Henhouse Havoc Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Goal of the Game & End of the Game
• Set Up
  • Unit Placement
  • First Player
• Gameplay
  • Phase 1 – Targeting
  • Phase 2 – Resolution
    • Damaged Units
    • Destroyed Units
  • End of Round
• Black Market
• The Units

Contents

Each player chooses an Army, and takes the following items:

1. 1 large board
2. 1 small board
3. 1 Bunker
4. 8 cards representing the Army's different Units
5. 10 small Unit tiles
6. 10 large Unit tiles
7. 15 Target tiles
8. 5 Egg tokens (they make up the player's Reserve)
9. 1 Magnetic Field tile

Place the following shared items within reach of all the players:

10. 100 Crater tiles
11. 2 Nuclear Strike tiles
12. 6 Sitting Duck tiles
13. 30 Secret Weapon cards
14. 1 Wild Egg card and 3 Wild Egg tokens

The Black Market:

15. 20 5-Sheaf coins
16. 20 10-Sheaf coins

Goal of the Game & End of the Game

The first player to obtain 5 Eggs (either Wild or Enemy Eggs) wins the game.

Note: Players cannot obtain their own Army's Eggs.

The game ends when one of the players has gathered 5 enemy Eggs or when there is only one player remaining with any units that have not been destroyed.

Set Up

Each player places their Bunker in front of themself, and places their small board inside it so the other players cannot see it.

They then place their large board in front of their Bunker in the central playing area. They then place their 8 Unit cards nearby, and place their large Unit tiles on top of the corresponding cards. (To make things easier, players should make sure their large and small boards face in the same direction.)

Finally, they place one Egg on each of the following Unit cards: Barn, Sprayer, Tractotank, Armored Combine, and Tactical Granary. (The other three Units do not get Eggs.) These Eggs form each player's reserve until they have been bought by another player (see the Black Market, below).

The following shared items must be placed in the center so they will be accessible to all players: Secret Weapon cards, Sheaf coins, Crater tiles, Wild Egg card and tokens, Nuclear Strike tiles, and Sitting Duck tiles.

The Wild Egg tokens are placed on their nests on the Wild Egg card. Players may buy them for 35, 40, and 45 Sheaves respectively.

Shuffle the deck of 30 Secret Weapon cards and place the top 3 cards face up next to the deck.

Unit Placement

The boards include 6 different types of terrain: a meadow, a duck pond, a lavender field, a vegetable garden, a path, and a wheat field.

Each player secretly places their 10 small Unit tiles on their small board. The Units must never touch each other, not even diagonally.

Unit tiles must face the same direction as their illustrations (for example: the Tactical Granary cannot be placed vertically, and the Sprayer cannot be placed horizontally).

Notes: Units that take up more than one space can cover more than one type of terrain at a time. Once gameplay begins, you can no longer move your Units.

Tip: Clumsy people (and people who are constantly accused of being as sneaky as a fox in a henhouse) might want to take a photo of their small boards at the start of the game.

First Player

The player who has eaten eggs most recently goes first. Turns rotate clockwise throughout the game.

Gameplay

Each round has 2 phases: Targeting (Phase 1) and Resolution (Phase 2).

During Phase 1, starting with the first player, all players take turns firing weapons with the Unit of their choice. They place one or more Target tiles on the large board(s) of one or more enemies (depending on the power of the chosen Unit).

During Phase 2, the players' strikes are resolved in turn, always starting with the first player's strikes.

Phase 1 – Targeting

In turn, each player rotates one of their Army's Unit cards sideways and fires that Unit's weapon by placing Target tile(s) on the spaces of the large board(s) of one or more of their enemies. Players may not fire on spaces that are currently targeted, spaces that have exploded, or a destroyed unit.

The Targeting Phase ends once all players have placed their Target tiles.

Note: Players straighten these sideways cards after the Resolution Phase and before the start of the next Targeting Phase.

For example: The first player chooses to use their Barn. They rotate their Barn card and place two Target tiles on the second player's large board, and one Target tile on the third player's large board. The second player chooses to use their Sprayer, rotates their Sprayer card, and places 1 Target tile on one space of the first player's large board.

Phase 2 – Resolution

The players reveal whether or not the weapons have hit any of their Units.

The player(s) targeted by the first player check their small board(s) and reveal whether any of their Units have been hit. If a weapon strike did not hit, the Target tile is replaced by a Crater tile. Once all of the first player's strikes have been verified and resolved, the next player's strikes are verified and resolved, and so on.

Phase 2 ends when there are no more Target tiles left on the large boards.

Damaged Units

When a Unit is hit, turn the Target tiles over so that their explosion side is face up. Note that most of the Units have additional abilities that are triggered when that Unit successfully hits an enemy Unit. Units that are hit by enemy fire remain operational (and are not revealed) until they have been totally destroyed.

Note: If a space is affected by multiple Target tiles, only the first strike to be resolved counts.

