Manual — Nains

The Nidavellir gameplay in the universe of Dwarves
A game by Serge Laget

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· 2 ·
GOAL OF THE GAME
SUMMARY
Gather the most prestigious dwarves and Fighters (Heroes) in your Fortress-state to obtain the highest Bravery value and win the game.
Do not hesitate to check the glossary in the annex if you are uncertain about a term.
Once united around an emperor,
The dwarves ruled over the lands of Arran.
When the great schism divided them into many fortress-states, they shared their knowledge
between the four dominant Orders: The Forge, the Retaliation, the Temple and the Shield.
These difficult times caused the creation of a fifth Order that gathered pariahs
and forsaken ones: the Order of the Wanderers.
You are Lords leading a fortress-state. Your goal is to recruit the most skilled dwarves
and the bravest Fighters so you can restore the splendour to dwarven territories and assert your dominance
over the region. For this, you are even willing to collaborate with the Wanderers to guarantee supplies
for your Fortress-state and to turn a blind eye to the creation of liquor. People need to unwind, after all!
TURN SEQUENCE · 8 ·
BOARD AND CARD ANATOMY · 6 ·
END OF ERA · 12 ·
BRAVERY VALUE AND IN-GAME EFFECTS · 7 ·
OVERVIEW OF A TURN · 6 ·
NEUTRAL AND ORDER FIGHTERS · 14 ·
GAME SETUP · 4 ·
GLOSSARY · ANNEX ·

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· 3 ·
GAME COMPONENTS
91 Dwarf cards from 5 Orders:
A · 20 Shield Order cards
B · 19 Temple Order cards
C · 20 Wanderer Order cards
D · 16 Forge Order cards
E · 16 Retaliation Order cards
5 Elite Fighter cards
1 Liquor Certification card
23 Fighter cards including 1 Ally and 5 Mercenaries
3 Tavern signs
5 Individual boards
3 Gem trade markers
5 Gems (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
12 Pariah tokens
1 Royal Treasury (to assemble)
5 card holders (To assemble)
1 scorepad
A B C D E
B C
60 Coins including
A · 25 bronze Coins (1 set/Lord)
0 x5 | 2x5 | 3x5 | 4x5 | 5x5
B · 34 golden Coins from the Royal Treasury including
5x2 | 6x2 | 7x3 | 8x2 | 9x3 | 10x2 | 11x3 | 12x2 | 13x2 | 14x2 | 15x1 | 16x1 | 17x1 | 18x1 | 19x1 | 20x1 | 21x1 | 22x1 | 23x1 | 24x1 | 25x1
C · 1 Coin3 - Trade (see Kardum’s ability, p. 14)

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· 4 ·
GAME SETUP
1. Give each Lord an individual board and 5 bronze Coins (A).
2. Take the following gems:
Do not forget to assemble them before your first game by following the numbers on the notches.
Number of Lords | Gems
5 Lords | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
4 Lords | 2, 3, 4, 5
3 Lords | 3, 4, 5
2 Lords | 4, 5
3. Place the 3 tavern signs in the centre of the table in the following order: Yjdad’s Tankard, the Roasted Hog and the Tasty Halberd (C) and the Gem exchange markers (D).
4. Place all the Fighter (E) and Mercenary (F) cards on 4 card holders, slightly overlapping with the left side of the cards to be visible.
5. Place, at random, the 5 Elite Fighter cards (G) then the Liquor Certification on a card holder, slightly overlapping with the left side of the cards visible.
6. Take the Royal Treasury (H) out of the box and check that each Coin is in its matching spot.
7. If you play with fewer than 5 Lords, leave aside the cards with a symbol on the bottom right side of the card; they will not be used in this game.
8. Shuffle the Era 1 cards and place them in a deck next to the Royal Treasury (I).
9. Do the same with the Era 2 cards (J).
10. Place the Coin 3 – Trade (K) and the Pariah tokens (L) next to the Royal Treasury.

