Villagers & Villains: City Builder
Villagers & Villains: City Builder Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 18 City Upgrade Cards
- 6 Town Mats
- 2 starting hand cards (1 Deputy Mayor and 1 Angry Mob)
- 12 wooden City Tokens (2 per Town Mat)
Setup
- Each Mayor (player) takes a Town Mat of his/her choice and its 2 corresponding City Tokens.
- The number of City Upgrade Cards you begin the game with is equal to the number of Mayors playing. Either randomly select or agree upon these beginning City Upgrade Cards. Once cards are selected, place them face up in the middle of the table. Place the remaining City Upgrade Cards in the box.
- The rest of the game is set up according to the instructions in the Villagers & Villains rules.
City Upgrade Card Guide
The printed guide labels each part of a City Upgrade Card. The example card is "Paved Roads", a CITY UPGRADE card with the following parts:
- Card Name: the name of the card (Paved Roads).
- Card Type: CITY UPGRADE.
- Phase Usage: the phase in which the card's ability may be used (RECRUIT PHASE).
- Ability Granted: the ability the card gives the Mayor who upgrades to it ("Add 1 to all recruit rolls.").
- Town Value: the value the card adds to the owning Mayor's town at final scoring (2 on the example).
- Upgrade Spaces for City Tokens: the two UPGRADED CITY spaces on the card where City Tokens are placed.
- Upgrade Costs: the gold listed on each UPGRADED CITY space (1 gold and 2 gold on the example).
City Builder Rules
- During the Build/Hire Phase, each Mayor on his/her turn may purchase an UPGRADED CITY space located on a City Upgrade Card in play. To do so, a Mayor must place 1 of his/her unused City Tokens on an open space in any City Upgrade Card in play. This is called "upgrading." Upgrading requires the purchasing Mayor to immediately pay any gold listed on the UPGRADED CITY space. When upgrading, follow these rules:
- Each City Upgrade Card has 2 UPGRADED CITY spaces. One Mayor cannot occupy both UPGRADED CITY spaces on the same City Upgrade Card.
- A Mayor can only upgrade by using his/her unused City Tokens. Allocated City Tokens cannot be moved from one upgrade to another. Mayors cannot upgrade more than once in the same turn.
- Upgrading can occur in addition to building or hiring a card or any other allowable actions in the Build/Hire Phase.
- Unless stated otherwise, City Upgrade Card upgrades do not count towards the number of cards in a Mayor's town.
- Once a Mayor upgrades, he/she may use the ability listed on the City Upgrade Card. The ability granted on many of the City Upgrade Cards may be used only during the phase listed on it. If that phase is the Build/Hire Phase, it can be used immediately after the upgrade occurs.
- During final scoring, each Mayor with a City Token on a City Upgrade Card gains that card's TOWN VALUE.
- The King's Favor Marker may be used during the Build/Hire Phase to draw an additional City Upgrade Card (from the box) and add it to those already in play. New City Upgrade Cards are immediately available for upgrade by any Mayor with remaining City Tokens.
- OPTIONAL: A 2-Mayor game ends when any town has 12 (11 with 3-4 Mayors, 10 with 5-6 Mayors) or more cards after Phase 5 ends.
- All other rules for Villagers & Villains remain intact.
Rule Variations and Special House Rules v2.0
Rule Variations
For 6 Players: Use 8 cards in the Recruitment Pool rather than 6. When rolling to determine the location of the King's Favor Marker in the Recruitment Pool, add 1 to the die roll. This will place it in a position between 2 and 7. Each Mayor starts with 7 gold rather than 6. The game ends when any town has 8 or more cards rather than 9. The game also ends if there are not enough cards to fill the Recruitment Pool.
