A game with bite from Friedemann Friese
Published by 2F-Spiele 1999
Game Topic | |||||||||
| Each player must bring a group of 6 people through the desert as alive as possible. First after 4 weeks (rounds) will the rescue team arrive. The problem is that the food available in the area is not enough to feed all the player characters. The basic idea of the game is that a man will rather eat a fellow man than starve to death. In order to survive must you not only try to find the available food, but also seek contact with the competitors to compensate for the lack of nutrition. The winner is the player who succeeds in bringing the most characters through the game, or if tied, the most valuable (ie. weakest). | |||||||||
Game Components | |||||||||
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| • 6 Mapboards, each with 12 spaces; 3 of which have Oasis.
• 42 Fight markers (red wooden blocks) | |||||||||
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| • The rules | |||||||||
Game Preparations | |||||||||
The following components are needed per player: (2-player game: Both players uses two sets)
Half of the boards (rounded up) should contain an Oasis, otherwise the choice is free. The boards may be combined in any way (even turned 90°) you choose. Beginners should be careful to spread the Oasis well and are advised to make the board as close to a rectangle as possible. Take 9 Treasures from the X-counters, divide them into 3 stacks of 3 counters and set them aside. The rest of X-counters are mixed. The Character cards are placed in front of the players, and each player divides his 5 Food counters among his characters as he finds best.1 The Fight markers should be be kept hidden. The hungriest player begins the game. In turn order places each player one hidden Character disc in any vacant space (neither rock nor oasis) until all discs have been placed. (Beginners should take heed to the tips after the rules!!!)
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Play Structure | |||||||||
The game is played in 4 rounds, each consisting of 3 phases. The 3 phases are:
In your turn you may perform one action with one of your hidden Characters:
After an X-counter has changed place it is revealed. If it is a Road the player may continue his turn, and he can again chose any one of the above mentioned actions (a,b,c) with any of his hidden Character discs. If Food or a Treasure is revealed must the player reveal both the X-counter and the character disc he moved. When two Character discs change places are both of them revealed.
EXAMPLE:
Player 2 can only switch F with D or x2 as his single hidden dics has no other connections. If he switch places with the X-counter and finds a Road, may he immediately switch places with A,B,D,E or reveal disc F. If he discover a Food-counter must he reveal the identity of F and will not even be able to reach the Food.
Finding Food
Fights
Both Characters have a Fight Power which both players may increase by the use of Fight markers. The players keeps these in a closed fist and reveal them simultaneiously. The Character with the highest Fighting value (Fight Power + markers) wins. If tied the attacker wins. All used Fight markers are lost (returned to a common pool). The losing discs is removed from the board and its Character card is turned over. (The owner may keep any Food counters from his Character card). The loser receives 2 Fight markers from the pool (if there are less than two markers left he receives nothing).
If a player cannot attack because his Characters has enough to eat, and his group has enough extra Food, he may (but doesn't have to) give any spare Food counters to a player who lacks Food in order to prevent him from attacking. If a player still lacks Food and cannot reach X-counters nor Characters, then must he sacrifice one of his own Characters, for which he recives the Food value - and he loses 2 Fight markers. If he has only one marker is this still lost. The second phase ends as soon as all no Character is starving. Any Food-counters still on the board remains in their space. Treasures remeins in their space during the whole game. Each player receives 1 VP per Character still alive. Note this on a piece of paper. All Food counters on the Character cards are returned to the pool. Those who has a stack of unused Food counters distribute these among their Characters. -All used Fight markers are distributed evenly among all players. Any surplus is kept in the common pool until the next Preparation phase. The player with the least Food is the new Startplayer. If tied, the player who needs the most Food to keep his Characters satisfied, will begin. If, by some devilish stroke of fate it is still tied, the player to left of the former Startplayer begins. Exeption: The Startplayer cannot be the same player in two consequtive rounds (although a player may be the startplayer in two alternate turns).
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Game End | |||||||||
| The game ends after four rounds as soon as all alive Characters are satisfied (not hungry).
Each player receives VP's for his surviving Characters (yellow number). These points are added to any VP's earned during the previous 3 rounds. The player with most VP's is declared victor. If tied the player with the most Food counters win. | |||||||||
Tips for the Beginner | |||||||||
| Since you basicly can only make wrong moves in this game have we a few tips for the clueless beginner. Always be careful to place your Characters close to each other in order to keep your movement options as flexible as possible. Then you will be able to reach Food over longer stretches or flee from unfriendly Characters.
make sure to keep your two small Characters tucked away in safety as they are not only your weakest Characters, but also those thatn earns you the most Victory Points. It pays to keep track of the number of Fight markers among the players, as you would prefer to fight those with fewer makers than yourself. It is sometimes better to sacrifice a Character without spending any Fight markers as you will get stronger (you'll receive 2 markers from the pool!) and thus will be in a better position to protect the remaining Characters. It is obviously important to pay notice to the locations of the different Characters as you cannot look at them during the play. | |||||||||
Translator Notes 1) The illustration on page 2 of the German rules shows an example where the two largest characters doesn't get any food, and each of the remaining four characters receives 1 Food each, except for one of the middle characters who gets 2 counters. 2) The Gorilla (a Monster character) is not considered to be a Monkey! | |||||||||
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