Cutterland
Cutterland Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 160 terrain cards
- 4 reference boards (one per player)
- Rules of the game
- 30 bone tokens
- 12 fortress tokens
- 16 wall/bridge tokens
- Notepad for scoring
Terrain Cards
The main element of the game is the terrain cards. Before playing, you should familiarize yourself with the objects that appear on them.
Terrain cards depict different types of terrain, monsters, and bonuses — fortresses and walls/bridges.
Each card consists of 12 cells. 7 cells of each card show monsters and bonuses. The color of a cell corresponds to one of three types of terrain.
Several cells of the same color, adjacent to each other horizontally and/or vertically, form a region. The size and contents of a region matter for goblins, centaurs, and dragons. Bridges can connect regions of the same type, while walls can split a region into several. All of a player's regions together make up that player's country.
Meadows are marked in green. Centaurs, dragons, and turtles live on meadows.
Wastelands are marked in yellow. Goblins, dragons, and frogs are found in wastelands.
Bodies of water are marked in blue. Krakens, turtles, and frogs live in bodies of water.
Example: a country has four regions: two bodies of water, a wasteland, and a meadow, in which 4 monsters live. A bonus icon earns the player 1 wall/bridge token. At the end of the game, it can be used either as a wall (for example, to separate a dragon from a goblin) or as a bridge (for example, to join two water regions into one).
Victory Points for Monsters and Bonuses
At the end of the game, the monsters in your country will earn you victory points — each kind of monster by its own rule. You will also score points for fortress and bridge/wall tokens that you received but never used.
Krakens
At the end of the game, krakens will eat the monsters around them. Every monster eaten by a kraken earns 2 victory points. Who exactly a kraken eats, and at what point, is explained on page 13.
The moment when a mishap only adds to your country's charm. A well-fed kraken is a trial for true adventurers.
Goblins
Each region with goblins earns victory points based on the number of goblins.
1 goblin — 2 victory points. 2 goblins — 5 victory points. 3 goblins — 9 victory points. 4 goblins — 14 victory points.
Each goblin in the region, starting with the 5th, earns 2 victory points in addition.
Goblins usually gather in gangs, but when there get to be too many of them, they start to quarrel. Beginning adventurers love to fight a whole heap of goblins at once, because it's the easiest way to gain experience. Goblins are also much loved by dragons, though for a different reason — they become quite tasty if you smoke them a little.
Centaurs
Each region with a centaur earns victory points based on the area of that region.
If a region has at least 1 centaur, then the region earns as many victory points as there are cells in that region (regardless of how many centaurs are in the region).
Centaurs are half horse. They love to gallop across broad flooded meadows. Still, I'd chalk up their habit of shooting at slow-moving adventurers to their human qualities.
Dragons
You earn 7 victory points for each region in which there are exactly 2 dragons. If a region has 1, 3, or more dragons, those dragons earn no points.
Sometimes it seems to me that dragons are the last monogamous creatures. It's hard to keep track of them — they're just too voracious, and they fly far.
Turtles
You earn victory points based on the number of turtles in your country. If you have exactly 1 turtle, receive 10 victory points. If exactly 2, receive 5 victory points instead. If 3 or more, you receive no points for turtles.
Through a long, careless life these turtles have fattened up to the size of hills. They are the complete opposite of dragons, and value solitude. Well, and a landmark like a great turtle ought to be only one — after all, this is the final trial for a seasoned adventurer.
Frogs
You lose 2 victory points for each frog.
Frogs irritate adventurers (especially when they stumble on them in the middle of a wasteland!). Try to get rid of them. There, feed them to a kraken!
Bonuses
Every bonus token that you received but did not use earns you 1 victory point (more about using tokens on page 10).
Setup (3-4 Players)
Attention! To play Cutterland you will need a pair of scissors.
Place the bone, fortress, and wall/bridge tokens in the center of the table. Deal each player a reference board and 3 terrain cards. Whoever most recently looked for a path on a map goes first. Hand that player the scissors. You are ready to begin.
