The Alpha Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Objective
• How to Win
• Components
• Setup
• Phases of a Round
  • Stalk
  • Establish Dominance
  • Chase
  • Resolve
    • Conflict
    • Scavenger Packs
    • Leftover Food
  • Advance
• End of Game
  • Tie Breaker

Objective

In The Alpha, players will control a pack of hungry wolves hunting for food. In each round of the game, players will send their pack members to hunt in various regions of the forest. The player with the most wolves in a region will become the Dominant Pack, and has a greater opportunity to collect food from a successful hunt.

How to Win

The player with the most food at the end of the 5 rounds WINS the game.

Components

• 1 Food Tracker (Game Board)
• 1 Weeks Left Token
• 1 Alpha Token
• 11 Region Tiles:
  • 2 Large (Bison, Moose)
  • 3 Medium (Caribou, Deer, Elk)
  • 3 Small (Beaver, Hare, Fish)
  • 2 Scavenge
  • 1 Livestock
• 9 Region Dice
• 6 Conflict Tokens
• 6 Alpha Pairs
• 36 Beta Wolves
• 6 Den Boards

Setup

1. Give each player a Den Board, and 1 Alpha Pair, 6 Beta Wolves, and 1 Conflict Token of the same color.

2. Place the Food Tracker in the center of the table.

3. Each player should place 1 of their Beta Wolves on the grey stone "5" space on the Food Tracker board. This wolf will be used to keep your score throughout the game. Each player then places their Alpha Pair and remaining Beta Wolves onto their individual Den Board.

4. Place the Weeks Left Token on the circular yellow "5" space under "Weeks Left" on the Food Tracker board.

5. Using the table below, place the following Region Tiles next to the Food Track.

   • All Large and Medium Region Tiles will be placed above the Food Track, beside the Deep Forest area of the board. All Small, Scavenge, and Livestock Region Tiles will be placed below the Food Track, beside the Near Forest area of the board. Place the Region Dice next to the Region Tiles that share their color. Scavenge Tiles do not have accompanying Region Dice.

   Players	Large	Medium	Small	Scavenge	Livestock
   3	—	2	2	1	1
   4	1	2	2	2	1
   5	1	2	3	1	1
   6	1	2	3	2	1

6. The player who howls the loudest is the first player and takes the Alpha Token.

Phases of a Round

1. Stalk
2. Establish Dominance
3. Chase
4. Resolve
5. Advance

Stalk

Place Wolves on Region Tiles to establish dominance. Follow the rules below.

Start with the player holding the Alpha Token and proceed clockwise. Players place either a Beta Wolf or an Alpha Pair from their Den Board onto any Region Tile. Continue until no players have any wolves left in their dens.

• An Alpha Pair counts as 2 wolves for region control. A Beta Wolf counts as 1 wolf for region control.
• If a player places either an Alpha Pair or a Beta Wolf onto a Region Tile in the Deep Forest, they must pay one food, moving their wolf down one number on the Food Track. If that player is at zero food, they cannot place a wolf into the Deep Forest.
• Only one wolf per pack may be placed in each of the Scavenge Regions. Placement here guarantees 1 unit of food per pack. There is no conflict for Dominant pack in these regions.
• The Livestock Tile may only contain one wolf total.
  • Once a player has placed a wolf on the Livestock, no other players may place a wolf there.
• Any pack members who are healing from injuries cannot be placed onto a Region.

Establish Dominance

Determine Dominant Pack(s).

Count the number of wolves on each Region Tile. The Alpha Pair counts as two wolves. The pack with the most wolves is the Dominant Pack over that Region Tile. If two or more packs are tied for the most wolves, they are all considered Dominant. There will be a conflict during the Resolve step (See Resolve for more details.) All other Packs on the Region are considered Scavenger Packs.

Example: Blue has 3 wolves, Green has 2, Red has 1. Blue is considered the Dominant Pack. Green and Red are considered Scavenger Packs.

Example: Red and Yellow both have 2 wolves on a Region. Green has 1 wolf. Red and Yellow are both considered Dominant Packs and will have a conflict. Green is considered a Scavenger Pack.

Example: Red, Yellow, and Green all have 2 wolves in this Region. They are all considered Dominant Packs and will have a conflict.

Chase

Roll the Region Die.

In each Region where there are wolves, the Dominant Pack rolls the Die matching the color of the Region. If there are multiple Dominant Packs, the Dominant player seated closest to The Alpha clockwise rolls the die.

