Herdvana Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Players
• Playing Cards
  • Card Point Values
• Objective
• Setup
• Individual Play
• End of Turn
• Team Play
• Achieving Herdvana
• End of Game
• Scoring
• Notes

Players

2-6 people can play individually.

6, 8, or 10 people can play as teams of two.

Playing Cards

There are 130 cards in the game pack.

• 84 Animal Cards: All animal card groups have 8 herd members (except Chameleons, of which there are 4). Collect herds of animals in your field to accumulate points. See the list below for point values. You can also try to achieve Herdvana and get bonus points.
  • Chameleons are special animal cards. They cannot be paired together to create a Chameleon herd. Use their powers of camouflage to match with any other animal card (think of them as wild cards). Chameleon cards do not count toward achieving Herdvana.
• 20 Farmer Cards: Farmer cards are worth 10 points each. You can use Farmer cards to protect the herds in your field.
• 16 Alien Cards: Alien cards have no point value. Use Alien cards to Abduct Farmers that are protecting herds in other players' fields.
• 10 "On Your Turn" Cards: "On Your Turn" cards are not used in gameplay, and have no point value. They are a quick reference of possible actions a player can take in their turn. Use is optional.

Card Point Values

• Turtles (1 pt each)
• Goldfish (1 pt each)
• Bees (1 pt each)
• Chickens (1 pt each)
• Peacocks (2 pts each)
• Pigs (2 pts each)
• Llamas (2 pts each)
• Horses (3 pts each)
• Cows (3 pts each)
• Bison (4 pts each)
• Chameleons (5 pts each)
• Farmers (10 pts each)
• Aliens (0 pts each)

Objective

Amass points by building "herds" in your "field." Stack, steal, and secure your herds until all cards have been played. Then, add up your scores and see who wins!

Setup

To determine who goes first, each player draws a card from the deck. The player that draws the highest scoring card goes first. If there is a tie, those players draw again. After the draw round, shuffle the deck and deal six cards to each player. Place the remaining cards face down in the center of the players to create the draw pile. Flip the top card of the draw pile face up and place it next to the draw pile to create the discard pile.

Team Setup: In addition to the above, teammates should sit directly opposite each other (there should be an equal number of players between partners).

Individual Play

When it is your turn, play cards from your hand first, then draw card(s) at the end of your turn. Play rotates clockwise around the playing table. There are 7 possible actions, but you can only EXECUTE ONE ACTION PER TURN.

1. Begin a Herd - You must have two or more matching animal cards (not Farmers or Aliens) in your hand to start a herd. Place the cards face up, stacked on top of one another, in your field. Herds cannot contain mixed animals (Chameleons are an exception).

2. Build On a Herd - If you already have a herd in your field, add one or more matching animal card(s) on top of your existing herd stack.

3. Take the Discard - If the top card of the discard pile is an animal card, take it and EITHER create a new herd in your field using that card paired with a matching animal card from your hand, OR add that card to an existing herd in your field.

4. Protect a Herd - Play one Farmer card over top of any herd stack in your field to protect it. This prevents an opponent from taking your herd, BUT it also prevents you from adding any cards to that herd. You can stack Farmer cards one turn at a time on top of each other to increase the protection of your herd. (See Note 1.)

5. Steal a Herd - If another player has an unprotected herd in their field and you have a matching animal card in your hand, you can steal it. Reveal your challenging animal card, and declare your attempt to steal. Two things can happen: EITHER the player gives up their herd to you (add your animal card to it and put it in your field), OR the player defends their herd by revealing a matching animal card from their hand (they take it with the challenging animal card(s), and add them to the existing herd in their field). If you have another matching animal card in your hand, you can keep trying to steal. The defending player then gets another chance to defend, and this continues until someone is unable or unwilling to play any more cards. Winner places the existing herd and all cards involved in the challenge into their field.

6. Abduct a Farmer - Use an Alien card to remove a Farmer card from another player's herd. Both Alien and Farmer cards are then placed face up on the discard pile. If there are multiple Farmers protecting a herd, only remove one Farmer per turn, in reverse order of how they were played. You cannot abduct a Farmer from your own field.

End of Turn

After you have completed one of these actions, draw cards from the draw pile until you hold six cards in hand again. If your actions have caused another player to play cards, they also draw back to a full hand.

Team Play

All the rules of individual play still apply. Gameplay is largely the same, except you now work with a partner. Each player still takes their turn individually, and maintains their own field and herd(s). However, you can choose to play on either your own or your partner's field. In the event of an attempt to steal, you can defend your partner's herd in any turn in which it is threatened. You can also come to the aid of your partner in their attempt to steal a herd by playing the appropriate animal card from your hand. At no point may you divulge the contents of your hand to your partner. (See Note 2.)

Achieving Herdvana

If you collect all eight matching animal cards in one herd in your field, it has achieved Herdvana! This earns you 10 bonus points at the end of the game and permanently secures that herd. Indicate this by turning the herd sideways in your field; it is now immune to all other player actions during the game. After Herdvana is achieved, you cannot protect that herd with a Farmer, or add any more cards to it. Chameleons do not count towards the eight matching animal cards required to achieve Herdvana. (See Note 3.)

End of Game

After all cards have been taken from the draw pile, and each player has played all cards in their hand, the game is over. As the end of the game approaches, some players will still have cards that they can play, while others will be out of cards and have to pass their turn, suffering any consequences of cards played against them.

Scoring

When all cards have been played, each player adds up the point value of every card in their field. Remember to add the 10 point bonus for each Herdvana achieved. The player with the highest point score is the winner.

Team Scoring: Individual scores are added to their partner's score. Highest team score wins the game.

Notes

Note 1: While Farmers prevent you from building on a herd, you may still begin a new herd of the same animal type. However, once multiple herds of the same animal type exist they can never be combined, making them incapable of achieving Herdvana.

Note 2: You may only Begin a Herd in your own field. You may Build on and Protect herds in your own or your partner's field.

Note 3: Herdvana is not achieved until the end of a turn. This means that in the back-and-forth process of stealing and defending, a Chameleon can still win the herd, even if all eight of the chosen animal card have been played. After the turn is finished, the player who wins the battle can then take the herd into their field and indicate that it has achieved Herdvana.

Note 4: You are never required to show or disclose the number of animals in any of your herds. It is recommended that you stack animals in the same herd one card on top of another in order to keep that information secret. Chameleons should be buried in your herd (not be the top card) as well.