Wool Gang Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Goal of the Game
• Setup
• Gameplay
  • Placing the Sheep
  • The Arrival of the Sheepdogs
  • Preparing the Next Round
• End of the Game

Components

• 14 Sheepdog cards (cartes Chien de berger)
• 10 Empty Doghouse cards (cartes Niche vide)
• 2 Joker cards
• 28 Sheep cards (cartes Mouton)
• 10 Action cards
• 5 score wheels (roulettes de score)

Goal of the Game

Be the first player to total 20 points.

Setup

1. Build the Sheep deck.
   • Shuffle the Sheep, Joker and Action cards together.
   • Deal 6 cards to each player.
2. Deal the Sheepdog and Empty Doghouse cards.
   • Give each player 2 Empty Doghouse cards and return the rest to the box.
   • Shuffle the Sheepdog cards and give one to each player.

Give each player a score wheel. The player who bleats the best starts the game.

Gameplay

The game is played over several rounds. Each round is made up of 2 phases:

• placing the sheep;
• the arrival of the sheepdogs.

Placing the Sheep

Starting with the first player and continuing clockwise, each player selects one card from their hand and places it in the center of the table. It may be a Sheep, Action or Joker card. Once each player has played five of their cards, the "Placing the Sheep" phase ends. Unless a special ability says otherwise, the 6th card is never played.

Sheep card. A Sheep card may be played ALONE, or added to one or more cards already on the table to form a GROUP of sheep. A Sheep card may be added to any GROUP, whatever the values or colors of the sheep in it.

Diagram labels: "Value of the card" (the number in the corners) and "Color of the card". Examples shown: a lone sheep ("Mouton SEUL") and a GROUP of sheep.

Joker card. A Joker card is a Sheep card that takes the value and color of the player's choice when the sheepdogs arrive.

Action cards. Action cards change the position of sheep on the table. When you play an Action card, apply its effect immediately, then discard it.

Action card effects (the French card names are given in brackets)

• Split (Séparez-vous): split 1 group of sheep into 2.
• Swap places (Échangez de place): swap the position of 2 sheep.
• Group up (Groupez-vous): gather, as you choose, 2 lone sheep, 2 groups of sheep, or 1 group and 1 lone sheep.
• Move over (Pousse-toi de là): move 1 sheep.

Note: if the effect printed on an Action card cannot be carried out, discard the card without applying the effect.

The Arrival of the Sheepdogs

After looking at their dogs' abilities and at how the sheep are spread across the table, the players secretly decide whether to play 0, 1 or 2 sheepdogs to try to win sheep.

Each player places 2 cards face down in front of them. Depending on the number of dogs they are playing, they fill the remaining slot(s) with Empty Doghouse cards so as not to give information away to the other players. Then all players reveal their cards at the same time.

Note: in the first round, players have only one sheepdog, so they may play only one or none.

Each sheepdog has its own validation condition for winning sheep. Sheepdog powers are resolved in ascending order of their initiative value. For example, the sheepdog with initiative 50 is resolved before the sheepdog with initiative 55.

Each sheepdog card shows:

• the dog's name;
• its initiative value;
• its breed;
• its icon and validation condition.

Sheepdog cards

Sheepdog	Initiative	Validation condition
Altos	80	Collect a group composed only of values higher than 4.
Multicolos	100	Collect a group composed of 4 different colors. Several sheep may share the same color.
Myopos	60	Collect a group composed of 2 values. Several sheep may have the same value.
Manipulos	105	Score 2 points for each player who has collected at least one sheep.
Paritos	50	Collect a group composed only of even values.
Imperatos	55	Collect a group composed only of odd values.

Example: Alain plays Paritos. Its initiative value is the lowest, so he resolves it first. He may choose to collect group 2 or group 3, which is worth more points.

Note: if the validation condition on a Sheepdog card is not met, the dog catches no sheep and that card is discarded.

Once all the sheepdog powers have been resolved, all Sheepdog cards that were played are discarded. Each Sheep or Joker card collected by the players is worth 1 point. Record the scores.

Points shown on the groups in the example: group 1 is labeled 1 point, group 2 is labeled 2 points and group 3 is labeled 4 points, as printed on the rules sheet.

Preparing the Next Round

• Shuffle all the Sheep, Action and Joker cards together again, then deal 6 cards to each player.
• Each player takes the 2 Empty Doghouse cards back into their hand and draws 1 new Sheepdog card, unless they already have 2 Sheepdog cards.

Note: if there are not enough Sheepdog cards in the draw pile for everyone, shuffle all the discarded Sheepdog cards and place them under the draw pile before dealing.

The player with the most total points starts the next round. In case of a tie, the player who scored the most points in the previous round starts.

End of the Game

When a player reaches or exceeds 20 points, finish the current round, and the game ends. The player or players with the most total points win the game.

Note: to adjust the length of the game, you may change the victory condition to 10 or 30 points.