Caverna missed rules and unofficial FAQ

Oh, and I forgot to put out the thin board which they make a point of reminding you what
to do in the rules and on the "main" board!

Action Spaces

Actions must be taken by your dwarfs in reverse weapon strength order, with the
unarmed dwarfs being the lowest strength, thus if you have an unarmed dwarf you cannot
choose an expedition action with our first action in the work phase.
Exception: the possibility to pay a ruby to give priority to an armed dwarf.

1. Used space is a space covered with a tile or stable

2. Fenced pastures must be placed on a meadow (light green) not on forest spaces.
3. Farming action spaces (Sheep and Donkeys) – you can only build 1 stable per turn
4. Wish for children. You can only build a dwelling (red top) not green or yellow top
furnishings
(red = Dwelling, Simple Dwelling, Mixed Dwelling, Couple Dwelling and Additional
Dwelling)
5. Urgent wish for children. You can only build a dwelling (red top) not green or yellow
top furnishings
6. Urgent wish for children. You can build the Dwelling without doing family growth.

The action space where you can furnish a cavern (housework) lets you furnish any
building tile (red, orange, green or yellow building).

If you place all the cards on the board face down from the start, you can cover Wish for
Children with one of those extra cards that don't do anything.

We forgot to flip the Wish for Children card when the Family Life card was revealed.
Which side is up is important. When playing the game, 'Wish for children' is the side that
should be face up when the card is first placed on the game board. A later action card
flips it over to the 'Urgent Wish for Children' side. See page 8, 'Special cases when
adding a new Action Space' of the main rule book for clarification.

Don't forget to add resources to the stage 4 cards when refilling the board. There is a gap
in the action card deck where accumulation spaces don't come out, easy to get a little
complacent about refilling the board if the accumulation spaces have been static for a few
rounds.
I totally missed the sheep replenishment indicator on one of the later round cards. Had
not been adding any sheep for at least 5 games or so. There's a similar card for Donkeys.

In general, make sure you get the wording right for and/or, or, and then/or spaces.
And/Or actions can be taken in either order.
The sow action enables one to sow TWO fields of each type ..two veggie and two grain
in the same action IF you have the required 4 items ...2 pumpkins and 2 grain

In my first two plays, we thought Housework was +1 WOOD and Furnish, rather than +1
DOG and Furnish.

Q-What do you do if there are no space left for your dwarf?

A-Was something really "missed"? Why must every possible dwarf in a seven player
game be useable? It seems perfectly reasonable that the value of any new dwarf any
player might get would decrease over the course of the game.

Q - For the tile that gives you a small or large meadow and a stable can you get both a 1
meadow (2/4 wood) and 1 stable (1 stone) or is it one or the other?
A - (From the rules - Appendix Page 7)
"...Before taking all the sheep that have accumulated on this action space you may build a
small pasture, a large pasture and a stable..... you may build all three structures or only
some of them (or none) but you may not build more than 1 small and 1 large pasture or
more than 1 stable with a single action.

Q - Do I get more than ruby bonus if have more ruby mines and go on the action card to
collect rubies?
A -No. You will only get ever one additional ruby

Q - Can you occupy a space just to block other players? For example I want to occupy the
space of going on an expedition for 4 loot but I don't have a weapon?
A - No you cannot. You must be able to perform the action to take it.

You can't imitate a space your dwarf already took, only opponents.

You must have a built and available dwelling before the 'family growth' action is used.
Players are only allowed up to 6 dwarf if the 'additional dwelling' tile is built. There is
only 1 additional dwelling tile in which case only one player can go up to 6 dwarfs.

You can buy as many different things as you like at the market (you can spend more than
just the 4 gold you got there), but you can't buy more than one of any individual item.

Using the imitation action for goods = For example player A uses the forest expedition
action and get 6 wood (because of prior accumulation) and two food. Player B now
imitates this action. Player B get only 2 food, because the wood wont be reaccumulated
until next round.
Landscape Tiles

Q - On Page 13 it says that your first meadow/field tile has to be placed next to your cave
entrance. Does that mean you can immediately place so it covers the water source? The
example in the rules doesn't, but that may just be so the illustration can show off the
water source and wild boars. I'm not sure why you wouldn't cover the water source as
soon as possible if it were allowed by the rules.
A - The reason you wouldn't is that if you place 3 double tiles and avoid the water source,
you can collect both wild boars for breeding. If you cover the water source for +1 food,
you'll need 4 instead. Depending on your strategy this can be a big deal.

