The player with the largest tribe at the end of the game is declared the winner!

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2 Players: 3-5 Setup Time: 3 minutes Teach Time: 5 minutes Play Time: minutes Arctic Scavengers is a fun and interactive card game involving strategy, bluffing, and even a little luck. It is simple to setup, easy to learn, and yet has a depth and re-playability that will keep you coming back for more. The Story In the year 2097, the entire earth was enveloped in a cataclysmic shift in climate, plunging the globe into another ice age. Nearly 90% of the world s population was eliminated, driving the survivors to band together into loose communities and tribes. You are the leader of a small tribe of survivors. Resources, tools, medicine, and mercenaries are all in scarce supply. You and your tribe are pitted against up to three other tribes in a fight for survival. Build up your tribe, skirmish against other players head-to-head, or even bluff your way to victory. The player with the largest tribe at the end of the game is declared the winner! Game Play Overview The game involves two essential activities: gathering available resources (tools, medicine, or mercenaries) and skirmishing against other players in order to win special contested resources (such as Tribal Families or special weapons). A key element to the game is that players are constantly making decisions with limited information. Contested resources are not revealed to other players when they are won. Other resources that are gathered are also hidden. And when players engage in a skirmish, they will know the quantity of cards from other players, but the actual power of those cards will not be known until it is too late to change a decision. Play continues until all contested resources have been captured. At this point, each player adds up the number of people within their tribe. The player with the largest tribe wins! Contents 1 Rule Sheet 1 Junkyard Mat 1 Contested Resources Mat 144 Playing Cards Game Setup Arctic Scavengers supports between 3 and 5 players. Each player receives the following: 4 Tribe Member cards

3 3 Scavenger cards 1 Brawler card 1 Spear card 1 Shovel card Any additional Tribe Member cards should be removed from play. The remaining cards should be sorted into three categories: contested resources (CR), junkyard (JY), and mercenaries. Cards with a CR in the corner should be shuffled together and placed face-down to form the Contested Resources pile. Cards with a JY should be shuffled together and will form the junkyard pile (also placed face-down). The remaining cards (mercenary cards with a blue title) should be sorted into their respective piles (8 in total) and placed face-up on the play surface. Each player should shuffle his/her deck of 10 cards and place it face-down in front of him/her. Randomly select a player and hand them the Initiator card. This player will serve as The Initiator for the first round. Playing the Game Arctic Scavengers follows a simple order of play: Drawing Phase 1) Each player draws 5 cards from the top of his/her deck, shuffling the discard pile and adding it to the deck as needed 2) Starting with the third round, the Initiator peeks at the top card on the Contested Resources stack and then returns it to the stack Resource Gathering Phase 3) The Initiator takes the first action and uses 0-5 cards to gather resources 4) The Initiator announces how many cards will remain for the skirmish 5) Play passes to each subsequent player, in turn and they repeat steps #3 and #4 Skirmish Phase (Round 3 and following) 6) Once all players have taken their resource gathering actions, then players reveal their remaining cards for the skirmish and a winner is determined 7) The winner of the skirmish takes the top card from the Contested Resources pile and adds it to his/her discard pile 8) The Initiator card is passed to the player on the left, starting a new round 9) Play continues like this until the last Contested Resource card is won No Skirmish until the Third Round Play begins with two rounds of resource gathering (digging in the junk yard, hunting for food, hiring mercenaries, etc.) and no skirmishing. This allows each player to get a solid foundation prior to skirmishing over contested resources. Peeking at the Contested Resources Starting on the third round, the Initiator views the top card from the Contested Resources pile. The player does not reveal this card to other players. The card is then returned, face-down, to the top of the deck. This provides the first player of each round with special insight regarding what resource will be fought over during the Skirmish Phase. Gathering Resources The first phase of each round involves gathering resources. There are three primary resource gathering actions: dig, hunt, and hire. Dig allows the player to retrieve cards from the junkyard, hunt creates food (used as currency during that round), and hire uses a combination of food from

