Wild Realms

Wild Realms Rulebook

Table of Contents

Important Note

We HIGHLY recommend that you carefully read through the entire rule book before beginning your first play.

Components

In The Box

4x Player Decks (62 cards each)
- Each deck is comprised of:
  - 50x Animal Cards
  - 8x Realm Cards
  - 4x Unleash a Legendary Cards
- The back of each deck features one of the Four Realm colors (Blue, Gold, Red, Green) and an Animal Insignia.
12x Legendary Beasts Cards
3x 12-Sided Dice
4x Player Boards
1 Rulebook
4 Player Aids
10x Into The Wild Cards (Solo)
22x The Wild Cards (Solo)

Note: the printed rulebook includes a remark that the illustrated "Angry Chameleon" marks important rule information; read the flagged passages carefully.

Player Board

Each player has their own player board in front of them, divided into four sections: deck, discard, realms, and alliance. Your realms and alliance make up your kingdom. This is where realms are discovered and defended, and where the collected alliance of animals gathers.

Realms

Realms are the animals' habitats and the foundational element of Wild Realms. The four realms in the game are: Land, Water, Air, and Fire. Winning the game revolves around utilizing your Animal Allies to defend and lock your Realms.

You can only have one of each type in play at any given time.
You may play up to 5 animals into each of your realms. These animals can be from any class initially, but to lock a realm, you will need one from each class, and one of those five must also be a leader. (Classes and locking realms are explained later.)
A realm is Unlocked if it has defenders on top of it.
If a slot has a Realm Card on top of a stack, it is Locked.

Alliance

Your alliance is a coalition of animals that will help you on your quest. You can have up to 5 animals in your alliance at any given time. These animals may be from any class, but to attack an opponent, one must be a leader.

The Alliance row holds a maximum of 5 animals and can only be attacked by a Leader.

Player Decks

Each player receives their own 62-card deck during the setup of the game. Each deck is themed around one of the Four Realms (Air, Land, Water, Fire) by color and central animal insignia. Players are free to pick their deck by favorite color or animal icon, as all decks contain the same cards. Only the backs differ.

The three types of cards you will find in your deck are:

Animals—50 cards per deck

The most prolific card type in the Player Deck. An animal's icons show its native Realm, Class, and whether it is a Leader. Also, every animal has its own unique instructions for attacking.

Realms—8 cards per deck

Realms represent the exotic lands, oceans and skies of Wild Realms. Every animal in the game comes from its native Realm, designated by the symbol at the bottom of its card.

Unleash a Legendary—4 cards per deck

These cards allow a player to "summon" a Legendary Beast and "unleash" its powerful effect on the game. Multiple of these may be played in a single turn.

Legendary Deck

There is only one Legendary Deck (center of the table). Legendaries are never added to your Hand, and their effect always plays immediately. Some effects, however, result in a timed action or result.

Although Legendaries are animals, they are very different from normal animals from your deck. In game, Legendaries are rare and can profoundly affect the state of play. Some bestow bountiful benefits, while others may brutally devastate players' kingdoms.

Animal Cards

Animals are the main characters of Wild Realms. Players will use animal cards to defend and lock realms and to attack opponents. Player decks are mainly comprised of 50 animal cards. The key information on an Animal card (and where it appears) is:

Animal Name—A "common" (non-scientific) name for the animal.
Group—Each animal belongs to a "family" group. The group name is printed just below the common name in the top, left corner.
Class Icon—Represents the type of special ability it will have. There are five classes:
- Growth—Allows more card draws or card "resurrection"
- Adapt—Modifies dice values or animal placement
- Lethal—Bypasses dice rolling for aggressive, targeted removal of opponent's cards
- Swarm—Allows multi-attacks and "spread" attacks
- Decay—Depletes an opponent's resources
Strike Value—This number (from 1 to 12) represents the number a player must roll to "strike" the animal when attacking.
Leader Icon—Must have a Leader in your Realm to lock it. Also, one in your Alliance to attack. There are 10 leaders in your deck.
Attack Instructions—Composed of two halves (Roll Attack and Special Ability), explicitly stating how to attack with the animal.
- Roll Attack Icon—The first number (on the silhouettes) is how many dice to roll; the second is how many times to roll them. The "Do Not" symbol denotes no roll attack.

