Entomologists

MECHANICS
To simulate the progress of the entomologists inside the forest, after the player has performed the action of his turn, the cards of the forest scroll. The leftmost card is set aside in a visible pile called the overstep forest, the other cards slide to the left and then pick one or two cards from the deck to refill in the forest with 10 visible cards.

ACTIONS
The possible actions in a turn are as follows:
- Take a card from the forest paying its costwith Net tokens
- Get all the cards from the Forest Overstep zone (if not exceed your hand limit)
- Play a cage card from your hand, place it in the player area in front of you.
- Capture a set of at least 3 insects of the same species (you must have at least one free cage in your player area)
- Release a set of at least 2 insects of the same species to gain Net token (put these cards in the waste)
- Extend the limit of the cards you can hold in your hand, pay the upgrade cost and move your marker one step further on the cardboard
- Kill an insect from your hand (-1 PV) A real Entomologist would never do that!
EACH PLAYER IN HIS TURN HAS TO DO ONE ACTION, JUST ONE, IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO PASS WITHOUT DOING ANYTHING

Take a Card from the Forest
Choose a card and pay the cost (0-8 Net token) according to its location in the forest. Add this card to your hand. You must have enough free space in your hand, and enough Net token before taking the card, otherwise, you cannot perform this action.

Symbol "Don't put in your hand, do it immediately, then discard"
These cards do not require any free space in your hand and you can always choosing it (paying the cost).

Take all the Cards from Overstep Forest
Take ALL the cards (min.1, max.3) in the Overstep forest area. To be able to choose this action you must have enough free space in your hand.

Remember that cards with the symbol do not count, these cards have an immediate effect and are never held in your hand.
If some special rules are applied, these cards don't go in your hand either:
- Cages (if you have previously captured at least one set of dragonflies)
- Stick insect(if you are using Montrouzier)

Play a Cage-Card
Simpy play a big-cage or a gourd-cage from your hand, just one card. Put it in the player area. This is also a tactical move as it allows you to slow down the forest scrolling.
You need a free cage in your player area before capture insects.

Play a Cage-Card
If your strategy is to take one kind of insect at a time and catch it as soon as you have 3 in your hand, the limit of 7 cards in your hand may be enough for you. Otherwise, if you plan to catch a long series of insects to take advantage of the bonus of flowers and fruits you will be forced to extend your hand limit to 9 or 12 cards (better sooner than later).

You have 2 ways to upgrade your hand:
1. spend 3 Net Token
Still Testing { 2. trash 3 different insects + any card (from your hand to discard pile)}

Formica sanguinea
Get an extra turn token every 2 ants caught.
3 Ants 1 Extra Turn Token
4 Ants 2 Extra Turn Tokens
5 Ants 2 Extra Turn Tokens
6 Ants 3 Extra Turn Tokens
8 Ants 4 Extra Turn Tokens
...and so on...
See the token section to understand how and when to play the extra turn.

Amata phegea
Take a card of your choice from the discards.
+
At the end of the game score one victory point for each completely empty cage card played. If you catch Amata phegea several times, at the end of game bonus is added up. Example: If you capture the insect 3 times, at the end of the game you get 3 points for each empty cage card.

Coccinella septempunctata
Do you feel lucky? Take the first card covered in the Forest-deck, then choose to keep it or to discard it.
+
From now on, for the rest of the game, you will always pay one NET less than you should, even to upgrade your hand. If you catch ladybugs several times the bonuses add up (-2, -3, -4).

Anax imperator
Still Testing { Look at the last cards from the forest deck or the metamorphosis deck, then put them back exactly as before. How many cards to look at? It depends on the number of dragonflies captured. e.g. 4 dragonflies 4 cards. }
+
Every me you take a cage card from the forest, from the discards or from the overstep forest, you will immediately place the cage-card in your player's area, without putting it in your hand. This bonus does not add up.

Amegilla cingulata
Kill a bug from the forest or from your hand. Steal a Net token to opponent player, if he does not have any, take it from the bank.
+
At the end of the game score one victory point for each flower or fruit cards (left in your hand counts too). If you catch Amegilla cingulata several times, at the end of game bonus is added up.

Rosalia alpina
When you catch it, immediately take any of the cards visible in the forest (without paying the cost in nets).

Curculio occidentis
No special power.
Weevils are pests, there are a lot in the deck but you can’t release a couple of them. If you plan to collect them be sure to catch at least 3 of them, otherwise they will occupy precious places in your hands.

Creobroter gemmatus
A well known ethological peculiarity of the Mantoideans is the cannibalism associated with reproduction: generally, during or immediately after mating, the female devours the male, thus being able to immediately have a considerable amount of protein for the production of eggs.
When you catch them, one dies. E.g. You capture 3 mantids, put 2 of them in the cage and discard one (you score only 3+3 points). Then steal a Net token to opponent player, if he does not have any, take it from the bank.
+
At the end of the game score one victory point every 2 net token left. If you catch Creobroter several times, bonus is added up. It's possible by power of Carl Linnaeus and/or Amata phegea power.

