Frontier: The Card Game

Frontier: The Card Game Rulebook

Table of Contents

Total: 486 Cards
173 Card Deck (90 Range Cards, 9 Duel Cards, 42 Calamity Cards, 32 Critter Cards)
3 Store Cards (Gunsmith, Saloon, Mercantile)
16 Notoriety Cards (4 Rebel Cards, 4 Gunslinger Cards, 4 Outlaw Cards, 4 Desperado Cards)
99 Bullet Supply Cards
24 Holster Supply Cards
24 Horse Supply Cards
24 Ration Supply Cards
12 Repeating Rifle Supply Cards
99 Silver Dollar Supply Cards
12 Six-Shooter Supply Cards

Objective

Earn the most bounty and become the most notorious outlaw who ever lived!

Set-Up

Place all three Store Cards in an easily reachable area for all players.
Keep the Notoriety Cards nearby.
Shuffle the Range/Critter/Calamity/Duel Cards together and place them facedown. Then come up with a rootin' tootin' Western name!
Appoint 1 player to keep track of each player's Stamina. But make sure they can be saddled with the responsibility!*
Position your Supply Cards in front of you indicated by the level of difficulty you wish to play with:

Normal. (6) Bullets, (1) Holster, (6) Horses, (6) Rations, (6) Silver Dollars, (1) Six Shooter, (10) Stamina

Relentless. (5) Bullets, (1) Holster, (3) Horses, (4) Rations, (4) Silver Dollars, (1) Six Shooter, (9) Stamina

Wild Wild West. (3) Bullets, (1) Holster, (3) Horses, (2) Rations, (4) Silver Dollars, (1) Six Shooter, (8) Stamina

The player who most recently watched a Western movie goes first, and then play continues to the left.

*Frontier does not come with paper to keep track of Stamina.

Play Area

The printed play-area diagram labels the following areas.

Store Card (three areas, top row).
Notoriety areas: REBEL, GUNSLINGER, OUTLAW, DESPERADO.
DECK, BOOT HILL (Discard), and YOUR NOTORIETY.
Supply piles: BULLET SUPPLY, HOLSTER SUPPLY, HORSE SUPPLY, RATION SUPPLY, REPEATING RIFLE SUPPLY, SILVER DOLLAR SUPPLY, SIX SHOOTER SUPPLY.
BOUNTY PILE.
YOUR FIELD.

NOTE: This setup is a suggestion. You may set up your play area/field however you and your opponents want. Leave the rest of the Supplies organized in Supply Piles out of the play area, but in a reachable area for all players; you'll need access to them throughout the game!

Turn Actions

Let's giddy-up! You may purchase Supplies from any of the three Store Cards (as long as you have enough Silver Dollars). You may also sell items in your Supply. Make sure you adjust your Supplies to reflect the amount bought or sold. Rations can be spent to gain Stamina during this turn action. Calamity Cards can be resolved during this turn action. Harmonica may be used during this turn action. A player may purchase/sell as many times as they like on their turn.
Reveal card(s) from the Deck based on your Notoriety (discussed in more detail later.) If you have no Notoriety, reveal only 1 card. Follow the effect of each card(s) revealed. The effect of the revealed card must take place before another card is revealed. Card effects will be described in more detail later. You may also use Ace in the Hole from your Bounty Pile during this turn action. Calamity Cards can be resolved during this turn action. Notoriety can be changed during this turn action.
Turn ends.

Symbols

The symbol key on the printed rules pages uses the following icons. Each entry is the printed caption; the icon itself is a graphic.

This symbol indicates Notoriety.
This symbol indicates Bullets.
This symbol indicates Bounty.
This symbol indicates Horses.
This symbol indicates Stamina.
This symbol indicates Six Shooters.
This symbol indicates Rations.
This symbol indicates Silver Dollars.

Card Types and Effects

Critter

Those darned Critters! Critter Cards allow you the option of spending a Bullet or Ration in your Supply to defeat it (described below), spending a Horse to Flee (described below), or losing Stamina (described below). If you choose to use Horse(s) to Flee or choose to lose Stamina, you must reshuffle that Critter Card back into the Deck. If you choose to use a Bullet or Ration, place the Critter Card in your Bounty Pile and receive the Reward.

