Overview

Your main goal is to fill your potion bottles and get all of your wizards into the black Ravenskeep.  

On your turn you can choose to play up to 2 action cards, which let you move a tower (or an upper subsection of one) or move one of your own wizards. Whenever you cover up a wizard (including your own) with a tower, you fill one of your potion bottles. You must memorise where your covered wizards are so you can free them later!

You can also cast an optional spell, which costs a number of filled potions. Maximum potions you'll be able to get is 5, and unused potions are a tie breaker at the end, so use them sparingly.

Easy peasy, you place a tower on a wizard to fill your potion. Then use those potions for the effects in the middle. Bottle gone and game moves on.

The black Ravenskeep piece doesn't count as a tower. When you move a wizard onto it, the Ravenskeep moves around the board and your turn ends.

Everything moves clockwise.

When one person has all bottles filled, and all their wizards in the Ravenskeep, the game is over.

Goal

Fill all of your potion bottles and get all of your wizards into Ravenskeep (it doesn’t matter which you do first). Move your wizards into Ravenskeep with good timing. Fill your potion bottles by moving towers onto wizards to imprison them. But if your own wizards are imprisoned, you must free them so they can get to Ravenskeep!

Playing

Play goes clockwise, beginning with the starting player.

On your turn, you must play 2 cards from your hand face up on the discard pile, one at a time. For each card you play, perform its move if at all possible.

Alternatively, you may forgo both actions to discard your entire hand and advance any 1 tower 1 space clockwise (see Cards That Move a Tower, below).

In either case, at any time during your turn, you may spend full potion bottles to cast one magic spell (see Casting a Spell).

Finally, draw to refill your hand to 3 cards.

Each time the deck is depleted, shuffle the discards to form a new deck.

Movement cards

There are 3 types of movement cards:

1. Cards that move a wizard; these depict a wizard on the right page of the book.

2. Cards that move a tower; these depict a tower on the left page of the book.

3. Cards that can move either a wizard or a tower; these depict a tower on the left, a wizard on the right.

Cards that move a wizard

Move one of your own visible wizards.

If the card depicts a number, advance the wizard clockwise exactly that number of spaces.

If the card depicts a die, roll the die to determine exactly how far a wizard will advance. For each additional die depicted on the card, you may reroll the die once; however, if you do, you forfeit the previous roll. Only after your final roll must you choose a wizard to move.

Whenever a wizard’s move ends in a space with a tower in it, the wizard goes atop the tower, rather than in the space.

Each tower and each empty space can hold up to 6 wizards. If a move would exceed that limit, you cannot make that move.

Whenever a wizard’s move ends in the space with Ravenskeep, perform the following steps:

• • Drop the wizard into Ravenskeep, where the wizard will remain until the end of the game.
• • Advance Ravenskeep clockwise to the next space or tower top depicting a raven shield, with no wizards on it. If there are no such spaces, Ravenskeep stays where it is.
• • Your turn ends immediately (fill your hand to 3 cards as usual).

Cards that move a tower

Move any tower (Ravenskeep is not a tower), along with everything stacked atop it. Yes, if Ravenskeep is atop the stack, it goes along, too!

Once you have lifted a tower, you cannot change your mind.

If the card depicts a number, advance the tower clockwise exactly that number of spaces.

If the card depicts a die, roll the die to determine exactly how far a tower will advance. For each additional die depicted on the card, you may reroll the die once; however, if you do, you forfeit the previous roll. Only after your final roll must you choose a tower to move.

Whenever a tower’s move ends in a space with towers already in it, the new tower goes atop the existing towers, imprisoning all wizards it covers (see Imprisoning Wizards below). Note: All 9 towers and Ravenskeep could end up in the same space!

Whenever a tower’s move ends in a space with wizards already in it, the tower covers the wizards, imprisoning them (see Imprisoning Wizards below).

If a move would put towers atop Ravenskeep, you cannot make that move.

Cards that move either

Move one of your own visible wizards, or move any tower.

If the card depicts a number, announce whether you are moving a wizard or a tower, then advance it exactly that number of spaces

If the card depicts a die, roll the die to determine exactly how far a wizard or tower will advance. For each additional die depicted on the card, you may reroll the die once; however, if you do, you forfeit the previous roll. Only after your final roll must you announce whether you are moving a wizard or a tower.

Imprisoning Wizards

If you move a tower in such a way that it newly covers wizards, you imprison them until they are uncovered and thus visible again. When you imprison one or more wizards (even if only your own), you may fill one of your empty potion bottles (no matter how many wizards you imprisoned) by flipping it over. If you have no empty potion bottles, you can still imprison wizards, but this will not fill a potion bottle for you. Because your imprisoned wizards are covered, and thus hidden, you must try to remember where they are, so you can free them later. You are not allowed to peek under the towers!

Tip: It is much easier to fill potion bottles earlier in the game, when fewer wizards are imprisoned.

Spells

At any time during your turn, you may cast one spell, for your own benefit. The spells available for you to cast are the magic spells placed face up during setup. To cast a spell, you must spend the number of full potion bottles depicted on the spell, then apply the effects of the spell. If your spell causes a wizard to enter Ravenskeep, your turn ends immediately (and you draw to fill your hand to 3 cards, as usual). Spent potion bottles are returned to the game box.

End of game

If you have no more empty potion bottles, and all of your wizards are in Ravenskeep, you trigger the end of the game: Finish the round, so everyone has had the same number of turns. If only one player has all their wizards in Ravenskeep, and no more empty potion bottles, they win the game! If several players have achieved both goals, the player among them with the most full (unspent) potion bottles remaining wins. If there is still a tie, the tied players share the victory. Note: You are always allowed to peek into Ravenskeep to see how many wizards each player has in there. Note: It doesn’t matter which goal you fulfill first: Keep playing until someone has fulfilled both!