Ants - Unofficial Rules =Section 1 - Summary and Objectives= 1.1 *SUMMARY* ANTS is a 4x (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, eXterminate) board game where neighboring ant-hives compete with each other and the environment to store as much food as possible before winter. Watch out for lazy grasshoppers who want to steal your hard-won resources and falling brown leaves that will cover the ground in messy piles. 1.2 *OBJECTIVE* In ANTS, each player controls a hive of specialized ants and take turns exploring the surrounding area, expanding the hive, utilizing gathered and stored resources, and surviving interactions with your opponent and the lazy-yet-relentless grasshoppers who will stop at nothing to try to steal your hard-won gains. As the game progresses the BROWN LEAVES will fall from the trees until winter arrives, ending the game. Whoever has stored the most resources is the winner! =Section 2 - Contents and Setup= 2.1 *CONTENTS* 56 Resource Cards 12 BLUE 12 RED 12 GREEN 12 YELLOW 2 ORANGE 6 GRAY 20 TERRAIN HEX tiles 5 BLUE 5 RED 5 GREEN 5 YELLOW N/S Marker Token Indicates North and South on the Map to define game-board coordinates (for placing and moving grasshoppers) Unlimited Specialized Ant Units (with unique color border for each player) YELLOW: WORKER GREEN: GATHERER RED: SOLDIER BLUE: FLYER ORANGE: GUARDIAN WHITE: DRONES Unlimited Grasshopper Units of Multiple Types [contents-1] HIVE-BASE (3-HEX Tile) for each player with the following 3 zones HATCHERY (Newly HATCHED units appear here) STOREHOUSE (place STORED resources here) QUEEN (COMMAND and DRONE level markers go here) Unlimited HIVE EXPANSION/COMMAND markers (matching the border color for each player) Used to mark HEXES when the HIVE expands (and referred to as EXPANSION MARKERS) Used to indicate QUEEN COMMAND level (and referred to as COMMAND MARKERS) DOOM TRACK Numbered track (1 to 10) corresponding to the current BROWN LEAF level When the 10th Brown Leaf is placed on the track, winter arrives and the game is over Unlimited BROWN LEAF markers Used to mark the DOOM TRACK Placed on non-HIVE explored HEXES each time the DOOM TRACK advances 2.2 *SETUP* SET UP BOARD and PLAYING AREA Shuffle the TERRAIN HEXES and place 1, face-down, in the center of the playing area. This is referred to as the Central Tile (coordinate C1) Place a ring of 6 HEX tiles, face-down, around the Central Tile. This is the Inner Ring. Select one tile in the Inner Ring and place the N/S Marker Token on it to indicate North on the map. The coordinate of this tile is I6. Proceed Clockwise around the Inner Ring for I1 through I5. Place another ring of 12 HEX tiles, face-down, around the Inner Ring. This is the Outer Ring. The coordinate of the tile directly above I6 is O12. Proceed Clockwise around the Outer Ring for O2 through O12 (you can visualize this as being the hours on a clock) NOTE: There will be ONE leftover HEX that will not be used in the game. Set this aside.[setup-1] Place DOOM TRACK near the board, along with the stack of BROWN LEAF markers Shuffle RESOURCE CARD Deck and place in a convenient location near the DOOM TRACK SET UP PLAYERS Each player takes the following (corresponding with their selected color) HIVE-BASE 1 WORKER 1 GATHERER 1 DRONE 2 EXPANSION/COMMAND MARKERS Players should place the remaining units and markers in a convenient location near the PLAYING AREA Select a player to be Player 1. Continue Clockwise for Players 2 and up. 2 PLAYER GAME: Player 1 takes HIVE-BASE and places it on the North side of the board so that the middle HIVE-BASE Hex is directly above O12 and the edges of the outside HIVE-BASE Hexes are flush with O1 and O11. Player 2 places HIVE-BASE directly opposite on the South Side. 1 PLAYER and 3+ PLAYER GAMES: no instructions for now All players place units and tokens on the HIVE-BASE as follows: WORKER and GATHERER on the middle Hex (the one with the "Exit" label) DRONE and EXPANSION MARKERS on the right Hex (the one with the QUEEN graphic) Setup is now complete. =Section 3 - Turn Overview and Phases= 3.1 *TURN OVERVIEW* Players alternate turns, starting with Player 1. Each turn has 6 phases which must be executed sequentially: 1. UPKEEP (update/calculate COMMAND, DRONE, and FOCUS levels) 2. DRAW (draw cards = COMMAND level) 3. HATCH (hatch units morphed on a previous turn) 4. EXPLORE (move, gather, resolve conflict, cash-in) 5. EXPAND (expand HIVE, Ugrade HIVE or QUEEN, morph DRONE into a specialized unit, store resources) 6. RESOLVE (resolve drawn Brown Leaves and move grasshoppers) 3.2 PHASE DETAILS 