Worms: The Board Game
Worms: The Board Game Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
Worms. 16 worms (4 models per player colour).
Oil Drums. Explosive! 6 Oil Drums.
Supply Crates. Collect these, they have goodies inside. 6 Supply Crates.
Mines. Step on one of these and you'll regret it. 6 Mines.
Danger Flipper. This is flipped to work out the terrible fate of your worms when they do something stupid.
Fire. Hot. 10 Fire tokens.
Reference Cards. Helpful reminder of some of the more common rules. One for each player, and one for each "Thing" and token in the game.
Wind Dial. Shows which way the Wind is blowing. Just pop the Wind spinner into the centre to indicate direction. 1 Wind Dial and arrow "spinner".
Map Tiles. The bit everything stands on. Each tile has 4 or 5 Land hexes. 4 Map Tiles.
Water hexes. The bit everything sinks in. We still call these Water hexes, even if it's lava or slime. Things still sink. 9 Water hexes.
Weapon Cards. You'll be using these to "eliminate" the other players. Each card shows:
- Title
- Superweapon / Starter symbol
- Card Action Line and its symbols
- Weapon text
Drop Cards. Extra supplies and hazards that drop in throughout the game. Each card shows:
- Title
- Drop text
Sudden Death Cards. If you are struggling to destroy each other, you will enter the Sudden Death phase of the game… which should hurry things along.
Dice. When something goes in a random direction, you'll be rolling these. 5 custom dice.
Target Token. This helps you keep track of what hex you are firing at, and whose turn it is.
Craters. These tokens show where you've blasted large holes in the map. Boom. 20 Craters.
Plastic Rings. 16 plastic rings – clip these to your worms to build Teams.
Setup
If you are setting up your first game, go to the Setting up your first game section and follow the instructions there! The youngest player is the first player during setup, but this will change for the start of the game.
1. Create the map
Place the Wind Dial onto the table. Then, starting with the first player and going clockwise, take it in turns to place a single Map Tile. Map Tiles must be placed touching either the Wind Dial hex or any already placed Tile by joining one or more edges together. This means that the map will be larger if there are more people playing, as there will be more Tiles used.
2. Collect
For each player in the game, collect the following:
- 4 worms in one of the available colours
- 1 Oil Drum, Mine, and Supply Crate
Place all of these Things (including the worms) near the map, in easy reach of all players.
3. Place
Starting with the first player and going clockwise, take it in turns to place one of the Things from the pile in front of you (Oil Drum, Supply Crate, Mine, or a worm in any colour) on to the Land hexes. Note that no player currently has a Team selected, so there are no right or wrong choices when placing Things, but if all of a Team's worms are on Oil Drums and Mines, this could be a short game! Keep going until all the Things are placed. Don't place any more than three Things in each hex.
4. Select
Shuffle the Reference Cards for each colour of worm being used in the game and give one randomly to each player. The colour you get is now your Team. Keep them alive.
5. Starting hand
Separate out the Starter Weapon Cards – those with darker backs and the Starter symbol on them. Each player then takes one of each of the following Starter Weapon Cards: Uzi, Bazooka, Ninja Rope, Girder. Shuffle the remaining Starter Weapon Cards and deal one to each player, face down. You should now have five cards.
This is your starting hand of cards. Keep your cards secret at all times until you play them. Don't give away any nasty surprises you have planned!
6. Decks
Create the Supply Deck. Shuffle all of the non-Starter Weapon Cards together and place them in a pile, face down, in easy reach of all players. This is the Supply Deck.
Create the Drop Deck. Without looking at it, randomly choose a Sudden Death Card and place it face down near the board. Then take two random Drop Cards per player, add another two Drop Cards, and shuffle them together before placing them face down on top of the Sudden Death Card. This is the Drop Deck.
Finally, return the remaining Drop Cards, Sudden Death Cards, and Starter Weapon Cards to the box. They will not be used for this game.
7. Determine first player
Each player checks their Reference Card, and the player with the lowest number in the bottom right corner (usually blue) takes the Target Token.
That player then rolls a die until they get a numerical value and sets the Wind Direction arrow on the Wind Dial to that value.
