Bee Lives: We Will Only Know Summer Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Common Area Setup
• Player Area Setup
• Inside Your Hive
• How to Play
  • Scoring Victory Points
• Productive Months
  • 1. Egg Phase
  • 2. Feeding Phase
  • 3. Brood Phase
  • 4. Swarm Phase
  • 5. Event Phase
  • 6. Action Phase
  • 7. Cleanup Phase
  • Joining the Map
• Action Details
  • Forage (bees: 1-3)
  • Scout (bees: 1)
  • Raid (bees: X)
    • Raiding a Player Hive
    • Raiding a Wild Hive
  • Defend (bees: X)
  • Build Wax (bees: X)
  • Clean Bees (bees: X)
  • Cool Hive (bees: X)
  • Requeen (bees: 1)
• Wild Hives
  • Spring Priority Chart
  • Summer Priority Chart
  • Fall Priority Chart
• Wild Hive Raids
  • Raiding a Player Hive
  • Raiding Another Wild Hive
• Winter Upkeep
  • 1. Feed Your Bees
  • 2. Lose Bees to Disease
• End of the Game
• Queen Types
• Multiple Years Variant
• Solo Play
  • Basic Mode
  • Challenge Mode
  • Scenario Mode
  • Campaign Mode
  • Solo Score Chart
• Strategy Tips
• Season Cards
  • Spring
  • Summer
  • Fall
• Solo Play Cards
  • Scenario Cards
  • Campaign Cards
• Icon Reference

Components

• 80 Worker Bees (20 per color)
• 4 Player Hives (1 per color)
• 4 Score Markers (1 per color)
• 4 Varroa Mites
• 1 First Player Marker
• 108 Resource Cubes (60 Honey, 28 Pollen, 20 Water)
• 5 Raid Dice (12-sided D4s)
• 1 Raid Die (D6)
• 1 Wild Hive
• 8 Starvation Tokens
• 4 40/80 Point Tokens
• 4 Swarm Tokens
• 4 Skip Feeding Tokens
• 4 Comb Size Markers
• 4 Hive Boards
• 4 Disease Track Boards
• 1 Seasons Board
• 1 Score Track Board
• 1 Wild Hive Board
• 8 Wild Hive Strength Indicators
• 8 Wild Hive Tokens
• 40 Neutral Worker Tokens
• 8 Queen Tokens
• 80 Map Tiles (22 Bloom Tiles, 22 Wilt Tiles, 22 Harvest Tiles, 14 Wet Tiles)
• 27 Season Cards (9 Spring Cards, 9 Summer Cards, 9 Fall Cards)
• 12 Resource Tokens
• 4 Month Sequence Aids
• 4 Seasonal Resource Aids

Common Area Setup

• Seasons Board. Place the seasons board onto the table. Separate the season cards into three decks: spring, summer, and fall. Shuffle each deck separately, then place them all face down in their indicated slots on the seasons board.
• Wild Hive Board. Place the wild hive board onto the table. Put the wild hive strength indicators on the start space. Place the wild hive tokens and neutral worker tokens nearby.
• Score Track. Place the score track board onto the table. Next to this track, place a score marker for each player, as well as the 40/80 point tokens and the starvation tokens.
• Starting Map. Place a bloom tile in front of each player, to form the starting map. Make sure that these tiles are spaced well apart from each other.
• Cloth Bag. Put all remaining map tiles (all four types) into the cloth bag, then shake the bag to mix them thoroughly. Set the bag off to the side.
• Resources. Separate the resource cubes by type: honey, pollen, and water. Place them off to the side, along with the resource tokens, as the supply.

Player Area Setup

• Hive Board. Take a hive board and place it on the table in front of you.
• Comb Size. Place a comb size marker on the "11" space of the comb section of your hive board.
• Disease Track. Take a disease track board and place it to the right of your hive board, "A" side up.
• Varroa Mite. Place a varroa mite, lying down on its side, on the start space of your disease track.
• Worker Bees. Place three worker bees onto the darkened worker spaces of your hive board. Set the rest of your worker bees off to the side of your player area.
• Hive Location. Place your hive onto the bloom tile that is in front of you.
• Queen. Choose which one of the four queen types you want, and place that queen token on the queen slot of your hive board, with the brood icon oriented toward the "play" button.
• Player Aids. Take a pair of player aids and set them beside your hive board.
• First Player. Whoever most recently consumed honey (mead counts, too!) takes the first player marker.

The month sequence aid lists: Egg Phase; Feeding Phase; Brood Phase; Swarm Phase; Event Phase; Action Phase; Cleanup Phase.

Inside Your Hive

Understanding the various sections of your hive will help you make sense of the rest of this rulebook. Below is a breakdown of the important sections:

• Worker Area. In this area, you keep all your active worker bees that are not currently assigned to action spaces. You start the game with three worker bees, but can gain more (max: 20 total) by hatching brood at the start of each new month. The rest of your worker bees remain off to the side until needed.
• Action Spaces. To take actions in the game, you assign your worker bees to these eight spaces along the left side of your hive board. The action spaces are arranged by frequency of use (i.e., you will use the actions at the top more frequently than the actions at the bottom). At the end of each month, your active worker bees are returned to the worker area of your hive.
• Comb Section. In your comb, you store resources (honey, pollen, and water), and empty cells are for brood. Each cell can store one resource cube. You begin the game with 10 cells, but can build more. Your hive's swarm threshold, which is the maximum number of worker bees you can have without your hive swarming, is indicated by the yellow value in your highest-numbered cell.
• Queen Slot. Your queen token goes in this slot near the top of your hive board. Most of the time, the queen token will be oriented so that the brood icon aligns with the play button. But, when you requeen your hive or when your hive swarms or overheats, you must rotate the queen token to the left, so that the brood icon is aligned with the pause button, indicating that you cannot hatch any brood in the following month.
• Nest Area. Worker bees placed in this section represent your hive's capacity for brood, as indicated by the number of empty cells in your comb. To hatch worker bees, you must spend one pollen per bee. When these brood hatch, the worker bees are moved from the nest area to your worker area.
• Disease Track. The position of the varroa mite on the disease track indicates how much disease is present in your hive. Your disease level increases when you steal honey from other hives and when you forage. Each month, you lose newly hatched brood according to the disease level of your hive, and disease also kills your adult worker bees during the winter months. You can reduce the disease level of your hive by swarming and by actively cleaning the hive.