3.2.1 PHASE 1: UPKEEP FOCUS, COMMAND, and DRONE levels are used during the turn and need to be determined at the beginning. FOCUS level is calculated by counting the number of controlled HEXES in the Hive of the same color as the HIVE's current FOCUS. At the beginning of a basic game, no players have a focus, so the FOCUS level = 0. FOCUS level is indicated by placing units of the FOCUS color equal to the level on the QUEEN HEX of the HIVE-BASE See section 3.2.5 for more information Expanding the HIVE and section 4.x for more details on Focus. COMMAND level is the highest number of the following calculations, MINIMUM = 2 (based on the controlled HEXES in the HIVE): Total number of different HEX colors Highest number of a single HEX color Minimum COMMAND Level of 2 (if the above calculations are less than 2) For example, if the player controls 4 HEXES of the following Colors: 2 BLUE, 1 RED, 1 YELLOW. The Total number of different HEX colors is 3 (BLUE, RED, & YELLOW) The Highest number of a single HEX color is 2 (2 BLUE) Therefore the COMMAND level = 3. NOTE: At the beginning of the game, Players do not control ANY HEXES, therefore the COMMAND level is initially calculated to be equal to 0. However, the MINIMUM =2, so the COMMAND level is set to 2. COMMAND level is indicated by placing COMMAND markers equal to the level on the QUEEN HEX of the HIVE-BASE. See section 3.2.5 for more information Expanding the HIVE The DRONE level is initially set to 1 and can be upgraded during PHASE 5. DRONE unit markers have two sides, ALIVE and DEAD. After a DRONE is used during a turn, it will be flipped from the ALIVE side to the DEAD side. At the beginning of each turn, flip all DRONES in the HIVE to the ALIVE side and place them on the QUEEN HEX of the HIVE-BASE. DRONE level is indicated by the number of DRONE units in the HIVE and a DRONE can only be used a single time each turn. See section 3.2.5 for more information on using and increasing the number of DRONES in the HIVE. At the end of the UPKEEP phase, the QUEEN HEX should indicate the current FOCUS, COMMAND, and DRONE levels. 3.2.2 PHASE 2: DRAW DRAW RESOURCE cards equal to your COMMAND Level. If the player draws one or more BROWN LEAF cards (ORANGE OR GRAY), immediately play the card(s) face-up near the DOOM TRACK. Do NOT draw a replacement card. Non BROWN LEAF cards go into the Player's hand. After all cards are drawn, the phase is over. 3.2.3 PHASE 3: HATCH At the beginning of the HATCH phase, all flipped units on the HATCHERY Hex of the HIVE-BASE (indicating they were MORPHED on the previous turn) are placed on the STOREHOUSE Hex of the HIVE-BASE to indicate that they are now available for use on this turn. See section 3.2.5 for more information on MORPHING DRONES into new units. 3.2.4 PHASE 4: EXPLORE During the EXPLORE phase, players will activate their units (spending COMMAND as needed) to perform various actions. To allow a unit to begin performing EXPLORE actions, the player must spend a COMMAND point by removing a COMMAND MARKER from the QUEEN Hex and placing it next to the desired unit to COMMAND. NOTE: if the Player has any units that share the same Hex with an opponent or grasshopper, those units MUST be ACTIVATED this turn to resolve the CONFLICT (see section 3.2.4.d). If the Player does not have sufficient COMMAND to activate all of the units in CONFLICT, ACTIVATE all of the units anyway, resolve the CONFLICT for each unit, then refer to section YYY for handling situations of insufficient COMMAND. An Activated unit may perform one or more of the following EXPLORE actions, a. MOVE b. GATHER (but not CASH-IN) c. CASH-IN (but not GATHER) d. CONFLICT (but not CASH-IN or GATHER) 3.2.4.a MOVE An activated may always use the MOVE action. Moving IN or OUT of the HIVE (the HIVE-BASE or Hexes with EXPANSION MARKERS) always costs 1 Move Point (MP). Moving INSIDE the HIVE costs 0 MP (meaning, units can move anywhere in the HIVE for free, so long as the Hexes are contiguous and there are no opponents or grasshoppers in any Hexes the unit needs to pass through). Moving IN or OUT of a Hex with an opponent or grasshopper ALWAYS costs 1 MP and will trigger CONFLICT. When MOVING into a face-down Hex (unexplored), flip the Hex over then place the unit onto the Hex. NOTE: If a unit has previously GATHERED or CASHED-IN, they cannot enter a Hex to trigger a CONFLICT. Initiating CONFLICT by entering a Hex with an opponent or grasshopper must be done in lieu of GATHERING or CASHING-IN. PLAN YOUR MOVES! See Section 3.2.4.b-d for more information on GATHER, CASH-IN, and