Weavlings in the Wilds Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Objective
• Components
  • Base Game Components: 57 Cards
• Setup
• Playing the Game
  • 1) Trapper Phase
  • 2) Lure Weavlings Phase
  • 3) Beasties Feed Phase
  • 4) Travel Phase
• Collapsing and Replenishing
• Reshuffling the Discard Pile
• Rotating Cards
• The Trapper Card
• The Event Cards
  • Clear Skies Mode
• The Weavling Cards
  • Happiness
• The Beastie Cards
  • Chomp
  • Speed
  • Wounds
  • Meat Value
• The Trap Cards
  • Playing on the Tender Wilds
  • Fixed Traps
  • Unrevealed Cards
  • One and Done
  • Chained Collection
• The Wilds Spirits Cards
  • Free-to-play
• Winning the Game
• Losing the Game
• Game Difficulty
  • Easy
  • Hard
  • Nightmare
• Expansion: Zadarra's Baubles and Brews
  • Components (Zadarra's Baubles and Brews)
  • Expansion Trap Effects
• Expansion: Star-Touched Predators
  • Components (Star-touched Predators)
  • Devour
  • Beastie Ability "Prowl"
  • Beastie Ability "Sanguinarius"
  • Expansion Events
• Quick Reference
  • Turn Phases
  • Adjacency
  • Collapsing and Replenishing
  • Rotation

Objective

Weavlings in the Wilds is a grid-based solo card crawler where you must capture the fauna of the Tender Wilds to lure Weavlings back home with succulent meat (Weavlings really like meat). Collect 10 lured population to win the game. Receive 10 wounds or lose 10 population, and the game ends.

This Rulebook is written for normal game difficulty. See Game Difficulty for easy, hard, and nightmare difficulty.

Components

Base Game Components: 57 Cards

(See the expansion sections below for expansion components.)

• A: 2 Trapper Cards
• B: 1 Player Aid
• C: 5 Event Cards (1 Sunlight, 2 Blood Moon, 2 Full Moon)
• D: 8 Wilds Spirits (5 types)
• E: 13 Trap Cards (1 Drakeshot, 1 Rolling Logs, 1 Wilds Wrecker, 2 Weavling Aroma, 2 Poisoned Poppet, 3 Clamp Trap, 3 The Ol' Switcheroo)
• F: 12 Weavling Cards (7, 3 and 2 copies of the three Weavling card faces)
• G: 16 Beastie Cards (8 Vargler, 8 Coraxakol)

Note: the printed rulebook shows the base Trap and Beastie card faces only as small thumbnails. Their individual Trap Effect text, Beastie stat values and Weavling stat values are printed on the cards themselves and are not reproduced here, except where the rulebook shows an example card (The Ol' Switcheroo, the Vargler Beastie card and the Weavling card on pages 9 and 10).

Setup

Set aside the Trappers (only one is used) and Player Aid. Remove the Drakeshot Trap for your first game. Shuffle the remaining cards, creating the Wilds Deck. Place 12 cards in a 4X3 grid unrevealed (face-down). These 12 spaces are the Tender Wilds.

Designate an area for the Wilds Deck, Discard Pile, Banished Pile, Wounds (Wound icon), and Weavlings (Lost Population and Lured Population). See the sample setup below. Your Hand will be composed of Meat, Wilds Spirits, and Traps collected throughout the game. There is no Hand limit.

Select a space on the Tender Wilds and replace the unrevealed card with the Trapper. The replaced card is discarded face-up. Reveal all unrevealed cards. You're ready to start!

Sample Setup: Wilds Deck; Banished Pile; Discard Pile; Trapper; Lured Population; Lost Population; Tender Wilds; Wounds; Player Aid; Hand.

Playing the Game

The game is played over multiple turns, each with 4 phases:

1. Trapper Phase
2. Lure Weavlings Phase
3. Beasties Feed Phase
4. Travel Phase

Repeat.

1) Trapper Phase

The Trapper (see The Trapper Card) can use up to 3 Actions (Action icon) per turn.