The eight action spaces (top to bottom) are: Forage, Scout, Raiding, Defend, Build Wax, Clean Bees, Cool Hive, Requeen.

How to Play

A single game of Bee Lives takes place over the course of a year. The year is then divided into "months."

Productive Months. For the first nine months (Mar. - Nov.) of the game, the productive months, gameplay follows the normal sequence, as players assign their bees to take actions.

Winter Upkeep. At the end of the game, there are three months of winter upkeep (Dec. - Feb.), when players must feed their bees and survive the ravages of disease.

Scoring Victory Points

The player who has the most victory points (VP) at the end of the game is the winner! There are four different ways to score victory points during the game:

• Swarming. When your hive swarms, you score victory points. The earlier in the year, the more points you score: spring (5 VP), summer (3 VP), and fall (1 VP).
• Raiding Hives. When you raid another hive, you score 2 VP if the raid is successful.
• Defending Your Hive. When another hive raids your hive, you score 2 VP if the raid is unsuccessful.
• Surviving Winter. At the end of the game, you score 1 VP for each of your worker bees that survived the winter and 1 VP for each honey remaining in your comb.

Productive Months

Each of the game's productive months follows the same sequence, with seven different phases that occur in order, as follows:

1. Egg Phase. Each player counts how many brood they have in their comb.
2. Feeding Phase. Each player must feed their worker bees with honey.
3. Brood Phase. Each player spends pollen to hatch their brood into new worker bees.
4. Swarm Phase. Each player checks to see if their hive will swarm.
5. Event Phase. Reveal the next card from the current season deck.
6. Action Phase. In clockwise order, each player takes a single action. After that, each wild hive takes a single action. Repeat until no player has worker bees remaining.
7. Cleanup Phase. Prepare for the following month.

Note: In the first month of the game, there is a slight change to the month sequence. Skip the first four phases and begin with the Event Phase.

1. Egg Phase

In this phase, each player counts how many empty cells they have available in their comb. This can be done simultaneously. The number of empty cells you have is the number of brood you will have available this month.

Move that many worker bees from your supply over to the nest area of your hive board. If you have enough pollen, these will hatch into worker bees during the Brood Phase.

If you have zero empty cells, then take a swarm token from the general supply. This indicates that, because your hive does not have enough room for brood, it will swarm during the Swarm Phase later this month.

Example A: Susan currently has 15 available cells in her comb. Of those cells, 3 are storing pollen, 7 are storing honey, and 1 is storing water — which leaves 4 empty cells. Therefore, Susan moves 4 worker bees from her supply to her nest area.

2. Feeding Phase

In this phase, each player must feed their bees. This can be done simultaneously.

Note: If you have a skip feeding token, you do not have to feed your bees this month! Return the token to the general supply.

To feed your bees, you must spend honey from your comb. Each honey cube can feed up to two worker bees. You do NOT have to spend honey to feed the brood, as they have not yet hatched.

If you do not have enough honey to feed all of your worker bees, then any remaining worker bees starve. Remove the starved bees from your hive, discarding them back to your supply.

However, if starvation would cause you to lose any of your last three worker bees, for each of these bees that would starve you may choose to take a starvation token instead of losing that worker bee. Each starvation token is worth -2 VPs at the end of the game.

Example B: Jeremy has 7 worker bees, but he only has 3 honey in his comb when it's time for the Feeding Phase. He discards all 3 of his honey cubes, but that still leaves 1 worker bee to starve. Jeremy has to discard 1 worker bee back to his supply.

3. Brood Phase

In this phase, each player's brood hatches into worker bees. This can be done simultaneously.

Note: If your queen token is rotated to the left, then you cannot hatch any brood this month! Rotate your queen token back to the right. Discard all worker bees in your nest area.

The number of brood you have available is the number of worker bees currently in the nest area on your hive board. How many of these brood will actually hatch is determined by how many pollen cubes you have in your comb.

For each brood you have, you must spend one pollen in order for it to hatch into a worker bee. Hatching brood is mandatory. Spent pollen is returned to the general supply. For each brood hatched this way, move a worker bee from the nest area over to the worker area.

However, you must check to see if you lose any of your newly hatched worker bees to disease. The number of newly hatched worker bees that you lose is equal to your disease level, which is the number printed in the space currently occupied by the varroa mite on your disease track. You must still spend the pollen to hatch those brood, but they are then discarded.

Example C: Lauren has 4 pollen in her comb and 3 worker bees in her nest area. She discards 3 pollen cubes to hatch those 3 worker bees. However, she currently has a disease level of -1, which means that 1 of those newly hatched worker bees is lost to disease. Lauren discards 1 worker bee back to her supply, then moves the other 2 over to her worker area.

4. Swarm Phase

In this phase, each player checks to see if their hive will swarm. This must be done in clockwise order, beginning with the current first player. There are two different ways in which a swarm can be triggered: exceeding your swarm threshold and having a swarm token.

Having a Swarm Token. If you have a swarm token, gained by having no room for brood during the Egg Phase earlier this month, then your hive will swarm. Return the swarm token to the general supply.

Exceeding Your Swarm Threshold. In the highest-numbered cell of your comb is a number in yellow. This number is your swarm threshold. If the number of worker bees you currently have exceeds this number, then your hive will swarm.

When your hive swarms, you lose half of your bees and honey. Remove half of your worker bees (rounded down) from your hive, putting them back in the supply next to your hive board. Discard half of your honey cubes (rounded down), returning them to the general supply.

Then, you must take a wild hive that is not in play and place it on any available map placement (your choice) up to three spaces away from your own hive. On the wild hive board, adjust the strength indicator for that wild hive so that it shows the number equal to how many bees you lost from your hive in the swarm. If you cannot spawn a wild hive because there are no legal placements within three spaces of your hive, skip this step.

You must decide whether you want to stay in your current hive location or move to the new hive location. If you were not able to spawn a wild hive because there were no valid placements, then you have no choice: you must stay.

If You Stay...

You must choose a new queen. This can be the same type of queen you had before, but may be a different type instead. You cannot hatch any brood in the following month; rotate your queen token to the left to indicate this.