Dactylotum bicolor
When you catch grasshoppers you don't get any power.
Still Testing { If you decide to release them, they jump away. Move 2~5 cards from the forest depending on how many grasshoppers released, } of course you also get Net Tokens.
These brightly colored grasshoppers are unattractive to lizards as food because they were not present in their natural habitat. The rainbow grasshopper is also unpleasant for birds. See Predators-cards.

Dynastes hercules
When you catch Hercules Beetles you don't get any power.
Still Testing {If you decide to release them, your opponent must discard an empty big-cage already played in his area}
It is the longest extant species of beetle in the world, and is also one of the largest flying insects in the world.
He is really an huge bug. You can't put it inside a gourd: it doesn't fit!

Dryococelus australis
No special power.
Dryococelus a. it was thought to be extinct by 1920, only to be rediscovered in 2001. It is extirpated in its largest former habitat, and has been called "the rarest insect in the world", as the rediscovered population consisted of 24 individuals living on a small rock island.
There are only 3 cards in the deck, trying to catch them is risky as the opponent would only need to take one to blow your plans. Remember also, that when the last cards in the deck are shown, it will be too late to take them.
See also Montrouzier's related power.

Cages and Net
When you take a Net card, don’t put it in your hand. Discard it immediately and get 1 or 2 Net tokens according with type of Net card. You can get Net cards also when you hand is full.

This is a standard Big-cage, you need cages for collect insects. Each cage must contain the same species of insects. Once closed, nothing can be added to it.

When you play this cage you get 1 Net Token (when you play it, not when you pick up from the forest)

This card has 2 cages! The maximum capacity is 4 insects per gourd. Yeah... these cages are emped pumpkins... Centuries ago they were used in Asia to catch and transport crickets. Gourd cages can’t contain Dynastes hercules this bug is bigger than a gourd!

You can add a Taraxacum officinale in a full gourd cage (max 4 bugs + 1 flower).

F.Cards
When you catch a lot of bugs you can also put a bonus card in the cage (you must have it in your hand along with the bugs you want to catch).

Taraxacum officinale (4x)
If you catch 4 or more bugs you can insert a flower (worth 3 victory points at the end of the game)

Ficus carica (2x)
If you catch 5 or more bugs you can insert a fruit (worth 5 victory points)

Macrolepiota procera (1x)
If you catch 6 or more bugs you can insert a fungus (worth 7 victory points!)

Fragaria vesca (1x)
The wild strawberry card, gives you good flexibility because is worth as a flower or as a fruit depending on which side you turn it on.

Remember to count the bugs captured and not the # of cards! A Metamorphosis card count as 2 insects because is a single card with 2 bugs. Each cage can contain a maximum of one F. card.
Caution: if you pick-up F.cards from the forest, it occupies place in your hand and you can't trash it away until you do a capture. If you want try this game strategy take one F.card at a time and about mushroom you should upgrade your hand-limit first.

Larvae and Metamorphosis
The larvae all look the same, only when they grow you find out exactly what kind of insect they are. When a player take a Larva card, he immediately replace this card with first card on metamorphosis deck..

Maria Sibylla Merian (1647 - 1717)
She studied the process of metamorphosis.
Normally when you take a larva card, you have to draw the first card from the metamorphosis deck. With Maria Sibylla Merian every me you take a larva card, draw the first 2 cards from the metamorphosis deck, hold one, put the other one at the boom of the deck. This is the easiest character to use, recommended for players who play their first games. This power reduces the luck factor and is very strong if the larva cards appear at the beginning/half of the game.

Carl Nilsson Linnaeus (1707 - 1778)
He is known as the "father of modern taxonomy" the system of naming organisms.
Its power is to be able to capture a minimum of 2 insects instead of 3 (skill applicable only once). Very useful to capture rare insects (with only 3-4 cards in the deck). It will not be enough for the opponent to take just one insect from you to put you in trouble. For him it is easier to double some powerful bonuses like for example the one of the mantids (since there are only 5 mantids in the deck he can capture them twice by doubling the bonus at the end of the game).

Jean-Xavier Hyacinthe Montrouzier (1820 - 1897)
The Reverendus Pater Montrouzier studied fauna in the Pacific area. He discovered the rare stick insect Dryococelus australis. When you pick up a stick insect it doesn't count as a card in your hand, put them visible on your character card. If your hand is full you can take stick insects anyway! If you take all 3 of Dryococelus australis you will have to put them in a cage to get 15 points, if you have stick insects on your character card at the end of the game they will be worth the following points:
1x = 2 points
2x = 5 points
3x = 9 points

Ulisse Aldrovandi (1522 - 1605)
One of the first naturalists in Europe, the father of natural history studies.
His power consists in the ability to insert flowers and fruits (no mushrooms) straight into the cages already closed. If you have captured 4 insects and then take a flower from the forest, put the flower card directly into the cage, you don't need to have space in your hand to take it since it goes immediately with the captured insects. With the power of the moth Amata phegea you can retrieve a card from the discards, if you have captured at least a set of 5 insects, you can use this skill to score a lot of points! Aldrovandi is very powerful in games where the flower/fruit cards appear towards the mid/end of the game.