Ankh: Gods of Egypt - The Definitive Guide to Divine Ascension!

Prepare to delve into the ancient sands of Egypt, where powerful gods battle for supremacy! In Ankh: Gods of Egypt, you are not just a player, but an ancestral deity seeking to become the one god worshipped by all humanity. Forget peace and harmony; here, war is the language of the heavens, and only the most devout (and cunning!) will prevail.

Game Objective: The Crown of Monotheism

In Ankh: Gods of Egypt, the main objective is simple, but the journey is epic: **gather enough Devotion to become the one God of Egypt!** We're talking about a transition from polytheism to monotheism, and you want to be the chosen one. How do you achieve this? By building **Monuments** in your honor, participating in epic **Conflicts** for dominion over the realm, and, of course, gathering many **Followers** to sacrifice and increase your **Ankh Powers**.

There are three glorious paths to victory:

1. A player wins **immediately** when their **Ankh Token** reaches the last space at the top of the **Devotion Track**. It's divine ascension in real-time!
2. A player wins **immediately** if they are the **only god remaining** in the game after the 4th **Conflict** event. If everyone is forgotten, Egypt becomes atheist and everyone loses! What a shame!
3. If none of the above conditions are met, the player with the **most Devotion** wins the game after the last event on the track is resolved. Every point counts!

Setup: Assembling the Realm of the Gods

Setting up the table is the first step to glory. Follow this preparation ritual for your divine battle to begin on the right foot:

1. Each player chooses one of the powerful **gods of Egypt** and takes their corresponding components:
   • **God Miniature**
   • 6 **Warrior miniatures**
   • **God Board**
   • **Merge Board**
   • **Ankh Tokens**
   • Set of 7 **Battle Cards**
   • **Player Aid Card**
   • If playing as Ra, take the 3 **Sun Tokens**. If playing as Osiris, the 3 **Underworld Tokens**. If playing as Amun, the **Amun Token**.
2. Each player starts with 1 **Follower Token**. Place the remaining ones in a general supply. (Don't worry, Followers are not limited; if you run out, improvise!)
3. Each player places 6 of their **Ankh Tokens** on their god board, in the spaces along the bottom row, under the locked **Ankh Powers**. The remaining ones stay in their personal supply.
4. Randomly determine the first player (or, if preferred, whoever has the most cats!). Other players follow clockwise.
5. In reverse player order (starting with the last), each player places their plastic **Ankh Token** on the bottom space of the **Devotion Track**, forming a stack. The first player's **Ankh Token** should be on top, indicating they start with more Devotion.
6. Place the 4 **Action Markers** on the **Action Tracks** of the **Central Board**, in the starting spaces corresponding to the number of players in the game.
7. Place the **Event Marker** on the first space of the **Event Track**.
8. Choose a scenario from the **Scenario Book** (everyone must agree or choose randomly). Make sure the scenario is compatible with the number of players.
9. Place the **Monuments** (Pyramids, Temples, and Obelisks), **Conflict Order Tokens**, and **Camels** on the board, according to the scenario setup diagram. The rest goes into the general supply.
10. Place your miniatures and **Ankh Tokens** (on the Monuments you control) on the board, as shown in the scenario setup. The first player is player #1, the player to their left is #2, and so on.
11. Choose (everyone agrees or randomly) one **Guardian Card Level 1**, one Level 2, and one Level 3 and place them next to the **Game Board**. Then, place the corresponding **Guardian** miniatures next to the cards, according to the number of players:
    • 2 Players: 1 miniature of each type
    • 3 Players: 2 miniatures of each type
    • 4 or 5 Players: all available miniatures (3 for small-base Guardians, 2 for large-base Guardians).
12. Follow any **Additional Setup Rules** described in the **Scenario Book**.

Ready for the battle for the soul of Egypt!

The Game Turn: Divine Actions and Cosmic Events

In Ankh, the game unfolds in turns, where each god seeks to expand their dominion and influence. During your turn, you will perform 1 or 2 **actions**. Sometimes, your action might even trigger an **event** that shakes the balance of power!

The 4 Possible Actions:

On the **Central Board**, you will find 4 **Action Tracks**, each with its own **Action Marker**. To perform an action, you move the corresponding **Action Marker** 1 space to the right and resolve the action. Simple as that!

Attention! If the **Action Marker** reaches the end of the track (white space), an **event** is triggered! First, resolve your action, then the event (by moving the **Event Marker** on the **Event Track**), and only then does the **Action Marker** return to its starting position.

If you trigger an event with your first action, your turn ends there. But if you don't trigger one, you can choose a **second action**! The catch? The second action must be on a lower row of the **Central Board** than the first. And you cannot choose the same action twice!

1. Move Miniatures

Positioning your forces is crucial! With this action, you can move **all your miniatures** on the board 1, 2, or 3 spaces. They can pass through enemy miniatures, Monuments, and other tokens, and even cross **Water Spaces**, Rivers, and **Camel Caravans**. But remember: movement must end in an empty space that is not Water. Control of Monuments does not change with movement; this happens during Monument Control events.

2. Summon Miniature

Your divine power is nothing without your devotees! Choose 1 miniature from your supply (a **Warrior** or a newly acquired **Guardian**) and place it in an empty space that is not Water. This miniature must be adjacent to one of your miniatures already on the board, or to a **Monument** you control. Remember that adjacency means sharing a hexagonal border and being in the same region!

3. Gain Followers

Followers are the currency of divine power! By performing this action, you gain a number of **Followers** equal to the number of **Monuments** (yours or neutral) adjacent to any of your miniatures. Take them from the general supply and add them to your personal supply. The more Monuments you surround, the more Followers you will have for your grand plans!

