From: Aforandy@aol.com Subject: Fife 4 Forfar 5 Kim asks: >> Amongst recent Essen game show >> [120,000 attendees no thats not a mis-key] releases were ... a simple >> Scotish clan war >> cardgame, > >Tell me more?!?! its maybe the smallest wargame ever, 80 cards measuring about 3x2. Verrater - TRAITOR Card game for 3-4 players. From 12 up. Playing time 45-60 mins. English Rules by Chris Mellor Transcribed by Andy Daglish Contents 6 overview cards 4 allegiance cards [one in each of four cities] 1 start player card 12 Landscape cards 12 each of town, village, forest, river, meadows and moor 12 Estate/Office cards [three of each in 4 colours] 23 supply cards in the values 5x2, 15x3, 5x4, 5x5, 2x6, 1x8 1 strategy card 1 conflict card 6 action cards - Verrater [Traitor], Diplomat+2, Diplomat+5, Baumeister [Master Builder], Strategist, Bauer [Farmer]. Introduction: Do not be frightened when you read the following rules. Verrater is a relatively complex card game which comes close to being a board game. Once you have laid out the cards on the table and have looked over the overview cards, it will become much clearer. Object: there is conflict in the highlands! Two competing royal houses are attempting to occupy as much land as possible. In order to win the most victory points, players fight for either house. Traitors will change sides in the middle of conflicts. Meanwhile Farmers gather strength, Strategists plan, Diplomats talk and others try their hand at being Master Builder. Aim The players attempt to conquer opponents areas for victory points. Preparation Have pencil & paper Place overview cards next to the rules General Rules Sort out the cards as follows:- Allegiance cards: these show your affiliation to a royal house. Each player chooses one card. Start player card: a starting player is chosen. He places the start player card in front of him. The allegiance cards must show alternating royal houses. Landscape cards: [overview card 2] form the places where conflict occurs and the scoring tables with victory points. The sides of the cards represent the two royal houses. These cards are separated so that each land type is represented once in each group. The cards are shuffled in this orientation and are then placed in the middle of the table in a circle [overview card 2]. Estate cards: are important for supply cards. Office cards garner additional victory points at game end. Each player receives three cards of his colour. Beginning with the start player each player places one of his Estate cards half under one of the Landscape cards. Supply cards are gained for Estate cards under Landscape cards. Only one card can be under a Landscape card. Supply cards: are important in the conflict, by increasing the value of a Landscape. Each player receives a supply card with 3,4, & 5 points each. The remaining supply cards are shuffled and are placed face-down next to the Landscape cards. Strategy cards: these show which player can choose which Landscape to fight for. The conflict card marks the relevant Landscapes. The player to the left of the start player takes both cards, which he puts down in front of him. Action cards: make it possible for the player in each conflict to have an additional action [Overview card 4]. Traitor changes your allegiance and brings one additional victory point. Diplomat +2 brings two additional points and one additional supply card. Diplomat +5 brings five additional points. Master Builder enables the building of an Estate or an Office. Strategist gives the Strategy card and enables him to choose the site of the next conflict. In addition it brings two additional victory points. Farmer gives three Supply cards. All six cards are initially placed face down in the middle of the circle. The Game [overview card 5] The main part of a round is the conflict. The players of one allegiance attempt to amass more conflict points than the players supporting the other house. Conflict points are gained via Landscape cards, supply cards and relevant Diplomats. Phase 1 Determine the conflict site. This is done by the player with the strategy card. He then places the conflict card on the sky portion of two neighbouring cards [with different allegiances]. Phase 2 Choosing an action. The start player takes the six action cards and shuffles them. He places the top card face down in the middle of the circle. This card cannot be chosen as an action in this round. He looks at the remaining cards and chooses one for himself, which he places face down next to his allegiance card. He then gives the cards to his left hand neighbour, who chooses a card and passes them on. The last player chooses a card and places the last action card face down in the circle. Phase 3 Playing supply cards. Beginning with the start player, each player now places 0-5 supply cards face up in front of him. Phase 4 Revealing action cards. Now the action cards are turned over, but the actions are not yet carried out, with the exception of the traitor. The relevant player turns over immediately his allegiance card. The traitor changes sides immediately. Phase 5 Evaluating conflict and determining the successful land [points in the right hand]. First you determine which royal house has won. The basic value is given by the conflict points on the Landscape card. The you add the points on the supply cards of all the players on the same side. If a player has a diplomat, then this value is also added. The royal house with the higher total wins the conflict. In tied situations, Landscape cards are not turned over and victory points are not awarded, except for those given by traitor and Strategist cards. Phase 6 Victory points The players with the who have won are awarded victory points shown on the Landscape card of the defeated house. Divide the points amongst the players. The player with the traitor receives one additional point, and the Strategist two. Finally the Landscape card of the defeated house is turned over o it belongs to the victorious house. Phase 7 Master Builder The player who chose "Master Builder" can now bring one of the Estate/Office cards into the game, possibly by transferring or turning over one already present {not sure about this line ?}. He places one of his Estate cards under one free Landscape card. He can turn an Estate to its Office side or vice versa. During card scoring, all the Office cards score, regardless of which allegiance the Landscape card over them belongs. However a player can never place more than two Offices, but he can place all three Estates. Phase 8 Carrying out the Strategist action The player who has chosen the Strategist [2VP have already been awarded to him] receives the strategy card and can decide where the conflict will take place in the next round. The keeps this card until another player chooses the Strategist card. Strategy. In order to receive 2 additional VPs, the current possessor of the Strategy card can also choose the strategy option. Phase 9 Discarding supply cards All supply cards are placed on a face-up discard pile next to the pick-up pile. Phase 10 Picking up Supply Cards Supply cards are always picked up from the face-down pick-up deck. Should this become exhausted, the discard pile is shuffled and becomes the new draw deck. The player who has chosen the Farmer action can pick up three cards first. Beginning with the start player, all other players pick up one card for each of their Estate cards under a controlled Landscape card. The Farmer does not receive any additional cards. For Estates which lie under Landscape cards of the opposing allegiance, you can pick up no cards, and this applies to all Offices as well. The player with the Diplomat +2 card can pick up an additional card. Each player can pick up more than three supply cards and can have up to five in his hand. Surplus cards are discarded before picking up to five. Phase 11 all action cards are placed in the middle of the circle. Phase 12 the start player card is move on to the player on its left. The new start player can also be the player who has the strategy card in front of him. Phase 13 The round ends, and a new round begins with phase 1. End of Game When each player has been the start player twice, or three times with three players, the game ends after phase 10. A game ends prematurely if all Landscape cards are controlled by the same royal house. The round also ends with phase 10. End Score For each Office [2 per player] lying under any Landscape card, he receives extra points. This is worked out by multiplying Offices by supply cards held at that time. The maximum possible is two Offices x three supply cards = 6pts. The player with most points overall is the winner.