Reduce your disease level by half (rounded down).

If You Leave...

You must keep your current queen. You cannot hatch any brood in the following month; rotate your queen token to the left to indicate this.

You will not have to feed your bees in the following month; take a skip feeding token from the general supply to indicate this.

Discard all resources, reduce disease level to zero, and set your comb size to 10. Increase your comb size by one for every two honey discarded this way (rounded up).

On the map, swap the positions of your hive and the newly spawned wild hive.

As long as you were able to spawn a new wild hive, you immediately score victory points! The number of VPs that you score is based on which season it happens to be. The earlier in the year, the more victory points you score:

• Swarm in spring = 5 VPs
• Swarm in summer = 3 VPs
• Swarm in fall = 1 VP

Example D: Bob has a comb size of 13, so his swarm threshold is 7. He has 9 worker bees, so his hive swarms. He loses half of his honey (2) and half of his worker bees (4), which form a new wild hive that Bob spawns on a wet tile several spaces away. Bob decides to stay in his current hive location, so he chooses a new queen. Then he reduces his hive's disease level from -3 to -1 and, because it is summer, scores 3 VPs.

5. Event Phase

In this phase, you must reveal the top card of the current season deck, and place it in the next available slot on the seasons board, covering the previous season card.

Each season card has one or more ongoing effects, which go into effect now and will remain active until the card gets covered by the next season card in the following month.

6. Action Phase

In this phase, players take turns, in clockwise order, assigning their worker bees to take actions inside and outside of the hive. Once each player has taken a single turn, then any wild hives in play each take a turn.

Repeat this process, with a round of player turns followed by wild hive turns, until all players have assigned all of their worker bees. It is likely that some players will run out of worker bees to assign before other players do; when this happens, simply skip the turns of any players who have run out of worker bees.

Exception! After the final round of player turns, the wild hives do not take a final turn.

Player Turns. On your turn, you must take exactly one action. The number of worker bees you may assign to that action is determined by which action you choose (see Action Details, p. 12). You may take the same action multiple times in the same month.

Wild Hive Turns. After all player turns, each wild hive gets a turn. If there are multiple wild hives in play, the one closest to the first player's hive goes first, then next closest, etc. The wild hives follow a simple action priority system (see Wild Hives, p. 17).

Example E: There are 4 players and 2 wild hives on the map. The player turn order is Susan > Jeremy > Lauren > Bob. After Bob's turn, each wild hive takes a turn: first the ACORN wild hive, which is the closest to Susan's hive on the map, then the DANDELION wild hive.

7. Cleanup Phase

In this phase, you must prepare for the following month. There are four steps that must be carried out during this phase.

• Whoever currently has the first player marker passes it to the player on their left.
• Remove from the map all neutral worker tokens that were added this month. Do NOT remove the wild hives themselves!
• Each player retrieves all of their active worker bees, both from the map tiles where they foraged and from the action spaces of their hive board, and returns them to the worker area of their hive board.
• Any varroa mites that are still standing upright are laid back down.
• If any player has a hygienic queen, and their varroa mite is on a half space of their disease track, it moves back to the previous full space.

Joining the Map

At the end of spring, the hives begin to look further afield for more resources. The players must now join their individual segments of the map to form one large, unified map. This occurs as the very last step of the Cleanup Phase in the third month.

In clockwise order, beginning with the next month's first player, each player must connect the group of map tiles containing their hive to another group of map tiles, so that the two groups touch on at least one edge. When all players have done this, there should be only one unified group of map tiles.

When deciding how you want to connect your group of map tiles to another group of map tiles, the following rules apply:

• You are not allowed to rearrange the map tiles within a group.
• You are not allowed to connect two groups in such a way that other portions of those groups would overlap with each other.
• You are allowed to rotate one or both of the groups before you connect them.

Action Details

Forage (bees: 1-3)

Choose an unoccupied map tile up to three spaces away from your own hive, declaring that tile as the location that you are foraging. You may not forage a map tile that has worker bees already on it, or that contains an opposing hive.

The number of worker bees you must assign to take this action is equal to how many spaces the foraged map tile is away from your hive's location. (If you forage from the map tile where your own hive is located, you still must assign one worker bee.) Place the assigned worker bees directly onto the foraged map tile.

Each type of map tile provides a certain number of resources: honey, pollen, and perhaps even water. The number of resources provided by each tile varies from season to season. When you forage a map tile, you may collect as many of its resources as you wish. You may collect less than what the tile provides, but never more.

Seasonal Resource Chart

Tile Type	Spring	Summer	Fall
Bloom	5 honey, 5 pollen	1 honey, 1 pollen	2 honey, 2 pollen
Wilt	2 honey, 2 pollen	3 honey, 3 pollen	1 honey, 1 pollen
Harvest	1 honey, 1 pollen	1 honey, 1 pollen	3 honey, 3 pollen
Wet	1 honey, 1 pollen, 3 water	1 honey, 1 pollen, 3 water	1 honey, 1 pollen, 3 water

For each resource you collect, take a matching resource cube from the general supply and place it in an empty cell in the comb section of your hive board. If the resource cubes in the general supply run out during play, use the resource tokens (x5 each) as needed.

Finally, you gain one disease when you forage. Move the varroa mite one space forward on your disease track. You always gain exactly one disease when you forage, no matter how many worker bees were assigned to take the action.

Example F: Susan decides to forage for honey during the fall. She wants to forage the harvest tile 2 spaces away from her hive's location, so she must assign 2 worker bees. She decides to collect 3 honey and 1 pollen, moving those resource cubes from the supply to her comb. Lastly, she advances the varroa mite by 1 space on her disease track.

Scout (bees: 1)

Assign one worker bee to the Scout action space. On the map, choose an empty space up to three spaces away from your hive's location, declaring that space as the location you are scouting. You must be able to trace an unbroken line of map tiles from your hive's location to that empty space.

Then draw two map tiles at random from the cloth bag. Choose one of those two tiles, and place it in the location that you scouted, so that its edges align with any adjacent map tiles. Return the other map tile (the one you did not choose) to the cloth bag.

