Fossilis: Kickstarter Edition Expansions Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Bone Wars Solo Mode
  • Components
  • Player Aid
  • Setup
  • Gameplay
  • Definitions
  • 1. Movement Step
  • 2. Digging Step
  • 3. Plaster Step
  • 4. Extraction Step
  • 5. Purchase Step
  • 6. Targeting Step
  • Resolving an Event
  • Final Scoring
  • Adjusting Difficulty
• Ice Age Mini-Expansion
  • Components
  • Simple Mode
  • Ice Age Mode
    • Setup Differences
    • Changes to Gameplay
    • Scoring with the Glacier Board
• Scorpion Mini-Expansion
  • Components
  • Additional Setup
  • Entering Play
  • Once in Play
  • Scorpion Movement
  • Getting Stung
  • Pawn Movement
• Power Tools Micro-Expansion
  • Gameplay
  • The Three Power Tools
• Caution Tape Micro-Expansion
  • Setup
  • Gameplay
• Undiscovered Species Micro-Expansion
  • How to Create

Bone Wars Solo Mode

This is an expansion. It requires the Fossilis base game to play.

Othniel Marsh and Edward Cope shared a heated rivalry known as the "Bone Wars." Bone Wars Solo Mode lets you play against one of them as a computer-controlled Rival.

Components

• 12 Rival cards
• 2 Personality cards (Othniel Marsh and Edward Cope)
• Bone Wars Player Aid (printed on the back side of the Personality cards)

Player Aid

Printed on the Bone Wars Player Aid. Summarizes the Rival's turn; the full rules are in the sections below.

1. Movement Step. If already at an accessible needed bone, don't move. Otherwise move clockwise to the first one. If there are no accessible needed bones anywhere, move the number of spots clockwise shown on the Draw card back. Flip the Draw card onto the Standby pile.
2. Digging Step. If at an open pit, don't dig. Otherwise push the entire line of tiles inward 1 space, ignoring the usual weight and stack limits.
3. Plaster Step. Discard (from the Pool) the amount of Plaster shown on the top Standby card.
4. Extraction Step. Extract 1 accessible Hammer. Swap it for a Skill; use the guide to choose. Earn 3 points and keep the tile face down in a Rival Skill slot. Extract 1 accessible bone. Prefer the highest-value needed bone over the highest-value non-needed bone. If this completes a Dinosaur, score it.
5. Purchase Step. Buy 1 card, spending Fragments from the Standby pile. Prefer the highest-value card it can afford: it must use the top Standby card as part of the cost; if tied, prefer the card type shown on the Standby card; if the same type, then the leftmost. Discard Standby cards from the top down until the cost is covered.
6. Targeting Step. If a Dinosaur was scored earlier, choose a new one from the display. Prefer, in order: 1) a wishlist Dinosaur with a stored bone; 2) another Dinosaur with a stored bone; 3) a wishlist Dinosaur with no stored bone; 4) any other Dinosaur. Ties are broken in order by a) fewest bones needed to complete; b) most needed bones visible; c) highest value; d) leftmost.

The Marsh Personality card (shown in the Setup illustration) carries this wishlist, in order:

1. Quetzalcoatlus
2. Plateosaurus
3. Eudimorphodon
4. Tapejara
5. Brachiosaurus
6. Tyrannosaurus Rex

Setup

Setup is the same as a standard 2-player game with the following changes:

1. Choose the paleontologist you wish to play against (Marsh or Cope), and keep their Personality card near the Rival's mat face up. Use the back side of the other Personality card as a Player Aid.
2. Shuffle the Rival deck, and draw the bottom card. The number on the card back tells you the active target your Rival will begin the game with; refer to the wishlist on the Personality card. Find that card, and place it in the Rival's lab. Reset the Dinosaur display or deck as necessary.
3. Flip the same Rival card to determine the starting position of the Rival's pawn. It starts on the indicated spot beside the site, referencing the guide shown on the card.

Example: The guide shows FL. Place the pawn beside the Far Left space of the site where indicated.

• FL = Far Left
• FR = Far Right
• NL = Near Left
• NR = Near Right

"Far Left," for example, refers to the corner of the dig site that is furthest from where you are seated, on the left side. This positional system is used for a variety of features, so always keep the site oriented towards you the same way.

4. Shuffle the revealed card back into the Rival deck to make a face down Draw pile.

Rival cards can be in three different stacks during the game: the Draw, Standby, and Discard piles.

