Blood Moon
Worms Rising
Welcome to Blood Moon: Worms Rising! In this tactical, asymmetric 2-player duel of predator and prey, every turn brings new threats, shifting terrain, and high-stakes decisions.
Manage your hunger and health while digging deep into the earth, playing powerful ability cards, and simulating rain to lure the Worms.
Bully the Bird by refilling its tunnels, placing Bedrock, taking opportunistic strikes, and raising fallen allies as deadly Zombies.
Victory demands sacrifice. You'll need to make tough choices and adapt to special events and a changing battlefield to survive.
Welcome to the Dirt War.
Objective
Bird Victory
The Bird wins when all Worms are dead. Zombie Worms are not considered alive.
Worm Victory
The Worms win if the Bird dies, either from starvation or by losing all its health.
Setup
1. Choose Who Plays What
The earliest riser plays the Bird; the other plays the Worms.
2. Place Markers
Place the Hunger, Suspicion, and Day markers on the starting spaces of their trackers (marked with a purple dot).
3. Place Grass
Place the 11 Grass tokens one space above the top row of Dirt.
4. Place Wormholes
- Setup: Place a Wormhole on each Wormhole icon (4 total).
- Randomize: For each of the three upper Wormholes, roll a 12-sided die and move the Wormhole that many spaces downward. If a Wormhole overlaps with the bottom one, reroll.
5. Setup Worms
- Place 1 Worm meeple on each of the 4 Worm icons. Use different colors.
- Build Your Party — perform the following 4 times:
- Draft Worm: Draw 2 random Worm cards; keep 1 and discard 1.
- Assign Color: Take the matching meeple for the leftmost available color on the board and place it on your card. That color will represent the Worm this game.
6. Setup Birds
- Draft your Bird: Draw 4 Bird cards; keep 1 and discard the rest. Place your chosen card face up.
- Place your Meeple: Move your Bird meeple onto a Grass token of your choice.
- Set Health: Place one 6-sided die on your Bird card. Set the value to the Bird's Max Health (shown in the upper left).
7. First Turn
- Deal 3 action cards to each player from their action decks.
- It's a sunny day! There are no Special Event or Check for Rain steps today.
- Start the game with the Worm's turn (still draw 1 card before each player's turn).
Days and Turns
1. Special Event
Start each day by checking for a Special Event. If the Day marker is on a space with a pink dot, draw a card from the Event deck and resolve it immediately.
2. Check for Rain
Roll a six-sided die. 4-6, it rains. See the Rain and Suspicion section for what happens if it rains.
3. Worm Turn, then Bird Turn
- Draw 1 card.
- Take up to 4 actions (repeats allowed).
- Discard down to 5 cards in hand.
4. Move Markers
- Any existing Gravestones sink 1 space if not blocked by Bedrock — including any tokens stacked with the Gravestone.
- Any existing Lava sinks 2 spaces if not blocked by Bedrock.
- Move the Hunger and Suspicion markers down 1.
- Move the Day marker forward 1.
Actions
Both players start their turn with 4 actions.
- Max of 8 actions in a turn (with bonuses).
- Min of 2 actions (with penalties).
Range labels
A space touching your current space on the sides.
A space touching your current space on the sides or corners.
The space you occupy.
Bird Actions
Plays a card from your hand.
- Moves any distance to stand on a Grass space, or in a cleared Dirt space (hovering).
- If moving places you on a Worm, eat it for free.
- Digging can only affect a Dirt space that does not have a Worm or Bedrock in it.
- Dig down: move Grass & Bird down 1.
- Dig sideways: shift objects in that column down 1. Do not move.
Return 1 Bedrock to the supply.
- Peck an empty Dirt space. Worms in that direction move 2 spaces towards you as if it rained unless "Sus".
- Worms will only enter your space if the Suspicion marker is on "Dum".
- Move up Suspicion marker after movement.
- Eats an adjacent Worm. Put a Gravestone stacked under the Bird.
- Move Hunger marker up 3 spaces.
- If Worm was a Zombie, do not place a Gravestone or move Hunger marker.
Recovers 2 health up to your maximum.
Worm Actions
Plays a card from your hand.
- Move to any adjacent space without Bedrock.
- If the space is taken by another token, stack with the token.
- If you moved into a cleared Dirt space, fall to the Grass.
- Zombie Worms can also do this action.
Pushes up Grass and anything on the Grass 1 space.
- Max 1 time per Worm per turn.
- Bird loses 1 health and action.
- Zombie Worms can also do this action.
Return 1 Bedrock from the board to the supply.
- Add Bedrock to a packed Dirt space. Must not be above Grass.
- Cannot add Bedrock to a space containing any other tokens (except Wormholes).
- Creates a Zombie Worm in the same space as the Gravestone, or a space nearby the Gravestone.