4 hunting and medicine from the player s hand to serve as currency for hiring mercenaries to join the player s tribe. Announcing Cards Cards not used for resource gathering are saved for the Skirmish. After a player has performed his/her resource gathering, the quantity remaining should be announced and the cards laid on the play surface, face-down. Bluffing Sometimes a player has additional tools that can not be used, or Tribe Member / Family cards that have no tools. The player should carry these into the Skirmish anyway. This presents an apparently stronger hand to opponents and may impact the decisions that they make. Revealing Cards for a Skirmish The simple answer for resolving skirmishes is that the player with the highest Attack score wins. The more complex answer involves totaling the attack abilities of each tribe member, adding modifiers, and factoring in special actions such as Disarm and Snipe (explained later). Winning the Game When the final Contested Resource card has been won, then the game is over. Each player tallies the number of people in his/her deck to determine the size of their tribe. Each card clearly indicates how many people it represents within the tribe (numbers range from 0 5). The player with the largest tribe is the winner. In the event of a tie, the player with the most CR cards wins. If there is still a tie, then the largest deck size determines the winner. Core Rules Arctic Scavengers abides by a handful of basic rules. Detailed rules will follow, but these form the core rule set. Multiple actions may be taken per round Multiple cards increase the potency of an action Players may only perform a given action (dig/hunt/draw/hire/etc.) once per round Once a card has been used to perform an action, it may not perform another action that round Tools, weapons, and any other cards with a modifier (i.e. +1, +2, +4) must be combined with another card that has the base ability in order to be useful Only one tool card may be equipped by a person card, even if that card represents multiple persons All cards not used by a player are placed in the player s discard pile at the end of the round When a player needs to draw more cards than are available in his/her deck, then his/her discard pile is shuffled to create a new deck. Game Details Now that you understand the game flow, this section describes in detail the various actions that are available and the game scenarios that players are likely to encounter. Game Actions There are two categories of action in the game: free actions and card-based actions. Free Actions (no card required to grant this ability) Hire Add one card from the mercenary supply pile to the player s discard pile (paying for it with hunted food and meds cards played from the player s hand) Trash Cards are taken from the player s hand and placed at the bottom of the junkyard pile

5 Card Actions (one or more cards must grant this ability) In order to take a card action, the player must be able to play one or more cards that are capable of performing that action (as designated on the card) and the value for that action must be 1 or greater. Attack This action can only be taken during the Skirmish phase (not the Resource Gathering Phase) Dig Cards are drawn from the Junkyard, the player may keep 0 or 1, placing the kept card in the discard pile and others in the Junkyard Disarm Blocks the use of one other player s tool or weapon Draw Cards are drawn from the player s deck and added to the player s hand Hunt Generates food to be used as currency to perform a Hire action Modify Increases the power of other actions Snipe Blocks the use of one other player s person card (mercenary, tribe member / family, etc.) Resource Gathering Phase During this phase, each player plays 0-5 cards from his/her hand in order to collect more resources (cards). Gathering starts with the player that has the Initiator card (lying on the table in front of the player) and play passes to the left. There is no limit to the number of actions that a player can take during the resource gathering phase, although no action may be taken more than once. Hire A mercenary card is taken from the face-up piles of cards. The player must be able to pay the cost displayed on the card. There are two currencies: food and medicine (meds). Food is created in real-time using the Hunt action (described below). Meds are provided in the form of cards (Syringe or Med Kit) that must be played from the players hand in order to complete the purchase of a mercenary. Medicine cards do not require an associated person to spend. Only one mercenary card may be hired per round and this card is immediately added to the discard pile. Dig One or more cards is drawn from the top of the Junkyard pile. The player may choose to place one in his/her discard pile and return any other cards to the bottom of the Junkyard pile. The number of cards is determined by the sum of all the Dig numbers displayed on the card(s) played from the player s hand. For example: A player lays a Brawler card down on the play surface in front of her and declares a Dig action. Since a Brawler has a Dig of 1, then one card is drawn from the Junkyard and placed in the player s discard. If the player were to also play a Shovel, then the combined Dig score would be a 3. This would result in drawing 3 cards from the Junkyard, selecting one to keep (discard pile) and returning 2 to the bottom of the Junkyard. Draw Allows the player to draw one or more cards from the player s deck into his/her hand. Multiple cards may be combined to draw more cards into the player s hand. As with other actions, this may only be used once per round. For example: A player lays a Scout with a draw of 2 and a Sled with a draw of 2 on the play surface. This combination enables the player to draw 4 cards from his/her deck and place them in his/her hand. Hunt The hunt ability generates food during the round that can then be used as currency for purchasing a single mercenary card. The number of food generated is determined based upon the sum of all Hunt abilities played from the player s hand. Tools can be equipped by mercenaries to improve their hunt ability.

