Ants Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Common Components
• Player Components
• Overview
• Setup
  • Common setup
  • Players setup
  • Anthill Board Areas
• Game Flow and Main Actions
  • Discs and Incubation Tiles
  • Universal Rules
  • Digging Main Action
  • Foraging Main Action
  • Exploring Main Action
• Collecting and Pheromones
  • Emitting Pheromones
  • Exploring Action Resource Collection Example
• Play 2 Cards Main Action
• Play 1 Card and/or Defeat 1 Enemy Main Action
• Cards, Symbols and Resources
• Incubation Main Action
  • Example
• Obtaining Stars
• Nuptial Flight Track
• End of the Game
• Credits
• Appendix: Bonuses on the Game Board and on the Anthill Board
  • Requirements for Cards and Incubation Tiles
• Appendix: Particular Effects on Cards
• Queen Tiles

Common Components

• 1 Puzzle Game Board (one side for 2 players, one side for 3-4 players)
• 2 Garden tiles
• 6 Leaf tiles
• 29 Enemy tiles
• 8 Special Object tiles
• 120 Base cards
• 8 Queen's Room cards
• 30 Starting cards
• 55 Food cubes
• 35 Leaf cubes
• 25 Mushroom cubes
• 52 Room tiles (in 4 different sizes)
• 25 Aggressive tokens
• 10 Mutation tokens
• 5 3x tokens
• 5 -3VP tokens

Player Components

• 1 First Player token
• 8 Queen tokens (used only during a game using this Queen tile, see Queen Tiles)
• 4 Player aids
• 4 Anthill boards
• 4 Anthill tiles
• 12 Incubation tiles (divided into 4 sets)
• 9 Queen tiles
• 160 Discs (40 of each color)
• 44 Cubes (11 of each color)
• 36 Star tokens (9 of each color)

Overview

Grow and develop your ant society by exploring the garden, gathering resources, and digging your Anthill. The game lasts a variable number of turns until the Stars track is completed (see End of the Game).

You gain Victory Points (VP) in various ways:

• Obtaining Stars;
• Playing cards;
• Defeating Enemies and unlocking Abilities;
• Reaching the Swarming areas along the Nuptial Flight track;
• Collecting Special Objects;
• Creating a large number of Ants in your Anthill;
• Increasing your production of Food, Leaves, and Eggs.

Conquer more VP than your opponents to decree which is the dominant Anthill.

Setup

Common setup

1. Put the Game board together and use the side showing your player count (found at the bottom-right corner). For 3-player games only: place the two Garden tiles in the position illustrated to the far right.
2. Randomly place 1 Special Object tile face-up in each hex marked with the Special Object icon. Set the remaining Special Object Tiles next to the Game Board.
3. Randomly place the 6 Leaf tiles in the designated slots on the Game board, making sure the icons are all facing the same direction.
4. Next to the Game board (as shown in the rulebook), set up six face-down piles of Enemy tiles, sorted by their terrain type as indicated on the back of each tile. Shuffle each pile separately.
5. In each of the designated hexes (as illustrated), reveal 1 Enemy tile of the matching terrain type and place the indicated Resource cubes. Example: For one hex, place 4 leaf cubes and a green-terrain Enemy tile.
6. Shuffle the three card decks separately based on their back: Base cards, Starting cards, and Queen's Room cards.
7. Create a general supply of Resource cubes (Food, Leaves, and Mushroom), Room tiles (sizes 1, 2, 3, and 4), Aggression tokens, Mutation tokens, 3X tokens, and -3 VP tokens.
8. From the Base card deck, reveal 9 cards and place them in three rows of 3 cards each in the display of the Game board.

Players setup

Clarifications for the INTRO GAME are indicated at the end of some of the following points.

9. Randomly determine the first player, who gains the First Player token.
10. Each player takes an Anthill board and a player aid tile.
11. Each player draws a random Anthill tile and inserts it into the appropriate slot on their board. The Anthill tiles have two sides: one is identical for all players, while the marked side creates asymmetric boards. Choose which side to use (all players must use the same side). From now on, the Anthill tile is part of the Anthill board. INTRO GAME: All players must use the side of the Anthill Tile without the asymmetric marking.
12. Randomly select a number of Queen tiles equal to the number of players and place them on the table. Randomly assign a set of 3 Incubation tiles to each Queen tile. Starting with the player sitting to the right of the First Player and proceeding counterclockwise, each player selects one Queen tile along with its associated Incubation tiles. Return any unused Queen Tiles and Incubation Tiles to the box. INTRO GAME: Randomly assign a set of 3 Incubation tiles to each player. Do not use Queen tiles. Return them to the box.

Example: In a 4-player game, 4 Queen tiles are drawn and randomly paired with the 4 sets of Incubation tiles. The last player in turn order is first to choose which pairing to take.

