Wilderness Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• The Goal of the Game
• Preparations
• The Course of the Game
  • Description of a Round
  • The Health Boards
• Actions
• Revealing the Board
• The Compass
• Lost
• The Animals
• Nature's Turn
• The Event Cards
• The Weather Cards
• The Sickness Cards
• The End of the Game

Components

• 1 rule book
• 8 landscape tiles
• 8 landscape areas: 1 village and 7 extra terrain areas
• 2 corner tiles for the gaming board (with reference sheet and compass)
• 8 health boards
• 24 health markers
• 12 wooden figures: 8 characters and 4 animals
• Stickers (for the figures)
• 54 Event cards
• 27 Weather cards (+1 time marker)
• 27 Sickness cards
• 2 dice
• 8 player markers

Landscape tiles — Contains 21 terrain areas (see page 5).

Village & extra terrain — that comes into play through Event cards.

Corner tiles — The compass is frequently used to randomize directions.

Health boards — Keep track of each player's thirst, hunger and exhaustion.

Wooden figures — 8 characters and 4 animals: 2 wolves, 1 snake, and one bear.

Event cards — Choose from two different effects.

Weather cards — Keep track of time and weather in the game.

Sickness cards — Draw when you enter a swamp.

The Goal of the Game

The Wilderness board game is all about surviving in the wild, long enough to reach the village at the far end of the game board. The player who reaches the village first - or the last remaining survivor - has won the game.

Preparations

1. Shuffle the landscape tiles and place 6 of them face down in a row as the image shows. For a shorter game you use only 4 tiles, and for a longer game you use all 8. Put the tiles not used back into the box without looking at them.

2. Place the corner tiles and the village. The village should be placed in the corner of the game board next to the corner tile with the compass, with its water sides away from the board.

3. Each player chooses a health board and the corresponding figure. Take three markers for each health board and place a marker at the starting position (third from left) on the tracks for thirst, hunger, and exhaustion.

4. Randomly select a player to start the game by using the player markers.

5. Turn the first landscape tile up and place your figures in the area farthest from the village. The other tiles are as yet unexplored but will be turned up as you reach them.

6. Place the animals and the dice next to the game board. If the first landscape contains a lair (see page 8), place the corresponding animal in it.

7. Shuffle the Event cards and let each player draw 3 of them. Place the rest of the Event deck next to the game board with some space next to it for discarded cards.

8. Shuffle the Sickness cards and place the deck on the table with some space next to it for discarded cards.

9. Shuffle the Weather cards and turn up the first card to represent the first day. Read the instructions on the card and place a time marker on the first square. Now the game can begin with the first player's turn.

The Course of the Game

Description of a Round

During a round each player will have a turn with the opportunity to move, drink water, search for food, sleep, or rest. When all players have completed their turns there is an extra turn called Nature's turn. On that turn all players get hungrier, thirstier, and more exhausted. During the game you try to improve your health on your turn, while during Nature's turn it gets worse. After Nature's turn a new round starts. Every round represents 4 hours in real life, so that 6 rounds is a full 24 hour day. You keep track of each day on a Weather card, read more on page 9.

The Health Boards

On the health boards you keep track of how thirsty, hungry, and exhausted you are. You have a marker for each of these parameters that starts third from the left at the beginning of the game (marked with *). During the game the markers will move back and forth. As you may have already noticed there is a skull at the far right on the exhaustion track, but not on the tracks for thirst or hunger. In this game you do not die from hunger or thirst, but hunger and thirst will exhaust you. If you are exhausted enough to land on the skull, your character dies and you lose the game. In that case you lay your figure down on the game board to show that it is dead and you are no longer allowed to play any Event cards or take any actions in the game.

Thirst: This track shows how thirsty you are. In each square there is a number that shows how many extra steps your exhaustion will be moved because of your thirst. The higher the number is, the faster you get exhausted. Your thirst will be increased during each of Nature's turns. Your thirst can also be increased by moving into desert in daylight or by Event cards. To reduce your thirst you need to drink. This will be covered on page 6.

