A Wild Venture
A Wild Venture Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Component List
- 1 Double-sided Adventure board (Spring - Autumn side)
- 6 Starter cards (2 Nest, 2 Lilypad, 2 Warren)
- 24 Academy deck cards
- 15 Villager cards (5 Crow, 5 Frog, 5 Rabbit)
- 6 Gear cards (2 Crow, 2 Frog, 2 Rabbit)
- 3 Building cards (1 Crow, 1 Frog, 1 Rabbit)
- 3 Adventurers (1 Crow, 1 Frog, 1 Rabbit)
- 2 Player aid cards
- 2 Score cards
- 3 Initiate Villager cards (1 Crow, 1 Frog, 1 Rabbit)
- 51 Core deck cards
- 27 Villager cards (9 Crow, 9 Frog, 9 Rabbit)
- 12 Gear cards (4 Crow, 4 Frog, 4 Rabbit)
- 12 Building cards (4 Crow, 4 Frog, 4 Rabbit)
- 24 Tidings deck cards
- 15 Villager cards (5 Crow, 5 Frog, 5 Rabbit)
- 6 Gear cards (2 Crow, 2 Frog, 2 Rabbit)
- 3 Building cards (1 Crow, 1 Frog, 1 Rabbit)
- 12 Adventure Board tokens
- 6 Enchantment tokens (in three matching pairs)
- 3 Nest tokens
- 2 "+5" tokens
- 1 Gold Chest token
- 48 Value 1 Coin/Supply tokens
- 12 Value 5 Coin/Supply tokens
Setup
- Place the Adventure board on the table. Use the Spring side for your first game, and for future games, use either side. The Autumn side includes costs for some routes and offers additional variety.
- Place the Adventure Board tokens on the highlighted spots as follows:
- 2a Place the Gold Chest token on the indicated Iron Chest space.
- 2b Place the two "+5" tokens on the indicated "+3" spaces.
- 2c Place the three Nest tokens on the indicated "Draw 1" spaces.
- 2d Place a pair of matching Enchantment tokens on one of the indicated Enchantment spaces.
- 2e Place a second matching pair on the other indicated Enchantment space.
- Each player takes one of the remaining two Enchantment tokens.
- Choose a Theme deck (the Academy deck is recommended for your first play) and combine it with the Core deck. Shuffle both decks together to form the Main deck and place it between the two players. From this point on, the Main deck will just be referred to as "the deck". Leave space next to it for the Trash pile (a face up pile of cards that will be Trashed during the game).
- Place the Coin/Supply tokens nearby to form a Reserve.
- Each player takes 5 Coins.
Coins and Supplies are represented by the same tokens. When these tokens are in a player's area, they represent Coins. When they are placed on cards, they are Supplies. It is recommended to have them numbered-side up when they are Coins and Supply-side up when they are Supplies.
- Each player takes a set of three Starter cards: one Nest (Crow), one Lilypad (Frog), and one Warren (Rabbit). Place the Starter cards in front of you with their basic ability sides face up. Leave room for two more rows of cards above this row.
This icon indicates the upgraded side of a Starter card.
- Each player draws 5 cards from the deck and adds them to their hand.
- Display the three Initiate Villager cards in a row near the deck.
- Randomly determine a starting player. Beginning with the non-starting player, each player chooses an Initiate Villager card from the display, taking the card and the Adventurer of the matching Species (Crow, Frog, or Rabbit). Place the Initiate Villager card that was not chosen face-up next to the deck in the Trash pile.
- Each player places their Initiate Villager card above their Starter cards, creating their Villager row. They each take 2 Supplies from the Reserve and place them on their Initiate Villager card (as indicated by the card's Supply Value shown in the top right of the card).
- Each player places their Adventurer on the Home space of the Adventure board.
- Each player takes a double-sided Player aid card and a Score card. Place your Score card face down to the left of your Starter cards.
Overview
A Wild Venture is played over a series of alternating turns between two players. On your turn, you perform two Main Actions and any number of available Free Actions. The game ends shortly after the deck is empty. At the end of the game, players score points from tucked Villager cards, tucked Gear cards, and Supplies on Building cards. The player with the most points wins the game.
Turn Sequence
On your turn, you must perform two Main Actions.
There are two possible Main Actions: Play a card and Activate a card.
You may perform two different Main Actions or the same Main Action twice.
In addition to your Main Actions, you may also take any number of Free Actions, before, in between, or after your Main Actions.
Main Action: Play a card
Choose a card in your hand and pay the cost of the card by paying the depicted number of Coins from your player area (returning them to the Reserve). Place the card face up in the appropriate row: Building cards go in the bottom row next to your Starter cards; Villager cards go in the middle row; Gear cards go in the top row.