Page 13: "Immediately take 1 Wild boar from the general supply when covering one of
the Wild boar preserves in your Forest." and "Immediately take 1 Food from the general
supply when covering the water source in your Forest."
The stable doesn't cover the entire tile. You have to place later a tile on it.
Found it on p.19: Building a Stable on the water source or the Wild boar preserve in your
Forest does not trigger the reward (see page 13). You have to place a tile on these spaces
to get it,

Furnishing

The ore loop - see Appendix

More focus on the special tiles too and deep mines

One rule I missed was that I did not realize you could buy a dwelling with the "furnish a
cavern" action. I thought I had to wait until the "furnish a dwelling" action came up.
Apparently you can ONLY buy a dwelling with the "furnish a dwelling" action, but you
can buy anything with the "furnish a cavern" action. Changed some things for me...

Main Storage gives 2 points per furnishing tile with a yellow name tag.
But someone assumed it was 2 points per furnishing tile. So the icons on this tile can be
misunderstood.

Building tiles with rubies must be placed on the ground level (i.e. you can not place a
cavern over a tunnel, or meadow over a filed, etc. using a ruby).

Q - Beer Parlor question: Are you allowed to trade the grain still on your fields at the end
of the game?
A - No.
Mine construction

You cannot build an ore mine using a "deep tunnel" space.

"Ore mine construction" action

The point is that you could use this Action space to go on an Expedition of level 2 and
not place an “Ore mine/Deep tunnel” twin tile at all.
If you do this, you cannot take 3 Ore.
If you place an “Ore mine/Deep tunnel” twin tile, you get the 3 Ore - but you have to
place the twin tile on top of "two horizontally or vertically adjacent ordinary Tunnel
spaces in your Mountain."

Animals

Boars
1. A single boar can live in a stable on a forest space.
2. If you place a stable on the forest space with a picture of a boar you will not get the
boar. (You must cover it with a tile to get the boar)

Donkeys
Each mine (Ore or Ruby) can hold 1 donkey, you can keep donkeys in pastures or on
cleared land with a stall, not just in mines.

Other
Your house can hold up to 1 pair of the same type of animals

The ability to put two stables on a pasture, allowing it to hold 16 animals.

Knowing Agricola, I missed basically ALL the changed rules for keeping animals. About
the dogs, the boar in a stable in the forest, keeping donkeys in mines, double stables on a
big meadow...

And you can never have different types of animal in a single enclosure, whether that
enclosure is part of your living space, is outside or is double.

When breeding you only receive a maximum of 1 animal of any type (we were providing
a baby animal for every two animals of the same type - this is incorrect and probably the
more impactful rule we missed).

Although animals can be freely rearranged at any point, stables cannot be moved once
built.
Q - Can I take from main board let say all sheep and trade them directly into food if I
don't have space on player board to hold them?
A - Yes. Every time you get animals you may directly convert them to food.
The only exception is that, during the breeding phase of a harvest, no new animals are
born if you have no room for them.
See the "Details on the work space" box at page 9.
That breeding rule is very situational, it really only applies if you only have at least 2 of
an animal type.

- up to 2 animals in a small fenced meadow

- up to 4 animals in a small fenced meadow with stable
- up to 4 animals in a large fenced meadow
- up to 8 animals in a large fenced meadow with stable
- up to 16 animals in a large fenced meadow with 2 stables
- 1 boar in a forest with stable
- 1 more sheep for every dog in an non-fenced meadow e.g. 2 sheep for 1 dog, 3 sheep
for 2 dogs etc.

Dogs

Dogs
1. Dogs go anywhere, they roam around your board
2. Dogs can mind sheep but only on a meadow (light green) or pasture, 1 dog can mind 2
sheep, 2 dogs /3 sheep, 3dogs/4sheep etc. (not in a forest or space with a Stable)
3. Dogs don’t breed
4. Dogs are not farm animals, therefore you don’t lose -2 if you don’t have one
5. A dog on a forest space is not considered a “used” space. Used spaces are covered with
tiles or stables
6. Dogs are worth 1 point each

You can eat anything but a dog

Dogs do not add their herding rule to the pasture. Instead, players may choose to replace
the pasture's usual limit with the dog's (if you have sufficient dogs to make it worthwhile,
for example). That said, Dogs can watch Sheep in Meadows in exactly the same was that
they can in Pastures. But Dogs are more valuable in Meadows because the normal
capacity of a Meadow is so small (only 1, and only if that if there is a Stable). Since this
Pasture has a normal capacity of 8 Sheep, there is no real reason to put fewer than 8 Dogs
(which could watch 9 Sheep) there.
If it's fenced, you do not NEED a dog for the sheep. You may put 2 sheep, or 4 sheep if
you have a stable without a single dog.
Harvest

We played the harvest only with the 7 round grey discs, but forgot the 2 green harvests
preprinted on the board.

