Dwarven Beerfest Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Components
• Card Anatomy
• Set-Up
• How to Play
• Round Phases Explained
  • 1. Place Orders
    • Burst
    • Last Orders
• Ordering Options
  • SOBER
  • DRUNK
• 2. Drink
  • a. Pre-Drinks cards
  • b. The Drink roll
  • c. After Drinks cards
  • The Flask
• Example
• 3. Quaffing
  • Failure when SOBER
  • Failure when DRUNK
• Example Continued
• Scoring
• Scoring Example
• Game Icons
• Drink Icons
• Round Sequence
• Score

Overview

Each player is a dwarf aiming to gain the most renown by successfully quaffing the most drinks without embarrassing themselves and falling unconscious. Each dwarf will take a turn to get the drinks in. Everyone places their orders before the dice are rolled to see who successfully quaffs by scoring higher than the quaff value of the drinks they ordered. Timing 'taking it easy' to ward off drunkenness will enable you to keep the renown of your quaffing and carry on drinking with vigour next round.

Components

• 6 Drinking dice: 2 x d6, 1 x d8, 1 x d10, 1 x d12, 1 x d4
• 4 Dwarf cards
• 72 Drink cards
• 1 Last Orders card
• 39 Action cards

Card Anatomy

The card anatomy diagram labels the following parts: on the Dwarf card, the Sober and Drunk sides, the Tray, the Quaffed pile, the Renown pile, the Flask, the Drinking Options and the Favourite Drink; on the Drink card, the Quaff Value and Drink Type, the Quaffing Abilities, the Quaffed Bonus and the Renown icon; on the Action card, the Timing Icons, the Effect Text/Icon and the Action card's name.

Set-Up

To create the Drinks deck, shuffle the Drink cards and deal 12 face down for 3 or 4 players and 24 for 2 players.

Place the Last Orders card face down on top of them and then place the rest of the Drink cards on top face down.

A space to one side of this is for the Empties where failed drinks will be discarded.

Shuffle the Action cards and deal 3 to each Dwarf. They take these into their hand, without revealing them to the other Dwarves. Place the remainder as the Action deck near the Drink deck.

Give a Dwarf card to each player, placed SOBER side up in front of them leaving enough room to place cards on all 4 sides of the Dwarf card.

Return unused Dwarf cards to the box. Roll the d12 to determine who is getting the first round in. Highest starts and they take all the Drinking dice. Let the quaffing commence!

How to Play

The game is played in rounds (of course!). The Dwarf with the dice will start the round. A round follows these phases in order:

1. Place Orders
2. Drink
3. Quaffing

The next round is then started by the next Dwarf clockwise.

Eventually the Last Orders card will be revealed, indicating this is the final round. After the final round is completed Scoring will be performed and a winner declared.

Round Phases Explained

1. Place Orders

Starting with the Dwarf who is getting the round in, Dwarves take it in turns ordering one at a time, continuing around the table clockwise. One of the two Options on their Dwarf is chosen for this round (see Ordering Options for cards drawn and dice used). To order they reveal a drink, or 2 if Berserk, from the Drink deck and place it above their Dwarf on the Tray. Further Drinks are added to the right of any on the Tray one at a time.

A Dwarf may play Action cards with the Orders icon when ordering; they may do this before or after ordering or without ordering a drink at all.

If a Dwarf doesn't order or play Action cards, they have skipped. All Dwarves can order or play cards again until they all skip sequentially or have Burst, in which case Place Orders ends.

Burst

If the Quaff value of Drink cards on a Dwarf's Tray exceeds the maximum possible on the dice they are using, the Dwarf has Burst and Fails this round. They stop placing orders and do not partake in the Drinking phase, they also cannot play any further Action cards this round.

Last Orders

If a Dwarf draws the Last Orders card, this will be the final round; discard the Last Orders card and immediately draw another Drink card. The round continues as normal but if the Drink deck runs out, the Tavern is dry and ordering finishes.

Ordering Options

When it is a Dwarf's turn to order for the first time in a round, they must choose one of the two Options showing on their Dwarf card, which will depend if they are SOBER or DRUNK, to use for all orders placed this round:

SOBER

A Dwarf may either order 1 Drink card on their turn, which means they will use the two d6s when drinking, or they can go Berserk, which means drawing 2 Drink cards every time they order, and after this round they will be DRUNK irrespective of whether they are successful or not. The advantage of going Berserk is the blue d6 becomes a d12.

