Chickwood Forest
Chickwood Forest Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Goal of the Game and Overview
Whoever earns the most glory wins the game.
You earn glory by making off with loot, performing acts of heroism, raiding heavily guarded castles and generously giving alms.
First, you scout the castles for fruitful targets. You play cards from your hand to these castles, sometimes face up, sometimes face down. Next, you each raid one castle, hoping to steal its precious treasure while avoiding any nasty surprises. With your bags bursting with riches, you can now give to the poor by placing your alms on the village cards, thus showing who is the most generous.
Components
165 cards
Loot
- 3 busts
- 49 treasures
- 28 chests: 4 types (7 of each)
- 8 garments: 4 types (2 of each)
- 13 pieces of jewelry: 3 types (6 worth 2, 4 worth 3, 3 worth 4)
- 3 Maid Marihens
- 12 henchmen
- 23 benefactors (9 x 1 alms, 9 x 2 alms, 5 x 3 alms)
Yes, Maid Marihen, henchmen and benefactors are also loot cards!
Variant
- 5 Legendary cards (described under Variant: Legendary Cards below)
Castles
- 50 castles (worth 1–6), with a Day side and a Night side (for two players)
Villages
- 7 villages, 2 forests
Overview cards
- 10 Final Scoring overviews (5 x German, 5 x English)
- 1 Setup overview (German/English)
Alms
- 75 alms — 15 each of red, yellow, purple, blue and green
Setup
1. Remove / Add
In two-player games, return all cards showing the two-player symbol to the box.
In five-player games, use the cards showing the five-player symbol. Otherwise, leave them in the box.
The five Legendary cards are for an advanced variant. For now, leave them in the box. (More details under Variant: Legendary Cards.)
2. Loot Cards
Shuffle the loot cards and deal each player three hand cards at random.
In two-player games, deal each player four hand cards.
Place the remaining loot cards as a face-down deck.
3. Alms
Each player takes the 15 alms of a single color.
4. Villages
Shuffle the village cards (villages and forests) and place them in three rows of three cards each.
In two-player games, place the village cards that you have not removed in two rows of three.
The Setup overview card is your best friend!
5. Castles
You will need castles 1–4 in three-player games, 1–5 in four-player games and 1–6 in five-player games. Sort these castles by their value into piles and place each pile with its Day side up.
In two-player games, place castles 1–3 with their Night sides up.
When there are just two of you, find safety under cover of darkness!
Return any unused castle cards to the box.
6. Turn Order
Take one castle of each value, shuffle them and give one to each player at random. Place the remaining card back on its pile. Each player places his castle in front of him for all to see.
The player with the lowest value castle starts the game, and play continues in ascending order of castle values.
Even merry men have a pecking order!
Sequence of Play: 1. Scout the Castles
First, find out which castles contain precious loot.
On your turn, play one card from your hand in front of any castle. Place it so that it and any other cards already at the castle form a row in front of the castle.
Attention! At most two cards may be played in front of Castle 1, and at most three cards may be played in front of Castle 2.
Before you play your next hand card, each other player will take a turn. Therefore, you will over three such turns (four in two-player games) play all your hand cards to the castles.
Reading from left to right, the banner on your castle card shows the order in which you must play cards face up and face down.
Example: You have Castle 4. First you play a face-up card at a castle. On your next turn you play a face-down card. On your third turn you play another face-down card.
Sequence of Play: 2. Steal the Loot
Then you each raid one castle.
On your turn, take one castle along with all the loot cards in front of it. Place the castle face up in front of you, on top of your old castle card. Its value will determine your place in the next round's turn order. Put all the loot cards sorted and face up in front of you (even those that were face down). Any benefit cards among them are resolved immediately (see 3. Give Alms).
You cannot raid a castle that has already been raided by an opponent this round. However, you can "raid" a castle at which nobody has played any loot cards.
Raiding the same castle twice in one day would be a little unsporting!
Sequence of Play: 3. Give Alms
With bags bursting with loot, you can give generously to the poor.
Benefit cards can count as one, two or even three alms.
Add up all the alms shown on your newly captured benefit cards. You place this many of your alms cubes in an unbroken "snaking" line, never branching off, from village to village. You may only place one alms at each village this round, and always in the first free space (going from left to right and from top to bottom).
You begin your "snake" at any village of your choice. Each subsequent village you give alms to this round must be vertically or horizontally adjacent.
You can't pass through forest cards and you can't place alms on them. The same is true for villages with no empty spaces and villages that you have already placed alms on this round.
If a village became too rich too quickly, you'd just have to raid it!
Place as many alms as your benefactor cards allow. Only if you can't "snake" to another village do you not place all your alms. Keep alms that you were unable to place in your store. If you ever run out of alms cubes, you can no longer give alms this game.
Set aside the resolved benefactor cards. (Details on how to earn glory in the villages under Final Scoring: 3. Villages.)
Example: You have three benefactor cards, whose alms sum to five. If you start at the bottom center, you can place them all in the villages you "snake" through until you arrive at the top center. If, for tactical reasons, you didn't want to place alms in the top right village, you could instead start at the center right village and then travel downwards, laying four alms until you arrived at the bottom left and could "snake" no farther. Your fifth alms would then remain in your store for later use. You couldn't bypass the village at the top right by crossing through the forest.
It is not forbidden to choose a route through the villages that prevents you from giving all your alms …
Example: You have two benefactor cards whose alms sum to five. How will you, in a single round, place alms in the big villages at the bottom left and top right? You can't! The middle village has no free spaces remaining. Also, you can't "snake" diagonally.