2-LORDS GAME
All the rules of this rulebook apply, however:
When the Dwarves enter, put 3 Dwarf cards in each tavern at the start of each round.
In the first and third taverns:
Each Lord chooses a Dwarf card in the order defined by the bids, and the last card (the one not picked) is discarded.
In the second tavern:
The Lord with the highest bid chooses a Dwarf card that is put into their army, then discards one of the two remaining cards. Finally, the opposing Lord does not have a choice anymore, they must pick the remaining card and place it into their army.

5-LORDS GAME
All the rules of this rulebook apply, however:
When setting up the game, add the Dwarf cards with a symbol on the bottom right side of the card in the matching deck for Era 1 and Era 2.

ROYAL TREASURY
AND CARD HOLDER
Give one to each Lord at random. The Gem is to be placed in the notch of the individual board, face up (B).

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· 5 ·
Game setup for 4 Lords
A B C
F G H I J K L
E D

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· 6 ·
BOARD ANATOMY CARD ANATOMY
Command area
Tavern location
Pouch
Gem notch
Army
Order
Rank may contain Bravery points
Name
Card to be used only when 5 Lords are playing
Ability
Malt
Order
Rank may contain Bravery points
Card Ability, visible when in the
card holder.
Card Ability, visible when cards
are in a column.
DWARF CARD
ELITE FIGHTER
AND FIGHTER CARDS
You start with a knowledge in the
production of liquor, and your Malt icons
score one point each at the end of the game
You start with 1 Occult icon for the Order
of the Temple
Final Bravery value for the Order
of the Shield

OVERVIEW OF A TURN
TURN PREPARATION
1. The Dwarves Enter
- Place X cards of the current Era in each tavern. X = the number of Lords.
2. Bidding
- Place your Coins, face down, on each Tavern location and in your pouch.

TAVERN RESOLUTION
1. Tavern Resolution
- Reveal your Coin on the Tavern location being resolved.
- The Coin of the highest value determines the active Lord.
Ties are resolved with the gems.
2. Active Lord's Turn
- Choose a Dwarf card from the Tavern being resolved, then apply, the Order of
Retaliation or the Order of Wanderers effect, if applicable.
- Where appropriate, recruit a Fighter.
- Trade Coins if you have played your value 0 Coin.
In descending order of bid Coins or gems in case of a tie, the next Lord becomes the
active Lord and starts their turn.
3. Trading Gems
When each Lord has played, perform Gem trades between Lords tied with the same Coin
value as a revealed bid. Then move on to the next Tavern resolution.
Go back to 1. TAVERN RESOLUTION

NEXT TURN
When all taverns have been resolved, pick up your Coins and move on to the next turn.

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· 7 ·
Céline recruits a Retaliation Dwarf card using her 5-value Coin that she upgrades to a value 6.
Valériane recruits a Retaliation Dwarf card by bidding with her value-0 Coin. She must upgrade a Coin from her pouch and she decides to upgrade her value-3 Coin into a 4. As there is no value-4 Coin in the Royal Treasury, she takes the next highest value available: a 5 Coin, then performs to the normal trade (see Trading Coins, p 11.)
When you recruit a Dwarf card from the Order of Retaliation, immediately add 1 to the value of the Coin that allowed you to perform this recruitment.
In other words, you swap your Coin for the Coin immediately higher in value in the Royal Treasury.
If the 0 value Coin is used to do this, add 1 to one of the Coins in your pouch, then perform the Coin exchange as usual (see Trading Coins, p. 11).
Page 11 also has information on discarding Coins and special cases.
The Order of the Wanderers
When you recruit a card from the Order of the Wanderers and you already have a card of the same value in the Wanderers column of your army: place a Pariah token on the rank of the card you have just recruited.
At the end of the game, the Bravery Value of the Wanderers column is equal to the sum of the visible Bravery points, meaning those that are not covered by a token.
Clarification: the token only cancels the value of the card. It does not cancel the rank or the Malt icon on the card.
The Order of the Temple
Its Bravery Value is equal to the sum of their Bravery points multiplied by the number of Occult icons you have in your Fortress-state including your army and command area.
Attention: if you have played Black ranked Fighter cards in this column, their Bravery points are added to the Bravery Value of the Order of the Temple after the multiplication has been done.
BRAVERY VALUE AND IN-GAME EFFECTS
The Order of the Shield
Its Bravery Value is equal to the value indicated on your individual board matching the number of ranks in your army.
The Order of the Forge
Its Bravery Value is equal to the sum of their Bravery points added to the number of different runes present in your Fortress-state squared, including your army and command area.
The Order of Retaliation
When you recruit a Retaliation Dwarf card, you must upgrade the Coin you have used to recruit this card by adding +1 to its value. At the end of the game, its Bravery Value is equal to the sum of its Bravery points.
COIN TRADE
your Fortress-state including your army and command area.
A scoring example is given on page 13.