13. Each player places the 3 Incubation tiles into the appropriate slots on their Anthill board in random order, with the side showing the set icon facing up.
14. Each player places their selected Queen tile in the designated area of their Anthill board and gains the amount of Resource cubes (Food, Leaves, and Mushroom) indicated on the tile. Then, flip the Queen tile face down to reveal only its special effect. For a detailed description of Queen tiles' setup and effects, see Queen Tiles. INTRO GAME: Each player gains 3 Leaf cubes and 1 Food cube.

Example: The blue player chooses the illustrated Queen tile and gains 1 Mushroom cube and 3 Leaf cubes.

15. Each player chooses a color, takes the discs of that color, and keeps them next to their board in their personal supply. From their supply, they place:

• 1 disc on the starting space of the Nuptial Flight track on the Game board (in reverse turn order, with the first player highest in the pile and the last player lowest);
• 3 discs on the topmost Incubation tile (1 on each specialization space);
• 3 discs on the middle Incubation tile (1 on each specialization space).

16. Each player takes all the cubes of their color and places:

• 1 cube on each Pheromone space on their board;
• 1 cube on the first space of each of the three Egg Production tracks (at the bottom of their Anthill board);
• The 2 remaining cubes are kept next to the two Food and Leaf Production tracks.

INTRO GAME: Each player also places 1 cube on the first space of both the Food and Leaf Production tracks.

17. Each player takes the Star tokens of their color, divide the tokens into 3 sets based on their icons, then stack each set on their corresponding space, with the lowest value on top, and the highest value at the bottom.
18. Each player places 5 Food cubes from the general supply in the Emergency Storage spaces of their Anthill board.
19. Each player places one size-2 Room tile on the designated space of their Nest, with the dark side (Empty Room) face up.
20. Finally, each player draws 2 Queen's Room cards and 6 Starting cards. Simultaneously, from these 8 cards, each player chooses 4 cards to keep and removes the others from the game. All unused Queen's Room and Starting cards are removed from the game.

Anthill Board Areas

The Anthill board is divided into: Space for Wild Ants, Nest areas, Star tokens, Abilities area, Incubation tiles, Queen tile, Emergency Storage, Pheromones, and Production tracks.

Game Flow and Main Actions

Starting with the First Player and proceeding clockwise, players take turns one at a time until the game ends. The game end procedure begins once the Stars track is completed (see End of the Game). During a turn, perform 1 of six possible main actions: Digging, Exploring, Foraging, Playing 2 cards, Playing 1 card and Defeating 1 Enemy, and Incubation. Additionally, anytime during your turn, you may perform any number of free actions.

Discs and Incubation Tiles

Your Incubation tiles represent the life stages: Eggs (bottom), Larvae, and Ants (top). A disc placed on a tile represents one unit in that stage. The position of the disc on the tile shows its specialization, which determines which main action the Ant can perform (Digging, Exploring, or Foraging).

Free Action — Conversion: Any number of times, discard 1 Food to move an Ant disc to any other specialization (on the same tile).

Free Action — Emergency Storage: Take 1 or more Food cubes from the Emergency Storage on your Anthill board into your supply to use for anything. Caution: At the end of the game, you gain the rightmost uncovered penalty! If you run out of Food cubes in your Emergency Storage, you can still continue to perform this free action by taking additional Food cubes from the general supply — but for each one you take, you must also take a -3 VP token.

Universal Rules

To Dig, Explore, or Forage, you'll spend 1 to 4 Ant discs, and the number spent determines the strength of the action. You must spend Ant discs from your top-most Incubation tile, and/or those on your board (stored from Incubation, and/or Wild Ants).

Wild Ants: Treat these as Ants of any specialization. Use them for actions alone or together with other Ants. When you gain a Wild Ant, place a disc of your color on the "?" storage space. You can have any number of Wild Ants.

Taking Cards: Anytime you take a card from the display, immediately refill it with a new card from the deck. If the deck runs out, shuffle the discard to form a new one.

Enhance an Action: For each Main Action, you may Enhance it as follows: When you Dig, Explore, or Forage, discard 2/4/6 Food to increase the action's strength by 1/2/3 (i.e., add Ants to the action). Limitations: Action strength cannot exceed 4. 1 Ant disc must be on your board for the action before Enhancing that action. E.g., you cannot take a Dig action of Strength 1 by discarding 2 Food — you must have at least 1 disc available to use for the action you wish to take.

Digging Main Action

Return 1/2/3/4 Digger Ant discs from your board (to your supply) to perform a Digging action of strength 1/2/3/4. First, take 1 card from the Digging (top) row.

