GUIDE
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COMPONENTS/SETUP
How are the components meant to be stored in the insert?
The following images show you show components should be stored.
I C E Standard base game:
Does the Insert hold sleeved cards?
The insert indeed has room for sleeved cards!
Speaking of sleeves, how many cards are in the game, and what size are they?
The base game has Standard European Poker size (63mm x 88mm, 2.5″ x 3.5”) cards, while the expansions have a mix of standard and Tarot sized cards. The exact amounts are:
I C E Standard base game:
Standard sized: 103 cards
I C E Edifices & Guilds expansion:
Standard sized: 9 cards | Tarot sized: 13 cards.
I C E Relics expansion:
Standard sized: 12 cards | Tarot sized: 22 cards
I C E Collector Box:
Standard sized: 124 cards | Tarot sized: 35 cards
In the Collector edition, what is the smaller black cloth bag used for?
That is used to hold all of the Archaeologist meeples between games!
The 4 pieces of the I C E board don’t seem to match up properly. What am I doing wrong?
Nothing — the pieces are not all identical or symmetrical, and all 4 are unique and only go a certain way. Keep switching the pieces around until you make a perfect hexagon. The more you do it, the more you learn how it goes and it becomes easier each time.
In the Collector edition, what are the small white guitar pick-shaped things (with part of the This Way logo) for?
These are “ice picks” that allow you to lift up tiles even easier. It’s not necessary to use for playing I C E, but some players may find them more useful in lifting tiles when excavating.
ACTIONS
BUILD A CAMP
Is it possible to place a Camp on a tile that already has one?
No it is not possible.
Can a Camp be built on Nunatak tile/ Tunnel tiles / or a tile with Explorers? And can Camps be built on tiles below the surface Snow layer?
The only prerequisite for building a Camp is that the tile you are placing it on is NOT partially covered by another tile (though some game effects may allow this).
So you can build Camps on Nunataks, Tunnels and tiles with Explorers. Even Artifact tiles, whatever the depth, as long as they are not partially covered by another tile.
As explained in previous question, you just can’t build a Camp on a tile that already has a Camp!
EXCAVATE
When Excavating and revealing 3 tiles underneath, and some of those tiles were already partially revealed and have Explorers on them, do we need to account for them when placing our own Explorers using the Placement rule?
Yes, absolutely! For example, if you excavate a tile with your Leader and 3 Archaeologists (so 4 Explorers in total – see Example A below), and one of the revealed tiles (after excavating) already has two Explorers on it, you won’t be able to place any of YOUR Explorers on that tile, as you need to distribute as evenly as possible. (So the other two tiles would then have 2 each of your Explorers – see Example B).
What is the exact timing of excavations, and can I use the Artifacts I excavate to trigger their abilities if they now give me enough Anima? I’m specifically wondering about Philosophical and Harmony Artifacts.
Short answer: Philosophical – No. Harmony – Yes. For a longer explanation, we need to break down the timing of excavating:
— If there’s a single tile overlapping the one you’re legally excavating, that tile (and any elements that might be on it) gets discarded *first*.
(Because this happens first, you need to already have enough Philosophical Anima to trigger that Artifact in order to collect a tile being discarded. If you don’t have enough Anima at this moment, you can’t collect a discarded tile).
— Any Explorers on the excavated tile are temporarily displaced, and the tile being excavated is now removed (going to your hand if a Snow tile, or your Guild board if an Artifact – this is the moment you technically own the tile and can use it)
— The displaced Explorers are then placed back on the tiles underneath using the Placement Rule, and any Guild/Artifact abilities can be triggered, such as Harmony. If the tile excavated was a Harmony tile that now gives you 2 Harmony Anima, you can now use it to trigger its once a Day ability!
If I excavate a tile that is partially covered by another tile, and the overlapping tile above has Explorers on it, do those count towards the excavation cost reduction for the tile I’m trying to excavate?
No. Only the Explorers on the tile your Leader is on count towards any reductions in Excavation costs. Any components on a tile overlapping the tile you are excavating will be returned to the reserves (the exception is any other Expedition Leaders, which are returned to the Guild Boards of the respective players).
Does a Nunatak tile with a Camp on it cost me +2 EP to Excavate? Or if that same Nunatak/Camp tile is the only tile overlapping an Artifact tile underneath, would excavating that Artifact cost +3 EP?
No, the excavating base cost can never be more than +1 EP, even with multiple modifiers.
When using the Placement Rule, is there also a placement order for the Explorers that needs to be followed (like placing Leaders before the Archeologists)?
You can place Explorers (Leaders or Archaeologists) in any order you want, as long as they are evenly distributed among the revealed tiles as possible. Only with the Icewalker, there’s an order to follow when using a Grappling Hook token: you place the Archaeologists first (using the Placement Rule), and then use the Icewalker’s ability to place the Leader on any revealed tile afterwards (without placement restriction).
