Boblin's Rebellion
Boblin's Rebellion Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Overview & Components
Boblin's Rebellion is an engine builder with just one, notably volatile resource to manage: Goblins! Start by recruiting simple Stickler and Screamer goblins at camp, and then seek out opportunities to train them into mighty Stabbers, Stalkers, Slingers, and Sparklers. Descend into the depths with your fresh goblin army, conquering key rooms throughout the dungeon: Learn new tricks in the mineshaft, establish strategic footholds in the ice caves, and ultimately launch your furious assault upon the goblin king's lair in the inferno.
But remember... goblins are reckless and clumsy. Your finely crafted engine will require constant adjustment as your goblins overuse and destroy the conquered rooms. Adapt to this, and lead the most effective goblin rebellion to earn ultimate fame and be crowned the winner!
Components
- 4 goblin camp boards
- 95 cards (Mineshaft, Ice Caves and Inferno room cards, plus Hero's Help cards)
- 70 goblin cubes
- 24 troll cubes
- Bonus cubes: 10 extra goblin cubes and 4 extra troll cubes are provided that you can use with Dungeon Drop! Simply replace your unprinted cubes with these.
Room Card Anatomy
- Card cost
- Action cost panel: the action cost and the rewards of an action row
- Destruction track: the goblin starts on the first space; the final space is the destruction space ("X"), next to which is the destruction reward
- Passive trigger panel (Ice Caves room cards differ): the passive effect trigger and its rewards
Game Setup
Setup the game as follows:
- Shuffle the 3 dungeon decks and the optional Hero's Help deck individually. Place each deck, face-down, in the center of the table. Draw 3 room/hero cards from each deck and place them face-up to the right of the decks. Not playing with Hero's Help?: For your first game, or when you want a simpler game, leave the Hero's Help deck in the box.
- Place the goblin and troll cubes in separate piles in the center of the table. Not playing with Terrible Trolls?: For your first game, or when you want a simpler game, leave the troll cubes in the box.
- Give each player a goblin camp board to place in front of them. Not playing with Terrible Trolls?: For your first game, or when you want a simpler game, place the goblin camp board with the side that does not have spaces for Troll cubes facing up.
- Each player places a goblin cube on the 0 space of the fame track on their goblin camp board.
- The player who most recently accidentally destroyed something goes first (or choose randomly). That player places a goblin cube in the Sticklers area on their goblin camp board. The second player in clockwise order places 2 cubes in their Sticklers area, the third places 3, and the fourth places 4.
You're now ready to play!
How to Play
Players take turns in clockwise order around the table. On your turn you will take 2 of the following actions, in any order, and you may take the same action more than once per turn:
- Recruit: Add new Stickler or Screamer goblins to your goblin camp board.
- Scout: Search a dungeon deck for a room to conquer.
- Conquer: Claim a face-up room card in the center of the table.
- Exploit: Activate one of your room card's effects.
- Befriend (not used during your first game): Claim a face-up hero card in the center of the table.
- Defeat Guard (not used during your first game): Remove a troll from your goblin camp board.
Some actions will grant you additional actions, which work in the exact same manner.
Some actions will grant you fame points. Move your goblin cube up on your fame track on your goblin camp board.
Once you are done with your actions, it is the next player's turn. As soon as a player reaches 27 fame, they immediately win the game!
Standard Actions
Recruit
Either add 3 Stickler goblins or 2 Screamer goblins to your goblin camp board: Take goblin cubes from the central supply and place them on the appropriate spaces on your goblin camp board.
Goblin cube placement rules: Goblin cubes can be placed in several different locations on your goblin camp board. While a cube is in the Stickler goblin area, for example, it counts as that type of goblin (and no other type). Later on, that cube may be moved to the Sparkler goblin area - at that point it counts as a Sparkler goblin (and no other type).
If you do not have enough room for all the new goblins, take what you can and ignore the excess (this is true ANY time you gain new goblins of any type).
