Endurance Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Components and Set-Up
• Your First Turns
• Actions
  • Hunt Action
  • Sled Action
  • Entertain Action
• Tests
  • Food Test
  • Heating Test
  • Medical Test
  • Morale Test
• Penalties
• Events
• Three More Rules (for Now)
• Progression
• Shuffling
• Lifeboats
• Fine Points
• Appendix: Notes on Supplies
• Afterword
• Reference Card

Overview

This is a solitaire game of Antarctic survival.

Each member of the party has a counter bearing his picture, surname, an ID number, and a Skill Level. This Skill Level usually degrades when the counter is flipped from its Blue (Fresh) side to its Red (Demoralized) side; e.g., Wild's 4 becomes a 5.

These men will be organized into one of five Groups. Each turn, you will draw a hand of cards for the active Group, and from that hand, you will choose one Action and one Test.

To resolve an Action, you will roll one die for each man in the Group, seeking to roll equal to or greater than the best (lowest) Skill Level in the Group. Each roll that meets or beats this target is a Success. Each natural roll of 1 is a Failure. Each Failure negates a Success. The number of Successes needed varies depending on the Action.

Crean, Hussey, Green, McLeod, and Wordie take an Action. Five men means five dice. Crean has the best Skill Level – 4 – so every 4, 5, or 6 is a Success. Three of the rolls are Successes, and one is a Failure, giving the Group two Successes total.

After resolving the Action for the turn, you must resolve your chosen Test. Tests usually require the use of Resources. Some Resources can also be used during Actions to roll extra dice.

Over time, you will have fewer and fewer Resources with which to meet Tests. As the hardships suffered by your men cause them to be Demoralized, they will become less capable of succeeding when taking Actions. Should you fail to complete an Action, or fail to pass a Test, each card has a Penalty on its right side. This depicts two of your men, who then become Demoralized, injured, or dead.

You will begin the game drawing only two cards. Over time this will increase up to five, and you will take the Penalty for any cards you did not choose for their Action or Test.

Components and Set-Up

There are two canvas Display Sheets. Place the Camp Display on your table. Set aside the Lifeboats Display; it will enter play later.

Place the twenty-seven crew counters in a cup to randomize them. Drawing them one at a time, placing five in each Group, Blue side face-up. Only one man may occupy each space; do not place anyone in the first Group's Shackleton space. Place the remaining two counters in separate Groups of your choice.

Flip one man to his Red side in the first two Groups, two men in the third and fourth, and three in the fifth. In each case, flip the men with the highest ID numbers.

Place the Active Group Marker on the first Group's space. Place the Camp Marker on the Ocean Camp space.

Place the Animal counters, blue side face-up, next to the Display, along with the dice.

We'll come to the remaining counters – the Resources – presently. But first, we need to deal with the cards.

First, find the Endurance and Ocean Camp cards, placing them next to the Display.

Find the eighteen Lifeboat cards; place them with the Lifeboats Display for now.

Now, find the twenty event cards. Separate the Events with red titles from the rest. Also set aside Event 20, The Hard Choice.

Shuffle the remaining forty cards. Deal out three face-down piles:

• Fifteen to form a Discard Pile.
• Fifteen to form a Reserve.
• Ten to form a Deck.

Shuffle the pile of fifteen Events that weren't set aside to form the Event Deck; place the top two cards from the Event Deck on top of the Discard Pile. Flip the Discard Pile face-up.

Draw two cards from the Deck. This is your first hand. Then, shuffle into the Deck the red Event The Endurance Sinks, plus the next Event from the Event Deck.

Finally, look at the two cards in your hand. Choose six Resources and place them in your Supply. Place any remaining Blubber and Meat to the side of Display; place all other Resources on The Endurance card.

Resource counters shown: Top Row: Pemmican, Canned Goods, Meat, Blubber. Middle: Book, Cards, Phonograph. Bottom: Revolver, Rifle, Shotgun, Medical.