Hunger: In the same way as thirst, hunger will cause you to get more exhausted. Hunger is also increased during Nature's turn and can be affected by Event cards. To reduce your hunger you need to search for food. That is covered on page 6.

Exhaustion: This track is a little different from the other two. This parameter shows how much energy you receive at the start of each turn. At the start of the game you receive 6 energy per turn. When you become more exhausted your energy will be less (going to 5, 4, and 3 before you die). Secondly, the exhaustion track is affected differently from thirst or hunger. During Nature's turn you will move this track after you have moved your thirst and hunger tracks, and you increase your exhaustion 1 step plus the number on the thirst track and the number on the hunger track. A thirsty or hungry player will get tired much faster than a player that is not. At the start of the game you have 0 thirst and 0 hunger, and therefore you will only increase exhaustion 1 step during Nature's turn. But if you had 2 thirst and 1 hunger, you would instead increase exhaustion 4 steps to the right (1 for the turn, 2 for thirst, and 1 for hunger). To reduce your exhaustion you need to rest or sleep, which will be covered on page 7.

Example 1: On Nature's turn Purple player increases his thirst one step and now has 1 thirst. He then increases his hunger and has 2 hunger. He now has to move his exhaustion 4 steps to the right: 1 for the turn, +1 for his thirst and +2 for his hunger.

Example 2: Yellow player sleeps on his turn to reduce exhaustion 4 steps. During Nature's turn thirst and hunger increase 1 step each. Then exhaustion increases by 3 steps; 1 for the turn, +1 for thirst, and +1 for hunger. In the end he only got 1 step of exhaustion back.

Increase - means to move your marker to the right on your health board. Reduce - means to move your marker to the left. Restore - means to move your marker to the first square (far left) on the track.

Actions

At the start of your turn you check the exhaustion track to see how much energy you have to spend during your turn. This energy you can use to do a number of different actions or combinations of actions. These actions are to move, search for food, drink, rest and sleep.

- Move: You always use energy to move into a new area, and most effects associated with the areas happen as you move into them. Here follows a description of how much energy you must spend to move into the different areas and what effect they have.

In this game an Area is defined as a single hexagon on the board. A landscape tile contains 21 areas. Each single area is in reality about 6 kilometres in width. That would be about 35 km² of terrain. That is why players can be in the same area without meeting each other.

Grassland – 2 energy. You may search for food in this area.

Rocky Area – 2 energy. You cannot search for food in this area.

Desert – 2 energy. You cannot search for food in this area. When you move into a desert area during a round of daylight you increase your thirst 1 step. You do not receive extra thirst for staying in a desert area, only for moving into it.

Forest - 3 energy. You may search for food in this area.

Swamp – 3 energy. You may search for food in this area. When you move into a swamp area you draw a Sickness card and follow the instructions on it. You do not receive any extra Sickness cards for staying in a swamp area, only for moving into it.

Mountain – 4 energy. You cannot search for food in this area.

Lake Area – You cannot move into a lake area (except with the Event card "Raft").

River – +2 energy. The rivers are placed between areas and do not count as areas themselves. When there is a river between 2 areas, you need to spend 2 extra energy to cross. For example, moving over a river and into a forest would cost 5 energy.

The Tribe - 3 energy. You may search for food here. During Nature's turn, at the same time that you move the animals, you roll a die for each player standing in this area. If you roll a 2 or higher you reduce your thirst and hunger 2 steps each. But if you roll a 1 the natives turn against you! They attack using the same rules as for animal attacks (you may also play Event cards that affect animal attacks). The rules for animal attacks are found on page 8. Once the Tribe has turned against a player it will continue to attack every turn that player stands in that area. The natives cannot be defeated; if player rolls higher nothing happens.