6 For example: A player lays down two Scavenger cards and a Spear card. Each Scavenger has a Hunt of 1 and the Spear grants one of those Scavengers an additional Hunt of 1. The combined Hunt score is 3. This generates 3 food that can be spent this round to purchase ( hire ) a card. Trash The trash ability is a free action (no card is needed to grant this action) that allows players to place any number of cards from the player s hand and add them to the junkyard supply pile. The player DOES NOT draw cards from his/her deck to replace these cards. Shuffling the Junkyard Throughout the course of the game, cards may be added to the Junkyard. This can occur when players use the Trash action (see above) or when a draw occurs while skirmishing for a Contested Resource (see below). Each time that 1 or more cards are added to the Junkyard, they should be added face-down and the entire Junkyard deck shuffled. Using Tools Each player starts with two tools a Spear and a Shovel. Additional tools can be found by digging in the Junkyard. Tools cannot perform actions on their own (these are inanimate, non-possessed objects after all). Tools must always be connected with a person card (mercenary or tribe member/family) in order to be effective and only one tool can be used by a person in a given round. Moreover, both the person and tool must have the ability in question. For example: A Scavenger (Attack 1 / Dig 1 / Hunt 1) could be combined with a Shovel (Attack +1 / Dig +2) to achieve a Dig of 3. If the player would rather use the Scavenger to Hunt, the Shovel could not be used to Dig unless the player possesses another person card (perhaps a Tribe Member) capable of digging that could be paired with the Shovel. NOTE: Sleds are NOT considered tools (no person required). Playing Multiple Cards Playing multiple cards for a given action improves the results. This could involve playing multiple people (tribe member/family or mercenaries) or people combined with tools. The total of all cards played is used to perform that action (provided that the total is 1 or greater). Taking Multiple Actions Although many cards support multiple actions, once a card has been played for a given action it cannot be used for another action during that round. For example: If a player plays a Tribe Member card, this can be used to either dig in the Junkyard or hunt for food. Under no circumstances could the card grant both actions. Reserving Cards for the Skirmish Phase One significant aspect to Arctic Scavengers is the element of surprise and concept of bluffing. As players make decisions in the game, they do so with limited information. No where is this more apparent than in the lead up to the Skirmish. Each player reserves cards until the Skirmish (placed face-down in clear view of all players). During the Skirmish, these cards are revealed (see Skirmish Phase ). Skirmish Phase Once the final player has completed their resource gathering action, the Skirmish phase begins. Each player reveals the cards that they have saved for the Skirmish and the sum of the Attack