Your First Turns

Choose one card for its Action, and the other for its Test. Resolve the Action (see Actions), then resolve the Test (see Tests). If you fail one of these, resolve the Penalty for that card (see Penalties). Discard each card after it has been resolved.

Then, move the Active Group Marker one space to the right. Begin the next turn by drawing two cards. If you draw an Event, stop and read the Events chapter to see how these are resolved.

Once you've taken a turn for the fifth Group, move the Active Group marker back to the first Group's space.

Actions

There are three Actions: Hunt, Sled, and Entertain. For all Actions, the target number you want to roll equal to or greater than is the best (lowest) Skill Level in the Group. Roll a die for each man in the Group.

Exception: Some men when Demoralized will have no die symbol on their counter. Do not roll a die for these men.

Any rolls of 1 are Failures. Subtract Failures from Successes. The number of remaining Successes determines whether or not the Action itself results in a Reward, or a Penalty.

Hunt Action

A Hunt Action will require one, two, or three Successes, as determined by the number of penguin icons. If one of these icons is red, you must first Demoralize one man in the Group (your choice).

The constant slaughter of animals depressed the men. This was especially true of penguins, which were naturally docile and trusting.

Weapons: You may roll extra dice while hunting by using the Revolver, Rifle, or Shotgun, provided it exists in your Supply.

Choose only one of these weapons to use in a Hunt Action. Instead of the best Skill Level in your Group, your target number is the Skill Level of the weapon. Roll one extra die if using the Revolver or Rifle; roll two extra dice if using the Shotgun.

After using the weapon, roll one die to check it for Exhaustion. Remember, the item is Exhausted if this roll is equal to or less than the red die on the counter. If Exhausted, it is flipped to its striped side or, if already on its striped side, removed.

Wild was a skilled and accurate shot, particularly with the rifle.

Mitigating Failure: You can change one Failure to a Success by flipping Wild (1) from Blue to Red. Wild does not need to be in the Active Group to do this. If he is, however, change two Failures into Successes.

Reward: If the final number of Successes meets or exceeds the number required, add Resources to your Supply:

• Gain 1 Meat for each penguin icon.
• Gain 1 Blubber (total).

Unlike other Resources, Meat enters your Supply on its striped side. Alternatively, when you gain a unit of Meat, you can flip a striped Meat counter in your Supply to its non-striped side.

Sled Action

A Sled Action normally only requires a single Success, but the number of Successes will determine the size of the Reward. To take this Action, you must have at least one Dog counter in play. Choosing the Action without Dogs will result in automatic Failure.

Extra Dice: You may, but are not required to, roll an extra die for each Dog counter in play. But if you do so, the number of Successes you need is increased by one for each extra die.

Mitigating Failure: There are six Dog Team Leaders. If one or more of them are part of the Active Group, you may flip one or more of them from Blue to Red; each flipped man changes one Failure into a Success. The Dog Team Leaders are:

• Wild (1)
• Greenstreet (3)
• Crean (4)
• Macklin (9)
• McIlroy (10)
• Marston (16)

Casualties: For each unmitigated Failure, one Dog counter is flipped from its Blue to its Red side. If there are no Blue Dog counters, remove a Red one from the game.

Reward: If you have achieved the required number of Successes, each Success will allow you to either:

• move one Resource from the cards Endurance or Ocean Camp to your Supply, or
• flip one man of your choice from Red to Blue. You cannot flip a man who is in the infirmary.

Entertain Action

An Entertain Action only requires a single Success, but the number of Successes will determine the size of the Reward. To take this Action, you must have at least one of the following in your Supply: the Phonograph, the Playing Cards, or the Book. Choose one of these Resource when you take the Action, and check it for Exhaustion after performing the Action. It does not need to be the same item as the one pictured on the card.

Extra Dice: But if you do choose the pictured item, you roll one extra die.

Mitigating Failure: You may flip one or more of Hussey (12), Hurley (15), or Mrs Chippy from Blue to Red; each flip changes one Failure into a Success. Note that unlike the men, he cannot be flipped back to Blue if used in this way.

