The Nebula Valley is emerging from a sinister era of monstrous creatures and darkness. A thick fog lingers, covering much of the landscape, concealing treasures and opportunities untold. You are a brave adventurer, and it is your job to return Nebula Valley to its former greatness. Travel forests and meadows, unveil new resources, and build up society so the people of Nebula can live in peace and prosperity once again.

Via Nebula is a strategic board game in which two to four players compete to rebuild Nebula as it recovers from a dark and fearsome age. Venture out into the fog in search of resources so that you may build up the commerce, government, and faith of a disheartened people. Develop what they need before your opponents and you will be rewarded with glory, prestige, and riches. Whoever has most successfully restored the towns and buildings of the region at the end of the game wins!

Contracts and their Requirements

The needs of Nebula are communicated to you through both neutral and private contracts, set forth by the region's citizens. At the beginning of the game, you will be given two private contracts to fulfill individually, while neutral contracts will be displayed openly on the board. Both types of contracts may require any number of the five resources: wood, food, stone, clay, and wheat. Because neutral contracts are available to everyone, it pays to complete them quickly, or the contract you have your eye on may be fulfilled before you get to it.

Building in Nebula

Before you can actually develop and fulfill your contracts, you will need to arrange a space to store resources and ultimately build. Placing building sites on ruins both reserves the space for you and provides a place to transport resources. Each player only has three building sites, so you will need to finish and relocate your original building sites if you intend to construct all five of your buildings.

As soon as you have a building site with the required resources, you may choose to erect a building from either the contracts in your hand or the contracts face-up on the board. You will place your building, take the contract card, and immediately use the powers at the bottom of the card. The powers may grant you extra actions, free resources, points, and more. If you have any unused resources remaining after fulfilling the contract, you must move them onto your guild board to be be scored against you at the end of the game.

The Hero of Nebula

Whoever constructs all five of their buildings first receives the end-of-game card, and all other players are able to take one more turn. Then you and your opponents will score your victory points from exploitation tokens, fulfilled contracts, explorers, and the end-of-game card, subtracting a point for each resource in your storage area. The player with the most victory points wins the game and claims the title Hero of Nebula!

Nebula’s citizens are thrilled to be out of the dark, but they need a hero to save them—they need you. So throw on a raincoat and venture out into the mist. Uncover the bounty of the valley's meadows and revitalize the lives of these people of the clouds. 

Contents

One double-sided game board
Four double-sided guild boards
41 contract cards
One end-of-game card
24 building sites
60 meadow tiles
25 exploitation tokens
20 wooden buildings
12 wooden craftsmen
90 wooden resources
One rulebook