• All Rival cards start the game in the Draw pile; leave space for the other two stacks beside it.
• Cards in the Standby pile should be staggered so that their Fragment symbols remain visible when a card is placed on top.
• Keep the Discard pile sideways. If the Draw deck runs out, shuffle the Discard pile to form a new Draw pile.

Gameplay

You take your turn as normal, following the same rules as in the multiplayer game. On the Rival's turn, perform its turn by carrying out the following steps:

1. Movement Step
2. Digging Step
3. Plaster Step
4. Extraction Step
5. Purchase Step
6. Targeting Step

Definitions

• An open pit (and anything in it) is accessible if it is at the edge of the site, or if every space in a straight line between it and a site edge is an open pit as well.
• A needed bone is one that the Rival's active target card shows, that it doesn't yet have.
• A line is a row or column of tiles.

1. Movement Step

The Rival pawn does not move on the dig site; it moves clockwise around it. There are three movement possibilities:

a. If it is already at an accessible pit with a needed bone, the Rival does not move.

Example a: The Rival needs a Limb; it is currently in front of an accessible Limb, so it doesn't move.

b. If not, and there is any accessible pit with a needed bone, the Rival moves (clockwise) around the edge of the site until it reaches the line of the first one.

Example b: The Rival needs a Hip and a Limb, and there are accessible ones visible; it moves clockwise until it reaches the first spot with access to a needed bone.

c. If there is no needed bone in an accessible pit anywhere, the Rival moves a number of spots clockwise equal to the number shown on the top card of the Draw pile.

Example c: The Rival doesn't need any of the visible accessible bones; it moves 3 spots clockwise as shown on the top Draw pile card.

However the Rival moved (or didn't move), flip the top card of the Draw pile face up onto the Standby pile, staggered so that Fragments on all earlier cards remain visible.

2. Digging Step

If the pit on the site edge right next to the Rival pawn is not open, the Rival pushes the entire line inward by one space. If not, the Rival does not dig.

• The Rival ignores the player's limits of digging; it can push heavier tiles with lighter ones, and even pushes stacks.
• Tiles pushed off the Dig Site are discarded; the Rival does not gather tiles.
• If your pawn is pushed off the Dig Site by this, you will have to climb back on using the usual rules.

Digging example: The Rival is not in front of an open pit, so it digs. It pushes the whole line of tiles inward. It ignores tile type and stack height. The digging has covered up a previously visible Hip, but has opened a new pit containing two Teeth and a Hammer!

3. Plaster Step

Remove the amount of Plaster shown on the top Standby card (sometimes this amount is zero) from the Plaster Pool, and place it into the supply.

Plaster example: The top Standby card shows 2 Plaster, so you remove 2 Plaster from the Pool.

4. Extraction Step

The Rival always extracts one Hammer (if possible), and then one Bone (if possible), each from an accessible pit in its line. The Rival does not spend Plaster to extract.

Extracting a Hammer. If it does not already have 3 Skills, it takes the nearest Hammer (if there is one). It swaps the Hammer for a Skill in the display; use the guide on the top Standby card to choose which one. Place the Skill face down in its leftmost empty Skill slot. The Rival scores 3 points immediately and ignores everything written on the tile.

The Rival swaps its extracted Hammer for a Skill. The guide says start at Near Left and go clockwise as needed; the indicated Skill is taken.

Extracting a Bone. Then (even if it took a Hammer) it will take the highest-value needed bone. If this is the final bone needed to score the Dinosaur perfectly, score the Dinosaur for the Rival as normal.

• If there are no needed bones, the Collector will take the highest-value bone available, and put it into its storage. (The sheet says "Collector" here; it means the Rival, the only player this step describes.)
• The Rival always prefers to extract a bone from a nearer pit when there are duplicates accessible in the line.
• If there are no available bones, the Rival doesn't extract.

Extraction example: The active target needs both a Tooth and a Rib. The visible Rib is not currently accessible, so the Rival extracts the nearer accessible Tooth.

5. Purchase Step

The Rival uses the visible Fragment symbols on the card(s) in the Standby pile to buy one Tools or Supplies card. The purchased card must require at least one Fragment from the top card of the Standby pile. The Rival uses the following priority order when choosing which card to purchase:

1. Highest value (points) it can afford.
2. If that is a tie, the Rival prefers the card type (printed as "S" or "T" on the Standby card) shown on the top Standby card.
3. If they are the same type, the Rival buys the leftmost card of the two.

