Flock Together
Flock Together Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Components
- 8 Player Cheeples
- 11 Chicken Books
- 8 Color Reminder Tokens
- 24 Grub Cards
- 2 Chicken Dice
- 10 Predator Books
- 60 Resin Eggs
- 3 Weather Decks (6 cards each)
- 1 Bonus Card Deck (66 cards)
- 6 Resource Nests
- 1 Game Board
- Weathervane Token
- First Player Token
- 5 Player Boards
- 36 Health Tokens
- 5 Extra Action Tokens
- 80 Food Tokens
- 4 Predator Damage Counters
Setup
Solo Mode Reminders: In a one player game, you just play as one chicken, so follow the regular setup instructions. However, you count as your own teammate, so any Bonus or Grub Cards that mention a teammate, you can use on yourself!
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Open the Game Board, and place it in the center of the table.
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a) Shuffle the Bonus Card Deck, and place it in the upper left corner of the board.
b) The space to the immediate right serves as the Bonus Card discard pile.
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a) Shuffle the Predator Books, and randomly select 3. Open them to the first page, and place them on the 3 spaces marked with the predator icon. We'll explain the Predator Cards in a later section.
b) Randomly select one more Predator Book, and without opening it, place it in the Final Boss location.
If this is your first time playing, use Eggsmeralda (the Snake), Sal Moe Nella (the Rat), and Professor Moltiarty (the Skunk) for your 3 Predators. For the Boss Predator, use Gravekeeper Fowl (the Opossum).
c) Set out a Predator Health Counter near each Predator. For the revealed Predators, adjust the counters according to the number of people playing and the health multiplier found on the revealed Predator card.
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a) Shuffle the Grub Cards and separate them into two equal decks. Place one deck face-up Inside the Coop area.
b) Place the other deck face-up Outside the Coop.
c) The brown space in the upper right corner of the board is the shared Grub discard pile.
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Give every player a colored Cheeple, and place it Inside the Coop. Unless otherwise stated, all players begin the game Inside the Coop. Give each player their corresponding Chicken cutout (to help remember their color!)
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a) Shuffle the three Weather Decks, and place them beneath the board.
If this is your first time playing, remove the "Fair" Weather Card from the Spring Weather Deck, shuffle the remaining cards, then place the "Fair" Weather Card on top of the deck.
Do the same for "Sunny" in the Summer Weather Deck and "Snow" in the Fall Weather Deck.
b) Draw the first card from the Spring deck, and place it face up. This will be the first weather condition.
c) Place the Weathervane Token on Day 1. This token will help track your progress through the seasons.
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Get out the First Player Token and Extra Action Tokens. We'll go over these in a later section.
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Take the resource trays, and place them within reach. They should contain Heart Tokens, Food Tokens, Eggs, and Chicken Dice. Should you run out of a resource, just use a suitable replacement.
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Give every player a Player Board. We'll take a closer look at the Player Board in the next section.
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Randomly deal each player two Chicken Books. Each player then chooses which character they would like to be. Return the unused Chicken Books to the box. Open the chosen Chicken Books to the first page (Chick level), and place them on the Player Boards.
If this is your first time playing, choose your starting characters from among Annie Yolkley, Wyatt Chirp, Cluckleberry Finn, Madam Chickovsky, and Beowing.
Player Board Setup
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a) Refer to your Chicken Book to see how many hearts your Chick starts the game with. This number may increase as your chicken levels up.
b) Add that number of heart tokens to your Player Board (healed side up).
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Extra Action Token: Place your extra action token here, with the fire side face-up.
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Meal Counter: This area is used to track your progress toward leveling up your character.
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The basket icons tell you how many meals you need to eat to unlock your next level. The heart icons indicate your maximum health at that level.
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This is your starting ability. The greyed-out abilities will also become available as you level up your character.
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Production: This part of the card represents your production phase. The production shown is +1 food. All Chicks start the game with this production.