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· 8 ·
The game takes place
over 2 Eras.
TURN PREPARATION
1. The Dwarves Enter
- Place X cards of the current Era, face up, in each tavern.
X is equal to the number of Lords in the game (except in a 2-Lord game, see p. 4).
2. Bidding
During this phase, each Lord plays simultaneously.
- Look at your 5 Coins then place a Coin of your choosing face down on each Tavern location
of your individual board.
The 2 unused Coins are placed face down on the pouch space of your individual board.
The value of the Coin bid will determine the order in which each Lord will play when resolving
each tavern.
TURN SEQUENCE
For 2 to 3 Lords:
each Era is 4 turns long.
For 4 to 5 Lords:
each Era is 3 turns long.
Each Lord observes the
patrons in each tavern in order
to estimate the appropriate bids
according to their needs
and what others may bid.
In the event of a tie in the value of the Coin
played for a tavern, the turn order is defined
by the value of the gem owned by the tied Lords.
You become the active Lord if you have the
highest value gem.
The resolution continues in descending order
of gem value until each tied Lord has played.
RESOLVING TIES
Serge (gem 3) played his Coin of value 5, and Céline (gem 5) and Valériane (gem 1)
both played their Coin of value 2. So, Serge becomes the active Lord.
When his turn is over, it will be up to Céline and then Valériane to play.
Serge Céline Valériane
TAVERN RESOLUTION
Resolve each tavern one after the other, starting with Yjdad’s Tankard. When the resolution of Yjdad’s Tankard Tavern has been
completed, go to the Roasted Hog Tavern and then to the Tasty Halberd Tavern.
1. Bid Revelation
This phase takes place simultaneously.
- Reveal the Coin on the Tavern location being resolved on your
individual board. The Coin of the highest value determines the active Lord.
If several Lords bid a Coin of the same value, gems are used as the
tie-breaker: the highest-value gem wins (see Resolving Ties, insert).
TURN SEQUENCE

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· 9 ·
When you choose a Dwarf card from the tavern being resolved, immediately place it in your army:
- by creating a new column if you do not have any Dwarf cards of this Order,
- by adding it to an already existing column matching this card Order if you already have cards from this Order.
Ranks must always be visible.
PLACING A DWARF CARD IN YOUR ARMY
If, when you place a Dwarf card in your army, you create a row consisting of one rank of each Order, you will immediately recruit 1 available Fighter.
RECRUITING A FIGHTER
Serge places a Dwarf card in his army.
As he just completed a second full row of ranks, he recruits Fey whom he places in her column:
The Order of the Temple.
SEVERAL COMPLETED ROWS
BY THE PLACEMENT OF A FIGHTER
2. Active Lord Turn
Perform the following steps in this order:
- Choose a card from the tavern being resolved, then place the Dwarf card into your Army, without forgetting to apply the effects, where appropriate, of the Order of Retaliation or the Wanderers.
- Recruit a Fighter if the conditions are met,
- Perform Coin trade if you played your Coin of value 0 (see Trading Coins, p. 11).
In descending order of the Coins bid, or gems in the event of tied Coins, the next Lord becomes the active Lord and starts their turn.
Serge recruits a Dwarf card and completes a row made of one rank of each Order. He immediately recruits a Fighter. He chooses Ulrog whom he places in his column:
The Order of the Forge.
Creation of a row with 5 ranks
2nd row of ranks
Serge places a Shield card in his army. This results in the creation of a complete row made of a rank of each Order.
He then recruits Volgrir, which allows him, by completing two rows at once, to recruit 2 new Fighters one after the other.
1st row of ranks
• A Fighter whose coloured rank belongs to one of the 5 Orders must be placed in the matching column in your army.
If, when placing this Fighter, a new row is completed, immediately recruit a new Fighter. Several rows may be completed at once by the placement of a Fighter.
• A Fighter with a White rank is to be placed in your Command area, on the left side of your individual board.
• A Fighter with a Black rank or an Ally with a multi-coloured rank will be placed in your army in the column of your choice (see Neutral and Order Fighters, p. 14-16). This may lead to the completion of a new row of 5 different Orders, and so another Fighter recruitment.