Setting Up the Game

Shuffle the Legendary Beasts deck and set it onto the middle of the table.
Give each player their own Player Board and matching (by color/icon) Player Deck. Shuffle the Unleash a Legendary Beast cards into your deck, in the quantities:
- 2 cards for 4 players
- 3 cards for 3 players
- 4 cards for 2 players
Each player searches their deck for a Realm Card that matches their Player Board and the back of their cards. They place this Realm onto the matching slot in the Realm Area (along the top) of their Player Board. This is the start of their Kingdom. Each player starts with a Realm that matches the theme of their board. (For example, the Volcano, a Fire Realm, is slid into the Fire Realm slot on the Fire Realm-themed Player Board.)
Each player shuffles their deck and places it face down onto the deck slot on their Player Board; then draws 5 cards to form their starting hand.
The player who most recently has petted an animal goes first. Alternately, each player rolls a die and the lowest number goes first.

4-player configuration shown in the printed rulebook.

How To Play

Once the game begins, each player takes their turn and passes the dice to the next player on their left. Each player's turn consists of four phases. The first three phases are optional, but any phases played must be completed in the given order. The four phases are:

Unleash a Legendary (optional; details on page 9 of the rulebook)
Play Cards (optional; details on page 10)
Attack (optional; details on page 11)
Wrap-Up (details on page 13)

Before You Begin

Play begins with the starting player and continues clockwise around the table.
When a player has collected and locked all four realms, the game ends immediately.
No one may attack in the first round of play.
We recommend that you discard cards during the Wrap-Up phase of your turn. However, you may at any time (any phase) during your turn discard any number of cards from your hand or kingdom. No cards may be drawn to replace them.

Phase 1: Unleash a Legendary

If you hold an "Unleash a Legendary Beast" card, you may play it now. You may play more than one, if you so choose, during the same turn during this phase.

While legal, this phase is not recommended on the 1st round.

To play a Legendary:

At the beginning of your turn (if you have an "Unleash a Legendary Beast" card), declare your intention to call a Legendary, then discard your "Unleash" card.
Draw a Legendary Beast card from the Legendary Deck (center of the table), show it to the other players, then read it aloud.
Every Legendary Beast has two effects (abilities). Declare which (of the two) you will use.
If the action is immediate, follow the instructions, then discard the card to the Legendary discard pile (next to the Legendary deck). If the action lasts for a certain duration or has other special (usually timing-based) circumstances, place the card in front of your kingdom until the start of your next turn or until the special circumstances occur.

Phase 2: Play Cards

In this phase, you may do any (or all) of the following actions, as many times as you can, in any order.

Add Realms to Your Kingdom

Place a Realm (or Realms) into any open "slot" of matching type in your Realm row at the top of your Player Board. You must place at least one defender, from your hand, on it at the same time. If not, you cannot play the Realm this turn.

Add an Animal to a Realm

If there is a Realm in your Kingdom with less than 5 defending animals, you may place more animals into it, until there are a maximum of 5 defenders. All animals can be placed in any Realm.

Add an Animal to Your Alliance

Place an animal from your hand into an open "slot" in your alliance. There can only be a maximum of 5 animals in your Alliance at a time.

Reminder: You may discard any number of cards at any time, from your Hand or Kingdom. When discarding in this way, do not draw new cards to replace them.

Phase 3: Attack

During this phase, you may attack an opponent in the following ways. There are three modes.

1. Attack an Unlocked Realm

Requires a Leader in your Alliance.

Declare the animal (from your Alliance) you wish to attack with, and the target Kingdom and Realm. Remember, the animal may only attack its native Realm type (found on the bottom of the animal card and top of the realm card).

For the attack, do what the Roll Attack Icon and Special Ability text say. Special ability text overrules any conflicts with the basic rules. If a rolled value "hits" (matches) the target animal's Strike Value, the opponent must discard it. If more than one value "hits", the attacker chooses one of the values.

