The Blood of an Englishman
The Blood of an Englishman Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Object
Jack must steal all 3 treasures to win the game. The Giant is trying to catch Jack by arranging his Fee, Fi, Fo and Fum cards to corner and finally trap him.
Components
- A 50-card play deck, including:
- 36 Beanstalk Cards (numbered 1 through 9; 4 of each)
- 8 Giant Cards (Fee, Fi, Fo and Fum; 2 of each)
- 6 Treasure Cards (the Bag of Gold, the Goose that lays the Golden Eggs and the Singing Harp; 2 of each)
- 4 Helper Cards: 2 summarizing Jack's moves and win conditions, and 2 summarizing the Giant's moves and win conditions. Players may want to refer to these during the game.
Card types: Beanstalk Cards (green), Giant Cards (red), Treasure Cards (black), and Helper Cards (one for Jack, one for the Giant).
Setup
Shuffle the play deck and deal out cards face up to create 5 face-up Castle Stacks of 10 cards each. Cards should be fanned down, meaning they should be arranged such that each card only partially covers the card beneath it so that one can see the titles of all the cards in play.
The Giantess' Protection
After dealing out the cards, the Jack player may select any single card and move it to any position anywhere within the Castle Stacks.
If you're not sure which card to move, a good choice is always to take the front most Giant Card and move it to the back of the stack. This makes it harder for the Giant to bring that card forward during the game.
Gameplay
Each player in the game has different options available to him or her. The Jack player has a nimbler feel, whereas the Giant player has slower, but more powerful options. Jack always takes the first turn and play alternates thereafter.
Playing as Jack
On Jack's turn, he makes 3 moves.
Each move can be completed in one of 4 ways:
- From the front of any Castle Stack to the front of any other Castle Stack,
- From the front of any Castle Stack to the top of Jack's current Beanstalk Stack,
- From the back of any Castle Stack to the front of the same Castle Stack, or
- From the back of any Castle Stack to the top of Jack's current Beanstalk Stack.
Even if a Castle Stack has no cards in it, cards may be moved to that stack normally thereafter.
Except when using the Giantess' Protection during setup, Jack may never move cards from the front of the stacks to the back. Only back-to-front.
Beanstalk Stacks
Jack builds Beanstalk Stacks one at a time, by moving Beanstalk Cards from the Castle Stacks to his play area. Stack Beanstalk Cards on top of each other as they are collected to form a Beanstalk Stack.
To complete a Beanstalk Stack, Jack must collect 6 Beanstalk Cards in ascending, but not necessarily sequential order. Each card must have a number that is higher than the card beneath it, but Jack may skip numbers, as long as he is still able to play the cards he needs to complete the stack. For example, he might start with a 2, follow with a 4, then a 5, 7, 8, 9. Or he might play 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 9.
Once a Beanstalk Stack has 6 Beanstalk Cards on it, Jack may then use a move to play a Treasure Card from the front or back of a Castle Stack to complete it. Once Jack has claimed one of each of the 3 different treasures (Gold, Goose and Harp), then he is declared the winner.
Jack may only have one active Beanstalk Stack at a time. A Beanstalk Stack may only be started once any previous Beanstalk Stack is complete.
Playing as the Giant
The Giant has 3 movement options. He may:
- Discard any single Beanstalk Card from any position in any Castle Stack,
- Move the front most four cards as a group to the front of any other Castle Stack, or
- Make 2 moves. Each move, he takes the front most card in any Castle Stack and moves it to the front of any other Castle Stack.
The Giant may not use his 4-card movement option if there are not at least 4 cards in the stack he wants to move from. The Giant may never move cards from the back of the stacks like Jack does, although discards can be from anywhere within the Castle Stacks. Players may look through the discarded cards at any time.
Winning the Game
Win conditions are evaluated at the completion of each action.
Winning as the Giant
The Giant can win 3 different ways:
- Vertically: If one of each of the 4 different Giant cards is adjacent in a single, unbroken group within a single castle stack, the Giant wins immediately. Order is not important. (See Fig. A)
- Horizontally: If one of each of the 4 different Giant Cards is shown at the front of 4 of the 5 Castle Stacks, the Giant wins immediately. Order and adjacency are not important. (See Fig. B)
- Discard: If the Giant discards enough cards that Jack cannot complete his 3 Beanstalks, then he wins immediately.
Winning as Jack
Jack wins by completing 3 Beanstalks with 6 Beanstalk Cards each and one of each of the 3 different Treasure Cards: the Goose, the Harp and the Gold.
Strategy Tips
Strategy for Jack
- It's important that Jack focus on both offense and defense. Often, especially while he is building his third Beanstalk, Jack will have to spend just as much time preventing the Giant from winning as he does trying to advance his own goals.
- Remember that since the Giant can't discard Treasure Cards, they are good cards to use for blocking his Giant Cards.
- The less sequential the numbers in your Beanstalk Stacks, the more vulnerable you are to a discard-heavy strategy.
Strategy for the Giant
- The Giant's position gradually gets stronger over the course of the game, so be patient and wait for opportunities.
- The Giant's third movement option (2 single moves) can be undone by Jack on his turn, but sometimes he can't or won't choose to respond this way.
- Since you need to have one of each type of Giant Card in position to win, it's important to pay attention if one of those types is buried further back in the stacks than the others and try to move cards in front of them out of the way.
Credits
Game Design: Dan Cassar
Illustration Art Director: Kane Klenko, Cover and Card Illustrations: Chris Ostrowski, Graphic Design: Anita Osburn
Renegade Game Studios: President & Publisher: Scott Gaeta, Controller: Robyn Gaeta, Director of Sales & Marketing: Sara Erickson, Customer Service: Jenni Kingma, Demo Team Manager: Julia Smith.
Special thanks from the game designer to all of the people who helped make the game great, especially: Dan Caram, Paul Caram, Jared Cohen, Kristy Eckert, Jared Greenberg, Fred Hicks, Gil Hova, Michael Keller, Josh Kohn, Nat Levan, Magdalene O'Rourke, Miles O'Rourke, Patrick O'Rourke, Mike Resnick, Evan Shorrock, Jay Treat, Isaias Vallejo, Jarmell White. And very special thanks to my wife Erin for her untiring support, Duane Kolar for believing in the game, Chris and Suzanne Zinsli of Cardboard Edison for their dedication to this great hobby, and of course, my son Benjamin, for shouting "Fee! Fi! Fo! Fum!"
For additional information or support, please visit us on the web: www.renegadegames.com