Caverna: The Cave Farmers

Caverna: The Cave Farmers

A game by Uwe Rosenberg

Caverna is a development strategy game for 1 to 7 players aged 12 and up.
The playing time is about 30 minutes per player.

Uwe Rosenberg advises: You can play this game with up to 7 players. For your first play, we recommend you only play with 5 players at most to reduce downtime.

Game Idea

In this game, you take the roles of adventurous dwarfs living reclusively in caves where you dig for ore and rubies and furnish caverns to become living and working areas. You need ore to craft weapons to undertake expeditions in search of adventure and loot. Rubies are a valuable and highly flexible good: you can trade them for other goods and landscape tiles at any time. Outside your caves, you will look after your sustenance by felling trees, raising farm animals and doing some agriculture.

At the end of the game, the wealthiest dwarf will win.

Components

Wooden & acrylic playing pieces

• 20 light brown Dog tokens
• 35 white Sheep tokens
• 30 grey Donkey tokens
• 30 black Wild boar tokens
• 30 brown Cattle tokens
• 45 brown Wood tokens
• 25 grey Stone tokens
• 45 black (acrylic) Ore gems
• 20 red (acrylic) Ruby gems
• 40 yellow Grain tokens
• 35 orange Vegetable tokens
• 1 yellow Starting player token
• 7×3 Stables in different colors
• 7×5 Dwarf discs in different colors

16 Game boards

• 7 large Home boards (Forest on the left, Mountain on the right)
• 1 small basic game board with 3 preprinted Action spaces and Round spaces 1 to 3
• 1 large basic game board with Round spaces 4 to 12
• 1 two-sided basic game board with preprinted Action spaces for 1 to 3 players on one side (and for 4 to 7 players on the other side)
• 1 large additional game board (with additional Action spaces for 5 players on one side and for 6 to 7 players on the other side)
• 1 small additional game board (with additional Action spaces for 3 players on one side and for 7 players on the other side)
• 4 longish supply boards to organize the Furnishing tiles

On counter sheets

• 20 Gold coins labeled “1”
• 24 Gold coins labeled “2”
• 5 Gold coins labeled “10”
• 1 “Additional dwarf” marker
• 88 “1 Food” markers
• 7 round Harvest markers
• 52 Weapon strength markers (1x “1”, 1x “2”, 4x each of “3” to “13”, and 6x “14”)
• 8 Multiplication markers “4x” (on the other side: Begging markers “-3 Gold”)
• 8 Goods markers (“8 Sheep”, “8 Donkeys”, “8 Wild boars”, “8 Cattle”, “10 Wood”, “10 Stone”, “10 Ore”, “5 Rubies”)
• 2 “8 Animals” markers

Furnishing and landscape tiles

• 17 identical “Dwelling” Furnishing tiles
• 47 other unique Furnishing tiles
• 8 single tiles “Tunnel” (on the other side: “Cavern”)
• 16 single tiles “Ruby mine” (on the other side: “Field”)
• 16 single tiles “Meadow” (on the other side: “Small pasture”)
• 24 twin tiles “Ore mine/Deep tunnel” (on the other side: “Large pasture”)
• 40 twin tiles “Cavern/Tunnel” (on the other side: “Cavern/Cavern”)
• 40 twin tiles “Meadow/Field” (on the other side: “Small pasture/Field”)

29 Playing cards

• 1 “Harvest events” card
• 12 Action space cards with Action spaces for rounds 1 to 12
• 7 Overview cards “Rubies, Harvest time”
• 7 Overview cards “Expedition loot” (values 1 to 8 on one side and 9 to 14 on the other side)
• 2 Dwarf cards for the solo and 2-player game

Also

• Scoring pad
• Bags to organize the components
• 24 page rule book
• 8 page appendix with details on Expeditions, the Furnishing tiles and the Action spaces

Game Setup (2 to 7 Players)

We will explain the game for 2 to 7 players first. The solo rules will be explained on the last page.

