March of the Ants: Minions of the Meadow Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Expansion Overview
  • Where to Start
  • Variants
• Game Components
• Base Expansion
  • Setup
  • Major Workers
    • Major Worker Abilities
    • Major Worker Ability Example
  • Tactics
    • Tactic Results
    • Tactic Rules
    • Tactic Card Anatomy
• Aphids
  • Aphid Hexes
  • Herding
  • Farming
  • Breeding
  • Devour
  • Specialized Collection Sites
    • Specialized Site Diagram
  • Aphid and Major Worker Movement
    • Ant Movement Diagram
• Parasites
  • Parasitic Evolution Cards
    • Parasite Card Example
• Predators
  • Health Track
  • Battling Predators
    • Predator Icons
  • Cordyceps Fungus
    • Cordyceps Fungus Diagram
• Against the Broodmother: Solo/Co-op
  • Difficulty Chart
  • Nymph Rules
  • Broodmother Reactions
  • Broodmother Machinations Track
  • Slumber and Scoring
  • Nest of Centipedes
  • Solo Game Additional Rules
• Broodmother Asymmetrical Play Variant
• Eve of the Antperium (3 - 4 Players)
  • Playing
  • Explore
  • Slumber and Scoring
  • Card Changes
• Drafting Variants
• Symbiote Tokens
• Flooded Spring
• Seasons
• Clarifications

Expansion Overview

Welcome to Minions of the Meadow, the first expansion for March of the Ants. This expansion includes a base set of Major Workers and expansion cards, as well as three distinct modules that add unique flavor and mechanics to the game. If you have not played March of the Ants, we highly recommend playing the base game several times before adding the expansion.

• Base Expansion - Includes Major Workers, Tactics and cards.
• Aphids - Find and herd aphids to create bountiful harvests.
• Parasites - Play these evolutions onto other colonies to harm them and benefit yourself.
• Predators - Send fearsome Predators to attack your opponents.

Where to Start

All three modules are designed to be played in conjunction, but we recommend you start by adding the Aphids Module to the base expansion. In subsequent games add Parasites, or Predators, or both. Once your group has familiarized itself with the modules you may choose to play with any combination you like.

Variants

In addition to the three modules, Minions of the Meadow includes multiple play variants that can be added to the game. We recommend playing with the modules first, before adding any of the variants.

Game Components

• 36 Ant Cards
• 5 Major Worker Nest Extensions
• 10 Major Workers
• 36 Aphids
• 4 Aphid Hexes
• 2 Player Aids
• 1 Enclave of the Empress Hex
• 15 Symbiote/Ant Tokens
• 5 Predator Meeples
• 5 Predator Info Cards
• 1 Solo/Co-op Play Mat
• 1 Flooded Spring Hex
• 8 Season Cards
• 9 Flood/Spore Tokens

Base Expansion

Setup

To play with the base expansion, give each player a Major Worker nest extension and two Major Workers in their player color. Remove all module cards (the aphid, parasite and predator symbols) from modules that you are not using. Shuffle the remaining expansion cards into the main ant deck.

Major Workers

Major Workers are an upgraded ant caste that gains abilities as players evolve their ants. To create a Major Worker, players choose the Breed action.

Breed (costs two larvae and/or ants): Place a Major Worker into any hex you inhabit.

Reaction: Each other player may choose any one reaction. (They may choose from the reactions to Explore, March, Forage, or Play a Card.)

Major Worker Abilities

Major Workers start with the Rally ability and can gain up to three additional abilities when body segments are evolved. Note that many of the Major Workers' abilities require that they, or an ant from their colony, inhabit the hex.

Rally: At the beginning of the Soldier Phase you may place two larvae into each contested hex you inhabit where you have a Major Worker.

Evolved Head - Push: When a Major Worker moves during a March action, it may, after all steps have been taken, push an ant into a connected hex and inhabit the collection site the ant previously inhabited. Ants on control sites and Major Workers cannot be pushed. The player who controls the Major Worker chooses which hex to push the ant into.

Evolved Thorax - Scout: After a player Explores with a Major Worker, that player may reveal an additional hex and connect it to the explored hex. The Major Worker must move into that hex. A Scout action is only triggered by the Explore action. It does not count as an Explore action for bonuses and abilities (for instance, A Queen's Journey or Harvesting Thorax).