Then, place Room tiles into unoccupied squares of your Nest, of a total combined (square) size equal to the action's strength as follows:

• Place Room tiles empty (dark) side face up, with no tiles overlapping or extending outside the Nest grid.
• You must cover 1 or more squares of row I (the top row); OR, place orthogonally adjacent to any tile already placed (either this turn or previously).

Immediately gain any bonus covered. Room tiles are limited: If none are available, no more can be placed of that size. Try to fill Nest Areas (I, II, or III) to gain Stars (see Obtaining Stars). To play Room cards, you'll need Room tiles (see Cards, Symbols and Resources).

Example: You discard 3 Digger Ants and take a card from the Digging row. Options available to you include a size-3 tile, OR 3 size-1 tiles, but for this example, you take a size-2 tile and a size-1 tile. You place your first tile in the "I" row. You place the 2nd tile adjacent to it as shown. You immediately gain all bonuses covered during this action.

Foraging Main Action

Return 1/2/3/4 Forager Ants from your board (to your supply) to perform a Foraging action of strength 1/2/3/4. First, take 1 card from the Foraging (bottom) row.

Then, place a number of Ant discs (taken from your supply) equal to the strength of your action onto unoccupied Foraging spaces (the vertices of hexes on the map), following these rules:

The first Ant you place during this action must:

• Go on a red-outlined Foraging space, OR
• Go adjacent to another of your Forager Ants, OR
• Go on a vertex of a hex containing your Explorer Ant; and additionally, this hex must not already have one of your Forager Ants on any of its vertices (i.e., it must be your first Forager Ant on the vertices of this hex).

Then, after the first Ant: All remaining Ants you place with this action (if any), must be adjacent to one another, and must form a continuous, non-branching path. (Note: In future turns, you may branch off previously placed Ants.)

For each Forager Ant you place this turn:

• Immediately gain each bonus covered.
• Each Forager Ant just placed collects 1 cube from each adjacent hex (if any are there to take).

Example: Blue performs a 3-strength Foraging Action and takes a card from the Foraging row. They place their first Ant on a red-outlined space, then place their second adjacent to that in a non-branching path. They didn't cover any bonuses with those placements, but the first Ant takes 1 Food and Leaf cube from each adjacent hex, the second does the same, and the third takes 1 Leaf.

Exploring Main Action

Return 1/2/3/4 Explorer Ants from your board (to your supply) to perform an Exploring action of strength 1/2/3/4. First, take 1 card from the Exploring (middle) row.

Then, place 1 disc from your supply on any unoccupied exploration space with a number of dots equal to or less than your strength. E.g., with a strength of 2, you can place on a spot with 2 dots (or 1 dot). Immediately gain any bonus you cover.

After gaining the bonus (if any), if the hex shows resource cubes/enemy icon:

1. Draw and place 1 Enemy tile on the hex matching the terrain's color.
2. Place Resource cubes on the hex as shown.
3. Each Forager Ant at the vertices of the hex collects 1 cube for its owner; the order that players collect these cubes is determined by the Nuptial Flight track (see Advancing on the Nuptial Flight Track). If tied, the player disc lowest in the stack collects first. Collection order may result in a player with Forager Ants not collecting any cubes.

NOTE: When you explore a hex that has or had an Enemy from setup placement, skip step 1 and 2 above (you can recognize those hexes by the Enemy tile graphic placeholder).

Example: You Explore with strength 2, take a card from the Exploring row, then place an Ant on a 2-dot hex. You gain the covered bonuses, then place a brown Enemy and 4 Leaf cubes in the hex. Each Forager Ant on the hex gains 1 Cube (blue gains 1 Leaf, and red gains 1 Leaf).

Collecting and Pheromones

One of the main peculiarities of ants is their way of communicating. In the game you can develop the communication skills of your colony by emitting Pheromones following the collection of resource cubes.

Emitting Pheromones

Immediately when a hex is emptied of all its resource cubes after a resource collection, all players with 1 or more Forager Ants at the vertices of the emptied hexagon Emit a Pheromone (if eligible, see below). Pheromone cubes can only be emitted during the same turn a hexagon is emptied (placing a Forager Ant on the vertex of an empty hexagon does not emit pheromones).

When you emit a Pheromone:

1. Take a cube from the space on your board of color that matches the color of the emptied hexagon. Note that if you already emitted that color of Pheromone, you cannot emit another and gain no benefit.
2. Place the cube on the Leaf tile connected to the terrain that contains the emptied hex as follows:
   • If both of the following are true: a) it is your turn; and b) there are no other cubes already on the connected Leaf tile — place your cube on the bonus space of the Leaf tile and gain its bonus; then all other eligible players place their cube on any remaining empty space (and do not gain the bonus).
   • Otherwise (if both a and b above are false), all players who Emit a Pheromone place their cube on any empty space of the connected Leaf tile and no one gains that Leaf tile's bonus now or for the remainder of the game.