1. Your personal playing areas

• Each player chooses a color and takes the Home board and the 5 Dwarfs and 3 Stables of that color.
• Place 2 of the 5 Dwarfs side by side in the “Entry-level dwelling” on your Home board. Keep the remaining 3 Dwarfs and Stables next to your Home board as your personal supply. (Return the Dwarfs, Stables and Home boards of the leftover colors to the game box.)
• Then take one of each of the 2 different Overview cards.
• Randomly determine the player who gets the Starting player token.
• Distribute starting Food depending on position in clockwise turn order:
  • The Starting player: 1 Food
  • The player to his left (2nd player): 1 Food
  • The third player: 2 Food
  • Each other player (4th, 5th, 6th, 7th): 3 Food

2. The game boards with Action spaces

• Place the two single-sided basic game boards with Round spaces 1 to 3 and 4 to 12 next to each other.
• Shuffle the 7 Harvest markers and place them face-down (with the grey rune symbol facing up) on the Round spaces 6 to 12, one marker per space. Place the “Harvest events” card next to the game boards.
• In a 2-player game: remove one of the Harvest markers with a green leaf from the game. Then distribute the remaining 6 markers among the Round spaces 6 to 12 leaving space 9 empty.
• Place the third basic game board to the left of the first two. Turn it to the appropriate side depending on the number of players (1 to 3, or 4 to 7 players).
• There are two additional game boards:
  • In games with 5 to 7 players, the larger additional game board is used. Turn it to the appropriate side depending on the number of players (5, or 6 to 7 players).
  • The smaller additional game board is used in games with 3 or 7 players.
• Place the required additional game boards to the left of the basic ones.

3. The supply boards and Furnishing tiles

Place the supply boards for the Furnishing tiles near the other game boards.

The supply boards are double-sided. One side is used in the Introductory game, the other side is used in the Full game. The Full game comes with a larger variety of Furnishing tiles. (Put the unused Furnishing tiles back into the game box when playing an Introductory game.)

Place the Furnishing tiles on the appropriate spaces on the supply boards. There is more than one ordinary “Dwelling” tile. Place some of them on the appropriate space on the supply board and keep the rest next to it as a reserve. Replenish them incrementally from time to time when needed.

Tip: When playing with 6 or 7 players, we recommend that you start with the Full game to make sure that there is a sufficient number of Furnishing tiles in play.

4. The Action space cards

Shuffle the 12 Action space cards. Keep them face-down while shuffling.

In the 2-player game: only 11 Action space cards are used. Remove the “Exploration” card with the “Level 4 expedition” from the game. (Cover the unused Round space 9 with a Dwarf card.)

Rearrange the shuffled Action space cards into a face-down stack as follows without looking at them:

1. Put the three stage 4 cards at the bottom of the stack.
2. On top of them, place the three (or two in a 2-player game) stage 3 cards.
3. On top of those, place the two ordinary stage 2 cards.
4. Put the card for round 4 on top of these. (This card says “Wish for children” on one side and “Urgent wish for children” on the other side. Right now it does not matter which side faces up.)
5. Finally, put the three stage 1 cards on top of the stack.

5. Landscape tiles, building materials, and markers

Sort the landscape tiles by type and put them in separate stacks. There are 3 types of both single tiles and twin tiles.

Separate the remaining components and keep them in separate piles next to the game boards. All the animals may be kept in one pile and all the building materials in another. You do not need to sort the Weapon strength markers by number.

Goal of the Game

Your Home board consists of two parts:

• On the left side, there is a Forest that you will cut down during the course of the game.
• On the right side, there is a Mountain with an entrance to your cave system, which currently consists of two Caverns. One of these is the “Entry-level dwelling” and has been furnished for 2 Dwarfs and a pair of animals. The other Cavern is still empty, but is ready to be furnished.