If you play a Gear or Villager card, place a number of Supplies onto the card (from the Reserve) equal to the card's Supply Value.
Each card shows its Cost and Supply Value. Gear cards go in the top row of your play area, Villager cards go in the middle row, and Building cards go in the bottom row.
Main Action: Activate a card
Choose one of your Starter or Villager cards in play and activate it.
- You cannot use this action to activate a Gear card or Building.
- Even though you may perform this action twice on your turn, you cannot choose the same card twice with this action.
Starter cards are activated for free. To activate a Villager card, however, you must remove 1 Supply from it, returning the token to the Reserve. If a Villager card does not have any Supplies on it, it cannot be activated in this way.
Whenever a card is activated, resolve the effects of the card in the order that they are written. These effects are all explained on page 8. If you activate a card, you must resolve the effects, as much as possible.
- If a card has "Free Action" printed on it, you activate it with a Free Action (see below) instead of a Main Action.
- There are other effects in the game which can activate your cards. When this happens, you resolve the effects of the card as normal, but without removing 1 Supply. This does not count towards your limit of activating the card once per turn through a Main Action and it can even be done if the card has no Supplies on it.
Free Action: Activate a 'Free Action' Villager card
Choose one of your Villager cards in play that lists a "Free Action", remove 1 Supply from the card (returning it to the Reserve), and then activate the card (resolve the effects of it in the order they are written).
- Even though you may perform as many Free Actions as you wish on your turn, you cannot activate the same card more than once per turn by performing this action. It is recommended that you tilt the card slightly to indicate it has been activated in this way, and return it to its normal position at the end of your turn.
- Similar to Main Action card activations, there are other ways in the game that your cards can be activated. Again, this does not remove a Supply, can be done even if the card has no Supplies on it, and does not count towards your limit of activating the card once per turn through a Free Action.
Free Action: Enchant a Building
To perform this action, you must have an available Enchantment token (one in your player area that is not already placed on a Building card).
Place the Enchantment token onto the Building card; that Building is now enchanted.
Enchanting buildings is described in more detail on page 13.
End of Turn
First, if your Adventurer has reached the end of an Adventure path during your turn, return it to the Home space.
Next, one at a time, Tuck each of your Villager and Gear cards that have no Supplies on them by following these steps for each card:
- Choose one of your empty Villager or Gear cards (one with no Supplies on it).
- If the card is a Gear card, resolve its Relic effect.
- Place the card face down underneath your Score card.
The order in which you Tuck your cards might be important. For example, if you Tuck the Generous Pension and add 1 Supply to a Villager card that is currently empty, it will prevent that Villager card from being tucked this turn.
At the end of your turn, you should have no empty Villager or Gear cards in play.
Card Effects
When resolving the effects of a card, follow the instructions as much as possible. If you are unable to fully resolve the effects, do as much as you can and then proceed to the next effect.
Some effects require you to pay a cost in order to resolve it. If you can pay the cost, you must. However, if you cannot pay the cost of resolving an effect, do not resolve that effect.
You may still activate a card, even if you are unable to pay the cost of resolving its effect. This removes 1 Supply from the card you activated as normal.
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Gain X — Take X Coins from the Reserve and add them to your player area.
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Draw X — Add X cards to your hand from the top of the deck (unless another location is specified).
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Tuck — Place the indicated card face down underneath your Score card.
- Players may not look at the cards once tucked.
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Trash X — Add X cards face up to the Trash pile in an order of your choice.
- Players may look through the Trash pile at any time, but may not change the order of the cards.
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Adventure X — Move your Adventurer up to X spaces on the Adventure board. This is explained in more detail in the next section.
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Invest X — Place up to X Coins from your player area onto the Building card. They are now Supplies and will score at the end of the game.
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Consider X — Look at the top X cards of the deck in secret. From these cards, resolve the other effects (Draw, Tuck, Trash, etc.) of the Consider effect in their listed order. Then, if there are any cards remaining, place them back on the top of the deck in an order of your choice.
For example, to resolve "Consider 4: Draw 2, Trash 1", look at the top 4 cards of the deck, put 2 into your hand, Trash 1 of them, and then put the remaining card back on top of the deck.
If you are resolving a Consider effect and there are insufficient cards remaining in the deck, look at as many as you can and resolve the other effects in the order listed as much as possible.
For example, to resolve the previously explained "Consider 4" effect, if there were only 3 cards remaining in the deck, you would Draw 2 and Trash 1.
