Les Misérables: Eve of Rebellion Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Objective
• Setup
• Game Play
  • 1. TAKE a card
  • 2. USE an owned card
  • 3. SCORE an owned card (then SAVE or KILL it)
• Goals and Scoring
• Game End

Components

20 Character Cards, 12 Citizen Cards (3 Aristocrats, 3 Soldiers, 3 Peasants, 3 Students), 4 Reference Cards, 16 1-point scoring tokens, 4 5-point scoring tokens.

Each card shows its Card Symbols, Name, Ability and Goals. (Example card, King Louis Philippe: Reign: SAVE one of your cards. Then KILL one of your cards. Then SCORE one of your cards. Then USE one of your cards. Goals: KILL 5 (sword symbol), SAVE 9 (crown symbol), KILL 14 (sword symbol), each with a point value shown in a circle.)

Objective

Earn the most victory points by guiding the fates of characters from the classic Victor Hugo novel Les Misérables.

Setup

1. Gather and shuffle the 20 Character Cards and 12 Citizen Cards to form the draw deck.
2. Reveal 3 cards from the draw deck. Set these cards face up between all players as the tableau.
3. Deal 2 cards face down from the draw deck to each player. Each player selects one card to keep (face down). Once all players have selected, they simultaneously either flip the other card face up or not. Place those cards not kept and not flipped into a single stack by the draw deck; this is the KILL pile. Cards in the KILL pile are always placed face down.
4. Leave enough space adjacent to the draw deck for a SAVE pile. Place any cards flipped face up in the previous step in the SAVE pile such that the names and symbols on all cards in the SAVE pile are visible.
5. The most miserable, pathetic player is designated as the start player.

Table layout: Kill Pile, Save Pile, Draw Deck, Tableau Card 1, Tableau Card 2, Tableau Card 3.

Game Play

Beginning with the start player, players take turns in clockwise order. On their turn, a player performs one and only one action from the following:

1. TAKE a card

A player may TAKE a card from either the top of the draw deck (if there is still a draw deck) or from the tableau. If a player takes a card from the tableau, they place it face up in front of them with any other cards they have. If they take a card from the draw deck, they keep the card face down in front of them, or they may hold it hidden in their hand. The player now owns this card.

2. USE an owned card

A player may USE any card they own. If the card is face up, they read the listed ability aloud and then perform as much of the ability as possible. If an ability has multiple effects, they are carried out in the order printed.

Example: Tom owns King Louis Philippe, Inspector Javert, and a Peasant. If he USES King Louis Philippe's Reign ability, he must first SAVE Javert or the Peasant, then KILL the other, leaving no cards to SCORE or USE. Tom cannot execute Philippe's Reign effects in a different order.

Even if part of an ability has no effect, the rest of the ability is still executed. Effects preceded by "If you do" only occur if the prior effect actually took place.

Example: Joan's only owned card is Bamatabois. If she USES his Beguile ability, he first SAVES or KILLS one of Joan's own cards, but not Bamatabois himself. Since Joan cannot SAVE or KILL another of her cards, the text "If you do, you may SCORE one of your cards" cannot be executed.

If the card being USED is face down, its owner first turns it face up and then performs the ability, leaving it face up afterwards.

Each card's USE ability may only be activated once per turn. A card's USE ability cannot target itself unless the card explicitly says so.

Example: Jill owns only Marius Pontmercy. She USES his Commit ability to TAKE an Aristocrat from the draw deck. Commit now forces Jill to SAVE or KILL one of her cards. Commit cannot affect Marius, so she must SAVE or KILL the Aristocrat just drawn.

3. SCORE an owned card (then SAVE or KILL it)

A player may SCORE a card they own. To SCORE a card, the player evaluates the goals listed in the box on the card being SCORED. If the goal is achieved (or exceeded), they receive the points indicated next to the goal. If the goal is not achieved, they receive no points. See Goals and Scoring below.

Most cards contain multiple goals; the player receives points for every goal achieved, even if they overlap.

After scoring the card, the player records any points earned. Any time a player SCORES a card (whether by directly performing the SCORE action, or as an effect of a card USE), they must then immediately decide to either SAVE or KILL the card.

• If they SAVE the card, they place it face up in the SAVE pile such that all cards in the SAVE pile always have their name and symbols visible.
• If they KILL the card, they place it face down on top of the KILL pile.

After a player completes their action(s), they flip cards from the draw deck to refill the face up tableau until there are three showing (this step may not always be necessary). Then, the next player clockwise takes their turn in the same manner.

Note that, lacking another way to SAVE or KILL a card, a player may always SCORE a card (then SAVE or KILL it) to achieve the same results, even if scoring would yield no points.

Goals and Scoring

When a player SCORES a card, they confirm whether or not each of the goals listed on the card has been fulfilled in the following manner, depending on the type of goal:

• SAVE (CHARACTER): This goal is achieved if, at the moment of scoring, the listed character's card is in the SAVE pile. In that case, the player scoring that card receives the points indicated next to the goal. If the character is not in the SAVE pile, no points are awarded. The listed character's card may leave or enter the SAVE pile on a subsequent turn as a result of other actions, but this does not affect previous scorings.
• KILL (CHARACTER): Scored as in SAVE (CHARACTER), except the player picks up the KILL pile, examines it, and honestly announces whether or not the listed character is present in the KILL pile. If the listed character is present in the KILL pile, the points indicated next to the goal are awarded to the player. After examining the KILL pile, the player returns it face down in any order.
• SAVE # (SYMBOL): Scored as in SAVE (CHARACTER), except the player counts the number of the indicated symbol(s) across all cards in the SAVE pile. This goal is achieved (and points awarded) only if at least the number of the listed symbol(s) is present on cards in the SAVE pile at the moment of scoring. If multiple symbols are listed separated by a /, then the sum of those symbols in the indicated pile must add up to at least the number specified.
• KILL # (SYMBOL): Scored as in SAVE # (SYMBOL), except the player examines the KILL pile and honestly announces if at least the required number of the indicated symbol(s) is present across all cards in the KILL pile. After examining the KILL pile, the player returns it face down in any order.
• (SYMBOL)/CARDS OWNED: This goal is achieved if the scoring player owns cards that meet or exceed the requirement listed. In order to meet goals for number of symbols, a player may flip any number of face down (or in hand) cards and place them face up in front of him immediately prior to scoring. Cards revealed in this manner are kept face up.

Remember to SAVE or KILL a card after it is SCORED, even if it scores no points.

(Tip: Sometimes the easiest way to maneuver a card into the SAVE or KILL pile for fulfilling goals on other cards is to TAKE it, then subsequently SCORE it, even if this will produce no points directly.)

Game End

The game end is triggered as soon as the draw deck is exhausted for the first time. (Note that cards may be subsequently returned to the draw deck, but this does not undo the triggering of the game end.) This may happen either because a player TAKES the last card of the draw deck or because a player refills the tableau cards with the last cards from the draw deck at the end of their turn. In either case, after this player's turn is over, each other player receives one more turn.

After the last turn is completed, each player counts the number of cards they still own. Each player then loses one point from their score for each card still owned. The winner is the player with the most points at the end of the game. In the event of a tie, the tied player who owns the fewest cards (face up and face down) at game end wins. If players are still tied, the tied player who took their last turn earlier wins.