Living Forest Duel Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
  • The guardian animal cards
• Goal of the Game
• Setup
• Turn Overview
  • Reveal 1 guardian animal card
  • Using an Action Token
• The Actions
  • Extinguishing Fire
  • Recruiting Animals
  • Planting Protective Trees
    • Rules for planting a protective tree in your forest:
    • The bonus actions:
  • Advancing Onibi
    • The Onibi Card
    • The Sanki Cards
• End of the Turn
• End of the Game

Components

Shared:

• 7 clearing cards, each showing a fire value and, on some, a bonus action
• 18 common guardian animal cards (without a cost)
• 1 stag card
• 3 Sanki cards
• 1 Onibi card
• 1 Onibi standee
• 19 fire tokens
• 24 protective tree cards (4 sets of 6 protective trees of the same type)

Per player:

• 1 starting protective tree card
• 2 action tokens
• 7 fire varan cards
• 15 guardian animal cards

The guardian animal cards

The guardian animals will provide you with elements that will help you to attract other guardian animals, plant protective trees, extinguish fires, and move Onibi through the clearing.

There are three types of guardian animals: neutral ones without a coin symbol, solitary ones represented by a black coin symbol, and gregarious ones represented by a white coin symbol.

Each guardian animal card shows the elements provided by the guardian animal (used for carrying out actions), the season symbol, and the cost of the guardian animal.

Goal of the Game

Play as Summer or Winter and fight for the forest by fulfilling one of these 4 victory conditions first:

• Collect 8 fire tokens.
• Have only cards of your season in the recruitment line.
• Plant a forest that contains 9 protective trees in a 3x3 grid.
• Have the Onibi standee reach your opponent while they already have the Onibi card.

Setup

1. Place the 7 clearing cards so that they form a complete panorama with descending and ascending point values. Place the Onibi standee on the central card, and place 1 fire token on each of the 2 adjacent cards.

2. Separate the 24 protective tree cards by type, into 4 piles of 6 cards. Shuffle the piles and place them face-up above the clearing.

3. Place the stag card below the central card in the clearing, forming a new line. The stag is part of the recruitment line the players will be forming.

4. Choose which player will play as Winter, and who will play as Summer (gameplay is the same for both roles). a. Place the 7 fire varan cards corresponding to your season face-up on your end of the clearing. b. Shuffle the 15 guardian animal cards corresponding to your season into a face-down personal pile, and place it next to your fire varan cards. Complete the recruitment line on your end by revealing the top 3 cards from your pile and placing them next to each other below the clearing.

   If the sum of the costs of your 3 cards is equal to or lower than 12, place the cheapest card underneath your draw pile and draw a new card. Repeat this step until the sum of the costs is strictly higher than 12. c. Place your starting protective tree card in front of you. d. Also place your 2 action tokens in front of you.

5. Place the remaining fire tokens, the Onibi card, and the 3 Sanki cards in a shared supply.

6. Shuffle the 18 common guardian animal cards into a face-down pile and place it in the center of the table. This is the shared draw pile.

Turn Overview

Summer begins the first turn. On future turns, the player who did not play last goes first.

When it's time for you to play, choose 1 of the following 2 options:

• Reveal 1 guardian animal card from the shared draw pile.
• Use 1 action token on 1 guardian animal card in the shared help line.

The game proceeds with players taking actions one after the other until you have no remaining Action tokens. Once this happens, you can no longer do anything in this turn. Your opponent may continue playing alone until they, too, have no remaining Action tokens. At that point, the turn ends.

Reveal 1 guardian animal card

Reveal a card from the shared draw pile. There are 3 possible scenarios:

• The card is a common animal or a stag: add it to the shared help line.
• The card is an animal or a fire varan corresponding to your season: place it in a personal line on your end. The symbols and quantity of each element on this animal are available only to you, for the rest of the turn.
• The card is an animal or a fire varan corresponding to your opponent's season: place it in a personal line on your opponent's end. The symbols and quantity of each element on this animal are available only to them, for the rest of the turn.

