Kauri Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• The Factions
  • The Kiwi — the native
  • The Maori — the guardian
  • The Englishman — the pragmatist
  • The Possum — the unwelcome one
• Components
• Goal of the Game
• Setup
• The Cards
  • Card Actions
  • Double or optional actions
  • Actions with prerequisites
  • Initiative card
  • Claiming a Heritage
• Sequence of Play
  • A round of play
• End of Period
• The Englishman's Awareness
• Regions and Borders
  • The volcano
  • The towns
• Clarifications
• End of Game: Scoring
• Advanced Rule
• Two-Player Games
• From Game to Reality
• Quick Reference — Turn Sequence
• The Factions at a Glance
  • The Kiwi
  • The Maori
  • The Englishman
  • The Possum
• Credits & Acknowledgements

The Factions

The Kiwi — the native

He lives peacefully in the shade of the kauri forests since the dawn of time. He reigns unchallenged over the whole island, but his tranquility shatters with the arrival of mammals. The disappearance of his plant habitat seriously endangers his species.

The Maori — the guardian

The first human to arrive on the island, she settles her whares (dwellings) at the heart of the kauri forests and draws on the island's resources. She tries to preserve her way of life and beliefs despite the arrival of the Englishman. She adapts and coexists with him, even into the towns.

The Englishman — the pragmatist

The last human to arrive, he sees magnificent opportunities in taking possession of the island: exploiting its forests, farming... Over time, his need for wood decreases and the proliferation of the possum worries him. He tries to restore a balance that he himself upset by giving up deforesting and by limiting the expansion of the possum.

The Possum — the unwelcome one

Brought by man to exploit its fur, this marsupial very quickly escapes and, in the absence of a natural predator, spreads across the whole island. It feasts on vegetation, eggs, insects, etc. Its arboreal habits indirectly harm the kiwi, and its proliferation drives the Englishman to hunt it.

Components

• 1 main board
• 30 kauri tokens
• 2 markers:
  • 1 for the Englishman's Awareness track
  • 1 for the Periods track

The main board carries the priority table, the Englishman's Awareness track (outer ring of the pocket-watch dial), and the Periods track (central ring of the pocket-watch dial).

Kiwi faction: 1 board, 1 player aid, and 9 kiwi cards; 28 kiwi tokens, 2 floods and 3 reserves; 5 Heritage tokens.

Maori faction: 1 board, 1 player aid, and 9 maori cards; 1 Maori pawn and 8 whares; 4 Heritage tokens.

Englishman faction: 1 board, 1 player aid, and 9 Englishman cards; 2 Englishman pawns, 8 roads and 2 poisons; 4 Heritage tokens.

Possum faction: 1 board, 1 player aid, and 9 possum cards; 30 possum tokens and 1 epidemic; 4 Heritage tokens.

Each individual board also shows: a draw pile area, Heritage tokens and their Heritage slot, a discard area, and a way to earn victory points at the end of the game.

For example, the Maori board's Heritage column shows:

Treaty of Waitangi (permanent Heritage)

• the Maori and the Englishman can occupy the same region.
• the Maori can use the Road network for her moves.
• you can now build suburbs, and claim indemnities.

Power of the Spirits (permanent Heritage) At the end of the game, Temples score victory points at a different rate. Only works on Temples, not on Suburbs.

Tani & Oma Choose a card in your discard pile and play it immediately. Then place that card and your Heritage card in your discard pile. Can be claimed twice.

(reminder printed on the board while the Treaty of Waitangi Heritage has not been signed: the Maori cannot move onto a region containing an Englishman, a road, or that is connected by a road.)

Goal of the Game

In Kauri, the player who accumulates the most victory points (VP) by the end of the game wins. Try to make your place in history, knowing that each faction scores points differently!

Setup

A player places the two markers:

• The Periods marker on space I of the central track.
• The Awareness marker on space 1 of the outer track (the Englishman's Awareness).

Each player chooses a faction from those available.

With 3 players, the Maori faction is not played. Apart from this detail, the rules of the game are the same as with 4 players.

With 2 players, only the kiwi and possum factions are played. Some setup and gameplay rules are different. Please refer to the dedicated chapter at the end of the booklet.

• 4 players: kiwi + possum + Englishman + Maori

• 3 players: kiwi + possum + Englishman

• 2 players: kiwi + possum (or automated Englishman)

• Each player places their individual board, their 9 cards, and the tokens specific to their faction in front of them.

• The kiwi player places a kauri and a kiwi in every region of the main board, except the central volcano region.

• The maori player places the Maori (pawn) in any region that does not contain a town.

• The English player places one of their two Englishmen in one of the three regions containing a town.