Adventuring
The Adventure effect allows you to move your Adventurer along the paths of the Adventure board, collecting rewards as you go. Players may share the same space.
When resolving an Adventure X effect, move your Adventurer a number of spaces up to the value of the effect (a minimum of 1 space, if able).
When first moving from the Home space, you can choose which path to follow. However, once you are on a path, each subsequent movement cannot be used to move to a space closer to the Home space than your previous one (i.e., you must move forward). If you are at a junction, you must choose which path to follow the next time you move.
For example, you are resolving an Adventure 3 effect. You choose to leave home heading west towards the Mystery Forest. You could choose to stop after moving just 1 space, but you decide to carry on.
The next space is a junction. Again, you could choose to stop, but you decide to continue, choosing the northern path and moving to the next space.
Having moved 3 spaces, you end your movement. The next time you move, you must choose which of the two paths to take.
The Autumn side of the Adventure board includes paths with costs. These paths require you to Pay a number of Coins or Trash a number of cards from your hand, before moving to the space. If you cannot afford the cost, you cannot use that path.
For example, to move along the north-east path to the Iron chest, you must pay 1 Coin.
You must always move at least 1 space, if able. The only times you cannot move when resolving an Adventure effect are:
- You are already at the end of an Adventure path.
- You are at a junction and cannot pay any of the costs to move to any path.
For example, if you are on this space and have no Coins and no cards in hand when you resolve an Adventure effect, you cannot move.
Claiming a Reward
After moving your Adventurer, claim the reward shown on the space where you ended your movement.
If you do not move, you do not claim the reward from the space you are on.
The various rewards are as follows:
- Gain — Resolve the Gain effect by gaining the depicted number of Coins.
- Draw — Resolve the Draw effect by drawing the depicted number of cards from the deck.
- Warren — Choose to either activate your Warren Starter card, or upgrade it by flipping the card to its upgraded side.
- Lilypad — Choose to either activate your Lilypad Starter card, or upgrade it by flipping the card to its upgraded side.
- Nest — Choose to either activate your Nest Starter card, or upgrade it by flipping the card to its upgraded side.
- Iron Chest — Choose one of the following 3 options:
- Tuck 1 card from your hand.
- Add 1 Supply to one of your Villager cards.
- Consider 3: Draw 1, Trash 2.
- Gold Chest — Choose one of the following 3 options:
- Tuck 2 cards from your hand.
- Activate one of your Villager cards.
- Consider 5: Draw 2, Trash 3.
- Ruby Chest — Choose one of the following 3 options:
- Tuck 3 cards from your hand.
- Search the Trash pile for any 2 cards. Tuck 1 of them and play the other ignoring the cost.
- Consider 5: Tuck 1, Draw 2, Trash 2.
Although the Adventure board uses icons to represent 'Gain' and 'Draw' rewards, these are resolved in the same way as any other 'Gain' or 'Draw' effect for the purposes of triggering the effects of your Gear cards and Buildings (see page 12).
Claiming tokens
If your Adventurer ends its movement on a space with an Enchantment token, take that token and place it in your player area. You may use it to Enchant a Building (see page 13).
Each player can only have 1 of each Enchantment token. If you land on a space with an Enchantment token you already have (either in your player area or on one of your Buildings), leave the other token on the space.
If you land on any other type of token, claim the reward shown on the token and then remove the token from the board and return it to the box; it will no longer be needed during the game.
When your Adventurer ends its movement on a Chest space at the end of an Adventure path (with the reminder icon), return the Adventurer to the Home space at the end of your turn.
Detailed Adventure example
On your turn, you use a Main Action to activate your Frog Wizard card, removing one of its two Supply and resolving the 'Adventure 3' effect moving forwards between 1 and 3 spaces along your current path.
After moving 2 spaces, you reach a junction and if you choose to continue, must choose a path to take.
If you take the left path, you would normally Gain 3 Coins, but with Frog Wizard's Adventure modifier, you would instead Draw 3 cards.
If you take the right path, you would normally Gain 2 Coins, but with Frog Wizard's modifier, you would instead Draw 2 cards.
You choose the left path and Draw 3.
You want to continue Adventuring but cannot activate Frog Wizard again with your other Main Action, so you activate The Mighty Joe instead. His action is also Adventure 3, but unlike Frog Wizard, he has no reward modifier. You remove one Supply from The Mighty Joe and prepare to Adventure forward again.
This time, you decide not to move the full amount and instead move only 2 spaces, ending your movement on a Gold Chest.
Of the possible rewards, you choose the one that allows you to activate one of your Villager cards.
