Mammoth Hunters Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Setup
• Playing the Game
  • 1. Settle
  • 2. Conflicts
  • 3. Scoring
  • 4. Glaciers
• The Next Rounds
• Game End
• The Playing Cards
  • The Light Playing Cards
  • The Dark Playing Cards

Contents

• 1 Playing Board (divided into 12 numbered regions)
• 65 Hunters (13 of each colour)
• 55 Cards (33 light-coloured, 22 darker-coloured, front and back)
• 6 Mammoths (representing 6 Mammoth herds)
• 12 Glacier Tiles (corresponding to the 12 regions on the board)
• 50 Stones (representing the currency of the game)
• 14 Fire counters (4 x 0, 5 x 1, 5 x 2)
• 6 Clubs
• 1 Separation tile (with a light-coloured side and a dark-coloured side)

Setup

The Playing Board is placed in the middle of the table. Depending upon the number of players certain regions are covered with the appropriate Glacier Tiles:

• With 3 players: the four regions 1 to 4.
• With 4 players: the two regions 1 and 4.
• With 5 players: no regions are covered.

The remaining glacier tiles are sorted according to the number on the back and laid out as a pile beside the board.

Note: Regions which are covered by glacier tiles may not be entered by either Mammoths or Hunters for the remainder of the game.

The Mammoths are placed in certain regions according to the number of players:

• With 3 players: 1 Mammoth in all of the regions 5 through to 8. The two remaining Mammoths are not needed in the 3-player game and are put back into the box.
• With 4 players: 1 Mammoth into each of the regions 2, 3, 6 and 7. A further Mammoth is made available beside the board. The sixth Mammoth is not needed and is put back into the box.
• With 5 players: 1 Mammoth into the regions 1 to 4. The two remaining are made available beside the board.

The Playing Cards are shuffled, separately according to the two back colours, and laid out face down next to each other as two separated piles beside the board. Between these two piles the separation tile is placed.

Each player receives:

• 4 stones, which are laid out in front of him.
• 13 Hunters in the colour of his choice, which are initially kept in front of him.

Each player places one Hunter as a score marker on the arrow space of the scoring track, which runs around the board.

Note: Everything that a player possesses (Hunter, stones, clubs) is kept in front of him for all players to see (in his supply).

The remaining stones are laid out above the pile with the dark playing cards; they form the "dark supply" and are made up of a set number of stones:

• With 3 players: 20 stones.
• With 4 players: 25 stones.
• With 5 players: 30 stones.

For less than 5 players, surplus stones are put back in the box and are not used in the game.

All 14 fire tiles are mixed face down. Subsequently, in each (glacier-free) region a face down tile is placed. The remaining tiles are put down face down beside the board.

The 6 clubs are laid out beside the board.

The hairiest player begins a preparatory round, before the actual play starts: beginning with him, each player in turn places one Hunter in any region (remember: glacier regions are taboo for the entire game!). After each player has taken his turn six times, and each player has 6 Hunters on the board, the preparatory round ends.

Each player then takes 2 light and 3 dark playing cards from the appropriate decks, which he keeps hidden from his fellow players.

Playing the Game

The game runs over 4 rounds. Each round consists of four sequential phases:

1. Settle
2. Conflicts
3. Valuation
4. Glacier

1. Settle

The starting player begins settling (the first phase). Subsequently, players take turns in a clockwise direction. Each player takes 3 actions:

1. Play one of his cards.
2. Optionally discard another card.
3. Replenish to 5 cards.

Playing a card. The player whose turn it is must play exactly one card face up from his hand, by putting it down face up on a discard pile of the appropriate colour (by which method two discard piles are formed in the course of the game). The action indicated on the card comes into force immediately.

Two types of card stand to the selection:

• If a player plays a light card, he puts so many of his stones above the light cards (the "light supply") as are indicated on the played card. Subsequently, he implements the action on the card. A player may only play a light card for which he can pay completely, otherwise he has to play a dark card.
• If a player plays a dark card, he takes for himself from the "dark supply" which lies above the dark cards, the number of stones indicated on the card, into his own supply. Subsequently, depending upon what is written on the card, the action is implemented by another player of his choice or by all other players.

Note: If a player has 8 stones or more in his supply at the beginning of his turn, he may not play a dark card, but must play a light card (exception: Cult cards, see below).

Discard. After playing a card the player may, if he wants to, discard another card (without carrying out the action, of course). A discard is placed underneath the appropriate draw pile without being revealed.

Replenish cards. Finally the player draws one or two cards as appropriate, so that he has 5 in his hand.

Note: The cards drawn do not have to be from the same colour as the card played and/or discarded. When drawing, the only restriction is that the player may not hold a single colour in his hand. If a draw pile is used up, the coloured discard pile is shuffled and laid out as a new draw pile.

Note: The topmost card of a discard pile remains (with respect to the cult cards, see below); it is not interfered with.