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Attack Strength: The number of chicken fists corresponds to your current strength.
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Food Reservoir: This is where you store your food tokens.
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Egg Reservoir: This is where you store your egg tokens.
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Player Actions: This row lists all available actions you can take on your turn. We'll cover these actions in more detail in a later section.
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We included some colored chicken tokens to help you remember what color you are. Feel free to store your token here for reference.
Objective & Win Conditions
Flock Together is a cooperative game where each player takes on the role of a unique chicken and works together to defeat all invading Predators.
You win the game if you are able to fulfill both conditions before the 3rd season ends:
- Defeat all four Predators,
- Every member of your team is alive when the final Predator is defeated.
Your flock loses if any one of these conditions is met:
- At any point all players die.
- If the third season concludes before all the Predators have been defeated.
- If one or more players is dead when the final Predator is defeated.
Key Concepts
No matter the color or critter, each egg is worth one egg, and each food token is worth one food. Enjoy the variety!
Some actions are location restricted. "Inside" refers to being in the Coop. "Outside" refers to being anywhere else outside the Coop's walls.
If an action is marked with the Inside icon, the action can only be performed while you are Inside the Coop.
If an action is marked with the Outside icon, the action can only be performed if you are Outside the Coop.
Otherwise, the action can be performed in any location.
The chicken face on the dice corresponds to the 6 on regular dice.
Chickens grow through three stages. Females progress from Chicks, to Pullets, to Hens. Males progress from Chicks, to Cockerels, to Roosters. The three stages for each character correspond to the Chick, Pullet/Cockerel, and Hen/Rooster icons.
Determining Turn Order
Whoever ate chicken most recently goes last. So the person to their left goes first, and play continues clockwise.
Course of the Game
Flock Together takes place over three seasons: Spring, Summer, and Fall, with each season lasting 7 days. The Weathervane token is used to help keep track of your progress.
One day consists of every player taking their turn, then discarding a Grub Card from either Inside or Outside the Coop (players' choice). After this, the players move the Weathervane token to the next day and play continues with the first player beginning another turn.
Egg Exchange & Weather
Before days 1, 3, and 6 of every season, players do two things.
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Egg Exchange: Players may choose to exchange any number of eggs they own for an equal number of food. There is no Egg Exchange before day 1 of the Spring season.
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After players have made their trades, draw a new Weather Card from the appropriate season deck, and place it on top of the former Weather Card. This will be the weather condition until the next Weather Card is drawn.
After concluding day 7, move the Weathervane back to day 1, and draw a Weather Card from the next season's deck.
"Phase" on Weather Cards refers to the time period (all 2 or 3 days) from when the weather card is revealed, to right before the next Egg Exchange & Weather Draw.
- When this weather condition is in play, right before the next Egg Exchange takes place, all food must be returned to the supply.
- When this weather condition is in play, players must choose one of their affected turns to take one less action.
- When this weather condition is in play, the next Egg Exchange is skipped, and players only draw a new weather.
Turn Structure
Your turn consists of two parts:
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Production
- As a Chick, the player receives one free food token from the supply.
- Once your character levels up, instead of receiving a free food, roll for a chance to receive an egg.
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Two Actions The player takes two actions (unless otherwise stated by a Bonus Card or weather condition).
There are eight possible actions. You may repeat actions.
- Because Bonus Cards and Grub Cards cost no actions to play, you may play any number that you own at any point during your turn (or anyone else's).
- Once per season, you may use your Extra Action Token to perform one additional action. When you use your additional action, flip the token over to indicate that your extra action is exhausted. When you enter a new season, refresh the token by flipping it face-up.
Player Actions
Your location matters. Of your eight possible actions,
- 3 actions can only be performed Inside the Coop (Lay Egg, Heal, Brood)
- 3 actions can be performed in any location (Move, Draw Card, Attack)
- 2 actions can only be performed Outside the Coop (Eat, Forage)
1. Lay Egg (Inside Only)
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Collect one egg token and place it in your egg reservoir.
