Hedge Mage

About this board game

Hedge Mage is a 2–4 player board game with a 45-minute play time, combining polyomino placement, tactical movement, and magical garden rivalry.

Each player builds a hedge maze piece by piece at the same time. Clever placement can hinder rival mages while also generating movement points each round, making every new shrub part of both your defense and your plan for attack.

These moderately powered wizards have only two abilities: growing shrubs and animating garden gnomes. Use both powers to protect the gnomes in your own maze while sending your mages into a neighboring rival’s garden to awaken and rescue theirs.

• Build a maze from polyomino hedge pieces.
• Use placement to obstruct rival mages and gain movement points.
• Navigate a rival’s maze to awaken gnomes according to enchantment cards.
• Compete to collect the most points through clever movement and gnome rescues.

Movement points let your mages maneuver through a rival’s maze, where each gnome must be awakened according to the requirements of specific enchantment cards. The changing hedge layouts create a puzzly tactical challenge as you balance obstructing opponents with opening useful routes for your own mages.

The game ends when all ten hedge cards have been revealed or when a player has rescued every gnome from their rival’s board. Players then move on to scoring, and the mage with the most points wins. In Hedge Mage, careful gardening and tactical movement are equally important to building the greatest gnome collection.