Intrigues and Cabbage
Intrigues and Cabbage Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Components
86 game cards:
- Cat (8)
- Pig (8)
- Hen (8)
- Cow (8)
- Fox (8)
- Wolf (8)
- Dog (10)
- Rabbit (8)
- Cabbage (8)
- Wheat (12)
5 reference cards (player aids).
Goal of the Game
In this game you must create the best castle, populating it with animals and securing it. Try your luck, take risks, take the necessary cards from opponents, and keep the best combination of animals to win.
Setup
Deal each player a reference card (the "hint card"). Carefully shuffle the game deck and place it in the centre of the table. That's all, you are ready to start the game.
Anatomy of a card (as shown in the rulebook, using the Wolf card as the example):
- Card effect: resolves immediately after the card is revealed.
- Card name: for example, "Wolf" (Вовк).
- Points: the number of points you receive at the end of the game for this card.
- Intrigue-phase ability: the card's ability during the intrigue phase.
The Wolf example card's effect text reads: "Give a card of your choice from your own castle to another player's castle." Its intrigue-phase ability text begins: "If not blocked, discard all …" and is followed by symbols that are not legible at the scan resolution, so the rest of that line is not transcribed.
Course of the Game
The first player is the one who last fed an animal. Further turns pass clockwise.
A turn proceeds as follows: the player takes a card from the top of the deck and places it face up in the centre of the table, resolving its effect. The player then decides whether to draw further or to stop on what they have achieved and take all the cards they have revealed during this turn into their own castle. There is no limit on the number of cards a player may reveal in one turn, BUT if a player draws a card a copy of which has already been played in this turn, the turn is considered failed and all cards played in it are discarded.
SUCCESSFUL TURN: if the player manages to stop in time, they take all the cards played this turn into their own castle.
Important: all players must be able to see how many and which cards are in each castle, so it is recommended to lay out identical cards one on top of another with a slight offset.
FAILED TURN: if the player reveals a card a copy of which is already among the cards they have played, their turn fails. The effect of this card does not work; instead, all cards go to the discard pile. The only exception to this rule is the Wheat card (see the "Card Effects" section below).
Card Effects
DOG: This card has no immediate effect. Instead, it allows you to save part of the cards from a failed turn. If a turn that failed contained a Dog, the player may choose any 2 cards, which go not to the discard pile but into their castle.
FOX: The player takes any card from another player's castle and plays it into the centre of the table. If the other players' castles contain only cards that repeat cards already played, the player is obliged to take one of those cards, thereby failing their turn. If there are no cards yet in other players' castles, nothing happens.
WOLF: The player chooses a card from their own castle and moves it to another player's castle. If they do not yet have any card in their castle, nothing happens.
COW: The player looks at the top card of the deck without showing it to the others, and then decides whether to play this card (draw it) or to stop and take the cards revealed earlier into their castle.
HEN: The player shuffles the discard pile, looks at 4 random cards and plays one of them into the centre of the table. If all of the drawn cards repeat cards already played, the player is obliged to play one of them and fail their turn. If the discard pile has 4 or fewer cards, the player looks at all of them. If the discard pile has no cards yet, nothing happens.
PIG: The player chooses any card in another player's castle and discards it. If there are no cards yet in other players' castles, nothing happens.
CAT: The player shuffles the discard pile, looks at 5 random cards and takes into their castle all of those that are not yet in their castle. If among the revealed cards there are several identical ones, but the player does not yet have such a card in their castle, they take all such cards. If the discard pile has 5 or fewer cards, the player looks at all of them. If the discard pile has no cards yet, nothing happens.
RABBIT: The player chooses any card from their own castle and plays it into the centre of the table. If their castle contains only cards that repeat cards already played, the player is obliged to take one of those cards, thereby failing their turn. If the castle has no cards yet, nothing happens.
WHEAT: When Wheat enters the game again during a turn, unlike other cards it does not fail the turn. Moreover, while Wheat is played in the centre of the table (but not in a player's castle!), all repeated Wheat cards are placed on it, and for the Dog's ability this stack counts as one card. That is, if the player nevertheless failed the turn and a Dog was played, they may save the whole Wheat stack as one of the two cards.
CABBAGE: This card has no special effects.
