How to Play Caverna: Frantic Fiends

Game Objective

In Caverna: Frenzied Orcs, terrifying creatures, the invading orcs, are roaming the forests of Caverna, plundering fields and pastures and threatening the dwarf families. The main objective is to get rid of these orcs as quickly as possible, before they invade your cavern, steal your riches, and hold your family members hostage. The faster you defeat the orcs, the better your reward. Players must arm themselves to face these orcs and bring peace to their lands, while competing with other dwarf families for limited resources. In addition to fighting, it is possible to bribe the orcs or even make them allies.

Setup

1. Game Area:
   • Prepare the game boards with the action spaces following the base game rules.
   • Cover the "Housework" action space with the "Housework" action space card from this expansion.
   • Cover the "Ore Mining" action space with the appropriate side of the "Ore Mining" action space card from this expansion (one side for 1-3 players; the other for 4-7 players).
   • Flip the "Armory" action space card from this expansion to the appropriate side and place it on the game board.
     • With 1-3 players, cover the "Wood Gathering" action space. Return the "Fell Trees" and "Imitation" action space cards to the box.
     • With 4-7 players, use the "Armory" and "Fell Trees" action space cards from this expansion to cover the "Imitation", "Fell Trees", and "Forest Exploration" spaces, and place the "Imitation" action space card near the board.
   • Using the new "Build Ore Mine", "Build Ruby Mine", and "Wish for Children" action space cards from this expansion in place of the cards with the same name from the base game, prepare the action space card pile following the base game rules. (In 1-2 player games, remove the "Exploration" action space card from the pile.)
2. Harvest Markers:
   • Do not use the base game's harvest markers.
   • Place a harvest marker with the orc symbol on round spaces 3 and 6, face up.
   • With 1-2 players, return one harvest marker without the orc symbol to the box.
   • Shuffle the remaining harvest markers and distribute them, face down, on spaces 7-12, skipping space 9 in 1-2 player games.
3. Orc Event Boards:
   • Do not use the base game's "Harvest Events" card.
   • Place the 4 orc event boards in sequence near the game boards.
   • Shuffle the 6 bribe markers and place one, face up, on the appropriate space of each orc event board. (Return the remaining two bribe markers to the box.)
4. Supply Boards:
   • Do not use the base game's supply boards.
   • Place the new supply board base near the game boards.
   • Randomly select one supply board extension per player and place the selected extensions near the base, forming a large supply board. (Return the remaining extensions to the box.)
   • Place the furniture and trap pieces displayed on the appropriate spaces of the supply board. Place all dwellings and, for each other piece that has more than one copy, place one of these pieces per player.
5. Reward Board:
   • Place the bottom frame near the game boards.
   • Shuffle the long reward board strips and attach a random selection of them, based on the number of players, to the bottom frame piece and to each other, as indicated on the bottom frame piece.
     • 1 player: 1 strip
     • 2 players: 2 strips
     • 3 players: 3 strips
     • 4 players: 4 strips
     • 5 players: 5 strips
     • 6-7 players: 5 strips
   • Repeat this step with the short reward board strips, attaching one to the right of each long strip. (The numbers on the back of the strips do not need to match!)
   • Then, attach the top frame to complete the reward board. Return any remaining reward strips of any size to the box.
   • Place the yellow furniture pieces on the short strips, as indicated on them.
6. Separate the movement cards according to the numbers on their backs and place them near the players.
7. Place all goods, terrain pieces, weapon strength markers, and any other common components nearby.

Personal Game Areas

1. Prepare your personal game areas following the base game rules.
2. Do not use the base game's summary cards. Instead, take the new "Expedition Loot" and "Harvest Time/Rubies" summary cards from this expansion.
3. Take the four orc markers in your color. On the forest side of your home board, place "Orc A" in the top left space, "Orc B" in the top center space, and "Orc C" in the top right space. Leave the "Orc D" marker nearby; it will be used later.
4. Take an "Orc Strength" alignment card. Collectively decide which side of the card will be used in this game. Then, place strength markers from the card on the card's spaces, as shown on them. (One side shows orcs with 5, 7, 9, and 12 strength; the other side shows more challenging orcs, with 7, 9, 11, and 14 strength.)
5. Choose the starting player in any way you prefer and distribute the starting food to each player following the base game rules.

Game Flow

The game CAVERNA: FRENZIED ORCS can be played with 1-7 players. Unless otherwise stated, play the game following the base game rules. The following rules apply to all player counts (including solo).

At the beginning of the game, there are three orcs occupying the three forest spaces in the top row of your home boards. These orcs will move during each of the four orc events, removing your animals and crops. Eventually, the orcs may enter your cavern, stealing rubies and ore from your mines and holding your dwarves hostage. After the second orc event concludes, a fourth orc will enter play — the most powerful of all.

