Wondrous Creatures: Gargantuan Beasts Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Game Setup
• Solo Mode
• New Basic Action: Gain a Beast
• Advancing on the Beast Track
  • Examples of Advancing on the Beast Track
• Awakening the Beast
• Score Calculations
• Appendix: Beast Cards
  • 1. Auravias
  • 2. Cuatlui
  • 3. Gaiaraknae
  • 4. Magnificondor
  • 5. Poseidosaur
  • 6. Volkhan
  • 7. Yetidle
• Captain Boards
  • 10. Ashe, Keen Spectator
  • 11. Morgan, Mystics Enchanter
  • 12. Nathaniel, Determined Vanguard
  • 13. Rabell, Quick-witted Journalist
• Creature Cards

Components

A copy of Wondrous Creatures is needed to play this Expansion.

• 7 Beast Cards
• 4 Beast Trackers
• 14 Creature Cards
• 4 Captain Boards: Ashe, Morgan, Nathaniel and Rabell
• 4 Captains, all magnetic meeples

The Creature Cards and Captain Boards included in this Expansion are marked with the Gargantuan Beasts expansion icon.

Game Setup

1. Proceed with the preparation of the Base Game (see pages 4-6 of the Base Game rulebook), with the following exceptions:
   • During step 3 of the Base Game setup, shuffle the 14 Creature Cards included in this Expansion with the Base Game Creature Cards.
   • During step 14 of the Base Game setup, shuffle the 4 Captain Boards included in this Expansion with the Base Game Captain Boards.
2. Once the Base Game setup is completed, create a Beast Card Pool where it's visible to all players.
   • Draw 1 more Beast Card than the number of players and place them with the awakened side face-up.
   • Place the remaining Beast Cards back in the game box.

Beast Cards have an awakened side and a dormant side.

NOTE: All players can review the Dormant side of the Beast Cards at any time.

Variant Rule: Players lay out all the Beast Cards. Starting from the last player, in reverse order, each player picks one Beast Card to create a Beast Card Pool. After all players have made their choice, shuffle the remaining Beast Cards, draw 1 card randomly, add it to the Beast Card Pool, and return the rest to the game box.

3. Each player takes a Beast Tracker and places it next to their Player Board.

Solo Mode

• Set up the game as outlined earlier.
• You can use a Beast Card BUT Tingent does not use Beast Cards.
• If you incorporate Beast Cards into solo play, the difficulty level decreases by [difficulty icon, a star-shaped marker in the printed rulebook].
• When using either the Rabell or Morgan Captain Board, make sure to refer to the appendix (page 16, 18) before proceeding with the game.

TIP: Harnessing the abilities of Gargantuan Beasts demands various preparations, yet once unleashed, they wield immensely potent effects. To achieve victory with these formidable abilities, players will need to devise new strategies in order to fully utilize their Beast Cards.

New Basic Action: Gain a Beast

This Expansion introduces the new Basic Action "Gain a Beast". Since only 1 Basic Action can be performed per turn, the "Gain a Beast" Action cannot be performed on the same turn as other Basic Actions like "Place a Crew Member".

1. Payment: Hatch 4 Eggs from your reserve.
2. Placement: Choose a Beast Card from the Beast Card Pool and place it in your reserve with the Dormant side facing up.
   • Each player is limited to 1 Beast Card.
   • The Beast Card Pool is not refilled even after Beast Cards are acquired from the pool.
3. Beast Tracker Placement: Place your Beast Tracker on the first space of the Beast Track.
4. Unlock your Captain ability: If your Captain ability hasn't been unlocked yet, remove the Lock Token to unlock your Captain ability.

NOTE: With this Expansion, you can unlock your Captain ability not only by completing your first Achievement but also by gaining a Beast.

Advancing on the Beast Track

Taking a Beast through the "Gain a Beast" Action doesn't grant immediate access to the Beast's ability. To utilize the Beast's powers, you must advance on the Beast Track to the final space to awaken the dormant Beast. There are 3 ways to advance on the Beast Track.

1. Whenever you play a Creature Card with a species icon matching your Beast Card, the Beast Tracker advances by 1.
   • Gaining Eggs with the same species icon does not advance the Beast Tracker.
   • Playing a card with multiple species icons still only advances the Beast Tracker by 1.
2. Certain Creature Cards have the ability to advance the Beast Tracker, in which case you would advance on the track by 1. (These cards show the Advance on the Beast Track icon.)
3. Upon completing an Achievement, you can choose to advance on the Beast Track by 2 spaces instead of receiving an Achievement Marker Reward.

