Himizu is a game of strategy and cunning where the spirits of Fire 火 (hi in Japanese) and Water 水 (mizu in Japanese) face off in an unprecedented duel that will determine the fate of a clearing in the forest.
Objective of the game:
Fire 火: Have all 16 burning/charred terrain tiles on the board.
Water 水: Have no flame figures on the board.
If no one has achieved their goal by the end of round 10, Water wins. Therefore, Water can simply play to negate the objective of Fire.
On each turn, the player can move their pieces on the board and use their spirit's abilities.
Movement: Each spirit has 3 movements per turn, that can be distributed among their pieces as they see fit. Some spirit powers add more movements per turn. Each piece has effects when moving; for instance, each time a flame piece leaves a square, you put a burnt terrai tile on that square.
Powers: Each spirit has a unique set of 4 powers, and each power has a cost in spirit stones. Once you spend spirit stones to pay for those costs, your pass them on the opposing player. Your own spirit stones have a value of 2 when performing your powers, and the other player's spirit stones are worth just 1. You can only regain your spirit stones when the other player spends them. Thus, you need to balance the need of performing powers with the need of not giving too much power to the other player.