X-Bugs Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Before You Play
• How to Play
  • 1. Setup
  • 2. Preparations
  • 3. Moves
  • 4. Fumbles and Accidental Moves
  • 5. Special Powers and Spells
  • 6. Double-Sided Bugs
  • 7. Bases
  • 8. Reinforcements
  • 9. Extra Shot
  • 10. Winning the Game
  • 11. Reference Sheet Rules
• Questions? Just Ask!
• Rules Summary

Before You Play

Before you play, you need to do a little assembly to prepare your forces. In the box you have found:

• 3 dice
• a lot of round and/or rectangular plastic pieces (called 'winks' in the rules)
• a few small round pieces (called 'resources')
• die-cut stickers to put on your plastic pieces and dice
• a Reference Sheet
• these rules

Put the dice stickers on the six faces of each die. The six stickers that you must put on the same die are framed together on the sticker sheet. It is not necessary to put these stickers in any particular order. Now, take a look at the other stickers. They will fit on all your plastic pieces. Pay attention, because each wink has a front and rear sticker! Sometimes the front and rear are identical; in other cases, they are different. The two stickers that you must put on the same piece are framed together on the sticker sheet. Of course, you must be careful to put each sticker on a plastic piece with the right shape and size. The most common error is to put a small round sticker on a large round piece. If this happens, don't worry! You can remove the stickers once or twice without much trouble.

On your sticker sheet you will also find several 'blank' stickers, which you can use to replace lost or damaged stickers.

When you will have all your winks ready, one rectangular plastic piece will be without a sticker. This is not an error! This piece is your 'squidger'. You will use this piece to make the other pieces jump!

Just put a wink on the table, take the squidger by the short side, and press the other side of the squidger near the edge of the wink. You will see that the wink jumps away, the farther if you put more strength. You will need a little practice to send your winks exactly where you want, but this is a part of the game!

Take a look at the Reference Sheet included in the box. The Reference Sheet details exactly what your X-Bugs can do. You will read there which winks in your army are bases, which winks are bugs and which winks are spells.

Bases: they usually give special powers to your troops, but if you lose them, you lose the game!

Bugs: they are your army; you will use them to collect resources, to attack enemy bugs and to destroy enemy bases.

Spells: they represent special attacks that your bugs can throw against enemy forces.

The small round pieces are Resource counters. You do not have to put any sticker on them. Resources are generally used by the X-Bugs to upgrade their bases.

How to Play

1. Setup

Choose a suitable surface to use as the playing area. Any kitchen table should suit the need, as long as a tablecloth covers it. Try to shoot a wink using the squidger, to test the playing area. If the winks do not jump to a distance and height you find satisfactory, try to cover the table with a different tablecloth (thicker if the winks jump too straight and distant, thinner if the winks jump too near or don't jump at all).

2. Preparations

Choose one half of the table to be your territory. Place your bases (small side up) wherever you want on your territory, as long as they are at least 10 cm away from the table's edge and 20 cm from the center of the table. Then proceed by placing the winks representing your bugs anywhere on your territory - generally around your bases - with the same limitations as above. Finally, pick your resource counters and hold them with both your hands cupped in a bowl, then let them fall on the center of table from a height of approximately 10 cm; let your opponent do the same - the resources should scatter randomly around the center of the table. The winks representing spells (such as missiles, webs, flames, and so on) are kept aside until needed. The first player who moves is chosen randomly.

3. Moves

On each turn of play, roll your dice (three, in the beginning). You move as many bugs as the number of dice you roll. The images on the dice show which bugs you can move. A bug cannot move twice in the same turn even if it appears more than once on the dice. If you get multiple die results showing the same wink, and you don't have enough winks of that kind to move, any die result in excess is usually lost.

The bugs and spells are shot by using the squidger. A shot is usually aimed at an enemy bug or base, or is made to move a wink in a better position, or to get a resource.

a) A wink is eliminated when captured by an enemy bug: that is, when even a small portion of another wink overlaps its surface. The captured bug is removed from the game. If you capture a large base it is not removed, but reduced to its small side.

b) A bug that is shot out of the playing area is returned to its original position. Its move is aborted.

c) It is possible to eliminate more than one wink with a single shot; this happens when a wink overlaps 2 or more enemy winks. You can never eliminate your own winks; such winks are simply left overlapped.

4. Fumbles and Accidental Moves

a) If you happen to shoot one of your winks 'under' an enemy wink (bug, spell or base), this is a fumble. Your wink is always eliminated, regardless of any special power and limitation of both winks.

b) When you move your chosen bug with the squidger, its movement can accidentally cause the displacement of other pieces. Any piece which is moved in this way is left where it goes. Any capture or fumble which derives from this movement is resolved normally. If a piece is moved out of the playing area, it is returned to its original position.