Your first two Dwarfs live in the entry-level room of your cave system. If you want to grow your Dwarf family, you will need to add more Dwellings. There are Furnishing tiles for this purpose as you have already seen during setup.

Each of your Dwarfs may take one action per round – the available actions are displayed on the game boards. You will place your Dwarfs, one at a time, in clockwise order on Action spaces until all players have placed their Dwarfs on the game boards.

The goal of your actions is to collect Food for your Dwarfs and to develop your Home board to be worth a lot of Gold points at the end of the game.

Important Rule: Each Action space may only be occupied by a single Dwarf. The Dwarfs only return home after they have all been placed. Then they are placed again in the next round.

Developing Your Home Board

You cut the Forest on your Home board to get Wood and cut through the Mountain to get Stone. You need these building materials to furnish the hollowed out spaces of your Mountain. Outside the Mountain, you can use the cleared Forest land to do agriculture and raise Farm animals to feed your little family.

• Forest area: Cut the Forest to make room for Fields and Meadows. Place your first “Meadow/Field” tile on the Forest spaces in front of your cave entrance. Meadows can be fenced in to form Pastures for your Farm animals: simply turn the “Meadow/Field” twin tile to the other side. A fenced space can hold a pair of animals.
• Mountain area: Expand your cave system by placing “Cavern/Tunnel” and “Cavern/Cavern” twin tiles in the Mountain.
• Rubies: Collect Rubies to buy single “Field” and “Meadow” tiles for 1 Ruby each, or expand your cave system with single tiles bought with Rubies: a single Tunnel costs 1 Ruby, a single Cavern costs 2 Rubies.

Housing Animals & Farm Management Overview

There are multiple ways to accommodate animals on your board:

• Forest Stable: You can place a Stable on an uncleared Forest space: it can hold 1 Wild boar, but no other animals.
• Meadow Stable: A Stable on an unfenced Meadow space can hold 1 animal of any type.
• Large Pasture: You can place a “Large pasture” on two adjacent Meadow spaces. Building a Stable on it doubles its capacity, allowing it to hold up to 8 animals of the same type.
• Mines: Each Ore mine or Ruby mine can hold 1 Donkey.
• Entry-level dwelling: Can hold 2 Dwarfs and 1 pair of animals of the same type.
• Furnishing tiles: Certain tiles like the “Breakfast room” can accommodate specific animals (e.g., up to 3 Cattle).
• Fields: You can grow Grain and Vegetables on your Fields and harvest them later.
• Tunnels and Ruby Mines: There are ordinary Tunnels and Deep tunnels in Ore mines. You can place a Ruby mine on any of these. If placed on a Deep tunnel, you immediately gain 1 Ruby.

Weapons and Expeditions Overview

In Caverna, your Dwarfs gather Ore to forge Weapons:

• The strength of a Weapon is determined by the amount of Ore used in the process (up to a maximum initial strength of 8).
• The strength is increased by 1 after each Expedition. Over the course of the game, it can reach a maximum value of 14.
• Depending on its level, an Expedition may yield 1 to 4 loot items from the Overview card.
• What these items will be depends on the strength of the Weapon used: you may only choose items with a Minimum strength value lower than or equal to the Dwarf’s Weapon strength.

The special thing about Caverna is the two groups that emerge: one group goes after Weapons, the other pursues the peaceful route. Members of the same group compete for the same resources.

Component Limits

The only components that are purposely limited in number (apart from the unique Furnishing tiles) are the 5 Dwarfs and 3 Stables of each player. Any other components are considered to be unlimited. If you run out of any such component, use the Multiplication markers or improvise. Put a good token on a Multiplication marker to indicate 4 tokens of that type.

There are also markers depicting 8 animals of a specific type (used on Large pastures with a Stable), 10 units of building material, or 5 Rubies.

Round Structure

Each of the 12 rounds (11 rounds in a 2-player game) goes through five phases played one after another in order.