Regardless of outcome, discard the attacking animal. You may repeat this as many times as you have animals (and a Leader) in your Alliance.

2. Attack an Alliance

Requires a Leader in your Alliance.

You may ONLY attack an opponent's Alliance, with a Leader (from your Alliance). Declare the target Alliance. Ignore the Attack Roll Icon and Special Ability text; instead, roll three dice. All three rolled values that match Alliance animals' Strike Values "hit", and those animals are discarded. Discard the attacking Leader.

3. Attack in a Realm Battle

Requires that you have a Locked Realm.

Declare the Locked Realm you are going to use in the duel, and your opponent's Locked Realm that you are targeting. Realm Battles are explained in the next section.

Realm Battles!

Realm Battles may only be done once per turn. Follow these steps:

Declare the opponent and locked realm you want to battle. You and your opponent must each have at least one locked realm, or the duel cannot take place.
Put the realm card from the top of each locked realm to the side of its respective realm pile.
- Note: a realm card is placed on top of the pile when a realm is locked. Locking realms is explained later.
Each player rolls one die to see who wins the face-off between the first two animals. The player with the lower roll loses that round and must flip their defeated animal face-down onto their realm card.
Repeat the previous step until one player has lost ALL their defenders. This player has been defeated.
The winner of the duel chooses to either:
- Steal the opponent's locked realm. To do this, the winner cannot already have a locked realm of the same type. If they have an unlocked realm of the given type, they must discard that realm and its defenders to obtain the locked realm they won.
- Force the opponent to discard their Locked Realm, including all of that Realm's defenders.

Phase 4 (Last Phase): Wrap-Up

In this final phase, move animals around your Kingdom for maximum value, lock realms and draw cards in preparation for the next turn.

In this final phase you may:

Move animals around your Kingdom. You may "travel" (move) animal cards from Realm-to-Realm, Realm-to-Alliance, or Alliance-to-Realm. There is no limit to how many animals you move (or how many times), EXCEPT for the maximum occupancy limit of 5 animals for Realms and Alliances. You may "swap" animals between areas (as described above), even if there is no open space, as long as you don't exceed the limit at the end of this phase.
Lock Realms (see below).
Discard as many animals from your Hand or Kingdom as you like.
Draw into / discard from your Hand until you hold five cards. If you draw a Realm that you have already locked, you may discard it and draw another card.
Declare your turn ended and pass the dice to the next player (clockwise).

Winning the Game

The first player to lock all four realms (Land, Air, Water, Fire) immediately (regardless of turn) wins the game!

Locking Realms

Locking a realm is simple, and the first player to lock all four realms in their kingdom wins the game.

To lock a realm:

You must have 5 animals (one of each class: Growth, Decay, Adapt, Swarm, Lethal) on the realm, and one must be a Leader.
Collect the cards into a stack with the Realm card on top.
Place the locked Realm back into its "slot".

The animal classes you need to lock a realm are listed on your Player Board.

Animals can defend and lock any Realm, not just their native Realm (designated by the Realm Icon at the bottom of their card).

Unlocking a Realm

To unlock a Realm, the targeted player must:

Discard two animals from the locked realm.
Return the Realm to the unlocked configuration.

Key Facts & Rules to Remember

Through playtesting, the designers discovered some facts and rules that are easily overlooked. Here they are again, as a convenient list for reference during a game.