Example G: Jeremy wants to expand the map around his hive, so he assigns 1 worker bee to scout new territory. He points to an empty space immediately next to his hive's location, then draws 2 map tiles at random from the cloth bag: a bloom tile and a wilt tile. Since it's summer, Jeremy decides to place the wilt tile. The bloom tile is returned to the cloth bag.

Raid (bees: X)

Assign worker bees to the Raid action space. You may assign as many of your available worker bees as you want. The more bees you assign to a raid party, the more likely that the raid will be successful.

Choose an opposing hive (this can be a wild hive or another player's hive) as the target of the raid. The target hive must be located within three spaces of your own hive. You cannot a target a hive that you have already raided this month, or a hive that has no honey.

Next, you build your pool of raid dice. The number of worker bees in your raid party determines how many raid dice you get to roll.

Raid Dice Pool

Assigned Bees	Raid Dice (D4s)
1-4	1
5-8	2
9-12	3
13-16	4
17+	5

Roll your pool of raid dice, then total the rolled results. Compare this total with the number of bees in your raid party. Whichever number is lesser is the strength of your raid party, which indicates the maximum amount of honey you can steal from the target hive.

If you do not like the result of your roll, you may reroll up to three times. Each time you reroll, you must sacrifice one worker bee from the raid party; the bee dies and is discarded. Because you reduce the number of bees in your raid party by one each time you reroll, you are also reducing the maximum amount of honey you can steal.

Stealing honey works differently, depending on whether you are raiding a wild hive or raiding a player hive. See the differences below.

Raiding a Player Hive

When you raid a player hive, that opponent, known as the defender, may prevent you from stealing honey. For each worker bee that the defender has currently assigned to the Defend action, the strength of your raid party is reduced by one.

The defender may further reduce the strength of your raid party by sacrificing worker bees (from among those bees assigned to the Defend action or yet unassigned this month). For each worker bee that the defender sacrifices this way, you must discard a worker bee from your raid party AND the strength of your raid party is reduced by one.

Note: It is possible that losing a bee from your raid party knocks you down a bracket in the raid dice pool. When this happens, you must choose one of your rolled raid dice to remove, effectively lowering the total of your raid dice roll.

You may now steal honey from the defender's hive equal to the final strength of your raid party. You can never take more honey cubes from them than they actually have in their comb. (Remember: You cannot initiate a raid against an opponent who has zero honey!) If you steal any honey at all, then you gain disease equal to one third (rounded up) of the target hive's disease level. Move the varroa mite that many spaces forward on your disease track.

Finally, determine whether the raid was successful or unsuccessful.

Successful Raid: If the attacker was able to steal honey equal to at least half the number of worker bees that were initially assigned to the raid party, then the raid is considered successful. The attacker scores 2 VPs.

Unsuccessful Raid: If the attacker stole honey equal to less than half the number of worker bees that were initially assigned to the raid party, then the raid is considered unsuccessful. The defender scores 2 VPs.

Example H: Bob is itching for a fight, and he sees that Lauren has 5 honey cubes and only 1 worker bee assigned to defend her hive. Bob sends a raid party of 5 worker bees. With 5 bees, he gets 2 raid dice and rolls "1" and "2." Not a great roll, but he elects not to sacrifice any bees for rerolls. This gives him an initial raid strength of 3.

Lauren decides to sacrifice 1 of her unassigned worker bees, forcing Bob to discard 1 bee from his raid party. Because he now only has 4 bees in his raid party, Bob is knocked down a bracket in the raid dice pool, so he must remove 1 die that he rolled. He chooses the "1" die, leaving him with the "2" die. His raid strength is now 2.

Bob's raid strength is reduced by 1 due to Lauren's defending bee and by 1 due to the unassigned bee that she sacrificed, so his final raid strength is 0. Lauren keeps all of her honey! Because the raid was unsuccessful, Lauren scores 2 VPs.

Raiding a Wild Hive

On the wild hive board, reduce the strength of the wild hive by a number equal to the strength of your raid party. You may reduce the wild hive's strength even further, if you wish, by sacrificing worker bees from your raid party. For each bee sacrificed this way, reduce the wild hive's strength by one (to a minimum of zero strength). Sacrificed bees are discarded.

Then you may steal honey from the wild hive equal to the number by which you reduced the wild hive's strength. Take these honey cubes from the general supply. You may take less than this, but never more. If you steal any honey at all, then you gain one disease. Move the varroa mite one space forward on your disease track.

If you reduce the wild hive's strength to zero, it is considered a successful raid and you score 2 VPs. Remove that wild hive from the map.

Example I: Susan is worried about the ACORN wild hive nearby, so she decides to raid it and try to wipe it out. The wild hive has a strength of 4, so she sends 4 worker bees in her raid party. With 4 bees, she gets 1 raid die and rolls a "3." This reduces the wild hive's strength to 1 — not enough to take it out. Susan sacrifices 1 bee from her raid party to reduce the wild hive's strength to 0. It is removed from the map! Susan scores 2 VPs, takes 4 honey cubes from the supply, and moves the varroa mite one space forward on her disease track.

Defend (bees: X)

Assign worker bees to the Defend action space. You may assign as many of your available worker bees as you want. By assigning bees to this action, you are preemptively defending your hive from raids this month. (See Raid for details.)

Build Wax (bees: X)

Assign worker bees to the Build Wax action space. You may assign as many of your available worker bees as you want. For each worker bee that you assign, you must spend two honey. Increase your comb by one cell for each assigned worker bee, advancing your comb size marker accordingly.

Example J: Lauren wants to increase the size of her comb, which currently has 12 cells. She assigns 2 worker bees to build wax. To do this, she must discard 4 honey cubes. This increases her comb size from 12 cells to 14 cells, so she adjusts her comb size marker.

Clean Bees (bees: X)

Assign worker bees to the Clean Bees action space. You may assign as many of your available worker bees as you want. For each worker bee that you assign, move the varroa mite one space backward on your disease track.

In addition, the next time this month that you gain disease (either by foraging or stealing honey), you will gain one less disease. To indicate that this benefit is active, stand your varroa mite upright. When this benefit is used, lay the varroa mite back down. However, if you do not use this benefit before the end of the month, it is lost; it does not carry over to the next month.