Each Pheromone cube removed gives you 1 Pheromone icon useful for fulfilling card requirements and may also allow you to obtain Stars (see Obtaining Stars).

Reminder: Each Pheromone icon uncovered on your board counts as a Communication symbol that you now have!

Exploring Action Resource Collection Example

Following an Exploring action that generated cubes in a hex, each Forager Ant at the vertices of the hex collects 1 cube for its owner. The order that players collect these cubes is determined by the Nuptial Flight track (see Advancing on the Nuptial Flight Track). If tied, the player disc lowest in the stack collects first. Collection order may result in a player with Forager Ants not collecting any cubes!

Example: The blue player explores a hex with 5 Forager Ants already placed at its vertices (2 blue, 2 orange, and 1 white). After activating the exploration bonus and placing the Enemy tile in the hex, the player generates 4 Leaf cubes in the hex.

The Nuptial Flight track is checked for the collection order: white is first, blue second, and orange third. (Blue wins the tie as they are at the bottom of the stack.) The generated Leaf cubes are automatically collected as follows: the white player gets 1, the blue player gets 2, and the orange player gets 1. Orange would have gotten 2 if another cube remained on the hex. Note that even though blue placed the cubes, they did not collect first!

The hex is emptied of cubes, so blue, white, and orange players emit the corresponding terrain Pheromone. It is currently the blue player's turn, meaning they emit first and may gain the bonus, so they place their cube on the Leaf tile bonus spot and gain it.

Play 2 Cards Main Action

When you perform this action, play up to 2 cards from your hand (one at a time), following these steps:

1. Have the requirements: Show that you meet any requirements shown on the card. In most cases, the requirements involve possessing (but not discarding!) certain symbols on your previously played cards and on your Anthill board. You may discard any number of Mutation tokens (each count as any 1 symbol to play a single card) and/or Aggression tokens (each count as 1 Aggression symbol to play a single card).
2. Pay any cost shown on the card. In most cases, the cost requires discarding a certain number of Leaf cubes. Room Cards: In addition to other possible costs, Rooms require exactly one empty (dark-colored) Room tile to be flipped to its full (light-colored) side in your Nest. The number of squares in the Room tile must be equal to or greater than the required size shown on the card.
3. Play the card from your hand next to your Anthill board. The card is now considered active and provides its effects, symbols, and VP. See Cards, Symbols, and Resources.

Play 1 Card and/or Defeat 1 Enemy Main Action

When you perform this action, you can (in any order) play 1 card from your hand (see Play 2 Cards Main Action) and/or defeat 1 revealed Enemy on the game board. You can only defeat an Enemy if it is in a hex belonging to a terrain type where you have at least one Explorer Ant.

To defeat an Enemy, follow these steps:

1. Select an Enemy in a hex of the same terrain type as the hex containing your Explorer Ant.
2. Show that you meet the Enemy's requirements, by possessing a certain set of symbols on your played cards, on your Anthill board, or by discarding Mutation (wild) or Aggression tokens.
3. Depending on the Enemy's difficulty (I, II, or III), place the tile face down in an Ability slot on your Anthill board (on the right). The four slots in the top row can hold any Enemy (difficulty I, II, or III); the four slots in the middle row can hold Enemies of difficulty II or III; the three slots in the bottom row can hold only Enemies of difficulty III.

Placing Enemy tiles on your Anthill board unlocks abilities which can be: instant effects, incubation effects, permanent effects, and/or scoring effects. Some slots also provide VP at the end of the game. See Cards, Symbols and Resources for details.

Example: The blue player has an Explorer Ant in a hex of the same terrain type as the highlighted Enemy tile. They also have 1 of one symbol and 1 of another on their played cards. This means they are short 1 symbol, so they spend 1 Aggression token to meet that final requirement. The Enemy is of difficulty II, so the player places the tile on a slot in the middle row of their board, activating the corresponding instant effect.

Cards, Symbols and Resources

Each card shows: the Card Type (Skill, Deed, or Room), the Requirements and costs to play the card, the Effect Type and Effect, the Symbols provided, and any VP gained at the end of the game.

There are 3 types of cards:

• Skill cards: They provide few symbols but many immediate and incubation effects. They always cost Leaf cubes and may require symbols.
• Deed cards: They only provide immediate effects and VP at the end of the game (no symbols). They don't have a cost but always require symbols or specific conditions to be played.
• Room cards: They provide many symbols and various effects. They may have a cost in Leaf cubes, but always require you to flip exactly one empty Room tile in your Nest, of the required size or larger, as shown by the number on the card. When you play a Room card, flip an empty (dark-colored) Room tile which is at least as large as required, to the Full (light-colored) side.