Leaders are needed to attack an Unlocked Realm or an Alliance. You must have at least one Leader in your Alliance to allow the rest of your Alliance members to attack. The only exception is the Realm Battle, which does not involve your Alliance.
Only Leaders can attack an Alliance. Leaders are the only animal that can attack an opponent's Alliance directly. The attack instructions are ignored and three 12-sided dice are rolled. All three values "strike" the Alliance. For example, if you roll a "2, 5, 10" then any and all animals in the target Alliance with a "2, 5 or 10" Strike Value are discarded.
After an animal attacks, it is discarded. The only exception is if an animal's special ability overrides this base rule (for example, the Bali Tiger attacks and is then returned to your hand).
Other than round one, a Realm can never be without defenders. If at any time (except round one) a realm is without any defenders, you must discard it. This does not include the moment you are physically in the act of moving animal cards around your Kingdom during Phase 4.
The number 5 is a critical number in Wild Realms. There can never be more than 5 defenders on a Realm. There can never be more than 5 animals in your Alliance. Lastly, unless allowed by a special ability or Legendary effect, you can never end a turn with more than 5 cards in your hand.
Wrap-Up is the only required phase. If you so wish, you could skip all phases (Unleash, Play Cards, Attack) except Wrap-Up to legally complete your turn.
Any animal may defend any Realm type. An animal's native realm type (see its Realm Icon at the bottom of the card) designates what realm type it can attack. Realm type has nothing to do with which animals can defend a Realm.

An Example Turn

The example below follows the printed walkthrough of a player's first two turns. Card-art callouts drawn over the illustrations are omitted; the printed captions are kept.

Round 1: Allies & Realms

The first round is all about defending your starting realm, while also discovering new realms and recruiting to your animal Alliance. It is a good time to familiarize yourself with your animals' Special Abilities.

Important: Round 1 is the only round in which attacking is not allowed. As such, Round 1 usually plays quickly.

Phase 1: Unleash a Legendary Beast. This phase is voluntary, so the player opts to hold this card for the next turn, when it will have a better chance of having an effect on gameplay.
Phase 2: Play Cards. The next phase is playing cards, so the player chooses to play three of their cards: the Wolf, the Lynx and the Fire Realm. Since a player cannot have more than one Realm of the same type in play together, the second Land Realm is held for now. If so desired, it can be discarded later.
Phase 3: Attacking. Not allowed in the first round of the game.
Phase 4: Wrap-Up. The player decides not to move any animals and keeps both remaining cards (the Land Realm and the Unleash card). The only thing left is to draw three new cards, so that the turn ends with 5 cards in hand.

Round 2: Attacking

In Round 2 of the example game, the player may now attack their opponents. In Phase 3, the example looks at the alternate attacking scenario, which demonstrates another path by which the player could attack.

Phase 1 & 2: Unleash and Play Cards. The player chooses to hold the "Unleash" card again this turn. They will probably play it on a later round, once opponents have more realms and animals in their kingdoms. The player plays all three animals from their hand into their Alliance. This fills the first three of the five available slots.
Phase 3: Attacking. The player has a Leader (Screech Owl) in their Alliance, so they declare an attack with the Crested Lizard (which can attack the Fire Realm) against the opponent's unlocked Fire Realm. They roll three dice (see Attack Roll Icon) and the numbers are 2, 6 and 12. Two numbers (2 and 12) match the target defenders' Strike Values. Only one can be chosen. The player chooses 12 because the Redtail Hawk is a Leader: the opponent discards the Hawk and two cards from their hand (see the special ability text). The Lizard is discarded, ending the attack. The player could attack the opponent's unlocked Water Realm with the Octopus, but does not.
Phase 4: Wrap-Up. The player decides to discard the extra Land Realm and move the Screech Owl to the unlocked Land Realm on the board. Finally, to end the turn, they draw four cards to bring their hand back up to 5 cards. Play passes to the next player.

The printed example notes that there are other available paths the player could have taken, particularly in Phase 3 when attacking. In your second round, attacks are legal and Legendary cards will likely begin to be played. The game settles into its rhythm and options begin leading to strategic thinking.

Solo Mode

Although the goal of the game is the same as in multiplayer, the components and rules are varied to form a unique play experience.

To win, you must lock all 4 realms (locking is described in the multiplayer rules) by the end of the game. The game ends when (a) you have drawn the last card from your deck, (b) your final hand has been played, and (c) the "In The Wild" cards have resolved all of their effects.

Solo Set-Up

Shuffle the "Land" (Lion Icon) player deck and place it onto the Land player board's "Deck" slot.
Shuffle the "In The Wild" cards and place them onto the far right slot of the Alliance section. This leaves four (of the five) alliance locations open at the bottom of your board.
Place the 3 d12s within reach and you're ready to play!