End of Round / Beginning of Round
A round ends when everyone has raided a castle and distributed their benefactor cards' alms. Set any loot cards that remain in front of castles aside. Deal each player a hand of new cards from the deck (four each in two-player games, otherwise three per player) and then start the next round.
End of Game
The game ends when you can't deal every player enough cards at the end of a round. Then check who has earned the most glory and thereby won the game.
There is also a helpful Final Scoring overview card!
Final Scoring: 1. Loot
Earn glory for the loot you have stolen.
You earn glory based on the type of loot cards you have collected. Work out your score as follows:
Busts. Discard one chest of whichever type you have most of in your collection. If tied, choose one of the tied types and discard just one of that type. If you have more than one bust, resolve them one after the other, rechecking which type of chest makes up the majority after each discard.
Example: You have one bust. Your chests are mostly green emeralds. Discard one green emerald chest.
Example: You have two busts. You discard a green emerald chest because of the first. Now the types of chest you have most are emerald and silver, at three each, so you discard either one emerald chest or one silver chest.
Chests. You earn glory for the chests of whichever type you have most of in your collection. Each chest you have of that type gives you glory equal to the number of chests you have of that type (you square the number). If tied, choose one of the tied types and score just that. You lose one glory for each chest you have of any other type.
Each chest of the type you have most of is worth as much glory as you have chests of that type!
Example: You have four brown gold chests, earning you (4x4 =) 16 glory. However, you also have three silver chests and one green emerald chest, costing you four glory. Altogether you earn 12 glory.
Example: You have two brown gold chests and two green emerald chests. Regardless of which type you choose, you earn (2x2 =) 4 glory and lose two glory. Altogether you earn two glory.
Garments. You earn five glory for each garment you have just one of. You earn no glory for any garments you have both of.
Example: You have one silver armor and one blue jerkin. You earn five glory for each of them. You have two green gowns. You earn nothing for them. Altogether you earn ten glory.
Jewelry. You earn glory for each piece of jewelry you have collected, according to its type.
Example: You have two violet rings, each worth four glory. You have three turquoise pendants, each worth three glory. You have one bronze bracelet worth two glory. Altogether you earn 19 glory.
Maid Marihen. If you have Maid Marihen, you earn one additional glory for each type of treasure you have collected. If you have more than one Maid Marihen you still earn just one additional glory per treasure type.
Even I can't handle more than one Maid at a time!
Example: You have three types of chests, three types of garments and three types of jewelry. Altogether, thanks to Maid Marihen, you earn an additional nine glory.
Henchmen. You lose three glory for each henchman you have.
Example: You have two henchmen. Altogether you lose six glory.
Final Scoring: 2. Castles
You also earn glory when you heroically raid heavily fortified castles.
For each castle you raided over the course of the game, you earn glory equal to that castle's value (including your starting castle card).
Example: Over the course of the game, you raided castles of values two (starting castle), five, five, two, one, and five. Altogether you earn 20 glory.
Final Scoring: 3. Villages
You earn glory for the alms you generously give.
You earn glory according to the alms you have placed on villages.
It is only possible to earn village glory that has been "unlocked" over the course of the game by the placement of at least one alms in its corresponding row. If there are no alms in a row, that row's glory cannot be earned.
Example: Blue (together with Yellow) has "unlocked" the first row, Red the second row. Since the third row is empty its eight glory have not been "unlocked."
If you have given the most alms to a village, you earn its highest "unlocked" glory. If you have given the second most or third most alms, you only earn the second most or third most "unlocked" glory. Ties are broken in favor of the player who gave alms to that village later.
Resolve the villages together. The spaces to the right of the glory will help you keep track.
Example: Yellow placed his alms later than red did, and so yellow wins the tie. This village has glory for up to two players, but there are no alms in the row for six glory. Only the three glory of the first row are "unlocked". Yellow earns three glory and slides his alms onto the space right of the glory of the first row. Red leaves empty handed and puts his alms aside.
Example: Red earns nine glory and yellow earns five. As nobody is in third place, nobody earns the third "unlocked" glory.
Example: Red placed his last alms later than blue did and so wins the tie. Green wins the tie with yellow. Red earns eight glory, blue earns four, green earns two and yellow nothing.
Example: Red placed two alms on this large village. However, the second row is empty. Red earns no glory.
Variant: Legendary Cards
Once you have played a few times you can try this variant. Return one piece of jewelry of each value (two, three and four) as well as one henchman to the box. In their place, shuffle the five Legendary cards into the remaining loot cards.
Spy Glass. If you have the spy glass, you can look at all face-down cards at any one castle once per round, right before the first player goes on a raid.
Key. If you have the key, when an opponent chooses which castle to raid you may, once per game in any round of your choice, force him to raid another castle of his choice. Then return the key card to the box.
Travelling Entertainers. If you have the travelling entertainers at the end of the game, you may swap the positions of any two alms of your choice (without restriction) right before the Final Scoring.
Golden Arrow. If you have the golden arrow at the end of the game, you may exchange any one of your treasures with any one treasure of an opponent, right before the Final Scoring.
Fake Beard. If you have the fake beard at the end of the game, you may give one of your henchmen to an opponent, right before the Final Scoring.
If it is relevant, resolve the Legendary cards in the following order:
- Travelling Entertainers
- Golden Arrow
- Fake Beard
You can download a Final Scoring sheet from Zoch's website.
Oh, how gracious of you, Robin!