Defenders of the Wild (2024)

Overview

In Defenders of the Wild, players are organizers of the animal resistance, fighting to liberate an important region of the Commonwood conquered by the machine occupation. Construction has begun on a new machine core and sprawling factory complex where an animal village once stood. Engines build walls that enclose habitat after habitat while mechs guard expanding factories and toxic pollution spreads.

Organizers must cooperate with each other despite longstanding factional disagreements and help their network of fellow Defenders take actions in the right locations and at the right times in order to win this crucial battle. Fight mechs, clear pollution, breach walls, build camps, and rewild factories before the machines complete construction of the core. Can the Defenders work together to defeat the machine invasion? Or will the Commonwood succumb to a devastating industrial winter? It’s up to you and your comrades to decide.

Winning the Game: Defenders of the Wild is a fully cooperative game. All players win or lose together. To destroy the machine core and win the game, each player must build all of their camps and then infiltrate the machine core.

Losing the Game: If the supply of machine components is not sufficient to fully resolve a drawn machine or factory card, the game ends and all players lose if 2 defenders from the same habitat are killed, the game ends and all players lose.

—description from the designer

Expansions

Defenders of the Wild: Critter Moon