"One day, the Humans had tormented the Earth until it could take no more, and the Humans ended. Then the Voles created their civilization and disturbed the smaller things of the Earth until the Voles ended as well. Now the tiny creatures of the forest compete to find the artifacts and knowledge left by the fallen empires so that they too can mess it all up in their turn."

In Vasty Wilds, players take on the role of a small forest creature chasing after objectives in an ever-expanding forest. The player who collects all her goals first wins! The variable setup of each game means the shape of the forest (the board) will be different with each playthrough.

Clockwise: An arboreal squid, a confused messenger, and a brush quagga

The game includes 90 Cards (13 Root Cards and 77 Forest Cards), 4 pawns, 8 damage markers, 20 objectives (5 each of 4 colors), 8 status tokens (used to track special conditions), 2 six-sided dice, and a rules sheet.

Sol the mole, Nai the mouse, Jade the frog, and Ereus the salamander voyage into the unknown to recover lost technology for their respective tribes.

The game begins with the placement of the Home card in the center of the table. The Root cards are then placed (all 12 for a two-player game, 8 for a three-player game, and 6 for a four-player game). Placements are valid if the red arrow on the card overlaps the blue dot on the target card.

Players move their pawns only on the white-bordered spaces. On each player's turn, she has two options: place or redraw. Placing a card grants the player progress and causes an opponent misfortune. Redrawing allows the player to move 1d6 spaces and draw three new cards.

The goal of each player is to gather all of her objectives. When a card instructs players to place objectives, the opponent to the left of a player places an objective on any white space. This is repeated until all players have placed an objective for an opponent.

The full version of the rules for desktop are here. The full rules for mobile are here. Please visit www.vastywilds.com for an expanded view of the artwork, cards, and wallpapers for desktop and mobile.

Clockwise: A chatty philosopher, panic spirits, and a voleship wreck

From Game Critics:

"Vasty Wilds is a supremely fun, modular exploration game that has some of the best pawns/meeples I’ve ever seen. The artwork and imagination really push the game over the top and make Vasty Wilds an instant buy. I think Vasty Wilds will appeal to a wide range of gamers, from casual to hobbyist." - Board Game Authority

"A creative little map-building race game; the artwork is fantastic and as I said, every game you play is going to be different, 1. because of how you're going to build the map and 2. because of the amount of cards. I liked it, and I hope you get a chance to check it out." - Bearded Meeple

"One of the things I really love about this game is that it has that double-edged sword, so there is always something good that's going to happen every turn, and something bad that's going to happen every turn. I think this game is fantastic for families." - Cloak and Meeple

"At this point in time (and maybe over 200 posts later) I’ve come to appreciate the effort that goes into custom work. This could translate to cards, mechanics, meeples, or game play. Every once and a while I run into some really innovative ideas turned board game and just “wow” at the opportunity to witness this." - Indietabletop

You can also check out the story behind the genesis of Vasty Wilds at Analog Games.

Clockwise: a swifter fox, a questionable mushroom, and a forgotten outpost

Vasty Wilds: Fancypants Edition

The Fancypants edition of Vasty Wilds includes two 3D-printed steel rhombic botanical d6s to add a satisfying heft to your rolls. It is otherwise identical to the standard edition.

Clockwise: a symbiotic wardenbug, tree anemones, and a wildfire

Shipping

Shipping is included for backers in the USA. There is an additional shipping charge for backers outside the US, based on the destination country, to cover international shipping.