• Move: Move 1 space orthogonally (up, down, left, or right) for 1 Action by swapping spaces with the Trapper and an adjacent card.
• Collect Traps (see The Trap Cards) or Wilds Spirits (see The Wilds Spirits Cards): Collect 1 Trap for 1 Action. Collect 1 Wilds Spirit for 0 Actions.
• Use Traps or Wilds Spirits: Use 1 Trap for 1 Action. Use 1 Wilds Spirit for 0 Actions.

2) Lure Weavlings Phase

Meat is placed in the Discard Pile from your Hand to lure Weavlings (see The Weavling Cards), increasing your Lured Population. Multiple Weavlings can be lured in this phase. Meat can be used for multiple Weavlings, but Meat spent above Meat Cost is lost.

3) Beasties Feed Phase

Beasties (see The Beastie Cards) feed on Weavlings in all directions of their Chomp (Chomp icon). They Chomp in order of Speed (Speed icon), from lowest to highest. Fed upon Weavlings are placed in the Lost Population area. Beasties that fed are placed in the Discard Pile. Unfed Beasties remain on the Tender Wilds.

4) Travel Phase

The Tender Wilds shifts down 1 row. The bottom row will either be discarded (Wilds Spirits), banished (Traps), become Lost Population (Weavlings), or become Wounds (Beasties) as cards are pushed out of the 4x3 grid. Empty spaces are immediately replenished by unrevealed cards. Once replenished, flip all unrevealed cards. The new turn begins.

Unrevealed cards and the Trapper are not pushed out from the bottom row and will block the cards above from moving down. Empty spaces are still replenished.

Collapsing and Replenishing

Whenever a card is removed from the Tender Wilds, the empty space is immediately filled by collapsing the cards from above (think Tetris). Once collapsed, fill in any remaining empty spaces with unrevealed cards from the Wilds Deck.

Spaces where Traps are placed on the Tender Wilds as part of their Trap Effect are considered empty spaces and should be replenished by placing the collapsed card underneath the Trap.

Reshuffling the Discard Pile

When the Wilds Deck is exhausted (no cards remain), reshuffle the Discard Pile, creating a new Wilds Deck.

Rotating Cards

When a new Wilds Deck is created from reshuffling the Discard Pile, Wounds (Wound icon) and Weavlings from your Lured Population rotate 90° counter-clockwise. Once these cards have been rotated, any subsequent Wounds and Lured Population obtained will reorient to the same rotation.

Once the Wilds Deck has been reshuffled 3 times, Wounds and Lured Population no longer rotate.

Important: Read The Weavling Cards and The Beastie Cards (Wounds) to see how rotation affects Weavlings and Wounds respectively.

The Trapper Card

The Trapper has three action types it can perform: moving and collecting/using cards. Each type uses 1 Action (Action icon). It moves by swapping spaces with orthogonally-adjacent cards. It can also collect revealed orthogonally-adjacent Traps/Wilds Spirits, which go in your Hand once collected. Wilds Spirits cost 0 Actions to collect/use.

It can lure Weavlings during the Lure Weavlings Phase or use Traps anywhere on the Tender Wilds irrespective of location, adjacency doesn't matter. The Trapper is not affected by Traps unless otherwise stated.

1. Card name.
2. Number of Actions (Action icon) the Trapper can use per turn.
3. Action type and cost.

The Event Cards

Events trigger simultaneously when revealed on the Tender Wilds. They can be resolved in any order unless otherwise stated. Drawn cards from Blood/Full Moon are placed in the Discard Pile.

1. Type and name.
2. Card effect.

The base game Event cards are:

• Event - Sunlight: If Blood/Full Moon are revealed, resolve them first. Move all cards down 1 row. Banish Sunlight.
• Event - Blood Moon: Draw and discard until there is a Vargler. Replace Blood Moon with the card. If the Wilds Deck is/becomes exhausted while drawing, banish Blood Moon instead of discarding.
• Event - Full Moon: Draw and discard until there is a Coraxakol. Replace Full Moon with the card. If the Wilds Deck is/becomes exhausted while drawing, banish Full Moon instead of discarding.

Clear Skies Mode

For an easier walk through the wilds, remove all Events before setup. However, experienced Trappers should embrace the madness of the Tender Wilds and the impending unknown.