NOTE: This action is not available for Chicks. This action only becomes available once you've leveled up your character to a pullet/cockerel (stage 2).
2. Heal (Inside Only)
Healing becomes more efficient and scales as you level up your character. To heal a heart, flip over the health token from the damaged side to the red side.
- As a Chick, using a single action, you may pay one food to heal one heart.
- As a Pullet/Cockerel, using a single action, you may pay up to two food to heal up to two hearts.
- As a Hen/Rooster, using a single action, you may pay up to three food to heal up to three hearts.
3. Brood (Inside Only)
- Brooding is used to revive a dead player. (See section on Death.)
- You must pay one egg to begin Brooding. Skip your next turn. After your next turn has been skipped, the dead player comes back to life on their normal turn.
- The revived player randomly draws another two Chicken Books, picks one of them, rejoins the game as a Chick, and continues the game with a regular turn.
4. Move (any location)
- Move between any two locations. This can be between the Coop (Inside) and Outside, or between two different Outside locations.
- Signify this by moving your Cheeple to your new location.
5. Draw Card (any location)
- Draw one card from the Bonus Card deck. Hand limit 2. The dots on the bottom of the Bonus Cards indicate how many cards are like it in the deck.
- You may play cards immediately when drawn.
- It does not cost an action to play a card, and you may play them when it is not your turn.
- If your hand is full, you may still draw, but you must discard or play one of your two original cards to keep the new card.
6. Attack (any location)
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Generally, you can only attack an enemy (Predator or Grub) if you are in the same location (ie. 'Nearby'). If you are Inside the Coop, you may attack the Inside Grub. If you are Outside, you may attack the Predator in your same location or the Outside Grub (the Outside Grub can be attacked from any Outside location).
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It costs one food per strength of your attack.
(ex. If your maximum attack strength is one, pay one food to attack for one damage. If your max attack strength is three, you may pay up to three food to attack for up to three damage).
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Predators and Grubs have different attack conditions that are either resolved before or after an attack. In general, deal your damage to the Predator (Note on the Predator Health Counter) or Grub (Note by leaving the food cost of the attack on the Grub Card until defeated or discarded), and receive the damage listed on the card (flip over the corresponding number of Health Tokens).
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You still receive return damage and effects (if applicable) when you are dealing the final blow to an enemy.
Order of Combat Effects
- Weather Effect
- Predator Effect
- Chicken Abilities
7. Eat (Outside Only)
- Eating is how you level up your chicken. Each chicken has a different number of "meals" necessary to reach their next stage.
- The first time you eat a meal, take the food token you paid and place it on the "1" on your Meal Counter. On subsequent Eat actions, just move this token forward the appropriate number of spaces.
- Like Healing, how much you can Eat with one action increases as you grow.
- As a Chick, you may use one action to pay one food and increase your meal track by one.
- As a Pullet/Cockerel, you may use one action to pay up to two food tokens to increase your meal track by up to two spaces.
You may use any food token to keep track of your consumed meals.
When your Meal Counter reaches the number required to level up, flip your Chicken Book to the next page.
Depending on your character, when your Chicken levels up, take note of
- Additional Abilities (You keep all former abilities as you level up!)
- A new Meal number to level up
- Possible changes to your maximum health. (Add any additional hearts required to your Player Board, healed side up, and carry over any damage you have sustained)
- Possible changes to your strength
- Possible changes to your Production
When you level up, do not reset your meal counter. If a Bonus Card allows you to pay a Meal as a cost, but doing so would cause you to level-down, you may not select that option.
8. Forage (Outside Only)
Collect one food token and place it in your food reservoir.
Predators
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Every Predator has a maximum health that is determined by the number of players in the game. Use the Predator Health Counters to keep track of each Predator's health.
For example, in a 3-player game, a Fall Predator's maximum health might be 12.