4. Unlock Ankh Power

Your **God Board** holds secrets of power! Use this action to unlock one of the available **Ankh Powers**. They are divided into 3 levels and organized into 3 columns. You can have a maximum of 2 unlocked Powers at each level. To unlock a power, move the leftmost **Ankh Token** from the bottom row of your board to the chosen power in the same column. This means you need to unlock two Level 1 powers before a Level 2, and so on.

To unlock, you must **sacrifice Followers** equal to the power's level (1, 2, or 3). Sacrificed Followers return to the general supply. If you don't have enough Followers or have already unlocked everything, you can still move the marker, but without benefit.

Controlling Guardians: Sometimes, when unlocking an **Ankh Power**, you reveal a **Guardian** symbol! This means you have attracted a legendary **Guardian** to your service. You gain control of 1 miniature from the **Guardian Card** corresponding to the level and add it to your supply, with a colored base to identify it. Guardians are powerful allies in battle!

Events: The Fate of Egypt at Stake

Events are crucial moments that mark the passage of time and change the landscape of Egypt. They are triggered when an **Action Marker** reaches the end of its track. The **Event Marker** advances on the **Event Track**, and the corresponding event is resolved.

There are two types of events:

• Individual Events (round spaces): Affect only the player who triggered the event.
• Conflicts (square spaces): Involve all players in a global battle!

Control Monument

This event allows the player who triggered it to gain control of 1 neutral **Monument** of their choice, provided they have at least 1 miniature adjacent to it. If there are no neutral Monuments, you can take control of another player's Monument, provided you still have an adjacent miniature. Place one of your **Ankh Tokens** on the Monument to mark your control.

Camel Caravan

Time to redraw the map! The player who triggered this event can place a line of up to 6 **Camels** from the general supply on the board, dividing a region into two new smaller regions. The new regions must have at least 6 spaces. Then, you choose which of the new regions keeps the original **Conflict Order Token** and take the lowest numbered **Conflict Order Token** from the supply for the other new region. You can still swap one of these tokens for another already on the board, changing the order of future Conflicts.

Conflict

War is inevitable! This is a global event that affects all regions. The player who triggered the Conflict receives the **Battle Tie-breaker Token**, which can be crucial. Each region is resolved in order, from the lowest to the highest number on the **Conflict Order Tokens**.

• Regions without miniatures are ignored.
• If only 1 player has miniatures, they **Dominate** the region.
• If 2 or more players have miniatures, a **Battle** occurs!

Domination

When a player dominates a region, they gain 1 Devotion for each **Monument majority** they have (controlling the most of a specific type of Monument in the region) and an additional 1 Devotion for dominating the region itself. It's a peaceful (but strategic) way to gain Devotion!

Battle

The heart of the conflict! In regions with miniatures from 2 or more players, battle unfolds in 5 steps:

1. Select and Reveal Cards: Each player with miniatures in the region secretly chooses 1 of their **Battle Cards** and reveals them simultaneously. Your used cards are placed face up, visible to all, so choose wisely!
2. Build Monuments: Resolve the revealed "Build Monument" cards, in ascending order on the **Devotion Track**. The player can sacrifice 3 Followers to build a new Monument in the region.
3. Resolve Plagues: Resolve the "Locust Plague" cards. The player who sacrifices the most Followers saves their miniatures; the others lose their Warriors and Guardians.
4. Monument Majority: Determine which players have the majority of each Monument type in the region and award 1 Devotion per majority, in reverse Devotion order.
5. Battle Resolution: Calculate each player's total battle strength (1 per miniature, plus bonuses from Guardians, Divine Powers or Ankh Powers, and the **Battle Card** bonus). The player with the highest strength wins, gains 1 Devotion, and kills all enemy miniatures (Warriors and Guardians; gods are immortal!). In case of a tie, the **Battle Tie-breaker Token** can be used. If not used or not present, everyone loses and all miniatures (except gods) are killed.

Gods Merge

In games with 3 or more players, at the end of the 3rd Conflict, the 2 gods with the least Devotion (in the last 2 positions on the Devotion Track) merge into a single divine entity! Players then play as a team, sharing resources and abilities. The god in the second lowest position is the "major god" and the one in the lowest position is the "minor god". The minor god has their Monuments destroyed, miniatures removed (except Guardians that the major god can control), and their Followers go to the major god. The **Ankh Tokens** of both unite on the Devotion Track and move as one. The merged players continue to take their turns, but each performs only one action, sharing the supply of miniatures and Followers. They can use the abilities of both gods and their combined Ankh Powers.

Forgotten Gods

At the end of the 4th Conflict event, any gods with their **Ankh Token** still in the red section of the **Devotion Track** are forgotten and eliminated from the game. Their miniatures, Monuments, and Followers are removed. If only 1 god remains, they win. If all are forgotten, Egypt becomes atheist and everyone loses!

End of Game and Scoring: Ascension or Oblivion

The game can end in a few ways, and the final score is, in fact, a race for Devotion:

• Immediate Victory by Devotion: If your **Ankh Token** reaches the top of the **Devotion Track**, you win instantly!
• Immediate Victory by Elimination: If you are the **only god remaining** after the 4th Conflict, victory is yours! (Unless everyone is forgotten, of course).
• Victory by Most Devotion: If the game reaches the end of the **Event Track** and none of the above conditions have been met, the player with the most **Devotion** (their position on the Devotion Track) will be crowned the one God of Egypt!

Tips for Winning: The Wisdom of the Ancient Gods

To avoid being just another forgotten god in the sands of time, here are some tactical tips based on the game's own rules:

1. Dominate Monuments and Gain Followers: **Monuments** are the backbone of your **Follower** economy. Use the "Gain Followers" action strategically, positioning your miniatures adjacent to as many Monuments as you can, whether they are yours or neutral. More Followers mean more unlocked **Ankh Powers** and more