NOTE: With this Expansion, instead of obtaining an Achievement Marker Reward, you can choose to instantly gain 2 VPs OR advance on the Beast Track by 2 spaces.

Examples of Advancing on the Beast Track

You can advance on Yetidle's Beast Track when you play a Mammal Card or Insect Card. If you played Chimeetah, you advance on the Beast Track by 1 because you played a Mammal Card. Additionally, with the ability of Chimeetah, the Beast Track advances another space. Consequently, through Chimeetah, you have advanced the Beast Track by a total of 2 spaces. Playing a card with multiple species icons still only advances the Beast Track by 1. Therefore, if you played Dracougar, you'd advance on the Beast Track by 1, even though Dracougar has 2 Mammal icons.

Awakening the Beast

• Upon reaching the final space of the Beast Track, the Beast awakens instantly. Flip the Beast Card to its awakened side, unlocking the abilities of the Gargantuan Beast.
• Once your Beast has awakened, you can use the ability of your Beast.
• The species icons of an awakened Beast can be used in the same manner as the species icons on Creature Cards. Therefore, when completing Achievements or tallying the species in your reserve through Creature Card abilities, the species icons of the Beast Card are also taken into account.
• Once your Beast has awakened, you cannot progress on the Beast Track any further. Therefore, playing cards that can advance you on the Beast Track will not result in further interactions with the Beast Track.
• Beast Cards are not Creature Cards and do not fit into any specific classification of Creature Cards (Instant Card, Continuous Card, Recharge Card, Energy Card, End Card). Therefore, when counting Creature Cards, Beast Cards are not included.
  • E.g., by activating the Special Effect Icon on the right, you're able to activate 1 Recharge Card in your reserve. Since Beast Cards are not Recharge Cards, you are unable to activate the abilities of a Beast Card through the Special Effect Icon.
• Beast Cards are not classified as 'Energy Cards', and their Energy can never be restored.
• Nevertheless, similar to Creature Cards' Energies, Energies on the Beast Card can only be used once per turn.

Score Calculations

• Proceed with the score calculations of the Base Game (see page 20 of the Base Game rulebook).
• Afterwards, calculate the Ending Score of your Awakened Beast (see page 11).

Appendix: Beast Cards

Shared Rule

• At the end of the game, each Beast Card contributes to the Ending Score, determined by the specific species collected.
• E.g., Auravias awards 1 VP for any Bird and/or Fish icon in your reserve at the end of the game. Tally up the Fish and Bird icons on the Creature Cards in your reserve, Fish and Bird icons on Auravias, along with the Unhatched/Hatched Fish Eggs and Unhatched/Hatched Bird Eggs in your reserve.

1. Auravias

• Upon awakening this Beast, immediately take 2 Energies from the Supply and place them on this card.
• Discard 1 Energy from this card and 1 Net to activate one of the two abilities below:
  1. Select a card from the Wilderness and immediately play it to your reserve without paying its cost.
  2. Examine 4 cards from the deck, play 1 immediately to your reserve without paying its cost, and place the remaining 3 cards into the discard pile.
• Playing a card is the result of using the Energy, so it doesn't consume an Action.
• Since Beast Cards are NOT Energy Cards, its Energies cannot be restored.
• Auravias' ability doesn't trigger the effect of Fishorse (Card #76) or Draksid (Card #106) as it doesn't involve drawing cards or discarding cards from your hand.

2. Cuatlui

• Upon awakening this Beast, immediately take 2 Energies from the Supply and place them on this card.
• Discard 1 Energy from this card to activate one of the two abilities below:
  1. Discard cards from your hand, up to a maximum of 3. For each discarded card, gain 1 resource of choice and gain 1 VP. This allows you to gain a maximum of 3 resources and 3 VPs.
  2. Draw cards from the deck until your hand consists of 3 cards. For each drawn card, gain 1 resource of choice and gain 1 VP. This allows you to gain a maximum of 3 resources and 3 VPs.
• Since Beast Cards are NOT Energy Cards, its Energies cannot be restored.

3. Gaiaraknae

• Upon awakening this Beast, immediately gain 1 VP for each Egg in your reserve, counting both Hatched and Unhatched Eggs.
• Each time you gain an Egg and place it in the Egg storage, you receive the corresponding Egg storage rewards twice.
• E.g., if an Egg is placed in the "gain 1 resource of choice" slot, you would gain this reward twice, resulting in gaining 2 resources of choice.
• In the event of gaining an Egg when the Egg storage is full, you would gain 4 VPs instead of 2 VPs.