7 values from all of a player s cards represents the strength of that player s attack. All rules related to tool usage also apply to tools used as weapons during the Skirmish phase (see Using Tools above). Skirmishes are resolved by starting with the Initiator and having he/she declare any actions performed by his/her units (including saboteurs and sniper teams). Play then passes to the next player to declare actions for his/her units (provided that they were not sniped or disarmed by the previous player). This continues until all skirmish actions have been resolved. Then the total remaining attack values are added up and the player with the highest attack value wins. The winning player draws the top card from the Contested Resources supply pile and adds it to his/her discard pile (this card should not be revealed). In the event of a tie, the number of people involved in the skirmish is used to break a tie (this includes Tribe Members and Tribe Families that may not be directly contributing to the Attack score). If players are still tied, then the Skirmish is considered a draw. The top card from the Contested Resource pile is placed (without looking at it) into the Junkyard pile. The Junkyard is shuffled and the round ends. Pass the Initiator card and begin a new round. CR = Contested Resource Card Details JY = Junkyard * = Starting Card Mercenary Cards Brawler(*) A flexible unit with an emphasis upon attack. Hunter A unit that can hunt or attack. Group Leaders A multi-purpose unit that can increase the effectiveness of one other unit by modifying an action. Saboteur A specialized attack unit that renders one opponent s tool (shovel, spear, Wolf Pack, Grenade, etc.) as ineffective for that round. This card may be used during the resource gathering phase OR the skirmish phase. The saboteur is used to attack one other player and prevent them from using a single tool (the attacking player must declare). This card is played from the player s hand and the Saboteur card is discarded after performing the disarm. Scavenger (*) A weak, but flexible unit. Scout A flexible unit that can draw or attack. Sniper Team A specialized attack unit that renders one opponent s person card (mercenary or tribe member/family) ineffective for that round. If multiple players are involved in a skirmish, the sniper still can only target a single opponent s card (rather than one card per opponent). The Sniper Team may be used during the resource gathering phase OR the skirmish phase to snipe an opponent s card. This action is played from the player s hand and the Sniper Team card is discarded afterwards. Thugs A unit that specializes in attack. Other People Cards Raiding Party (CR) A unit that specializes in attack. Tribe Family (CR) Represents 3-5 people (very important for winning the game). Can equip tools to Attack or Hunt, or can be used during the Skirmish to break a tie. Tribe Member (*) A weak unit that can dig or hunt if equipped with a tool. May also help break a Skirmish tie.

8 Tool / Weapon Cards With the exception of the Sled, these cards can modify an action, they cannot grant an action outright. Grenades (CR) An extremely potent weapon Multi-tool (JY) A flexible tool that can modify any action Net (JY) Hunting tool with limited attack ability Pickaxe (JY) Attack tool with limited digging ability Sled (CR) Enables more cards to be drawn from the deck Shovel (JY / *) Digging tool with limited attack ability Spear (JY / *) Attack tool with limited hunting ability Wolf Pack (CR) Powerful hunting and strong attack ability Medicine Cards Medicine is played from the player s hand as currency to complete a hire action. No person card is required to use meds and meds cannot be increased by a modify action. Medkit (JY) Serves as two meds when hiring mercenaries Syringe (JY) Serves as one med when hiring mercenaries Frequently Asked Questions How much does it cost to hire Thugs? Thugs can be hired using any combination of food and meds totaling 6 units. What are you supposed to do with Junk cards? Sometimes players dig junk out of the junkyard. Players do not have to hold onto these cards. They may immediately discard them at the bottom of the junkyard (they do not get another dig). What units can Leaders modify? The leader can add two points to any Attack, Dig, Hunt, or Draw action. The only action a leader cannot modify is Disarm and Snipe. Note that medicine cards (Syringe / Medkit) cannot be modified. Can Group Leaders, Snipers, or Saboteurs carry weapons? No. A card must have the Attack ability in to carry a weapon. Do Group Leaders count as a weapon/tool when counting equipment limits? No. A person card could use a weapon/tool AND have a leader increase their action. Can Group Leaders increase a Tribe Family or Tribe Member? Yes. A Tribe Member / Family combined with a Leaders card becomes capable of Dig / Hunt or Attack / Hunt. What can a Saboteur attack? Any tool/weapon (see above). What can a Sniper Team attack? Sniper teams can only attack people (i.e. card with a person value of 1 or more).

