Forest Gangs Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Game Goal
• Game Setup
• How to Play
  • Frog (6)
• Combat
  • Shapeshifter (4)
  • Check if there is a duel
  • Giant (8)
  • Resolve the duel
  • Goblin (2)
  • Mantis (3)
  • Goatsheep (1)
  • Fungid (5)
  • Gnome (7)
  • Example
• The Deck and the Discard Pile
• End of the Game
• Game Variants
• Card Abilities

Components

• 54 Gang Cards: 9 for each player
• 6 Reference Cards

Game Goal

Get the most creature cards in your gang deck. When a player can't draw cards from the deck and there are no cards in the discard pile, whoever owns the most cards wins the game.

Game Setup

Each player receives:

• 9 gang cards numbered 1-9, each set differentiated by the flag in the top left corner of each card.
• 1 reference card.

Each player shuffles the 9 gang cards and places them on the table stacked face down to create their gang deck.

If there are less than 6 players, return the remaining cards to the box.

How to Play

Forest Gangs is played in rounds. In each round, players draw cards from their deck until they have 2 cards in their hand. Then, each player selects a card from their hand to carry out a combat. As a general rule, the player with the highest value card at the end of a combat is the winner.

The round proceeds as follows:

1. Play a card face down: Simultaneously, each player selects one of the cards in their hand and plays it face down on the table.
2. Reveal played cards: When all players have played a card, turn over all played cards.
3. Combat: Check for a duel, apply creature abilities, and determine the winner of the combat as described in the next section.

Frog (6)

If Frog is in your hand at the beginning of the round, you must play it.

Combat

Each creature has a numerical value and an ability of its own. During combat, the creatures' abilities are checked, applied if necessary, and it is determined if there is a duel.

Generally, unless a duel or certain abilities prevent it, the player who played the card with the highest value will win the combat.

The combat resolution is structured as follows:

Check if there is a duel → If there is a duel, resolve the duel → Determine the winner of the combat

• Loot: During a duel resolution, all cards played are placed in the Loot. Some abilities may cause a card to be placed in the Loot even if there is no duel. The Loot always remains in the centre of the table with the cards face down. The player who wins the combat takes all cards in play and in the Loot. Cards in the Loot are not considered "in play".

Shapeshifter (4)

Before checking for a duel, the Shapeshifter may use his ability.

Check if there is a duel

A Duel happens when 2 or more players have played a card with the same value.

Giant (8)

Giants cannot enter duel, instead they are placed in the Loot.

Resolve the duel

All cards are placed face down in the Loot. Players who have tied enter a new round of combat (in case of multiple ties, only the tied cards with the highest value enter the duel). Players who do not enter the duel do not participate in the rest of the combat.

Goblin (2)

Any player who has played a Goblin may choose to join the duel.

All players involved in the duel play the card remaining in their hand and draw a new card from their gang deck. Resolve this new combat as described above, i.e. compare the cards, determine if there is a new duel, and if not, determine the winner of the combat. There is no limit to the number of duels that can be chained together in a single combat.

• If there is no duel, determine the winner.
• Determine de Winner: The highest card in play wins and the player who played it moves all cards played and all cards in the Loot to his discard pile. There are some exceptions:

Mantis (3)

If played during the resolution of a duel, it wins the combat.

Goatsheep (1)

If there is a Dragoness in play and a Goatsheep was played, place the Dragoness on the Loot before determining the winner.

Fungid (5)

If Fungid is the creature with the LOWEST value in combat, Fungid wins the combat.

Gnome (7)

If the Gnome wins the combat, all players give the remaining card in their hand to the player on their left.

Example

2 Gnomes, 2 Goblins, 1 Dragoness and 1 Shapeshifter have been played.

The Gnomes duel, as they are the two cards of the same value in play with the higher value.

At this point, the player who played the Shapeshifter decides to use his ability and the new card revealed is the Dragoness. There are now 2 Dragonesses in play, so the duel will be between the players who played the Dragonesses.

The Goblins' ability allows the players who played them to join the duel, so both players decide to join. After that, all cards in play are placed in the Loot.

The two players who activated the Goblin ability and the two players who played the Dragonesses put the remaining card in their hand into play and draw a new card from their gang deck.

The new cards played are 1 Fungid, 1 Gnome and 2 Giants. The Giants' ability causes them to lose when they duel, so the Giants' cards are placed in the Loot. As there is no duel to resolve, the players determine the winner of the combat. The Gnome has the highest value, but the Fungid's ability says it wins if it is the lowest card, and so the Fungid is the winner. The player who played the Fungid gets all cards played and all cards in the Loot, placing them in his discard pile.

*Flowchart footnote as printed: "Only if a duel happened" (attached to the "Determine the winner of the combat" step).

Loot: The cards stacked face down in the centre of the table are the Loot. These cards are not in play.

Duel: When 2 or more cards with the same value are revealed, a duel is triggered. If there is more than one tie, only the tied cards with the highest value are considered.

The Deck and the Discard Pile

At any time during the game, when a player must draw a card from their gang deck and the deck has no cards, the player shuffles the cards from their discard pile and places them face down on the table to form a new gang deck.

End of the Game

If, at any time, a player is unable to draw a card from the gang deck and there are no cards in the discard pile, the game ends. If that happens during a duel, deal all cards in play and in the Loot among the players participating in the duel, randomly and equally (return any excess cards to the box).

Everyone counts the cards in their own deck, their hand and their discard pile. The player with the most cards wins the game. In the event of a tie, the player with the most Dragoness cards wins the game. If the tie persists, the player with the most Giants wins... and so on. If the tie still persists, the tied players share the victory.

Game Variants

• For kids:

  1. Ignore creature abilities, when a card is played just take into account the numerical value.
  2. To make it even simpler, instead of keeping 2 cards in hand, all players reveal the first card of their gang deck to perform the combat. The dueling players reveal the next card from their deck.

• Ghost Player for 2 or more players: Forest Gangs can be played by 2 players by adding a ghost player. This ghost player can also be included in multiplayer games to generate more chaotic combat.

  Set up: Create a deck for the ghost player, as described in the usual set up, and place it face down.

  How to play: When players turn over their played cards, reveal the first card of the Ghost Player's deck. If it's a Shifter, he always uses his ability. If he enters a duel, reveal the next card in his deck. If the ghost player wins the combat, he places all cards in play and cards in the Loot into his own discard pile. For all intents and purposes, the ghost player is treated as another player and may trigger the endgame as normal.

Card Abilities

All abilities should be applied, unless the ability states otherwise.

• 1 Goatsheep – Before determining the winner of the combat, if there is a Dragoness in play, place that Dragoness on the Loot.
• 2 Goblin – When other players start a duel, the player who played the Goblin may choose to participate in that duel.
• 3 Mantis – If played during the resolution of a duel, the player who played the Mantis wins the fight.
• 4 Shapeshifter – Before determining if there is a duel, the player may play the next card from her or his gang deck. The effects of the new card apply as normal. Put the Shapeshifter card in the Loot.
• 5 Fungid – When determining the winner of the combat, if the Fungid is the card with the LOWEST value, the Fungid wins.
• 6 Frog – If Frog is in your hand at the beginning of the round, you MUST play this card.
• 7 Gnome – If Gnome wins the combat, then all players give the remaining card in their hand to the player on their left.
• 8 Giant – If 2 or more Giants enter a Duel, instead, the Giants lose the combat and are placed on the Loot.
• 9 Dragoness – No ability.