There are 9 symbols cards can provide: Aphid, Constitution, Aggression, Construction, Agriculture, Strength, Communication, Intelligence, and Poison.

There are 4 types of effects:

• Immediate effect: Apply the effect when you play the card.
• Incubation effect: Apply the effect during the second phase of the Incubation action.
• Permanent effect: Apply the effect whenever the indicated conditions allow it.
• End of Game Scoring: Gain VP at the end of the game based on the indicated conditions.

There are 5 resource types:

• Food cubes: Food cubes are primarily used to feed Larvae during the third phase of the Incubation action.
• Leaf cubes: Leaf cubes are used mainly to play cards.
• Mushroom cubes: These are wild cubes. You can spend them as if they were Food or Leaf cubes (but you can't count them as if they were Food or Leaf cubes to meet a requirement that requires Food or Leaf cubes).
• Aggression tokens: You can discard them to gain an instant Aggression symbol, useful to play cards or defeat Enemy tiles.
• Mutation tokens: You can discard them to gain an instant symbol of your choice (including the Aggression symbol), useful to play cards or defeat Enemy tiles.
• 3x tokens: Resources are considered to be unlimited. If needed, you can put a resource cube on this token to indicate you have 3 resources of that type.

This combo of icons means you now have an additional one of these icons available for each requirement going forward (not an infinite number of them).

Incubation Main Action

To resolve the Incubation action, perform the following steps in order:

1. You may move up to 1 Ant per specialization, from your topmost Incubation tile to its empty storage space directly above. Each storage space can hold one Ant; if one is already there, you cannot move an Ant to it.
2. Return all Ants on your topmost tile to your supply (if any remain). Ants in storage and Wild Ants are not returned.
3. Check the Deed on your topmost Incubation tile: if you have met its requirements, flip it face down to gain the bonus (increase any of your productions by 1, moving the cube one space upwards along the corresponding track). If you have not met its requirements, leave it as is.
4. In any order, activate your Incubation effects (on your played cards and Anthill board). Please remember: ALL Incubation effects are optional — do some, all, or none (bad idea).
   • Food/Leaf Production: Gain a number of each type of resource cube as indicated by the position of your cubes.
   • Egg Production: Gain a number of Eggs as indicated by the position of your cubes. Each Egg you gain is a disc taken from your supply; place them on the bottom-most incubation tile in the corresponding space.
   • Nuptial Flight Advancement: You may discard 1 card from your hand to gain 1 advancement on the Nuptial Flight track (see Nuptial Flight Track).
5. Pay 1 Food cube for each Larva you own (the discs on the middle Incubation tile). For each Larva you choose not to (or cannot) pay for, you must discard it. You can always take Food cubes from your Emergency Storage (taken from left to right, see Free Actions).
6. Slide the bottom two Incubation tiles (and their discs) up one space, and move the topmost tile to the empty lowest position (without changing the face-up sides of any tiles). This evolves your Eggs to Larvae and your Larvae to Ants.

Example

The blue player performs the Incubation action. First, they move a Forager Ant from the topmost Incubation tile to the storage space above it. The other 2 Ants have no room to move, so they must be returned to the supply.

The Deed on the topmost tile requires 5 Leaf cubes (which they have), so they flip the tile face down and gain 1 advancement on a Production track: they choose the Explorer Eggs track.

They activate their incubation effects to gain 1 Mushroom cube from the Mushroom Harvesting card and 1 Wild Ant from the ability unlocked on the board (from the Enemy). Then, they activate their productions of 1 Food cube, 2 Leaf cubes, 1 Digger Egg, 2 Explorer Eggs, and 1 Forager Egg.

They pay 3 Food cubes, discarding them to feed their 3 Larvae.

Finally, they move their topmost Incubation tile to the lowest position and move the other Incubation tiles upward without removing their discs; this makes 3 Ants available on their top tile for their next turn.

Obtaining Stars

The main way to gain Victory Points is to obtain Stars. There are 3 different criteria to obtain Stars, each giving you a maximum of 3 Stars.

• Stars for the Nest: Obtain a Star when an area in your Nest is completely covered by Room tiles (I: top 5 squares, II: middle 5 squares, or III: bottom 8 squares). Room tiles can be Full or Empty. Areas can be filled in any order.
• Stars for the Pheromones: You obtain a Star when you remove your third, fifth, and sixth Pheromone cube from your Anthill board.
• Stars for the Deeds: You obtain a Star when you complete your third, fifth, and eighth Deed. Both played Deed cards and resolved Incubation tiles are considered completed Deeds.

At any time, even during an opponent's turn, if you meet the requirements for a Star, immediately obtain it. When you obtain a Star, place the corresponding token face down in the first free space from the bottom of the Stars track.

The second and third tokens in each pile show both the requirements to obtain that Star and the VP you gain for having obtained the previous Star (see End of the Game).

