Explorers of the Woodlands

Core Setup

1. Heroes: Each player chooses a Hero and takes their board, Power card, and meeple. Place one red cube on Health (starting value: 5) and one blue cube on Orbs (starting value: 0).
2. Forest Map: Place the Start tile in the center. Shuffle the Forest tiles, then shuffle the Boss tile into the bottom two tiles of the stack so the Boss appears near the end.
3. Decks: Shuffle and place separately: Monster markers, Loot cards, Event cards, Boss cards, and Thorns cards.

Solo play: use a two-Hero team.

Wildscale Swamps Expansion Setup

1. The River: Place the Swamp Start tile. Shuffle the 8 River tiles and lay them one by one to form a continuous stretch, ending with the Swamp Boss tile.
2. The Rowboat: Place it on the Swamp Start tile.
3. Revised Threat Track: At the end of each round, advance the blue cube one space for each player in the game (instead of once per round).

Begin Game

Objectives

WIN (Core): Find and defeat the Boss lurking in the forest.

WIN (Wildscale Swamps): Defeat two Bosses - one in the forest and one at the end of the river.

LOSE:

• The Threat Track cube moves beyond the last space, OR
• All Heroes are knocked down simultaneously.

New Expansion Components

• Hero: Athu the river otter.
• The Rowboat: Navigates the Swamp River.
• Brown Power Die: A new summoning option.
• Amulets: Positive permanent effects.
• Swamp Fevers: Negative effects.
• Advanced Unique Powers: A third power tier for each Hero.