4. Magnificondor

• Each time you obtain a Trophy, choose one of the Achievement Marker Rewards you've previously gained to receive again.
• If this ability is triggered by completing an Achievement and receiving a Trophy, you are able to receive the Achievement Marker Reward earned THIS TURN once more. This is because you receive the Achievement Marker Reward before obtaining the Trophy (see page 15 of the base game rulebook).
• If you obtain a Trophy from the Score Track and haven't yet received any Achievement Marker Rewards, no effects occur.

5. Poseidosaur

• Whenever you play a Creature Card with a combined cost of 4 or more resources (Fruit, Coral, Flower, Mushroom), you receive a 1-resource discount and immediately gain 1 VP.
• Even if you play a card at a cost lower than its original value due to the discount or other abilities, as long as the card's initial cost is 4 or more, you receive the 1-resource discount.
• E.g., Sandraco has a cost of 4 Flowers. The card's ability provides a discount based on the number of Flower Habitat Icons in your reserve. Suppose you have 3 Flower Habitat Icons in your reserve. To play Sandraco, you would typically pay 1 Flower through Sandraco's ability. However, with Poseidosaur awakened, you also receive a discount on the remaining 1 resource through the Beast's ability. Therefore, you play Sandraco at no cost, gain 1 VP through Poseidosaur's ability, and gain 3 VPs through Sandraco's ability.
• If the discount exceeds the card's cost, the remaining balance is null.

6. Volkhan

• Upon completing a Main Achievement, instantly gain 1 VP for each Habitat Icon you've collected the most of in your reserve.
• E.g., if you have 1 Fruit Habitat Icon, 2 Coral Habitat Icons, 3 Flower Habitat Icons and 5 Mushroom Habitat Icons in your reserve, you immediately gain 5 VPs (5 Mushroom Habitat Icons) upon completing a Main Achievement.
• If you have 2 or more Habitat Icons tied for the highest count, of those, select 1 Habitat Icon to apply the ability.
• This effect does not apply when completing Single-Species or Multi-Species Achievements.

7. Yetidle

• Even with only 2 Crew members placed on the Map, you can execute the Recharge Action. In such cases, retrieve both Crew members from the Map as you would in a regular Recharge Action. Regardless of whether there is a Captain and a regular Crew member on the map or if there are two regular Crew members on the map, the Recharge Action is still possible.
• If desired, you can execute the Recharge Action when all 3 of the Crew members are on the Map.
• When you perform a Recharge Action, activate the effects of all Recharge Cards once more. In other words, all Recharge Cards are triggered twice during your Recharge Action.
• When activating the effects of Recharge Cards during Recharge, activate 1 Recharge Card twice in succession before moving on to another Recharge Card.
• When activating Recharge Cards through Creature Card abilities, Captain abilities, or Special Effect Icons, the effects activate only once, as usual.

Captain Boards

10. Ashe, Keen Spectator

• When Ashe's ability is unlocked, immediately take 1 Energy from the Supply and place it on its Captain Board.
• When placing Ashe on the Map, place 1 Energy on its Captain Board. There is no limit to the number of Energies that can be placed this way.
• You CANNOT restore Energies on the Captain Board through card abilities or Achievement Marker Rewards.
• Discard the Energy(ies) on this Captain Board to activate one of the two abilities below:
  1. Discard 1 Energy from the Captain Board to take the topmost exposed card from the discard pile and add it to your hand.
  2. Discard 2 Energies from the Captain Board to take the topmost exposed card from the discard pile, add it to your hand, and gain 1 Habitat Resource of the added card.