The player with the Target Token will take the first turn in the game.
You are now ready to play!
How to play
Worms is played in turns, with each player moving their chosen worm, picking up weapons, and using them to wipe out the other Teams. The game ends one round after a player is eliminated, at which point the player with the most worms standing wins the game! See Elimination and Winning for more details.
Starting with the player holding the Target Token, players take turns one at a time, clockwise around the board. During a player's turn, they are the Active player, and will choose an Active worm. Whenever we refer to "you" or "your worm", we are referring to the Active player, or the Active player's worm.
A turn
Each turn follows the same order of actions:
- Activate a worm
- Heal worm if Damaged
- Inch or Jump
- Inch or Jump... again
- Play a Weapon Card
- End turn
- Draw a Drop Card
- Pass the Target Token
General Rules
If two or more effects are triggered at the same time, the player whose turn it is may choose in what order they are resolved.
If a rule on a card and a rule in the book contradict one another, follow the rules on the card.
1. Activate a worm
Choose any of your worms to be your Active worm. If you have no worms left, you have been eliminated, see Elimination and Winning.
If your chosen worm is in the same hex as a Supply Crate, remove the crate and draw a card from the Supply Deck (see Supply Crate).
2. Heal worm if Damaged
If your Active worm is Damaged (lying on its side) place it upright to show that it is now back to full health and is fighting fit.
3. Inch or Jump
During this step your worm may move in a couple of different ways: Inching, or Jumping. See Movement below for more information on moving. You may also choose not to move at all.
4. Inch or Jump... again
Your worm can then Inch or Jump again. Note that, combined with Step 3 above, you could Inch first then Jump, vice versa, repeat the same move as before, or decide to not move at all.
Movement
Inching. Simply move the worm from a Land hex to an adjacent Land hex.
Jumping. Choose any hex within two hexes of the worm's current hex, then move the worm to that hex (ignoring any intervening hexes). Then, Scatter the worm (see Scatter). This could mean you end up in the Water!
Moving. When moving a Thing, simply move it to the indicated hex (usually the adjacent hex). Many terrible things (and maybe some good ones) can happen during a move, so be sure to check the reference for each Thing that is in the hex you are moving to.
Moving into a Mine. If a worm moves into the same hex as a Mine, destroy the Mine and flip the Danger Flipper. If it lands safety side up, the Mine was a dud (phew!), otherwise the Mine explodes! See Mine.
Moving into Fire. If a worm moves into the same hex as Fire, destroy the Fire and flip the Danger Flipper. If it lands safety side up, nothing happens, otherwise the worm gets Damaged. See Fire.
Moving into a Supply Crate. If a worm moves into the same hex as a Supply Crate, the worm's player draws a card from the Supply Deck and adds it to their hand. Place the Supply Crate back into the pool at the side of the map.
Moving into a full hex. Hexes can usually only hold a maximum of three Things. If, after a Thing has completed a move (and after resolving any Mines, Supply Crates and whatever else), a hex has four or more Things in it, choose a worm in the hex to 'prod'. Knockback Scatter that worm (see Knockback Scatter). If there are no worms to prod, you may choose a non-Crater Thing to prod instead.
Movement Examples
On their turn, the Blue player moves their worm A by Inching it to pick up the Supply Crate. They collect a card from the Supply Crate and then remove the crate. They then Inch the worm again.
On their turn, the Red player moves their worm X by Inching it, and then risking a Jump across the Water hex. The player chooses the hex with the Oil Drum and the tempting Supply Crate, and moves their worm there. They collect a card from the Supply Crate and then remove the crate. They then roll a die to Scatter the worm.
Disaster! They roll a Wind symbol and the worm moves one hex in the direction of the Wind – into the Water! Oh dear…
5. Play a Weapon Card
You may choose a Weapon Card from your hand to play, completing the actions on the card by reading across the Action Line and resolving each symbol in order, from left to right, as follows:
Movement symbol: The worm may Inch or Jump (see Movement). If multiple Movement symbols are present, the worm may move multiple times, once for each symbol.