The Village - 3 energy. If a person moves into the village and stays there until the end of his turn, he wins the game. There is a small chance that when you move into the village you can be removed by Event cards played by other players. If this happens, it is not a victory.

Example: Black player starts his turn with 6 energy. He moves into a grassland (2 energy) and then to a forest (3 energy). He has 1 energy left, but no action costs only 1 energy, and so he loses it and finishes his turn. Purple player also starts with 6 energy. He moves into a mountain area (4 energy) and into a grassland area (2 energy).

- Search for Food: If you stand in a grassland, forest, or swamp area, you may spend 4 energy to search for food. If you do, roll 2 dice to see what happens:

If any of the dice shows a 1 you get lost and lose your turn. See page 8.

If none of the dice shows a 1 you add the numbers together and reduce your hunger by that amount. For example, if you roll a 4 and a 2 you reduce your hunger 6 steps. But if you roll a 6 and a 1 you get lost without finding any food. You may not search for food during the night.

- Drink Water: When you are in an area with one of its sides touching a river or lake area you may drink. This costs no energy and completely restores your thirst. Since it costs no energy you may drink water even if you sleep. In the example above Black and Purple player are both able to drink during their turns.

- Rest: You may spend 2 energy to rest. This reduces your exhaustion 1 step.

- Sleep: You may spend your entire turn to sleep. If you do, you may not use any energy this turn (but you may still drink water) and you reduce your exhaustion 4 steps. Note that you will still increase exhaustion during Nature's turn.

Revealing the Board

When the game starts, all but one of the landscape tiles are turned face down. A face-down landscape tile is turned up when a player reaches an area adjacent to it. If the player still has energy after the tile is turned face up, he may continue his turn. When a landscape tile is turned up, it should be turned as the image shows (along a north-south axis).

Example: In this example Green player moves to the top area bordering two new landscape tiles. Both are turned up as the image shows. Green player may continue his turn after turning up the tiles.

The Compass

During the course of the game there is often a need to randomize a direction. This can be a result of Event cards, or because someone gets lost, or that the animals are moving. There are six different directions in the game, since each area has six sides. Every time you have to randomize a direction you spin the compass. The compass has to make at least 1 complete spin to be accepted, in order to avoid cheating. When you randomize a direction there are a few rules to remember:

1: You may not move any figure outside the game board.

2: You may not move any figure into a lake area.

3: If any figure cannot move where the needle points, he will stay in the same area. You don't re-spin the needle. (If he is lost, he still loses his turn. See below.)

4: There are two additional rules for animals moving randomly; animals may not move into the tribe or the village, and they may not move into a face-down landscape tile.

5: If a player is moved into an area with special effects, these will still affect the player, even if the move was not voluntary. If a player is moved into a desert during daylight his thirst will increase, and if a player is moved into a swamp he receives a Sickness card.

6: A random movement does not cost any energy.

(Note: The numbers from 1 to 6 on the compass represent the different directions and may be used to randomize the direction with a six-sided die instead of spinning the compass.)

Lost

When a player gets lost that player loses the rest of his turn (he may not do any more actions, including drinking) and is moved to a randomized adjacent area, using the compass. It is possible to be moved to an area that you don't have energy enough to reach. For example, you could be moved over a river into a mountain area even if you normally would not have the energy to get there.

The Animals

There are four areas in the game that have a symbol of an animal (2 wolves, 1 snake and 1 bear). These areas are the starting locations (lairs) of the animals. When a landscape tile that has a lair is turned face up, the corresponding animal is placed in that area. The animals are dangerous and will attack the players if they get too close. During Nature's turn the animals are moved according to these rules:

1. If there are one or more players in the same area as the animal it will stay there and attack one of them (if there are several players, use the player markers to randomly choose one to be attacked).
2. If there are no players in the same area, but one or more players are in an adjacent area, then the animal will move there and attack one of the players (if there is more than one adjacent player, randomly choose one).
3. If there are no players in the same area or in an adjacent area, the animal will move to a randomly selected adjacent area, using the compass. If the compass indicates a movement off the board, to a face-down landscape tile, or into a lake, tribe, or village, the animal does not move.

