The Rules of the Hunt
Set up camp
On the first round, each pack sets up its campfire by selecting one tile on its edge of the forest. If you later find that you picked a spot in a bad neighborhood, you can move your campfire tile using the "Move Camp" button.
Explore the forest
On a pack's turn, it can move a canine onto an unopened tile. That tile opens and the canine must immediately perform the action specified on the tile, if any. (See Tiles section below)
Hunters cannot explore the forest; they can only move onto open tiles. They are also slower than canines, so must take a break after each move, meaning that a hunter cannot move two turns in a row, so plan your hunter's moves carefully.
Find and carry gold
When "Gold Nuggets" tiles are opened, the nuggets appear and can be carried by hunters and canines through the forest to their camps. On a given turn, a hunter or a canine can carry one nugget. Nuggets cannot be carried onto certain tiles. (See Tiles section below)
Nuggets carried to a pack's campfire tile are not completely safe. If a pack's campfire tile isn't protected by a member of that pack, a member of a rival pack can step onto it and carry away a nugget (or two or three, if a pack is really careless).
Steal and plunder
Any gold nugget, anywhere in the forest, is fair game. Canines can attack other canines on any tile except their campfire tile and Wolf Den tiles. Ambushed canines return to their respective campfire tiles. A single canine can attack a tile with multiple rival canines and send them all to their campfire(s).
Hunters can be attacked only by other hunters, not by canines. They trade their slow speed for more power, so use them wisely. Ambushed hunters also return to their campfire tile.
Avoid dangers
In some cases, canines can die. This happens if a canine steps on the Lynx tile or ends up in an "infinite loop" (e.g., two elven arrows pointing at each other), or is attacked on a Swamp tile.
A killed canine is removed from the game. Depending on your choice for the "Reinforcements" game option, a replacement canine will arrive in the place of a killed canine after a certain number of rounds.
Win the hunt
The game ends when a single pack (or a two-pack alliance) reaches the required number of gold nuggets on their campfire tile(s).
In the "Race" game mode, the first pack to stash 6 gold nuggets (or an alliance that reaches 11 combined gold nuggets) wins. In the "Plunder" game mode, the game continues until all gold nuggets are on campfire tiles, at which point, the pack (or alliance) with the most nuggets wins.
Nugget count ties are broken by the number of rounds packs took to acquire their gold. (i.e., a gold nugget carried onto a campfire tile later in the game is worth more than a gold nugget carried onto a campfire earlier in the game)
Forest Tiles
Campfire
A Campfire tile serves as a base for each pack. It's where the canines and the hunter return when attacked. It's where each pack stores its gold, and from where other packs might try to steal it.
Use the Camp Move Button to move the pack's Campfire tile. The counter shows number of campfire moves remaining for the currently active pack.
Empty Forest
A pack's turn ends when a hunter or a canine step onto an Empty Forest tile.
Gold Nuggets
When a Gold Nuggets tile is opened, gold nuggets are found and placed onto the tile. After being opened, a Gold Nuggets tile acts as an Empty Forest tile.
Mole Tunnels
Giant moles dig tunnels under the forest. Find an entrance to one and use the tunnels to go around surface obstacles and get where you're going faster. A hunter or a canine stepping onto the Mole Tunnel tile can move in any direction in an L-shaped move (think knight in chess).
Forest Bees
After stumbling onto a swarm of bees, hunters and canines run straight out of the forest, chased by bees, back to the safety of their campfire.
Lynx
Canine's sworn enemy – a feline! When a canine lands on the Lynx tile, the canine is killed and is removed from the hunt. If a canine carries a nugget onto this tile, the nugget remains on this tile and can be retrieved by a hunter. Hunters can meet the Lynx and survive but cannot carry gold nuggets onto this tile.
Wolf Den
When a canine is in a wolf den, that canine cannot be attacked. Gold nuggets cannot be carried onto the Wolf Den tile. Hunters cannot go on this tile.
Bear
Landing on a Bear tile, hunters and canines run away in fear, retreating back two tiles from where they came. For example, if a canine steps onto the tile from the left, it retreats two tiles to the left from the bear tile.
Forest Serpent
A serpent traps a canine. The other canine or the hunter from the same pack is required to step onto the tile in order to rescue the trapped canine. Hunters do not become trapped and, after skipping their next turn, can move off this tile.
Wily Red Fox
Ask the red fox for directions, and the fox will point its tail. Is it the right way? No one knows. Go to the first unopened tile from the fox in the direction away from your pack's side of the field.
Hare
Canine or hunter spots a hare and takes off after it. Go to one of the two corner tiles furthest away from the pack's campfire.
Elven Signs
Secret directions carved into the trees by elves to help them navigate the forest. Move one tile in the direction of the arrow. On tiles where multiple directions are available, pick one.
Hunter's Call
The canine hears its hunter's call and runs to the tile where its hunter stands. If the canine is carrying a gold nugget, the nugget is carried to the hunter as well. Hunters cannot step on this tile.
Swamp
Hunters and canines must go through all the bumps in the swamp, one bump per turn, before getting out. Gold nuggets can be carried into the swamp, but if one nugget is put on top of another on the same bump, the bottom one sinks and is removed from the hunt. If a hunter or a canine steps onto a bump that has another canine on it, friend or foe, that canine is drowned and removed from the hunt. A hunter that's attacked while on a swamp tile is sent back to its campfire tile.