Example K: Bob's hive has gotten a little dirty and winter is coming soon, so he assigns 3 worker bees to cleaning duties. This moves his varroa mite backward by 3 spaces, reducing his disease level from -3 to -2. He also stands the varroa mite upright so that he can forage as his next action without gaining disease.

Cool Hive (bees: X)

Assign worker bees to the Cool Hive action space. For every five active worker bees that you have (rounded up), you must assign one worker bee. Then you must spend one water cube for each worker bee assigned to this action.

This action is only needed when the current season card says that overheating is in effect. If you cannot (or choose not to) cool the hive before the end of the month, you cannot hatch any brood in the following month; rotate your queen token to the left to indicate this.

Example L: Susan wants to be able to hatch some new workers next month, but overheating is currently in effect. Fortunately, she has some water stored in her comb for just such an emergency. There are 7 total worker bees in Susan's hive, so she must assign 2 worker bees and discard 2 water cubes in order to cool the hive.

Requeen (bees: 1)

Assign one worker bee to the Requeen action space. Discard your current queen token back to the general supply, then replace it with a queen token of a different type. Rotate your queen token to the left to indicate that you cannot hatch any brood in the following month.

Example M: Wild hives have been a real problem for Jeremy, so he wants to switch queens to better deal with them. He assigns 1 worker bee to requeen, then swaps out his prolific queen for an aggressive queen, which will increase his strength during raids. He rotates the new queen token to the left, as a reminder that he will not hatch any brood next month.

Wild Hives

Wild hives follow an action priority system. When it is time for the wild hive turns during the Action Phase, each wild hive will take a single action. If there are multiple wild hives in play, the current first player decides in which order they will activate.

Using the priority chart for the current season, determine which action the wild hive will take. If it possible for the wild hive to take the topmost action listed on the chart, it will do so. If not, continue down the chart until you come to an action that the wild hive is able to carry out.

Each wild hive has five matching neutral worker tokens. These are placed out onto the map when the wild hive takes certain actions, such as foraging and raiding. Like worker bees of players, these neutral worker tokens prevent other hives from foraging the map tiles that they occupy.

The first time each month that a wild hive places a neutral worker token on a bloom tile, wilt tile, or harvest tile (by foraging), increase its strength by one.

Dormant Wild Hives. Any wild hives that appear during spring, whether spawned via season card effects or created due to swarming, are dormant and will not take any actions until summer. Therefore, the spring priority chart is only needed if you are playing the multiple years variant.

Spring Priority Chart

1. If the wild hive's strength is at maximum (14), it will swarm. Reduce the wild hive's strength to seven, then spawn a new wild hive, with strength of seven, on any available map tile up to three spaces away from the original wild hive. The location is chosen by the first player.
2. If overheating is in effect, place a neutral worker token on the wet tile closest to the wild hive's location, up to three spaces away, that has not been foraged yet this round.
3. Place a neutral worker token on the bloom tile closest to the wild hive's location, up to three spaces away, that has not been foraged yet this round.
4. The wild hive scouts in an empty space up to three spaces away from the wild hive's location. The first player chooses where the wild hive will scout, then draws one map tile from the bag and places it in the scouted location.
5. Place a neutral worker token on the wilt tile closest to the wild hive's location, up to three spaces away, that has not been foraged yet this round.
6. Place a neutral worker token on the harvest tile closest to the wild hive's location, up to three spaces away, that has not been foraged yet this round.

Summer Priority Chart

1. If the wild hive's strength is at maximum (14), it will swarm. Reduce the wild hive's strength to seven, then spawn a new wild hive, with strength of seven, on any available map tile up to three spaces away from the original wild hive. The location is chosen by the first player.

2. If overheating is in effect, place a neutral worker token on the wet tile closest to the wild hive's location, up to three spaces away, that has not been foraged yet this round.

3. Locate the hive closest to the wild hive, up to three spaces away, that this wild hive has not yet raided this round. Compare the strengths of the wild hive and the target hive:

   • If the target hive is a player hive, its strength is the number of unassigned worker bees plus the number of worker bees assigned to the Defend action.
   • If the target hive is another wild hive, its strength is marked by the strength indicator on the wild hive board.

   If the target hive's strength is no more than two higher than the wild hive's strength, then the wild hive will raid that target hive. Place a neutral worker token on the map tile occupied by the target hive, then carry out the raid (see Wild Hive Raids).

4. Place a neutral worker token on the wilt tile closest to the wild hive's location, up to three spaces away, that has not been foraged yet this round.

5. Place a neutral worker token on the bloom tile closest to the wild hive's location, up to three spaces away, that has not been foraged yet this round.

6. Place a neutral worker token on the harvest tile closest to the wild hive's location, up to three spaces away, that has not been foraged yet this round.

Fall Priority Chart

1. If the wild hive's strength is at maximum (14), it will swarm. Reduce the wild hive's strength to seven, then spawn a new wild hive, with strength of seven, on any available map tile up to three spaces away from the original wild hive. The location is chosen by the first player.

2. If overheating is in effect, place a neutral worker token on the wet tile closest to the wild hive's location, up to three spaces away, that has not been foraged yet this round.

3. Place a neutral worker token on the harvest tile closest to the wild hive's location, up to three spaces away, that has not been foraged yet this round.

4. Locate the hive closest to the wild hive, up to three spaces away, that this wild hive has not yet raided this round. Compare the strengths of the wild hive and the target hive:

   • If the target hive is a player hive, its strength is the number of unassigned worker bees plus the number of worker bees assigned to the Defend action.
   • If the target hive is another wild hive, its strength is marked by the strength indicator on the wild hive board.

   If the target hive's strength is no more than two higher than the wild hive's strength, then the wild hive will raid that target hive. Place a neutral worker token on the map tile occupied by the target hive, then carry out the raid (see Wild Hive Raids).

5. Place a neutral worker token on the bloom tile closest to the wild hive's location, up to three spaces away, that has not been foraged yet this round.

6. Place a neutral worker token on the wilt tile closest to the wild hive's location, up to three spaces away, that has not been foraged yet this round.

Example N: It's time for the MUSHROOM wild hive to take its turn during a fall month. Since its strength is only 3, and overheating is not in effect, it skips the first 2 actions in the fall priority chart. The hive happens to be located next to a harvest tile that has not yet been foraged this round, however, so it will take the third action on the priority chart. A matching neutral worker token is placed on that harvest tile. This is the first time this month that the MUSHROOM wild hive has foraged, so its strength increases to 4.