Printed example callouts for the Buzzard Critter:

You have the option of spending a Bullet or Ration in your Supply to defeat a Critter.
Upon defeating the Buzzard, you will receive +1 Stamina and +1 Bounty.
If you choose to Flee instead of fight, you will expend 1 Horse and must reshuffle the Critter back into the deck, gaining no Reward.
Amount of Stamina lost when you cannot Flee or defeat the Critter, or you decide to save your Supplies by choosing to lose Stamina (upon losing Stamina, you must reshuffle the card back into the deck, gaining no Reward).

Range

Range Cards have immediate effects. Some have effects that can be used from your Bounty Pile (Ace in the Hole, Harmonica). Once the effect of Ace in the Hole and Harmonica is used, discard those Range Cards to Boot Hill. Stagecoach and Tombstone Epitaph stay in your Bounty Pile until the game's end. All other Range Cards (excluding cards that grant Notoriety) should be sent to Boot Hill once the effect is followed. Bank, Wanted: Dead or Alive, and Iron Horse are sent to your Bounty Pile (since they grant Notoriety). If Mine, Bank, or Iron Horse would make a player's Stamina fall to zero, that player still gains the Rewards of those cards. NOTE: Player 1 has 2 Notoriety and dies because of Bank; Player 1 becomes a Rebel (5 Notoriety) but is out of the game.

Printed example callouts for the Bank Range Card:

Gain Notoriety for being a bank robber! (Reward)
Steal 3 Silver Dollars from the Bank! (Reward)
Lose 2 Stamina! The law was afoot!

The Local Yokel and Prospector cards are sent to Boot Hill, regardless of whether or not you purchase something.

Calamity

There's a lot of hardships in this here West! You cannot Flee from a Calamity card, unless there is a Horse symbol present. If no Horse symbol is shown or you lack the amount of Horses required, you will lose the amount of Stamina specified by the card. Most Calamity Cards force you to lose Supplies; if you do not have the required Supplies, the Calamity Card is placed on your field. Other Calamity Cards force you to lose cards from your Bounty Pile or follow immediate effects. The Calamity Card stays on your field until all requirements are resolved. For example: You reveal the Dust Devil Card. You do not have a Bullet or Ration to lose, so that Calamity card stays on your field until a Bullet or Ration is gained and then spent to fulfill the card's demands.

Printed example callouts:

The Dust Devil card provides a choice as to what the player loses.
The Drought card demands 1 Ration and 2 Stamina be lost.

Duel

Duel Cards depict other outlaws and the law which you can defeat. These cards require a certain amount of Bullets to beat. If you do not have enough Bullets, or you do not want to use your Bullets, you may spend Horse(s) to Flee, or you may choose to lose Stamina. Once the Duel Card is defeated, place the Duel Card in your Bounty Pile, then collect the Reward listed on the Duel Card (indicated by the + sign). If you spend Horse(s) to Flee, or you lose Stamina, the Duel Card is reshuffled back into the Deck and you do not receive the Reward.

Printed card-anatomy callouts:

Notoriety gained from defeating the card (Reward)
Bullet Cost to defeat the card
Rewards granted upon defeating the card
Cost to Flee the Duel
Amount of Stamina lost when you cannot Flee or defeat the card. You may also choose to lose this amount of Stamina to save your Supplies.

Notoriety

Notoriety Cards are status cards, obtained by reaching the required amount of Notoriety from Range, Critter, and Duel Cards. Follow the effect of the Notoriety Cards every turn! This effect is permanent unless it is removed by the effect of a revealed card or a new Notoriety Card is obtained (the effect takes place over the previous Notoriety immediately). Keep Notoriety Cards on your side of the field, as they are worth 1 Bounty each at the end of the game. If you gain enough Notoriety during a turn, you receive the effect of the Notoriety Card during that turn.

Example: You reveal the first card to be a Duel Card. Upon defeating the Duel Card, you gain enough Notoriety to become a Gunslinger. Once Gunslinger is obtained, you now follow the effect of the Gunslinger, revealing the amount of cards the Gunslinger specifies.

The same effect applies if a player loses a Notoriety Card during a turn (the previous Notoriety Card takes effect immediately).

Notoriety Card	Notoriety Required to Obtain
Rebel	5 Notoriety
Gunslinger	10 Notoriety
Outlaw	18 Notoriety
Desperado	25+ Notoriety

Printed callouts on the Notoriety card design:

This number indicates the amount of Notoriety you need in your Bounty Pile to obtain Gunslinger status.
This is a permanent effect every turn until a new Notoriety is obtained or removed.

