1) Board

Set up the board within reach of all the players.

2) Specialists, Vehicles, Shelters and Equipment

a) Randomly select a setup card. Put the shelters, vehicles, and specialists into the locations shown on it. Note: use all 6 specialists in every game, regardless of how many people are playing.

b) Flip the setup card over and give a reference card to each player. Return unused reference cards to the box.

c) Shuffle the specialist cards and give 1 to each player. Return unused specialist cards to the box.

d) Each player takes the equipment shown on their specialist card and puts it into the location on the board containing their specialist.

3) Rescue Tracks

a) Shuffle the rescue cards, stack them to form a draw pile, and place it at the top of the rescue track as shown below.

b) Draw the top 3 cards of this deck and place them into slots 1, 2, and 3 of the rescue track on the side of the board as shown. If you draw a Time Ticks On card, set it aside and continue drawing. After all three slots are filled, shuffle any Time Ticks On cards into the deck.

c) Put the animals shown on each rescue card into their locations on the board, as indicated on each card

4) Supplies

a) Put the remaining animals and equipment beside the board.

b) Sort the reward, roadblock (), and mission ( )tokens and put them to the side to form a supply.

In a 2-player game, give each player 1 funding token ().

5) Time Track

a) Separate the mission cards into 5 different piles according to their card backs and shuffle each pile individually.

For the Intro-level game, draw a level I, level II, and level III mission card and place them as shown. (If you’re feeling brave, see Leveling Up on page 10 for other difficulty levels.) Return unused mission cards to the game box without looking at them.

b) Important: Turn over the first mission card to reveal the first mission your team will need to complete.

c) Shuffle the logistics cards, stack them to form a draw pile, and put them below the board as shown. Then, draw and place 2 logistics cards faceup next to the draw pile.

d) Put the time token onto the first space of the time track.

e) Shuffle the event cards and place them facedown to form a deck to the left of the board as shown.

6) Turn Token and Dice

Give the turn token and dice to the player who most recently fed an animal. They will be the starting player.