Wild Hive Raids

When a wild hive raids another hive, use the following steps, which vary based on whether it is raiding a player hive or another wild hive.

Raiding a Player Hive

When a wild hive raids a player hive, roll the D6. The rolled result is how much honey the wild hive will steal from the player hive. However, the wild hive can never steal more honey than its own strength value. The stolen honey is simply removed from the player hive and returned to the general supply.

The defender, whose hive is being raided, may prevent the wild hive from stealing honey. For each worker bee that the defender has currently assigned to the Defend action, the amount of honey stolen is reduced by one. This does not reduce the strength of the wild hive, however.

The defender may further prevent the wild hive from stealing honey by sacrificing worker bees (from among those assigned to the Defend action or yet unassigned this month).

• For each defending worker bee that is sacrificed, the wild hive's strength is reduced by two, which also reduces by two the amount of honey that can be stolen.
• For each unassigned worker bee that is sacrificed, the wild hive's strength is reduced by one, which also reduces by one the amount of honey that can be stolen.

If the wild hive steals at least one honey from the player hive, then the wild hive's strength is increased by one. But if the wild hive's strength is reduced to zero, then the wild hive is removed from play and the defender scores 2 VPs!

Example O: Susan's hive, which only has 1 honey, is being raided by the ACORN wild hive (strength 5). Susan has 0 defending worker bees and 3 unassigned worker bees. The D6 is rolled, with a result of "3." Susan could sacrifice all of her unassigned worker bees to protect her 1 honey, but she would rather keep her worker bees. Susan's 1 honey cube is returned to the supply, and the ACORN wild hive's strength increases to 6.

Raiding Another Wild Hive

When a wild hive raids another wild hive, roll the D6 once for each hive. Then calculate the difference (if any) in strength values between the two wild hives, and add that number to the rolled result for the stronger hive.

Whichever hive has the higher result wins the raid. (Ties go to the defending wild hive.) The winner has its strength increased by one, and the loser has its strength reduced by one. If the loser has its strength reduced to zero because of this, it is removed from play.

Example P: The APPLE wild hive (strength 3) is raiding the SPIDER wild hive (strength 4). The die roll for the APPLE wild hive yields a result of "5," while the die roll for the SPIDER wild hive yields a result of "4." The die result for the SPIDER wild hive is increased by 1 because its strength is 1 more than the APPLE wild hive. The results are tied, so the SPIDER wild hive wins the raid, because it is the defender. The SPIDER wild hive's strength increases to 5, while the APPLE wild hive's strength decreases to 2.

Winter Upkeep

After the productive months, there are three months of winter upkeep (Dec. - Feb.). During each month of winter, there are only two steps: feed your bees and lose bees to disease. All players can carry out these steps simultaneously.

1. Feed Your Bees

To feed your bees, you must spend honey from your comb equal to one third the number of worker bees in your hive, rounded down. (This is different than during the productive months, when each honey feeds up to two bees.)

If you do not have enough honey to feed all of your worker bees, then any remaining worker bees starve. Remove the starved bees from your hive, discarding them back to your supply.

However, if starvation would cause you to lose any of your last three worker bees, for each of these bees that would starve you may choose to take a starvation token instead of losing that worker bee. Each starvation token is worth -2 VPs at the end of the game.

2. Lose Bees to Disease

After feeding your bees each month, you then lose bees to disease. The number of worker bees that you must discard is equal to your disease level, which is the number printed in the space currently occupied by the varroa mite on your disease track.

Example Q: Bob hasn't kept a very clean hive this game, and he is entering winter with a disease level of -2. He has 12 honey and 6 worker bees. In the first month of winter, Bob spends 2 honey to feed his 6 bees, then disease kills 2 bees. In the second month of winter, Bob spends 1 honey to feed his 4 remaining bees, then disease kills 2 more bees. In the last month of winter, Bob doesn't have to spend any honey to feed his remaining 2 bees, but disease then kills both of them. This leaves Bob with 9 honey and 0 worker bees.

End of the Game

After winter upkeep has been performed, the game is over. Each player scores victory points in three different categories:

• 1 VP for each remaining honey
• 1 VP for each surviving worker bee
• -2 VPs for each starvation token

You must have at least one surviving worker bee to be eligible to win. Whoever has the most victory points is the winner! Their hive will rule the meadow. In case of a tie, use the following tiebreakers: most remaining pollen > most surviving worker bees > largest comb size.

Example R: Bob finished with 37 VPs, 9 honey, 0 bees, and 1 starvation token, for a final score of 44 VPs. Susan finished with 32 VPs, 3 honey, and 4 bees, for a final score of 39 VPs. Jeremy finished with 25 VPs, 12 honey, and 2 bees, for a final score of 39 VPs. Lauren finished with 25 VPs, 2 honey, 5 bees, and 2 starvation tokens for a final score of 28 VPs. Bob has the highest score, but he can't win because he had no surviving bees. Susan and Jeremy are tied at 39, but Susan has 2 remaining pollen to Jeremy's 0 remaining pollen, so Susan is the winner!

Queen Types

There are four different types of queens. Each type has its own special ability.

• Aggressive: Your hive performs better in combat. During any raid, whether you are the attacker or defender, increase your strength by one for every two of your worker bees involved.
• Prolific: Your hive gains new worker bees faster. When hatching brood, for every two brood that you hatch into worker bees, gain one extra worker bee, taken directly from your supply.
• Hygienic: Your disease level increases more slowly. During setup, flip your disease track to the "B" side. You never move your varroa mite more than one space when you raid another hive.
• Nomadic: Your hive will swarm more frequently. To determine your swarm threshold, use the purple value in the highest-numbered cell of your comb, instead of the yellow value.

Note: When using the "B" side of the disease track, there are half spaces between the normal spaces. Your disease level is always considered to be the level of the last normal space you have reached. At the end of a round, if your varroa mite is on a half space, move it back onto the previous normal space.