What happens to a Camp if there is no valid place to put it after excavating a tile that had it?
If after excavating a tile with a Camp, you cannot place it on a valid tile (which includes a tile already with a Camp, or the edges of the board), put it back in the reserve.
Collapse Rule: If after an Excavation, there’s a tile remaining somewhere that’s only connected to one other tile, it collapses and is returned to the bag. But what happens if by doing that, another tile suddenly has only one edge touching another tile — does it collapse too?
Yes, several tiles can be removed this way in a “chain collapse” — so it’s important to keep that in mind when excavating, as it could be beneficial to your strategy.
MOVE
How does moving along the edges of the board work?
Each layer of tiles in I C E is smaller in size than the previous layer, which means when you excavate along the edge, you won’t reveal 3 “loose” tiles as normal, as some of what is revealed will be the edges of the board instead. These edge of board spaces can be moved upon as normal, and MUST be used when distributing Explorers following the Placement Rule after an Excavation.
How does moving along the Azulia (bottom) layer work?
The Azulia layer is a completely different space than the rest of the board. Instead of moving along tiles or the board edges, you are moving through spaces that are defined by the white lines. When enough Artifact tiles above are removed to reveal the entirety of each space, you’ll notice that the majority of these spaces are the size of two hexagon tiles put together, with each hexagon space containing a 1 RP icon in the middle of it. The middle space is the size of just one hexagon (with no RP icon), and then the borders of Azulia will have unique shapes of different sizes.
IMPORTANT: During a player’s move, if they uncover the entirety of a 1 RP icon on the Azulia layer after an excavation, then that player takes a 1 RP token from the supply. If any part of the icon is still covered even slightly, then the bonus is not granted yet. During the full icon reveal, a player does not need to allocate their Expedition Leader to place them on the icon to receive the 1 RP. Simply the action of uncovering the full icon grants this bonus. This means when any player later moves on to the 1 RP icon, they do not take any bonus.
“Rifts” on Snow Tiles cannot be crossed with a regular move action. But what about when using the Build a Camp or Call actions, or certain Snow tiles?
For the Build a Camp and Call actions, think of them as “teleporting” the meeples in question to the tile you’re placing them on. Rifts do not affect these actions. Any Snow tiles that involve extra movement DO need to take Rifts into account, with the exception of ICE Manta Ray, which should also be considered as “teleporting.”
An Expedition Leader can bring up to three Archeologists with them, but is 4 the limit for how many Explorers can be on a tile?
There’s NO limit of how many Explorers can be on a single tile! You can bring your own maximum number of Explorers to a tile that already has many of them on there, AND use stuff like the Exalted Artifact, “White Spiders” Snow tile, or other tiles/effects to bring even more… (granted some tile spaces, especially partially covered ones, can be way too small to fit so many Explorers — so in those cases sometimes it’s better to place them all outside the board first (you can always use a discarded Snow tile as a temporary proxy to place the Explorers on), then Excavate the tile the Explorers would have been on (since you’ll most-likely have enough for a free excavation) and then start bringing them back to the board by evenly distributing them among the revealed tiles (which could possibly trigger even more free excavations).
I have too many Explorers with me and they don’t all fit on the space I’m trying to go to!
If you end your turn with too many Explorers on a too-small space where you can’t make any excavations (such as the edges of the board), then feel free to use the two unused player markers of any unused character. Place the Explorers outside the board with one of the markers, and use the other marker on the board space as a proxy for the group of Explorers.
RECRUIT
What happens if there are no more Archaeologists in the reserve?
There is a finite supply of Archaeologists. You cannot Recruit an Archaeologist if the Archaeologist reserve is empty.
FREE ACTIONS
There are many types of free actions mentioned, but does that mean you can do each one only once?
You can potentially do multiple different free actions in a single turn, and it completely depends on the action and whether it specifies any limits:
SNOW TILES: You can play as many of these as you have in a single turn, including the same one if you have multiples. (A maximum of three can be played in a turn, since that is the Snow tile hand limit)
ARTIFACTS: All are free (except Exalted, which uses 1 of your EP of your turn), and they can only be activated once per Day. (However, if you’re playing Incandescents and using their activation token, it allows a 2nd trigger of an Artifact per Day).
GUILD ABILITIES: They are indicated on the boards and are either once per turn, or once per Day, or in the case of the Enlightened trigger after excavating but before revealing the tile.
SNOW TILES
With a limit of only 3 Snow Tiles in hand, what happens when a player excavates a 4th Snow tile? Can they look at it or exchange it with one in their hand?
No. If you excavate a Snow tile when you already have 3 in hand, you must discard the new one without looking at it. However, you can always use a Snow tile at any time during your turn (right before excavating), which allows you to use up its ability so free up space in your hand limit.
