PLAGUE: The Card Game
PLAGUE: The Card Game Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Objective
Be the player to collect the most victory points (VP) and claim the victory for the round. Be the player to win 3 rounds and you will be crowned King.
Components
54 cards (15 red army cards, 15 green army cards, 15 blue army cards, 7 plague cards, 1 fortress card, and 1 cleric card).
1 full-print tuckbox.
2 double-sided rule sheets.
Setup
Shuffle the deck and deal out 9 cards to each player. Place the leftover cards, if any, to the side face down. Nobody should look at these cards. Each player will have a hand of 9 cards no matter if you are playing a 2 player game or a 6 player game.
The Card
The card diagram labels three elements: the Card Value (CV), shown in the shield in the upper corner; the army icon, which indicates what army this card trumps; and the Victory Points (VP), shown on the coin in the lower corner.
Playing the Game
Each game consists of rounds. Each round consists of a number of turns equal to the number of cards each player starts the round with. Each turn consists of each player playing 1 card from their hand into the center of the table (the battlefield).
The oldest player should be the first dealer. After each round of play the player to the left of the dealer becomes the new dealer.
Each round starts with the player to the left of the dealer playing a card face up in the battlefield. This player can play any card from his hand as long as it is not the cleric or a plague card.
Each player then plays 1 card moving in a clockwise direction until each player has played 1 card. Players MUST try to follow suit (example: if the starting player plays a red army card, then every player for that turn must play a red army card if they have one). If a player cannot follow suit they can then play any card from their hand including a plague card.
Then players must determine the winner of the turn by referring to the rules in the WINNING A TRICK section. The winner of the turn gathers all the cards in the battlefield and places the winning card on top and then places the stack in front of himself for later calculating. This stack of cards is referred to as a TRICK.
The winner of the turn then begins the next turn by playing a new card into the battlefield from his hand. The round continues until all cards have been played. Then players must determine score for the round by following the rules set forth in the SCORING section.
Each game is made up of rounds. Players continue to play until one player has won 3 rounds.
Winning a Trick
There are a few factors to consider when figuring out the winner of a trick.
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If all cards in the battlefield after a turn are of the same suit (which will happen often), then the player that played the card with the highest Card Value (CV) wins the Trick.
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Each of the 3 armies can trump one of the other armies and in turn are vulnerable to being trumped from the other. The illustration below can assist you in determining which army trumps which. It plays out very much like rock-paper-scissors.
Red Army trumps Green Army and Green Army trumps Blue Army and Blue Army trumps Red Army.
If a player cannot follow suit he may play another card. In this case the player may win the trick by playing a card that trumps the starting suit. (Example: Bob starts the turn by playing a 4 Red. John then plays a 6 Red. Sue has no Red cards and decides to play a 1 Blue. Blue trumps Red so Sue wins the trick. Sue also scores a lot of VPs by playing a card with a low CV.)
In some very rare cases, typically at the end of a round, a situation may arise where 3 or more players might appear to trump each other. Example: Bob plays a 6 Red, John has no red cards and decides to play a 3 Blue, Sue has no red or blue cards and is forced to play an 8 Green. Well all of these cards trump each other right, so what are they to do? In this case John would win the trick because he trumped the starting suit. You CANNOT trump a trump, so Sue's Green card is considered a throw away just as if she had played it second right behind Bob.
- If a player cannot follow suit, he may also wish to play a plague card. In doing so he makes no claim at winning the trick, instead he will plague the trick. Whoever wins the trick must place the plague card on top of the trick instead of the winning card. Plague cards remove victory points during scoring at the end of the round.
Plague cards can also be played at the start of a turn provided the player has no other army cards. Other players must try to follow suit by playing plague cards of their own. If they have none they must play another card and risk winning the plagued trick. The first non-plague card played becomes the co-starting card, meaning that if the third or fourth player in turn does not have a plague card to play then they must try to first play the co-starting card. If they cannot then they can play whatever they want. Example: Rick starts off with a 4 Plague, John has no plague cards so he plays a 5 Blue, Sue has no plague cards but does have a blue so she must play it, so Sue plays the 8 Blue, and finally Tom goes and he has no plague or blue cards so he plays a 7 Red. Sue wins the trick and also must take the 4 Plague and put it on top of her trick. Ouch! Had Tom played a green card he would have had won the trick because green trumps blue.