Scout
Draw 3 face-down cards from any 1 dungeon deck: You may choose to pay for and conquer 1 of these rooms (see the Conquer action below for details). Place the cards you did not conquer at the bottom of that card stack.
Conquer
Pay the card cost for any face-up room card in the center of the table: Remove the specified goblins from your goblin camp board, placing them back into the central supply. Place the room card in front of you and draw a new card from that deck to replace it (unless it came from a Scout action). Place a goblin from the central supply on the left-most space of the room card's destruction track.
Exploit
Activate one of your room card's effects: Choose one of the action rows on one of the conquered room cards you have in front of you (most rooms have only one row). Pay the action cost shown on the left side of the arrow and gain the rewards shown on the right side.
Some actions allow you to pay an increased cost (denoted by a '+' near the arrow) for increased rewards (optional increased cost, additional rewards). This still only takes 1 action to perform (unless the cost was another action - see example on P14).
Note that the Ice Caves room cards have passive effects which work a little differently - see Passive Effects.
Destruction
After gaining rewards from an Exploit action (as well as after triggering a passive effect - see Passive Effects), increase the destruction track on that room card by moving the goblin cube 1 space to the right. As soon as the goblin cube reaches the 'X' space, that room is destroyed and you immediately gain the reward shown to the right of the destruction track. Flip the room card face-down and keep it to the side of your play area (destroyed rooms are used when you are playing with the Hero's Help deck).
Passive Effects
Room cards from the Ice Caves dungeon deck (as well as most hero cards from the Hero's Help deck) contain a different type of effect: Passive effects. Passive effects do not require an Exploit action to activate. Instead, whenever the trigger shown on the left side of the arrow occurs, you immediately gain the rewards shown on the right side. Each passive effect only triggers ONCE per action (and in the case of some hero card passive effects, only once per turn):
- Example: "When you gain a Stalker (max once per action)... gain 1 additional action this turn"
Passive effects also only trigger on your own turn, except when otherwise indicated, such as in this example:
- Example: "When a neighbor player conquers an Inferno room... gain either 1 Stalker or 1 fame"
Don't forget to increase the destruction track on a room card every time its passive effect triggers.
Winning the Game
As soon as a player increases their fame to 27 (or beyond), they have led the most effective goblin rebellion and win the game immediately!
Note that it's possible for two or more players to reach 27 fame during the same turn, due to passive effects. Resolve these effects in turn order, starting with the active player. The first to reach 27 wins!
Hero's Help
When playing with this module, you will enlist legendary heroes to help aid your cause. Place the additional Hero's Help deck in the center of the table during game setup, and deal out 3 face-up cards just as you do with the dungeon decks.
Befriend action: Pay the card cost of 2 destroyed room cards (of different types) to befriend a hero in the center of the table, placing that hero card in front of you and drawing a new card from the Hero's Help deck to replace it (return the spent cards to the box). Immediately gain the number of fame points indicated in the upper right corner on the hero card.
Most hero cards have passive effects, just like the Ice Caves room cards, except that they have no destruction track - these effects are permanent, and these hero cards are never destroyed.
Note that the Scout action may not be used on the Hero's Help deck.
The various hero card effects work as follows:
- Draglinkin (the only hero with an action rather than a passive): Once per turn, spend 1 destroyed room to gain 2 actions.
- Dwarf: When any player destroys an Ice Caves room, gain 1 trained goblin (of a type of your choice).
- Faerie: Once per turn, you may change 1 trained goblin to a different type of trained goblin.
- Gear Golem: When you take 2 Conquer actions during the same turn, gain 2 fame.
- Gnome: When any player destroys a Mineshaft room, gain 1 fame.
- Half Orc: When you have 4 or more trolls on your goblin camp board, gain 1 extra action during each of those turns.
- Hawkmyn: When any player takes a Scout action, gain 1 trained goblin (of a type of your choice).
- High Elf: When you take an action to conquer an Inferno room, gain 1 fame.
- Human: When you take an action to conquer an Ice Caves room, you may increase or decrease one of your destruction tracks.
