Queen Bee Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Object of the Game
• Game Components
  • 110 Cards
  • Dice (10 black, 10 yellow)
  • 90 Bees
• Game Board
• Setup
• Gameplay: Turn Order
  • 1. Draw
  • 2. Take an Action
  • 3. Discard
• Gameplay: Battle
  • Sequence of Battle
• End of the Game
• Variant for 2 Players
• Variant for 5-6 Players
• Advanced Rules
  • One Hive Skill per Player
  • Two Hive Skills per Player
• Card Descriptions
  • Effect Cards
  • Battle Cards
  • Sudden Cards
• Player Reference Card

Object of the Game

Queen Bee is for 2-6 players. You must defend your queen and defeat the queens of the other players. In games with 3+ players, attack as early as possible, because if you defeat an opponent's queen, that player's bees begin fighting for you (see "FORCED ALLIANCE" on page 7). Build an army and go on the attack, without forgetting to protect your queen. The game ends when only one queen remains.

Game Components

110 Cards

The game includes 12 hive skill cards, 5 reference cards, and 93 playing cards. There are 3 types of cards: battle cards, effect cards, and sudden cards. At the top of each card is its name on a ribbon of the corresponding colour, with a symbol under it. A red ribbon and symbol (either of two symbols) mean the card is a battle card. A green ribbon and symbol mean the card is an effect card. A blue ribbon and symbol mean the card is a sudden card (it can be played at any moment). At the bottom of the card is a short description of its effect. A more detailed description and clarifications can be found in the "CARD DESCRIPTIONS" section of the rules.

Some cards also bear a nest symbol. Such cards can be played only if the queen is still in the nest. If she has left the nest or has been defeated, discard the card with this symbol and draw another as a replacement.

Dice (10 black, 10 yellow)

There are two types of dice in the game. The smaller yellow dice are for worker bees, and the larger black dice are for warriors and the queen. In a battle each side takes 1 yellow die for each worker bee and 1 black die for each warrior or queen taking part in the battle.

90 Bees

When bees attack other creatures they use their stingers. But did you know that when attacking other bees they use swords, battle axes, pitchforks, frying pans and anything else their little legs can grab? Now you do! The deluxe edition includes 90 bee figures. Each player has 15 bees: one queen, seven warriors and seven worker bees.

Queen. The most important bee in the hive. If she is defeated, your bees change allegiance or the game ends. The queen can move onto any space on the board. In battle you roll a black die for her, as for a warrior. Only the queen can take the reinforcement action, and only while she is in the nest. As soon as the queen leaves the nest, she permanently loses the ability to take this action, even if she later returns to it.

Warriors. These bees are as strong as the queen but limited in movement. They cannot move into their own hive's nest, nor into any tunnels (even in their own hive).

Worker bees. Workers can move onto any space on the board except the nest of their own hive. They can move through tunnel spaces, which gives them an advantage in movement speed and protection from warriors.

Game Board

The game board has four different types of spaces: queen nests, hive spaces, tunnel spaces, and grass spaces.

Important: at most four bees can be on any space. However, in a battle this limit can be temporarily exceeded because of card effects (such as "Call for Help" and "Ally").

Nest. The large golden spaces are the queens' nests. A queen in the nest can be attacked from any adjacent space. In addition, the queen can escape from the nest through them. A player's own warriors and workers cannot enter their own nest, but opponents' bees can.

Hive. Hive spaces are the yellow spaces with honeycomb. Each hive also has two spaces showing a tunnel entrance. They count both as tunnel spaces and as hive spaces. Warriors cannot be on these spaces. Each hive also has three spaces with larvae pictured in the centre; they are used for the reinforcement action.

Tunnels. Only worker bees and queens can be on these spaces. They can enter and leave tunnels to or from any adjacent space (that is, the board has no specific entry and exit spaces for tunnels).

Grass. The central area of the board is the main play area, made up of grass spaces. Any bees can be on these spaces.

Important: Warriors cannot move onto tunnel spaces or attack bees on them. Only worker bees and the queen can attack bees in a tunnel.