In addition, if more than one plague card is played the one with the highest CV is placed on top of the winning trick. If all cards in the battlefield are plague cards then the player who played the one with the highest CV takes the trick.
- The Cleric card can be played whenever a player so decides as long as a plague card has already been played during that round. The Cleric card trumps all cards including plague cards and is ALWAYS placed on top of the trick. The only exception to this is if the Fortress Card is played and all cards in the trick are odd in value, then the Fortress card wins. The player who used the Cleric can chose to place the trick on top of one of his own previously gained tricks that are plagued. The Cleric garners the player no VP, but by covering a plagued trick it may be the difference between a loss and a victory. It is worth noting that in some rare cases no plague cards may be dealt during a round. In this case the Cleric will be forced to be played on the last turn.
Scoring
At the end of the round each players tally up their victory points by adding up the scores on the cards on top of each trick he has won. Players ONLY add up the scores from the top card of each trick (the winning card or in some cases the plague or cleric card). Plague cards reduce the player's total VPs meaning that it is possible for a player to end a round with a negative score. The player with the highest score wins the round and the first player to win 3 rounds wins the game.
Example: 10 + (-6) + 1 + 2 + 7 = 14 VP.
The Expansion Cards
Let's take a look at the cards that come with Plague: The Beasts of Tasnia and discover their uses. It is important to note that each card in the expansion is marked with an "E" that is located in the bottom left hand corner of the card. In this way you can add and remove these expansion cards with ease. Add some or add them all, the choice is yours.
The Animal Cards
Each of the three armies has a new animal card, a fish for the blue army, a rat for the red army, and a bird for the green army. These cards hold no real power other then the fact that they can garner you 14 victory points if you can somehow win a trick with them.
The Princess Cards
When a player is able to win a trick with the Princess he/she can use the Princess to double the VPs from a previously won trick. For example, let's say you have already won two tricks worth 3vp and the other 7vp. If you are able to win another trick with the princess, you can place the winning trick on top of (but not hiding the VPs) of either the 3vp trick or the 7vp trick, doubling its value. The obvious choice is to place the Princess on top of the- 7vp trick making it now worth 14 points at the end of the game. The Princess also protects the trick from the Mercenary card.
The Mercenary Cards
If a trick is won by using the Mercenary, the player may choose to swap the trick with any other trick on the table. So if another player has a trick sitting in front of them worth more than 7 victory points, it is likely to be taken away. However, a player may choose to simply keep the Mercenary trick if no other worthy trick is out on the table.
The Alchemist Cards
What the Alchemist special is that if you win a trick with him you can use any card in that trick to put on top. Example: If you win a trick with the Red Alchemist that included a red 2 and a red 6, you would put the red 2 on top for 12 victory points. However, you do not want to win a trick with a plague in it as the plague VP will be doubled. Use this card wisely and it can win the game for you, but fail and you will likely lose.
The Mythical Beasts
Each of the three armies has a mythical beast card, Leviathan for the blue army, Behemoth for the red army, and Ziz for the green army. They work just like a normal card and they will likely win most tricks unless someone cuts the trick. They do have a unique ability however, if a player wins a trick with them they can choose another player to start the next turn. Typically the winner of a trick ALWAYS starts the next turn, but not so with the mythical beasts. This ability can be used strategically to your advantage.
The Plague Cards
There are 2 new Plague cards in this deck but their powers are the same as the ones from the base game. They have the CV's of 5 and 7.
The Fortress Card
The Fortress card has no card value and has 5 different victory point levels. What's the deal? Well, the only way to win a trick with the Fortress card is to play it on a trick that has all even or odd numbered cards in it. Also, the trick is worth progressively more victory points when more players are playing the game, as it becomes harder and harder for a trick to be created with all either even or odd card values. For example in a 5 player game if all 4 other cards in the trick are even and a player plays the Fortress he/she will gain 11 victory points. The Fortress card can be played at any point during the turn but it is best used as the last card played in the turn as other players will try and impede your efforts.
Fortress victory points by number of players: 2 players = 2 VP, 3 players = 4 VP, 4 players = 7 VP, 5 players = 11 VP, 6 players = 16 VP.