1. Add a new Action space: Turn over the top Action space card and place it on the empty Round space with the lowest number.
2. Replenish accumulating spaces: Place goods from the general supply on all Action spaces that show an accumulation arrow.
3. Work phase: In clockwise order, players take turns placing 1 Dwarf at a time on an unoccupied Action space and immediately carrying out its action(s).
4. Return home: Return all placed Dwarfs from the game boards to their Dwellings.
5. Harvest time: At the end of most rounds, players harvest crops, feed their family, and breed animals.

Phase 1: Add a New Action Space

Turn over the top Action space card from the stack and put it on the empty Round space with the lowest number (spaces 1 to 12). This adds to the pool of available actions for the current and all subsequent rounds.

From round 6 onward: You must also turn the Harvest marker on that Round space face-up:

• If it shows a green leaf, there will be a normal harvest at the end of the round.
• If it shows a red question mark, the harvest will be modified by the “Harvest events” card.

Special cases when adding a new Action space

• The “Wish for children” Action space card always comes into play in round 4. Initially place it with “Wish for children” facing up. Turn it to the reverse side (“Urgent wish for children”) as soon as the “Family life” Action space card is added in stage 3.
• In a 2-player game: The last round of stage 3 (round 9) is skipped, because the “Exploration” card was removed during setup.

Phase 2: Replenish Accumulating Spaces

Action spaces that show a special arrow and background illustration must be replenished with goods every round, even if goods remain on them from previous rounds:

• Take the depicted goods from the general supply and place them on the space (e.g., “3 Wood” and an arrow means add 3 Wood).
• Conditional accumulation: A notation like “3 (1) Wood” means place 1 Wood if goods are already on the space, but 3 Wood if the space is completely empty. Similarly, “1 Grain (1 Vegetable)” on Sustenance means place 1 Grain if empty, or 1 Vegetable if not empty.
• There is no upper limit for goods on an accumulating space.

Phase 3: Work Phase

Beginning with the Starting player and in clockwise order, players take turns picking up a single Dwarf from their cave and placing it on an unoccupied Action space, immediately carrying out the action.

Play Order of Dwarfs

• You must place your Dwarfs in ascending order of Weapon strength.
• Start with all your unarmed Dwarfs (those without a Weapon).
• Follow with your armed Dwarfs from lowest to highest Weapon strength.
• Exception: You may spend 1 Ruby to ignore the play order and place an armed Dwarf out of order.

Details on the Work Phase

• Each Action space can only be occupied by one Dwarf per round.
• Tokens of building materials, Grain, Vegetables, Food, or Rubies go to your personal supply. Animals must be placed directly on your Home board (or converted to Food immediately).
• You can only place Dwarfs from your cave, never from your reserve supply.
• You may not place a Dwarf without performing at least one of the space’s actions.
• If a player runs out of Dwarfs before others, that player is skipped while players with remaining Dwarfs continue in clockwise order.
• Action phrasing:
  • “either … or”: Choose exactly one option.
  • “and/or”, “and then/or”: Take any number/combination of available actions.
  • “and then”: The primary action is mandatory to perform the optional follow-up action.

Phase 4: Return Home

Remove all your Dwarfs from the game boards and return them to the Dwellings in your cave system.

• It does not matter how Dwarfs are distributed among your Dwellings.
• You may never have more Dwarfs in play than the maximum capacity of your cave’s Dwellings.
• Keep Dwarfs side by side so weapon strengths remain clearly visible to opponents.

Phase 5: Harvest Time

A harvest consists of three sub-phases carried out in order:

Sub-phase 1: The Field Phase

Remove 1 Grain or Vegetable token from each sown Field on your Home board and place it into your personal supply.

Sub-phase 2: The Feeding Phase

• Pay 2 Food per Dwarf in your cave.
• Newborn offspring: Dwarfs born during the current round from a Family growth action consume only 1 Food for this round (they consume 2 Food in subsequent rounds).
• If you lack Food, you must convert goods/animals into Food or take Begging markers.