Read the rules for two players on page 15.
Game Turn
The game consists of four sequential stages:
- Building Countries (main stage)
- Using Bonuses
- Predator Hunting
- Launching the Adventurers (scoring and determining the winner)
Building Countries
In this stage, all players in turn, starting with the first player and continuing clockwise, take turns until every player has run out of cards. On their turn, a player (the active player) cuts 1 of their cards into several fragments, after which players attach these fragments to their countries and receive the bonuses shown on the fragments.
A player's turn consists of the following phases:
- Cutting a Card
- Choosing Fragments
- Receiving Bonuses
- Expanding Territory
Then the active player passes the scissors to the player on their left. That player now becomes the active player.
Repeat phases 1-4 until the players' terrain cards run out. Then the "Using Bonuses" stage begins (see page 10).
1. Cutting a Card
On their turn, a player chooses 1 terrain card from their hand and cuts it into several fragments — exactly as many as the number of players.
Cards may only be cut along cell borders, so every fragment must consist of whole cells. Cutting diagonally is not allowed. Fragments can be of any size (down to 1 cell), and they may contain different types of terrain, bonuses, and monsters in any combination.
If a player mistakenly cuts more fragments than needed, the player to their right must choose which fragments are removed from the game. For example, if in a three-player game a card is cut into 5 fragments, 2 fragments must be removed from the game.
If a player abuses this rule and deliberately cuts a card into more fragments than the rules allow, we recommend subtracting 3 victory points from that player at the end of the game for each incorrectly cut card.
2. Choosing Fragments
All players, starting with the player to the left of the active player and continuing clockwise, each choose one fragment of the cut terrain card. In this way, the player who cut the card takes the last remaining fragment. Each player places the fragment they took next to their country.
Note: some players will want to try fitting fragments before choosing. During your game, this may be either allowed or forbidden. This is mainly up to you — just agree on it before the game begins.
Example of cutting a card, choosing fragments, and receiving bonuses: Anton, Kirill, and Nina are playing Cutterland. Anton goes first. He cuts a card into 3 parts, since there are three players. Kirill sits to Anton's left, so he chooses a fragment first. His choice is the fragment with the turtle, because he doesn't have this monster yet and it can earn him 10 victory points at the end of the game. Nina goes next. She takes the large fragment with the kraken. Anton is left with the fragment containing the goblin, the frog, the dragon, and a wall. He takes a wall/bridge token from the supply and places it next to his country.
3. Receiving Bonuses
All players simultaneously receive the bonuses shown on the fragments they took — fortresses and walls/bridges. Tokens are taken from the shared supply and placed next to the players' countries. In rare cases, if the supply of bonus tokens runs out, replace them with any suitable tokens.
All bonuses are applied during the "Using Bonuses" stage, after all cards have been cut.
Important: walls and bridges are marked with a shared symbol. Players receive wall/bridge tokens as their countries are built (during the main stage), but decide exactly how to use them — as walls or as bridges — only at the end of the game, during the "Using Bonuses" stage (see page 10).
Wood is a universal resource. Dig the logs in vertically and you get a sturdy wall no goblin will climb over. Lash them together and stretch them over a stream and you'll save a day's travel.
4. Expanding Territory
Now each player must attach the chosen fragment to their country according to the following rules.
- The fragment being attached (other than the very first one) must touch, with at least one side of a cell, at least one side of a cell of an already-placed fragment. Cells must touch horizontally or vertically, and the sides of the cells must touch fully (you may not expand your territory so that a cell only partially touches another cell). You may not attach a fragment so that it touches already-placed cells only at a corner.
- You may not attach fragments so that the cells of one fragment overlap the cells of another (empty areas fully surrounded by cells may appear in your country as a result).
- The fragment being attached can be rotated however you like.
- Already-placed fragments cannot be rotated, moved, or removed.
