THE MELT

Cost (top-left of Frozen side): Crowns needed to buy from Market.

Card Type: Worker, Tool, Storage, Trade Route, Wild, or Event. Many melted passives trigger off specific types.

Frozen Side: Played from your hand. Produces immediate resources and effects.

Melted Side: After melting, placed in your Ice House. Grants an ongoing passive.

Era Badge (some cards): Colored tag showing which historical era the card belongs to. Era cards appear and vanish with Chronicles.

Primary Output: The first-listed resource on a card's Melted passive. For single-resource passives, that resource is primary. For dual-resource passives (e.g., “+1 Crown/turn, +1 Glory/turn”), Crowns are primary. Cards that boost “primary output” add +1 to this resource only. Primary output boosts are type-specific (e.g., Sawdust Insulation boosts melted Storage cards only).

Wild Type Declaration: When you play or melt a Wild card, declare one type (Worker, Tool, Storage, or Trade Route). It counts as that type for all purposes this turn (if played) or while melted (if melted). Once melted, place a marker or orient the card to indicate the chosen type.

Step 6: First Player

The player who most recently touched real ice goes first. Play clockwise.

At 4 players, all players Collect and Draw simultaneously. This saves ~5 minutes per game and keeps everyone engaged. Then play proceeds one at a time for Play+Buy+Melt phases.

You may spend Contracts during any phase of your own turn. You may earn Contracts (by Following) during any other player's turn — drawn cards go to your hand, usable on your next turn.

Draw 5 cards (or 5 + your Draw Bonus). If your Draw Deck is empty, shuffle your Discard Pile to form a new one. Draw Bonus: If you have melted cards granting Draw +N (max +3), draw 5+N, keep 5, place the rest on the bottom of your deck in any order. Any Draw Bonus beyond +3 converts to +1 Crown each during Collect instead. You may spend 3 Contracts for an additional Draw +1 this turn.

Play any or all cards from your hand. Resolve each card's Frozen side effect as you play it. Crowns are temporary (spend or lose). Glory is permanent (add to score). Cards you don't play stay in your hand for the Melt phase.

Discard all played and unplayed cards to your Discard Pile. Unspent Crowns are lost. Contracts remain in your hand. Check if you've reached the Glory target.

The Ice House

Your Ice House starts with 5 slots. When you melt a card, place it (Melted side up) in an empty slot. These cards expand your Ice House: Small Ice House/Double Walls (+2 slots), Grand Ice House (+3 slots), Sawdust Insulation (+3 slots), Branike Ledarny/Industrial Complex (+3 slots), Yakhchal/Ancient Wisdom (unlimited). Slot expansion comes only from Market purchases — plan your Ice House investment carefully.

Returning Melted Cards

The melted Conveyor (from Ice Elevator) lets you return a melted card from your Ice House to your discard pile (Frozen side up), freeing a slot and returning a useful card to your deck.

Tudor's Fleet / Tudor's Empire Mass Melt

When played, Tudor's Fleet melts all Farmhands from your hand and discard immediately. These melts count toward your Melt Limit this turn. If the mass melt exceeds your limit, you cannot melt additional cards during your Melt phase. Tudor's Empire grants Melt Limit 4 for the turn. Each card melted this way still draws 1 Contract.

Contract Cards

The Contract deck contains 30 identical cards, each showing “Ice Contract — Value 1.” They have no Frozen or Melted side — they are purely a spendable currency. Contract cards in your hand are kept separate from your play cards (place them face-up in a row above your hand so opponents can see how many you hold).

Several melted cards grant Draw +N. During your Draw phase, draw 5 + N cards (maximum Draw Bonus: +3), then choose 5 to keep and place the rest on the bottom of your deck in any order. Draw Bonuses stack additively up to the cap.

Draw Bonus Overflow: If your total Draw Bonus exceeds +3, each excess point becomes +1 Crown during your Collect phase instead. Your engine never wastes — excess converts to purchasing power.

Draw +1 sources: Foreman's Eye, Surveyed Field, All-Weather Gear, Master's Touch, Royal Warrant, Ice Administrator/Bureaucracy, Thaw Bonus (3-4P).
Draw +2 sources: Eagle's View, Industrial Complex.

