Village Pillage
Village Pillage Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- Starting cards (Farmer, Wall, Raider, Merchant)
- Market cards
- Bank cards
- 15 relic tokens
- 72 turnip tokens
- 1 chicken (for flipping)
- 1 rulebook
Objective
Be the first village to collect all 3 relics: the Sceptre of Neep, the Crown of Rutabaga, and the Swede-ish Throne.
Overview
Relics don't come cheap. You're going to need turnips. LOTS of turnips. Compete simultaneously with the players on both sides of you by playing a card on your left and a card on your right. Trot out the Farmer to earn turnips, deploy the Raider to steal turnips, or place Walls to defend yourself against those sticky-fingered shiftless neighbors of yours. Just don't forget to send out your Merchants! They'll recruit new villagers to aid you in your grapple for glory.
Icon Glossary
Turnip
Ahh, the mighty Medieval Dollar. Spend turnips at the Market to recruit stronger villagers, or save up to buy your three relics.
Starting Card
Your basic run-of-the-mill starter villagers. They'll get the job done, but let's face it, they're a bit... medieval. You can do better.
Farmer
Earns turnips fair and square. Vulnerable to Raiders.
Wall
Protects your turnip supply from Raiders, but won't earn you many turnips.
Raider
Steals turnips from Farmers and Traders. Useless against Walls and other Raiders.
Merchant
Recruits stronger villagers and buys relics. Vulnerable to Raiders.
Setup
- Each player takes 1 each of the 4 starting cards. These are marked with an icon. Each player should now have a hand of 4 cards: Farmer, Wall, Raider, Merchant.
- Each player takes 2 turnips and a Bank card.
2 Player Game: Use the side of the bank card labelled 'Duel'.
- Place 1 turnip beside your Bank card - this is your Stockpile.
- Place 1 turnip in your Bank.
- Put any unused Bank and starting cards aside - they will not be used this game.
- Place the relic and turnip tokens into the middle of the table, easily reachable by all players. This is the Supply.
- Shuffle the market cards into a face-down deck, and then draw the top 4 cards, placing them face-up in a row visible to all players. This is the Market - the cards available for purchase during the game.
Gameplay
Each round consists of 3 phases: Plan, Resolve, Refresh.
Plan Phase
3-6 Player Game: Each turn, all players simultaneously choose 2 cards from their hands and place 1 face-down to their left and 1 face-down to their right. Each of these cards will interact with the player on that side. Your 2 cards may be the same type, if you have them.
2 Player Game: On your first turn: Place 2 cards from your hand face-down in front of you, one behind the other. The card in front will interact with your opponent in the resolve phase, and the card behind will interact next turn. On all following turns: Place 1 card behind the card already on the table. It will interact next turn. You may look at your own planned cards at any time.
Resolve Phase
Once everyone is ready, all cards are turned face up and resolved.
2 Player Game: Only reveal and resolve the card closest to your opponent. Cards resolve in the order shown on the Bank card: Farmer, Wall, Raider, Merchant.
The card you play to your left only affects your neighbor on the left. The card you play to your right only affects your right-hand neighbor. Cards of the same type resolve simultaneously.
Cards have different effects depending on the type of card your opponent plays.
- Wall: Play this against a Wall to STEAL 1 from that opponent, and BANK 1. Play it against a Farmer, Raider, or Merchant to GAIN 1 and BANK 1. If a card lacks an icon, it has no effect when played against that card type.
- Raider: Play this against a Farmer or Merchant to STEAL 4 from that opponent. If played against a Wall or Raider: no effect.
- Merchant: Merchants have a different effect depending on whether you can afford to buy a relic or not. E.g.; if you play this when you can't afford a relic, you must instead BUY 1 card from the Market for 1 turnip.
If there is any confusion about card effects happening at the same time, see Tiebreakers on the back page of the rulebook.
Refresh Phase
After cards have been resolved, players pick up all their resolved cards and a new round begins.