When an animal attacks this is called an animal attack. In an animal attack, another player will roll two dice for the animal and the attacked player will roll one die. Then you compare the results. If the player got the highest result you remove the animal from the game and the player gets to restore all of his hunger. If the result is equal, nothing happens. If the animal gets the highest score the attacked player will increase his exhaustion with a number equal to the difference between the results. There are also other events in the game that count as animal attacks. That means that Event cards referring to animal attacks can be used in those situations too.

Nature's Turn

When all players have finished their turns, "Nature" will take a turn before the players proceed to the next round. What happens during Nature's turn is shown on the scroll to the left. The player taking the last turn could be responsible for handling Nature's turn, or one of the players who has played the game before. If the time marker is on the last night round you must draw a new Weather card before proceeding. Read more about this below.

Nature's turn:

1. All players increase their thirst and hunger one step.
2. All players increase their exhaustion.
3. Move the animals.
4. Move the time marker on the Weather cards.

The Event Cards

At the start of the game all players receive 3 Event cards plus the number of Event cards stated on the first Weather card. During the course of the game you will receive more Event cards every new day, as new Weather cards are turned up. When instructed to 'draw a card', you draw an Event card unless another type of card is specified. A player may look at his cards but should not show them to the other players. Each Event card has two options, the first option is a good effect that will help yourself, the second option underneath is a negative effect that you can play to hinder your opponents. When you play Event cards you may only use one of the effects on it. So if you choose the negative effect for an opponent you will lose the good effect that you could have had and vice versa. Event cards may be played at any time if not specified otherwise on the card itself.

PS. Wilderness is not designed to be stressful. If somebody begins his turn and moves his figure, and someone then realises he wanted to play an Event card with the text "Play at the beginning of a player's turn", then this should be allowed, unless something special has happened during the turn that makes it difficult to go back a few steps, for example if someone has rolled a die for any reason, got lost, received a Sickness card, or turned up a new landscape tile.

The Weather Cards

The Weather card describes a 24 hour day and how its weather affects the game. A Weather card normally has 4 rounds of daylight and 2 rounds of night. When the game starts the first Weather card is turned face up and the time marker is placed on the first square of that day. The square where the time marker is will show whether the round is a round of daylight, of night, or a special round described on the Weather card. A round of daylight (the bright squares) follows the normal rules. A special round (marked by a star in the square) follows the rules that are printed on the Weather card. These special rules therefore do not apply to every round, but only to the marked ones.

A round of night (the dark squares) differs from daylight in two ways:

1. During night you are not allowed to search for food.
2. During night you must roll a die before each move into a new area, to see if you find your way. If you roll a 4 or higher the move is made as usual, and you may try to move again, but if you roll a 3 or lower you get lost (see page 8).

During each of Nature's turns the time marker is moved one step to the right. When the time marker is on the last square of a day and is about to be moved again, a new Weather card is drawn and placed beside the first one to form a time line. Move the time marker to the first square on the new card and read its effect.

The Sickness Cards

These cards are drawn by a player that moves into a swamp, or is affected by certain Event cards. When someone receives a Sickness card, that person draws the top card of that deck and reads it aloud. Many Sickness cards are placed on the table in front of the player and will be in effect until they are discarded, which is specified on the card.

The End of the Game

There are two ways to win the game. These are:

1. If a player stands in the village after the end of his turn, then that player has won the game. This happens even if more players could have entered the village during the same round. It is an advantage to go first. If for some reason more than one player arrive at the same time (for example by using the Event card "Companion"), then both players win the game.
2. If all players except one die, then that player is the winner and the game is over.

Good luck surviving in the wilderness!