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Each Predator has a unique predator effect that applies before or after attacking the Predator.
After attacking Eggsmeralda, the player rolls a die. If the player rolls a 3, the player returns 2 eggs to the supply. If the player rolls a 1, nothing else happens.
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In general, when you make the decision to attack a Predator, pay the number of food that corresponds to your chosen attack strength. After dealing your damage to the Predator, take damage equal to the Predator's return attack (as indicated by the number of claws).
In this case, the player would flip 3 Health Tokens to their "damaged" side.
When the Spring and Summer seasons finish, every Predator that is still alive levels up. When this happens, note how much damage has been dealt to the Predator, then flip to the next page in the Predator Book. Calculate the new Predator max health, then subtract the damage already sustained. Make sure to take note of any new Predator abilities or increased return attack.
In a 3-player setup, Eggsmeralda would start the game with 6 health. If she has been dealt 2 damage during the first season, she would end the Spring season with 4 health. Therefore, as she enters the Summer season, instead of having 9 health, Eggsmeralda would only have 7 health.
The fourth predator is the Boss Predator. This Predator remains facedown and unknown until the last regular predator is defeated. When revealing the Boss Predator, always open the Predator Book to the 3rd and final Predator form, and increase its health multiplier by 3.
In a 3-player game where the (Fall) Eggmeralda would normally have 12 health (3x4=12), for a Boss Predator, the Damage Counter will be set to 21 (3x7=21).
Loot Drops
When a Predator is defeated, the player who dealt the final blow takes possession of the Predator Book. Flip to the last page to see what Loot the Predator left behind.
Some items are single-use, some are multi-use, and others are permanent upgrades.
Grubs
- Fighting Grubs is not necessary to win the game. However, defeating them can help enhance your strategy and complement your Player Powers.
- When you have defeated a Grub, add it to your play area. There is no hand limit to the number of Grub Cards you can possess. Like Bonus Cards, Grub Cards are single-use (unless otherwise stated), may be played at any time, and do not require an action to play.
- At the end of every day, players must discard a Grub from either Inside the Coop or Outside the Coop.
- Once a deck runs out, it remains empty until both decks become empty. At that point, shuffle the Grub discard pile, and divide it evenly between new Inside and Outside Grub decks.
If Annie Yolkley and the Dung Beetle were both Outside, she could use one action (Attack) and pay one food (for a strength of one) to deal one damage to the Dung Beetle. She would roll when attacking. A 3-6 would yield no negative effect. She would then place the food token on the card to note that the Grub had taken one damage. (If she had rolled a 1, she would have missed the attack and forfeited the paid food. If she had rolled a 2, she would have lost one heart, but the attack would have still landed.
If she and her teammates had failed to defeat the Dung Beetle by the end of the day, it might be a good decision to discard the Inside Grub instead of the Dung Beetle when moving the Weathervane Token, since the Dung Beetle is close to defeat and could easily be finished off the next day.
Example of Combat
In this example, Wingston Coophill is entering into combat with Eggsmeralda, the Snake. Wingston is a Rooster with all abilities unlocked, four food, and one Grub in his possession, the Dung Beetle.
After completing his production phase, he spends his first action attempting to Attack the nearby Eggsmeralda, but the Weather condition is foggy, so he has to roll first. He rolls a 1 and misses his attack. He returns the two food to the supply and suffers no damage or Predator effect.
With his second action, he chooses to Attack again. This time, he rolls a 4, and the attack lands! He returns his last two food to the supply, and Eggsmeralda suffers two damage. The player then rolls for the Predator effect and rolls a 5. Eggsmeralda will take two eggs from every player when she deals two damage to Wingston.
But before receiving the return attack, Wingston uses his Rooster ability, "Evasion" to try to dodge the return attack. He rolls a 1 and is unable to dodge. However, he uses his Dung Beetle to take a card from the Bonus Card Discard Pile. He finds and selects the "Dodge Predator Attack" Bonus Card, which allows him to dodge both the return attack and the Predator effect of everyone losing two eggs. He then discards the used Grub and Bonus Card.