Working from the top card downward, discard cards from the Standby pile until enough Fragments have been spent to buy the card (skip cards which show only Fragments that aren't needed).

Purchase example: The Rival can not afford the 3-point Clay Bucket, but it can afford the Chisel and the 2-Plaster Supplies card, both worth 2 points. The top Standby card shows that the Rival prefers Tools over Supplies right now, so it chooses the Chisel, which costs any two Fragments. Since the Rival must spend the top Standby card, it spends the 1 Egg, but still needs another Fragment; it spends the next card in order (2 Footprints). That covers the Chisel's cost.

Turn the purchased card face down beside the Rival's mat. The Rival doesn't gain anything from any Tools or Supplies cards except for their displayed points, which will be scored at the end of the game.

6. Targeting Step

If the Rival scored its active target in the Extraction Step, it now must choose a Dinosaur card from the display as its new active target. It uses the following priorities:

1. A Dinosaur on the wishlist, with one or more needed bones already in the Rival's storage.
2. A non-wishlist Dinosaur with one or more needed bones already in the Rival's storage.
3. A Dinosaur on the wishlist.
4. Any other Dinosaur.

Targeting example: 1) None of the Dinosaurs on the wishlist are in the display. 2) The Rival has a Tooth in storage, and three Dinosaurs in the display need a Tooth. To break the tie: i) Edmontosaurus and Peteinosaurus both need only one more bone to complete. ii) There's an accessible Rib visible in a pit, so the Rival takes Peteinosaurus!

If multiple cards satisfy a priority tier, the Rival breaks ties in this order of preference:

• i. fewest bones needed to complete;
• ii. most needed bones currently visible in accessible pits;
• iii. highest perfect value;
• iv. leftmost in display.

If the Rival has the needed bones in storage to perfectly score its new active target, score it immediately and repeat the Targeting Step until it ends up with an active target in play. Replenish the Dinosaur display when done.

Resolving an Event

When it's the Rival's turn to make a decision on an Event, it behaves as follows:

• Earthquake. Use the guide on the Standby as a starting point; on its turn the Rival will push the first eligible Stone tile inward. If no Stone is encountered on the perimeter that can be pushed without knocking tiles off the site, the Rival does nothing.
• Junk Sale. The Rival chooses the lowest-value card available to give you, preferring the leftmost card if tied.
• Mentor Visit. The Rival gains 4 points.
• Mudslide / Rockfall / Sandstorm. Use the guide on the Standby as a starting point; whenever it is its turn to add, the Rival adds a tile to the first-encountered open pit, or to the first single tile if there are no open pits.
• Patronage. The Rival gains 6 points.
• Reclassification. The Rival simply draws 1 Dinosaur card and doesn't discard anything.
• Snakebite. The Rival loses 4 points.
• Soft Stone. This event doesn't affect the Rival.

Final Scoring

Score the end of the game as usual. Reveal the Rival's Dinosaur, Tools, and Supplies cards, and score them as if it were a normal human player, including the competition for characteristic majorities.

• The only exception is the Skill tiles and slots. The Rival ignores all text on its tiles that would have awarded points, and it does not score for having empty slots on its mat.

If your score is higher than the Rival's, you have won this battle of the legendary Bone Wars, and your name will go down in the history books! In the event of a tie, the Rival insists that it hasn't been defeated.

Adjusting Difficulty

The following adjustments can be made to tailor the experience to you. Feel free to use any number of these options to make the solo challenge easier or harder for yourself.

For an easier opponent:

• Movement Step: The Rival always moves based on the value shown on the top of the Draw pile; it does not check to see if bones it needs are nearby.
• Extraction Step: The Rival chooses the lowest-value bone to extract instead of highest (after other priority checks).
• Extraction Step: The Rival scores no points when it extracts a Hammer and gains a Skill tile.
• Purchase Step: The Rival will only buy a card of the type shown on the Standby card, even if there is a card of the other type worth more points.
• Targeting Step: The Rival ignores all criteria and simply chooses the leftmost Dinosaur from the display as its new active target.

For a harder opponent:

• Digging Step: The Rival pushes the whole line two spaces instead of one.
• Plaster Step: The Rival removes one additional Plaster in addition to what the Standby card displays.
• Targeting Step: Instead of using the usual priority criteria, the Rival will dig through the Dinosaur deck from top to bottom until it finds one on its wishlist, and takes that one as its active target (reshuffle the deck afterwards). If there are none left in the deck, use the usual criteria.
• Final Scoring: For majority scoring only, the Rival is considered to have one extra of each characteristic.
• Final Scoring: For empty Skill slots on your mat, the Rival scores the slot's points instead of you.

