# Bone Wars

Bone Wars is a board game for 1–4 players. It plays in 60–120 minutes and is meant for ages 12 and up. Ludoya players call it best with 3. It is rated 8 out of 10 by 6 Ludoya reviewers. The cheapest copy in stock is $42.55 (United States).

- **Players:** 1–4 (best with 3)
- **Playing time:** 60–120 minutes
- **Minimum age:** 12+
- **Complexity:** 3.9 out of 5
- **Year published:** 2024
- **Categories:** Prehistoric
- **Mechanics:** Worker Placement, Different Worker Types, Multi-Use Cards, Hand Management
- **Ludoya rating:** 8 out of 10, from 6 reviews
- **Owned by:** 21 Ludoya players
- **Plays logged on Ludoya:** 33
- **Unique players:** 37

**Designers:** Wim Goossens

**Artists:** Laura Bevon

**Publishers:** Game Brewer

## Where to buy in United States

| Shop | Price | Link |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 401 Games | 59.95 $ | https://store.401games.ca/products/bone-wars |
| Board Game Bliss | 75.95 $ | https://www.boardgamebliss.com/products/bone-wars |
| Zatu Games | 28.39 £ | https://zatu.com/products/bone-wars |
| La Gameria | 47.95 € | https://gameria.es/juegos-de-mesa/bone-wars-17770.html |
| Get Your Fun | 49.99 € | https://www.getyourfun.it/036079-bone-wars-giochi-gestionali.html |
| Dungeon Marvels | 52 € | https://dungeonmarvels.com/bone-wars-edicion-estandar-85128.html |
| Juegos de la Mesa Redonda | 58.46 € | https://juegosdelamesaredonda.com/16952-bone-wars-castellano-8436578817993.html |
| Spielezar | 67.9 Fr. | https://www.spielezar.ch/brettspiele/bone-wars |

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## Rules questions

### Do I have to pay both the action-slot cost and the card’s activation cost before performing actions?

Yes — you must pay the activation costs shown on the action slot AND any activation cost on the card you play before you perform its actions (both can add up to $0–$3+). (page 11)

### Can I move my team for free during my turn, and can I split those free moves between actions?

Yes — you get a number of free moves (start with 1, can upgrade to 2–3) that you may use before, after, or while spending action points, and you may split them between actions. Also you can only move along the indicated paths/arrows and must move from your university to a dig site at the start of each round. (page 12)

### When I Dig for Bones, can I take any bone token on the dig site?

No — which bone slots you may take from depends on the dig depth printed on your team card or action slot (top only, top+middle, or any of the three); if there are no accessible tokens you cannot do the action. Place any taken token into an empty crate or discard a token to make space. (page 12)

### How exactly do I publish a paper — what bones do I discard and when do I get the rewards?

To publish you discard 2–4 different bone tokens matching the species’ required parts (torso, tail, skull type, limb) to assemble the skeleton, then archive the species card and add a paper tile to your patron’s bookshelf; you must allocate bones for all papers you publish before resolving any rewards, which depend on completeness and card prize bonuses. (pages 14–15)

### Can I debunk an opponent’s paper by discarding different bone types, or do they have to be identical?

You must discard sets of identical bone tokens (2, 3, or 4 identical tokens) to debunk a paper; the number discarded must match the value of the paper you take from the opponent and you flip/move that paper to your patron’s side. (page 16)

### What happens when I pass — what end-of-round steps must I perform?

When you pass you immediately perform the end-of-round sequence: 1) choose a new profession space and take its bonuses, 2) return your team to a university (and flip patron portrait if needed), 3) claim the grant at that university, and 4) gain any loyalty bonus from your patron loyalty track; note special neutral-team movement in <4‑player games and that in the final round only step 1 is performed. (page 20)

## Links

- [This page](https://www.ludoya.com/games/bone-wars)
- [Bone Wars in the Ludoya app](https://app.ludoya.com/g/bone-wars)
- [BoardGameGeek entry](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/383983)

_Data from Ludoya, updated 2026-09-19. Ratings, ownership and play counts are Ludoya's own._