Fiese Kühe

Fiese Kühe Rulebook

Table of Contents

Components

4 double sided game boards
16 wooden cows in 4 colors
116 Movement cards; 4 Sets of 29 cards, consisting of:
- 2 "1-5 HÜH!" (1-5 Ho!)
- 4 "1 STOSS" (1 Push)
- 2 "2 STOSS" (2 Push)
- 2 "1 PLATSCH" (1 Splash)
- 2 "2 PLATSCH" (2 Splash)
- 2 "3 PLATSCH" (3 Splash)
- 3 "1 MUH!" (1 Moo)
- 2 "2 MUH!" (2 Moo)
- 3 "1 GRR!" (1 Growl)
- 2 "|2 GRR!" (2 Growl)
- 3 "4 ZIG ZAG" (4 Zigzag)
- 2 "5 ZIG ZAG" (5 Zigzag)

Setting up the Board

On each game board there is a smattering of cowpats. The boards are put together five columns wide and twelve rows long. Important: Keep the starting row free of cowpats! This allows five different starting columns. The starting row may be on either of the two sides, with the barn on the opposite side.

Starting Player

The player who shouts "Moo" loudest begins the game.

Turn Cycle

On your turn you may do one of two things:

Play a Card
Change the Cards in Your Hand

1. Play a card

Play a card in front of yourself. Each card contains two pieces of information:

The number of steps, the cow must move.
The special ability, the cow may use.

You must follow some rules when moving the cow:

a) The Movement Rule
b) The Herd Rule

a) The Movement Rule

Each cow may be moved only in one direction.
The cow may be moved only forward and sideways, never backward or diagonally. A cow may not be moved over or into cowpats or other cows.

b) Herd Rule

Cows are herd animals and won't move too far from the other cows in its herd.

You may never move a cow so that it is more than 4 rows ahead of the next cow in its herd, that is no more than 3 empty rows between it and the next cow of the same color.
The starting row counts as if there is already a cow standing there.

Therefore each player must bring new cows into play to enable the first cow to move forward. Only your last cow is without a cow behind them and can be moved freely.

The movement cards have numbers ranging from 1-5. If no cow can move the exact number on the card, the card may not be played.

You don't have to reach the barn (behind the last row on the playing board) with an exact number. A higher numbered card may be played. The Herd Rule still applies though.

2. Change the Cards in Your Hand

If you choose to or can't play any of your cards, you may change them. Discard one card, then shuffle the rest of your hand into your draw pile and then draw 5 cards.

Objective

You try to be first to get your herd of four cows back to the barn using Movement cards in an optimal way.

Setup

You each get four cows in one color and a set of Movement cards in the same color.
The four playing boards are set up as described under Setting up the Board.
You each shuffle your deck of cards and place it face down beside yourself, this is their draw pile.
You each draw a hand of five cards and keep them hidden from the other players.
The players decide in which direction they want to run along the board and place their cows in front of the starting row.

Special Abilities

There are six special abilities, which may be used when playing a corresponding movement card.

STOSS (Push)

To use Push, you must move a cow so that it ends its move on a space occupied by another cow. The cow that you land on is pushed in the direction your cow was heading in. If there's another cow in this direction, it is pushed in the same manner. A cow can be moved into a cowpat by being pushed into it. If a cow would be pushed out of the fence on the side of the boards, then the move is not allowed. You may of course push your own cows.

Push Example: Grey plays a "1 STOSS" card, he may not play a "2 STOSS" and push the cows two spaces.

GRR! (Growl)

To use Growl, you must move your cow so that it ends its move on a space occupied by another cow. The cow that you land on is pulled one space in the direction your cow came from. You may move the pulled cow onto a cowpat, but this only happens if your cow started on the same cowpat. You may use Growl on one of your own cows, but most of the time it doesn't make sense.

Growl Example: Grey plays a "2 GRR!" card; he may play just a "1 GRR!" but would then finish the move behind the cowpat in the center without being able to change the position o the other cow.

MUH! (Moo)

To use Moo, you must move a cow to an empty space. After moving, say "Moo!" out loud and scare away the surrounding cows. Each adjacent cow, including diagonally, may be moved one space forward, sideways, or backward. If these cows land on spaces with another cow, these cows are pushed following the rules for the Push (STOSS) action, but they can only be pushed once per Moo action. You may scare cows onto cowpats.

Moo Example: Grey plays a "2 MUH!" movement card; he may play just a "1 MUH!" but then he could not reach its own cow and move it onto the cowpat.

PLATSCH (Splash)

To use Splash, you must finish your move on a free space. During this turn you may move into or over cowpats, because your cow is wearing boots and won't get their hooves dirty.

Splash Example: Grey plays "3 PLATSCH" and respects the Herd Rule because the starting row always counts as having one of your cows.

ZIG-ZAG (Zigzag)

To use Zigzag, you must finish your move on a free space. The cows are not totally stupid, and during this turn your cow may change directions as much as you want. You must still only move forward or sideways, and never through the same space a second time. You must however respect the normal movement rules, and may not enter space with cows or cowpats.

Zigzag Example: Grey plays "4 ZIG-ZAG" and changes direction twice; he still respects the Herd rule given that the starting row always counts as having one of your cows.

HÜH! (Ho!)

You may move a cow 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 spaces. You must finish your move on a free space, and all the usual rules apply.

Draw a Card

If you played a card, you always draw a new card; so you again hold five cards at the end of your turn. If you deplete your draw pile, no more cards are drawn, and the discard pile is not reshuffled.

Game End

The game has two end conditions:

A player brings his fourth cow into the barn
All players run out of cards

Winner

The first player to bring his fourth cow into the barn wins the game immediately. You may of course continue playing for second and third place if so desired.

If all players run out of cards, but none of them have all four cows in the barn, then the player with most cows in the barn wins. In case of a tie the player whose cows are closest to the barn wins; count the rows from the barn to the players' nearest cow. If still tied the game ends in a tie.

Special Rules

Fewer Than Four Players

When playing with three players don't use the rightmost or leftmost column. In a 2-player game don't use the two rightmost or leftmost columns, or just use the three columns in the middle.

Notes by Yoki:

The official German rules only mentions not using the rightmost or leftmost column in a 2-player game, but no modifications for 3-player games.

Experienced Cowboys

When a cow enters a cowpat without having played a Splash (Platsch) card, such as being shoved by a Push (Stoss), or pulled back by a Growl (Grr) card, turn it around to face the starting row. On the following turn it may only be turned the right way again, but not be moved. Basically it loses its ability to move for one turn.

Yoki's Herd Rule

Replace the old Herd Rule with the following:

You may never move one of your cows so that it is more than 1 board section in front of the next cow in its herd (in other words, at the conclusion of a move, you must have a cow of the same color on the board behind the board the just moved cow is now on). This includes the starting board, so you must have at least one other cow from your herd on the starting board in order to move a cow to the 2nd board.