Draw symbol: Play another Weapon Card from your hand.
Text symbol: Resolve the text on the card. All the text must be resolved in order, and all text must be resolved before moving onto the next action in the Action Line. To find out more about the keywords and text, see Keywords and Terms. If multiple Text symbols are on the card, the whole text of the card is resolved multiple times, once for each symbol.
After a Weapon Card has been fully resolved, discard it face up into the box.
An example Weapon Card, the Bazooka, is read as follows:
- Name. The name of the weapon. This has no rules effect.
- Action Line. After playing this card, the first symbol you would resolve (because it is the leftmost symbol on the Action Line) is the Text symbol.
- Card text. Resolving the Text symbol means resolving the card text. For a Bazooka, this means you would choose a target Direct hex (see Direct hex), roll Accuracy (see Accuracy X), then Blast the hex (see Blast).
- Action Line (continued). After resolving the text on the card, you would return to the Action Line and continue reading to the right. In this case you would now resolve the Movement symbol, maybe moving your worm one hex or going for a Jump!
6. End turn
There are some effects that trigger at the end of the turn. Do those now.
7. Draw a Drop Card
Draw the top card of the Drop Deck and resolve the text on the card from top to bottom. All the text must be resolved, and resolved in order. After a Drop Card is fully resolved, discard it back into the box. The last card of the Drop Deck is the Sudden Death Card.
When a Sudden Death Card is revealed and resolved, place it face up near the map rather than discarding it. For the rest of the game, whenever you would resolve a Drop Card at this step, simply resolve the "Drop" portion of the Sudden Death Card instead.
8. Pass the Target Token
Take the Target Token (whether it is on the map or still in front of you) and pass it to the player to your left. It is now their turn.
An example turn
This example uses the map setup from Setting up your first game. It is Blue's turn, and they are ready to wreak some havoc!
1. Activate a worm. Blue chooses worm A (diagram a). They could also choose their other worm, B.
2. Heal worm if Damaged. Since it is the first turn, there are no Damaged worms, so Blue skips this step.
3. Inch or Jump. Blue moves their worm A (diagram b). There is a Supply Crate and a Mine on the hex, but since it is Blue's turn, they can decide the order in which these are resolved. They make the wise choice to draw a Supply Card (using the Supply Crate) before seeing if the Mine goes off by flipping the Danger Flipper. Luckily for Blue, it doesn't go off! Probably not the smartest move Blue could have made if the Mine had exploded!
4. Inch or Jump... again. Blue decides not to use their second move. They could move over to the second Supply Crate now, but they plan on doing that with their Weapon Card.
5. Play a Weapon Card. Blue can play any card from their hand. They decide to Fire a Bazooka – classic! They want to target worm X, but that is not in a line of Direct hexes from the shooting worm. They target the hex adjacent to an enemy worm X instead, in the hope that the wind will blow the shot in the right direction (diagram c). They resolve the Accuracy step of the Bazooka card by rolling 3 dice (-1 for the extra range) and one result shows a Wind symbol. Perfect! That moves the target onto the hex containing Red's worm (diagram d). Now it's Blast time!
To resolve the Blast, Blue adds a Crater to the hex then rolls a die for Red's worm, Damaging and Scattering it in a random direction (diagram e) which rolls a 1. Red is pretty lucky here. They could have ended up in the Water (directions 2, 3, 4 or 5) or on a Mine, meaning the only safe roll was direction 1, or a Wind symbol which would have left them in their starting hex. Finally, Blue resolves the Movement symbol on the Bazooka card (diagram f), moving into the Supply Crate they were eyeing up at the start of the turn and drawing another card from the Supply Deck.
6. End turn. Nothing happens here in this example.
7. Draw a Drop Card. Blue draws the top card from the Drop Deck and resolves it (diagram g), in this case placing two Supply Crates one at a time onto the map and then rolling to see if the Wind changes direction.
8. Pass the Target Token. Blue passes the Target Token to the player to their left.
Elimination and Winning!
Eliminated (end of game). When a player's Team has no remaining worms, they are out of the game, eliminated.
