The Quacks of Quedlinburg: The Herb Witches
Overview
The first expansion for The Quacks of Quedlinburg. Adds a 5th player, herb witches with unique per-player powers, new ingredient book sets, and the locoweed ingredient. The core bag-building and press-your-luck loop is unchanged — the expansion layers on more variety and asymmetry.
New Components
| Component |
Quantity |
| Pot (5th player board) |
1 |
| Bag, flask, scoring marker, rat stone, droplet (5th player) |
1 each |
| Herb witch tiles |
12 (double-sided, 24 powers total) |
| Locoweed chips (yellow-green, values 1 and 4) |
several |
| Locoweed ingredient book |
1 |
| Ingredient books — Set 5 (green, blue, red, yellow, purple, black) |
6 |
| Overflow bowl boards |
5 (1 per player) |
| Additional white chips for 5th player |
as needed |
| New Fortune Teller cards |
several |
Setup Changes
- 5th player: Give the 5th player their pot, bag, flask, scoring marker, rat stone, and droplet. Their starting bag is the same as other players.
- Herb witches: Shuffle the 12 herb witch tiles. Deal 2 face-up to each player. Each player picks 1 to keep and discards the other. Place your chosen witch face-up next to your pot — her power is available to you for the entire game.
- Ingredient books: You may use Set 5 books instead of (or mixed with) earlier sets. Follow the same setup rules — lay out one book per color from the same set number.
- Locoweed: Place the locoweed ingredient book and chips near the other ingredients. Locoweed becomes available alongside the other ingredients.
- Overflow bowl: Each player places an overflow bowl next to their pot. If your pot reaches space 33, subsequent chips go into the overflow bowl and continue scoring from there.
- Fortune Teller cards: Shuffle the new Fortune Teller cards into the existing deck.
Rule Changes
Herb Witches
Each player has a unique witch power that lasts the entire game. Powers vary widely — some trigger when you draw a specific chip color, others activate during the Evaluation Phase, and some modify buying rules. Follow the text on your witch tile exactly.
- Witch powers are not optional once chosen — they apply whenever their condition is met.
- If a witch power conflicts with a base rule, the witch power takes precedence.
Locoweed
Locoweed is a new ingredient color available for purchase like any other chip.
- When drawn: Locoweed chips have no immediate draw effect.
- Evaluation Phase B: Locoweed chips activate during chip-action resolution. Their effect depends on the locoweed ingredient book in play.
- Locoweed chips are not white — they do not count toward the explosion threshold.
Overflow Bowl
If your droplet or a chip would move past space 33 on your pot:
- Place the chip in the overflow bowl instead.
- The overflow bowl extends scoring beyond 33 — each space in the bowl has its own VP/coin value.
- You still receive the 15 VP and 35 coins bonus when first reaching space 33.
5-Player Game
With 5 players, use the 5-player side of the black ingredient book. All other rules remain the same. The scoring track accommodates 5 markers.
Special Rules & Edge Cases
- Witch selection: If playing with fewer herb witches (e.g., for simpler games), you may deal only 1 witch per player with no choice. The rulebook recommends the full draft for experienced players.
- Overflow bowl and explosion: If your pot explodes, chips already in the overflow bowl still count for scoring. The explosion only stops further drawing.
- Locoweed and blue chips: If a blue chip draw effect lets you keep a drawn locoweed chip, it goes into your pot as normal.
- Mixing sets: The rulebook allows mixing ingredient book sets (e.g., Set 2 green with Set 5 blue), but recommends using a single set for your first few games.
- Fortune Teller cards: New cards may reference locoweed or herb witches. If a card references a component not in play, ignore that part of the card.
- 5-player rat tails: The Scoring Track has enough rat-tail icons for 5-player spacing.
Player Reference
New ingredient: Locoweed (yellow-green chips, values 1 and 4)
Herb witches: 1 per player, drafted at setup, permanent power all game
Overflow bowl: Extends pot past space 33
5th player starting bag: Same as all players — 4 white 1s · 2 white 2s · 1 white 3 · 1 orange 1 · 1 green 1