Multiple Years Variant

If you wish to play a longer game, play for two years (long game) or three years (epic game). With this variant, keep the following rules in mind:

• Joining the map is only done at the end of spring in the first year.
• Between years, discard all played season cards, but do not shuffle them back in to the season decks.
• When a wild hive is spawned in any year except for the first, it comes into play with strength 4 (second year) or strength 5 (third year).
• Wild hives are dormant during spring of the first year, but will take normal actions during the spring of the following years, following the spring priority chart.
• Score victory points for surviving bees and remaining honey after each winter. You must have at least one worker bee that survives each winter.
• During the second and third years, skip the Feeding Phase in the first month of spring. (Give each player a skip feeding token during winter upkeep, as a reminder.)

Solo Play

Basic Mode

In basic mode, you simply play the game as normal, but you are the only human player. You will create your own competition in the meadow simply by spawning new wild hives! You can play the standard game length or try the multiple years variant.

For increased difficulty, add this rule: At the end of every summer or fall month in which a wild hive was not spawned due to swarming or card effects, spawn a new wild hive (strength 3). Place it on any map tile up to three spaces away from your own hive.

Challenge Mode

In challenge mode, you shuffle the challenge cards during setup, and choose one at random. Place the challenge card face up near your hive board. The card will list specific goals that you must meet during play, in addition to the standard gameplay goals, in order to win.

Scenario Mode

In scenario mode, you choose a scenario card and place it face up near your hive board. Configure the starting map as indicated on the scenario card. The card will list specific goals that you must meet during play in order to win, along with any other rules that are in effect. For increased difficulty, attempt scenario mode with a challenge card in play as well.

Campaign Mode

In campaign mode, you choose a campaign card and place it face up near your hive board. The card will specify changes to gameplay, as well as when they go into effect. For increased difficulty, attempt campaign mode with a challenge card in play as well.

Solo Score Chart

Use this chart to rate your score for one-year solo games.

Rating	Score
Beeginner	19 VP or fewer
Newbee	20-30 VP
Seasoned Forager	31-50 VP
Queen Bee	51+ VP

Strategy Tips

• Bees are more valuable than honey. Sacrifice your worker bees to save your honey from being stolen when you absolutely have to, but remember that you can always use your bees to get more honey later on.
• Don't hoard resources. You don't always want to take as many as possible, because you cannot freely discard resources to make room in your comb for other resources (or for brood)! To make room, you must spend resources or else build wax to make your comb larger.
• Pay attention to the wild hives. Scoring victory points from swarming is great, and the wild hives this creates can be useful to you because they will harass your opponents. But they will just as easily turn on you, too, so you can't ignore them.
• Scout more often than you think you need to. Especially early in the game, when your opponents don't have access to your segment of the map. Later on, having those extra map tiles around your hive can serve as a nice buffer if you have an opponent who likes to raid.
• Don't be afraid to switch queens. And if you do it when you swarm, it doesn't cost you an extra action! Doing this helps you stay agile and change up your strategy midstream, instead of focusing too narrowly on only one specific route to victory.
• The best offense is a good defense. Defending your hive often gets overlooked, but it can really save you, particularly late in the game. Don't think of bees you assign there as wasted actions, but rather as saving the fruits of your other labors.
• Collect water sparingly. You only need water to cool the hive, which is only relevant when overheating is in effect. In fact, cooling the hive is the only way to remove water from your hive! At all other times, water just sits in your comb, taking up space.
• Size matters. Having a large number of bees may be costly in honey, but the more bees you have, the less likely your opponents are to attack you, and the more likely you will successfully defend yourself when they do.

Season Cards

Spring

• Beginning of the Flow: Bloom tiles provide +1 honey when foraged.
• A Cold Spike: Bloom tiles provide -2 honey when foraged. Wilt and harvest tiles provide -1 honey when foraged.
• An Early Start: Building wax requires 1 honey per worker, not 2. Each pollen hatches 2 brood, instead of 1. After scouting, roll the D6. On 5+, spawn a wild hive (strength 3) on the scouted tile.
• First Bloom: All tiles provide +1 pollen when foraged.
• In Like a Lion: After foraging, roll the D6. On 5+, spawn a wild hive (strength 3) on the foraged tile.
• Non-Stop Rain: Wilt tiles provide +1 honey and +1 water when foraged. All other tiles provide +1 water when foraged.
• Oppressive Heat: Overheating is in effect!
• Out Like a Lamb: After scouting, roll the D6. On 5+, spawn a wild hive (strength 3) on the scouted tile.
• Perfect Weather: On your first turn this month, spawn a wild hive (strength 3) on a tile up to 3 spaces away from your own hive.

Summer

• The Dearth: Overheating is in effect! All tiles provide -2 honey and -1 pollen when foraged.
• A Dry Spell: Overheating is in effect! Wet tiles provide -1 honey and -1 water when foraged.
• Early Fall: Harvest tiles provide +1 honey and +1 pollen when foraged.
• Heat Wave: Overheating is in effect! All tiles provide -1 honey when foraged.
• Humid Days: Overheating is in effect! Cooling your hive requires 2 water for every 5 workers you have, instead of 1.
• Late Bloom: Bloom tiles provide +1 honey and +1 pollen when foraged. After foraging, roll the D6. On 6, spawn a wild hive (strength 3) on the foraged tile.
• On Guard: If your hive has an aggressive queen, gain +1 strength when raiding and defending.
• Summer Storms: All tiles provide -1 honey when foraged. When defending, gain +1 strength for every 5 workers you have.
• Unseasonably Cool: Bloom tiles provide +1 honey and +1 pollen when foraged.

Fall

• Buttoned Up: No brood hatches at all next month.
• Cooler Temps: One third of your workers (rounded down) must remain in the hive this month. Move them to the Defend action space.
• Culling of the Drones: Next month, each honey is enough to feed 3 workers, instead of 2.
• Desperate Parties: On their first turn this month, each wild hive will attempt to raid the closest hive.
• An Early Winter: All tiles provide -1 honey and -1 pollen when foraged.
• The Final Flow: Harvest tiles provide +1 honey and +1 pollen when foraged. After foraging, roll the D6. On 6, spawn a wild hive (strength 3) on the foraged tile.
• First Frost: Harvest tiles provide -1 honey and 1 pollen when foraged.
• Indian Summer: Wilt tiles provide +1 honey and +1 pollen when foraged. On your first turn this month, spawn a wild hive (strength 3) on a tile up to 3 spaces away from your own hive.
• Unseasonably Warm: Overheating is in effect! After foraging, roll the D6. On 6, spawn a wild hive (strength 3) on the foraged tile.