Reward: For each Success, one man in the Active Group is flipped from Red to Blue. If Successes remain after flipping all men in the Active Group, use them to flip any other men (but not in the infirmary).

Tests

There are four tests: Food, Heating, Medical, and Morale. Most of these simply require that you use (and then check for Exhaustion) Resources of a given type.

Each Test can also be passed without using Resources by flipping a specific man from Blue to Red.

Food Test

The most complex and most common type of test, the Food Test requires you to have in your Supply the specific Resources pictured.

If there are two of an icon present, you need two of that Resource to pass. A counter that depicts two Canned Goods counts as two.

Cooking Meat: If you use Meat to pass the test, you must Cook it by using a Blubber. The use of a single Blubber will cook any quantity of Meat.

Substitutions: You may use one Resource in place of another, at the following rates:

• 2 Pemmican for 1 Meat
• 2 Meat for 1 Canned Good
• 1 Meat for 1 Pemmican
• 1 Canned Good for 1 Meat

Animals: If any Dog counters (or Mrs Chippy) are in play, you must have in your Supply an extra Pemmican or Meat to pass the test. You cannot make substitutions here. Meat for Animals does not need to be Cooked.

Remember to check all Resources, including Blubber used for Cooking, for Exhaustion.

Auto-Pass: Green (19)

Heating Test

To pass this test, you must have Blubber in your Supply equal to the Heat Threshold on the Camp Track, e.g., one while in Ocean Camp, two while in Patience Camp, etc.

Auto-Pass: McNish (18)

Harry "Chippy" McNish was the ship's carpenter. Noted as a malcontent and "sea lawyer", he never forgave Shackleton for the death of his cat, nor was McNish forgiven for an attempted mutiny. He was chosen as one of Shackleton's companions on the James Caird mostly to keep him from stirring up trouble. On that voyage he impressed Shackleton with his "grit and spirit", but he was one of only four men that Shackleton recommended not receive the Polar Medal. Macklin wrote that "of all the men in the party, no one more deserved recognition than the old carpenter", calling the snub "a grave injustice."

Medical Test

To pass this test, you must have the Medical Supplies in your Supply. If this test is failed, the Penalty is not Demoralization, but Injury (see Penalties for more information).

Auto-Pass: Macklin (9) or McIlroy (10)

These are of course the expedition's surgeons, Alexander Macklin and James McIlroy.

Morale Test

To pass the test, the number of men on their Blue side must be equal to or greater than the Morale Threshold on the Camp Track, e.g., 13 in Ocean Camp, 15 in Patience Camp, etc.

Auto-Pass: Wild (1)

The capable Frank Wild was Shackleton's right-hand man, and was entrusted with leadership when Shackleton departed on the James Caird.

Penalties

When you fail to meet the required number of Successes for an Action, or fail to pass a Test, you must resolve the two Penalties for that card in order (top first, bottom second). Each Penalty depicts one of your men.

• If the man is Fresh (on his Blue side), he is Demoralized (flipped to Red).
• If the man is already Demoralized, he is Injured: move him to the Infirmary.
• If the man is already Injured, roll one die. If the roll meets or exceeds his Skill Level, he remains in play. If the roll is less than his Skill Level, he dies; remove him from play. (A roll of 6 succeeds for men who have no Skill Level.)
• If the man is already dead, choose a man who is Fresh, and Demoralize him.

The top Penalty of each card is a man who was noted for being difficult: McNish, Orde-Lees, Marston, Hurley, Vincent, and Hudson.

Events

When drawing cards you will sometimes draw an Event. Immediately upon drawing an Event, stop to resolve it.

Place the Event card on the Active Event space of your Camp Display. Any Event that was on that space is removed back to the box.

If an Event has a diamond symbol, its effect happens only once, the instant that it is drawn. If it doesn't have a diamond symbol, its effect persists until the next time an Event is resolved.