2 Player Game: Only pick up the card that resolved this turn. The other card moves forward and will resolve next turn.
Game End
As soon as a player collects 3 relics, that player wins and the game is over. If multiple players buy their third relic at the same time, the winner is the player with the most turnips remaining. If multiple players have the same amount of turnips, the tied player with the most cards in hand is the winner. If there is still a tie, everybody wins!
The true kingdom was the friendships we forged and destroyed along the way.
Turnip Investment Tips
Bank
Your Bank starts with 1 turnip. Move more turnips into your Bank with a BANK effect. You can spend banked turnips as normal, but they are usually safe from STEALING. Your Bank can hold a maximum of 5 turnips. In a 2-player game, Bank maximum is 4.
Card Effects
- GAIN: Take turnips from the common supply and add them to your stockpile. There is no limit to the number of turnips a player can have in their stockpile.
- BANK: Move turnips from your stockpile into your bank. You can spend turnips in your bank as normal, but are safe from stealing unless otherwise specified. Your bank cannot hold more than 5 (4 in a 2 player game).
- STEAL: Take turnips from your opponent and add them to your stockpile. Turnips cannot be stolen from a bank unless otherwise specified. If the player does not have the full amount available to steal, just take as many as you can.
- EXHAUST: The exhausted card resolves, but cannot be played next turn. It is placed face-up next to its owner's bank instead of returning to their hand. Its owner may play their other cards as normal. During the next turn's Refresh phase, the exhausted card returns to its owner's hand, ready to be played again.
- BUY RELIC: Buy your next relic. If your played card allows you to buy a relic, you must buy one if possible. In a 3-6 player game, your first relic costs 8; the second costs 9; the third costs 10 and wins you the game.
2 Player Game: The first relic costs 6; the second costs 7; the third costs 8 and wins you the game.
- BUY CARD: Pay the number of turnips shown on your card to the supply, and take a card from the market into your hand. As soon as a card is bought, draw a new card to replace it in the market. If your played card allows you to buy a market card, you must buy if possible. If you can't afford to buy a new card, do nothing. There is no limit to the number of cards a player can have in their hand.
Notes
The turnip supply is unlimited. If you run out of turnips, use potatoes, carrots, or whatever root vegetable you have lying around.
If the deck and Market run out, "BUY CARD" abilities have no effect. The game otherwise continues as normal.
If you're an experienced pillager wanting a longer, more challenging game, try playing a 2 player game using the 3+ player Bank cards.
If you're playing with more than 3 players, you'll need your neighbors to keep an eye on the players you don't directly interact with. Negotiate alliances to bring down your common enemies, then betray your new friends when they least expect it.
For a video tutorial, visit VillagePillage.com
Credits
Design: Tom Lang, Peter C. Hayward
Art & Graphic Design: Tania Walker
Development Assistance: David Y. Stephenson, Daniel G. Stephenson
Special Thanks: Tom McLean, Darrell Louder, our hardworking playtesters, the entire Jellybean Games team, and all our wonderful Kickstarter supporters
VillagePillage.com Jellybean-Games.com
Tiebreakers
When multiple players buy cards at once, they are bought in order from the player with the fewest turnips to the player with the most turnips. Break ties by flipping a chicken.
Cards of the same type resolve simultaneously, not one after another. For example: Nicole has 1 turnip. Tania's Raider steals from Nicole, while Nicole's Raider steals from Tom. Tania only gets 1 turnip. Tania can't steal the turnips Nicole just stole from Tom.
Between cards of the same type, effects resolve in this order:
- GAIN
- STEAL
- BANK
- BUY
If 2 players STEAL from the same player and there are not enough turnips to go around, they split the turnips evenly, and any remainder goes to the player with the higher steal (if both players have equal steal, flip a chicken to determine who takes it).
If a player plays 2 of the same card type, they choose the order in which to resolve them.