DRUNK

While DRUNK a Dwarf may either continue ordering 1 Drink card at a time and, because they think they are invincible, they use the d10 instead of the blue d6. Alternatively, they may Take it Easy, meaning they will become SOBER next turn. The blue d6 becomes a d4 and they rotate their Quaffed pile. If successful, all of the drinks in their Quaffed pile will transfer to their Renown pile at the end of the round.

2. Drink

a. Pre-Drinks cards

Before the Drink roll, each Dwarf, in clockwise order, can play Pre-Drinks Action cards until all no longer want to play cards.

Each Dwarf should now check which blue and yellow dice they are using. They will always use one of each colour. Normally they use the dice as shown on the chosen Option, but this may have been modified by drinks ordered or Action cards. If a Dwarf's Favourite Drink is on their Tray, they use the yellow d8.

b. The Drink roll

The Dwarf with the dice rolls them all. Everyone now checks if they have been successful or failed by seeing if the Drink roll result of their two dice (and any card modifiers) is equal to or higher than the total of the Quaff values on the Drink cards on their Tray. If it is, they are successful otherwise they have failed.

c. After Drinks cards

Before Quaffing, players get a chance to play After Drinks Action cards, which may improve the dice rolled for everyone or possibly just boost their own dice roll.

The Flask

Drinks may have previously been stored in the Flask. If the modified value of dice used is high enough, the Dwarf may add the drink from their Flask to their Tray if their Drink roll result is high enough. Cards in the Flask do not change the Drink roll result.

Example

Werza is SOBER and decided to go Berserk and order doubles. Ordering has left him with 4 drinks on his Tray with a Quaff value of 16. The Imported Human Ale allows him to use the yellow d8 instead of the d6 and because he is Berserk he also uses the blue d12. This is a maximum possible of 20, which is higher than 16 so he doesn't Burst. To help him out he plays a Two Chickens Action card that will add 2 to his Drink roll result.

Merril is getting this round in so she rolls all the dice and gets: 1, 6, 3, 7, 7 and 4.

As Werza is using the d12 and d8 he has scored 14 + 2 for the Two Chickens, which gives 16 meaning he has successfully Quaffed!

3. Quaffing

Each player may play Quaffing Action cards or, if they failed to drink, discard an Action card to place one of the failed Drink cards on their Tray into their Flask for later. If a Flask already has a drink in it, this should be discarded to the Empties pile to make room for the new drink.

Success means all drinks on their Tray are placed in their Quaffed pile. Players who went Berserk or who consumed drinks with the DRUNK icon on them must make sure they now have the DRUNK side showing. Players already DRUNK stay that way. Finally, draw 1 Action card for each Draw card icon on the drinks Quaffed this round. There is no maximum hand size.

Failure when SOBER

The Dwarf is flipped DRUNK side up. If the two dice they used were a double, any Spirits have their doubles special ability activated. Otherwise all drinks on their Tray are placed in the Empties pile. Finally, they draw 1 Action card.

Failure when DRUNK

This is a disaster and the Dwarf is ill. They must discard all Drink cards on their Tray and all those in their Quaffed pile: it's not pleasant seeing those drinks again! They turn their Dwarf to SOBER. Finally, they draw 1 Action card.

Once all players have resolved Quaffing, play passes to the next Dwarf clockwise to get their round in. Give them the Drinking dice, discard all used Action cards and begin a new round unless the Last Orders card was revealed, in which case the night ends and Scoring is performed!

Example Continued

Because the two dice Werza used to successfully drink were both a 7, the Restless Spirit is placed in the Renown pile and all other drink cards into his Quaffed pile (Goblin Grogg would have gone into the Quaffed pile even if he had failed as he was SOBER). Unfortunately, the Restless Spirit was a bad batch and has a DRUNK symbol, so he has to flip his Dwarf card to the DRUNK side despite his success and then discard his Two Chickens card. The Halfling Wine and Imported Human Ale both had a draw icon on so he draws 2 Action cards and boasts of his prowess!

