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Caverna: Cave vs Cave

Caverna: Cave vs Cave Rulebook

A Game by Uwe Rosenberg

For 1 and 2 players of ages 12 and up Playing time: 20 and 40 minutes, respectively

Era : First Wealth

Cave vs Cave You are standing before a cleft in the mountain: the new home of your dwarf tribe. There is a lot of work to be done with only two pairs of helping hands at the start. Soon more members of your tribe will be able to help but there is no time to be wasted. Another nearby tribe is seemingly doing better than you. So, chop, chop! Cut into the mountain, furnish cavern after cavern, and collect grains, flax and building resources. Look out for precious metals and get wealthier than the other tribe could have ever imagined!

Components

   1 Action board (two-sided and folded)               Cultivation

Cultivation

                                                       Cultivation         Spinning      Wh eel

Wheel nni ng Spi Spinning Spinn ingWheel Cultivation

                                                      Cultivation                        Wheel

Cave Entrance

                                                  12 Action tiles         24 Room tiles

12 Goods indicators and 12 replacements (two wooden tokens each of Wood, Stone, Emmer*, and Flax, as well as two card­board tokens each of Food and Gold; the extra

„reserve“ indicator tiles may be used as                                 4 Action markers
replacements or spares)                                                                                         2 Cave boards (folded)
  • Emmer is an ancient form of grain. 1 Additional
                                                    Cavern tile              7 Walls                                         and this

rule book

PLAYER

Note! We will explain the two-player game rules first.

 1            For the solo game rules, see page 8.                                                1 Starting Player tile

Cave Entrance

Setup

Action Board and Tiles

    Unfold the Action board, turn it to the side showing the     symbol on the first space, and place it in the center of the playing

area, between the two players.

        Place the four Action tiles with a dwarf on the                   Shuffle the remaining Action tiles. Place them
        back face up on the unnumbered spaces of                          face down on the designated spaces of the Action
        the Action board (in any order).                                  board, according to the numbers on their backs.
         Cultivation   Housework   Excavation   Undergrowth

per

Cave Board and Goods Indicators

Unfold your Cave board and place it in front of you. Take one of each Goods indicator (Wood, Stone, Emmer, Flax, Food, and Gold) and place them on space “1” of the Goods track. Make sure the “+10” side of the Gold indicator is facing down. Cave Entrance Goods Track and Limits Use the Goods track on the right of your Cave board to indicate how many Goods of each type you have. You can have at most 9 Goods of each type, except Gold. Using the “+10” side of the Gold indicator when necessary, you can have up to 19 Gold. If you ever get more Goods of a type than the track allows, the excess is lost.

Rooms

Sort the Room tiles by the illustrations on their backs. Turn the 6 Rooms with a light gray back side (showing small rocks and no pickaxe) face up and place them in a central display to the side of the Action board. Turn the 18 Rooms with a dark gray back side (showing debris and a pickaxe) face down and shuffle them. Distribute the face-down Room tiles among the empty Cavern spaces of your Cave boards, except the space marked above the Cave Entrance

“Cave Entrance”. Additional Cavern, Action Markers, Walls and Starting Player Place the Additional Cavern tile and the Action markers nearby. Keep the Walls ready at hand in a general supply. Randomly determine who gets the Starting Player marker. (Alternatively, let the smaller player begin.)

Course of Play

The game is played over 8 Rounds. Every Round goes through three phases. D I. New Action

At the start of each Round, reveal the next Action tile                Cultivation   Housework    Excavation          Undergrowth
adjacent to an already-revealed Action tile. (In other                                per

words, the Action tiles are revealed in order, beginning with the Action tile next to the face-up starting tiles. The depicted walls have no impact.)

II. Action Phase

Beginning with the Starting Player, you choose a face-up Action tile from the Action board, carrying out the Actions of that tile (see next page). To do so, move the Action tile off the Action board to your side. You can only choose Action tiles that are still on the Action board. Only the active player carries out the Actions of the chosen tile. Turns will alternate (you take a turn, then your opponent takes one). The final Round introduces the “Renovation” Action tile, which you may only choose if, on your turn, you have more Gold than your opponent. If you are tied on Gold, neither of you may choose the tile, until one of you gains more Gold. (The depicted Gold nuggets on the Action board below the space remind you of that prior to the final Round.)

III. Round End                                    Cultivation

Furnishing The Round ends after both players have

had a certain number of turns. This                                                                                                   per

number is indicated on the space, where the most recent Action tile has been revealed. (It is also shown in the form

of a group of dwarfs below the spaces.)                                              Excavation

Consequently, each player takes two turns in Rounds 1 to 3, three in Rounds 4 to 7, and four in Round 8. Return the chosen Action tiles to the Action board and pass the Starting

Player marker to the other player.                              Housework                               Undergrowth
(Effectively, the new Starting Player is                         per                                                                The dwarfs show how
taking two turns in a row—the last one                                                                                              many turns each
in the previous Round and the first one                                                                                             player may take: two
in the next Round.)                                                                                                                 turns in each of the

first three Rounds.

