Hunters and Gatherers v2 Base Game
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General info and comments
The second edition of Hunters and Gatherers was released by Hans im Glück in 2020. It is a clever tile placement game for 2-5 players, ages 8 and up.
"Thousands of years before the people of Carcassonne built mighty walls and castles, their ancestors settled the land. They hunted wild animals, gathered berries, and caught fish to ensure their daily survival and continued prosperity. Even today, fantastic cave paintings and prehistoric data testify to the vibrant life that existed many generations ago."
What follows is based on the English version ZMG rules from 2020, with any obvious errors corrected, and any variations from the original Hans im Glück version included as footnotes.
Contents
- 79 land tiles (including one starting tile) with forests (including some forests with menhirs (*)), rivers, and lakes with fish, surrounded by grassland with animals.
(*) A menhir is a massive stone block erected by prehistoric humans, |
- 16 bonus "Menhir" tiles
- 1 scoreboard
- 5 points tiles (50 on front, 100 on back)
- 30 tribe members in 5 colours
- 15 huts in 5 colors
- 24 covering markers
Overview
Each turn, you place land tiles to create a vast landscape of forests and grasslands. These grasslands include grazing animals, as well as rivers and lakes full of fish. You must strategically place your tribe members on these tiles to reap the bounty of the forests, grasslands, rivers, and lakes for your tribe. When you do, you will score points both during the game and at the end. After final scoring, the player with the most points wins the game!
Preparation
Place the starting tile (the back with a dark "C") faceup in the middle of the table. Separate the regular land tiles from the menhir tiles by back. Shuffle the menhir tiles and set them aside facedown in a stack. Shuffle the regular tiles and place them facedown in multiple stacks so that each player can easily reach at least 1 stack.
Place the scoreboard near the edge of the table, away from the starting tile.
Finally, each player gets Tribe Members (called "meeple(s)" in the rules). There are 30 meeples, 6 each in yellow, red, green, blue, and violet. There are also 15 huts, 3 in each colour.
Give each player 5 meeples and 3 huts in the colour of their choice.
Place the sixth meeple of each colour in use on the 0 space of the scoreboard. Return any unused meeples and huts to the box.
Playing the game
The youngest player takes the first turn, and play continues clockwise until the land tiles run out.
The current player performs the following actions in order, before continuing to the next player’s turn:
Rivers and Lakes
1. Place a Land Tile
2a. Place a Meeple as a Fisher on a River
2b. Place a Hut on a River or Lake
3. Scoring a river
These 3 steps are the general rules of the game. Other features have some important differences, explained below.
Forests
1. Place a land tile
2. Place a Meeple as a Gatherer on a Forest
3. Score a completed forest
Normal Forest Scoring A forest is completed when it is surrounded by grassland and has no internal gaps. If your gatherer is the only gatherer on the completed forest, you score 2 points for each tile comprising the completed forest. After scoring, return your meeple to your supply. | |
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You complete a forest containing a menhir. You score 8 points because the forest comprises 4 [2] tiles. Because you completed a forest with a menhir, you begin an extra turn. |
Menhirs
If you place a tile that completes a forest containing 1 or more menhirs, you take an extra turn[3], during which you place 1 of the set-aside menhir tiles. After scoring completed features during your current turn, begin an extra turn, drawing and placing a menhir tile from the menhir tile stack. As during a normal turn, you can place a meeple or a hut on the tile you just placed, and score any completed features. If you complete another forest containing 1 or more menhirs during an extra turn, you do not take an additional extra turn. You take only 1 extra turn, even if there are multiple menhirs in a completed forest. If there are no menhir tiles remaining in the menhir tile stack, you cannot take an extra turn. |
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Because you completed a forest containing a menhir, you begin an extra turn, drawing and placing a menhir tile. You place the tile and place a gatherer on the forest. The forest is now complete, and you score 6 points for the 3 tiles that comprise the forest. The completed forest also contains a menhir, but you cannot begin an extra turn during an extra turn, so your turn ends as normal. |
Menhir tiles are often more valuable than normal land tiles. Some menhir tiles have special actions associated with them; see Menhir Tiles. |
Grasslands
1. Place a land tile
2. Place a Meeple as a Hunter
These are the core rules you need to know to begin playing. See below for detailed clarifications on specific rules.