Example: The blue player places a Room tile, thus covering all the spaces in area II of their Nest, and obtains a Star for the Nest.

Example: The blue player has emitted their third Pheromone and can therefore obtain the first related Star. They take the corresponding Star token and place it on the lowest free space of the Stars track.

Nuptial Flight Track

Another way to gain Victory Points is to advance along the Nuptial Flight track — via the Nuptial Flight Advancement effect — and move your discs to Swarming spaces.

Immediately gain any bonuses you pass or land on. If you end movement on a space with other discs, place your disc on top of those already there.

When collecting resources from an Exploring action, the player furthest on the track takes cubes first; if stacked, priority goes to the bottom of the stack first, then proceeding up the stack (top is last). Note: Those on Swarming spaces to the left of the track are not considered.

When you land on a Swarming bonus, immediately choose one option (you cannot choose option B if you already have a disc at this cluster of Swarming bonus spaces — i.e., one disc per player at each cluster max):

A) Leave the disc on the track with no effect; OR B) Move your disc onto the highest value unoccupied Swarming space in the cluster adjacent to this space (this does not cost a movement). Then, place a new disc from your personal supply on the starting space of the Nuptial Flight track. If you moved the disc to the left through an effect that gave you multiple advances at the same time, use any advancements left after the transfer to move the new disc.

At the end of the game, gain all VP covered by your discs on swarming bonuses.

If you reach the end of the track but cannot move to a Swarming space (because they are fully occupied), immediately move your disc to the starting space.

Example: The blue player gets two advancements on the Nuptial Flight track. Their first movement reaches a space with a Swarming bonus. They decide to transfer the disc to the Swarming space on the left, placing it in the highest-value space. They immediately place a new disc from their personal supply in the first space of the track and advance it one space (due to the unused advancement of the disc they transferred).

End of the Game

When the Stars track is completely filled, the End of Game condition is triggered. Place any Stars gained after this point beside the Stars track. (3-player game: The track is considered filled when a Star token is placed on the space showing the 3-player icon.)

Finish the current round (all players up to the one sitting to the right of the first player take a turn) and play another final complete round. After the final round of actions, all players take a final mandatory Incubation action, and then the game ends.

Each player proceeds to calculate their Victory Points (VP), recording them on the appropriate scoring pad, as follows:

• VP from Stars obtained: for each of the three criteria (Nest, Pheromones, Deeds), add the VP value visible on the Star token remaining at the top of the stack. If all the tokens in a stack have been placed, calculate the value printed on the board (20 VP);
• VP from Swarms on the Nuptial Flight track: add the VP indicated in the spaces occupied by your discs within the Swarming areas;
• VP from played cards: add the VP indicated on all your played cards (on the top right corner), also considering the conditions indicated by cards with scoring effects;
• VP from defeated Enemies: add the VP indicated in the Abilities area of your Anthill board, corresponding to all the Enemy tiles you defeated during the game;
• VP from Special Objects: add together the VP provided by all the Special Object tiles you collected during the game;
• VP from your productions: for each of your Production tracks you get 1 or 3 VP if you have reached the fourth or fifth space respectively;
• VP from your available Ants: gain 1 VP for each of your Ants of any specialization (ignore Larvae and Eggs) still on your board, including Wild Ants;
• Emergency Storage penalties: finally, consider any penalty caused by having emptied the spaces of your Emergency Storage. Calculate the visible penalty furthest to the right and add any additional penalties if you have taken -3 VP tokens.

Whoever has gained the most Victory Points is the winner. In the event of a tie, the one who has obtained the most Stars wins. In the event of a further tie, the one who has the most resource cubes left (Food, Leaf, and Mushrooms) wins. In the event of a further tie, the victory is shared.

Lead your Colony to victory!

Example: The blue player ends the game in the illustrated situation. They gain the following VP:

• 34 VP from Stars obtained;
• 15 VP from Swarming spaces;
• 21 VP from cards played;
• 11 VP from enemies defeated;
• 6 VP from Special Objects collected;
• 4 VP from Production tracks;
• 6 VP from available Ants;
• -4 VP from the Emergency Storage penalties.

The blue player's total score is 93 VP.

Credits

Game Designers: Renato Ciervo, Andrea Robbiani Development: Simone Luciani Illustrations: Candida Corsi, Sara Valentino Art Direction and Graphics: Arianna Santini Rules Layout: Giada Lo Duca Editing: Giuliano Acquati Layout and Editing (Capstone Rulebook): Jonathan Bobal

Andrea: I thank my wife Marta, my father Elvio and my mother Anna for their constant support, for their transformation into assiduous players and for having become the first and most demanding filters of my bizarre ideas. A special thanks to Roberto, Alberto and Tomaso, with whom I discovered modern games and the world of game authors.