- The fragment being attached and the already-placed fragments cannot be cut.
Example of expanding territory: Anton attaches a new fragment to his country. He places it so that the goblins end up in one region (the more goblins in one region, the more victory points), and the kraken could eat a frog (for this it earns 2 victory points, and the frog itself brings no negative points). Now the player has 3 bonus tokens (2 fortresses and 1 wall/bridge).
Example: a fragment cannot be attached this way, because it does not touch a side of a cell of the already-placed fragments.
Example: a fragment cannot be attached this way, because it covers a cell of an already-placed fragment.
Using Bonuses
When all cards have been cut and all fragments attached to countries, players may use the bonus tokens they received. If you received a wall/bridge token, at this stage you decide for yourself how to use it — as a wall or as a bridge. Players are not required to use all of their bonus tokens. Each unused bonus token earns 1 victory point at the end of the game.
Fortresses protect monsters from being eaten. Place a fortress token on a monster's picture, and no predator will be able to eat it (more about predator hunting on page 13). Bridge and wall tokens do not prevent you from placing a fortress token on the same cell.
Example: Nina places a fortress token on a turtle, so that a kraken cannot eat it.
Walls let you separate regions from one another. A wall token can only be placed on the border between two cells, and the token must occupy the entire border, without extending onto neighboring cells. Cells separated by a wall are no longer considered adjacent. After a wall token is placed, a region is considered split into two regions if no adjacent cells remain between the two regions.
Giant walls let you control monster populations and migrations. Otherwise they will either fight each other or, worse, eat one another.
Example: Anton splits a wasteland region into two separate regions, so that the dragons don't eat the goblins.
Bridges let you join several distant regions into one. A bridge token is placed over a cell, horizontally or vertically, so that both of its ends rest against opposite borders of that cell. Two cells joined by a bridge become adjacent. Two regions of the same terrain type become one region if, after the bridge is placed, these regions have adjacent cells.
A bridge can be placed not only over a cell, but also over an empty space, if that space borders cells on two sides. You may not place a bridge so that even one of its ends rests against a wall. A fortress does not prevent a bridge from being placed on the same cell.
Sometimes, on the other hand, it's useful to join monsters from several regions. For example, to let a pair of dragons first fill their bellies with disgusting frogs, and then build themselves a cozy family nest.
Restriction #1: a bridge can only be one cell long. You cannot build a bridge whose length exceeds 1 cell.
Restriction #2: a bridge cannot cross another bridge crosswise.
Example: Anton wants to earn more victory points for a centaur — to do this he needs to increase the size of a meadow. Anton joins two meadow regions with a bridge. He can choose either of two positions for the bridge (in the illustration on the right the bridge spans a place with no cell, but it could also span a cell with a goblin). Or Anton could span the bridge across a meadow, to join two yellow regions: then the goblins will earn him more points (if, of course, no one eats them).
Example: two bridges cannot be combined into one long bridge, but it is allowed to join regions in a line, pair by pair. So Anton can join three meadow regions and two water regions. As a result, the kraken eats a frog, and the centaur gives more points for the meadow.
Predator Hunting
Now players must send all of their predators hunting. During this stage, you will place bone tokens on the monsters that get eaten. Cells with eaten monsters are treated as cells with no monster.
In the base set, the predators are krakens and dragons.
Krakens hunt first. Each kraken eats all the monsters in the cells around it (adjacent and diagonal), except for other krakens and monsters protected by fortresses.
- Cells joined by a bridge are considered adjacent, so if a cell with a kraken is joined by a bridge to a cell with another edible monster, the kraken eats that monster. A kraken can eat at most 12 monsters.
- A wall makes two adjacent cells no longer adjacent, so a wall can be used to protect a monster from being eaten by a kraken. A monster cannot be protected from a kraken by a wall if that monster is diagonally adjacent to the kraken.