Begging Markers

If you cannot or do not wish to produce the required Food, you must take 1 Begging marker per missing Food. You may not discard Dwarfs to avoid feeding them. Each Begging marker costs -3 Gold points at the end of the game and can never be discarded.

Sub-phase 3: The Breeding Phase

If you have at least 2 Farm animals of the same type, you get exactly 1 additional (baby) animal of that type, provided you can accommodate it on your Home board:

• All baby animals are received simultaneously.
• Maximum of one newborn animal per species per harvest.
• Dogs are not Farm animals and do not breed.
• Parent animals breed regardless of whether they are in the same pasture or separate areas.
• Baby animals (and parents) cannot be converted to Food immediately upon birth; they must be placed on the board first.

Which Rounds End with a Harvest?

Rounds 1 to 4

• Rounds 1 and 2: No harvest.
• Round 3: Normal harvest.
• Round 4: No regular harvest; instead, pay 1 Food per Dwarf (including offspring). There is no Field or Breeding phase.

Rounds 5 to 12

By default, each round ends with a normal harvest, unless modified by a red question mark Harvest marker (placed on Round spaces 6 to 12):

• First question mark revealed: No harvest at all at round’s end.
• Second question mark revealed: Pay 1 Food per Dwarf; no Field or Breeding phase.
• Third question mark revealed: Each player chooses individually whether to play the Field phase OR the Breeding phase (cannot do both). All players must still pay full Feeding (2 Food per Dwarf).

Place resolved question mark markers onto the “Harvest events” card from top to bottom to track them.

Food Conversion Rules

You may convert goods and animals into Food at any time (without constraints):

• Gold into Food: Pay 1 more Gold than the Food received (1 Food costs 2 Gold, 2 Food costs 3 Gold, 3 Food costs 4 Gold, etc.). Note: Gold is worth 1 point each at end of game!
• Animals into Food:
  • 1 Sheep = 1 Food
  • 1 Wild boar = 2 Food
  • 1 Cattle = 3 Food
  • 1 Donkey = 1 Food, but 2 Donkeys = 3 Food
• Crops into Food:
  • 1 Grain = 1 Food
  • 1 Vegetable = 2 Food
• Rubies: Can be converted directly into 2 Food (since a Ruby can buy a Wild boar or Vegetable).
• Inconvertible: Dogs, Wood, Stone, Ore, and Dwarfs cannot be converted into Food.

Using Rubies

Rubies are versatile wild cards that can be spent at any time:

• Exchange 1:1 for goods: 1 Ruby = 1 animal, 1 building material, 1 Grain, 1 Vegetable, or 1 Gold. (Exception: Getting 1 Cattle requires 1 Ruby + 1 Food.)
• Single Landscape Tiles:
  • 1 Ruby = 1 single Field or Meadow tile (placed immediately in Forest adjacent to existing Field/Meadow/Pasture).
  • 1 Ruby = 1 single Tunnel tile (placed in Mountain).
  • 2 Rubies = 1 single Cavern tile (placed in Mountain).
• Turn Order Bypass: Pay 1 Ruby to place an armed Dwarf out of ascending weapon strength order.

1. Landscape and Twin Tiles

Excavation and Drift mining

These spaces accumulate Stone. Take all Stone tokens when executing the action.

• Additionally, place a “Cavern/Tunnel” twin tile on two adjacent empty Mountain spaces, connected horizontally or vertically to an existing cavern/tunnel.
• Water sources: Covering an underground water source immediately awards the depicted 1 or 2 Food.
• Tile orientation: “Excavation” allows either the “Cavern/Tunnel” or “Cavern/Cavern” side. “Drift mining” only allows the “Cavern/Tunnel” side.
• Small-scale drift mining (5-7 players): Awards 1 Stone and a “Cavern/Tunnel” twin tile.
• Extension (7 players): Awards 1 Stone and a “Cavern/Tunnel” twin tile, OR 1 Wood and a “Meadow/Field” twin tile.