- Ishim: When any player destroys an Inferno room, gain 2 Sticker goblins.
- Shadowfolk: When you gain 6 trained goblins during the same turn, gain 3 fame.
- Ssleth: When you gain a trained goblin, gain a Screamer goblin.
Terrible Trolls
When playing with this module, fearsome troll guardians will invade your goblin camp and further mess up your plans. You will use the larger troll cubes and the flip-side of the goblin camp boards.
Whenever you gain fame, if you reach or pass one of the spaces depicting a troll guardian (the spaces numbered 4, 8, 12, 16, and 20), you must immediately place a troll cube from the supply onto your goblin camp board, in one of the indicated troll spaces that does not already contain a troll (your choice). Note that you may receive multiple trolls during the same action, if you reach or pass multiple troll spaces.
Newly placed trolls immediately introduce penalties, as follows:
- Your Conquer actions cost 1 more Stickler.
- Your destruction bonuses are negated.
- You have 2 fewer Screamer goblin spaces.
- You have 4 fewer trained goblin spaces (2 fewer spaces for each of 2 different types).
Defeat Guard action: Pay 1 trained goblin to remove 1 troll from your goblin camp board (return it to the central supply), immediately removing the related penalty. This also earns you 2 fame.
Solo Rules
When playing solo, your goal is to reach 27 fame before the available room cards run out, and the goblin king fights back with all his might!
Game Setup: Setup the game as a normal multiplayer game, starting with 1 Stickler goblin on your goblin camp board. Then, discard 3 room cards from each dungeon deck (place them in face-up discard piles to the right of their respective rows of face-up room cards).
How to Play: Play a normal multiplayer game, adding this new rule: At the end of each of your turns, discard the right-most face-up card from each of the room card rows, slide all other room cards to the right, and then draw a new card from each dungeon deck to fill the gap.
Passive Effects: All passive effects in the game trigger when YOU do whatever the action is (in other words, ignore the arrows that would normally indicate a neighbor needs to do the action).
Winning the Game: You win immediately when you reach 27 fame! You lose if you cannot draw a room card from a dungeon deck when needed.
Difficulty Options: This game mode is compatible with both the Hero's Help and Terrible Trolls modules. Hero's Help will make the game slightly easier, and Terrible Trolls will make the game slightly harder. To further adjust the difficulty, simply increase or decrease the number of discarded cards during setup as desired (for example, discarding 2 to 3 more cards will make the game more difficult).
Advanced Effect Examples
Once you understand the rules, most room card effects should be self-explanatory. These are some of the more advanced effects:
- Pay 1 Stickler to gain a Stabber. Optionally spend an additional action to also gain another Stabber and a Sparkler.
- Pay 1 Slinger to gain 1 fame. Alternatively, pay 2, 3, or 4 Slingers to gain 2, 4, or 7 fame, respectively.
- When a player to your left or right (your neighbor) destroys a room, gain either 1 Slinger or 1 fame.
- When you gain a Stabber, gain 1 additional action (to be used during this turn). Reminder: Even if you gain more than one Stabber during the action, you only trigger the effect once.
- Pay any 3 trained goblins (Stabbers, Stalkers, Slingers, or Sparklers) to gain 3 fame, plus 2 if each was a different type.
- Pay any 3 trained goblins to gain 4 fame, minus 1 for each Slinger that was used to pay the cost.
Icon Reference
- Stickler
- Stabber, Stalker, Slinger, Sparkler (trained goblins)
- Any trained goblin
- Screamer
- Troll
- Turn / once per turn
- Action
- Scout action
- Conquer action (Ice Caves room)
- Action cost panel
- Passive trigger panel
- Mineshaft room, Ice Caves room, Inferno room, Any room, Destroyed room
- Hero card
- Fame
- When a neighbor does (X)
- When any player does (X)
- (X) or (Y)
- Not equal
- Canceled effect
- Change 1 trained goblin to a different type
- Increase or decrease one of your room's destruction tracks