Dragons hunt second. Each dragon eats one monster in its region, other than other dragons and monsters protected by fortresses. If there are fewer dragons in the region than there are other edible monsters, the player decides which monsters the dragons eat. If there are fewer edible monsters in the region than dragons, all of those monsters are eaten by the dragons.
Predators, kept properly in check, will help you get rid of excess monsters.
Please note:
- A predator may end up with nothing to eat; in that case it stays in the player's country and earns victory points by the normal rules.
- The only way to get rid of a monster is to feed it to a predator. Turtles and frogs can cost a player points, and it may be worth feeding them to something rather than leaving them in your country.
- Each monster can be eaten only once.
Example: krakens hunt first. The left kraken eats a frog, while the centaur and the goblin are protected from it by fortresses. The right kraken cannot eat the turtle (it is fenced off by a wall), but it does eat a dragon across a bridge. Next the dragons hunt. There are two of them left in the wasteland region (the third was eaten by a kraken). Each of the dragons must eat one monster in its region, but one of the frogs has already been eaten by a kraken. Luckily, a bridge lets the two wasteland regions be joined into one, and each dragon still eats a frog, while all the goblins in the region remain unharmed.
Example: in the illustration above, each kraken ate one monster, and together they earn 4 points (2 points for each eaten monster). Six goblins in one region earn 18 points (14 points for the first four goblins, plus 2 points each for the fifth and sixth). A centaur earns 4 points (1 point for each cell in the region). Two dragons in one region earn 7 points. There is only one turtle in the country, earning 10 points. All the frogs have been eaten and earn no negative points. One unused bonus earns 1 point. Total: 44 points.
Launching the Adventurers
It's time to check how well your country is ready for the adventurers' exploits. During this stage, points are counted and the winner is determined. Rules for counting victory points can be found on pages 4-5 of this booklet and on the reference boards.
Remember that eaten monsters do not count toward scoring.
For convenient scorekeeping, use the notepad. In each column write the player's name and their points for monsters and for unused bonuses. If you run out of notepad sheets, you can download and print additional sheets from the game's page on hobbyworld.ru.
The player with the most points wins. In case of a tie, the tied contender with the most uneaten monsters in their country wins. If the tie persists, the tied contenders share the victory.
Variants
Two-Player Game
The two-player game follows the rules described above, with the following exceptions:
- During setup, each player receives 4 terrain cards instead of 3.
- When building countries, each card is cut into 4 fragments. Players take turns picking them up, starting with the player who did not cut the card: this way, each player receives 2 fragments during a turn.
Endless Game
Place the fragments left over from previous games in an opaque bag. Do not deal terrain cards before the game. On their turn, instead of cutting a card, a player draws the needed number of fragments from the bag (3 when playing with three players, 4 when playing with two or four) and lays them out on the table. Players pick them up following the normal rules. The number of fragments picked up stays the same as usual (12 when playing with four, 9 when playing with three, and twice 8 when playing with two).
Attention! Some random fragments are likely to be more favorable than others. We recommend using this rule variant only if you're reluctant to throw away your cut cards.
Tournament Rules
In the tournament variant, before dealing out the terrain cards during setup, show them to all the players. Knowing the number of monsters on the cards, players will be able to plan a more effective strategy.
For each incorrectly cut card in a tournament game, the player loses 3 victory points at the end of the game.
In tournament games, the turn order of players matters. We recommend playing two games in each round: in the first game turns pass clockwise, in the second — counterclockwise. The winner is determined by the combined score. In case of a tie, count the number of uneaten monsters in the second game. If it is still a tie, the contender seated farthest from the first player wins.
Refill Sets
All your cards cut up? No problem! You can refill the box with new terrain cards. Two refill sets are available.
Important: terrain cards from different sets are not shuffled together!
"Classic": contains 80 base terrain cards. The base box contains 2 such sets.
"Mushroom Patch": contains 80 terrain cards with a new monster — the mushroom patch! Read the rules for using this monster on the box of the refill set.