, and the score markers.
Choose starting player and start playing in clockwise turns.
GAME TURN
Actions
Each turn you take one main action (place a card or move cards) and any number of optional actions (charge a card, promise a favor).
Place a letter
Play a hero card from your hand to an empty space on your brotherhood board and resolve either its ability in play or that of the space (never both).
Move cards
Slide all cards on your brotherhood board one space to the left, resolving move abilities and, if they fall off the board, also fall abilities; the fallen cards return to the hand.
Load a letter
Spend resources to activate a card's charge ability, marking spent resources on the card until it returns to the hand.
Promise a favor
If your hero is in a clearing with a favor disc of your color, take an available favor card and remove the disc.
SKILLS
Walk
Move your hero through clearings; each path costs 1 move, plus 1 for each dangerous area tile there is.
Attack
Damage an adjacent dangerous area to remove it; damage must be equal to or greater than your health and cannot be spread across multiple areas.
Collect
Take resources from the general pool up to your storage limit (8, or 12 with the boathouse built).
Build
Pay the cost, place the building on an empty space in your current clearing, and optionally house a villager there.
Lodge a villager
Place the nearest villager in your group on the newly constructed building; you gain one blade for each unique building type in the connected neighborhood and resolve the revealed bonus.
END OF SHIFT
Trophies
Check if someone has reached the end of the flag trail or filled a clearing; the corresponding trophy is awarded in turn order.
War Flag Trace
If the marker reaches the bottom of everything, it is reset to the top, the danger areas are returned to the bag and 9 new orange ones are dealt face up.
Score Track Bonuses
The first time someone passes through a not-yet-activated bonus slot, all players receive it in turn order.
Refreshment of cards
If a hero or favor card was taken during the turn, the rightmost card is discarded, the others are moved, and the row is replenished to five cards.
END OF THE GAME AND SOLITARY MODE
End
The game ends when the sixth trophy is awarded; it is played until everyone has taken the same number of turns.
Solitary Mode
Played against a "sister" controlled by action cards with stamina points; when it exceeds 5 stamina, it rests, reveals a building, and scores for reputation.
Solitary difficulty
It is chosen by dealing between 2 and 6 basic and advanced favor cards depending on the level (easy, medium, hard, very hard, ultimate).
Victory conditions
- Victory for trophies
- The game ends when the sixth trophy is awarded; the round is completed so that everyone has played the same number of turns.
- Score in game
- Leaves are earned for housing villagers, clearing dangerous areas, earning trophies and unlocking bonuses.
- Final score
- The pending letters of favor are reviewed and the corresponding leaves are added; whoever has the most leaves in total wins.
- Tie breaker
- Whoever has accommodated more villagers wins; if the tie persists, whoever has more dangerous area tiles; if there is still a tie, the victory is shared.
Frequently asked questions
- How many players does Emberleaf need?
- 1–5 players.
- How long does a game of Emberleaf last?
- 90–120 minutes.
- What is the minimum age for Emberleaf?
- From 14 years old.
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