Should a player take the last stone from the "dark supply" (if there are no longer sufficient stones, the player takes the difference from the "light supply"), the settling phase ends after implementing the appropriate action (exception: 4th round, see "The Next Rounds" below) and phase 2 begins.

2. Conflicts

First all fire tiles are turned face-up. Then each region is checked to see whether too many Hunters are in a region or not. The number of Hunters permissible in a region, thus the limit of the region, is determined using the following three factors:

1. Basic: In each basic region Hunters may total 3.
2. Mammoths: Each Mammoth in a region increases the limit by 1.
3. Fire: Each fire tile in a region increases its limit by 0 to 2, depending upon condition of the fire.

Examples: In a region are:

• 0 Mammoths, 0 fires: max. 3 Hunters permissible.
• 1 Mammoth, a 2 fire: max. 6 Hunters permissible.
• 3 Mammoths, a 0 and one 2 fire: max. 8 Hunters permissible.

If there are more Hunters in a region than are permissible, some of the Hunters must be removed: the player with the fewest Hunters takes one Hunter from the region and places it back into his supply, followed by the player who has the next fewest Hunters, who likewise removes one Hunter, followed by the player who has the next fewest Hunters etc., continuing in the same sequence over several rounds, until the limit of the region or less is reached. Players with the same number of Hunters remove one Hunter at the same time.

Note: Please consider the special function of the clubs during conflicts (see "The Playing Cards" below).

In regions in which the number of Hunters is the same as or smaller than the limit, there is no conflict; there all Hunters remain.

Note: At the end of the conflict phase all fire tiles and all clubs on the board (not, however, the clubs belonging to the players!) are put back into the general supply beside the board, even if they were not used!

If all conflicts were resolved, play proceeds into phase 3.

3. Scoring

The players now receive victory points for their Hunters that remain on the board. This should be done region by region for simplicity's sake.

Each Hunter in a region:

• Without Mammoths brings 1 point.
• With one Mammoth brings 2 points.
• With two or more Mammoths brings 3 points.

Theoretically all 6 Mammoths can be in a single region. But even if more than 2 Mammoths stand in a single region, the victory points do not increase any more; they remain at 3 points per Hunter. The victory points are marked for each player by means of his score marker on the scoring track.

When all regions are scored, the game proceeds to the 4th and last phase of a round.

4. Glaciers

The player whose scoring marker is in last place may select, if desired, a region and cover it with the appropriate glacier tile. However the selected region must border another region covered with a glacier tile and/or the top margin of the board on at least one side.

Example: In the game with three players the first glacier part must be put on one of the regions 5 to 8, in the game with four players on one of the regions 2, 3, 5 to 8 and in the game with five players on one of the regions 1 to 4.

All Hunters that are in the new glacier region return to the supply of their owners and all Mammoths are placed in the supply beside the board.

Note: In instances where several players are tied in last place, the player with the fewest Hunters on the board chooses; if there is still a tie, then the player in last place with the fewest stones chooses. If there is still a tie the player in last place who places the glacier tile is chosen by lot from the tied players.

Remember: A region covered with a glacier tile is still considered an (existing) region, but Hunters or Mammoths may not enter it anymore.

The Next Rounds

At the beginning of each further round the following two actions are implemented:

• All stones in the "light supply" are pushed to the dark side and form the "dark supply" for the next round.

Note: If less than 10 stones form the light supply, all players pay an equal amount of stones from their own supply (if available), until at least 10 stones form the "dark supply".

Example: In the new "dark supply" lie only 6 stones: with 3 playing, each would have to put 2 of their own stones into the "dark supply", but one player possesses only one stone. He pays it and the two others pay 2 stones, leaving 11 stones in the "dark supply".

• All 14 fire tiles are mixed face down. Again in each (glacier-free) region a face down tile is placed and the remainder placed face down beside the board. The player to the left of the player who ended the settling phase begins the new round by playing a card. Subsequently, the new round continues as before.

Note: For the last round two important special rules apply:

1. The action of the last dark card, thus the card by which method the last settling this round is terminated, is no longer implemented but is ignored. The player does not receive the stones from this card; he puts them directly into the "light supply".
2. No glacier tile is placed.

Game End

After the fourth round the game ends. The player with the most points is winner. In the event of a tie, the player with more Hunters on the board wins; if there is still a tie, the tied player with the most stones wins.

For a shorter game, you may play over three rounds instead of four.

The Playing Cards

Apart from the general rules described above, the following special rules apply to the cards:

• Opposing players, who may implement the action of a dark card, can choose not to carry out some or all of the action.
• Where the playing cards state "place", this means that Hunters and Mammoths are placed onto the board. "Move" however means playing figures which already are on the board into other regions. Should a player have no more Hunters in his supply, he may move Hunters on the board even though a "place" card was used. The same regulation applies also to the placing of Mammoths.

Example: A player plays a card which permits him to place three of his Hunters in steppe regions. He has, however, only one Hunter in his supply, which he places in a steppe region. Subsequently, he decides to move two further Hunters on the board into this and/or the other steppe region.