Source note for this module: the Cope wishlist is printed on the Cope Personality card, not in the rules sheet, so it is not reproduced here. The Marsh wishlist above is the one printed in the setup illustration. The Rival card backs carry the number that selects the wishlist entry used as the starting active target.

Ice Age Mini-Expansion

This is an expansion for the game Fossilis.

Add the exotic animals of the Pleistocene era into your game! There are two ways to play: Simple mode, and Ice Age mode.

Components

• 10 Pleistocene animal cards
• 1 Glacier board
• 20 Ice Crystals

Simple Mode

Just shuffle the Pleistocene animals (marked with the Pleistocene era symbol) in with your Dinosaur deck, and treat them like Dinosaurs. No other rules are changed, but scoring at the end of the game is altered to account for the new Pleistocene era symbol.

• A set of 3 or more Pleistocene characteristic symbols earns 6 points, and the player with the most Pleistocene symbols earns 3 points, just like all other characteristics.
• The 12-point bonus for having all 9 characteristics is gone; now it is 15 points for having all 10 characteristics.

There are reminders of these changes on the Glacier board.

Ice Age Mode

Setup Differences

1. Mix the 20 Ice Crystals in with all the fossils and hammers that you randomize in the dig site.
2. Shuffle the Pleistocene deck and keep it separate from the rest of the Dinosaur cards. When setting up the Dinosaur display, only deal out 3 Dinosaurs instead of 4 as usual, then deal out 1 Pleistocene animal as well. Keep the Pleistocene deck face down to the right of the display.

In this way there will still be a 4-card display to choose from, with 1 Pleistocene animal always available until they run out.

3. Place the Glacier board nearby.

Changes to Gameplay

Most of gameplay is unchanged. Changes are as follows:

• Whenever a player claims (or scores) a Pleistocene animal from the display, replace it with a new card from the Pleistocene deck.
  • If the Pleistocene deck runs out, replace it with cards from the Dinosaur deck, so that there is always a 4-card display.
• Whenever an Ice Crystal is revealed in a pit that is opened for the first time, immediately extract it and place it on the next empty space (from left to right) of the Glacier board.
  • This extraction is automatic. It consumes no Energy or Plaster, and is not part of the player's turn.
  • If multiple crystals are revealed, extract and add them one at a time to consecutive spaces.
  • If you ever need to place a crystal and the board is full, first discard all of the crystals on the Glacier board from the game, then start over from the first space.

Example: you have just opened a pit by moving a tile, and the pit contains two crystals. You extract them both, and place them one at a time onto the next two spaces of the Glacier board.

Scoring with the Glacier Board

The Glacier board has seven spaces, with the scores 1, 3, 6, 4, 10, 5, and 15 printed on them. Each space on the Glacier board displays a score. The rightmost spot on the board that has a crystal in it is the current bonus added to your score when you score a Pleistocene animal (each is marked with an ice crystal symbol as a reminder).

• If you score a Pleistocene animal partially (from your lab), score the current bonus and then discard the rightmost crystal on the Glacier board from the game.
• If you score a Pleistocene animal perfectly (from your lab or the display), score the current bonus and then discard all of the crystals on the Glacier board from the game.

Example 1: You score this Megatherium partially. You add the current bonus of 6 to the 9 from the bones, and discard the rightmost crystal from the game.

Example 2: You score this Glyptodon perfectly. You add the current bonus of 4 to the 5 perfect score, and discard all crystals on the board from the game.

The scoring at game end is changed to accommodate the new Pleistocene era as described in the Simple Mode section.

Scorpion Mini-Expansion

This is an expansion for the game Fossilis. It adds an element of danger to the dig site. Beware its sting as it creeps among the rocks, and encourage it to scuttle towards your rivals! This adds some direct conflict to Fossilis; if that is not something your players enjoy, this might not be ideal for your group.

Components

• 1 Scorpion mini
• 8 Scuttle tokens
• 5 Sting tokens

Additional Setup

1. Place the Scorpion in the first Plaster pool along with the Plaster.
2. Shuffle the Scuttle tokens face down and make a draw stack near the Tools deck.
3. Keep the Sting tokens in a supply nearby.