Careful, because these rules might change if one of you has the Onibi card, see The Onibi Card.

If the revealed card shows a solitary symbol (black coin), you must both check how many of these symbols are now visible for you, regardless of which of you revealed the card. All symbols in the shared help line and in your personal line are considered visible for you.

• If it is the 3rd solitary symbol for you, you must discard 1 of your action tokens unused (if possible); it is no longer available to you in this turn.
• If it is the 4th solitary symbol for you, you must also discard 1 of your action tokens unused (if possible).

Note: in most cases, both you and your opponent will lose an action token when the third solitary symbol is revealed. However, it could happen that you lose an action token but your opponent does not, if you don't have the same number of solitary symbols (see the example below).

Important: A gregarious symbol (white coin) neutralizes a solitary symbol (black coin).

If the shared draw pile is empty, shuffle the discarded cards and create a new one.

Example: Winter reveals a third solitary symbol, but because they have a gregarious animal in their personal line, they don't lose an action token. This is not the case for Summer, who loses 1 of their action tokens.

Using an Action Token

Place your action token so that it points to the last element of the shared help line corresponding to the action you wish to carry out (sun, water drop, sprout, or spiral). This element does not necessarily have to be present on the last card that was revealed. It stays there until the end of the turn.

Count all of the elements of the chosen type that are visible from the start of the shared help line, or from the last action token pointing to this element. This means that none of the elements counted towards this action will be available again to either you or your opponent for the rest of the turn.

To this total, add any elements that are visible on your personal line and on the protective trees in your forest. Carry out the chosen action with a strength equal to this value.

If you want to point to the same element a second time in order to carry out the same action again this turn, there must be at least 1 element of that type, not pointed to by you, in between your 2 action tokens.

Important: the elements provided by your personal line and your protective trees can be taken into account again for future actions.

Example: Summer plays their first action token on the second card, to carry out an "Extinguishing Fire" action. They calculate 5 water drops = 3 from the crocodile + 2 from their frog. The 1 water drop from the spider is not available to Summer, because it was already used by Winter.

Example (continued): Summer wants to carry out another "Extinguishing Fire" action with their second action token. They can't do so with the chameleon because there would be no water drop element not pointed by Summer between their 2 action tokens. They will have to wait until there's at least a second card with a water drop element, which the bear provides. They calculate 5 water drops to carry out their action = 1 from the chameleon + 2 from the bear + 2 from their frog.

The Actions

Extinguishing Fire

Add up the number of water drops available to you and take 1 or more fire tokens from the clearing, for a total value equal to or lower than this number of water drops.

The value of a fire token (2, 3 or 4) depends on its location and is depicted on the clearing card where the token is located.

If you have 8 or more fire tokens, you fulfill one of the 4 victory conditions and win the game immediately.

Recruiting Animals

Add up the number of suns available to you and take 1 or more face-up animal cards from the recruitment line, for a total cost equal to or lower than this number of suns.

You may take cards corresponding to your season, but also your opponent's cards, or even the Stag. If the card is an Animal corresponding to your season, place it in a personal line on your end; otherwise, place it in the shared discard pile.

Replace the recruited cards with cards from your personal pile. If your personal pile no longer contains any animal cards, don't replace the recruited cards. These spaces will remain empty until the end of the game.

If the recruitment line exclusively contains animals of your season, you fulfill one of the 4 victory conditions and win the game immediately. Note: the stag is a neutral animal. It doesn't correspond to any season and must therefore also be recruited before the victory condition can be met.

Example: Winter has a total of 7 suns and decides to recruit the hummingbird for 2 suns and the crane for 5 suns. They then refill the recruitment line using guardian animals from their personal pile.

Planting Protective Trees

Add up the number of sprouts available to you and take 1 to 4 face-up protective tree cards from the top of their piles, for a total cost equal to or lower than this number of sprouts.

If you decide to take multiple cards, each card must come from a different pile.

When you take a tree card, you must immediately plant it in your Forest. If you plant a protective tree next to another protective tree with the same bonus action, activate that bonus action.