5. Special Powers and Spells

Each Reference Sheet shows in detail the special powers of an army. Some power requires the use of special winks, called 'spells'. When a bug uses a spell, place it adjacent to the bug (doing this, you cannot place it on top of an enemy wink); you then shoot the spell using the squidger.

Spells do not affect bases and resources. You can eliminate an enemy spell from the playing table just like any other wink, by overlapping it with one of your bugs.

6. Double-Sided Bugs

Some bugs have two different sides. One side represents the bug in its 'normal' form; the other side shows the bug using some special power. As specified on the Reference Sheet, the bug must start its turn with the special face up OR must show the special face after its movement to use its powers. At the start of the game or when receiving reinforcements, place any double-sided wink with the normal side up: you can try to flip them to the special side when you move them.

7. Bases

Each base has two different sides: one side shows the base in its simpler and weakest form (small); the other side shows the base in its fully developed form (large). To develop your bases from one stage to the other, you usually need to spend 2 resources. Resource counters are captured like winks; when captured, you keep them aside and can spend them at any time during one of your turns (not during your opponent's turn). You develop a base from one stage to the other simply discarding the needed amount of resources. This can be done over and over again, if your opponent reduces your bases. Bases can never be moved: if they are accidentally moved shooting another wink, they are restored to their original position.

a) When captured, a small base is destroyed.

b) When captured, a large base is reduced to small. Place the capturing bug adjacent to the reduced base (doing this, you cannot place it on top of an enemy wink).

c) When you destroy a base completely, your opponent is forced to discard a die (randomly chosen). In addition, you can remove from the game 2 enemy bugs of your choice.

d) Usually, large bases grant special powers (see the Reference Sheet for your army). Any special power can be immediately used, if possible (i.e.: even in the same turn the base was developed).

8. Reinforcements

Whenever you get one or more die results that show a wink no longer in play, you get to place one wink of that kind (only one, not one per die result; so that die results in excess of one showing the reinforcing wink are simply lost). Place the reinforcement adjacent to one of your bases (taking them from your casualties). A reinforcement cannot be placed on top of an enemy wink. The newly placed wink cannot be moved in the same turn it is placed. You must own at least two bases to receive a reinforcement.

9. Extra Shot

When you eliminate one or more enemy winks in your turn, you get one (and only one) extra move: you can choose to shoot any one wink that has not already moved during the turn.

10. Winning the Game

You win the game by eliminating all enemy bases: when you capture the last base, the game is over. Otherwise, you win the game by eliminating all but two of the enemy's bugs. For a shorter game, you win by eliminating two of the enemy bases.

11. Reference Sheet Rules

When a rule contained in a Reference Sheet contradicts the rulebook, the rule on the Reference Sheet takes precedence.

Questions? Just Ask!

X-Bugs is an easy game to play but a hard one to explain! Even if we tried to make everything as clear as possible, sometimes you will encounter a situation not clearly covered by the rulebook. You may want to come up with your own home rules, or you may even try to put 3 or 4 X-Bugs armies on the same battlefield to see what happens! Everything is fine by us; just try to solve any rules question with your opponent in a friendly manner. If you cannot agree on a specific question, just flip a coin and whoever wins is right (this time!).

If you want to know more about the world of X-Bugs, if you have a rules question, or just want to congratulate with us for this great game, send us a mail or visit the web site www-x-bugs.com.

Rules Summary

1. Setup. Choose one half of the table to be your territory. Place your bases (small stage up) and your bugs anywhere on your territory. Drop resources in the middle of the table. Choose the first player to move.

2. Move. Roll your dice. Look at them: they show which bugs you can move. You can move the same bug only once, even if more than one die show its image. If you jump on top of an enemy bug or a resource, it is captured and removed from the table. If you jump on a base, it may be reduced or eliminated. If you capture at least one enemy bug, you get a bonus move: you can move any one bug you want, provided it has not moved yet in this turn.

3. Special Powers. When you move a bug, you can usually use its special power as well. Some winks have two different sides, and may only use their power if they show the right face. Often special powers require shooting a small wink, called a 'spell'.

4. Bases. You can develop or repair a base by spending resources during your turn. When a base shows its large side, you usually gain a special bonus. Bases can never be moved.

5. Reinforcements. A reinforcement arrives if the dice show a kind of bug that is not in the game any more, but only if you still own 2 or more bases.

6. Winning the Game. You win the game by eliminating all enemy bases; when you capture the last base, the game is over. Otherwise, you win the game by eliminating all but two of the enemy's winks.