For Anima Gemstone, does the Artifact (that your Leader stands on) need to be completely uncovered, or can it still be covered with 1 or 2 other tiles?
It does NOT need to be completely uncovered! As long as you can see the type of Artifact it is, even partially, you can acticate that Artifact’s ability with Anima Gemstone.
For the Talisman Snow tiles, do I still need other Archaeologists present with my Expedition Leader in order to excavate with the Talisman?
No. You can excavate ANY Artifact of the corresponding color, no matter how deep or expensive, with just your Expedition Leader alone, as long as that Artifact is legally able to be excavated in a normal manner (meaning it can not have more than one overlapping tile above it).
ARTIFACTS
If I excavate an Artifact that then gives me enough Anima to trigger it, can I use it that turn?
It depends on the Artifact: see the “Actions: Excavate” item above for a full breakdown of excavation timing.
The Exalted Artifact effect says to pay 1 EP to pull adjacent archeologists to your tile. Can you use that if you have already spent 2 EP that turn?
No. The 1 EP to use the Exalted Artifact must be from one of the mandatory 1-2 EP that you need to use on your turn.
Philosophical Artifact: Are you allowed to peak at the tile that is going to be discarded before recovering it with this Artifact’s ability?l
No. You can’t ever peak at any tiles that are being discarded, unless you’re committing to recovering it using the Philosophical Artifact.
Honestly it’s uncommon that you would have more than one chance to use the Philosophical Artifact in a single Day, so you might as well take a tile when you can!
Can I use the Philosophical Artifact power to collect a tile discarded by the Obliteration Artifact?
Yes! That’s one of the powerful Artifact “combos” you can make.
Can I use the Philosophical Artifact power to collect a tile discarded during another player’s turn?
No! All abilities, Snow tiles and Actions must be done on your own turn only.
After I validate a Request card by using Artifacts and sending them to the Ship’s Hold, can I still use those Artifacts and trigger their abilities?
No. Once an Artifact is sent to your Ship’s Hold, it can no longer be used for its abilities.
When placing Artifact tiles into your Ship’s hold, can players look at them again throughout the game to check their symbols for end game scoring?
Sure! Just remember: Once an Artifact is used to validate a Request and is put in the Ship’s Hold, it can’t be used to validate other Requests. But ALL Artifacts will be counted towards scoring Decrees.
GUILD BOARDS
For Incandescents, does the Artifact (that your Leader stands on to place your Activation token) need to be completely uncovered, or can it still be covered with 1 or 2 other tiles?
It does NOT need to be completely uncovered! As long as you can see the type of Artifact it is, even partially, in can be activated with the Incandescent token.
Since the Navigator’s Camp must always be on a Snow tile, what happens if there are no more Snow tiles?
In hundreds of plays, we’ve personally never seen this happen. It is theoretically possible, however! In this rare case, if the Snow tile that the Navigator’s Camp is on is excavated and there are no other Snow tiles for it to move to, then it goes back to that player’s reserve and cannot be built again.
Since the Guilds have asymmetrical abilities, is there a level of “difficulty” for them that you can share, or strategy tips, so I can use that for new players depending on their overall skill levels in playing boardgames?
Yes – we will rank the Guilds in order from what we believe is easiest (first) to most difficult to play (last):
— Alchemists (Edifices & Guild expansion): Once per Day, the Alchemist can grap up to two random tiles from the discard bag and choose one to keep. The only thing to remember is to actually do it every Day, and to pay attention when there’s enough (at least 2) to choose from, though you could always use the ability when there’s just 1 in the bag (especially if you know which tile it is and really wnat it). Also remember that once Artifacts start to be discarded, they can potentially be amongst the tiles you grab!
— Icewalkers: Their ability is quite powerful and easy to understand (after excavating, place Archaeologists first by using the Placement Rule, then flip one of your Grappling Hook tokens to its non-colored side in order to place your Leader on any of the revealed tiles with no restriction). Note: While you start the game with two available Grappling Hooks, only 1 can be refreshed each new Day. This means you can use the Grappling Hook ability a maximum of five times throughout a game (only 0ne of the Days could potentially have Grappling Hooks used twice). Also, this ability works best when your Leader is with 1-2 Archaeologists, or 4 or more. With exactly 3, the placement (even when using a Grappling Hook) won’t be any different than a normal excavation with other Guilds.
— Enlightened (Edifices & Guild expansion): The rule for them is actually quite easy (predict which type of Snow tile or shape of Artifact before you’re about to excavate, and receive 1EP or 2RP respectively if correct, with a 1-in-3 chance for each). This is the only Guild with more “luck” as a factor, and can definitely be played by newcomers if they enjoy more random gameplay (it’s also just fun to play for players who don’t take their games too seriously) — though we also recommend it for players who have played the game a few times at least. If you familiarize yourself with the tiles well enough, and pay enough attention to what’s been excavated/played already, you can start to better increase your odds with the guesses. That’s why they fall in the middle of our rank — even 1st-time gamers can play them with no problem, but expert players will have the best advantage.