Evolved Abdomen - Populate: When a player Forages, they may place one larva per abdomen on their ant body into each hex they inhabit where they have a Major Worker.

A Major Worker counts as an ant for all other purposes. It requires one step to move, adds one to Army Strength in battle, counts as one ant during feeding. It may also herd aphids, and may be used to pay for card costs.

Major Worker Ability Example

The diagram in the rulebook shows five steps:

1. Push - The blue player, who has evolved a head evolution, takes a March action and moves their Major Worker pushing into the food collection site in Fungalreach.
2. Pushed - This site is already occupied by a red ant, so the blue Major Worker chooses to Push the red ant to Water's Edge.
3. Explore - The red player takes the Explore action, drawing Humus and moving in their Major Worker and one ant.
4. Scout - The red player has an evolved thorax, so is able to use the Scout ability to draw another hex. It is a Scout, and not an Explore, so only the Major Worker may move to the new hex.
5. Rally - Fungalreach is contested and the blue player inhabits a collection site. At the beginning of the Soldier Phase, the blue player may Rally, placing two larvae into Fungalreach.

Tactics

Tactics are a subtype of ant card. Tactics have no cost and can only be played during battle as the player's Ferocity card. Tactics add the Ferocity indicated on the card as well as an immediate Tactic Effect that takes place before the outcome of the battle is determined.

Tactic Results

Based on the outcome of the battle, the player may get an additional effect:

Event Tactics: Have a one-time effect and are then discarded.

Evolution and Colony Goal Tactics: If the player wins the battle they must play the card to their ant body or Colony Goal area at the end of the battle.

Tactic Rules

• The Invader's Tactic effects are resolved before the Defender's Tactic effects.
• If a Predator reveals a Tactic card it has no special effect and only counts the Ferocity.
• If a Tactic Evolution card is drawn by a card or hex effect that places it into a player's ant body, it has no Tactic effect.
• Tactics may be played as the result of card and hex abilities that allow you to play cards. All Tactics cards have a cost of zero (0).

Tactic Card Anatomy

The example card is the Tactic - Evolution card "Agile Thorax" (Nylanderia florencia):

1. No Cost: Tactics may only be played during battle or as the result of a card or hex effect.
2. Ferocity: added as well as the Tactic effect.
3. Tactic Effect: resolved before the outcome of Battle is determined. Printed text: "Move any of your ants that would be destroyed in this battle to an adjacent hex." The card also carries the printed reminder "Play only during battle. Gain this evolution if you win."
4. Evolution Ability: If the player wins the battle, this is the ability they gain from this evolution. Printed text: "When another player Marches, you may take one additional ant step."

Aphids

Resourceful workers notice the appearance of aphids and work to domesticate, herd, and harvest them. It is a time of increased prosperity and potential for all colonies.

Setup: To play with aphids, replace the standard starting hexes numbered 1-4 with the aphid hexes and add the seven cards with the aphid symbol. Place the aphid tokens next to the play area.

Aphid Hexes

Aphids enter play through placement of hexes with aphid symbols or by card effects. When a player places a hex with an aphid symbol, or places an aphid with a card action, they choose one collection site in the hex and place an aphid on it. When an ant inhabits a collection site containing an aphid, it will start herding the aphid.

Each collection site may contain only one aphid. If there are no available sites, a new aphid may not be placed.

Herding

Whenever an ant inhabits a collection site that has an aphid on it, or is already inhabiting the collection site at the time the aphid is placed, that ant will herd the aphid for as long as the herding player chooses. Herded aphids move with the ant herding them with no additional cost of steps.

Aphids will stay attached to an ant and will not occupy a collection site if the ant does not inhabit it. Herded aphids that are in the outskirts do not count toward harvest bonuses and do not breed.

If an aphid is left in the outskirts it will immediately move to an aphid-free collection site (chosen by active player). If no sites are available it will die.

Farming

During Harvest, players collect rewards from their farms based on the total number of herded aphids on collection sites in a hex. The reward depends on whether an aphid farm is controlled by a single player (their ants are herding all of the aphids in that hex) or the aphid farm is shared (two or more players are herding aphids in the same hex).

Aphids in hex	Single Player	Shared Farm
1	-
2	1 card	1 card
3	1 card and 1 Colony Point	1 Colony Point
4	3 Colony Points	1 card and 1 Colony Point

All players herding aphids collect the same reward from a shared hex, regardless of how many aphids they control in that hex.