After performing or noting the effects of the Event, place the top Event from the Event Deck on top of the Discard Pile. Yes, you do this even if an Event tells you to shuffle a specific Event into the deck. Then, continue to draw cards until you have two in hand (for now; we'll get to that in a bit).

You may only Resolve one Event per turn. If you draw an additional Event, place the extra Event(s) in the Discard Pile instead.

Three More Rules (for Now)

You now know enough of the game to play until you resolve the red event The Endurance Sinks. There are three more rules you should be aware of that are unlikely to come up in the early game.

First, when you fail an Exhaustion Check, you can flip Orde-Lees (17) from Blue to Red to prevent the Resource from being Exhausted. Thomas Orde-Lees was despised by the other men. He was prone to feigned incompetence and malingering. But he was studious – gratingly so – in his duty as storekeeper.

Second, if at the end of any turn there are no men on their Blue side, the game ends in a mutiny.

Third, if you need to draw more cards and reach the end of the deck, shuffle the Discards to form a new deck. If this happens, see the Shuffling chapter for more details.

Progression

When The Endurance Sinks becomes the Active Event, that's your cue that The Endurance will be removed from play the next time an Event is Resolved. Any Supplies still on that card will be removed. The event Patience Camp will be shuffled into the deck along with all Discards. Note that this will happen after adding an Event to the Discard Pile as you would normally.

When Patience Camp becomes the Active Event, you will move all but four of your Supplies to the Ocean Camp card. The next time an Event is Resolved, the Ocean Camp card and any Supplies on it will be removed. Advance the Camp Marker to the Patience Camp space. Lifeboats and all Discards will be shuffled into the deck.

Beginning on the next turn, you will draw three cards instead of two. After resolving the Action and Test for your chosen cards, you must resolve one Penalty from the remaining card before discarding it.

When Lifeboats becomes the Active Event, you must resolve the Lifeboats Display (see the Lifeboats chapter). Assuming your men survive, advance the Camp Marker to the Elephant Island space. You may at this time freely redistribute your men into Groups. Place the Active Group marker on the first space. Shuffle Voyage of the James Caird and all Discards into the deck.

Beginning on the next turn, you will draw four cards instead of three. You guessed it: you must resolve one Penalty of your choice from each of the extra cards.

When Voyage of the James Caird is resolved, choose five men to remove from play. Shuffle all Discards into the deck, along with the fifteen card Reserve you set aside at the beginning of the game. Advance the Camp Marker to the Rescue space.

Beginning on the next turn, you will draw five cards instead of four, and resolve one Penalty on each of the three extra cards. Do not roll a die for Shackleton in the first group (he's off on the James Caird).

Once the game has moved to this phase, it will end when there are no cards remaining in the deck (finish the current turn, and do not reshuffle).

Shuffling

When directed to by an Event, or when you need to draw cards but the deck is empty, you will shuffle the Discard pile into the deck.

Whenever you do so, recover all men in your Infirmary, assigning them to the Groups of your choice. Roll a die for each man; if the roll meets or exceeds his Skill Level, flip him from Red to Blue.

Whenever you shuffle, you may shuffle the event The Hard Choice into the deck.

The designer's note on the dogs and cat: I struggled with whether, and how, to represent the fate of the expedition's dogs and cat for a long time. I finally decided to allow the player to make that decision, while trying my best not to incentivize it. There is a delay between making the decision and resolving it – if indeed it ever gets resolved – to give it weight.

Lifeboats

When the Lifeboats Event is resolved, bring out the Lifeboats Display and Lifeboats Deck. Transfer all your men – careful to keep them on their Blue or Red sides – to this display, assigning them to one of the three boats. Any empty spaces in the boat may be used to hold a Dog counter, Mrs Chippy, or any Resource from your Supply. Any counter for which you do not have room is removed from the game. You cannot voluntarily leave a man behind.

