How to play
- Every tribe starts with one nest (its capital) and a Duckling, in a corner of a map hidden by mist. Moving units clears the mist round them.
- Each turn you get crumbs: one per level of each nest you lead, plus one for your capital. Spend them on units, on working the land and on the reed tree.
- Tap a unit, then a white dot to move or a red ring to attack. Most units can move and then attack in one turn. Groves and hills stop a move, and so does stepping next to an enemy.
- To take a village or an enemy nest, move a unit onto it and, on your next turn, tap Take. Every nest you lead makes crumbs and trains units.
- Tap a tile inside your borders to work it: gather berries, catch fish, hunt frogs, plant rice paddies, dig flint quarries or build mills. Each adds ducks to the nest; enough ducks and it grows a level and you pick a reward, like a workshop, a reed wall or a Great Goose.
- A nest can support one unit more than its level. New units wait a turn before they act. A unit that does nothing for a turn heals.
- Fights: the attacker deals more damage the stronger and healthier it is against the defender. If the defender survives and the attacker is in its range, it hits back. Hills, groves, nests and reed walls help defenders.
- On water every unit becomes a raft (needs Rafting for shallows and Sailing for open water).
- Win by taking every other tribe’s nests, or have the highest score when the last turn ends. Score counts nest levels and ducks, the reed tree, your units and how much of the map you’ve explored.
The tribes
The Mallard Clan starts with Foraging, the Teal Folk with Fishing, the Eider Kin with Climbing and the Pintail Band with Riding. Everything else is the same, and every map is new.
Tips
Send your first units to the nearest villages: a second and third nest early doubles your crumbs. Old nests on the map give crumbs, a skill or a map of the land round them. Keep a unit in a nest when an enemy is near, and grow a reed wall on nests at the front. Pebblers and Slingers hit from a distance without being hit back.
Playing with friends
On one device, each person sees only their own map: pass the device when it says so. Online, each player uses their own phone and sees only what their tribe has explored; computer tribes can fill the empty seats.