BREW

Welcome to Brew, a game where you and I work together to restore balance to a broken world. You see, the forests are all messed up, creatures are causing trouble, and the seasons are completely out of sync.

Our goal is to use special dice called “element dice” to control as many seasons as we can in the forests. We can also gather ingredients to make powerful potions. These potions and our ability to tame creatures will give us the energy we need to bring harmony back to the land. It’s a magical adventure, and I’m excited to embark on it with you!

SETUP

Now, before we start our journey, let’s set everything up. First, we need to place the Village Board right in the middle, so we can both see it. Make sure the Day side is facing up. Then, let’s go through the Forest Cards and remove any that don’t match the number of players. You can find the player count at the bottom center of each card. Once that’s done, shuffle the remaining cards and put them face down near the gameboard.

So here’s what we’ve got: we need to draw some Forest Cards and put them in a row. And how many cards we draw depends on how many players there are. If it’s just two of us, we draw three cards. If we’ve got three players, we draw four cards. And if we have a full party of four, we draw five cards.

Now let’s get those Potion cards in play. Take all of them, shuffle ’em up, and put ’em face down next to the gameboard. Then, flip the top four cards and put them face up. That creates the Potion Market. Easy enough, right?

Next, we gotta set up the Supply Piles. Take all the tokens and separate them into piles near the game board. Each pile represents a different supply. And finally, we need to deal with the Creature Piles. Split those Creature cards up by season and shuffle each pile separately. Then, arrange them face up next to the gameboard.

To get started, we need to choose our characters. You’ll pick a character board and put it in front of you. We can also decide if we want to use special powers. If we do, we flip the boards to the Character power side. If not, we can leave them as they are.

After that, each of us will get four dice in our character’s color, two white element dice, an energy berry, and a reference card. The person who last made a cup of tea or coffee gets to go first and starts the game.

Now, let’s talk about how the game is played.

When playing the game, we go through three steps on each turn. First, you need to select a die from your dice pool and place it on the game board. This is where the action happens! By placing your dice in the Forests, you can gather special ingredients for making potions and even train different creatures. The dice also allow you to establish control over the Forests, giving you an advantage over your opponents.

However, there are rules that you need to follow when placing the dice. If you have a Forage die, you can only place it on a space that has a matching Forage symbol. Once a die is placed on a space, no other dice can be placed there. On the other hand, Element dice can be placed on any space with a Forage symbol, or you can place it on a Village space with a matching Element symbol. The Village board has two spaces at the top that can accommodate any type of dice you have.

When you place a die on an ingredient space, you can take a matching token from the supply and add it to your stock. If you place a die on a Creature space, you have the option to train a creature. There are four Creatures on display, and you can choose one and place it next to your Character board on its trained side.

If you place a die on a Village space, you will complete a special action. Some Village spaces have element symbols, which means only dice with that element can be placed there, and you can only put one die there each round.

So, here’s the deal: I’ve got a couple of options for you. You can either cast a spell with your dice, or brew a potion. But hold on, let me break it down for you.

First, let’s talk about the spell casting. When it’s your turn, you can use your dice to cast a spell on a Village Space. All you have to do is place your dice on the space and carry out the action associated with that space. Easy, right? Just be sure to keep in mind that each Village Space has its own requirements for the dice values.

Alright, now let’s move on to brewing potions. Brewing potions allows you to create some powerful concoctions. You can only brew one potion per turn, but don’t worry – it can be done before or after you place your dice. To brew a potion, all you need to do is choose one from the market or from your reserved potions, if you have any. But here’s the catch: you gotta pay the ingredient cost. Don’t fret, though – all the tokens you use will be returned to the supply. Once you’ve brewed a potion, add it to your hand and replenish the market by drawing a new potion from the deck. Simple as that!

Oh, and one more thing: you can use energy berries to replace any rare ingredient when brewing your potions. These berries are like magical shortcuts! You can use as many as you need, so go ahead and get that extra boost.

If you want to secure a specific potion for later, you can reserve it. Some Village spaces allow for this. Just reveal the top potion from the deck, and then you have a choice: either use that potion or pick one from the market. If you choose to reserve a potion, put it faceup near your character board. From that moment on, only you can brew that potion. It’s like your special secret recipe!

And don’t forget, you can also drink a potion from your hand. Just pick one and use it. After it’s used, put it behind your character board. You’ll still earn full Victory Points at the end of the game, so it’s definitely worth it!

Once all of us have run out of dice, that’s when the round is finished. Time to see who claims which forests. Oh, and don’t forget about those creatures with end round powers! Let’s also check the forest deck. If it’s empty, that’s it – the game is over!

For you to claim a forest, take a look at the number of Forage dice. You must have more than anyone else and more than the total number of element dice in the forest. If you meet these conditions, the forest is yours!

Now it’s time to gather our dice back. We’ll flip the village board the other way and reveal new forest cards. Oh, and let’s not forget to pass the first player marker to the next person in line. And off we go, ready for more excitement! The game will continue like this for four rounds.

THE GAME ENDS

After these four action-packed rounds, it’s finally time to tally up our points. Add them all together, and the one with the most Victory Points will be declared the winner of the game! So, who’s ready to claim victory?