Important: the elements provided by your protective trees are permanently available for carrying out actions.

If your forest contains 9 trees in a 3x3 grid of cards, you fulfill one of the 4 victory conditions and win the game immediately.

Example: Winter has a total of 5 sprouts and decides to plant 2 protective trees: one for 3 sprouts, one for 2 sprouts.

Rules for planting a protective tree in your forest:

• You must always be able to trace the river on a protective tree back to the lake containing your starting tree, either directly, or by connecting it to an existing river.
• The starting protective tree does not have to be in the center.
• You may cover a tree in your forest, except for the starting tree, with a new tree (following the same rules). A covered tree loses its effect, but you can use the new tree to trigger one or more bonus actions again.
• Protective trees must always be oriented with their crown pointing up.
• You can form rows or columns with more than 3 Trees, but only a complete 3x3 grid counts for victory.

The bonus actions:

• Take a Sanki card.
• Carry out a Recruiting animals action.
• Carry out an Extinguishing fire action.
• Carry out a Planting a protective tree action.

The bonus actions are carried out by calculating the corresponding elements available in the help line, your personal line, and your forest. Elements in the help line are not used up and remain available for any other actions this turn.

Advancing Onibi

Add up the number of spirals available to you and advance the Onibi standee toward your opponent by a number of cards equal to or lower than this number of spirals.

Immediately carry out the bonus action of the clearing card you landed on.

When Onibi moves off the clearing, 3 situations are possible:

• If the Onibi card is in the supply, give it to your opponent, then continue to advance Onibi starting from the card at the other end of the clearing.
• If you have the Onibi card, place it back in the supply, then continue to advance Onibi starting from the card at the other end of the clearing.
• If your opponent already has the Onibi card, you fulfill one of the 4 victory conditions and win the game immediately.

Example: Summer has a total of 4 spirals. They decide to advance Onibi by only 3 cards. Because Onibi moves off the clearing, Summer gives the Onibi card to Winter. They then carry out the "Take a Sanki card" bonus action of the clearing card Onibi standee landed on.

The Onibi Card

While you have the Onibi card, if a guardian animal corresponding to your season is revealed, regardless by whom, place it in the shared help line instead of your personal line. (A fire varan is still placed in your personal line, as usual.)

The Sanki Cards

If a bonus action allows you to retrieve a Sanki card, take it from the supply, or from your opponent if the supply is empty.

You can use a Sanki card in 1 of 2 ways:

• Either to place 1 fire varan card corresponding to your season back to its pile as soon as it's revealed (regardless by whom),
• Or after you have revealed a card, to immediately use 1 Action token.

Return the Sanki card to the supply after you've used it.

Note: you cannot use Sanki cards to discard guardian animal cards.

End of the Turn

The turn ends when both Summer and Winter have used up their 2 action tokens.

1. Add up the fire value of the clearing cards on fire. A clearing card is on fire if at least Onibi standee or one fire token is on this card.

   Next, add up your water drop values in your personal line, your forest, and those remaining in the help line (i.e., those visible after the final action token placed on the water drop line).

   Both players check to see whether the total value of the clearing cards on fire is strictly higher than their water drop value. If that's the case for you, add 1 fire varan card corresponding to your season, as long as there are some left, to the shared discard pile for each clearing card on fire. If not, nothing happens.

2. Next, check both cards adjacent to the Onibi standee. If there's no fire token on the card yet, place one on it. If the card already contains a fire token, nothing happens. If Onibi is on a card at the edge of the clearing, check the card adjacent to his location, and the card at the other end of the clearing.

3. Retrieve your 2 action tokens, placing them back in front of you.

4. Place all of the cards in the help line, as well as the cards in the players' personal lines on the shared discard pile.

Example: there are 2 water drops available in the help line and Winter also has 5 water drops (3 in their forest and 2 in their personal line), for a total of 7. Currently, the fire value in the clearing is 8. Winter cannot fight off the fire and must add 3 fire varan cards corresponding to their season to the shared discard pile.

End of the Game

The game ends immediately when a player meets 1 of the 4 victory conditions.