CONFLICT. See Section xxx for unit information (MP points for each ant) 3.2.4.b GATHER If a unit is on an non-HIVE Hex and: -the unit has not already gathered or cashed-in this turn -there are no opponent units or grasshoppers on the Hex Then it can perform a GATHER action by flipping the unit (so that the GATHERED symbol is showing). If there are BROWN LEAVES on the unit's Hex, the unit MUST take 1 or more BROWN LEAVES, according to the unit type. GATHERERS may take 1 or more BROWN LEAVES (MUST take at least 1) ALL other units MUST take exactly 1 BROWN LEAF. Stack the unit on top of the BROWN LEAVES they've taken and be sure to MOVE them with the unit on its next MOVE action. See Section XXX for more details on unit types and abilities . 3.2.4.c CASH-IN If a flipped (GATHERED) unit is in the HIVE and has not GATHERED this turn, it can perform a CASH-IN action by flipping the unit back to its original side (UNGATHERED), counting the number of BROWN LEAVES it was carrying (if any) and DRAWING cards according to the unit type. GATHERERS roll a D6 and subtract the number of carried BROWN LEAVES and DRAW that number of RESOURCE CARDS ALL other units DRAW 1 minus the number of carried BROWN LEAVES. If the number of cards to DRAW is less than 0, do not DRAW any cards. This means that non-GATHERER units will usually not DRAW any cards if they were carrying a BROWN LEAF. There WILL EVENTUALLY be ways for non-GATHERERS to boost their resource efficiency either via FOCUS or via EVENT CARDS or HIVE UPGRADES, but currently, the strategy for using non-GATHERERS to remove BROWN LEAVES is to clear the Hex for expansion if the GATHERER isn't available. See Section XXX for more details on unit types and abilities. 3.2.4.d CONFLICT When a Player's unit(s) occupy the same space as an opponent or grasshopper, no matter the type of Hex, the units are in CONFLICT and the Players must RESOLVE the CONFLICT. First, identify the units in CONFLICT (if there are multiple Hexes with CONFLICT, the Player determines the order of resolution) If the Player's unit is in CONFLICT with another player, refer to section 3.2.4.d.1 If the Player's unit is in CONFLICT with a grasshopper, refer to section 3.2.4.d.2 3.2.4.d.1 CONFLICT with another player's unit. This type of CONFLICT typically happens when a Player MOVES into an opponent's Hex during the EXPLORE phase. The unit causing the CONFLICT is called the AGGRESSOR and the opponent's unit is called the DEFENDER. The DEFENDER's controlling Player must make a FIGHT OR FLIGHT decision. That is, the DEFENDER can stay and FIGHT, or FLEE to a safe space. NOTE that GUARDIANS cannot FLEE and must ALWAYS FIGHT. FIGHT: If the DEFENDER decides to FIGHT, players refer to the table below to determine what dice to roll and simultaneously roll them. GATHERER D4 WORKER D6 FLYER D8 SOLDIER D10 GUARDIAN D12 Highest roll wins the COMBAT. If there is a TIE, the unit with the highest number of sides wins. If both units have the same number of sides, neither unit wins. EXAMPLES. SOLDIER (rolls 8) attacks WORKER (rolls 5). SOLDIER wins FLYER (rolls 4) attacks GATHERER (rolls 4). They tied, but a FLYER has a D8 which is bigger than the GATHERER's D4, so the FLYER wins. WORKER (rolls 5) attacks WORKER (rolls 5). They tie. D6 = D6 The losing unit is removed from the game and winner remains on the Hex. If the Winning unit belongs to the active Player and has any remaining MP, the unit can still peform a MOVE action. NOTE: due to FOCUS, EVENT CARDS, HIVE UPGRADES, or a tied battle on a previous turn, there is a chance that a Player will begin the turn with a unit in CONFLICT with another opponent's unit. In this case, the active Player would be considered the DEFENDER and MUST choose to FIGHT OR FLEE. COMBAT proceeds as indicateda above. 3.2.4.d.1 CONFLICT with a grasshopper. CONFLICT Resolution with a grasshopper is very similar to combat with another player. The main difference is that the grasshopper's reaction to the FIGHT OR FLIGHT IDEAS: [setup-1] - Maybe the leftover Hex should be public knowledge at the beginning or be used in some way. eg, maybe since that color will have 1 less HEX on the board, that color has a bonus when gathered or expanded to. [contents-1] - Grasshoppers have random stats/rewards. We can only have 4 out at a time, so if we had different kinds, it would really add some flavor. Similar to the Legendary Pirates in Pirate's Cove. orange guardians can controll grasshoppers to make them attack others. set the avg of what we want the gatherers to draw. Then just draw this number everytime.