"Neighbouring" applies to such regions which have a common border (so for example the regions 1 and 6, and/or 7 and 12, are neighbouring; the regions 2 and 7, and/or 6 and 11, however, are not neighbouring). If two regions are separated by a region covered with a glacier tile, they are no longer considered as neighbouring.

The Light Playing Cards

Landscape card (2 per region type = 12 cards). The player may place up to 3 Hunters from his supply in one or both regions which show this landscape, in any combination. If he does not want to, he can use up to 2 Hunters in one or two regions of any type.

Swap card (3 cards). The player swaps any two Hunters who are in neighbouring territories.

Example: "Green" shifts a blue Hunter from region 6 to region 9, and from there a red Hunter back to region 6.

Shift card (3 cards). The player may shift up to 3 Hunters of any type (thus also his own) from any regions into any neighbouring regions. It is to be noted that all three may not belong to one player.

Mammoth-and-Hunters card (3 cards). The player may place up to 2 Hunters from his supply and a Mammoth from the general supply into any region. If no more Mammoths are in the supply, he may shift a Mammoth from a neighbouring territory into the region with the 2 new Hunters.

Mammoth-move card (2 cards). The player may place up to 3 of his Hunters and a Mammoth from one region into a neighbouring region. Alternatively he can move up to 3 of his Hunters from a region with no Mammoth into a neighbouring region.

Mammoth card (3 cards). The player moves a Mammoth. He can select one of three possibilities:

1. Place a new Mammoth in any region; it costs 2 stones.
2. Move a Mammoth into a neighbouring territory; it costs 3 stones.
3. Move a Mammoth into a non-neighbouring region; it costs 5 stones.

Fire card (3 cards). The player may remove a fire tile from any region and place it in any other region (he may not look at the value of the fire tile in doing so!). In one region there may be as many fire tiles as desired.

Club card (3 cards). The player may take for himself from the general supply a club, if one is still present there. He can use this immediately, by putting it under any of his own Hunters on the board. Instead he can keep it for later use at any time, to be placed with a Hunter that is placed or moved.

If a club is assigned to a Hunter, it remains with it up to the next conflict; it cannot be placed again. A player may possess and bring into the game several clubs (in the same turn if desired). Each Hunter may have at the most one club.

The use of a club for a Hunter is:

• This Hunter survives the next conflict regardless, i.e. it is taken into account as concerns the limit of the region and the number of Hunters per player, but the Hunter is never removed under any circumstances.

Example: In one region 5 Hunters are permitted, however 7 Hunters actually stand there: 1 red (with club), 2 yellow as well as 4 blue. "Red" would have removed his Hunter first, being the weakest one, but since his Hunter carries a club, the Hunter stays. Thus "Yellow" removes one Hunter and afterwards "Blue" removes one. The limit is reached, the conflict ends.

• A Hunter with a club may never be moved, exchanged or removed by opposing players; however his owner may do so.

Instead of taking a club, the player may place a Mammoth from the general supply into any region and/or move a Mammoth on the board into a neighbouring region, should there be no more in the supply.

Cult card (light). The player chooses the action of one of the two cards which currently lie topmost on the discard piles. The player uses them as appropriate: if he selects the light card, he pays the appropriate stones and implements the action. If he selects the dark card, he takes the appropriate stones and the action can be implemented.

Note: The cult cards are placed under the appropriate discard pile after play, so that afterwards two "normal" cards are still topmost on the two discard piles. Therefore it can often happen that the same action is implemented several times one behind the other by several cult cards.

Example: The player plays a light cult card, pushes it under the light discard pile and implements the action of the dark card. He takes the number of stones indicated on the dark card from the "dark supply".

The Dark Playing Cards

Place-2 card (2 cards). The player to the left of the player who played, plays at his discretion, up to 2 Hunters in one or two regions. Subsequently, in turn the next player places two of his Hunters, etc.

Place-1 card (4 cards). Like the card before, only that each fellow player may place only 1 Hunter in turn.

Fire card (2 cards). The player determines a fellow player who may move a fire tile (for rules see the light fire card).

Remove-2 card (3 cards). The player chooses another player, who may remove any Hunters from the board up to a total of 2 (back into their owner's supply). Both Hunters may not come from a single player.

Remove-1 card (3 cards). Like the card before, except that the player may remove only one Hunter.

Mammoth-removal card (3 cards). The player chooses another player, who may take any Mammoth off the board and place it back into the general supply beside the board.

Club-or-move card (3 cards). The player chooses another player, who may take a club (for rules see the light club card) or may move up to 2 of his Hunters from any regions into any other regions.

Cult card (dark, 2 cards). The same rules apply as with the light cult cards, whereby the dark cult cards are naturally pushed under the dark discard pile after play.

Note: If a player has 8 or more stones in front of him, he may nevertheless play a dark cult card, but only if he chooses the discarded face-up light card!