Action Types

The following pages explain the nine different types of Actions that you can find on Action and Room tiles (and at the top of your Cave board). Most Action tiles feature multiple Actions separated by fine yellow lines. You may take some or all of the depicted Actions in any order, but each Action only once per turn. (You may choose an Action tile and ignore all of its Actions.)

    If two Actions are separated by a diagonal cut (a long slash), you must choose one or the other        Spinning Wheel         Undermining

(or neither), not both. The same applies to Room tiles (see page 7 on how to use Room tiles). When spending or gaining Goods, move the appropriate Goods indicators accordingly. Mind the (even through walls)

Goods track limit (see page 2).

Collecting Goods + indicates you get the depicted number of Goods (Wood, Stone, Emmer, Flax, Food, or Gold). Slashes indicate that you must choose exactly one type of Good. Tunnel

Masonry

Many Room tiles also use plus signs to indicate that you get Goods. The Tunnel is special in that it restricts whether or not you get Stone: if you already have 3 or (to a maximum

                                      more Stone, you do not get one from the Tunnel. (See                                     of 3 stone)
      Example: Here, you              page 7 on how to use Room tiles.)

get your choice of 1 Wood or 1 Stone. Bakehouse Exchanging Goods indicates you may spend Goods—usually, to get other Goods. Spend the Goods on the left to get the Goods on the right of the arrow. Sets of Goods are printed on parchment. Slashes let you choose what to spend.

Usually, the Goods you

    must spend are specified.        Junction Room
    The Junction Room allows                                              Example:
    you to spend any three                                                The Bakehouse allows you to
    different Goods for 2 Gold.                             Cave Entrance spend 2 or 3 Emmer to get
    (See page 7 on how to use                                             1 or 2 Gold, respectively, and
    Room tiles.)                                                          4 Food. In this example, you

choose to spend 2 Emmer.

Building a Wall

+1               indicates you may place a Wall from     the general supply between
                                                   Masonry                                 Cave Entrance

any two adjacent Cavern spaces of your Cave board. (Small rocks and cracks on the ground indicate where Walls can go.) Walls are needed to Furnish Caverns (see Furnishing a Cavern, page 6). The supply of Walls is limited; the action has no effect if there are no Walls left. Walls can return to the supply via the next Action.

Breach

Razing a Wall

1                   indicates you may remove a previously placed Wall from your Cave board

and return it to the general supply. If you do, you get the depicted Goods (all of them, as they are depicted on parchment). Removing the Wall does not affect already-placed Rooms. You cannot remove the outer Walls of your Cave.

Excavating a Cavern                                                                                                                  Cave Entrance

indicates you may Excavate a Cavern. Remove an accessible (see below) face-down Room tile from your Cave board, turn it face up, and place it in the central display (making it available for both of you). If you uncovered “ ”, you immediately get 1 Food. You cannot remove face-up Rooms. This Action has no effect if you have no face-down Rooms left. A Room is accessible if there is a clear (orthogonal) path to it from the “Cave Entrance”, with no Walls or other facedown Rooms in the way. The Action on the right of the “Undermining” Action tile allows you to Excavate through Walls; face-down Rooms always block the way. Undermining

Excavation

                                                        ?         L

(even through walls) Warehouse

Example: Green check marks show accessible tiles. The green Cave Entrance question mark on a tile is behind a Wall. At the moment,

                                                                  L                               this tile can only be Excavated
 The “Excavation” Action                                                                          via the “Undermining” Action
 tile lets you Excavate once or                                                                   tile. Red Xs are on tiles that
 twice. The latter costs 2 Food.                                                                  are inaccessible for now,
 Regardless of your choice, you                   L               X      X                        regardless of which Excavation
 also get 1 Stone.                                                                                Action you use.
    Furnishing a Cavern                                                                          Number
          indicates you may Furnish a Cavern. Pay the cost (Wood,             Name                                    Points

Warehouse Stone, and/or Gold) depicted below the name of a Room tile in

    the central display and place the tile on an empty Cavern space           Cost                                    Walls

of your Cave board with regard to the Wall configuration shown on the tile (see below). Other than the required Walls, there are no

    restrictions as to where you place the Room tile (e.g., a clear path                                             Action

from the “Cave Entrance” is not required). If you have no empty Cavern with the required Wall configuration, the Furnishing a Cavern action has no effect.