Setup

Place the game board in the centre of the table. Then take all the bees of one colour and place them on the hive spaces as follows:

• Place your queen in the nest.
• Place 7 warriors in the row of spaces nearest the nest. Place 3 warriors on the central space and 2 warriors on each of the end spaces.
• Place 7 worker bees in the next row. Place 3 workers on the central space and 2 on each of the end spaces. Note that the two end spaces in this row are tunnels.

Then shuffle the deck of cards and deal three cards to each player. Place the remaining cards in a stack next to the board.

Begin play: when the board is ready, the bees are placed and every player has cards in hand, you are ready to start. The first player is whoever last ate honey. Alternatively, roll a die to determine the first player.

Begin play following the TURN ORDER described below. Good luck!

Gameplay: Turn Order

IMPORTANT: PLAYERS CANNOT PLAY EFFECT CARDS DURING THE ACTION PHASE (PHASE 2) OF THEIR TURN. EFFECT CARDS CAN BE PLAYED DURING ANY OTHER PHASE OF THE TURN.

Each player's turn consists of three phases:

1. Draw

At the start of your turn, draw one card from the deck.

2. Take an Action

On your turn, take ONE of the following actions:

A. Flight: move your bees a total distance of up to 5 spaces. You can move 1 bee 5 spaces, or several bees 5 spaces in total. You can combine these moves in any way, provided that there are no more than 4 bees on each space at any time. You also cannot move through spaces containing opponents' bees.

B. Swarm: move up to three bees, located anywhere on the board, onto a space where there is only ONE of your bees. You may decide to move only one or two bees, but usually it is most advantageous to move all three at once.

C. Reinforcement: add one bee to each unoccupied larva space in your hive. If there is only one such free space, you can add one bee. If all three spaces are free, you can add up to three bees (one on each space). You can use reinforcement if you have bees in reserve (previously defeated in battle). You can never have more than 15 bees. You can use the reinforcement action as long as the queen is in the nest. If the queen was defeated OR left the nest, the reinforcement action becomes unavailable until the end of the game.

D. Sting: move your bees a total distance of up to three spaces (regardless of whether they take part in the attack), and then attack opponent's bees. You can attack if your bees are on a space adjacent to a space containing opponent's bees. See "BATTLE" below.

3. Discard

At the end of your turn, discard cards from your hand down to five. If you already have five cards or fewer, skip the discard. After discarding, announce that you have ended your turn and pass the turn to the next player.

Gameplay: Battle

An attack is successful if the attacker's total on the dice is EQUAL to or HIGHER than the defender's total on the dice.

Sequence of Battle

1. Attacker plays cards (only those with the attacker symbol).
2. The attacker rolls dice as follows:
   • One small yellow die for each of his worker bees in the battle.
   • One large black die for each of his warriors or queen in the battle.
   • After the first roll, the player may re-roll any dice.
   • After the re-roll, the total on the dice is added up to determine the attacker's strength (for example, 4 + 3 + 3 = 10).
3. The defender rolls dice by the same rules.
4. Playing cards and changing dice values.
   • The player who is losing after the rolls may play any cards with the battle symbol to change the outcome of the battle. If a player played cards, the other player (now losing) may also play battle cards. This continues as long as the players have cards or until one of them accepts defeat.
5. Battle rewards.
   • If the attacker wins, he must move at least one of his bees that took part in the battle onto the defender's space. The attacker is not obliged to leave bees on the space from which he attacked, but may do so if he wishes. The defender removes all of his bees that took part in the battle from the board and draws one card.
   • If the defender wins, all of his bees that took part in the battle remain on the same space, and the attacker removes all his bees that took part in the battle from the board and draws one card.

End of the Game

The game ends when only one queen remains on the board. Warriors and worker bees may remain on the board, but defeating all opponents' queens ends the game.

FORCED ALLIANCE: in games with 3+ players, when a participant's queen is defeated, his remaining warriors and worker bees pass into the service of the new queen (this is called a "FORCED ALLIANCE"). These players will now jointly try to defeat the remaining queens on the board. Each player takes his turns as normal until all of his bees are defeated. A player stays in the game as long as he has at least one bee on the board.