The Weavling Cards

Weavlings are multi-functional cards, functioning as Lured or Lost Population. To gain Lured Population, pay the Meat Cost (Meat icon) with an equal value of Beastie Meat (additional Meat spent is lost). The Weavling's Population (Population icon) is added to the Lured Population area. When Weavlings are removed from the Tender Wilds during Travel Phase or fed upon, place in the Lost Population area.

Each time the Discard Pile is reshuffled to create a new Wilds Deck, all Lured Population rotate 90° counter-clockwise. When luring future Weavlings, they will reorient to the same rotation.

1. Card name.
2. Happiness Wheel.
3. Population.
4. Meat Cost.

Happiness

Weavlings start Happy (Happy icon). If Unhappy (Unhappy icon) is top-side up on the Happiness Wheel, pay 1 additional Meat (Meat icon) to keep the Weavling or it's placed in the Lost Population area. Pay this each time rotation occurs with Unhappy top-side up.

Important!: If a Weavling would be lured with Unhappy top-side up, an additional Meat must be paid to lure. Otherwise, it stays on the Tender Wilds.

The Beastie Cards

Beasties are multi-functional cards, functioning as Meat (Meat icon), Wounds (Wound icon), or Beasties. They go in your Hand as Meat when captured with Traps. They become Wounds and are placed in the Wound area if removed from the Tender Wilds during Travel Phase. They feed on Weavlings during the Beasties Feed Phase.

1. Chomp.
2. Card name.
3. Wound Wheel.
4. Speed.
5. Meat value.

Chomp

During the Beasties Feed Phase, Beasties will feed on Weavlings in every direction of Chomp (Chomp icon) and are placed in the Discard Pile. Weavlings fed upon are placed in the Lost Population area. Unfed Beasties remain on the Tender Wilds.

Speed

Speed (Speed icon) is how quickly a Beastie feeds. During the Beasties Feed Phase, all Beasties feed on Weavlings in order of their Speed from lowest to highest.

Wounds

Beasties removed from the Tender Wilds during Travel Phase are placed in the Wound (Wound icon) area. The Wound Value is notated by the number top-side up on the Wound Wheel. Each time the Discard Pile is reshuffled to create a new Wilds Deck, all Wounds rotate 90° counter-clockwise. This increases the Wound Value. Future Wounds will reorient to the same rotation.

Meat Value

Beasties become Meat (Meat icon) when captured by certain Traps. Meat goes into your Hand until discarded to Lure Weavlings by paying their Meat Cost or paying Meat required for Unhappy (Unhappy icon). Meat can be used for multiple Weavlings, but Meat spent above Meat Cost is lost.

The Trap Cards

Traps manipulate the game and capture Beasties for Meat (Meat icon). They do not affect the Trapper unless otherwise stated. Traps go in your Hand once collected. They trigger when used and are placed in the Banished Pile once their effect has resolved.

A maximum of 2x A Rank, 4x B Rank, and 6x C Rank Traps can be in the Wilds Deck before starting the game. For example, if you want to use the Drakeshot, either Rolling Logs or Wilds Wrecker must be removed before setup.

1. Chain Icon.
2. Card name.
3. Trap Effect.
4. Trap Rank.

Example card, The Ol' Switcheroo: "Swap 2 cards on the Tender Wilds. If two non-Beastie cards are swapped, this card costs 0 actions."

Playing on the Tender Wilds

Some Traps can be played on the Tender Wilds. Spaces with a Trap are considered empty spaces and must have an un/revealed card placed below the Trap. Each space can have up to 1 played Trap and 1 un/revealed card.

Fixed Traps

Some Traps have the word "fixed" in their Trap Effect. Fixed Traps will not collapse or shift down during Travel Phase.

Unrevealed Cards

Unrevealed cards (face-down) are affected by Traps that target multiple spaces e.g. Rolling Logs, Wilds Wrecker, and Drakeshot. Reveal the card and finalize the Trap Effect.

One and Done

Place Traps in the Banished Pile when used unless otherwise stated. Place Traps in the Banished Pile when removed from the Tender Wilds during Travel Phase.

Chained Collection

For 1 Action (Action icon), multiple Traps can be collected if a Chain Icon is orthogonally adjacent. Chained collection only happens in a continuous line, originating from the Trapper. All chained Traps do not have to be collected.