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· 10 ·
TRADING GEMS
At the end of the resolution of a tavern, gem trading is performed by
Lords whose Coin values were tied when the Bids were revealed.
Once the trades are complete, the gems are put back in their notches.
Clarification: Even if you have upgraded the coin with the Order of Re-
taliation's ability, if you were involved in a tie when you revealed your
bid, you must take part in the gem trading.
Tie between 2 Lords:
* They trade gems with each other.
Tie between 3 Lords:
* Only the lowest value gem and the highest value gem are traded.
* The medium-value gem is not traded.
Tie between 4 Lords:
* The lowest-value gem and the highest-value gem are traded.
* The other two gems are traded with each other.
Tie between 5 Lords:
* The trade happens as with 4 Lords.
* The middle-value gem is not traded.
Serge (gem 3) and Anne (gem 1) both played their Coin of value 3;
Valériane (gem 5), Alex (gem 4) and Jean-Marie (gem 2), played their Coin of
value 0.
Serge plays first, then Anne, Valériane, Alex and finally, Jean-Marie.
At the end of the resolution of the tavern:
- Serge and Anne trade their gem.
- Valériane, Alex and Jean-Marie trade their gems with 3 Lords.
So, Alex keeps his gem 4.
3. Trading Gems
When each Lord has played their turn, perform any gem trading between Lords whose coin values were tied at the Bid Revelation, then
go to the next tavern resolution.
Go back to 1. Bid Revelation.
NEXT TURN
When all the taverns have been resolved, take your Coins back in hand and proceed to the next turn.
The gem trade is done at the end of the resolution of each
tavern to guarantee the order of play of the Lords.
Serge
Anne Valériane Jean-Marie
Alex

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· 11 ·
The Coin of value 0 may never be upgraded by an ability of The Retaliation Order.
When you play a Coin of value 0:
· Reveal the Coins on your pouch,
· Add up the value of these 2 Coins,
· Discard the highest value Coin,
· Take the Coin matching the sum in the Royal Treasury and place it on your pouch,
· Put the Coins back on your pouch, face down.
Important: When you play a Coin of value 0, take a Dwarf card from the tavern being resolved before you proceed to the Coin trading.
During a trade or a transformation, a Coin must be discarded.
TRADING COINS
SPECIAL CASE
DISCARDING COINS
۰ If it is a bronze Coin (red), this Coin is put back into the game box and will not be used for the rest of the game.
If the Coin of the desired value is not available in the Royal Treasury, take the next available Coin of a higher value.
In the rare case where there are no more Coins of a higher value available, take the first available Coin of a lower value from the Royal Treasury.
Important: You cannot take a Coin of the same value you have just discarded during a trade or a transformation with the Royal Treasury.
۰ If it is a golden Coin from the Royal Treasury (yellow), this Coin is returned to its location, matching the value, in the Royal Treasury.
You must upgrade your Coin with +1.
However, the Royal Treasure does not have any 4, and the Coins of values 5 and 6 have all been taken. Therefore, your 3 turns into a 7.