Renato: I thank my friends of a thousand gaming adventures Fabio, Enrico, Max, Marco and Gabriele. A special thanks to Andrea Chiarvesio and Alexio Schneeberger, thanks to whom I took my first steps in the magical world of game design.

A special thanks to Tommaso Battista, Fabio Lopiano, Nestore Mangone, and David Spada who, among my "Game Inventors" colleagues, contributed the most to this project.

Capstone Games, 2 Techview Dr., Cincinnati, OH 45215 USA, www.capstone-games.com

Cranio Creations S.r.l., Via E. Romagnoli 1, 20146, Milano - Italy, www.craniocreations.it/en

© 2023, Cranio Creations s.r.l. All rights reserved.

Appendix: Bonuses on the Game Board and on the Anthill Board

• On the game board: take the Special Object tile from this hex and keep it in front of you.
• On the Anthill board: choose a Special Object from the ones next to the board and keep it in front of you. Special Objects grant different effects and VP.
• Advance 1 step on the Nuptial Flight track.
• Draw 1 card from the deck. If the deck runs out, shuffle the discard pile to create a new deck.
• Draw 2 cards from the deck, choose one to keep and discard the other. Put discarded cards in a face-up discard pile.
• Take any 1 face-up card from the display (from any column).
• Choose a symbol, then draw from the deck until you find a card that provides that symbol. Take it into your hand and put the other cards in a face-up discard pile.
• Play 1 card from your hand.
• Play 1 Deed card. One of the requirements is completely satisfied for free (even if that requirement requires multiple items of the same type).
• Play 1 Skill card completely free of charge. Ignore all costs and requirements.
• Advance your cube 1 space on the Production track of the indicated resource cube.
• Advance your cube 1 space on the Leaf Production or Food Production track.
• Advance your cube 1 space on both the Leaf and Food Production tracks.
• Advance your cube 1 space on the indicated Egg Production track.
• Advance your cube 1 space on an Egg Production track of your choice.
• Advance your cube 1 space on a Production track of your choice.
• Move 1 disc from an Incubation tile to the one above, keeping the same specialization.
• Move 1 disc from one specialization space to another on the same Incubation tile.
• Get 1 Larva of any specialization.
• Get 1 Wild Ant.
• Perform the action shown at the indicated strength. You do not spend Ants but use discs directly from your supply. You cannot add Wild Ants or increase strength with the free action Enhancement. Do not take any cards from the display.
• Place a Room tile of the exact indicated size. You cannot split this size into multiple tiles.
• Defeat a revealed Enemy (if able) by following the standard rules.
• Remove 1 Pheromone cube of your choice from your board without placing it on a Leaf tile.
• Activate all incubation effects you have in any order.
• Discard 1 card from your hand to receive 1 Mushroom cube.
• Receive 1 Aggression token.
• Receive 1 Mutation token.

Requirements for Cards and Incubation Tiles

• Have a total production of at least the indicated number of Eggs (add the production of all Eggs).
• Have the indicated number of Ants of the depicted specialization placed on the game board.
• Have the indicated number of Ants of the depicted specialization available on the Anthill board.
• Have played at least this number of Room and/or Skill cards total.
• Have played 1 or more Deed cards and/or resolved the Deed of an Incubation tile.
• Have the indicated number of separate Room tiles in your Nest (no matter if empty or full, of any size each).
• Have the indicated number of Pheromone cubes removed from your board.
• Have the indicated number of discs placed on Swarming spaces.
• Have the indicated number of the indicated resource type in your personal supply.
• Have the illustrated symbol available (on already played cards, on the Anthill board, on Special Objects). You can always discard a Mutation token to get an instant symbol.
• Flip a Room tile of the indicated size from the Empty side (dark side) to the Full side (light side).