Dying
Should you ever receive sufficient damage from a Predator, Grub, or the Weather to reduce your health to zero, you die. Discard all your food tokens, eggs, Bonus Cards, Grub Cards, and Meal Counter token. You may keep any Loot Drops you have collected. You may then beg one of your teammates to revive you.
To come back to life, another player must choose the "Brood" action and pay an egg. That player must skip their next turn. When play comes to you (After the Brooding player skips their subsequent turn), you may draw two new Chicken Books and select one. You come back to life, rejoin the game as a chick, and continue the game with a regular turn. If the game ends before the downed player has been fully revived (they have taken their first turn as a Chick), all players lose the game.
Clarifications
- When you have a card or ability that allows you to dodge a return attack, also dodge the Predator effect.
- You may not share or trade food or egg resources with your teammates unless otherwise stated.
- If a Weather or Predator effect causes you to miss your attack, you still pay the food cost.
- You may not play Bonus / Grub Cards on your teammates unless the card specifically mentions your teammate or uses the word "Any" ("Re-roll any die"). In a one player game, you are your own teammate.
- Flock Together is a cooperative game, so playing "open hand" (with your cards face up on the table) is the officially recommended method of play.
Strategy Tips
- The sooner you defeat Predators, the better. Every time they level up, the game gets harder to beat!
- Don't forget to level up your character! Whenever you level up, your actions will become more efficient.
- Don't think of Foraging as the only way to get food. Consider the Grubs carefully and remember - when in doubt, draw a Bonus Card! It always pays to have a couple on hand.
Adjusting Difficulty
The game includes an 8-level difficulty track (1 being easiest, 8 being hardest), with level 4 representing Normal difficulty. Each level below or above Normal adds or removes a modifier:
- All Players start with a random Loot Drop.
- No +3 Health Multiplier on the Final Boss Predator.
- Positive Weather on top of each Deck.
- Randomly select Final Boss Predator from among the Bear, Coyote, and Hawk.
- Remove "Fair" from the Spring Weather Deck, "Sunny" from the Summer Weather Deck, and "Snow" from the Fall Weather Deck.
- Randomly select your 4 Predators from among the Bear, Coyote, Hawk, Fox, and Raccoon.
- Increase the Health Multiplier on the Final Boss Predator to +4.
Credits
- Game Design: Matt & Savannah Mundy
- Illustration: Andrew Bosley
- Graphic Design: Jon Merchant
- Game Development: Anthony Prichard
- Storywriter: Lucia Linn
- How-To Video: Paula Deming
- Videographer: Ori Kagan
- Custom Bowls: Gametrayz
- Special Thanks To: Clark Bender, Camilla Cleghorn, Joey Evans, Zee Garcia, Adrienne & Colby McKnight, and Kathie Mundy
seacowboardgames.com
Quick Start Guide & Reference
During setup, randomly deal four Predator Books. Open three of the books, but leave the last one closed on the Boss Predator space.
Deal two Chicken Books to each player, and have them select one.
Gameplay takes place over three seasons: Spring, Summer, and Fall.
One day consists of every player taking their turn, then discarding either the Inside Grub or the Outside Grub.
When you reach the marked day on the Weather track, exchange any number of eggs for an equal number of food tokens, then draw a new Weather Card from the appropriate deck.
At the end of each season, all Predators level up.
On your turn, first, take your Production. Second, take any 2 actions (these can repeat).
No hand limit on Grubs.
Order of Combat Effects
- Weather Effect
- Predator Effect
- Chicken Abilities
Icon Reference
- Health
- Meals
- Egg
- Food
- Roll Result
- Inside
- Outside
- Predator
- Weathervane
- Chick
- Pullet/Cockerel
- Hen/Rooster
- Attack Strength
- Predator Return Attack
- Extra Action