Summary
1. Place a land tile
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2. Place a Meeple or a Hut
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3. Score completed features
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Multiple meeples on the same feature
You could place your tile to extend the river with Blue’s fisher, but you would not be able to place your fisher on this tile. So, you decide to place your tile like so, and place your fisher on the empty river. | |
During a future turn, you draw this tile, and place it such that it connects the 2 rivers into a single larger river. Now there are 2 fishers on the same river. Because this river is now complete, it is scored. The river scores for 9 points (4 tiles and 5 fish), and you and Blue both score the full 9 points. | |
Hoping to claim this forest from Blue, you place your tile like so, and place a gatherer on the forest. The other gatherers on tiles nearby do not affect this placement, because they are all on separate forests. | |
During a future turn, you draw this tile and place it to connect the 3 previously separate forests into a single larger forest. Because you have the most meeples on this forest, you score 10 points for the completed forest, and Blue does not score any points. All 3 meeples are returned to their owners’ supplies, and you take an extra turn because you completed a forest with a menhir. |
End of the Game, Final Scoring, and Determining the Winner
When the last land tile (not menhir tile) is placed, the game ends at the end of that turn. When the game ends, resolve the following steps:
- Leave all huts and hunters on tiles.
- Remove all other meeples from tiles. No points are scored for incomplete forests and rivers.
Final Scoring
Scoring Huts on River Systems
The player with the most huts on each river system scores 1 point for each fish shown in that river system. If multiple players are tied for the most huts, each tied player scores the full points for that river system. River systems do not need to be complete to be scored.
Hut Scoring example
Scoring Hunters and Grasslands
Each hunter scores points based on the animals on its grassland.
The point value for each animal is shown on the scoreboard. A mammoth is worth 3 points, an aurochs 2 points, and a deer 1 point.
Saber-toothed tigers compete with hunters for prey. They hunt only deer, not mammoths or aurochs. For each saber-toothed tiger on a grassland, ignore 1 deer on that grassland.
To assist with scoring grasslands, use the covering markers to cover up pairs of tigers and deer. Then, score points for the remaining mammoths, aurochs, and deer. You do not lose points if there are more tigers than deer on a grassland.
If multiple players are tied for the most hunters on a grassland, each tied player scores the full points from that grassland. However, if one player has the most hunters, only they score from that grassland.
Grassland Scoring example
Grassland 1: 1 aurochs. Green scores 2 points
Grassland 2: 1 deer, 1 mammoth, 1 saber-toothed tiger. Red and Violet each score 3 points for the mammoth. The tiger and deer cancel each other out.
Grassland 3: 1 deer, 2 saber-toothed tigers. Blue does not score points, but does not lose points either.
Grassland 4: 2 mammoths, 2 aurochs, 2 deer, 1 saber-toothed tiger. Red has the most hunters, and scores 11 points (2 mammoths for 6 points, 2 aurochs for 4 points, and 1 deer for 1 point).
The player with the most points wins the game!
In the event of a tie, the tied players share the victory.
Menhir Tiles
Menhirs are found in forests, and when a forest with a menhir is completed, you take an extra turn in which you draw and place a menhir tile.
After placing a menhir tile, you can place a meeple or hut on it as normal.
Menhir tiles with more scoring opportunities
These tiles have more animals on their grasslands and more fish in their lakes and rivers. Otherwise, they function the same as normal land tiles.
Each group of mushrooms is worth 3 points when scoring a forest.
Menhir tiles with immediate actions
When you place a tile with an immediate action, you must immediately resolve the corresponding action.
You can place a meeple or hut on the tile, but are not required to do so to resolve the action.
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When you place the logboat, you immediately score 2 points per lake in this tile’s river system, including this tile.
This tile is not affected by huts present on the river system. |
Logboat Scoring example
Hunting Trap example
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When you place the shaman, you may [6] immediately return 1 of your meeples to your supply without scoring points.
It does not matter which tile this meeple is returned from. |
Menhir tiles that affect final scoring
These tiles modify the value of the river system or grassland they are connected to.
Pit Trap example
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The wildfire chases away all tigers on the connected grassland.
When resolving final scoring, cover all tigers on that grassland, but do not cover any deer. |
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The raft makes its river system more valuable.
In addition to scoring 1 point for each fish in this river system, the scoring player also scores 1 point for each lake in the system. |
Credits
Game Design: Klaus-Jürgen Wrede, Bernd Brunnhofer
Art: Marcel Gröber
Layout: Christof Tisch
English Rules Translation: Adam Marostica
Tile Distribution
Total Regular Tiles: 79
Total Bonus Tiles: 12
Total Points Tiles: 5
Footnotes
For Icons explanation and licensing please visit Icons page.
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The Hans im Glück rules, when translated, simply state "A menhir is a towering prehistoric stone block ..." but does not mention the origin of the name, which is from the Breton language.
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The ZMG version of the rules said "8" tiles - HiG version, and Dutch 999 Games version, correctly state "4".
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You don't have to have a follower in the forest to gain the extra turn, just be the one to close it.
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The Z-Man Games rules said "8 points" and "3" lakes - the Hans im Glück version correctly stated "4" lakes.
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Or you could score 7 points by placing your fisher on the river occupied by Blue's Hut! There's an extra fish on the river, hidden by the hut. Both HiG and ZMG versions don't consider this.
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An early version of the ZMG rules stated that you "must" remove 1 of your meeples from play, rather than "may".