There absolutely was not room in the boats for any of the dogs, all of which had been killed months before. You will I hope forgive me this small and sentimental act of fantasy.

Shuffle the Lifeboats Deck, and into each of the three provided spaces deal five cards. Flip each stack face-up.

The Lifeboats sequence is resolved over the course of three Days. Each Day consists of three turns – one for each Lifeboat and its crew, always performed in this order: the James Caird, the Dudley Docker, the Stancomb Wills.

On a boat's turn, roll a die for each man on his Fresh (Blue) side. Shackleton is always considered to be Fresh.

Each Lifeboats card depicts a type of dice result. Expend rolled dice that match that type of result to complete and remove the current card in that Boat's stack. You may complete multiple cards in a single turn.

Any unspent dice are given to the next Boat, maintaining their rolled faces, and can be used along with any dice rolled on that Boat's turn.

When you have completed the fifth card for a Boat, it can no longer give its unspent dice to the next Boat. Any Boats that do not complete all five cards in three Days are Lost at Sea: remove those men, Resources, and animals from the game.

As noted before, reorganize the survivors into Groups in your Camp Display, in any order you see fit.

If all three Boats are lost at sea, or if the James Caird is lost, the game ends.

Fine Points

Your Supply has spaces for up to twelve Resource counters. At the beginning of any turn, before drawing cards, you may remove any Resources you feel are unnecessary. You may also at this time replace two striped counters of Canned Goods, Meat, Blubber, or Pemmican with a non-striped counter. (This will just take the form of removing one counter, and flipping the other.)

Once lost it is impossible to gain more of a Resource, except through a Hunt Action.

The game will end in one of four ways:

• Mutiny (all men Demoralized)
• All Lifeboats Lost at Sea
• The James Caird Lifeboat Lost at Sea
• Rescue

There is no victory or defeat, only survival.

Appendix: Notes on Supplies

Pemmican: Pemmican traditionally is a fatty, greasy mixture of tallow, dried meat, and berries, eaten by the indigenous peoples of America and adopted by fur traders for its easy portability and high calorie count. In this case, however, we're specifically referring to "dog pemmican", a bland mixture of two parts protein to one part fat. As you can tell from the name, this was intended strictly for the consumption of the animals, but needs must, and it became a regular part of the men's diet. The cook, Charles Green, extended the life of the pemmican by mixing it with stale biscuits and melted snow, a "stew" the men called hoosh. Another staple was the bannock, in this case a lump of fried flour that would be frequently mixed with bits of dog pemmican or lentils.

Meat: Animals were regular hunted and slaughtered for meat – when there were animals around, anyway. Penguins were frequent targets, elephant seals more rarely. Dogs were also consumed. An all-meat diet is of course a good way to get scurvy, among other ailments, and the men suffered from severe malnutrition. The monotony of the diet, as well as the constant killing of the animals, was depressing.

Canned Goods: "Canned Goods" here serves as a synecdoche for all manner of preserved food items that had been packed in the stores of the Endurance, including, but by no means limited to, digestive biscuits, figs, dates, candied fruit, sardines, anchovies, York hams, bacon, sugar, flour, Christmas pudding, turtle soup, jugged hare, tea (of course), and a large assortment of alcohol: twenty-five cases of whisky, six each of champagne and brandy, three of port. All this was very carefully rationed, both in anticipation of future hunting scarcity, and also as a strategic morale booster.

Blubber: Blubber provided fuel for fire. Cooking food, providing heat, melting ice into potable water: without blubber, the men would starve and freeze. Blubber smoke was constant, making the men and their surroundings filthy and foul-smelling – and no amount of washing could remove it. It had other applications. For example, it was used to clean playing cards that had become almost unrecognizable through overuse, extending their life.

Revolver, Rifle, Shotgun: Ammunition was limited, and so the revolver, rifle, and shotgun were used sparingly. More often animals such as penguins would be bludgeoned to death.

