Homeworlds Rules: Quick Reference

Setup

Gather three pyramids in each of three sizes and four colors (red, yellow, green, and blue). All 36 pieces start in a shared bank, outside of play.

Once in play, standing pieces are stars that mark star systems. Pieces lying down are ships. Each ship is placed near the star(s) of the system it occupies. Your ships point away from you.

Winning

You win if your opponent controls no ships in their homeworld at the end of either player's turn. If both players lose homeworld control on the same turn, the game is a draw.

Turn actions

The two players alternate taking turns.

On your first turn, take any three pieces from the bank. Stand (or stack) two of them together as the stars of your homeworld system. Lay the third nearby as your first ship.

On all other turns, do one of the following:

1. Basic action: Empower one of your ships with the technology (color) of a star in that system or the technology of any one of your ships in that system.
2. Sacrifice: Return one of your ships to the bank. Then, one at a time, empower some of your other ships (anywhere) with the technology of the sacrificed ship. The maximum number of empowerings corresponds to the sacrificed ship's size: small=1, medium=2, large=3. The same ship may be empowered multiple times.
3. Pass: Take no action.

Technologies

• Red=Capture. Take control of an enemy ship in the same system that is no larger than your empowered ship.
• Yellow=Move. Move the empowered ship to a system connected to its current system. (Two systems are connected if they do not have any star sizes in common.) Alternatively, move your empowered ship to a new system, using any connected piece from the bank as a star.
• Green=Build. Take the smallest bank piece in the empowered ship's color and place it as a ship of yours in the empowered ship's system.
• Blue=Trade. Exchange the empowered ship with any piece of the same size from the bank.

Special events

Forgetting: If a system other than a homeworld has no ships, its star is immediately returned to the bank.

Catastrophe: If a system contains four or more pieces (stars and ships) of the same color, you may return all pieces of that color in that system to the bank. You may do this for free at any point during your turn in addition to your usual turn actions.

Super nova: If a system's last star is removed in a catastrophe, all remaining ships in that system are immediately returned to the bank.