When the first player is eliminated, it triggers the end of the game. Finish the current player's turn, then each player takes one more turn (including the player that has just finished their turn) as a final round.
After the final turn, the player with the most remaining worms wins the game! If there is a tie, the player with the most undamaged worms wins the tie. Otherwise, the game ends in a draw.
Setting up your first game
For your first game, we suggest using the following setup to provide a quick introduction. You can also step through the example turn on the previous pages.
1. Generate the landscape
Set up the map as shown in the rulebook diagrams, including Things (worms, Oil Drums etc.). The Map Tiles and the Things on them marked 2 and 3 can be removed entirely if you are playing a 2 or 3 player game, respectively. We'll only use two worms each for this first game while you get the hang of the rules.
2. Assign Teams
Each player takes a Reference Card in a colour matching one of the Teams on the board. The Blue player will be going first, so it is a good idea if this is the most experienced player.
Each player then takes one of each of the following Starter Weapon Cards with the Starter symbol:
- Uzi
- Bazooka
- Ninja Rope
- Girder
- One random Starter Card (face down)
Each player will start with a hand of five cards: four set Starting Weapon Cards, and one random other card.
3. Create Decks
Create the Supply Deck. Shuffle all of the non-Starter Weapon Cards together and place them into a pile, face down, in easy reach of all players. This is the Supply Deck.
Create the Drop Deck. Choose a random Sudden Death Card and place it face down near the board. Then take two Drop Cards per player, plus another two and shuffle them together before placing them face down on top of the Sudden Death Card. This is the Drop Deck.
You will create two decks of cards: the Supply Deck and the Drop Deck. The last card in the Drop Deck will be a random Sudden Death Card.
Return all the remaining cards to the box, they will not be used this game.
4. Wind Direction
Set the Wind Dial to 2, and give the Target Token to the Blue player. That player can now take the example turn shown in An example turn. If you are happy with the rules, then keep playing!
The Target Token is given to the player who will go first (Blue in this case).
The diagram notes: remove the tile marked 3, and the pieces on it, if you only have three players. Remove the tile marked 2, and the pieces on it, if you only have two players.
Keywords and Terms
The following section explains the various terms and keywords in the game and what they do. Good to know.
Accuracy X
Many weapons become less accurate as they are Fired at longer ranges. Accuracy reflects this!
X is a number, for example Accuracy 3. If the target is not in or adjacent to your worm's own hex, reduce X by the number of hexes the worm would have to move to be adjacent to the Target hex. Accuracy cannot be reduced below 1. Still count Water hexes in this calculation, even though the worm wouldn't normally be allowed to move through them.
Then, roll X dice and choose one result to resolve, with the following effects:
| Roll | Effect (Accuracy) |
|---|---|
| 1-6 | Move target one hex in the rolled direction. |
| Wind symbol | Move the target one hex in current Wind Direction. |
| Bullseye symbol | No effect (do not move the target) – a direct hit! |
If the Blue worm A is resolving Accuracy 4, they would roll 4 dice if the Target Token was in any blue hexes, 3 dice if the target was in purple hexes, and just 2 dice if the target was in a red hex. Any hexes further away than the red ones would mean they would roll just 1 die.
Blast
If the Target hex is a Water hex, nothing happens. Otherwise, place a Crater in the hex (see Crater below). For each Thing in the Target hex, starting with any worms, roll a die and resolve the effect below:
| Roll | Effect (Blast) |
|---|---|
| 1-6 | Damage the Thing and then move it one hex in the rolled direction. |
| Wind symbol | Damage the Thing and then move it one hex in the current Wind Direction. |
| Bullseye symbol | Damage the Thing. |
Note that a worm that moves into a hex due to a Blast resolves any effects as if they had moved into it for any other reason. They are destroyed if it is a Water hex, check to see if any Mines go off, etc!
If there are multiple Things in the Target hex, the effects are resolved in an order of your choice, but all worms are affected before any other Things in the hex.
Change Wind
See Direction below.
Crater
Craters are a Thing. They are immoveable and indestructible, unless an effect specifically allows it (such as the Girder card).