In a forced alliance, players cannot pass cards to each other, and their bees still cannot be on the same space as each other. Play for allies remains the same, except that they are now defending one queen instead of different ones.

Variant for 2 Players

When playing with two, reduce the deck by removing the cards meant for games with 3+ participants. All other rules stay the same. For a two-player game remove the following cards from the deck:

• Ally [Союз-з-зник] (remove all 3)
• Pesticides (remove all 3)
• Nectar (remove all 3)
• Busy Bee (remove all 6)
• Downpour (remove all 3)
• Secret Move (remove 1)

Variant for 5-6 Players

NOTE: if this is your first game, the recommended number of participants is 2-4. Once you are comfortable, you can move on to 5-6 participants, inviting all the friends you would like to destroy in battle. Before starting a game with 5+, remove the "Stuck in Honey" cards (all 3) from the deck.

After setup and determining the first player, deal one additional card to the 2nd, 3rd and 4th players. Then deal two additional cards to the 5th and 6th players.

But behave beelike! ON YOUR FIRST TURN you may not attack your neighbours in the hives to your left and right, and may not play "BAD POLLEN" cards. So good luck! Use your first turn wisely, because your neighbours will surely want to attack as soon as they can.

Advanced Rules

Twelve HIVE SKILL cards are added to the game. You can play with either one skill per player or two. Try both variants to see which suits your group better. These cards are dealt during setup. See below for details.

Hive skills give each player unique abilities that are available for use throughout the game. There is no limit on the number of times hive skills can be used; they are available for the whole game.

One Hive Skill per Player

During setup, deal each player two hive skill cards. Each player must choose one skill and discard the other.

Two Hive Skills per Player

During setup, lay out all the hive skill cards on the table in view of all players. Determine the first player. He chooses his first skill from all those available and takes it, then the second player does the same, and so on around the table. After that, the player who chose his first skill card last chooses first for his second hive skill card, and so on back around the table. When all players have two skill cards, discard the remaining cards and begin the game.

Card Descriptions

Effect Cards

Effect cards have a green ribbon with the name and a symbol. They can be played at any moment of your turn except the action phase (phase 2). On your turn you can play any number of effect cards (and any number of duplicates of the same card). You cannot play effect cards outside your own turn.

• Bad Pollen [Дурная пыльца] — your opponent does not draw a card at the start of his turn, but may use "Pollen", "Honey" and "Nectar" cards to draw cards if he has them.
• Bandit [Бандит] — allows you to steal a random card from an opponent's hand. The player who played "Bandit" chooses the opponent to steal from. The opponent holds his cards in front of him (faces toward himself), and the player who played "Bandit" draws one random card.
• Bee Larvae [Пчелята] — allows you to add 2 additional bees during reinforcement. This is the only effect that allows adding more than 1 bee to a space during reinforcement. These 2 bees can be added to your hive on any larva space not previously occupied.
• Knighthood [Посвящение в рыцари] — allows you to replace a worker bee with a warrior or vice versa. To play this card you must have bees off the game board to swap in. This card does not allow swapping bees on the board.
• Busy Bee [Деловая пчёлка] — gain 1 additional action on your turn. The additional action can be any of those normally available to you. This card can be played even if you have fallen victim to the "Stuck in Honey" card, since that cancels only 1 action per turn, while "Busy Bee" gives an additional action.
• Tangled Signals [Спутанные сигналы] — move opponents' bees a total distance of up to two spaces. You can move the bees of one opponent or of different ones.
• Honey [Мёд] — allows you to draw three additional cards from the deck into your hand.
• Pesticides [Пестициды] — each opponent must remove one of his bees from his hive. Each opponent chooses for himself which bee to remove. If a player has no bees in his hive, this card does not affect him. If the player who played this card is in a forced alliance, the card does not affect any of the other allies.

Battle Cards

Battle cards have a red ribbon with the name and a symbol (attacker cards) or the other battle symbol. They can be played during a battle involving at least 1 of your bees. During a battle you can play any number of battle cards (and any number of duplicates of the same card).

