At the start of your first turn, you should have 1 Oviary, 1 Well, 1 Mendelon, 1 Temple of Ctenos, and 6 Gulbars in your base. These should all be face-up and oriented such that you can read the text on the cards. This indicates that the cards are "ready", a term that will be used throughout the tutorial.

Many actions in the game will require you to "engage" a card, which is indicated by the Engage symbol. To engage a card once, turn it 90° clockwise. To engage a card twice, turn it 180° clockwise. To engage a card three times, turn it 270° clockwise. Cards will never be engaged more than three times in a single turn.

During the first round of play, skip the prep phase and go directly to the build phase. The following list gives all of the actions you can take during your first build phase, with mechanical instructions in indigo and strategic notes in teal.

Phases (Turn 1)
  • Prep phase
Build phase
  • Move phase
  • Combat phase
  • Cleanup phase
Gather ambria

Engage any Gulbar that is ready, then place an ambria counter in your base. There is no limit to how many times this can be done per turn, nor how many resource counters you have in your base. Resources that are gathered this turn can also be spent this turn.

Ambria is used to pay for new structures and upgrades.

Gather water

Engage any Gulbar that is ready, place it underneath your Well, then place a water counter in your base. Each Well can hold a maximum of 3 Gulbars at a time.

Water is used to pay for units, traits, and upgrades.

Build a unit

There are three units you can currently build: the Gulbar, the Agama, and the Urodel. Locate the cost and build time of the unit you want. Pay the cost, place it face-down, engage it according to the build time, then put it underneath the Oviary. Note that the Oviary can start producing 2 new units during each turn.

Agamas and Urodels are both good combat units, but building more Gulbars will allow you to perform more actions each turn.

Build a structure

There are several structures for which you already have all of the tech requirements: the Oubleron, the Corveron, the Ascension Chamber, the Beckoning Shrine, the Cerber, or another Well. Locate the cost and build time of the structure you want to build. Pay the cost, place the structure face-down underneath any ready Gulbar, then engage both cards according to the build time.

Although it is not the most exciting card, having a second Well early on will help you save up the resources you need to build a strong army later on.

Research an upgrade

You currently have two structures which can research upgrades: the Mendelon and the Temple of Ctenos. Find an upgrade that can be built at one of those two structures, then locate its cost and build time. Pay the cost, place it face-down underneath the appropriate structure, then engage both cards according to the upgrade's build time.

Some upgrades are mutually exclusive with each other, meaning they can't both be used during the same game. You can't discard an upgrade after you've finished researching it, so choose carefully!

Because you start the turn with only 6 Gulbars in play, it will not be possible to complete all of these actions in one turn. You must decide which are most important. When you've finished your turn, click on the next player's race below. If everyone has already taken their first turn, click "next" to continue the tutorial.

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