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· 12 ·
At the end of the turn when the Era 1 deck has been exhausted, an Evaluation of the Orders is performed.
The Lord who has the most ranks in each Order is awarded an Elite Fighter.
In the event of a tie for an Order, the matching Elite Fighter is not awarded to any Lord.
The gems do not settle ties during the Order Evaluation.
The Elite Fighter cards and the Liquor Certification are awarded in the order on the card holder,
then place them in your command area.
END OF ERA 1: ORDER EVALUATION
ATTENTION!
Majorities are the number of ranks in each Order
in your armies, not the sum of Points or the number of cards.
1 rank
2 ranks
3 ranks
The player who has the most ranks of
the Order of the Temple recruits Aral:
Adds 1 Occult icon.
The player that has the most ranks of
the Order of the Shield recruits Tiss:
At the end of the game, score 2 points
for each rank present in your Order of the
Shield column.
The player who has the most ranks of
the Order of the Forge recruits Redwin:
Adds 1 unique rune.
The player who has the most ranks of the
Order of Retaliation recruits Ordo:
> Immediately take your two lowest value
Coins (except for the 0 value Coin) and
take the Coin matching the sum from the Royal
Treasury. Unlike a standard trade, discard the
lowest value Coin during this trade.
The player who has the most ranks of
the Order of the Wanderers recruits Brum:
At the end of the game, scores 13 points.
> At the end of the game, before final scoring,
Brum allows you to remove a token
from one
of your cards in the Wanderers column.
LIQUOR CERTIFICATION
The player who has the most Malt icons in their
fortress-state, counting the army and command area,
is awarded the Liquor Certification and places it
in their Command area.
At the end of the game, this player scores 1 additional
point for each Malt icon in their army and Command area.

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· 13 ·
Score your game easily with the Nidavellir app:
App Store Play Store
END OF ERA 2 AND END OF THE GAME
At the end of the turn when there is 0 or 1 card left in the Era 2 deck, proceed to score your final Bravery Value by adding up:
- the Bravery value for every Order in your army (see Bravery value and in-game effects p.7),
- the Bravery Value of your Elite Fighter cards and White-rank Fighter in your Command area,
- the number of Malt icons: score 1 point for each Malt icon in your fortress-state. Each Malt scores 1 additional point if you have the Liquor Certification and again, 1 additional point if you have Gurdan AND Borogam in your Command Area,
- the total value of your Coins.
Bravery Value: 40 points
Bravery Value: 2 x 5 + 15 = 25 points
Bravery Value: 2 x 10 = 20 points
Bravery Value: 70 points
Bravery Value: 6 x 2 + 23 = 35 points
Bravery Value: 30 points
Bravery Value: 4 x 3 + 32 = 21
Bravery Value: 52
Serge has a final Bravery Value of 293 points.
The Lord who has the highest final Bravery Value wins the game and reigns over the greatest fortress-state of the region
In the event of a tie, the tied Lord with the most Elite Fighters wins.
If the tie remains, the victory is shared.
Serge
40
35
30
21
52
25
20
70
293

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· 14 ·
COLOURED
ranked FIGHTERS
The Order of the Temple
The Order of the Shield
The Order of Retaliation

ARARUN
Has 2 ranks.
Adds 2 points and 1 Occult icon.

FEY
Has 1 rank.
Adds 5 points.

VOLGRIR
Has 2 ranks.

ABOKAR
Has 1 rank.
> At the end of the game, score 1 point for each
rank present in your Order of the Shield column.

DERDHR
Has 1 rank.
Adds 13 points.
> When you place her in your Order of
Retaliation column, upgrade one of your Coins by
+5. Choose a face-up or face-down Coin
on your individual board or your pouch (except
the 0). Discard it and replace it with the
Coin you got from the Royal Treasury.

SRIZA
Has 1 rank.
Adds 2 Occult icons.

SVARA
Has 1 rank.
> After you have placed her in the Shield column,
look at the 5 first cards of the Era 2 deck, choose
one Dwarf card and place it in your army.
Then shuffle the 4 other remaining cards back
into the Era 2 deck.
Special case: if it is the last turn of Era 2,
take the last face-down Dwarf card from the
Era 2 deck.
Clarification: if you choose to recruit
a Dwarf card from the Order
of Retaliation with Svara's
ability, upgrade the
Coin used for the
tavern being resolved.