If there are ever three Craters in a hex, destroy everything in that hex, including the Craters, then place a Water hex (see Hexes) in the hex.
Damage
When a Thing takes Damage, what happens depends on what it is.
Worm. If the worm is on full health (standing up), it is laid on its side to show it is now Damaged. If the worm is Damaged already, that worm is destroyed! Remove it from play. If your worm is Damaged during your turn, finish resolving your Weapon Card text if you have played one, then immediately skip to step 6: End turn.
Oil Drum. When an Oil Drum is Damaged, destroy the Oil Drum then roll 5 dice. For each direction showing on the dice (treating a Bullseye symbol as the hex containing the Oil Drum, and a Wind symbol as the Wind Direction), Damage all Things in those hexes, then place a Fire in each. Duplicate rolls are not resolved multiple times.
Mine. Boom! Destroy the Mine and resolve a Blast in the Mine's hex. Remove it from play and put it back in the pool at the side of the map.
Supply Crate. Destroyed. Remove it from play and put it back in the pool at the side of the map.
Destroy
When a Thing is destroyed, it is removed from play and put it back in the pool at the side of the map. If all of a player's worms are destroyed, that player is eliminated (see Elimination and Winning).
Direction
There are six directions in the game, as shown on the Wind Dial, one for each face of a hex. Use the numbers on the Wind Dial as reference for moving Things (e.g. when Scattering).
Whenever a Wind symbol is rolled when determining direction, treat it as if it were a result matching the current Wind Direction.
Wind Direction. At the beginning of the game, the Wind is set to a random direction (see Setup).
Whenever you are instructed to "Change Wind Direction", roll a die and resolve the result below:
| Roll | Effect (Wind) |
|---|---|
| 1-6 | Turn the Wind Dial needle to point in the direction of the number rolled. |
| Wind symbol | Wind Direction does not change. |
| Bullseye symbol | Wind Direction does not change. |
Danger Flipper
A simple "coin" you can flip to see if you are in Danger or Safe.
Fire
Fire is a Thing. It is indestructible and immoveable, meaning it can only be destroyed or moved by effects that mention it specifically (and by Water).
When a Thing moves into a hex containing Fire, destroy the Fire (return it to the pool) and flip the Danger Flipper. If the result is Danger, Damage the Thing.
Hexes
There are two types of hex: Land and Water.
Land hex. Land hexes are fully, or mostly, covered with Land. They might have a little Water showing on their art, but they are still Land hexes.
Full hex. Hexes can hold a maximum of three Things. If, after a Thing has completed a move (and after resolving any Mines, Supply Crates and whatever else), a hex has four or more Things in it, choose a worm in the hex to 'prod'. Knockback Scatter that worm (see Knockback Scatter). If there are no worms to prod, you may choose a non-Crater Thing to prod instead.
Water hex. Water hexes are every hex that is not a Land hex, or that has been covered by a Water hex tile. Any hexes off the edge of the map are also considered Water hexes (if, for example, a worm was blasted off the edge of the map, they would be destroyed in the same way as if they had been blasted into a Water hex). Water hexes only show Water art on them.
If a Thing would ever move or be placed onto a Water hex (or suddenly find itself in one!), it sinks and is destroyed. Water hexes can even destroy indestructible Things, such as Fire, and Craters.
"Phantom" Water hexes. You can assume that all hexes that would be in a position, should there be enough components, are still valid hexes for the purposes of counting Accuracy, Scatter, targeting etc. They are all Water hexes though!
Other terms that involve hexes:
Direct hex. A hex that is Directly in one of the six Wind Directions from your worm.
Emptiest. The Land hex containing the fewest Things (if there is a tie, you choose).
Own hex. The hex that your worm is currently occupying.
New hex. A hex that does not contain the Target Token.
Non-full hex. A Land hex with fewer than three Things in it.
Hex within X. A hex that is X or fewer hexes away from your worm (see Accuracy X).
Place
Take the Thing from the pool at the side of the map and place it into the Target hex. If you run out of a component, you cannot place more.
If a hex now has four or more Things in it (after any effects have been resolved from placing the Thing) the hex is full (see Full hex).
