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Official Game Rules
Game SetUp
Place the Board in the center of the table. The starting player is chosen by a roll of the dice. The player with the highest die is the first player.
Beginning with the first player, each player chooses an Avatar for their herd, and takes the associated Player Board.
Every player starts with a herd of 500 wildebeest. These 500 wildebeest are never lost.
In otherwords, all players end the game with at least 500 wildebeest.
Herd tokens are kept on the right side of the card. Victory points are kept on the left side of the card. At the beginning of the game, the Heavy Rain Seasonal Card Deck is shuffled and dealt to the players.
2 players, nine cards
3-4 players, seven cards
5-6 players, five cards
At the beginning of their first turn, all players place their avatars on the S start node.
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Object of the Game
The object of the game is to gain the greatest number of victory points.
Points may be gained by:
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| 1. Primary Pastures
| When a player moves their herd to the favored grazing areas, they take all of the victory points at that location. These areas are indicated by the numbers 1, 2, 3 & 4 in each quadrant, indicating the point value of each pasture.
Once the points are taken, they are not replenished. However, players may take the points from multiple pastures.
The player must stay on the node, 'eating the grass', at the end of their turn and lose any remaining movement capacity.
On subsequent turns, players may take the additional points from multiple pastures. When exiting the pasture, the movement cost is that which is indicated by the destination.
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| 2. End of Season Goals
| Players earn additional points at the end of each season for the largest herd, the most diverse herd, the most juveniles and the most zebras.
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| 3. Card Points
| In addition, there are special cards in the deck by which players may earn points.
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Seasonal SetUp
The game is divided into four seasons: Hot Dry, Heavy Rain, Cool Dry and Light Rain. The color of the card decks and grazing areas correspond to the colors for the seasons. The first season is the Heavy Rain Season.
At the beginning of each season, place the Victory Points for the season on the appropriate nodes, including those along the border.
When all of the grazing areas Victory Points are taken OR the draw stack is depleted, the season ends. Any remaining Victory Points are removed from the board.
All players must now place all of their herd cards in their herd on their player's card. The herds are then added up and end of season points are awarded. In the event of ties, the points are divided among the tied players. Any remainders are lost.
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| Heavy Rain Season (BLUE)
| 2 points: Largest Herd
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| Cool Dry Season (YELLOW)
| 2 points: Most Juveniles
3 points: Largest Herd
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| Light Rain Season (GREEN)
| 2 points: Diversity
3 points: Most Juveniles
4 points: Largest Herd
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| Hot Dry Season (RED)
| 1 point: Most Zebras
2 points: Largest Herd
3 points: Most Juveniles
4 points: Diversity
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Every season has a unique deck of cards. At the end of the season, play advances to the next season with a new deck of cards and new victory points on the grazing areas in the next quadrant. The previous deck of cards is replaced by the next season's deck and additional cards dealt to the players.
2 players, five cards
3-4 players, three cards
5-6 players. two cards
Players retain the cards from the previous season and add the new cards to their hand. The remaining cards are placed face-down to form a draw stack.
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Player Turn
Beginning with the first player, play proceeds clockwise in turns. Each player's turn contains four steps: Draw a Card, Play a Card, Resolve the Card, Move the Avatar.
| | 1. Draw a Card
| The player draws a card from the top of the current Seasonal Card draw stack.
| | 2. Play Card(s)
| The player may play any of their herd cards simply by adding them to their herd. These herd cards are placed face-up on their Player Board.
Alternatively, a non-herd card may be played in favor of the player or against an opponent. If an environmental card is played, such as a fire or flood, the appropriate tokens are placed over the affected nodes.
All non-herd cards are placed in the discard pile after their effects are resolved.
| | 3. Card Resolution
| Each card has a specific effect, such as adding to a player's herd, causing a player to move or losing herd as the result of a predator attack.
These effects are resolved prior to player moving their avatar. If the card causes movement, it occurs first, and does not effect the ability of the player to move in the next step.
If the size of a herd is reduced by the attack of predators, the cards are removed from the attacked player's herd. Sixes take precedence over fives.
For dice rolls of 5, the attacked player chooses the card to be placed in the discard pile. For dice rolls of 6, the attacking player chooses the card from a veiw of the card backs. The attacking player puts these cards in their herd.
| | 4. Movement
| The last step in a player's turn is to move their avatar. A single die is rolled to determine how far the player may move. Different regions have different movement costs.
The cost of movement is indicated on the node, including the primary pasture Victory Point nodes. It is the cost for entering a node. There is no cost for exiting the node. In the case of deserts and lakes, there is a penalty damage cost in addition to a movement cost.
For example, with a die roll of 6, the herd may move through two marsh nodes since the cost for moving into each node is 3. With the same dice roll of 6, the player could move six nodes across the savanna since it costs only one point per node.
During the movement phase, herds can only move in the direction of the arrows shown on the nodes and cannot cross the orange cliff lines. However, the herds may move in any direction that they wish. In fact, a herd may simply move to next season's pastures and wait watching the grass grow.
A herd may pass through a node containing another herd with no effect. However, if a player ends their turn in a node occupied by one or more herds, the herds occupying the node comingle.
When herds comingle, the players count their herd cards, and then shuffle all of them together. The cards are placed in a face-down draw stack. The players then alternate drawing cards from the stack until they have the same number of cards that they started with.
If a herd does not use all of its movement capability, the excess capability is lost. For example, if the player rolls 4, the herd may move to a node with a cost of 2. If there are no adjacent nodes with a cost of less than 2, the player cannot move any further and the remaining two movement points are lost.
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The End of the Season
At the end of the each season, the Victory Points for the special goals around the edge of the board are assigned.
The players then add up the size of their herds, number of juveniles, number of species and number of zebras. Players are then awarded victory points for achieving each goal.
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The End of the Game
The game ends at the end of the year, after all four seasons are played.
The player with the most victory points wins.
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