Breeding

After Harvest, aphids will breed if there are collection sites in their hex that do not contain aphids. The controller of each hex containing at least one aphid places one new aphid into one of these collection sites. If there is no controller, the aphid is placed on the control site. Aphids may breed to specialized collection sites. Only one new aphid is placed in each hex.

Devour

Players may use two ant steps to eat an aphid in their herd. The player removes the aphid from the board and draws one card.

Specialized Collection Sites

Certain collection sites in Minions of the Meadow contain a body section icon. These represent resources more difficult to harvest.

To inhabit these collection sites, a colony must have two evolution cards in the indicated body segment.

A hex with a specialized collection site will be contested if there are two or more players' ants in the hex and there are any ants in the outskirts.

If an ant is in the outskirts and a player evolves the necessary evolutions, that ant will immediately inhabit the specialized collection site, if empty.

Specialized Site Diagram

1. Neither purple nor red has evolved their head twice, so their ants cannot inhabit the specialized collection site. The hex is still considered contested.
2. Blue has played two head evolutions, so their ant can inhabit the specialized collection site.
3. After red moves their ant out of the hex, purple still has an ant in the outskirts. The hex will be contested, even though purple cannot move to the specialized collection site inhabited by blue's ant.

Aphid and Major Worker Movement

With the addition of aphids and Major Workers, the movement of ants between collection sites within a single hex becomes important.

• Switching the locations of two ants within a hex costs one ant step.
• Exchanging an aphid between ants in the same hex costs one ant step.
• When an ant takes a step into or within a hex (or a larva is placed into a hex), it may displace any ant from its own colony for free, and that ant may immediately inhabit a new empty collection site in the hex.
• Ants may leave aphids behind in collection sites at any time.

Ant Movement Diagram

1. The red player uses one step to switch the location of their ant and Major Worker.
2. The purple player uses one step to move their aphid from the ant to the Major Worker. Both ants remain in their original collection sites.
3. The red player uses one step to move an ant from Stoney Mound to the control site in Lichen, displacing their Major Worker. Red moves the Major Worker to the double larvae site, and decides to leave behind the aphid—this does not cost a step. The ant moving into the control site begins herding the left-behind aphid.

Parasites

As the populations of the colonies expand at an exponential rate, new parasites emerge. Colonies, once solitary, are now vying for evolutionary niches and overlapping their neighbors. To survive in this new era, each colony is forced to adapt quickly to an ever-changing landscape.

Parasitic Evolution Cards

Setup: To play with Parasites, shuffle the six Parasitic Evolution cards (with the parasite symbol) into the ant deck.

Parasitic is a new sub-type of Evolution cards. They have a reddish infected tinge, Parasite reminder text, and a space where the Parasite's egg can be placed. These cards can only be played onto another player's ant body. The cards refer to the parasite and the host.

Parasite: The player who played the Parasite card places one egg onto the card to signify this.

Host: the player whose nest contains the Parasitic card.

Destroying a Parasite: When any Evolution is played directly on top of a Parasitic Evolution, discard the Parasitic Evolution.

Parasitic Evolutions function as Evolutions in all other ways. They grant caste bonuses, help form a fully evolved ant body, and can be drawn with most card and hex effects that refer to evolutions.

Parasitic Evolutions cannot be copied by the Mimic Evolutions. If a Parasitic Evolution is drawn with Adaptive Radiation, discard it and draw until you reveal another evolution.

Parasite Card Example

The example card is the Evolution - Incubator Head (Polycephalomyces cassotae), a Parasitic card with Ferocity 2. Its printed text reads: "Parasitic: Play only on another player. At the end of the Soldier Phase, the parasite may place up to two larvae into each hex where the host battled. If the host did not battle, the parasite gains one Colony Point."

Designers Note: The Predators and Parasites modules increase opportunities players have to affect each other and disrupt each other's plans. These modules introduce a bit of a "take that" element to the game, which may not be the right fit for all play groups.

Predators

The gentle thrum of harvesting ants is disrupted by panic. Distress pheromones fill the air. Ants run in all directions. A dark shadow falls over the ants. Clacking mandibles are heard... The Centipede Broodmother, Trapdoor Spider, Ladybug, Praying Mantis, and Cordyceps Fungi threaten the emerging colonies.