• The possum player places a possum in the same region as the Englishman, then a possum in three regions adjacent to that region (4 possums in total).

• Each player shuffles their 9 cards and forms a draw pile, which they place to the left of their individual board.

• Finally, each player draws one card.

The Cards

Card Actions

Each card can be played in two different ways:

Actions card — Card played vertically to carry out the one or two actions it offers. Its Initiative value is ignored.

Cards may offer one or several actions. The actions can be carried out in any order, and may even only be carried out partially, at the player's choice.

It is even allowed to carry out one action in the middle of another.

For example, it is possible to carry out only a single move with the help of Forced March.

It is also possible to carry out a first move with the help of Mass Migration, then remove a Kauri with Foraging, before carrying out the second move granted by Mass Migration.

Initiative card — the tilted number in the Initiative medallion.

Double or optional actions

Cards may display two actions separated by an [and] or an [or], indicating whether both actions can be carried out or whether only one of them must be chosen.

Actions with prerequisites

Some actions carry a colored title bar indicating that a prerequisite is required to play that action.

• Action possible if the Englishman is a Woodcutter. See the Englishman's Awareness, next page.
• Action possible if the Englishman is a Ranger. See the Englishman's Awareness, next page.
• Action possible if the maori Heritage Treaty of Waitangi has been claimed.

Each of your 9 cards can be played either for its Actions or for its Initiative.

Initiative card

Paired with the Actions card, this card, played horizontally, sets the turn order for this round. Its actions are ignored.

On these cards, only the Initiative value (the number in the medallion) matters. It is used to determine, among the players, the order in which their Actions cards are resolved.

Values are considered in ascending order: a 1 lets you play before a 2, a 2 before a 3, a 3 before a 4.

Ties in Initiative are broken by the priority table (at the top of the main board). Priority is given first to the maori, then to the possum, the Englishman, and finally the kiwi.

Claiming a Heritage

Each faction in the game has a special card marked Claim a Heritage.

When a player plays it as an Actions card, they place one of their tokens on a free slot of their board. The chosen Heritage becomes active immediately.

Heritages can be temporary or permanent. They cannot be claimed more than once (except with the Huia Curse).

Sequence of Play

The game is played over 5 Periods, each made up of 4 rounds (20 rounds of play in total).

A round of play

1. Each player draws 2 cards so as to have 3 in hand. (reminder: one card is drawn during setup, and one card is kept at the end of each round.)

2. Simultaneously, each player:

   • chooses their Actions card, which they place face-down in front of them. This is the card whose action effects they will play this round.
   • chooses their Initiative card, which they place face-down on top of it, horizontally. This card will only be used for its Initiative value.
   • keeps the third card in hand. It will not be played this round.

3. Each player simultaneously reveals their pair of cards. The value of their Initiative card indicates the order in which each player will play their Actions card (ties broken by the priority table).

   Note: some card actions require a prerequisite. They can only be carried out if that prerequisite is active.

   It is entirely possible not to resolve your Actions card (because you can no longer, or no longer wish to, play it). In that case the card is simply discarded, with no effect.

4. Each player discards the two cards played this round to the right of their individual board. If the draw piles are exhausted, proceed to end of Period; otherwise, play a new round.

End of Period

Keep the card set aside on the last round and shuffle your discard pile to form a new draw pile (place it to the left of your individual board).

Kiwis no longer sheltered by a kauri are removed from the main board and returned to the kiwi player, who keeps them beside their individual board.

Any floods and epidemic tokens are removed from the main board and returned to their respective owners.

Advance the Awareness marker two spaces (clockwise).

If you were not already in the 5th Period, advance the Periods marker to the next Period and start a new round.

Otherwise, the game ends; proceed to scoring.

The Englishman's Awareness

This circular track shows the evolution of the Englishman's awareness over time. It can advance or move back, switching the Englishman from Woodcutter to Ranger (or the reverse).

The Englishman starts the game as a Woodcutter (he exploits the forests). Over time, his awareness evolves, eventually leading him to reconsider his actions by becoming a Ranger (he hunts the possums that have over-proliferated).

+2 At the end of each Period, the Awareness marker advances two spaces clockwise.

Note: some prerequisite actions are linked to the state of the Englishman's Awareness (see the Cards chapter).

Note: some actions (Magnetism and Repulsion) as well as the Heritage Political Activism move the Awareness marker forward or back during a round. A change of state can occur and takes effect immediately. Some prerequisite actions can become invalid, in which case the card's action may be lost.

Regions and Borders

Each region is separated from its neighbors by a border, shown by a white outline.

When an action requires moving a token, the move takes place from one region to one of its neighbors (crossing a single border).

Unless stated otherwise, an action on a card can only be resolved by the player if they have a token in the region concerned. Some Actions cards are exceptions: details are given in the player aid of the faction concerned.

