El Guerrero
El Guerrero Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Objective
The objective in El Guerrero is to be the most powerful general when the War card appears. Your power is the sum of the strength of your troops plus your Morale score.
Unheaded Rules Panel
Troops are always placed on the table in front of your General board.
A player may not have more than 5 troops in their army.
You can always replace a troop with a new one.
Actions: Players have action cards and may use them at any moment during phases 1 and 2 of their turn. There is no limit to the number of cards that may be used per turn.
Example card (illustration): "Pregunta de intercambio" — "Intercambia una tropa con otro jugador." ("Exchange a troop with another player.")
There are three types of special action cards:
Round cards (icon "1"): These cards, marked with the special "1" icon, remain face up on the table until the turn returns to the player who used them, and are discarded at the start of that player's turn.
Instant cards (explosion icon): Cards marked with the explosion icon may be used outside the turn of the player who owns them.
Permanent cards (infinity icon): Cards marked with the infinity icon remain in play for the whole game unless a condition stated on the card itself is met.
Trap cards: Trap cards (marked as such) have a special use designed to protect you from attacks. Trap cards are placed face down in front of your army. When you receive an attack, the attacker reveals the face-down trap card in front of you and receives its effect.
A single player may not have more than one trap at a time.
You may deceive the other players by placing any card face down, but when the attacking player reveals it, that player keeps it in their hand instead of receiving the effect.
Example trap card (illustration): "¡TRAMPA!" — "Cortesía ante todo" — "Enseña tu mano al defensor. Se queda con una carta a su elección." ("Show your hand to the defender. He keeps one card of his choice.")
Chuletilla (quick reference):
- Round card (icon "1"): the card remains in play for 1 turn. It is discarded at the end of that turn.
- Permanent card (infinity icon): the card remains in play permanently until another card removes it from the table.
- Instant card (explosion icon): the card may be played at any time, including outside your turn.
- A card with no symbol may only be used during your own turn.
End of the Game
When a player draws the War card from the game deck, reveal it and the game stops. No cards may be used at this moment, unless the card itself says otherwise.
Then the power of each player is counted. Power is the sum of the strength of your troops (base value and tokens) plus your General's Morale.
The player with the highest power becomes Guerra's successor, and wins the game.
If the winner of the game also has 20 Morale, they receive the title of Horseman of the Apocalypse: El Guerrero. It serves no purpose, but not just anyone can achieve it.
If the tie persists, the players share the victory, and there are now five Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
In case of a tie, the player with more Morale value wins.
Contents
- 117 cards, divided into:
- A. 1 War card.
- B. 18 Basic Troop cards.
- C. 98 Battle cards.
- D. 6 General boards.
- E. 58 Strength tokens (29 with value 1/2 and 29 with value 3/4).
- F. 1 Peace token.
- G. 1 Defeated token.
- H. 6 Morale markers.
Setup
Each player takes the general (D) of their choice, the Morale marker (H) of their colour, and three Basic Troops (B1). Place everything in front of you on the table. This will be your play area.
Each Basic Troop starts with a Strength token (E1) on it (as indicated on the card).
Take the Battle cards (C). Depending on the number of players, remove from the game the number of cards needed. Then shuffle the War card (A) at random among the last cards of the deck, as indicated in the table:
| Players | Cards removed | War between |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | 0 cards | Last 20 |
| 5 | 10 cards | Last 16 |
| 4 | 20 cards | Last 13 |
| 3 | 30 cards | Last 10 |
Deal three cards from the Battle deck to each player.
Set the Defeated token (G) aside, and place the Peace token (F) in the centre, next to the Battle deck (C).
The player who gets angry most easily begins the game (if in doubt, the oldest player), and play continues clockwise.
How to Play
Each player begins the game with a General board, three Basic Troops, and three Battle cards in hand.
General board: Shows the total Morale value the player has. Each general starts with five Morale points, and the Morale marker (H) is used to indicate it.
A player's turn is divided into three phases:
- Training.
- Combat or discard.
- End of turn.
1. Training
In this phase players improve one of their troops. Add one point of strength to any of the troops in your army. If the chosen troop has a token of value 1 or 3, flip it over to show the value 2 or 4 instead of taking a new token.
2. Combat or Discard
In the combat phase you have the option to attack an enemy player or, failing that, discard any cards you wish before moving on to the next phase.
If you decide to attack, the combat is divided into the following steps:
A. Trap reveal: If the defender has a card placed face down in front of them, the attacker turns it over and reads its effect. It is applied as the card explains.
Example trap card (illustration): "Cortesía ante todo" — "Enseña tu mano al defensor. Se queda con una carta a su elección."
B. Strength comparison: The winner is the player with a greater strength value during the combat. To do this, add up the base strength values of your troops together with the tokens those troops have. In case of a tie, the defending player wins. Morale does not count for the combat.
C. Win or lose: The winner of the combat gains two Morale points, and the loser loses one. After the combat, the defender replenishes their hand (if they used instant cards). The defeated player receives the Defeated token (G). This token gives them 5 points of temporary defence until another player is defeated by handing them the token (it moves from one player to another). Note that the token only adds 5 points in defence; if you attack, it adds nothing. A player may only attack once per turn.
3. End of Turn
On reaching this phase the player replenishes their hand by drawing from the game deck until they have three cards again (4 if they have a "Huns" troop). If they have three or more cards in hand, they do not draw. This ends the turn and begins the turn of the next player.
The first round – Peace token: At the start of the first round the Peace token will be present in the centre of the table. While this token is visible, no attacks may be made between players, although players may still use cards against each other. The first round serves to let the players prepare. When the turn returns to the player who began the game, the Peace token is removed from the game.
Battle Card Descriptions
Troops: Troops are a player's strength. They are used to fight against the other players. Troops have different parts:
- Base strength value: The value printed on the troop card is permanent. It is not affected by cards and cannot be taken by other players.
- Ability: Most troops have an ability explained next to the base strength value. These modify certain functions of the game for the player who owns them.
The set of troops of one player is called their "Army". Some cards affect troops (an individual card), and others affect the army (the set of all troops).
Example troop card (illustration): a Goblins troop, with callouts 1 and 2 marking its base strength value and its ability as described above. The small ability text on the illustration is not legible at print size and is not transcribed.