Entering Play

The Scorpion begins the game out of play. When the first Plaster pool runs out (after the Event is resolved), the Scorpion enters play, and remains in play for the rest of the game. The player who triggered the Event places the Scorpion on any unoccupied tile on the dig site, and flips 1 Scuttle token face up onto each of the two Tool cards in the market.

Once in Play

When you buy a Tool card, you also claim the Scuttle token on the card. Then:

1. Immediately gain the points displayed on the token (the purple shield value, 2 on the printed tokens).
2. Move the Scorpion as described by the token, then discard the token.
3. Refresh the market with a new Tool card, and add a new Scuttle token face up to the new Tool. If Scuttle tokens run out, shuffle the discards to form a new draw stack.

Scorpion Movement

If there is no eligible tile to move the Scorpion to, it stays where it is.

The Scuttle token shows one of four movement patterns, each with a points value of 2:

• Straight line. Move to a tile any distance away in a straight (orthogonal) line. May pass over open pits.
• Diagonal line. Move to a tile any distance away in a diagonal line. May pass over open pits.
• Adjacent. Move to a tile 1 space away (orthogonally or diagonally) in any direction.
• Displayed type. Move to a tile of the displayed type (Sand, Clay, or Stone) any distance away.

Further rules:

• If the Scorpion finishes its movement adjacent (not diagonal) to any pawn, the pawn automatically flees (moves 1 space directly away from the Scorpion). Obey normal rules regarding moving into a pit or off the dig site, or into a space with another pawn.
• If the Scorpion finishes its movement in the same space as a pawn, that player is stung.
• If the Scorpion is ever pushed off the dig site or into a pit, it returns to the dig site at the end of the current player's turn, onto any unoccupied tile of their choice.

Getting Stung

When you are stung, take a Sting token and place it face up under your pawn. You may never have more than one Sting token; ignore additional stings if you currently have one. The token indicates that you have 1 less Energy than usual on your turns. This effect persists until you get rid of it. To get rid of a Sting, you must spend 2 Energy on your turn (there is a reminder of this on the back).

Pawn Movement

You may never willingly move into the same space as the Scorpion. You may move into a space adjacent to the Scorpion; fleeing is only triggered when the Scorpion moves.

If you are ever pushed into the Scorpion's space (or it is pushed into yours), you are stung.

Power Tools Micro-Expansion

This is an expansion for the game Fossilis.

Gameplay

The Power Tools are three cards that are a little more complex than the standard brushes and shovels. Shuffle them into your Tools deck, and treat them like normal Tool cards.

Each Power Tool has the Power Tool symbol (a small gold circular badge in the lower-right corner of the card) so that you can separate them from the base deck if you want.

The Three Power Tools

Each card lists its point value (purple shield, top left), its name and power, and its Fragment cost (bottom of the card).

Jackhammer (4 points). Cost: 2 Footprint Fragments.

Remove all tiles covering one pit. Destroy the two most valuable bones in that pit.

Rock Drill (2 points). Cost: 2 Amber Fragments.

This turn, the cost to Dig any tile type is 1 Energy. (Ignore any other cost-changing effects.)

Rock Saw (2 points). Cost: 2 Egg Fragments.

Slide 1 STONE tile up to 3 spaces in one direction. Any tile that falls off is discarded.

Source note: the card text above is read from the printed card images, since this sheet's text layer is scrambled.

Caution Tape Micro-Expansion

This is an expansion for the game Fossilis.

Setup

Give each player the Caution Tape in their colour. Return unused markers to the box.

Gameplay

Once per game at any point on your turn, you may place your Caution Tape to cover an open pit adjacent to your pawn; it will stay in place until the start of your next turn. The covered pit may not be disturbed in any way by any player. Limitations include:

• Nothing may be extracted from the covered pit.
• No action may be taken that causes a tile or pawn to be pushed or moved into the covered pit's space.

When your next turn begins, remove your Caution Tape and discard it from the game.

Undiscovered Species Micro-Expansion

This is an expansion for the game Fossilis.

Create and name your own creatures using the provided stickers, then shuffle the cards into your Dinosaur deck.

How to Create

1. Apply three characteristic stickers to the top left of the card. Make sure that the top one is a Diet, the middle is a Movement, and the bottom is an Era.
2. Apply 1-3 Bone stickers to the card bottom.
3. Write in the Perfect Score, depending on how many Bone stickers you used:
   • 1 sticker: the Bone value.
   • 2 stickers: the combined Bone values plus 3.
   • 3 stickers: the combined Bone values plus 6.
4. Write in your species name, and you're ready to go!