The area above the board is "The Wild", where you place the four cards that will attack or affect your kingdom.

Player Deck: In Solo Mode, you use only the four Alliance slots between the Player Deck (left) and The Wild deck (right).
The Wild Deck: the "In The Wild" cards.

Solo Gameplay

Wild Realms Solo Mode is played in rounds. Each round must follow this order:

A. Draw and display 4 cards (from left to right) above your player board, in line with your Kingdom's Realm slots. This area above the player board can be thought of as "The Wild Realm."
B. Draw 4 cards for your hand.
C. From your hand, play Animal and Realm cards into your kingdom.
D. Play all "In The Wild" cards from your hand, and then The Wild.
E. From The Wild, all animals attack your Kingdom. Transfer all Realms discovered in The Wild into your Kingdom.
F. Travel (move animals around your Kingdom) and Lock Realms.
G. If the game has not ended or you have not won, begin a new round starting with step A.

Attacks from The Wild

If an animal "appears" in The Wild (the region above your player board) above a Realm slot in your kingdom, it will attack that Realm. If the aligned Realm slot does not hold a discovered realm with defenders, the animal attacks your Alliance instead.

When an animal (from The Wild) attacks your Alliance, you only use the Attack Roll Icon (ignore the Special Ability Text) to attack. If the animal's Roll Attack Icon indicates that you "Do Not Roll," simply add the animal anywhere you like in your Kingdom, as a Realm defender or Alliance member.

Any successful attack upon your Alliance (a matching Strike Value from the rolled dice with an animal in your Alliance) must discard the attacking animal from The Wild and the attacked animal from your Alliance. If multiple rolled values match Strike Values, only choose one Strike Value to discard from your Alliance.
Any unsuccessful attack upon your Alliance (no matching Strike Values between rolled dice and Alliance animals) results in the attacker joining your Kingdom, even if that means discarding an animal from your Kingdom to make room.

When an animal from The Wild attacks your defended Realm, follow the Roll Attack Icon on each animal card to attack. Then follow the Special Ability Text at the bottom of The Wild animal card. If The Wild animal successfully attacks a defended Realm (with a rolled value matching a defending animal's Strike Value), you must discard the attacking animal from The Wild and the "struck" animal from your Realm. Then follow the special abilities of the Wild animal if applicable; otherwise, only choose one Strike Value to discard. If the ability indicates another Realm to attack, you must pick a neighboring defended Realm; otherwise ignore it. All Growth special abilities are applied to your Kingdom. All Lethal or "Do Not Roll" cards apply to the Realm attack.

If the Wild animal unsuccessfully attacks a defended Realm (meaning that, after the special ability, it still does not force you to discard an animal), it must join your kingdom, even if that means discarding an animal to make room.

Your Alliance Attacks First

Before the wild animals attack your realms, you are allowed to use your Alliance to attack them first. You must have a Leader in your Alliance to perform this defensive "first strike."

If you have a Leader, conduct each attack by following the attack instructions listed in the Multiplayer Rules on page 11 under "Attack an Unlocked Realm," paragraph 2. Keep in mind:

Realm type is ignored for attacking. Any animal may attack any animal in The Wild.
A roll attack does not "strike" all animals in The Wild. Only the targeted animal.
Sometimes the Special Ability of an animal will not have effect.
Regardless of attack outcome, your attacking animal is always discarded at the end of the attack.

If your attack is successful, the animal is discarded from The Wild. If your attack is unsuccessful, the animal remains in The Wild and will attack you. You may perform these defensive "first strikes" as many times as you have a Leader and Alliance animals available.

Travel and Lock

Only after all outcomes from attacks are resolved are you allowed to move (travel) animals from Realms and Alliance in order to defend or Lock a Realm. During this phase of the game, if all cards have been depleted from your draw deck and you are able to lock your 4th Realm, you have won Wild Realms Solo Mode!

Otherwise... play again!

Closing

This concludes the official rules for Wild Realms. Happy Kingdom Building!