Sub Rosa: Spies for Hire
Sub Rosa: Spies for Hire Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Outline
As the leader of a secret-society, you aim to gain the most influence in the various city locations. Influence bids can be made in secret, acting as bluffs or threats, or open, allowing you to make use of each district's unique characteristics.
Objective
In turn, players will place influence cards on the various locations, possibly triggering a location ability. After six turns, each location is awarded to whichever player has the most influence there. The player who controls the most locations wins the game.
Components
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10 location cards (double-sided). Players will be battling for control of these locations. The player who controls the most locations, wins the game. Each location also has an ability or effect printed on it.
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28 influence cards (7 per player, double-sided). Each influence card has a value, which is used to determine which player wins a location. Influence cards with a star (☆) will also trigger location-specific abilities.
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10 "+/-" cards (double-sided). These are played as a result of some location abilities and modify the values of influence cards.
Set Up
Each player take the influence cards in their chosen colour.
Shuffle the location cards, randomly flipping some in the process. Deal a number of locations onto the table, depending on the number of players. In a 2 player game, deal 3 location cards. In a 3 player game, deal 4 location cards. In a 4 player game, deal 5 location cards.
The first player is the player who most recently joined a secret-society. Failing that, pick a start player at random.
Gameplay
On a player's turn, they must play an influence card below one the of the locations on the table. If that influence card is a 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6, they should play it face-down, without revealing what number the card is, and they will take no further action. However, if the influence card is a star (☆) card (these also have a 3 printed on them), then it must be placed so that it's value is visible. If they play a star (☆) card, the player must also activate the ability printed on the location. Either way, the turn will then move to the next player, clockwise.
Cards should be placed in a column, below the location card, so that the order in which these cards have been placed is apparent. Newer cards should go on the bottom of the column.
Location card. This card will be won by the player who has the most influence points in this location.
The topmost player influence card played on a location, is the first card that was played there.
The bottommost card is the card played on a location most recently. This card has a star, which means it also activated the location's ability.
Players should continue taking turns in a clockwise order until each player has placed all but one of the their influence cards. The game then moves on to scoring.
Scoring
Without moving any cards from their place, flip all face-down influence cards, so their values are visible. Players will then add up how much influence they have in each location by adding the values on their cards. In each location, the card on the bottom of the column (i.e., the one most recently placed) has its value reduced by 1.
For each location, the player who has the most influence there wins the location and takes the location card as a trophy. In the case of a tie, the tied player who most recently placed a card there wins the location.
Once all locations have been scored, the player with the most location cards is the winner of the game. In the case of a tie, the tied player will the highest value influence card remaining in hand wins the game. If it is still a tie, the winner is determined through a rematch.
Further Notes
Star (☆) cards only activate location actions when they are placed on those locations as a main player-action. If star (☆) cards are moved as the result of location effects, they do not trigger the card actions in their new locations.
The +/- cards alter the values of cards that they are attached to. +/- cards are limited in supply and if an effect requires that another +/- card is placed when none remain, the effect is not carried out. If a card with a +/- card attached to it is moved, the +/- card also moves. The new value of the card it is attached to applies during scoring and when considering other location abilities and effects.
In a 2 player game, players should continue playing until they have played every influence card.