Setup: Add the three Predator cards (with the predator symbol) to the Ant deck. Randomly select two of the Predator information cards and return the others to the game box. Place these cards and the corresponding Predator meeples next to the play area. All players should familiarize themselves with the chosen Predators.

Any card that places Predators may also be used to place a centipede.

Health Track

Each Predator has a starting health equal to three times the Round number when it was summoned. (E.g. a Predator summoned on Round three would have nine Health.) This indicates the current health and Power Tier of the Predator. Predators gain abilities from their current Power Tier and all lower Power Tiers.

The Predator information card has three parts:

1. Rules: Special rules and abilities.
2. Power Tiers: Details battle prowess and special powers or effects. As a Predator is battled, its Health diminishes and so does its power.
3. Health Track: the Predator's current Health. Attach one of the plastic slider clips to the Health Track to track its health.

Battling Predators

Each Predator has its own abilities and battle rules, detailed on the Predator cards.

Players must choose whether to play their Ferocity card after the Predator reveals its first card. If a Predator will discard only a single card, players must choose before the Predator discards that card.

Casualties: Determine casualties the same as when battling ants. Reduce the Predator's Health Track by the number of casualties.

Predator Icons

• X (card with X): Discard X cards from the top of the deck, and total the Ferocity.
• X (ant silhouette): Add X to Army Strength.
• X (red mantis): Ants killed in Mantis strike.
• Spore token: A spore token.

Cordyceps Fungus

The Cordyceps Fungus card has the following printed text:

• When played, and at the start of each round, place spore tokens (based on tier) in the Cordyceps' hex.
• Ants can carry spore tokens, but die at the end of the turn.
• At the end of the Worker Phase, destroy all spore tokens not in the Cordyceps' hex and destroy 1 ant in each of those hexes.
• Cordyceps adds 1 card (discarded from the deck for Army Strength) in battle for each spore token in its hex.

Its Power Tiers follow the Health Track: Tier 1 (Health 1-4) places two spore tokens, Tier 2 (Health 5-8) places three, and Tier 3 (Health 9-12) places four.

Cordyceps Fungus Diagram

1. It's the 3rd Round, so when the Cordyceps is played, it has a Health of 9, and is in the 3rd Power Tier, so four spore tokens are placed in its hex.
2. The red player takes a March action, and spends one step to carry a spore token to Lichen.
3. The blue player cannot move the spore token with their reaction step, because the red ant is still carrying it.
4. At the end of red's turn, the ant carrying the spore is destroyed, leaving the spore token.
5. At the end of the Worker Phase the spore token in Lichen erupts, destroying itself and 1 ant in the hex. The spore tokens in the Cordyceps' hex do not erupt.
6. In the Soldier Phase, the Cordyceps has three spores in its hex, so will discard three cards from the deck to determine its Army Strength. It discards one card at the start of the battle. The purple player then chooses to discard a card. The Cordyceps discards two more cards.
7. The purple player wins and deals casualties to the Cordyceps equal to their Army Strength (2) reducing its Health to 7. The Cordyceps deals casualties equal to half its Army Strength.
8. All spore tokens are removed in Slumber. At the start of the Worker Phase the Cordyceps is Tier 2 so places three spore tokens in its hex.

Spoils: If a player wins a battle against a Predator, they gain one Colony Point. If a player reduces a Predator to zero Health, they gain a food and remove the Predator from the board. Return the card and Predator token to the game box, it cannot be played again that game.

Against the Broodmother: Solo/Co-op

In Chapter One, the ants repelled an invasion of the centipedes. Now the ants are scouring the meadow to destroy the Centipede Broodmother before she repopulates the Meadow with centipedes and strikes again.

Hexes: Randomly select five black-bordered hexes, shuffle in Nest of Centipedes and place the remaining black-bordered hexes on top. Add one aphid hex and one non-aphid starting hex per player.

Cards: Shuffle all cards with the green centipede icon together to make the Broodmother Deck. Shuffle the remaining cards to make the Ant Deck.

Setup: Each player starts the game with the same setup as in the standard competitive game. In a two-player game follow the two-player setup rules. The group receives 2 Initiative Tokens.

Difficulty Chart

The thresholds are the Plot threshold, the Colony Point threshold (crown icon) and the centipede threshold (green centipede icon).