• Again and Again [Снова и снова] — allows you to re-roll any number of your dice up to 2 times. The dice chosen for re-rolling must be rolled simultaneously.
• Bee Escape [Пчелиное бегство] — allows you to save 1 worker bee or warrior if you lose a battle, and move it to any available place in your hive. An available space is any space with no opponent's bees and fewer than 4 of your bees.
• Smoker [Дымарь] — prevents the opponent from playing battle cards in this battle. This card must be played before the battle begins and only by the attacker.
• Helping Paw [Лапка помощи] — allows you to choose one of your dice or one of your opponent's dice and force its owner to re-roll that die.
• Call for Help [З-з-зов о помощи] — allows you to add 1 of your bees on the board to the battle. You roll the corresponding die for the added bee and may re-roll it. Because of this card's effect you may have more than 4 bees on a space during a battle. If you win the battle, the bee returns to its previous space. If you lose, the added bee dies along with the others.
• Sneaky Sting [Коварный укус] — allows you to roll 1 additional worker bee die in battle. This die can be re-rolled 1 time.
• Maximum Power [Максимальная мощь] — allows you to change the value of a die to the maximum (4 for a warrior, 3 for a worker bee).
• Strong Sting [Крепкое жало] — allows you to increase the value on one die by 1. This card can be used to raise a die's value by 1 above the maximum on the die.
• Stuck in a Web [Застрял в паутине] — the opponent does not roll a die for his weakest bee in the battle. This card must be played before the battle begins and only by the attacker. It cannot be used if you are attacking only 1 bee. If the defender loses the battle, all his bees on the space (including the one stuck in the web) are removed from the board.

Sudden Cards

Sudden cards have a blue ribbon with the name and a symbol. They can be played at any moment without any restrictions. You may play any number of sudden cards (and any number of duplicates of the same card).

• Ally [Союз-з-зник] — allows you to help another player in a battle by adding 1 of your bees on the board to the battle. Because of this card's effect there may be more than 4 bees of different players on a space for the duration of the battle. If you win the battle, the "ally" returns to its previous place on the board. If you lose, the "ally" is also removed from the board.
• Don't Buzz [Не жужжи] — cancel the effect of a card played by an opponent. "Don't Buzz" can cancel the effect of another "Don't Buzz" card.
• Secret Move [Тайный ход] — immediately move your queen from the nest to any space on the board that is neither a hive nor a nest and is not occupied by an opponent. You may move the queen onto a space with 1-3 of your own bees. Each player may play this card only once per game. This card cannot be used if the queen has already left the nest and then returned.

Player Reference Card

Setup steps

1. Place the bees in their places in the hives according to the picture.
2. Deal each player 3 cards.
3. Determine the first player (whoever last of all ate honey).

Card symbols

• Sudden symbol = can be played at any moment of the game.
• Effect symbol = can be played on YOUR TURN, but not during the ACTION phase.
• Battle symbol = can be played in a BATTLE involving at least 1 of your bees.

Limit = 4 bees on a space.

Bees

• Worker bee: can move to any space except the nest of its own hive.
• Warrior: cannot move into tunnels or the nest of its own hive.
• Queen: uses a black die in battle. Can move to any space on the board.
• Warrior die: black. Worker bee die: yellow.

Each turn consists of the following 3 phases.

1. Draw 1 card.
2. Take 1 action.
   • a. Flight (move up to 5 spaces).
   • b. Swarm (move 1-3 bees to 1 bee).
   • c. Reinforcement (add up to 3 bees to the hive).
   • d. Sting (move bees 1-3 spaces and attack).
3. Discard cards down to 5.

Battle

1. Attacker plays cards before rolling dice.
2. Attacker's dice rolls.
   • a. Roll 1 die for each bee in the battle.
   • b. Re-roll any number of dice.
   • c. Add up the dice values.
3. Defender's dice rolls. Same as the attacker's rolls.
4. Playing battle cards.
   • a. The side with the lowest dice total plays battle cards.
   • b. Repeat step 4a as long as players can and want to play cards.
5. Battle rewards.
   • a. The winner takes the space (or successfully defends it).
   • b. The loser removes bees from the board and draws a card.