Clearing, Sustenance, and Slash-and-burn

These Action spaces allow you to place a “Meadow/Field” twin tile on two adjacent Forest spaces:

• The very first Meadow and/or Field tile placed in the game must be placed directly in front of your cave entrance.
• Subsequent tiles must be placed adjacent to an existing Field, Meadow, or Pasture.
• One of the spaces may already contain a Stable; place the twin tile underneath the Stable so the Stable stays on the Meadow.
• Forest bonuses: Covering the Forest water source gives 1 Food immediately. Covering a Wild boar preserve immediately gives 1 Wild boar.

The Sow action

Available on “Slash-and-burn” and later on “Family life”:

• Sow Grain: Place 1 Grain from your personal supply on an empty Field, then take 2 Grain from the general supply and stack them on top (total 3 Grain).
• Sow Vegetables: Place 1 Vegetable from your supply on an empty Field, then add 1 Vegetable from the general supply on top (total 2 Vegetables).
• With a single Sow action, you may sow Grain and Vegetables up to 2 times each (up to 2 Grain fields and 2 Vegetable fields).
• You cannot sow a crop if you have none in your supply (unless purchased with Rubies first).

2. Furnishing and Family Growth

The Furnish a Cavern action

Available on “Housework”:

• Choose an available Furnishing tile on the supply boards, pay its building costs (Wood and/or Stone), and place it on an empty Cavern space in your Mountain.
• Every Furnishing tile has a unique ability or bonus points described at the bottom of the tile.
• Once placed, a Furnishing tile can never be moved, removed, or built over.

The Furnish a Dwelling action

Found on the round 4 card (“Wish for children” / “Urgent wish for children”):

• Pay the building costs to build a Dwelling tile on an empty Cavern.
• There are 6 different types of Dwellings; each provides room for 1 or 2 Dwarfs.
• Ordinary Dwellings cost 4 Wood and 3 Stone.

The Family Growth action

Found on “Wish for children”, “Family life”, and “Growth” (4-7 players):

• You can only take Family growth if you have room in your Dwellings for an additional Dwarf.
• Place a Dwarf disc from your personal supply on top of the Dwarf taking the action.
• The new offspring cannot take an action during this round. In Phase 4 (Return home), it moves into an available room.
• Dwarf families are limited to 5 Dwarfs (up to 6 Dwarfs if you build the “Additional dwelling”).

3. Goods, Mines, and Trading

Supplies and Growth

Available from the start. Provide 1 Wood, 1 Stone, 1 Ore, 1 Food, and 2 Gold. In 4 to 7 player games, “Growth” also offers an alternative Family growth action.

Ore mine construction

Becomes available in stage 1:

• Requires two adjacent ordinary Tunnel spaces in your Mountain.
• Place an “Ore mine/Deep tunnel” twin tile on top of them and take 3 Ore from the supply.
• Additionally or alternatively, you may undertake a Level 2 expedition.
• Each Ore mine is worth 3 Gold points and can hold 1 Donkey.
• Cannot be placed on top of Deep tunnels.

Ruby mine construction

Becomes available in stage 2 (round 5 or 6):

• Place a Ruby mine single tile on an empty Tunnel space.
• If placed on a Deep tunnel (on an Ore mine tile), you immediately gain 1 Ruby.
• A Ruby mine is worth 4 Gold points and can hold 1 Donkey.

Mining Action Spaces: Ore mining, Ore delivery, Ruby mining, Ruby delivery

• Take all accumulated Ore or Ruby tokens from the space.
• Bonus Ore: On “Ore mining” and “Ore delivery”, take 2 additional Ore from the general supply for each Ore mine on your board.
• Bonus Rubies: On “Ruby mining”, gain +1 Ruby if you have at least 1 Ruby mine. On “Ruby delivery”, gain +1 Ruby if you have at least 2 Ruby mines.
• 2-player game: No Rubies accumulate on Ruby mining in rounds 1 and 2.