KARDUM
Has 2 ranks.
Adds 5 points.
> When you place him in your
Order of Retaliation column, take
the 3 Coin – Trade and replace your
0 Coin, which is immediately discarded.

These Fighters are
placed in your army.

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· 15 ·
WHITE ranked FIGHTERS
The Order of the Forge The Order of the Wanderers
OBORON
Adds 15 points.
> Place him in your Command area then take his Ally card Ga’at and place it in your army, in the column of your choice.
GURDAN
Adds 22 points and 1 Malt icon.
BOROGAM
Adds 14 points and 3 Malt icons.
JORUN
Has 1 unique rune.
Adds 3 points for each different rune you have in your army and Command area at the end of the game.
ULROG
Has 1 rank.
Adds 2 unique runes.
TORUN
Has 1 rank.
Adds 12 points and 1 unique rune.
OÖSRAM
Has 1 rank.
Adds 15 points.
> He allows you to remove 2 tokens from your Wanderer cards at the end of the game, before the final scoring.
GA'AT
Has 1 multi-coloured rank.
Adds X points depending on the column in which it has been placed: 1 additional rank for the Order of the Shield column, 2 points for the Temple, 9 points for the Wanderers, 4 points for the Forge and 6 points for Retaliation.
TALA
Has 2 ranks.
Adds 6 points and 1 unique rune.
DRÖH
Has 2 ranks.
Adds 10 points.
> He allows you to remove 1 token from your Wanderer cards at the end of the game, before the final scoring.
Pairing
GURDAN and BOROGAM
If you manage to pair these 2 Fighters in your Command area:
at the end of the game, you score 1 additional point for each Malt icon in your army and Command area.
These Fighters are placed in your Command Area.

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· 16 ·
Designer Serge Laget
Development and adaptation Florian Grenier
Graphic design and layout Valériane Holley
English Translation Camille Bonnard
Proof reading Matthew Legault
App development Nicolas Normandon
Fonts God of War / Mongolian Baiti / Caslon / Changa
CREDITS
GG003-X1-EN01
TADGAR
Has 1 rank.
Adds 24 points.
LYGDR
Has 1 rank.
Adds 23 points.
WAL
Has 1 rank.
Adds 22 points.
BLACK
ranked FIGHTERS
AKAB
Has 1 rank.
Adds 21 points.
DAWN
Has 1 rank.
Adds 20 points.
Discover all the comics series part of the vast universe of the World of Aquilon.
www.monde-aquilon.com
These Fighters are Mercenaries and are placed
in your army in the column of your choice.
Tribute to Serge Laget
Game designer of many classics (Mare Nostrum,
Knights of the Round Table, etc.) and a fan
of the Dwarves series whose reading accompanied
him throughout the creation of Nidavellir.
A dream he had was to see his game adapted
to this universe he liked so much.
He gave us the tools to do it just before he left us
in January 2023. We miss him so much.
His very contagious laugh still rings within
our hearts and we will continue to honour
his memory by publishing his creations
as much as we can.
Dwarves, from the collective of authors
Dwarves universe was created by J.L. Istin, N. Jarry
and P-D. Goux
This game takes place in the wider Universe of the
World of Aquilon created by J.L. Istin and N. Jarry
© Éditions Soleil, 2015-2023
> You may recruit 1 Mercenary card only if it allows you to complete
a new row when you place this card in any column of your army.
This will allow you to immediately recruit 1 other Mercenary card.
In other words, the Mercenaries must be recruited at least two by two.
If you manage to recruit 3 or 4 at a time, that's a fantastic turn!
Clarification: if there is only one Mercenary card left, you cannot recruit it.
Serge places a Forge card that completes a row of ranks. He then recruits
Tadgar, because when he places him in the Forge column, this creates a new
row of ranks. This allows him to recruit Lygdr, whom he places in the column
of the Order of the Temple.

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