Goal
A storm is coming up the valley. Light all six beacons along the ridge before it blows past the far end, and the valley below gets its warning. Miss one and everybody loses: this is a game you win or lose together.
The ridge
Eight sites run west to east. The camp at the west end has the biggest woodpile and no beacon; one other site has no beacon either. Every site has some wood, and the far end always has a beacon.
Each beacon asks for a different amount of wood (2, 3 or 4), and the number sits under it on the ridge. The six always want 18 between them, but a hungry beacon over a bare stretch is the corner that loses games, and no two ridges put them in the same place.
Your turn
Each keeper has 3 actions on their turn. Any of these costs one:
- Walk one site along the ridge (tap it).
- Gather wood here (2 from a dry pile, 1 from a storm-soaked one). You can carry 4; Sorrel carries 5.
- Light the beacon here, spending the wood it asks for. It must be dry.
- Dry a soaked beacon here, so it can be lit again.
- Your power: each keeper has a different one, and nobody else can use it.
You can stop early with End turn, but the storm moves either way, so spare actions are wasted.
The keepers
The storm
- After every keeper's turn the storm gains ground. The line above the ridge always says which site it reaches next and how many turns that takes.
- When it reaches a site, an unlit beacon there is soaked: somebody has to dry it before it can be lit. Its woodpile is wet too, and gives only 1 wood per gather.
- Lit beacons keep burning. The storm can't put them out.
- When the storm blows past the far end of the ridge with a beacon still dark, the game is lost.
Everything is open
There are no hidden cards or secret hands: everyone sees the whole ridge, all the wood and every keeper. Talk it over. What stops one player deciding everything is that only Ash can spark a wet beacon, only Wren can run three sites, only Sorrel can strip three piles at once and only Brann can build a windbreak.
Playing together
- On your own: you run two keepers (or one, three or four, as you choose).
- Two to four on one device: each of you takes one keeper and passes the phone along.
- With a friend online: two keepers, one each. ⋯ → Play a friend online.
- Stuck? ⋯ → Suggest a move marks one good move. It never plays for you.
Tips
- Never arrive at a beacon empty-handed: pick the wood up on the way.
- Lighting a beacon before the storm reaches it saves the action it costs to dry it later.
- The far beacon is the one that loses games. Send somebody east early.