Fallen Angels Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Overview
  • Suspect Cards
  • Crime Scene Cards
• Setup
• Playing the Game
  • Selecting a Suspect
  • Assistants Collate the Evidence
  • Detective Deduces
  • Asking an Informant
  • Declaring
  • Correct Declaration
  • Incorrect Declaration
• End of the Game
• Rules Summary

Overview

Fallen Angels is a cooperative game – all players win or lose together as a team.

The aim of the game is to convict a dozen suspects before four are acquitted.

You will need:

• 45 suspect cards
• 1 crime scene card for each player
• 3 tableau cards

Suspect Cards

The double-sided suspect cards feature evidence icons. One of the two icons is always repeated on the reverse side.

• The card level (1, 2, 3) shows how many more court appearances must be successful to secure a conviction.
• The action icons show what to do when you are successful (see Correct Declaration).

Crime Scene Cards

The crime scene cards help to mask secret information, act as player prompts, and are important markers for arranging your hand.

IMPORTANT: Players should never see the backs of the suspect cards in their hand. Use your crime scene card to cover them up if you need to put down your cards.

Setup

Setting up the deck for play requires some care. Make sure you preserve the orientation of the cards during this process.

1. Arrange the suspect cards to have the number 3 in the top left corner. Shuffle them well, preserving this orientation.
2. Holding the deck under the table, rotate approximately half of the cards by 180° without flipping them over. Carefully shuffle, preserving the card orientation.
3. Adjust the game difficulty:
   • Beginner: Skip this step.
   • Normal: Still holding the deck under the table, flip the top half of the cards over, top to bottom and shuffle again.
   • Advanced: Turn the whole deck of cards over, left to right.
4. Still under the table, place a crime scene card face down (icon side down) on top of the deck. Count off the top eight cards (including the new card) and place these on the table in front of the first player.
5. Repeat step 4 for each player. When players pick up their hands the crime scene card should be at the back with the picture up the right way.

CHECK: In beginner mode the fanned cards should show levels 1 and 2. In normal mode the cards should have a mixture of 1, 2 and 3. Advanced mode should show levels 2 or 3.

6. Count out a further six* suspect cards to form the informants deck. Set aside any remaining suspect cards.
7. Lay out the optional tableau cards to help keep track of your progress.

You are now ready to begin! The player who has committed the fewest crimes starts as the detective†. That role passes to the left after each turn.

* 6 PLAYERS: With six players there will be only three informant cards available. As each is used, flip it over and tuck it under the Informants tableau card. When they run out, use them a second time and discard them.

† With six players you can optionally play with two detectives acting simultaneously on opposite sides of the circle. The two will both need to finish their deductions before the next players to the left become detectives in the next turn.

Playing the Game

Selecting a Suspect

Each turn, the detective selects a suspect from their hand. You may choose any card from your hand. Collapse your hand and elevate the chosen suspect card at the back. Put the crime scene card at the front for easy reference.

Assistants Collate the Evidence

The two players to the left of the detective assist by collating the evidence. The assistants can see one or two target icons on the back of the suspect card. The detective must deduce these critical pieces of evidence to convict the suspect. Assistants ignore any icons seen at the bottom of the card.

The assistants arrange their cards either side of their crime scene card depending on what they can see on the back of the detective's suspect card. Cards that show one of the target icons go on one side of the crime scene card; cards that do not show the target icons go on the other side.

2 PLAYERS: A deputy detective gives additional clues when there are only two players.

1. First the assistant should arrange their cards in hand as normal.
2. Now check the deputy detective card for the number of extra clues to draw, depending on the current number of convictions made.
3. The assistant draws each extra clue card from the top of the suspect deck, looks at the face down side, and places it to the left or right of the deputy detective card to indicate whether the face down side shows the target icon(s).

At the end of the turn set the clue cards aside, shuffling them back into the suspect deck when it is depleted.

Detective Deduces

Now the detective must deduce the key evidence (the icons on the back of the suspect card) based on what they can see on the backs of the assistants' hands. If there is not enough information from one player alone, you need to consider the other assistant's hand as well.

Asking an Informant

If unsure, the detective may ask an informant. The assistants will say how many of the target icons can be seen on the top informant card (consider all three icons on the card). That informant card is then discarded from the game.

You can do this step as many times as you want in the same turn.

Declaring

When they are ready, the detective must declare which icon(s) are on the back of the suspect card.

REMEMBER: If you can see two icons on your side of the card then you must declare one; if you can see one then you must declare two.

Correct Declaration

If you guess correctly, then carry out the action on the suspect card:

• Rotate the card 180°.
• Flip the card top to bottom.
• Place the card in the convicted pile.

If two actions are shown, choose one.

Incorrect Declaration

If you are wrong, add the suspect card to the acquitted pile.

2 PLAYERS: When there's only 2 players, each time you convict or acquit a suspect, replace the lost card in your hand with one drawn from the bottom of the suspect deck. Rotate it to place the larger level number in the top left corner.

End of the Game

The game ends when either:

• The twelfth suspect is convicted – you WIN!
• or the fourth suspect is acquitted – you LOSE!

If you win, your score is the number of informants remaining, minus the number of acquittals you had:

• Less than 0: Crime pays, but you won't be (rating text truncated in the source)
• 0 or 1: At least the crime wave is not getting any worse
• 2 or 3: It's now safe to walk around the city at night
• 4 or 5: The grateful Mayor gives your team a substantial pay rise
• 6: You share the Nobel Peace prize!

Rules Summary

• Setup: Set suspect cards to level 3 and shuffle them under the table. Rotate half by 180° and shuffle again. Easy mode: you're done. Normal mode: flip half top to bottom. Advanced: turn deck over, left to right. Deal 7 suspects and 1 crime scene card to each player. Set out 6 informants.
• On your turn: Detective selects a suspect. Assistants (next 2 players) arrange hands according to back of suspect card. Detective deduces icon(s) on back of suspect card. May ask an informant.
• If correct: rotate, flip or convict suspect. If wrong: acquit suspect.
• To win: convict 12 suspects. You lose if 4 suspects are acquitted.