Carnivore

What is Carnivore

Carnivore is “a cataclysmic dinosaur skirmish game” from Buer Games, the studio behind 1490 DOOM. It’s set after an extinction-level event. Food is scarce, and the big predators are forced into direct competition over what’s left. The tagline is “Eat first. Die last.”

Each player commands a single species of carnivorous dinosaur, leading a small pack onto a table where a rival pack and a herd of herbivores all converge on the same shrinking supply of meat. You win by eating more than your rival, not by killing them. Securing a carcass often matters more than wounding the other pack.

Buer pitches the miniatures as paleo-accurate, built from skeletal reference and modern reconstructions. They’re 32mm scale, and most species run 5 to 9 inches long. The T. rex and Spinosaurus are the ones near 9.

How it plays

Four phases. A turn runs Drive, Movement, Fight, and Panic.
D10 against Guard. An attacker rolls a D10 and adds its Fight value. The total is compared to the target’s Guard.
Every fight is a risk. Win, and the target rolls Guard checks equal to the difference between the totals. Lose, and the target Retaliates and you roll the Guard checks instead.
Facing matters. Attack from the front arc and you risk Retaliate. Attack from the rear arc and the target’s Guard checks get harder.
Panic. Anything that takes damage tests in the Panic Phase. Fail, and its later Guard rolls get harder. A wounded animal can lose its nerve and run.
The prey fights back. Herbivores have their own instinct rules. They watch their front arc, bolt when they spot you, and can turn and hurt a predator that comes at them badly.

Each species has a stat card called a Genus Slate. The full rulebook covers twelve species, eleven scenarios, and the EXTINCTION campaign, where every loss is permanent.

How to start

Try the free Quickplay. The Quickplay Guide is free. It has illustrated rules, a first scenario called COLLAPSE, and printable Genus Slates for three predators and one prey species. Buer says it’s two players, one herd, and about forty minutes.
Gather the basics. Ten-sided dice, a tape measure, a 2’ × 2’ surface, and some terrain. For the dinosaurs, Buer’s own line is “Official miniatures if you have them, toys if you don’t. The rules do not care.”
Get the rulebook. The core rulebook PDF is $20. It’s 100+ pages with the full rules, the Genus Slates, the scenarios, and the campaign.
Print the minis. The official miniatures are presupported STLs, $18 per species on the Buer Games store. There are STLs for meat tokens, a terrain set, and a jawbone measuring gauge too.
Or grab a bundle. The MESOPREDATOR bundle ($72) has the PDF, raptors, and Triceratops. MEGAPREDATOR ($72) has the PDF, a T. rex, Allosaurus, and Ankylosaurus. APEX ($200) is every species and all the terrain.