Cooperative: Mayors add their final scores together to achieve the highest total possible. All other rules are played as usual, except for the following: Challenge Cards are defeated if a DEFENSE roll is higher than the Defeat Value (rather than equal or higher). If a Mayor has no gold during a Pillage Loss in the Pillage Phase, that Mayor discards 1 non-Challenge Card (of the owner's choice) from his/her own town. If none are available, the game ends. If a Mayor holds more than 6 non-Challenge Cards in his/her hand, the game ends. Track your high score as a cooperative team, and try to beat that score. Send us your high score ([email protected]) and we will post the top 10 scores on our site.
Quick Start: Mayors start with 2 additional cards in hand. Shuffle the Hero, Building, and Citizen Cards into 3 separate stacks. Each Mayor will draw 2 cards from any stack(s). Then set up and play the game as usual.
Theme Builder: Instead of shuffling the deck, stack it to represent a theme. This can be done by someone not playing in the game or by all Mayors who will then know the general order of the cards. Theme Example: Seven Samurai; top 6 cards include Farm, Farmer, Bandits, Blacksmith, Alchemist, and Thieves. Next 7 cards in the deck are all Hero Cards representing the Seven Samurai. The next 12 cards are all various Challenge Cards. Finally, add 3 Citizen Cards and 3 Building Cards to the deck and randomize the remaining cards.
Sister Cities: Form teams of 2 at the start of the game. Each team will add their final score totals together. During the game, DEFENSE rolls can be used to overcome Challenge Cards in a teammate's town. DEFENSE rolls still occur on a Mayor's own turn, and this doesn't grant a greater number of DEFENSE rolls than is allowed in the Defend Phase. A defeated Challenge Card is kept by the Mayor of the town where the Challenge Card is located. In addition, the Loot Box gold is taken by the Mayor who has the Challenge Card. During final scoring, teams can share pairing. Example: If one Mayor on a team has the Gladiator and the other Mayor on that team has the Arena, together they score a pair for those cards.
House Rules
Challenge Breaker: During final scoring when there is a VICTORY BONUS tie, look at the total Defeat Value of all Challenge Cards. The Mayor with a higher total Defeat Value is the VICTORY BONUS winner.
Gold Bonus: During final scoring, add a 2 point bonus to the Mayor(s) with the most gold. If the Mayor with the most gold has also upgraded with the Investment Banking City Upgrade Card, he/she gains the 2 point bonus from this card's ability in addition to the GOLD BONUS.
Vision: Place the deck face up rather than face down. Note: Pay close attention to the turn order during phases where Mayors draw cards using VEND card drawing abilities.
Free Market: Mayors with VEND cards must offer this ability to all Mayors. Remove the Advanced Diplomacy City Card from the game when using this rule.
Cities and Citizens: The game ends when any town has 10, 11, or 12 cards. Before the game starts, select the town size limit. For games with 2 or 3 Mayors, town size could extend up to 15 cards. This increases the play time and alters the balance of final scoring bonuses. (i.e.: The LARGEST TOWN BONUS is now less valuable and Building Cards become more valued.)
Sponsors: During a Mayor's turn (in any phase), a Mayor may place gold on a Challenge Card in another town. The amount of gold must exceed any amount previously placed on that Challenge Card. This Mayor is now the sponsor for the Challenge Card. During Pillage Loss, any gold the Challenge Card causes to be placed in the bank goes to the sponsor. Sponsorship ends if a Challenge Card is defeated. All gold on the Challenge Card is added to its Loot Box. During final scoring, any sponsored Challenge Card remaining in play also counts as a positive TOWN VALUE for its sponsor, in addition to the negative TOWN VALUE it already gives to its owner.
Poaching: On a Mayor's turn during the Defend Phase, he/she may utilize his/her unused HERO DEFENSE roll to "poach" a Challenge Card in another town. A failed roll results in the used Hero Card being placed back in the owner's hand. If the HERO DEFENSE roll succeeds, the poaching Mayor gains the Challenge Card's Loot Box and places the Challenge Card in his/her hand. The town being poached may use the King's Favor Marker or Angry Mob to reduce the DEFENSE roll of the poacher. The poaching town can use any available bonuses as well.