Example of a Turn
In her turn, Ruslana reveals the top card of the deck, a Wolf, and resolves its effect: she passes a Pig from her own castle to Stepan's castle. The second card is a Cat, which allows her to take up to 5 random cards from the discard pile. The discard pile has only 4 cards, so Ruslana reveals all of them and takes 2 Hens and a Dog, since she has no such cards in her castle yet. She leaves the Wheat card in the discard pile, since she already has 2 Wheat in her castle. Ruslana does not stop; she reveals a Dog, which lets her, if the turn fails, take any 2 cards.
Next she reveals 2 Wheat cards in a row. Thanks to their effect they do not fail the turn, and they are stacked. Ruslana decides to take a risk and continue, but unfortunately a second Wolf comes up, and the turn fails. However, thanks to the Dog's effect she takes the Wheat stack into her castle, which counts as 1 card, and also the Dog card itself, since at the end of the game it can protect the castle from Foxes or Wolves. The turn passes to the next player.
(The rulebook illustrates this example with a diagram showing the discard pile, Ruslana's castle, Stepan's castle, the centre of the table and the "turn failed" pile.)
End of the Game and Intrigue Phase
The game ends when the deck runs out (there is no need to shuffle the discard pile to form a new deck). The player who took the last card completes their turn, and the intrigue phase begins.
The intrigue phase is played only once, at the end of the game. Starting with the player who moved last, all players resolve the intrigue abilities of the animals in their castles in this order: Dog, Fox, Wolf, Hen, Rabbit.
- DOG: Dog cards can block the intrigue abilities of Wolves and Foxes. One Dog can, by choice, block either all Foxes or one Wolf.
- Example: if your castle has 3 Foxes and 2 Wolves, then to block all of their harmful effects you need 3 Dog cards (one Dog blocks all the Foxes, and the other two block one Wolf each). A player is not obliged to block, even if they have enough Dog cards (sometimes this is advantageous).
- FOX: If not blocked by a Dog, discard all Hens.
- WOLF: If not blocked by a Dog, discard all Cows and Pigs.
- RABBIT: If there are 5 or more Rabbits in the castle, discard all Cabbage.
- HEN: If there are 5 or more Hens in the castle, discard all Wheat.
Scoring
After the intrigue phase is complete, all players count their victory points (VP):
- Each Dog and each Fox is worth 1 VP; each Wolf is worth 3 VP.
- Rabbits and Hens score for sets: 1–2 animals = 1 VP, 3 = 4 VP, 4 or more = 8 VP.
- Pigs dislike competition: if the castle has only 1 Pig, it scores 9 VP; with 2 Pigs the player scores 5 VP; with 3 or more, 3 VP.
- Cows like dense fields: a set of 1 Cow and 2 Wheat cards scores 6 VP. Otherwise each Cow scores 1 VP.
- Only the castle with the largest number of Cats can score: 7 VP. If players are tied on the number of Cats, nobody scores them.
- Each Wheat is worth 1 VP (including those counted together with the Cows).
- Each Cabbage is worth 2 VP.
The player with the most victory points wins. In case of a tie, the winner is the player whose castle contains more Wheat.
Example of Scoring
The image in the rulebook shows all the cards in Stepan's castle at the end of the game.
1. The intrigue phase comes first. Stepan has one Dog, so he must decide whom to protect against: Wolves or Foxes. Stepan chooses protection from the Wolves, so he must discard all of his Hens, because the Fox's intrigue ability applies when it is not blocked by a Dog (all the Hen cards go to the discard pile and give no VP). Stepan has fewer than 5 Rabbits, so the Cabbage stays in his castle for scoring.
2. Now VP can be counted:
- Stepan has one set of Cow + 2 Wheat, which gives him 6 VP. His second Cow gives only 1 VP.
- Pigs: he has two, so they score 5 VP.
- One Rabbit scores 1 VP.
- Foxes: 1 VP each, so his two Foxes give 2 VP.
- Wheat: each gives 1 VP, so all of his Wheat gives 3 VP.
- Cats: Stepan scores no points for Cats, because another player has more Cats.
- Wolf: 3 VP.
- 2 Cabbage: 4 VP.
Altogether, Stepan scores 25 victory points.