The rulebook's chained collection diagrams are marked OR (a valid continuous chain from the Trapper) and NOT (an invalid chain).

* You cannot split the chain to collect all the Traps, the line must be continuous and originate from the Trapper.

The Wilds Spirits Cards

There are 5 types of Wilds Spirits that will offer you boons on your journey. They can be collected during the Trapper Phase if orthogonally adjacent to the Trapper. They are held in your Hand and placed in the Banished Pile when used.

1. Offered boon.

• Spirit of Fortune: Bonus Meat (Meat icon).
• Spirit of Intervention: Cancel 1 Event and place it in the Discard Pile (cancel icon).
• Spirit of Opportunity: Bonus Action (Action icon).
• Spirit of Serendipity: Collect 1 Trap from the Banished Pile (Banished Pile icon).
• Spirit of Restoration: Convert 1 Wound into Meat and place in your Hand (Wound icon into Meat icon).

Free-to-play

Wilds Spirits cost 0 Actions (Action icon) to collect or use their boons. They are placed in the Discard Pile if removed from the Tender Wilds during Travel Phase.

Winning the Game

If your Lured Population of Weavlings is ≥10, you win the game.

Losing the Game

If at any time one of these conditions are met, you lose the game:

• Lose ≥10 Weavlings or Sustain ≥10 Wounds (Wound icon).

Game Difficulty

There are several game difficulties to test your skills. All rules explained in the rulebook apply. Follow the changes in each difficulty below.

Easy

• If Weavlings/Traps are removed from the Tender Wilds during Travel Phase, they are placed in the Discard Pile instead of removed as Lost Population/placed in Banished Pile respectively.
• If you sustain ≥15 Wounds (Wound icon), you lose the game.

Hard

• Before setup, remove 4 Weavlings as Lost Population with a Population (Population icon) of 1 from the game.
• Sub-difficulties known as Hard+ can be tried by randomly removing Wilds Spirits from the game before setup.
• Hard+1, Hard+2, Hard+3, Hard+4, and Hard+5: Remove 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 Wilds Spirits from the game respectively.

Nightmare

• Before setup, remove 4 Weavlings as Lost Population with a Population (Population icon) of 1 from the game.
• Remove all Wilds Spirits. Unrevealed cards can now be pushed out of the Tender Wilds during Travel Phase.

Expansion: Zadarra's Baubles and Brews

Zadarra has lent assistance, allowing her Trapper to snag some fantastical goodies from her shop's shelves in hopes of a quick reunion with her precious Weavlings...

This expansion features 6 new Traps to mix into the base game. The only limitation is the number of Traps from any given Trap Rank you can have.

Rank A – 2 cards. Rank B – 4 cards. Rank C – 6 cards.

Components (Zadarra's Baubles and Brews)

12 Cards:

• 1 Diagonalis Draught
• 1 Orthogonate Elixir
• 2 Column-Shaker Potion
• 2 O'Kibe Scarecrow
• 3 Transposition Talisman
• 3 Idol of Second Sight

Expansion Trap Effects

• Diagonalis Draught: Discard all cards in a diagonal pattern outside of target space. Capture all Beasties.
• Orthogonate Elixir: Discard all cards in an orthogonal pattern outside of target space. Capture all Beasties.
• Column-Shaker Potion (affects the Trapper): Rearrange all cards in a single column.
• O'Kibe Scarecrow (affects the Trapper): Rearrange all cards in a single row.
• Transposition Talisman: Swap 1 card from the discard and banished piles.
• Idol of Second Sight: Predict the next card type in the Wilds Deck and draw. If correct, gain the effect below. If incorrect, return the card. Collect any Wilds Spirits drawn.
  • Event - Banish Event.
  • Weavling - Collect Weavling.
  • Beastie - Collect Meat.

Expansion: Star-Touched Predators

A mysterious rock has fallen from the Seat of the Caelestialis, a floating city high above Immacus. Upon landing in the Tender Wilds, it burst into a spray of purple mist, causing the local fauna to fall into madness. Save the Weavlings from this unsettling threat...