Ore Trading and Weekly Market

• Ore trading (Stage 4): Exchange 2 Ore for 2 Gold and 1 Food from the supply (up to 3 times per action).
• Weekly market (5-7 players, from start): Gain 4 Gold from the supply. You may then spend any amount of your Gold to purchase goods (maximum 1 token per type):
  • Building material, Sheep, Donkey, Grain: 1 Gold
  • Wild boar, Dog, Vegetable: 2 Gold
  • Cattle: 3 Gold

4. Animals, Fences, and Stables

Sheep farming and Donkey farming

These spaces accumulate Sheep and Donkeys, respectively. Before taking the animals, you can turn Meadows into Pastures and/or build exactly 1 Stable to accommodate them.

There are no Wild boar or Cattle farming action spaces. Wild boars are obtained from Forest preserves, and both can be gained through Expeditions or Rubies.

The Build Fences action

• Pay 2 Wood to turn one Meadow into a Small pasture (turn the tile over). Holds up to 2 Farm animals. Worth 2 Gold points.
• Pay 4 Wood to turn two adjacent Meadows into a Large pasture (place a Large pasture twin tile on top). Holds up to 4 Farm animals. Worth 4 Gold points.
• Only Meadows can be fenced into Pastures; Pastures are permanent and cannot be split or combined.
• You can build at most 1 Small and/or 1 Large pasture per action.

The Build Stables action

• Pay 1 Stone to build 1 Stable on any Forest, Meadow, or Pasture space.
• Stables are permanent and cannot be moved. Maximum 3 Stables per player.
• Each space outside the Mountain may hold at most 1 Stable (a Large pasture covers 2 spaces, so it can hold up to 2 Stables).
• Building a Stable on a Forest space allows it to hold 1 Wild boar.
• Building a Stable on an unfenced Meadow allows it to hold 1 animal of any type.
• A Stable on a Pasture doubles its capacity:
  • Small pasture + 1 Stable: holds 4 animals.
  • Large pasture + 1 Stable: holds 8 animals.
  • Large pasture + 2 Stables: holds 16 animals.

Rules on Animal Husbandry

You may rearrange animals on your Home board at any time according to these rules:

• Pastures: Each Pasture space holds up to 2 Farm animals of the same type. Stables double capacity.
• Dogs: Dogs wander freely on any space on your Home board. Instead of normal rules, Dogs on Meadows/Pastures can guard Sheep: number of Sheep guarded = number of Dogs + 1 (e.g., 2 Dogs can watch 3 Sheep). Dogs only watch Sheep.
• Entry-level dwelling: Holds 2 Farm animals of the same type.
• Mines: Each Ore mine or Ruby mine holds 1 Donkey.
• Forest Stable: Holds exactly 1 Wild boar.
• Meadow Stable: Holds 1 animal of any type.

5. Weapons and Expeditions

Forge a Weapon

Available on “Blacksmithing” (Stage 1) and “Adventure” (Stage 4):

• Only an unarmed Dwarf can forge a Weapon.
• Spend 1 to 8 Ore tokens from your supply. Take a Weapon strength marker equal to the Ore spent and place it on that Dwarf.
• The maximum initial strength is 8. Weapons cannot be upgraded with Ore later, cannot be transferred, and cannot be discarded.
• The Dwarf may immediately undertake an Expedition if depicted on the Action space.

The Expeditions

Expeditions have levels 1 to 4, determining how many different loot items you may choose from the “Expedition loot” card:

• You may only pick loot items whose Minimum strength requirement is less than or equal to the Dwarf’s Weapon strength.
• Each loot item may be chosen at most once per Expedition.
• At the end of every Expedition, the Dwarf’s Weapon strength increases by 1 (regardless of Expedition level), up to the maximum strength of 14.
• If you pick the “All weapons +1” loot item, all your armed Dwarfs gain +1 strength immediately.