Playing Cards: The discovery of a fresh deck of cards led Shackleton and McIlroy to teach the men how to play bridge. "Within forty-eight hours," writes Lansing, "the popularity of the game reached epidemic proportions… Those who didn't join in found themselves almost ostracized." Poker and patience games were also popular. Over time however card games, like other pastimes, lost their novelty and charm.

Book: A penny cookbook made the rounds of the camp, allowing the men to plan imaginary meals. According to Orde-Lees, there was a strong desire among the men to be "very grossly overfed on nothing but porridge and sugar, black currant and apple pudding and cream, cake, milk, eggs, jam, honey and bread and butter till we burst, and we'll shoot the man who offers us meat. We don't want to see or hear of any more meat as long as we live."

Phonograph: A hand-cranked phonograph provided musical entertainment. Knowing how important such entertainment would be even if things went smoothly, five thousand additional needles were requisitioned. Unfortunately, they neglected to specify that they were to be phonograph needles. It was only after the ship was on its way that it was discovered that they had ordered five thousand sewing needles. The expedition therefore only had a few phonograph needles on hand, and so this device was used sparingly and judiciously.

Afterword

I began working on this six years ago, and for some time I struggled with how to approach the improbability at its center, and the immensity of the men's suffering. But then, a cascade of accidents and coincidences led me to, well, me – a me that nearly wasn't.

The me who made this game, awestruck at her own improbable miracle. This game is for her, and for that miracle.

(The designer's sign-off line naming the author and date is omitted here as attribution.)

Reference Card

The rulebook's final page is a player aid restating the core procedures above.

Actions: Roll one die for each man in the Active Group. Use the best (lowest) Skill Level in the Group. Any rolls of "1" are Failures. Subtract Failures from Successes. If the remaining Successes meet the requirement, gain the Reward. Otherwise, suffer the Penalties for that card.

Tests: Must meet indicated threshold. You may auto-pass a test by flipping specific men from Blue to Red. As always, use of a Resource requires you to check for Exhaustion. When you fail an Exhaustion Check, you may flip Orde-Lees (17) from Blue to Red to prevent the Resource from Exhausting.

Hunt Action:

• Number of icons: Successes needed. Red icon: Demoralize one man first.
• Weapons: Roll one extra die for Revolver/Rifle, two for Shotgun. Use the Weapon's Skill Level.
• Flip Wild (1) to convert one Failure (two if Wild is in the Active Group).
• Reward: 1 Meat per icon. 1 Blubber total.

Sled Action:

• 1 Success required. May roll extra die for each Dog counter, but each extra die increases Successes needed by one.
• Flip a Dog Team Leader in the Active Group to convert one Failure. For each remaining Failure, flip or remove one Dog counter.
• Dog Team Leaders: Wild (1), Greenstreet (3), Crean (4), Macklin (9), McIlroy (10), Marston (16).
• Reward: For each Success, either: (a) move one Resource from a card to your Camp; or (b) flip one man from Red to Blue.

Entertain Action:

• Use ONE of the following: the Cards, the Book, or the Phonograph. Roll an extra die if it matches the icon.
• Flip Hussey (12), Hurley (15), or Mrs Chippy to convert 1 Failure.
• Reward: For each Success, flip one man from Red to Blue in the Active Group. If Successes remain, flip men outside the Active Group.

Food Test: Must meet number of pictured Resources. Must Cook Meat for human consumption with Blubber. Expend one extra Meat or Pemmican if you have animals. May substitute as follows: 2 Pemmican for 1 Meat; 2 Meat for 1 Canned Good; 1 Meat for 1 Pemmican; 1 Canned Good for 1 Meat. Auto-Pass: Green (19).

Heat Test: Must have Blubber per Camp Track. Auto-Pass: McNish (18).

Medical Test: Use Medical Supplies. If failed, the Penalty men are Injured (or, if already Injured, die). Auto-Pass: Macklin (9), McIlroy (10).

Morale Test: Must meet threshold on Camp Track for men who are not Demoralized. Auto-Pass: Wild (1).