Earth Cows of Mass Destruction Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Contents
• Object of the Game
• Game Setup
• Game Play
  • Research a Cow Weapon
  • Discard 1 Card or Swap 3 for 2
  • Recruit or Steal an Alien Scientist
  • Operate the Tractor Beam
  • Steal a Cow Weapon Research Card
• Mass Destruction!
• End of the Game

Game Contents

• 6 Alien Lieutenant Tiles
• 8 Cows
• 30 Earthling Meeples:
  • 10 Gold worth 5 points each
  • 20 Silver worth 1 point each
• +2 Extinction Bonus Token
• 6 Alien Scientist Tiles
• 3 Damage Dice (White/Yellow/Red)
• 5 Player Reference Cards
• 74 Action Cards

Object of the Game

Collect the most points by wiping out the most Earthlings.

Game Setup

1. Each player takes a Reference Card and randomly selects one of the 6 Alien Lieutenant tiles, placing it face up in front of them. Note: Each Lieutenant has a +1 Minor skill in a Cow Weapon type (each weapon type has a symbol and color).
2. Place the 8 Cows, all the Earthling Meeples, the +2 Extinction Bonus Token, and the 3 Damage Dice in the center of the playing area. That area is Earth.
3. Place the 6 Alien Scientists tiles face up near Earth. That area is the Mothership. Note: Each Scientist has a +2 Major and +1 Minor skill in two Cow Weapon types.
4. Shuffle the deck of Action Cards and deal 7 cards to each player. Players can look at their cards, but should keep them hidden from other players.
5. Place the remaining cards face down near Earth to create a Draw pile, and flip over the top card and place it face up near the Draw pile to create a Discard pile.

Game Play

The game is played until all Earthlings are removed from Earth, or there are no more cows left in play. Starting with the youngest player (or with a random starting player), players take turns in clockwise order doing the following:

1. Draw the top card from the Draw pile and add it to their hand. Note: Whenever the last card is taken from the Draw pile, immediately shuffle the Discard pile and create a new Draw pile and Discard pile.

2. Complete only ONE of the following 5 actions:

   • Research a Cow Weapon
   • Discard 1 Card or Swap 3 for 2
   • Recruit or Steal an Alien Scientist
   • Operate the Tractor Beam
   • Steal a Cow Weapon Research Card

Research a Cow Weapon

The player places a Cow Weapon Research card from their hand face up in front of them. Research cards of the same type must be stacked and overlapped, up to a maximum of 3. A player cannot build more than 3 research stacks at any time.

A Wild Cow card can be added to any Cow Weapon Research stack, but it counts toward the maximum of 3 in a stack. A Wild Cow cannot be the first card in a stack.

Discard 1 Card or Swap 3 for 2

The player discards any 1 card face up on the Discard pile –OR– discards any 3 cards face up on the Discard pile and draws the two top cards from the Draw pile.

Recruit or Steal an Alien Scientist

The player discards an Alien Scientist card and moves the corresponding Alien Scientist tile to the area in front of them – either by recruiting from the Mothership or by stealing from another player's area.

However, when attempting to steal from another player, that other player can immediately discard a Qlepptar card to prevent this action. The player who used the Qlepptar card must then immediately draw another card to return to 7 cards in their hand. Note: A second Qlepptar cannot be played to overrule the first Qlepptar!

The player can also discard a Universal Science card instead to recruit or steal a Scientist of their choice.

Operate the Tractor Beam

The player discards a Tractor Beam card to either Capture or Release a Cow:

Capture a Cow: The player moves a Cow from Earth and places it on the top card of one of their Cow Weapon Research stacks. That cow is now weaponized! A cow can only be captured if the player has at least one weapon research card in front of them, and a weaponized cow cannot be moved from one stack to another once it is placed on a stack. Also, additional research cards cannot be added to a stack that has a cow on it.

Release a Cow: The player moves a weaponized cow from one of their Cow Weapon Research stacks back to Earth, immediately unleashing it to destroy Earthlings! See the Mass Destruction section on the next page to determine the amount of damage inflicted by the cow.

Steal a Cow Weapon Research Card

The player takes the top card from any other player's un-weaponized Cow Weapon Research stacks, but ONLY IF they have an Alien Scientist in their playing area with the matching MAJOR or MINOR skill. If they chose this action, they must also discard one of their cards to return to 7 cards in their hand. A player CANNOT steal from any stack with a Wild Cow on the top of the stack! Note: Qlepptar can be used to stop this action!

Mass Destruction!

When a weaponized cow is released to Earth, the player immediately determines how many Earthlings it destroys by adding the following numbers:

• Roll the WHITE initial damage die for the first weapon card in the stack.
• Roll the YELLOW bonus damage die if there is a second card in the stack.
• Roll the RED bonus damage die if there is a third card in the stack.
• Add 2 if the player has the Alien Scientist with the MAJOR skill matching that weapon type.
• Add 1 if the player has the Alien Scientist with the MINOR skill matching that weapon type.
• Add 1 if the player has the Alien Lieutenant with the MINOR skill matching that weapon type.

Note: The maximum damage from a single cow is 12 Earthlings.

After determining the damage:

• The player removes the calculated number of Earthling Meeples from Earth and places them on their Alien Lieutenant tile.
• The player also removes the top two Cow Weapon Research cards from the stack that was just used and discards them (so, if only 1 or 2 cards were in the stack, they are all removed; but if 3 were in the stack, one remains).
• Weaponized C-Bomb cows and Laser Cyborg cows are vaporized after inflicting damage and are removed from the game after the Earthlings are collected.
• The player who collects the final Earthling Meeple also collects the +2 Extinction Bonus Token.

Example: Damage points for this cow = 1 + 2 + 3 + 2 + 1 = 9. Roll all 3 dice because this stack contains 3 Weapon Research Cards. In this example, the player inflicts 9 damage points and adds 1 gold and 4 silver Earthling Meeples to their Alien Lieutenant tile.

End of the Game

When all the Earthlings are removed from Earth, or no Cows are left in play, the game is over. Players count the number of Earthling Meeples collected plus the +2 Extinction Bonus, and the player with the greatest total wins and gets promoted to Qlepptar's First Officer!

In the case of a tie, the player with the most remaining Cow Weapon Research cards in their playing area wins.