— Incandescents: The ability is easy enough to understand (when your Leader is on an Artifact tile, even when covered by 1-2 tiles, use the Activation token to use that Artifact‘s ability regardless of whether you have excavated that Artifact type yet). But this ability can’t be used until players have started excavating, and you need to keep track of the Artifacts that are nearby you and plan and strategize moves ahead accordingly.
— Nourishers: The easy part: Nourishers begin each Day with 2 Archaeologists on their Guild board. Once per turn, they can bring one of these to any Snow tile as a free action. The hard part: This is limited to Snow tiles ONLY, not Artifact tiles. Nourishers are very powerful early on in the game, and can gain a huge advantage. But their usefulness wanes a bit as more of the Snow tile layers gets removed during the game. That’s why the Nourisher player really needs to take advantage of this as early as possible. Even during the final Days, the Nourisher should ALWAYS play their extra Archaeologists to a Snow Tile, even if it doesn’t necessarily immediately benefit them. As long as they are close by to your Leader, they could come in handy on a later turn.
— Navigators: Apart from the normal movement rules (where up to 3 Archaeologists can follow a Leader during a regular Move action), the Navigators can also have 1 Archaeologist follow them on ANY other move action (including the Build a Camp and Sail actions, and the Ice Manta Ray Snow tile). Pay attention to tiles like “Abseiling Rope” which is even more powerful for the Navigator. Also be aware of moments where you can Build a Camp or Sail yourself to a Camp where other Archaeologists may already be, as bringing along an extra Archaeologist can make a huge difference. It’s especially useful with the Navigators once-a-Day ability of moving to their Camp for free. The Navigator’s camp works differently than all the other Guild, and can only ever be on the top (Snow tile) layer, and never on any Artifact layers. If the tile where the Navigator’s camp is located becomes excavated or discarded, the Navigator must move their camp onto an adjacent Snow tile, if possible. If there is no Snow tile immediately adjacent, they can then move their camp onto ANY Snow tile. With enough planning ahead, you will soon see how useful this Guild can be.
— CryoArchitects: This guild can be quite powerful when used properly, but most beginning players have trouble using them effectively as they forget to use their ability or don’t quite understand it. CryoArchitect players must build their strategy around using their Camp as often as possible to help with Excavations.
After excavating a tile with a Camp, it’s important to strategize where you place your Camp afterwards. (It can be placed on any revealed tile, as long as it’s not an edge, and does not need to follow Placement Rule).
SCORING
Can I validate a Request card with 3 Animas with my two 2-Anima Artifacts?
You can validate Request cards with more Anima than you actually need. The extra anima is wasted, however, and cannot be used for any other purpose.
Why is there no “tie-breaker” if more than one player receives the same highest score?
The designers aren’t fans of this, and believe that if more than one player gets the high score, that the victory should be shared!
However we’re aware that there are some more competitive players who prefer tiebreakers. We will leave that up to our community (and their own creativity) if they want to come up with some and use them.
How do I use the scorepad?
In the top column, write each players name in the spaces with the faded Expedition Leader icon. The first three rows after that (with the yellowish background) are for each of the three Decrees used in the game. Each player uses ALL of the Artifacts and Study Tokens they have to see if they meet the conditions for scoring Decrees. The next 7 rows are for writing down the score of any Request cards that have been validated. The row after that is for any second Requests validated on Days 2 and 3, which grant an additional 2 RP for each. Finally, the row with the light blue background is to write down any RP (in the form of tokens) scored during the game. If you have an unused Planning Token, it also counts as an additional 1 RP that is tallied in this space. Add up each column and determine the final winner of the game!
MISCELLANEOUS
What is the difference between “fully revealed ” and “fully uncovered” tiles?
They both mean the same thing: A tile that has no other tile overlapping it.
It can, however, have other components on it: Explorers, Camps, tokens from expansions, etc.
What is the maximum number of EP I can start with in a Day?
The reserve of EP can be increased during the Day, but cannot exceed 6 EP. If you start the Day using a Planning token, you will begin with 6 EP. If you can also trigger a Achievement (blue) Artifact at the bginning of the Day when your EP is at the maximum, you must wait until at least 1 EP is used before triggering the Blue Artifact to bring it up again.
I need to take a RP token but there are no more available, what should I do?
RP tokens are the only inexhaustible elements of the game. If the supply of RP tokens is empty, use a substitute. Please note when scoring Decrees and Requests at the end of the game, do NOT take RP tokens for the Requests. Simply write the Request scores directly on the scorepad.