Now you can activate Frog Wizard again (because you are not using a Main Action to activate him a second time in the same turn).
Because you are activating him through an effect rather than a Main Action, you do not remove a Supply from Frog Wizard (1 Supply remains on him).
You think about only moving 2 spaces again as there is an Enchantment token on that space. However, you already have that type of token and cannot take another one. So, you move the full 3 spaces.
The reward is Gain 3, but since you are adventuring with Frog Wizard, this becomes Draw 3 instead.
Gear Cards
Gear cards are played from your hand to the top row of your player area. They cannot be activated. Instead, each Gear card lists a Trigger condition shown across the belt in the middle of the card. Whenever any player meets the condition, remove 1 Supply from the Gear card (if able) and the player who caused the condition to trigger adds it to their player area as a Coin.
For example, you have the Postal Contract in play. Your opponent plays a Crow card. Remove 1 Supply from the Postal Contract and give it to the other player who adds it to their player area as a Coin.
At the end of your turn, if you have any Gear cards in your play area that have no Supplies on them, resolve the Relic effect of each of them (in an order of your choice) and then Tuck those cards.
Gear cards with conditions that trigger when you play a Gear card do not trigger themselves, as they are not in play yet.
If you Tuck a Gear card through some other means (e.g., a card effect instructing you to Tuck a Gear card from hand or a Consider effect), do not perform the Gear card's Relic effect.
Building Cards
Building cards are played from your hand to the bottom row of your player area, next to your Starter cards. They cannot be activated. Instead, when the Building card's owner meets the condition listed at the start of the text, they immediately resolve the effect.
For example, the Telegraph Office triggers whenever you activate your Nest.
The effects of some Building cards do something specific (e.g., Draw 2), or modify whatever you are currently doing.
Building cards with conditions that trigger when you play a Building card do not trigger themselves, as they are not in play yet.
Resolving the effect of a Building interrupts whatever action or effect is currently being resolved. Once done, continue from where you left off.
For example, you are resolving an Adventure effect about moving along a path which has a cost of 'Trash 1 card' and moves you to a space where the reward is 'Gain 5 Coins'.
If you trash a Gear card from your hand to pay the cost and you have the Building 'Zero Waste' in play, the effect of the Building interrupts your Adventure effect. Therefore, you must pay for the Gear card with your existing Coins as you have not yet arrived at the space to claim your reward.
Investing in Buildings
Many Building cards have the word 'Invest' in their text. As mentioned previously, to resolve an Invest X effect, place up to X Coins from your player area onto the Building card. They are now Supplies and will score at the end of the game.
Supply tokens are not removed from a Building when its condition is triggered (unlike Gear cards).
Enchanting Buildings
Enchanting a Building is a Free Action that you can do during your turn if you have an Enchantment token in your player area which is not already on a Building card. To do so, place the Enchantment token on the enchantment slot of a Building Card (on the bottom left corner). Each Building can only be enchanted once, and Enchantment tokens can never be removed once placed.
There are two types of Enchantment effects, indicated by the icon on the Building card:
- Enchantment effect — Immediately resolve the one-time Enchantment effect.
- Enchantment slot — Apply the Enchantment effect as a modifier to the normal effect of the Building.
Multiple Triggers
If multiple Building cards and/or Gear cards are triggered at the same time, the triggering player chooses the order in which to resolve them.
For example, you are resolving an Adventure effect and moving along a path which has a cost of 'Trash 1 card'. You trash the Chainwhip from your hand, which triggers your enchanted Zero Waste card, and your opponent's Recycle Bin card.
You can choose to resolve them in any order. First, you take a Coin from your opponent's Recycle Bin, giving you a total of 4 Coins. You then use those Coins to play the Chainwhip using your Zero Waste card's ability.
Doing this triggers your Postal Contract card, so you take a Coin from it. You then Invest that Coin into your Zero Waste, which was triggered at the same time as the Postal Contract.
End of Game
When the deck is empty, finish the current turn and then each player takes one final turn. After this, if the player taking the last turn removes the last Supply from their opponent's Gear card, their opponent gets to Tuck that card but does not resolve the Relic effect.
Players place any cards remaining in their hand onto the Trash pile. Note that this does not trigger any effects from Trashing cards; the game is over at this point.
Then, determine each players score as follows:
Villager Scoring
Sort your tucked Villager cards into three groups, one for each Species (Crow, Frog, Rabbit). Multiply the number of cards in your smallest group by the number of cards in your largest group.
If you have no cards of one of the groups, your Villager scoring is 0 (your smallest group is 0).
Building Scoring
Each Building scores 1 point for each Supply on it.