- Return the Gravestone to the supply.
Rules
Champion Abilities
- Some Birds and Worms have champion abilities. If the ability is a once per game ability, tap the card (turn it sideways) to indicate it has been used.
- If an ability must be remembered at a future time, place a Reminder token in a good place to remember to activate it later (like on the Hunger tracker).
Hunger
When the Hunger marker is moved to space with a skull, the Bird dies.
Days
- Draw a card from the Special Event deck if the day is marked with a pink dot.
- The Day marker advances in a clockwise direction around the tracker. If it circles back to the beginning day, it is another sunny day unless an action or Event card says otherwise.
Rain and Suspicion
- Worms move 2 spaces in the direction of rain when a normal move action is possible.
- A Worm will not move into the Bird's space unless the Suspicion marker is on "Dum".
- A Worm will stop responding to rain if the Suspicion marker is on "Sus".
- Rain (or simulated rain) raises the Suspicion marker 1 space (after movement) regardless of whether or not Worms were able to move.
- When the Suspicion marker is between "Sus" and "Dum", nothing special happens.
Digging
- Birds cannot dig Dirt if a Worm or Bedrock occupies the space.
- Digging never causes the Bird to end up below Grass.
- Birds can dig from the sides or bottom of the world during Round World, but it just causes all tokens (excluding Wormholes) above the Dirt in the column to shift down 1.
Wormholes
- A Wormhole will activate when a Worm enters its space. It forces the Worm to teleport to another active Wormhole of their choosing. Wormholes close after use, and are returned to the supply.
- Wormholes can be placed in any space not occupied by a Worm.
- Wormholes do not move due to digging Dirt.
- Wormholes generally do not interact with any pieces other than Worms.
- Wormholes activate even when a Worm is falling through the air, being forced to move due to rain, etc...
- A Wormhole is dormant and cannot be activated if it shares a space with Bedrock, or there is not a 2nd viable Wormhole on the board.
- If a Worm enters the space of a Wormhole that is shared by Lava or the Bird, the Worm dies before the Wormhole activates.
- If a Worm comes out of a Wormhole that shares a space with Bird or Lava, it will be killed like usual.
Game Board
- All Dirt starts packed. It can be cleared by various ability cards, or the Bird's Dig Dirt action.
- Bedrock can only occupy a space with packed Dirt.
- Grass and Lava can move down as far as the bottom spaces of the board.
- Worms cannot occupy the same space as Bedrock.
- If a Worm ever occupies the same space as the Bird, it is eaten automatically.
- The Bird cannot fly above the earth to escape the Worms.
Lava
- Lava appears during the Meteor Shower Special Event.
- If Lava touches a Gravestone, the Gravestone is returned to the supply.
- Birds cannot move into a space containing Lava.
- Lava sinks 2 spaces during the Move Markers part of the day, but cannot sink past Bedrock.
- Lava kills Worms on contact, leaving no Gravestone, and giving the Bird no food.
Cards
- You can look at the cards in your hand. Your opponent cannot.
- Max hand limit 5 - discard at the end of your turn if you have over 5 cards.
- It takes 2 actions to play a card.
- If any deck is empty when you need to draw from it, shuffle the discard pile to refill the deck.
Gravestones
- When the Bird eats a Worm, stack a Gravestone token on the Grass token in the same column that the Bird is in.
- During Round World (or The Upside Down Bird), if the Bird eats a Worm from the sides or bottom, the Gravestone is placed in the Grass in the last column the Worm was in. If the column was Lava, the Gravestone burns away.
- Gravestones cause the Grass to sink one space during the Move Markers Day step if a dig action would be viable. Anything on the Grass sinks with it.
- Worms interact with Gravestones with the Raise Undead action.
- If Lava touches a Gravestone, the Gravestone is returned to the supply.
Zombie Worms
- If a Zombie Worm dies, it does not leave a Gravestone.
- Zombie Worms do not satisfy the Bird's hunger.
- If a Bird occupies the same space as a Zombie Worm, it is eaten for free just like normal.
Bird Health
The Bird cannot go above its maximum health. It starts with maximum health, which is pictured in the upper left of the Bird card.
Tokens
If there aren't additional tokens available, then you are out of that resource.
Main Board Tokens
Used to block movement.
Marks the top of the packed dirt spaces.
Used to teleport Worms.
Placed after a Worm dies.
Created by Raise Undead.
Used during Meteor Shower.
Place anywhere to remember a future effect.
Marks the Bird's position.
Marks the Green Worm.
Marks the Yellow Worm.
Marks the Purple Worm.
Marks the Pink Worm.
Markers for Trackers
Tracks the Bird's hunger level.
Tracks Worm suspicion level.
Tracks the current day.