Scoring

Before Scoring, players discard to the Empties drinks in their Flask and transfer all Quaffed drinks to their Renown pile.

All Drink cards in the Renown pile except Shandy score 1 Renown point.

Then apply the following bonuses:

• The Dwarf's Favourite Drink: +1 per card
• For each complete set of 3 different wines (Dark Elf Shadow wines can replace any colours): +1 point
• The Longest Burp: All players now total the number of Burps they have in their Renown pile. The Dwarf with the most Burps scores 6 extra Renown. If everyone has the same number of Burps no Renown are scored, otherwise players tied for most Burps share the 6 Renown evenly.

The player with the most Renown wins. If it is a tie, the player holding the most Action cards wins and if it is still a tie, the player with the most Drink cards wins, otherwise still tied players rejoice in their joint success!

Scoring Example

Merril has 16 Drink cards in her Renown pile but 2 are Shandies so this gives 14 points. Her 2 Miners' Mates give her 2 more points but she has no wine sets. This is a total of 16 points before the Longest Burp bonus. She has a total of 8 Burps icons.

Werza has 20 Drink cards and only 1 is a Shandy so this is 19 points. He also has 2 sets of the 3 different wines giving another 2 points. He doesn't have any Werza's Glory. This is a total of 21 points. He has a total of 6 Burps in his Renown pile.

Merril has the most Burps so she is awarded the Longest Burp bonus of 6 points giving her a total of 22 points, just pipping Werza's 21 points. Merril gets another round in to celebrate her victory after rubbing her beard in Werza's face for good measure!

Game Icons

The game icons are shown in the rules as pictograms: Action card, Drink card, Sober, Drunk, Draw (1 Drink Card), Draw (2 Drink Cards), Flask, Quaffed, Quaffed to Renown, and Renown.

Drink Icons

• Drink type Quaff value: Ale, Shandy, Spirit and Wine each show a Quaff value on the drink's type icon. Dark Elf Shadow wine's Quaff value is the d4 value rolled.
• The Dwarf's Favourite Drinks: a Favourite Drink is identified by its card art. When a Favourite Drink is on the Tray, the Dwarf uses the d8 instead of the yellow d6.
• Draw an Action card: at the end of Quaffing, draw an Action card if successful.
• 1 Renown: 1 Renown if in the Renown pile at the end of the game.
• Burp values: +3 Burp values if in the Renown pile during Scoring.
• Wine sets: 1 Renown bonus per set if you have one of each type of wine. A Dark Elf Shadow wine counts as any wine type.
• Spirit drinks when SOBER: when SOBER, place a Spirit drink in the Quaffed pile if your dice are a double even if you failed.
• Spirit drinks when SOBER or DRUNK: when SOBER or DRUNK, place a Spirit drink in the Renown pile if your dice are a double even if you failed.
• DRUNK icon: the Dwarf will become DRUNK even if successful while drinking.
• Dragon Breath chaser: if Dragon Breath chaser is the last card on your Tray, your Quaff value is reduced by 2.

Round Sequence

1. Place Orders (see Place Orders): Choose an Order Option, order drinks and play Order Action cards on your turn. Continue until all skip.
2. Drink (see Drink): a. Play Pre-Drinks Action cards. b. The Drink roll. c. Play After Drinks Action cards.
3. Quaffing (see Quaffing): a. Play Quaffing Action cards. b. Success: drinks on Tray and Flask into Quaffed pile. Become DRUNK if Berserk Option or drinks with the DRUNK icon. Fail: discard an Action card to place a drink from Tray into Flask. Failed SOBER: discard drinks on Tray and flip Dwarf to DRUNK. Failed DRUNK: discard drinks on Tray and in Quaffed pile. Flip Dwarf to SOBER. c. Draw Action cards on Quaffed drinks or 1 if failed. d. Pass dice clockwise for next turn.

If Last Orders was revealed this round, all Dwarves transfer their Quaffed pile into their Renown pile and Score.

Score

Count drinks in the Renown pile, plus the Favourite Drinks bonus (1 per card), plus the Wine Sets bonus (1 per set), plus the Longest Burp bonus (6 for longest; tied players share the 6 points equally).