This expansion features 2 new Beasties, Beastie Abilities, upgraded Chomp known as Devour, and 3 new Events for a total of 21 cards and a more challenging experience!

Important!: Beasties and Events in this expansion should be exchanged with the Beasties and Events of the base game. They are mutually exclusive.

Components (Star-touched Predators)

21 Cards:

• 8 Strixlious (Beastie)
• 8 Aiwokic (Beastie)
• 2 Madness Constellation (Event)
• 2 Chaos Constellation (Event)
• 1 Solar Eclipse (Event)

The Strixlious and Aiwokic card faces print their Speed, Wound Wheel and Meat value. Strixlious: Speed 0, Meat value 1, Wound Wheel 0 (top), 1 (right), 2 (bottom), 3 (left). Aiwokic: Speed 1, Meat value 1, Wound Wheel 1 (top), 2 (right), 3 (bottom), 4 (left).

Devour

Devour (Devour icon) is an improved form of Chomp (Chomp icon). It occurs during the Beasties Feed Phase simultaneously with Chomp. All revealed cards (except the Trapper) are placed in the Banished Pile when devoured. The Chomp effect is unchanged.

If non-Weavling cards are devoured, the Beastie remains on the Tender Wilds after feeding.

Beastie Ability "Prowl"

The Strixlious Beastie has the Beastie Ability Prowl (Prowl icon). During the Beasties Feed Phase, Strixlious will reveal all cards in the directions of Chomp/Devour. It will then proceed to Devour/Chomp as normal.

All Strixlious do not Prowl at the same time. They Prowl in order of Speed (Speed icon), lowest to highest.

Beastie Ability "Sanguinarius"

The Aiwokic Beastie has the ability Sanguinarius (Sanguinarius icon). When an Aiwokic is devoured or turned into Meat (Meat icon), the Beastie closest to the top of the Discard Pile is put in its space with no collapse. If no Beastie is able to be pulled from the Discard Pile, Sanguinarius has no effect, and the Tender Wilds collapses normally.

During the Beasties Feed Phase, if a Beastie is placed on the Tender Wilds due to the effects of Sanguinarius, and its Speed is higher than the last feeding Beastie, it will feed.

Expansion Events

Events play in the same manner as the base game.

• Event - Madness Constellation: Draw and discard [until there is] an Aiwokic. Replace Madness Constellation [with the card. If] the Wilds Deck is [exhausted] while drawing, banish Madness Constellation instead of discarding.
  • Source-image note: parts of this card's text are covered by overlapping cards in the printed rulebook. The bracketed words are inferred from the base Blood/Full Moon wording and the visible fragments, not read directly from the card.
• Event - Chaos Constellation: [Draw and discard] until there is a [name obscured in the printed image]. Replace Chaos Constellation [with the card. If] the Wilds Deck becomes exhausted, while drawing, banish Chaos Constellation instead of discarding.
  • Source-image note: the Beastie name after "until there is a" and part of the remaining wording are covered by the Solar Eclipse card in the printed image; the bracketed text is not legible.
• Event - Solar Eclipse: If Chaos/Madness Constellation are on the Tender Wilds, resolve them first. Discard all non-Beastie cards. Collapse and refresh. Do not reveal until the end of Travel Phase.

Quick Reference

Turn Phases

1. Trapper - Move, collect, and use Traps/Wilds Spirits.
2. Lure Weavlings - Spend Meat to collect Weavlings.
3. Beasties Feed - Beasties feed in all directions of Chomp based on speed from lowest to highest.
4. Travel - Move the Tender Wilds down 1 row. Cards pushed out of the grid go to the following areas.
   • Beasties - Wound area
   • Traps - Banished Pile
   • Weavlings - Lost Population area
   • Wilds Spirits - Discard Pile

Reveal all unrevealed cards, the new turn begins.

Adjacency

Traps/Wilds Spirits must be adjacent to the Trapper to collect. Adjacency does not matter when using Traps against Beasties or luring Weavlings.

Collapsing and Replenishing

When cards are removed from the Tender Wilds, collapse and replenish immediately.

Rotation

When a new Wilds Deck is created from reshuffling the Discard Pile, rotate all Wounds and Lured Population 90° CCW.