Potential die outcomes:

• Number (1-20): THE HUNT WAS SUCCESSFUL. The number shown on the die is the number of food available to the Dominant Pack(s).
• X: THE REGION'S PREY GOT AWAY. No food will be gained in this Region.
  • If there is more than one Dominant Pack, another Dominant Pack may choose to re-roll this result.
  • If the result of a die is [X], return all wolves in the Region to their Den Board.
• C (with a number, e.g. C4): CARRION. The Region's prey was wounded, and will become CARRION in the next round. All packs with wolves on this space immediately have a conflict for the amount of food shown on the die, then return any non-wounded wolves in this Region to their Den Board (See Conflict below). After the conflict, flip the Region Tile over to its CARRION side for the next round. This Region will not have a chase phase in the Carrion round, and instead will have a guaranteed amount of food available to eat for the Dominant Pack(s). If there is more than one Dominant, packs will go to conflict. All other phases proceed as normal. Once the Carrion round is complete, flip the Region Tile back to its animal side.
• D: DEAD WOLF. The wolf in this Region has died and is removed from the game. This result only occurs on the Livestock Region.

Place the resulting die on its Region Tile for the Resolve phase.

Resolve

Determine conflict and score food.

Resolve each Region Tile, going from the smallest Region to the largest Region according to the rules below.

• If there are no wolves in the Region, do nothing and move to the next Region.
• If the hunt was a success and there is only one Dominant Pack, that player advances their wolf on the Food Tracker equal to the number shown on the Region Dice.
• If there are multiple Dominant Packs in a Region, those packs will have a Conflict.
  • Remember, Conflict never occurs in the Scavenge Region.

If gaining food puts a pack above 30 food, players should start their wolf marker back at 1 and lay it down on its side to indicate they are over 30 food.

Conflict

Whenever multiple Dominant Packs are competing over food, they will be in conflict with each other. Packs in conflict will choose whether to fight for their food or share it.

• First, determine how much food is at stake for the conflict. If the conflict is between Dominant Packs in a Region, it will be the number on the Region Die. If a [C] is rolled, it will be the small number next to the C.
• Each player in the conflict will secretly choose FIGHT or SHARE on their Conflict Token, then all players reveal their Conflict Tokens simultaneously.
• Refer to the Conflict Result Table:
  • If all packs Share, then distribute food one at a time starting with the player closest to The Alpha and going clockwise.
  • If only one pack chooses Fight, that pack receives all the food.
  • If two or more packs Fight, then one wolf from each Fight pack is wounded and placed into the Injured Wolf space on the Food Track. These packs receive no food.
• Any food at stake is shared evenly between all Dominant Packs that chose Share in that Region.
• If all packs choose Fight, then all food is lost.

Example: The Red pack, Yellow pack, and Blue pack all have 2 wolves in a Region. There is 9 food at stake. They each secretly choose [Fight] or [Share].

Conflict Result Table

• If all 3 packs [Share], then each pack gets 3 food.
• If all packs choose [Fight], then one wolf from each pack is injured, and all food is lost.
• If the Blue chooses [Fight], and Yellow and Red choose [Share], then Blue gets 9 food.
• If Blue and Red choose [Fight] and Yellow chooses [Share], then Yellow gets 9 food, and Blue and Red both put a wolf into the Injured Wolf space.

Scavenger Packs

Normally, Scavenger Packs receive no food from a Region when other packs are Dominant. However, if all other Dominant Packs are injured in a fight, then Scavenger Packs will divide the food evenly amongst themselves.

Example: The Blue pack and Yellow pack each have 2 wolves in the Region. The Green pack has one wolf. There is 9 food at stake.

During the conflict, the Blue and Yellow Pack both choose [Fight]. Blue and Yellow both place a wolf in the Injured Wolf space on the Food Track, and get no food. Because there are no other Dominant Packs, Green receives 9 food.

Leftover Food

If the food at stake does not divide evenly between players, give the leftover food, one at a time, to any pack that received food in the Region starting with The Alpha and going clockwise.

If The Alpha is not in the conflict, divide the food evenly between players starting with the player seated closest to The Alpha, clockwise, and proceeding clockwise.

Advance

Heal wolves, advance time.

• Move all wolves remaining on the Region Tiles back to their respective Den Boards.
• Move all wolves in the Healing Wolves space back to their Den.
• Move all wolves in the Injured Wolves space to the Healing Wolves space.
• Move the Weeks Left Token one space down on the "Weeks Left" portion of the board.

Pass the Alpha Token to the player with the most food. In the case of a tie, give The Alpha Token to the player seated closest to the current Alpha going clockwise. If the player holding The Alpha Token is tied for the most food, do not pass the token.

End of Game

The game is over when the Weeks Left Token reaches zero. The player with the most food is the winner and is declared THE ALPHA!

Tie Breaker

The player holding The Alpha Token will always win a tie. Otherwise, the player seated nearest to The Alpha, clockwise, wins the game.