Dominant Species
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Six species of animals battle to be the dominant species on Earth.
See it on BGG
Setup
Each player either chooses or is randomly dealt an animal and gets all of the pieces of their animal’s colour.
In reverse Food Chain order, players place their animal’s initiative marker into the boxes under Initiative.
Place 1 tile of each terrain type on the board. Place a Tundra tile atop the Sea tile.
Shuffle the remaining terrain tiles and divide them into 3 face down stacks of 8 each. Place these on Wanderlust.
Remove the Ice Age card from the Dominance deck and shuffle the remaining cards. Place Ice Age on the bottom.
Draw the top 5 Dominance cards and place them in the available Dominance cards section.
Take 2 elements of each type and place them on the tiles as shown on the board.
Draw 4 elements from the bag and place them on the spaces for each of Adaptation, Abundance, and Wanderlust.
Each player discards cubes (species) and cylinders (APs) to reach the following numbers in hand:
6P: 3 cylinders, 35 cubes.
5P: 4 cylinders, 40 cubes.
4P: 5 cylinders, 45 cubes.
3P: 6 cylinders, 50 cubes.
2P: 7 cylinders, 55 cubes.
Each player places 1 cube on the 0 space of the VP track.
Each player places their species from their gene pool and places them as follows:
Insects: 2 on Savannah, 1 on Wetland and Desert.
Arachnids: 2 on Jungle, 1 on Forest and Wetland.
Amphibians: 2 on Wetland, 1 on Jungle and Savannah.
Birds: 2 on Forest, 1 on Mountain and Jungle.
Reptiles: 2 on Desert, 1 on Savannah and Mountain.
Mammals: 2 on Mountain, 1 on Desert and Forest.
Endangered Species
Any species on a tile where its animal matches zero elements is endangered.
Endangered species cannot claim dominance.
Gameplay
When an animal is added to earth, it comes from the player’s Gene Pool.
When an animal is removed from earth (besides Glaciation) it is returned to the box, not the Gene Pool.
Planning Phase
In player order, players take turns placing APs on eyeball spaces to select their actions.
Execution Phase
Carry out the actions in order from top to bottom, left to right.
Actions are never mandatory. A player may choose to not perform the action when it is their turn to play.
Sections are never skipped if there are no APs on them; always resolve their end effect if applicable.
Reset Phase
Extinction
Eliminate all endangered animals from earth.
Mammal player may save 1 endangered species from extinction, keeping it on the board.
Survival
Player with most species on Tundra tiles takes Survival card and gets bonus VP based on number of tiles occupied.
Nobody gets tile when tied.
Reseed
Refill Domination cards. Will not refill once deck runs out.
Slide any APs in Glaciation left.
Remove all elements from Regression, Depletion, and Wanderlust.
Slide elements in Wasteland down to Depletion.
Slide elements in Abundance down to Wasteland.
Slide elements in Adaptation down to Regression.
Draw 4 elements and fill each of Adaptation, Abundance, and Wanderlust.
Reveal the top tile of each Terrain stack if not already revealed.
End of the Game
Game ends when Ice Age is used.
Finish off any remaining Domination actions.
Perform final Extinction and score Survival card as normal.
Remove all Domination markers from earth.
Score each tile.
Break ties closest to top of food chain.
2-Player / 3-Player Game
Each player controls 3 animals (2P) or 2 animals (3P).
Get pieces as though playing a 6P game.
Each animal scores independently.
Each animal is considered to be opposing, even if you control it.
Lowest of your controlled animals is VP you end the game with.
Actions
Initiative
Swap your initiative marker with the animal directly to the left.
Place the AP marker that was on the eyeball into any vacant eyeball space.
Adaptation
Select 1 element and add it to your animal.
If you already have 6 elements, discard the chosen element token.
Regression
Remove an element from the Regression box.
Reptiles get 1 free action at end.
After all APs resolved, each animal loses 1 element for each type still left in the Regression box.
Abundance
Place any element from Abundance and place it on any tile’s vacant hex corner.
Wasteland
Remove an element from the Wasteland box.
Remove all elements from Tundra tiles that match the element types still left in the Wasteland box.
Depletion
Select any 1 element on earth that matches an element in the Depletion box and remove it.
Glaciation
Only resolve the AP in the first space. All other APs must wait until a future turn when they slide down.
Select a non-Tundra tile that is adjacent to at least 1 other Tundra tile and place a new Tundra tile on top.
Remove all elements from earth that are surrounded by 3 Tundra tiles.
Gain bonus VP based on number of Tundra tiles that are adjacent to the newly-placed Tundra tile.
Each animal on the Tundra tile may only keep 1 species there; rest are returned to their Gene Pool (not the box).
Speciation
Choose 1 element on earth that matches the element on your AP space.
Place species on tiles surrounding the chosen element based on their terrain type as shown on the board.
After all APs resolved, Insect may place 1 species anywhere on earth
Wanderlust
Select 1 of the face up Wanderlust Terrain tiles.
Select any vacant hex next to at least 1 other occupied hex and place your hex there.
Select 1 of the available Wanderlust elements and place it on any vacant corner of the hex you just placed.
Gain bonus VP based on number of existing tiles that are adjacent to the newly-placed tile.
In Food Chain order, every player may move any number of species from adjacent hexes to this new hex.
Migration
Select up to the indicated number of your species anywhere on earth and move them to an adjacent tile.
Move species one-at-a-time.
Birds may move up to 2 spaces instead of 1.
Competition
Arachnid player gets a free Competition on any Terrain type.
Choose up to 1 tile of each Terrain type shown that contains your species and at least 1 opposing species.
Eliminate any 1 opposing species from each chosen tile.
Domination
Select 1 tile on earth that has not been scored this turn and score it based on who has the most species there.
Break ties in descending Food Chain order (mammals first).
If there is a dominant animal on that tile, they must select and execute a Dominance card, then discard the card.
Credit:
Keith Rudolph