Building cards score no points if they have been tucked, or if they have no Supplies on them.
Gear Scoring
Multiply the number of your tucked Gear cards by the number of your Building cards with Enchantment tokens on them.
The player with the highest Final Score wins! In case of a tie, the designer's preference is that the players share the victory. If you insist on a tiebreaker, the player with the most leftover Coins is the winner. If there is still a tie, the player with the higher Villager score is the winner. If there is still a tie, the players share the victory.
Scoring example
At the end of the game, you have 14 tucked Villager cards: 5 Rabbits, 3 Frogs, and 6 Crows. Your Villager Score is 18 (3 x 6).
You have 2 Buildings, with a total of 8 Supplies across those Buildings. Your Building Score is 8.
You have 7 tucked Gear cards, and 2 Enchanted Buildings. You have a third Enchantment token, but it is not on a Building and so does not increase your Gear scoring. Your Gear Score is 14 (7 x 2).
Adding these together gives you a Final Score of 40 (18 + 8 + 14).
Things to Remember
- There is no hand limit.
- There is no limit to the number of cards of any type that a player may have in play.
- Players may look through the Trash pile at any time, but they may not change the order of the cards in it.
- The back of each Initiate Villager is unique. Once tucked, it can be used as a reminder of which Adventurer figure is yours.
- The Coin/Supply tokens included with the game are not intended to be limited. If the Reserve runs out, use any suitable replacements.
- If a player forgets to trigger a Gear or Building card, use a Gear card's Relic effect, or use a Building card's Enchantment effect on their turn, be nice and let them do it as long as no new information has been revealed (e.g., you have played a card or they have drawn a card).
Optional Variants
No Memory
Some players may find the memory element of A Wild Venture undesirable. If both players agree, when tucking cards, players may place their cards face up underneath their Score card. Players may examine their own tucked cards at any time.
An Even Wilder Venture
Combine both Theme decks (Academy and Tidings) with the Core deck, and shuffle all three together to form the deck. During Setup, draw 8 cards (instead of 5), and after choosing your Initiate Villager card, Trash 3 cards from your hand. This variant is only recommended for players who are familiar with every card in the game, and have played a few times.
Credits
- Game Design: Iain Everett
- Art: Pennie Jo Everett
- Development: Hent van Imhoff
- Art Direction: Yoma
- Graphic Design: Dann May, Zinia Redo
- Rulebook Editing: Paul Grogan (Gaming Rules!) and Brian Toohey
- Rulebook Layout: Zinia Redo
- Tray Design: Daniel Cunningham
- Playtesters: Vicente Ridaura Harvey, William Collie, Marco Reece-Heal, Tony Shek, Giorgos Englezos, Javier Rodriguez "Mishi", Kenny Goodman, Pauline Derouinau, Ricardo Gonçalves, Gaz Robinson, Jon-Robert "Medic" Angus, Darren Maley, Dean Lynch, Thomas Sweetland-Michie, Johnny Gall, Tantar, R4bb1t, Menelaos Vidakis, Bill Grofindel Vasileiadis
- Special Thanks: Dave Taylor, Ruaridh Keir Ellery
Game & Effects Summary
On your turn, perform two Main Actions and any number of Free Actions, in any order. You may not use both Main Actions to activate the same card.
- Main Actions
- Play a card (paying the cost).
- Activate a card (Starter or Villager).
- If you activate a Villager card, remove 1 Supply.
- Free Actions
- Activate a 'Free Action' Villager card.
- Enchant a Building.
- During your turn
- Trigger either player's Gear cards (take 1 Supply as a Coin).
- Trigger your Building cards (do not remove Supply).
- End of Turn
- If your Adventurer reached the end of a path, return Home.
- Then, Tuck each of your Villager and Gear cards that have 0 Supplies.
- When you Tuck a Gear card this way, perform its Relic effect.
Effects
- Gain X — Take X Coins from the Reserve.
- Draw X — Add X cards to your hand from the top of the deck (unless specified otherwise).
- Tuck — Place the indicated card face down underneath your Score card.
- Trash X — Add X cards to the Trash pile.
- Adventure X — Move up to X spaces on the Adventure board.
- Invest X — Place up to X Coins onto the Building card.
- Consider X — Look at the top X cards of the deck. Then, resolve the other listed effects with those cards. Place any remaining back on the deck.
Scoring
- Villagers — Multiply the number of cards in your smallest group by the number of cards in your largest group.
- Buildings — 1 point for each Supply.
- Gear — Multiply the number of your tucked Gear cards by the number of your Building cards with Enchantment tokens on them.