The general rule of thumb is "if the component was already on the board, it is being Moved, if the component was in the supply, it is being placed."
Scatter
When something needs to Scatter (e.g., the Target hex, or a Thing), roll a die then resolve the result below:
| Roll | Effect (Scatter) |
|---|---|
| 1-6 | Move target or Thing one hex in the rolled direction. |
| Wind symbol | Move the target or Thing one hex in Wind Direction. |
| Bullseye symbol | The target or Thing does not move. |
Knockback Scatter
Knockback Scatter is resolved in the same way as Scatter, except that the result changes to:
| Roll | Effect (Knockback Scatter) |
|---|---|
| Bullseye symbol | Choose a direction and move the Thing one hex. |
This means that the Thing can never stay in the hex it started in – it will always move somewhere else!
In an example, Blue could roll four possible results to Scatter the Target Token. If they rolled a Bullseye symbol (red), the target would not move; if they rolled 5 (blue) the target would move in direction 5, toward the Blue worm. If either a 3 or a Wind symbol was rolled, the target would move in direction 3, since that is the current Wind Direction.
Sudden Death
After all the Drop Cards have been drawn, the Sudden Death Card will be revealed. Sudden Death Cards can introduce new rules into the game, and often affect the end of players' turns.
Superweapons!
Some Weapon Cards are Superweapons, shown by the Superweapon symbol and a yellow title bar. This has no rules effect except when referred to by a card.
Supply Crate
Supply Crates are Things. If a worm begins their activation in a hex containing a Supply Crate or moves into one, the Supply Crate is removed, and the player whose worm it is draws a card from the Supply Deck. Note that Supply Crates are not picked up when they are placed into the same hex as a worm.
If a Supply Crate is Damaged, it is destroyed.
Target
Place the Target Token into a hex. The Target Token is not a Thing, it does not have any effect on the map except to indicate the current target (which will often change due to Scattering and Accuracy).
Most weapons affect the Target hex (e.g., Blast).
There are usually restrictions on the hex that can be targeted, as shown below:
Direct hex. A Direct hex is one that is in a straight line along one of the six directions away from your worm. A worm's own hex is considered Direct.
Hex within X. A hex that is X hexes away or closer. Note that a worm's own hex is always within X.
New hex. A new hex is any that does not contain the Target Token. This generally only affects cards that have multiple shots (such as the Shotgun).
Air Strike targets. Flip the Target Token to its directional side and place it into any hex (even a Water hex) pointing it in one of the six Wind Directions.
When resolving an effect (such as Blast) resolve the hex containing the Target Token and two hexes in the direction it is pointing, in order.
When Scattering an Air Strike, the Target Token's orientation does not change (if it moves, it will still point in the same direction).
In an example, a player has placed the Target Token to show they are targeting three orange hexes in a line. If the Air Strike is Scattered in direction 2 (blue) the blue hexes would now be targeted. If the Air Strike was Scattered in direction 1 (red) the red hexes would now be targeted.
Thing
Oil Drums, Supply Crates, Mines, Craters, Fire, and worms are all Things.
Hexes containing three Things are full, see Full hex.
Oil Drum
Oil Drums are a Thing. When an Oil Drum is Damaged, destroy the Oil Drum then roll 5 dice. For each direction showing on the dice (treating a Bullseye symbol as the hex containing the Oil Drum, and a Wind symbol as the Wind Direction), Damage all Things in those hexes, then place a Fire in each.
Duplicate rolls are not resolved multiple times.
Mine
A Mine is a Thing. If a worm moves into a hex with a Mine or vice versa, destroy the Mine and flip the Danger Flipper. If danger is rolled, resolve a Blast in the hex. If a Mine is Damaged, destroy the Mine and resolve a Blast.
Worms
Worms are a Thing. When a worm moves, they might activate Mines, and may pick up new weapons from Supply Crates.
A fully healthy worm is placed standing up. A Damaged worm is placed lying on its side. If all of your worms are destroyed, you are eliminated (see Elimination and Winning).