Appendix: Particular Effects on Cards

• Once, you may discard the element to the left of the arrow to get the bonus to the right of the arrow.
• Gain the bonus to the left of the icon each time you meet the condition to the right of the icon.
• Each time you meet the condition to the left of the icon, gain the bonus to the right of the icon.
• You may discard 1 Leaf cube to place 1 Sprout token (a disc from your supply) on a card of your choice.
• You may discard 1 Food cube to place 1 Sprout token (a disc from your supply) on this card.
• Place 1 Aphid or Sprout token on a card of your choice (not necessarily this one).
• Discard 1 Aphid token from one of your cards to receive 2 Food cubes.
• Place 1 Aphid token (a disc from your supply) on this card.
• Each time you play a card that provides the indicated symbol, place 1 Aphid token on this card. You can spend Aphid tokens on this card as if they were Food cubes.
• Place 1 Sprout token on this card OR move up to 2 Sprout tokens from a card to one or two other cards.
• Gain 4 VP for every 2 Sprout tokens placed on this card.
• You receive 1 Leaf cube for each Room tile placed that is size 2 or smaller.
• Each time you play a Room card, apply a discount of 1 Leaf cube to its cost.
• Each time you play a card that provides the indicated symbol, draw 1 card.
• Each time you defeat an Enemy, you receive 2 Food cubes.
• Each time you defeat an Enemy, place 2 Sprout tokens (discs from your supply) on this card. You can spend Sprout tokens on this card as if they were Leaf cubes.
• Each time you play a Deed card and/or resolve the Deed of an Incubation tile, receive 1 Food cube.
• Each time you perform a Dig action (at any strength), you may move 1 disc from one specialization space to another on the same Incubation tile.
• Each time you play a Room card, you can flip a Room tile as if it were one space larger (for example, you may flip a 2-space tile to play a card that requires a 3-space tile).
• You have 1 Aggression symbol for every 2 Deeds (cards or Incubation tiles) you have fulfilled.
• Gain 2 VP for each Explorer Egg you produce.
• Each time you play the indicated symbol, place 1 Flight token (a disc from your supply) on this card. You may discard 2 Flight tokens to gain an advancement on the Nuptial Flight track.
• Gain 1 VP for each different symbol you have available.
• Each time you resolve an Incubation tile Deed, get 1 Wild Ant.
• Place 2 cards from your hand under this card. Receive 1 Leaf cube for each card placed under this card.
• Flip a Room tile back from the Full side to the Empty side.
• Move your cube down 1 space on an Egg Production track of your choice to advance your cube 1 space each on the other two Egg Production tracks.
• Choose one: Discard 1 card from your hand to perform a 1-strength Digging action; or, discard 2 cards from your hand to perform a 2-strength Digging action.
• Discard 2 Food cubes to get an advancement on the Nuptial Flight track for each Explorer Ant you have on the game board.
• Each time you place a Room tile of size 3 or greater, you receive 1 Mushroom cube.

Queen Tiles

• Setup: Gain 1 Food cube, 3 Leaf cubes, and place 4 discs of your color on this tile. Once per turn, you may discard a card from your hand to take a disc from this Queen tile and use it as a Wild Ant with limitations: You must use it to increase the strength of a main action — you cannot use this Wild Ant alone to perform an action with strength 1.

• Setup: Gain 1 Food cube and 3 Leaf cubes. When you perform a Digging, Exploring, or Foraging main action with a strength of exactly 3, you gain 1 Mushroom cube.

• Setup: Gain 1 Mushroom cube and 2 Food cubes. When you perform a Digging, Exploring, or Foraging main action with a strength of exactly 1, draw 1 card from the deck and gain 1 Aggression token.

• Setup: Gain 2 Food cubes and 3 Leaf cubes. When you gain an Egg Production track advancement (of any type), treat it as an Egg advancement of any type you choose instead. When you gain a generic Production advancement, in addition to performing the advancement on one of the five Production tracks of your choice, you also gain 1 advancement on the Nuptial Flight track.

• Setup: Gain 2 Mushroom cubes and 3 Leaf cubes. When you perform a Digging, Exploring, or Foraging main action: instead of being restricted to the row corresponding to the action performed, you can take any visible card. This isn't an extra card to draw, it just modifies where you can take it from.

• Setup: Gain 2 Food cubes and 2 Leaf cubes. Once per turn, as a free action, you may discard 1 Room card from your hand to get 1 Leaf cube; and/or, you may discard 1 Skill card from your hand to get 1 advancement on the Nuptial Flight track. You may perform each of these free actions up to once per turn.

• Setup: Gain 1 Food cube and 2 Leaf cubes. The spots showing a highlighted marking are part of your Nest grid, and you may place Room tiles on them when digging. When you cover a highlighted space with a Room tile, advance your cube 1 space on a Production track of your choice. At the end of the game, if you have covered 1/2/3 highlighted spaces with Room tiles, you gain 0/2/5 VP respectively. Note: These spaces do not impact area Stars; for example, area III still only requires the bottom 8 squares to be filled.

• Setup: Gain 2 Food cubes, 3 Leaf cubes, and the 8 Queen tokens specific to this Queen (keep them next to your Anthill board). As a free action, you may place one or more tokens of your choice in the designated spaces on this tile. To place the second and third tokens, you must discard 1 Food cube each. Symbols on the placed tokens are available to use for any requirement. Once placed, you can no longer change the tokens. Once 3 are selected, return the remaining tokens to the box.

• Setup: Gain 1 Mushroom cube and 3 Leaf cubes. Any number of times, as a free action, discard 1 Mushroom cube to gain 1 Food cube and 1 Leaf cube. The orange arrow usually means "once", but in this case, follow these rules (this effect may be used any number of times).