Players	Thresholds (Plot / Colony Point / Centipede)	Easy Mode	Difficult Mode
1	3 / 12 / 7	+2 Larvae, +1 Initiative Token	-1 Initiative Token, -1 Card
2	5 / 16 / 8	+2 Cards each	No Initiative Tokens
3	6 / 18 / 9	+1 Initiative Token, +1 Card each	No Initiative Tokens
4	7 / 20 / 9	+1 Card each	No Initiative Tokens, -1 Card

Game End: The ants win if the Broodmother is destroyed. The ants lose immediately if there are more centipedes in the Meadow than the centipede threshold (green centipede icon) or the Broodmother's score is greater than every player's by the Colony Point threshold (crown icon).

Nymph Rules

As the ants venture to the frontier of the centipedes' lands they encounter nymphs: centipede young that occupy collection sites, rapidly hatch into adult centipedes, and motivate the centipedes in battle. Use the 5th player cubes (purple) as centipede nymphs.

• Nymphs inhabit collection sites, including specialized sites.
• Ants may "chase" nymphs from collection sites to other sites on the same hex. If there are no open sites, destroy the nymph instead. Ants cannot chase or destroy nymphs in hexes that contain a centipede.
• During battle, increase a centipede's size by one for each nymph in its hex. When a centipede is defeated, all nymphs in that hex are destroyed.
• The Major Worker's Push ability destroys a nymph instead of moving it.
• Nymphs destroy any aphids they share a collection site with.

Moulting: When a nymph moults it will change into a centipede if the hex does not already contain a centipede.

Only hexes with centipedes or Predators are contested.

Broodmother Reactions

After each player's turn the Broodmother will respond by drawing a centipede card and resolving the associated action.

Round Number Limit: The number of centipedes that can be placed during a single Spawn or Expand action cannot exceed the Round number. Nymphs will moult starting in the highest numbered hex.

Spawn - Event (38%): A nymph moults in each hex (up to the Round limit) that has nymphs equal to or greater than the card's Ferocity. Then place one nymph in each hex with an available collection site.

If an Event card results in no action (because all collection sites are full and no nymphs moult), the Broodmother will take the Expand action.

Expand - Colony Goal (22%): Reveal a hex and place it in the Meadow with one nymph on it. It must be placed in the Inner Meadow if possible (does not need to have connected tunnels). If it is a centipede hex, moult one nymph in each hex (up to the Round limit).

Plot - Evolution (40%): The Broodmother gains one Colony Point.

Initiative Tokens may be spent by the active player to cancel a Broodmother reaction after the card is revealed. This ends the Broodmother's turn.

Broodmother Machinations Track

Keep the Plot (Evolution) cards revealed by the Broodmother face up in a separate pile. When this pile has cards equal to the Plot Threshold specified on the difficulty chart, discard them, advance one level on the Machinations Track and take the action specified below. Use a nymph cube to mark her progress on the Machinations Track.

• Level 1: The Broodmother places two nymphs instead of one whenever it would place nymphs during an Expand or Spawn action.
• Level 2: The Broodmother summons a random Predator. Place it on the hex with the most ants. In case of a tie place it on the lower numbered hex.
• Level 3: The Broodmother immediately takes three Expand actions.

Slumber and Scoring

The Broodmother gains one Colony Point each time a centipede wins a battle. During Slumber the Broodmother gains one Colony Point for each centipede in the Meadow and one Colony Point for every two Inner Meadow hexes that contain at least one nymph.

Nest of Centipedes

When the Nest of Centipedes is discovered, take these steps, in addition to placing and moulting nymphs if it was revealed by a Broodmother Expand:

1. Broodmother Arises: Place the Broodmother on the Nest of Centipedes.
2. Reckoning: Discard the Plot pile. Cards are no longer added to the pile.
3. Broodmother Aggression: The Broodmother takes battle actions instead of regular actions.

Strike: Destroy ants in her hex equal to her Ferocity. If she doesn't destroy any ants, she Invades instead.

Invade: Place a nymph in the Great Tunnel. If there is already a nymph in the Great Tunnel, it moults instead.

Revel: The Broodmother gains one Colony Point.

Battling the Brood Mother: The Broodmother's size is increased by 1 for each nymph in her hex or in the Great Tunnel, and she discards one extra card for army strength for each other centipede in play.