9 What happens to the tools/weapons held by sniped people? After a snipe action is performed, the sniped player may rearrange the available tools as desired. For example: Player 1 s Brawler is holding a Grenade (+4 Attack) and gets sniped by Player 2. Player 1 also has a Scavenger in play holding a spear (+2 Attack). The Scavenger drops the spear in favor of the Grenade. How is a skirmish resolved when multiple saboteurs and/or sniper teams are in play? Skirmishes are resolved by starting with the Initiator and having he/she declare any actions performed by his/her units (including saboteurs and sniper teams). Play then passes to the next player to declare actions for his/her units. If a player with a higher turn order snipes another sniper or snipes a saboteur of a lower turn order, then those units will not have an opportunity to exercise their special abilities. Sniping a sniper or saboteur of a higher turn order will only impact the number of people for the purposes of breaking a tie. For example: The Initiator used a Saboteur to disarm Player 3 s Grenade. Player 2 has no special actions. Player 3 uses a Sniper Team to snipe the Initiator s Saboteur. Doing so reduces the number of people that the Initiator has, but does not prevent the disarm action from occurring. Player 4 then uses his/her Sniper Team to snipe Player 5 s Sniper Team. Player 5 will not be able to use his/her Sniper Team this round. Can Wolf Packs and Raiding Parties operate independently? The Wolf Pack cannot since it is a modifier card (notice the +Attack / +Hunt). The Raiding Party can act independently (no modifiers, also it is a person card). Sample Round Walkthrough Player 1 draws Brawler (Attack 2 / Dig 1), Shovel (Attack +1 / Dig +2), 2 Tribe Members (Dig 0 / Hunt 0), Syringe (Meds 1) Player 1 performs a Dig action, using a Tribe Member and a Shovel for a Dig of 2. Two cards are drawn from the Junkyard a Net (Attack 1 / Hunt 2) and Junk (nothing). The player takes the Net card, places it in his/her discard pile, and places the other card on the bottom of the junkyard. The player clears the playing surface, taking the Tribe Member and Shovel cards and placing them in his/her discard pile. The player then announces that three cards are being reserved for the Skirmish phase (Brawler, Tribe Member, and Syringe) and places these two cards face-down on the table. Player 2 draws Scavenger (Attack 1 / Dig 1 / Hunt 1), Spear (Attack +2 / Hunt +1), 2 Tribe Members (Dig 0 / Hunt 0), and Tribe Family (Attack 0 / Hunt 0) Player 2 performs a Dig action, using a Scavenger for a Dig of 1. The player also performs a Hunt action, using a Tribe Member and a Spear for a Hunt of 1. The player draws 1 card from the Junkyard (Dig of 1) and places that card face-down in the discard pile. The player then uses the 1 food generated by the Hunt action to purchase a Scavenger card (cost is 1 food) and places this card face-down in the discard pile. This leaves a Tribe Family and Tribe Member cards for the Skirmish phase. These cards are incapable of competing during the Skirmish phase in the absence of a tool that grants an attack bonus (no attack can be made unless the Attack total is at least 1). The player does not communicate this however. Instead, the player bluffs and declares that two cards are going to the Skirmish. Player 3 draws Scavenger (Attack 1 / Dig 1 / Hunt 1), Scavenger (Attack 1 / Dig 1 / Hunt 1), Spear (Attack +2 / Hunt +1), Shovel (Attack +1 / Dig +2), and Med Kit (Meds 2) Player 3 performs a Hunt action, using a Scavenger and a Spear for a Hunt of 2. This generates two food to purchase a mercenary card. The player also plays a Med Kit card, representing two meds. The player then initiates a Hire action, with two food and two meds to spend on a single purchase. In this case, the player chooses to purchase a Scout (Attack 2 / Draw 2). The Scout card and all cards played are placed

10 on the player s discard pile. The player then announces that two cards are being reserved for the Skirmish (a Scavenger and a Shovel) and places these cards face-down on the table. Player 4 draws Scavenger (Attack 1 / Dig 1 / Hunt 1), Tribe Member (Dig 0 / Hunt 0), Tribe Member (Dig 0 / Hunt 0), Net (Attack +1, Hunt +2), and Syringe (Meds 1) Player 4 performs a Hire action and places the Syringe card on the table. Using this medicine, a Hunter card is hired and is placed face-down in the discard pile. The Syringe card is also placed on the discard pile. The player then announces that the remaining four cards are being reserved for the Skirmish. Now the Skirmish phase begins and each player reveals their cards and combines their attack values. Player 1 has an Attack of 2 (Brawler contributes 2 and Tribe Member does not have an attack score). Player 2 has an Attack of 0 (Tribe Member and Tribe Family have an attack score of zero and there are no tools in play to increase this). Player 3 has an Attack of 2 (provided by the Scavenger wielding a Shovel). Finally, Player 4 has an Attack of 2 (Scavenger contributes 1, Net contributes 1, and the two Tribe Members contribute nothing). In this case, Players 1 and 4 are tied with an Attack of 2. The tie is broken based upon the number of people involved in the Skirmish. This tips the scale in favor of Player 4 who brought 3 people to the fight (a Brawler and two Tribe Members).