Detailed Expedition Example

You have 10 Ore and an unarmed Dwarf. Placing that Dwarf on “Blacksmithing”, you spend 7 Ore to forge a Weapon of strength 7. The space triggers a Level 3 expedition. You pick three items requiring strength 7 or less: “1 Dog” (min. 1), “2 Gold” (min. 6), and “Furnish a cavern” (min. 7). At the end of the Expedition, your Dwarf gains +1 strength and receives a strength 8 marker.

6. Starting Player & Imitation

Action Space: Starting Player

The Starting player token is not passed automatically at round end. To become Starting player, you must take the “Starting player” Action space. In addition to the token, you collect all accumulated Food, plus 2 Ore (1-3 players) or 1 Ruby (4-7 players).

Action Spaces: Imitation

Available in games with 3 or more players. Costs 0, 1, 2, or 4 Food depending on the space:

• Pay the required Food and choose an Action space occupied by an opponent’s Dwarf. Carry out its actions as if you placed your Dwarf there.
• You cannot imitate “Starting player”.
• You cannot imitate an Action space occupied by your own Dwarf.
• When imitating an accumulating space, you only perform the action; you do not receive any accumulated goods.
• Your Dwarf remains on the Imitation space.

End of the Game and Scoring

The game ends after Round 12 (Round 11 in a 2-player game). At the end of the game, the player with the most Gold points wins. Total Gold points on the scoring pad across the following categories:

• Animals: 1 Gold point per Farm animal (Sheep, Donkey, Wild boar, Cattle) and Dog.
• Farm animal diversity penalty: Lose 2 Gold points for each species of Farm animal (out of Sheep, Donkey, Wild boar, Cattle) you do not possess.
• Grain: Worth ½ Gold point (rounded up), whether harvested or on Fields (total Grain tokens divided by 2, rounded up).
• Vegetables: Each worth 1 Gold point (total Vegetable tokens in supply and on fields).
• Rubies and Gold coins: Each Ruby token in supply is worth 1 Gold point. Add face value of all Gold coins.
• Dwarfs: Each Dwarf in your cave is worth 1 Gold point.
• Unused spaces penalty: Lose 1 point per empty/uncovered Forest or Mountain space (preprinted Caverns count as used).
• Pastures and Mines: Small pasture = 2 points, Large pasture = 4 points. Ore mine = 3 points, Ruby mine = 4 points.
• Furnishing tiles: Worth the printed Gold points, plus any potential Bonus points from Parlors, Storages, and Chambers calculated according to individual card criteria.
• Begging markers: Lose 3 Gold points per Begging marker.

Rules for the Solo Game

Follows standard rules with these exceptions:

• Work Phase: Place your Dwarfs one after another with no opponents. Try to beat the target score of 100 points. Start with 2 Food.
• Board Setup: Use the 2-player boards and cover specific spaces with Overview cards as illustrated.
• Action Space Cards Stack: Place cards face-down on round spaces in this exact order:
  • Round 1: Blacksmithing
  • Round 2: Sheep farming
  • Round 3: Ore mine construction
  • Round 4: Wish for children (cover with Dwarf card until round 4)
  • Round 5: Donkey farming
  • Round 6: Ruby mine construction
  • Round 7: Ore delivery
  • Round 8: Family life (flips Wish for children to Urgent wish)
  • Round 9: Skipped (covered with Dwarf card; Exploration removed)
  • Round 10: Ore trading
  • Round 11: Adventure
  • Round 12: Ruby delivery
• No Harvest Events: Rounds 1-4 follow standard rules; from round 5 onward, every round ends with a full harvest.
• Ruby Mining: Rubies accumulate on Ruby mining starting in round 1.
• Refilling Accumulating Spaces: Before refilling, check for spaces containing more than 6 goods. Discard all goods from any such space back to the supply, unless you spend 1 Ruby per space to protect it for another round.