Orc Events

There are 8 harvest markers on the game board, 4 of which are orc events. This is when the orcs on your home board move and cause chaos. The first and second orc events always happen at the end of rounds 3 and 6, respectively. The third and fourth orc events happen sometime between rounds 7-12, when the remaining harvest markers with the orc symbol appear.

There are four orc event boards near the game board that detail what happens during each event and how the subsequent harvest is affected. They also show which resources are needed for you to bribe or push the orcs. This information is available from the start of the game. The orc event boards are activated in numerical order by the harvest markers with the orc symbol (the first harvest marker activates board #1, the second activates board #2, etc.).

During each orc event, the orcs are activated one after the other, in alphabetical order. For each remaining hostile orc on your home board, you must follow the following three steps in order:

1. Draw a Movement Card: Shuffle the appropriate deck of movement cards, as indicated by the current orc event board, and have each player draw a card from it. If the active orc is no longer in your forest, you do not need to draw a movement card for it. Place the drawn card face up in front of you; it shows the movement pattern of the active orc; the deck number indicates how many steps it moves in that pattern. Rotate the card so that the mountain illustration is on the right side of the card. If the active orc is already inside your cavern, skip this step.
2. Bribe or Push the Orc: Before the orc follows its movement pattern, you can bribe it or push it to another space.
   • To bribe the orc, pay any amount of goods of the type displayed on the bribe marker of the current event board and reduce the strength of the active orc by an equal amount, replacing its strength marker on the alignment card accordingly. If you reduce its strength to 0, the orc is considered defeated and you receive the usual benefits: a bonus from the reward board or gold.
   • Additionally, or instead, if the active orc is still in your forest, you can pay the push cost printed on the current orc event board to push the orc a maximum of one space in any direction, including diagonally.
     • If you push the orc into an eligible trap, the trap immediately triggers.
     • If you push the orc into a space with animals or crops, the orc will remove them.
     • If you push the orc into a space with another orc, nothing happens.
     • If you push the orc into your cavern (through the entrance), the orc will immediately occupy a space in your cavern according to the "Invasion" rules.
3. Move the Orc: Finally, if the active orc is still in the forest and has not been captured by a containment trap, you must move that orc according to the movement pattern displayed on the drawn movement card. Movement always starts from the orc's current position. You must perform each step of the pattern individually, one after the other.
   • The orc can move to any space in the forest, even if it is occupied by another orc.
   • The orc cannot leave the forest boundaries and can only move into your cavern through the entrance. If a step on the movement card is illegal, move the orc one space down — or if that is also not possible — one space to the right.
   • If the orc moves into a planted field, immediately remove all crops from the field.
   • If the orc moves into a pasture or a space containing animals, immediately remove all animals from that pasture or space.
   • The orc does not destroy any of your structures.
   • If the orc moves into an eligible trap, the trap immediately triggers. If the orc is defeated or trapped by the trap, its movement is interrupted.
   • If the orc moves into your cavern, it will immediately occupy a space in your cavern according to the "Invasion" rules.

Orc D

At the end of the second orc event, Orc D will randomly appear in the top row of the forest. To determine its exact place, take all cards from one of the movement card decks (1, 2, or 3) and shuffle them. Deal one card to each player, which will determine the space where the orc will appear, as indicated by the symbol in the top left corner of the card (left, center, or right space of the top forest row).

Invasion

At the end of the fourth orc event, after the last movement, all remaining orcs in your forest will enter your cavern and occupy a space. This invasion is inevitable. The orcs may invade earlier, during the second or third orc event, if they move into the cavern naturally, through the entrance.

For each invading orc, in alphabetical order, determine a space in your cavern that is not occupied by another orc according to the following preferences:

1. The ruby mine with the most rubies (including 0).
2. The ore mine with the most ore (including 0).
3. The furniture piece with the highest printed point value.
4. Any empty cavern.
5. Any empty tunnel, preferably a deep tunnel.

In case of a tie, the orc will preferentially occupy a space that is accommodating an animal, a dwarf, or a friendly orc. If the tie persists, you can decide which space will be occupied.

When an orc occupies a space in your cavern, you lose all benefits of that space:

• If there are resources and/or a donkey in an occupied mine, return them to the general supply.
• If there is a dwarf or friendly orc in an occupied dwelling, the hostile orc will hold them hostage.
• If there are multiple dwarves in an occupied dwelling, the orc will hold the weakest of them hostage, but a maximum of one dwarf.
• If an occupied furniture piece has an effect, you can no longer use that effect.
• If an empty cavern or tunnel is occupied, you cannot place a piece there.

If there are more invading orcs than eligible spaces in your cavern, all