    There are two types of Rooms—orange ones and blue ones (see Room Actions,        Treasury                  Equipment Room

page 7). You begin the game with one preprinted orange Room, the “Cave Entrance”. You must always have more orange Rooms than blue Rooms. You may not build a blue Room if you would have an equal number of orange andFurnishing blue Rooms. (Consequently, the first Room you build in the game must be an orange one.)

Some Furnishing Actions require that you pay an amount of Food (or

    Gold) before you take the Action. This Food (or Gold) is paid on top of           per   Example: This Action costs 2 Food
    the cost printed on the Room tile. The Food cost can be defined by the                  during the first three Rounds,
    number of turns that Round (see example at the right). You only have                    then 3 Food for the next four Rounds,
    to pay a cost if you actually Furnish a Cavern.                                         and 4 Food during the final Round.

Wall Configurations

Each Room tile shows a Wall configuration required to Furnish the Room, depicted to the right of the cost. Dark segments indicate necessary Walls, which must be present; light segments indicate optional Walls, which may be present, but they do not have to. If a Wall is not shown, there may not be one. You may rotate Cave Entrance the tile to demonstrate the required configuration (and then place the tile positioned for ease of reading). The natural Walls all around your Cave also count as Walls! Room tiles never count as Walls (not even when

           still being face-down).                                      Spinning Wheel

Sacrificial Altar

X L

Additional Cavern

The first player to completely fill their Cave board with all face-up Room tiles gets the Additional Cavern, placing it with either side facing up near their Cave board. The Additional Cavern comes pre-Excavated and has two or three (natural) Walls, depending on which side you choose to be facing up. You may add Walls and Furnish the Cavern as usual. There is only one Additional Cavern.

Room Actions

You cannot use the Rooms that you Furnish right away. To take their depicted Actions, you must choose an Action tile with

a   ,   , or     symbol. The number indicates how many different orange Rooms you may use. (You may only use face-

up Rooms on your Cave board. You can use the provided Action markers to prevent using a Room twice.) Blue Rooms cannot be used this way. They are always active each time the depicted situation arises.

   Prospecting Site           Retting Room            Equipment Room            Wood Storeroom             Dungeon

Undergrowth

Whenever you choose        Whenever you get        Whenever you take         Whenever you take        Whenever you build
the “Undergrowth”          1 to 3 Flax (for        the    or      Action,    a     Action, you        a Wall, you also get
Action tile, you can       whatever reason),       you can use one           also get 1 Wood.         2 Gold.
sell 1 Food for 1 Gold.    you also get 1 Food.    additional different

orange Room tile.

Replenishing Goods                                                                                      Parlor

indicates you may move the depicted Goods indicator(s) to the given value. The affected types are shown on a shelf. Slashes indicate you must choose exactly one type. You cannot lose Goods from this Action: if you already have more Goods than the value shown, skip that type. Replenishing Actions are only found on Room tiles.

Anytime Action

At any time and any number of times, you may exchange Emmer, Flax, and Gold for Food at

a 1:1 ratio. This is also shown on your Cave board.                                              Example: The Parlor makes

sure you have at least one of each type of Good. When you take the Action, move all Goods indicators that are on 0 to 1.

Game End

The game ends after Round 8. Total the Victory Points printed on the built Room tiles of your Cave board, depicted in a shield, and add the number of Gold you have. (Wood, Stone, Emmer, Flax, and Food are not worth any Victory Points.) The player with the higher total wins. In case of a tie, the player who has built the single highest-value Room tile wins the game. (There is only one of each Room tile of values 9 to 12.) Otherwise the game ends in a draw.

Solo Game

Changes in Setup: Randomly remove 3 of the 6 Rooms with a light gray back from play. Shuffle the 18 Rooms with a dark gray back and place 9 on your Cave board as usual. Form a face-down draw pile from the remaining 9 Rooms. Turn the Action board to the side showing the symbol and remove the “Breach” Action tile from play. Consequently, the game only lasts for 7 Rounds. Changes in Play: Play the game as normal with the following two exceptions: Each time you Excavate exactly one tile on a turn, also turn the topmost Room tile from the draw pile face up and place it in the central display. Ignore the “More gold than opponent” condition on the “Renovation” Action tile. You can use that tile regardless of how much Gold you have.

Your goal is to get at least 50 Victory Points. More than 60 Victory Points should be considered a truly remarkable score.

                    Credits                                 MAYFAIR GAMES

www.mayfairgames.com

            Designer: Uwe Rosenberg                               Mayfair Games, Inc
                                                                  8060 St. Louis Ave.               If you have any damaged or missing
            Editor: Grzegorz Kobiela                               Skokie, IL 60076                      pieces, please contact us at:
            Illustrations: Klemens Franz | atelier198               TM & © 2016                         [email protected]
                                                                  Mayfair Games, Inc.                     You can also call us at
            Typesetting: Andrea Kattnig | atelier198              All rights reserved.                      (847) 677-6655