A region can never shelter more than one kauri.

The volcano

This region is inaccessible. It cannot be crossed, and no token can be placed on this zone or on its borders.

Additionally, the area around this region carries a risk because of the kiwi Heritage Volcanic Eruption.

The towns

Three regions show the presence of a town (Auckland, Gisborne, and Wellington, the ports where the first colonists arrived).

Some actions and some Heritages require being played inside or outside one of these regions.

Note: after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi (Heritage), the Maori can place a whare in a region containing a town by playing the Suburb card.

Clarifications

Kauri (pronounced ka-o-ri): species of tree endemic to the island. At stake for every faction in the game, it in fact represents all of the island's vegetation and its ecosystem. Sometimes, a removed kauri may be reforested. We therefore invite you to keep removed kauris in the lower-left corner of the main board (the South Island, part of which is visible).

Periods track: circular track expressed in Roman numerals located at the center of the pocket watch at the top of the main board. It starts at space I (1800) and ends at space V (2000). It represents 200 years of activity, from the arrival of the first English colonists.

Limits of the Englishman's Awareness track: the marker cannot go beyond space 12. An action/Heritage that would take it further simply has no effect.

Actions: actions are the boxed entries playable on your cards when they are played as Actions cards. An action may become impossible to carry out during the course of a round. If the card offers another action you can carry out, do so; otherwise the card is discarded with no effect.

Claim a Heritage card: special card allowing you to activate a Heritage on your individual board.

Move: when an action requires moving a token, the move takes place from one region to one of its neighbors (crossing a single border). The Road network is an exception. A move is never mandatory; it can be used partially, or even split between members of the same species.

Road network: the set of regions linked by English roads (placed straddling the border between two regions). An Englishman on the network can travel to any other region on the network with a single move.

Extinction of the possums: if, at any point, no possum remains on the board, the player who controls them places one in a town of their choice at the start of their next round.

Flood: a flood makes it impossible to cross a border that it covers. Each flood is independent of the others. A road can be flooded by kiwi floods, in which case the flood is placed on top of the road.

Huia Curse: if the kiwi has played their Huia Curse on one of your Heritage slots, you can still claim that Heritage, but you will need to claim it twice and spend two tokens (once to discard the kiwi's, and once to actually activate it).

The dimorphic huia was a species endemic to New Zealand, extinct since the early 20th century. The huia feather symbolizes command and mana. It was a treasure revered by the Maori, who wore the feathers of its tail in their hair or around their neck.

Treaty of Waitangi (pronounced Weh-tan-gui): the Treaty of Waitangi was signed on 6 February 1840 at Waitangi, in the Bay of Islands, between representatives of the British crown and Maori chiefs of the northern part of the North Island.

Whare (temple or suburb): a region can only shelter one whare. Temples (playable throughout the game) and suburbs (playable once the Treaty of Waitangi is signed) use the same type of token, but their distinction is simple: a suburb must be in a town, and a temple outside one.

A whare is a communal house of the Maori people, generally located at the center of a marae. Wharenui are generally called meeting houses in New Zealand English.

End of Game: Scoring

At the end of the 5th Period:

• The kiwi player scores 1 victory point per kiwi on the main board.
• The possum player scores 1 victory point per possum on the main board.
• The English player scores 1 victory point per kauri on their board, and 1 victory point per possum on their board.
• The maori player scores 2 victory points per whare on the main board, 1 victory point per kiwi on their board, and 1 victory point per possum on their board.

Ties in score are also broken by the priority table.

Advanced Rule

On the first round, if their three cards do not suit them, each player may reshuffle their cards into their draw pile, then draw three new ones.

Two-Player Games

A two-player game is played between the kiwi and the possum. The Englishman is present (but automated) through an Englishman token.

The starting placement is similar to that described in Setup, but it is the possum player who chooses which town (Auckland, Gisborne, or Wellington) the Englishman starts in.

The game proceeds in the same way as with 3 or 4 players, with two exceptions:

• As long as the Englishman's Awareness indicates the Woodcutter state: at the end of the round, the possum player may move the Englishman and remove a kauri in the region where he is located.
• As long as the Englishman's Awareness indicates the Ranger state: the kiwi player takes control of the Englishman. At the end of the round, they may move him and remove a possum in the region where he is located.

Both actions (move / remove) can be carried out in any order. Kauris and possums removed this way are not kept by the Englishman.

If the game ends in a tie, the possum wins.

From Game to Reality

The geographic isolation of New Zealand allowed the development of rich and varied endemic fauna and flora, ranging from giant kauri conifers to weta insects, by way of the silver fern and the kiwi bird.