Events cost 0 Crowns. When bought, place directly in your hand (not discard). You may immediately play an Event after buying it — this is an exception to normal phase order. Alternatively, hold it to play on a future turn. After playing, remove the Event from the game (do not return to Market). Events cannot be melted. The copies in the Market are the total supply for the entire game — each Event is a one-shot timing decision.

Chronicle Timing & Ordering

Semi-random ordering: Chronicles are shuffled within each Era, then stacked in historical order (Era I on top, Era V on bottom). Every game progresses from ancient to modern, but which specific Chronicles appear varies.

2–3 Players: Reveal a new Chronicle every round. Each Chronicle lasts 1 round.

4 Players: Reveal a new Chronicle every OTHER round. Each Chronicle lasts 2 full rounds (all 4 players play twice). Era cards are available for 8 purchases instead of 4.

Two Chronicles from the same Era in a row? Era cards stay. Only the Chronicle's effect changes.

Design note: At 4P, not all 12 Chronicles will appear in a single game (you'll see 5–6). This is intentional — it adds replayability. Variant: For a more chaotic 4P experience, reveal a new Chronicle every round (same as 2–3P) but keep each active for 2 rounds. This means 2 Chronicles can be active simultaneously.

Can I melt a card I just bought?

No. Bought cards go to Discard Pile, not hand. You can only melt cards from your hand.

Can I melt a card I didn't play?

Yes. Keep cards in hand specifically to melt them.

Demolishing a slot-expanding card?

You lose the slots. If this puts you over capacity, you choose which additional cards to demolish until legal.

Yakhchal + Sawdust Insulation — do they overlap?

They serve different purposes now. Sawdust Insulation boosts melted Storage cards (+1 extra primary output each). Yakhchal gives +1 Glory/turn per 3 melted cards total. They stack naturally — Sawdust Insulation improves individual Storage passives, while Yakhchal rewards having many melted cards of any type.

Can I have multiples of the same card melted?

Yes. Two melted Horse Teams give +6 Crowns/turn. They stack.

How do Wild cards work with types?

When you play or melt a Wild card, declare one type (Worker, Tool, Storage, or Trade Route). It counts as that type for all purposes — triggering passives, counting for effects like Sherbet Road, everything. Once melted, mark the chosen type. This is a permanent choice for melted Wilds. Choose wisely: “Do I melt this as a Trade Route for Norway–London, or as Storage for Sawdust Insulation?”

When do I spend Contracts?

Only during your own turn, during any phase. Reveal and return Contracts before the relevant action (e.g., return 3 Contracts for Extra Melt during your Melt phase).

Follow + Contracts at 2 players?

No Follow at 2 players. Instead, use Rival’s Shadow: at the end of your opponent’s turn, if they played 3+ cards, draw 1 Contract. Combined with melting income (~2/turn), this brings your Contract income to ~3/turn — enough to make spending options viable.

Conveyor Belt: melt from discard?

Yes. The melted Conveyor lets you take a card from your discard pile, flip it to the Melted side, and place it in your Ice House. This counts toward your Melt Limit. You still draw 1 Contract.

Baltazar Ushca: melt up to 3?

When played, melt up to 3 cards from your hand. Each draws 1 Contract and triggers any “when you melt” effects (e.g., Sawdust Bag gives +1 Crown per card melted). Your hand will be small for the rest of the turn — plan accordingly. Melted Baltazar gives +1 Glory/turn per melted Worker and improves Contract-to-Glory conversion to 3:1. Best in a Worker-heavy build.

Buy an Event and play it same turn?

Yes. Events go to your hand when bought. You may play them immediately after buying — this is an exception to normal phase order. You may also save them for a future turn.

Protect (4 Contracts) vs. Warm Winter / Ice Famine?

Protect prevents negative effects from opponents’ cards AND Chronicle effects. Against Warm Winter: protected players’ passives produce normally next Collect (the skip is negated). Against Ice Famine: protected players keep their Glory but still must choose to demolish a melted card if that’s their choice (that’s not a negative effect, it’s an alternative to Glory loss).