For example: The second player checks if the Target tiles placed on their large board by the first player have hit any of their Units. The second player replaces one Target tile with a Crater tile (indicating a miss). They turn the second Target tile over to show its explosion side to indicate that the strike hit a Unit but did not destroy it.

Destroyed Units

Once all the spaces occupied by a Unit have been hit (by one or more players), the owner of this Unit places the corresponding large Unit tile onto the large board with the destroyed side face up. The owner must also place the corresponding Egg from their Reserve on the destroyed Unit's tile (if it is one of the five large Units: the Barn, Sprayer, Tractotank, Armored Combine, and Tactical Granary). The other players can now buy that Egg for 25 Sheaves (see Black Market, below). Finally, when a Unit is destroyed, all players who took part in its destruction receive the number of Sheaves shown on the destroyed Unit's card for each space they hit.

Note: When all the Units of the same type belonging to a single player are destroyed, that player removes their corresponding Unit card from the game.

For example: Three spaces on the third player's Tractotank were hit during previous rounds. The first player places a Target tile on the Tractotank's last undamaged space. When the third player turns the first player's Target tile over onto its explosion side, each player who took part in the Tractotank's destruction receives 5 Sheaves for each space they hit. The third player places their large Tractotank with the destroyed side face up on the large board along with the corresponding Egg from their Reserve. Finally, they return the Target tiles to the other players.

End of Round

The first player passes the First Player token to the player to their left, who becomes the first player for the next round.

Black Market

During the Targeting and Resolution Phases, the players may make one or more purchases on the black market when it is their turn. The Eggs of destroyed enemy Units can be bought by paying 25 Sheaves to the Black Market. As a bonus, when a player buys an Enemy (or Wild) Egg, they also chose 1 Secret Weapon card from among the 3 that are face up. They then immediately replace the chosen face-up card with the top card of the Secret Weapon draw pile.

The player places the Egg they have bought in their henhouse (located on top of their Bunker).

Note: If you run out of Secret Weapons, shuffle the discard pile to create a new draw pile.

Note: Throughout the game, all purchases are paid to the Black Market (never directly to any players).

The Units

Players start the game with eight different types of Units.

Example (card layout): 1 Type of Unit: Barn. 2 Primary Effect: Target enemy spaces. 3 Bonus Effect: Triggered when its strike hits a Unit. 4 Value: 5 Sheaves per space. 5 Presence of an Egg.

Note: The value indicates the number of Sheaves that a player will receive for each space that they hit to destroy the Unit. If they hit 2 spaces of the Barn, they will get 10 Sheaves when it is destroyed.

BARN: Target 3 spaces of your choice. If your Barn is destroyed, take any one of the 3 face-up Secret Weapon cards. Value: 5 Sheaves per space. 1 Egg.

Note: If a Barn is destroyed, its owner immediately chooses one of the 3 face-up Secret Weapon cards. Cards' permanent effects apply immediately. Single-use cards can only be used during their owner's turn.

SPRAYER: Target 1 space. If the strike hits a Unit, immediately destroy the targeted space and the 8 surrounding spaces. Value: 5 Sheaves per space. 1 Egg.

TRACTOTANK: Target 2 horizontally or vertically adjacent spaces. If the strike hits a Unit, immediately trigger a Howitzegg attack. Value: 5 Sheaves per space. 1 Egg.

HOWITZEGG: Target 1 space. If the strike hits a Unit, destroy the targeted space and the 4 adjacent spaces. Value: 15 Sheaves.

ARMORED COMBINE: Target 2 horizontally or vertically adjacent spaces. If the strike hits a Unit, you may place a Magnetic Field tile. Value: 5 Sheaves per space. 1 Egg.

Magnetic Field: In the event of a hit, place the 4-space Magnetic Field tile wherever you like on the large board of your choice. Your enemies cannot target the spaces covered by your Magnetic Field. Remove it at the start of your turn during the next Resolution.

Note: Magnetic Fields may be placed on your own board or on your enemies' boards.

TACTICAL GRANARY: Target 3 horizontally or vertically adjacent spaces. If the strike hits a Unit, steal 5 Sheaves from its owner. Value: 10 Sheaves per space. 1 Egg.

Note: Remember to check if the player you want to steal Sheaves from still has any before playing this unit. You can only steal 5 Sheaves, no matter how many spaces are hit.

REAPER: Target 2 spaces of your choice. If a strike hits, immediately target one additional space. Value: 15 Sheaves.

Note: You may only target one additional space.

Note: Do not wait for the next Resolution Phase to resolve the Tractotank's and the Reaper's bonus strikes. Your enemy immediately announces whether or not the strikes have hit Units.

WAR CHEST: The player who destroys your War Chest gets a Secret Weapon card of their choice from among the 3 face-up cards. Value: 20 Sheaves.

Note: The War Chest has no firing capability.