Weapon Cards
Weapon Cards are the main tool players have for destroying other worms and are used during the "Play a Weapon Card" phase of the turn, see 5. Play a Weapon Card.
Wind Dial
The Wind Dial is a Water hex that shows the current Wind Direction. The arrow on the Dial points in the direction of the Wind (1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6).
Wind Direction
The current Wind Direction can influence where Things Scatter. See Direction and Scatter above.
Optional Rules
Once you have grasped the basics and are feeling adventurous, how about trying out some (or all!) of these optional rules?
Parting Gifts. When a worm is destroyed, resolve a Blast in its hex. If a worm is destroyed by Blast, roll for which hex they are Scattered into before resolving the death Blast.
True Elimination. When a Team is eliminated, it does not trigger the end of the game. The game ends only when all but one player has been eliminated.
Sudden Death Draft. During the game setup, before building the Drop Deck, shuffle the Sudden Death Cards and deal them equally among the players, discarding any extra cards.
Each player chooses one of the cards, discarding the rest back to the box. Then, shuffle the chosen cards and discard all but one, the chosen card is now the Sudden Death Card for this game as normal.
No Sudden Death. During setup, do not add a Sudden Death Card into the game. Use all of the Drop Cards available to make the Drop Deck.
Whenever a player would draw a card from the Drop Deck and it is empty, shuffle together all the Drop Cards to form a new deck.
Late Superweapons. When forming the Supply Deck, shuffle all the Superweapon Cards together and place them facedown, then shuffle two non-Starter Weapon Cards per player and place them on top.
Longer game. Instead of adding two cards into the Drop Deck per player, use all the Drop Cards.
Reduced Blast. Blasts deal no Damage (but still add Crater tokens and Scatter Things in a hex).
Larger map. If you feel like your worms want some more air to breathe before destruction rains down upon them, you can add any additional Map Tiles you have to the game. How many you add is up to you! We recommend all players place one tile each as normal and then the youngest player adds any additional ones being used.
Timer
A timer can be used to help speed players along. Use an app on your phone for a 60-second countdown! Alternatively, you could use a 60-second sand timer. At the start of a player's turn, before they Activate their worm, they start the timer. Once started, the Active player must reach step 6 of their turn (End turn) before the time runs out!
If they do not, their turn immediately Jumps to step 6, so they miss any chance to perform steps they didn't get to. If a card has been played and any text is still being resolved, the player can complete it, but must then immediately proceed to step 6. They cannot perform any other actions on the card.
Quick Reference
Player Turn
- Choose a worm to Activate
- Heal that worm if it's Damaged
- Inch or Jump
- Inch or Jump... again
- Play a Weapon Card
- End turn
- Draw a Drop Card
- Pass the Target Token (to the player on your left)
Targeting
Target. Place Target Token into a hex.
Air Strike. Three hexes in a line (shown using the directional side of the Target Token).
Direct hex. Hex Directly in one of the six Directions. Your own hex is also a Direct hex.
New. A hex that does not contain the Target Token.
Full. A Land hex with three Things in it.
Empty. A Land hex with no Things in it.
Emptiest. The Land hex with the fewest Things in it. Active player chooses between ties.
Card Reference
Resolve the text on the card, in order:
- Inch or Jump (see below)
- Play another card
Accuracy X. If the target is not in or adjacent to your worm's own hex, reduce X by the extra distance. Roll X dice, choose one, and move the target one hex in that direction.
Blast. Place Crater in Target hex. In turn (starting with worms), Damage and Scatter each Thing in the hex.
Change Wind. Roll a die, if it is a number, change the Wind Direction to match.
Damage. Damages Things (check Reference Cards for Things), destroys Damaged worms.
Inch. Move your worm one hex. Set off Fire, and pick up Supply Crates.
Knockback Scatter. Scatter the Thing, but treat the Bullseye symbol as direction of your choice.
Jump. Choose a hex within two hexes of the worm's current hex, then move the worm to that hex (ignoring any intervening hexes). Then, Scatter the worm. This could mean you end up in the Water!
Scatter. Roll a die and move the target/Thing in the rolled direction.