Solo Game Additional Rules

Setup: After creating the hex deck remove the top three black-bordered hexes. Choose one of the remaining aphid hexes at random and place it connected to the Great Tunnel with three ants on it.

Starting resources: three larvae, two food, four cards, two Initiative Tokens.

During Slumber, the Broodmother scores one Colony Point for each Inner Meadow hex that contains a nymph (instead of every two).

Provision for War: When the Broodmother is revealed, take an immediate Royal Decree.

Broodmother Asymmetrical Play Variant

In this variant, one player takes on the role of the Centipede Broodmother and competes with the ant colonies for domination of the Meadow. The ant colonies are competing with each other, as well, and must choose when to work together against the Broodmother and when to focus on their own growth.

Setup: Follow normal setup rules for a competitive game. In a game with two ant players, use the two-player setup rules. Give the Centipede Broodmother play mat and the Asymmetric player aid (on backside of one Major Worker nest extension) to the Broodmother player.

Gameplay: Play is identical to a standard game of March of the Ants except for the actions that the Broodmother player may take.

Actions: On her turn, the Broodmother chooses between two options:

• Reveal the top card of the deck and resolve the corresponding Broodmother action.
• Pay 5 eggs: Choose one unlocked power.

If the Broodmother reveals a card from the deck it may spend two nymphs to discard it and reveal a new card.

Reactions: After each ant action the Broodmother chooses one of two options:

• Gain one egg.
• Move one nymph token up to two steps in the Meadow.

The Broodmother will follow all standard rules from the Solo/Co-op game, but is allowed to make placement decisions when placing hexes, Predators, centipedes and nymphs.

Powers: In each Queen Phase, the Broodmother may unlock a power, placing one egg from the supply on the box to indicate that it is now available to her.

• Machinate: Reveal the top card of the deck and resolve its action. Then look at the top five cards of the ant deck and put any number of them on the top or bottom in any order.
• Frenzy: Discard one additional card at the end of battle. (The cost must be paid before any battle cards are chosen).
• Advance: Take steps equal to the Round number +4 with nymphs and/or centipedes, then battle in one hex you contest.
• Infest: Moult one nymph into a centipede, then place nymphs equal to the Round number anywhere in the Meadow.
• Dominate: Expand the top hex from the hex stack, then look at the top three hexes and put any number of them on the top or bottom of the stack in any order.

End Game Bonuses: Ants receive the standard end game bonuses. The Broodmother receives 3 points if the Centipede Broodmother has not been found and defeated. The player, ant or Broodmother with the most Colony Points is the winner!

Eve of the Antperium (3 - 4 Players)

Setup: Place the Enclave of the Empress in the center, face down with one row of black-bordered hexes around it. Place the starting hexes as shown on the setup diagram. Use all aphid and non-aphid starting hexes.

Determine the starting player. In reverse player order, each player looks at and chooses a hex from the remaining starting hexes, and places it face up in one of the available starting areas with three larvae on it.

Each player places their wooden scoring disk on their starting hex to mark it as their Homeland. Each player uses a larva cube to track their score. (Shuffle the remaining black-bordered hexes to make the hex deck.)

Use the Setup Draft variant to draw cards.

Homeland: A player's starting hex is considered their Great Tunnel. These follow all the rules of the normal Great Tunnel. Players can always place larva onto their own Homeland, but not onto other players.

Playing

• When any Inner Meadow hex is explored, place a centipede on it.
• When the Enclave is explored, place the Centipede Broodmother on it.
• You may not Explore or Scout from a hex that contains a centipede.
• Centipedes in the Inner Meadow always discard three cards for Army Strength, whether or not the Broodmother is in the Meadow.

Explore

• When you Explore, you flip over a face-down hex adjacent to the hex you are exploring from.
• You may not Explore hexes outside of the starting hex ring.

The printed page shows two starting hex ring diagrams, labelled Four Player and Three Player.

Slumber and Scoring

• Control of the Enclave is worth two Colony Points.
• At the start of Slumber, the player who controls the Enclave chooses head, thorax or abdomen and discards cards from the deck until they reveal a non-parasite evolution of the type named and add it to their ant body.
• Control of hexes adjacent to the Enclave are worth two Colony Points.
• Control of any other hex is worth one Colony Point.