One rule is missing in Caverna, and not noticeable if you play Agricola normally: There
is no explicit mentioning of Grain and Vegetables needing to be harvested before use.
But the Agricola rule mentions this. Harvested crops can be used for food or to gain
points from furnishing tiles (e.g. Beer Parlour). Still growing crops can not.

Q - For the question mark tokens that go instead of the harvest phase, the third question
mark says to either skip the harvest or breeding phase. Do you still pay food for it?
A - Yes you still feed the dwarves.

Feeding

Begging markers are provided for each missed food token not each unfed dwarf (thus, if
you are two food tokens short you must take two begging tokens even though only one
dwarf is going unfed) - we actually caught this one by looking it up in the rules - but I
figured I'd include it here anyway was a near miss.

After Wish for children round [the "snack" printed on the board between rounds 4 and 5
(pay 1 food per dwarf)], you pay 1 food per dwarf. But there is no harvest. No field phase
or breeding. The snack is easy to overlook.

Baby dwarfs still require 1 food in non-harvest rounds where you must fee all dwarfs 1
food (snack).

Expeditions

1. To go on an expedition, you need a weapon. There are 2 action spaces where you can
forge a weapon. Stage 1 and Stage 4. Once you have your weapon, the only way you can
increase your strength is to go on expeditions.
2. Forging weapons action spaces in Stage 1 and 4. Only used to create new weapons.
You can not add extra ore to an existing weapon to increase its strength.
3. When you receive loot, they must all be different but you can pick 2 things on the same
row. Note each item has level no higher than the weapon level of your dwarf.
4. After completing an expedition, that dwarf increases its strength by 1. (for example if
you can get 3 rewards, after you get all 3 of your rewards, not after each reward, thus one
weapon increase with one action card, note also some cards let you go on multiple
expeditions, thus multiple weapon increases with a single action card)
5. There is a Level 1 loot item that adds +1 strength to all dwarfs with a weapon. (This
does not forge a weapon for dwarfs without a weapon but adds +1 to weapon strength of
any of your other dwarves that have a weapon, played or not played.)
When doing quests, you are only eligible to take loot from the weapon level you entered
with. If you upgrade your weapon as one of the loot items, you don't then get to select
items from the higher weapon level this turn.

The Appendix says, "The loot items you can choose from are determined by the Weapon
strength of the Dwarf that is undertaking the Expedition." Thus, the loot choices are
determined by the strength that the Dwarf's weapon had when it undertook the
expedition. The loot items can "help" each other as you take them (e.g., use a material
acquired first to build a Furnishing acquired later), but the choices statically depend on
the pre-loot weapon strength.

Q - In other words do the rules on animal husbandry apply between each loot acquisition,
or only after the entire expedition action is finished? Say I have no more room on my
player board to accommodate any farm animals when my dwarf goes on an expedition.
For his first loot item he places a single meadow tile on a wild boar preserve space. 1.
Does the wild boar immediately run away? or 2. Can the dwarf build a fenced small
pasture over the first loot meadow with a second loot item to accommodate the boar?
A - Even though they all expedition loot is gained during the same action, they are still
acquired sequentially and resolved one at a time, as some loots can rely on others that
you gained in that action (such as gaining wood, then spending it on fences). Hence I
would say 1, as you would resolve gaining the meadow tile, before having a chance to
turn it into a pasture. If you don't have room for it, you must immediately convert it to
food.

The adventure reward 'furnish a dwelling' only lets you furnish an ordinary dwelling,
none of the special ones.
Caverna Appendix wrote: With a Weapon strength of 11 or more, you can carry out a
Furnish an ordinary dwelling for 2 Wood and 2 Stone action to build an ordinary
“Dwelling” for 2 Wood and 2 Stone instead of 4 Wood and 3 Stone. (The “Carpenter”
and “Stone carver” may reduce the building costs even further.) With this loot item, you
cannot build any of the special Dwellings. You can only build an ordinary one. (Thus a
Dwelling, but not a Simple Dwelling, Mixed Dwelling, Couple Dwelling or Additional
Dwelling.)
Ruby trading

Q - You have built the Guest room (either/or becomes and/or). You have 0 rubies. You
have no normal tunnels available. You have one deep tunnel available. You place a
worker on the ruby mine spot. It becomes an "and/or" because of your Guest room.
And/or actions can be executed in any order because of the clarification on page 6 of the
appendix. You decide to use the second ruby action first (placing a ruby mine on a deep
tunnel). This immediately awards you a ruby. Can you then spend the ruby to create a
normal tunnel on your board? This would then allow you to immediately drop a second
ruby mine by using the first action.
A - Yes, you can use rubies literally *at any time*.

End-game scoring

Also, having played many games of Agricola, we didn't realize that there is no penalty
during scoring for having no grain or vegetables.

Do dogs on a forest place do NOT count as having filled that space in endgame scoring.