Solo Play Cards

• Builder: Increase your comb size to at least 20 cells by the end of the first year.
• Dirty Bees: The disease level of your hive must reach -7 at least once.
• Explorer: The map must be at least 20 tiles large by the end of the first year.
• The Great Migration: The map must be at least 12 tiles in length by the end of the first year.
• Indecisive: Your hive must have queens of all 4 types in a single year.
• The Mother Hive: Swarm at least 4 times in a single year. Each of the wild hives spawned this way must survive.
• Nursery: Hatch at least 1 brood in every Brood Phase.
• Pacifist: You cannot raid any other hives. Swarm at least twice.
• Protectionist: Do not let any wild hive reach a strength level of 6 or higher.
• Strong Leader: Keep your original queen for the entire game. This means you must choose a new hive location every time you swarm.
• Under Siege: After scouting, roll the D6. On 4+, spawn a wild hive (strength 3) on the scouted tile.

Scenario Cards

• Haunted Hives: The first wild hive that appears is a haunted hive full of ghost bees! The map tile it occupies is also haunted; flip the tile to the dark side. When the haunted hive swarms, the new wild hive that is spawned is also a haunted hive. Haunted hives cannot raid or be raided. Skip all actions in the priority chart that involve raiding. When a haunted hive forages, the foraged tile becomes haunted. Flip the haunted tile to the dark side. Wild hives cannot forage on haunted tiles or be spawned on haunted tiles. When you forage on a haunted tile, you must roll the D6: on 1-4, the action fails; on 5-6, the action succeeds. You may take the Raid action with 1 worker bee to scare the ghosts away from a haunted tile, as long as it is not occupied by a haunted hive. If you do, flip the tile to the light side.
• New Bee on the Block: Create the starting map shown, with your hive on the bloom tile and wild hives (strength 12) on the two wilt tiles. Wild hives are active, not dormant, during spring of the first year.
• Surrounded: Create the starting map shown, with your hive on the harvest tile and wild hives (strength 3) on the four wet tiles. Wild hives are active, not dormant, during spring of the first year.
• There Can Bee Only One: Create the starting map shown, with your hive on the bloom tile in the center and wild hives (strength 10) on the other two bloom tiles. By the end of the first year, your hive must be the only hive on the map.

Campaign Cards

Three Generations. Play a three-year game.

• Year 1: During this year, you must have a hygienic queen and scout at least 12 times.
• Year 2: Your queen died during the winter! Before the year begins, you must choose a different queen. During the first month of each season, roll the D6 and divide the result by 2, rounded up. Spawn that many wild hives (strength 4) on the map.
• Year 3: During the spring, you must requeen with a prolific or nomadic queen. During the fall, you must swarm and move to the new hive's location at least once.

Wildfire. Play a two-year game.

• Year 1: Normal rules apply.
• Year 2: At the start of the year, roll a D4 to determine where on the map the wildfire starts:
  • On 1, the fire starts on the opposite edge and spreads toward you.
  • On 2, the fire starts on the right edge and spreads left.
  • On 3, the fire starts on the closest edge and spreads away from you.
  • On 4, the fire starts on the left edge and spreads right.

For the rest of the year, carry out these steps at the start of each month:

• Flip over the next row of tiles in the direction that the fire is spreading.
• Roll a D4 twice. For each roll, spawn a wild hive (strength 4) on the map, as many spaces away from the fire as the rolled result. If there is no legal space, then the hive is not spawned.

At any time, if the map tile occupied by your hive flips due to the spreading fire, you lose!

Zombees. Play a two- or three-year game.

• Year 1: Normal rules apply.
• Year 2: At the start of the year, the strongest wild hive becomes infected with zombees! To indicate which hive is infected, flip that map tile to the dark side.
  • If there are multiple wild hives tied for strongest, you choose which one is the infected hive.
  • If there are no wild hives in play, spawn a wild hive (strength 6) up to 3 spaces away from your own hive. That is the infected hive.

When a new wild hive is spawned, roll the D6 to determine if it is infected or healthy:

• On 1-2, the wild hive is infected. Flip the map tile it occupies to the dark side.
• On 3-6, the wild hive is healthy.

The infected wild hives behave erratically. When an infected wild hive takes a turn, ignore the normal priority chart. Instead, roll the D6:

• On 1, the wild hive raids the closest hive.
• On 2, the wild hive forages a bloom tile.
• On 3, the wild hive forages a wilt tile.
• On 4, the wild hive forages a harvest tile.
• On 5, the wild hive raids the farthest hive.
• On 6, the wild hive does nothing.

If the infected wild hive cannot perform the action legally, it simply does nothing.

When any infected hive performs an action on a healthy map tile, the tile becomes infected. To indicate this, flip the map tile to the dark side.

When any healthy hive (including yours) performs an action on an infected map tile, roll the D6:

• On 1-2, the hive becomes infected.
• On 3-6, the hive avoids infection.

If your hive is infected, each time you take an action, you must roll the D6:

• On 1, the action fails and the assigned bees die.
• On 2, the action fails, but the assigned bees live.
• On 3-6, the action succeeds and the assigned bees live.

If your hive is infected, any time you gain disease, double the amount of disease gained.

Icon Reference

Honey; Pollen; Water; Worker Bee; Cooled Worker Bee; Dead Worker Bee; Hive; Bees in Hive; Dormant Hive; Raid Hive; Wild Hive; Build Wax; Defend; Forage; Raid; Requeen; Scout; Bloom Tile; Wilt Tile; Harvest Tile; Wet Tile; Spring; Summer; Fall; Winter; Aggressive Queen; Hygienic Queen; Prolific Queen; Nomadic Queen; Overheating; Skip Feeding; Varroa Mite; Swarm Threshold; Nomadic Queen's Swarm Threshold; Hatch Brood; Hatch No Brood; Brood; No Brood; Victory Points; Unlimited Number; Move; Up to Three Spaces Away; First Turn; Roll D6; Round Down; Round Up.