Card Changes

• Scouting Thorax: Reveal one card from the hex deck in addition to the hex you are exploring and choose between the two.
• Centipedes always battle players, even if a player has an effect that says otherwise (e.g. Traitorous Head).
• Pollinator Thorax allows you to explore any hex on the board except the Enclave.
• When you play A Queen's Journey and Into the Unknown, you place the hex in an empty space at the edge of the board. If there are no hexes left in the hex deck, these cards have no effect.
• Bound to the Past compares ants in each individual player's Homeland. Other cards that refer to the Great Tunnel affect the player who played the card's Homeland.
• Centipedes in the Inner Meadow may not be moved with Mysterious Hole.

Drafting Variants

To draft, deal the specified number of cards as indicated below. Then each player chooses one card from the cards dealt and passes the rest of their cards to the player on their left. Repeat this until all cards have been chosen.

Variant 1: Setup Draft - At the beginning of the game, players draft four cards. After drafting, each player keeps two cards as their starting hand, and the remaining cards are shuffled back into the deck.

Variant 2: Round Draft - At the start of each Worker Phase, players draft hands of five cards. After the draft, players keep two cards and discard the rest. The following rules apply to each Round except Autumn.

• During Harvest, do not draw cards from card collection sites. Instead, you may keep that many additional cards during the next Round's draft.
• Place cards harvested from aphid farms to the side of your play mat face down, and add them to your hand at the end of the next draft.
• At the end of each Slumber, all cards in hand are discarded.

Variant 3: Deck Draft

• At the start of each Worker Phase, players draft seven cards. After drafting, each player discards two cards and adds the rest to their personal deck, and shuffles their deck.
• Players draw two cards from their own deck at the start of the game.
• Players draw from their own deck and discard to the central discard pile. If their deck is empty, players draw from the central deck.

Symbiote Tokens

At the beginning of the game, each player takes the Symbiote tokens of their color. During each Slumber, besides Autumn, players may exchange one Symbiote token of their choice, face down, with each player they share at least one hex with. Each Symbiote token grants a caste bonus as if it was an evolution of the appropriate type:

• Heads grant one additional army size.
• Thoraxes grant one additional step when Marching.
• Abdomens allow you to feed one additional ant per food.

Symbiote tokens do not count toward complete evolutions, Major Worker abilities or specialized collection sites.

At the beginning of each battle, players return any Symbiote tokens they share with the player they are battling. At the end of the game, players gain one point for each Symbiote token they have received from another player.

Flooded Spring

To play with Flooded Spring include it as a Beyond the Meadow Hex following the rules of the base game.

Seasons

This variant adds in the Season cards which create a global effect at the start of each Round. To play with Seasons, randomly select two Early Seasons and two Late Seasons and combine them face down with the Early Seasons on top to create the Seasons Deck.

At the start of each Round reveal the top card of the Seasons deck. Each Season will affect the game until the next Season card is drawn. Season cards affect the game in a variety of ways, enhancing specific actions, gaining resources, altering how points are allocated, etc.

Clarifications

• Broodmother: Counts as a centipede for Traitorous Head/Cult of the Enemy. Cannot be placed by Hunting Centipedes or moved by Mysterious Hole.
• Herd Omen: In case of a tie, the player who played Herd Omen chooses where to place the Predator.
• Ladybug: If there is a tie for the hex with the most aphids, the Ladybug moves to the lower numbered hex. The player who plays the Ladybug chooses which aphid to consume in the hex it is placed in.
• Mantis: When the Mantis strikes at the start of the Soldier Phase, it destroys "X" ants of each nest present in that hex.
• Mating Flight: Major Workers and ants with aphids may be moved with Mating Flight.
• Xenophobic Tribe: You still count hexes where you inhabit all of the collection sites, even if a Minim ant is sharing one of those collection sites.
• Agile Thorax/Camouflage Head: If a higher numbered hex becomes contested as a result of ant movement during the Soldier Phase, a battle will take place in that hex.
• Trapdoor Spider: When at Tier 3, Major Workers in that hex cannot use their abilities, as they cannot inhabit collection sites. When the Spider is destroyed, it kills half of the ants of the player that destroyed the Spider.
• Echoing Thorax: All resting resources that the parasite collects are added to their rest track.
• Minim Thorax: The Minim player alone may initiate sharing by moving their ant to an already inhabited collection site.