Roughly 80% of the flora exists only in this country.

Before the arrival of the first humans, the fauna of the New Zealand archipelago counted only two species of non-marine mammals, both bats, and no predatory mammal.

Its insularity protected this fauna and flora for centuries until the arrival of humans. The Maori brought with them the dog and the rat. During the second wave of immigration, European settlers put the island's flora in great peril and enabled the spread of new species, some of them highly invasive.

Forestry exploitation became a major industry in the 19th century. This massive deforestation supplied farmland and construction timber.

The possum, originally from Australia, introduced to New Zealand for its fur, is one of the emblematic invasive species. On the island, it has no natural predators and spreads very rapidly. It eats birds' eggs and damages young trees by marking its territory. In addition, its carcass can be a vector for bovine tuberculosis. For all these reasons, it is considered very harmful locally. Plush toys are sold in New Zealand depicting a possum flattened by a car, bearing a tire mark, to encourage people to cull them.

The government long favored deforestation. Today, to curb the loss of biodiversity in New Zealand, the Department of Conservation protects roughly 30% of the territory.

Quick Reference — Turn Sequence

Round sequence:

• Draw two cards so as to have three again.
• Choose from among your three cards: your Actions card, your Initiative card.
• Simultaneously reveal each player's pair of cards.
• Resolve the Actions cards according to the Initiative cards played (from lowest value to highest). Break ties with the priority table: maori > possum > English > kiwi.
• Discard the cards played this round.
• If cards remain in your draw pile, start a new round. Otherwise move to end of Period.

End of a Period:

• Advance the Periods marker one space.
• Advance the Englishman's Awareness marker two spaces.
• Remove kiwis from regions with no kauri.
• Remove any floods and the epidemic.
• Shuffle the cards from your discard pile to form a draw pile (keep the card you still have in hand).

The Factions at a Glance

The Kiwi

The kiwi is present in every region of the island at the start of the game. He starts with 25 victory points, but his population will shrink under the attacks of the Englishman and the possum on the kauri forests, and Maori harvesting of his population.

He plays defense and must curb the actions of the other factions that could harm him.

Seeing the Englishman become a Ranger is a priority for him, so that deforestation stops.

His Heritages are powerful forces (even deterrents!) for regulating and slowing the spread of the other factions.

His reserves are precious for securing his rear lines and limiting the slaughter.

His strength is the fury of the island.

At the end of the game: 1 VP per kiwi.

The Maori

The Maori scores points by placing her whares as temples or suburbs.

Temples are built in isolated, verdant regions. She must therefore drive out anyone found there, then build her temple before the region is occupied again.

Conversely, suburbs can only be built in a town, and only after signing (claiming) the Treaty of Waitangi, which grants her relative peace with the Englishman and better mobility.

The Maori also scores victory points by hunting kiwis and possums. This regulation lets her slow down her opponents.

Her strengths are her mobility and her initiative.

At the end of the game: 2 VP per whare on the main board, 1 VP per kiwi on her board, 1 VP per possum on her board.

The Englishman

The Englishman scores victory points in two ways over the course of the game: he must deforest as much as possible while he is a Woodcutter, then become a Ranger to hunt possums as soon as he judges there are no longer enough trees within reach.

He benefits from industrializing his harvests by developing an extensive Road network (roads) that eases his movement.

He can influence his change of state if he judges that he should speed up or slow down that change.

He can benefit from the reinforcement of a second token, letting him act in different places on the island.

His strengths are his roads, his second token, and managing his draw pile thanks to the Logistics card.

At the end of the game: 1 VP per kauri on his board, 1 VP per possum on his board.

The Possum

The possum scores points by reproducing. He has many cards and Heritages to do so.

He must fear the Englishman when he is a Ranger, and watch out for the natural disasters the kiwi can trigger.

He must spread out to avoid a sudden massacre. Indeed, most of his opponents' card effects target an entire region. He limits his losses if he manages to have only one or two possums in the regions where he is present.

He can save his populations from human aggression by wisely choosing the region in which to spread an epidemic.

His strengths are his fertility and his mobility.

At the end of the game: 1 VP per possum.

Credits & Acknowledgements

Author	Charlec
Illustrations	Jérémie Fleury
Art Direction & Graphic Design	Benjamin Treilhou
Publisher	Débâcle Jeux
Distribution (France)	Ludistri

Charlec thanks those without whom this game could never have seen the light of day: the first testers of the essential ludothèque homo-ludens, his friend graphic designer Cyril Federico, and Sables Prod' who fell for the game from its earliest days!

Benjamin wishes to thank Jérémie for his commitment and his useful, insightful feedback, as well as Idoya for her patience whenever it robbed her of her husband for very long days, Sundays included.

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