11. Morgan, Mystics Enchanter

• If Morgan is placed adjacent to another player's Crew member, replicate and use their Captain ability.
• Morgan doesn't necessarily have to be placed adjacent to another player's Captain; being adjacent to a regular Crew member is enough to activate the Captain's ability.
• If Morgan is adjacent to Crew members of multiple players simultaneously, select one to replicate and use their Captain ability.
• Even if the adjacent player's Captain ability has not been unlocked, you can still replicate and use their Captain ability.
• Replicating and using another player's Captain ability does not grant you access to that player's cards, Energies, or resources. E.g., if you are adjacent to Cabot and choose to replicate Cabot's ability, you can activate 1 Recharge Card in YOUR reserve. It doesn't activate the Recharge Card in the replicated player's reserve.
• You cannot replicate rewards from unlocking another Captain ability in any situation.
• Specific Examples:
  • To replicate and use Helena's ability, Morgan must be placed on Mountain(s) while simultaneously being adjacent to the player using Helena. If you replicate Helena's ability and place Morgan adjacent to Helena AND on the Mountain(s), you don't need to pay the cost of entering the Mountain(s) as Helena can be placed on the Mountain(s) for free.
  • When you replicate Freya's ability, you can only acquire Eggs adjacent to Morgan, not Freya.
• When you replicate the Captain ability that gains Energies (Tingent, Ashe, Nathaniel), take 1 Energy from the Supply and place it on Morgan's Captain Board. To utilize Energies, Morgan needs to be placed adjacent to a player capable of using Energies (Tingent, Ashe, Nathaniel).
• When you replicate Rabell's ability, you can only replicate the Eggs of players adjacent to Morgan, not Rabell. If Morgan is adjacent to Rabell, you can choose to replicate Rabell's last Egg.
• Using Morgan as the Captain in Solo Mode:
  • Additional Game Setup: Randomly select 2 Captain Boards and place them next to the Tingent Board.

12. Nathaniel, Determined Vanguard

• When Nathaniel's ability is unlocked, immediately take 1 Energy from the Supply and place it on its Captain Board.
• When placing Nathaniel on the Map, place 1 Energy on its Captain Board. There is no limit to the number of Energies that can be placed this way.
• You CANNOT restore Energies on the Captain Board through card abilities or Achievement Marker Rewards.
• Discard the Energy(ies) on this Captain Board to activate one of the two abilities below:
  1. Discard 1 Energy from this Captain Board to gain 1 resource of your choice.
  2. Discard 3 Energies from this Captain Board to play 1 card from your hand to your reserve without paying its cost. Since playing the card is the result of using Energies, it doesn't consume an Action.

13. Rabell, Quick-witted Journalist

• If Rabell is placed adjacent to another player's Crew member, gain an Egg from the Supply matching the last Egg in that player's reserve and add it to your reserve.
• If Rabell is adjacent to Crew members of multiple players simultaneously, select one player and gain an Egg matching their last Egg.
• Using Rabell as the Captain in Solo Mode: If Rabell is adjacent to any of the Tingent's Meeples, select 1 Egg that Tingent has collected so far and gain the same species Egg from the Supply. If Tingent does not have any Eggs, no effect occurs.

Creature Cards

Creature Cards 127 to 140 are included in this Expansion. Each card's printed ability is listed below.

• 127. Ghostopaz: If there's a dormant Beast in your reserve, advance on the Beast Track by one space. Choose 1 of the three Habitat Tiles in the Habitat Tile Pool and activate its Special Effect Icon. If, during the same turn, the Habitat Tile that was activated through Ghostopaz's ability is placed adjacent to any of your Crew members on the Map as a reward from the Score Track, you are still able to use a Butterfly Net to activate the Special Effect Icon of that Habitat Tile again.
• 128. Tombastion: When this card is played, receive a 1-resource discount for each Habitat Icon with the highest count in your reserve. E.g., if your reserve has 1 Fruit Habitat Icon, 4 Coral Habitat Icons, 4 Flower Habitat Icons, and 2 Mushroom Habitat Icons, you receive a 4 resource discount for playing this card. If the discount exceeds the card's cost, the remaining balance is null. Count only the Habitat Icons before playing this card, so the Mushroom Habitat Icon on this card does not count. Afterwards, gain 3 VPs, and if there's a dormant Beast in your reserve, advance on the Beast Track by one space.
• 129. Chimeetah: Gain 1 resource of your choice. If there's a dormant Beast in your reserve, advance on the Beast Track by one space.
• 130. Kangigan: Immediately activate all Recharge Cards in your reserve in your preferred order. Then, gain 1 VP for each Recharge Card in your reserve.
• 131. Duossarie: Each time an End Card is played to your reserve, gain 1 Habitat Resource of that card.
• 132. Watparet: Choose 1 card from the Wilderness and add it to your hand. If any of the species on that card matches the species of your dormant Beast, advance on the Beast Track by one space.
• 133. Alarmomba: If you have an awakened Beast in your reserve, play this card to your reserve without paying its cost. If your Beast is dormant, pay its cost to play this card and advance on the Beast Track by one space.