NOTE: If the effect of the Graverobbers or Bounty Hunters Cards forces you to reshuffle cards from your Bounty Pile back into the Deck and your Notoriety is lowered below the Notoriety required, you must send that Notoriety Card(s) back to its respective pile and assume the effect of the Notoriety Card you had prior (if you had no other Notoriety Cards, you revert back to revealing 1 card at a time). Don't worry, you'll have plenty of chances to earn your Notoriety back again! NOTE: If you somehow skip over a Notoriety (this can happen if you are at 4 Notoriety and defeat John Turner; you gain both Rebel and Gunslinger Notoriety at the same time, with Gunslinger being the current effect taking place).

Store

Store Cards are face-up in the middle of the play area. Store cards remain on the play area face-up during the duration of the game. Before you reveal card(s) from the Deck, you may purchase and sell Supplies. Once card revealing begins, you may not purchase or sell from a Store Card. If you have reached Capacity for a Supply, you cannot purchase that Supply (discussed in further detail in the Capacity section). If you sell Supplies that would put you over Capacity, you must sell those Supplies as well. Example: If you sell your only Six Shooter, and you have 6 Bullets, you must sell all of your Bullets, as you have exceeded Capacity for Bullets with no gun!

Printed callout: Every turn, before you reveal any cards, you may purchase any of these Supplies, provided you have the amount of Silver Dollars required and do not exceed Capacity with your purchase.

Capacity

This ain't ballyhoo! Pay attention! Each Supply has its own Capacity, which means you cannot have more than that Supply's Capacity.

Supply	Capacity
Bullets (per player)	39
Bullets (per Six Shooter)	6
Bullets (per Repeating Rifle)	7
Holsters	6
Horses	6
Rations	6
Repeating Rifles	3
Silver Dollars	24
Six Shooters	3

You must have a gun (Six Shooter or Repeating Rifle) to have any Bullets in your Supply. You need a Holster for a gun (1 gun per Holster).

STAGECOACH RULING: The Stagecoach Card allows a player to hold +1 Capacity for any Supply excluding Horses (and Stamina because Stamina isn't a Supply). For example, if you have 2 Six Shooters and the maximum Capacity of Bullets, 12, and the Stagecoach is in your Bounty Pile, you may now carry 13 Bullets. The same would be true if you only had 1 Holster, but with Stagecoach in your Bounty Pile, you could carry 2 Six Shooters despite only having 1 Holster. If another Stagecoach Card is revealed while you are currently utilizing Stagecoach's effect, the second Stagecoach has no effect, as you are currently exceeding Capacity by 1. (Some would say the Capacity for Stagecoach Cards is 1!)

Supplies

Bullets

The only way to make your opponents run against a pill! Once a Duel Card or Critter Card is revealed from the Deck, you have the option to spend your Bullets to defeat the revealed card. If you have enough Bullets, and you want to defeat the revealed card, adjust your Supplies to reflect the amount of Bullets spent, and then place the defeated card in your Bounty Pile if applicable.

Bullets can also be obtained simply by buying a Six Shooter or Repeating Rifle (every gun you buy comes fully stocked with that gun's Bullet Capacity!)

Bullets can also be obtained by certain cards in the Deck, or purchased from the Store Cards if you have enough Silver Dollars.

If the sale of a Six Shooter would put you over Bullet Capacity, you must sell Bullets until you are no longer exceeding Capacity.

The amount of Bullets you can have at one time relies on how many Six Shooters or Repeating Rifles you have. If you have 1 Six Shooter, you can only have a maximum of 6 Bullets because your Six Shooter only holds 6 Bullets. If you have a Six Shooter and a Repeating Rifle, you can carry 13 total Bullets because the Repeating Rifle can hold 7 Bullets on top of your Six Shooter's 6 Bullets. The maximum number of Bullets you can have is 39 Bullets, in the event you own the maximum Capacity of guns.

If Harmonia [sic: printed as "Harmonia"; the card is Harmonica] is used, and the effect of the card would put you over Capacity, you will not gain the effect of the card. (However, if you have the Stagecoach Card in your Bounty Pile you may gain the effects of Harmonica so long as it does not exceed Capacity of the Stagecoach's effect).

Bullet Capacity: Capacity for Bullets is indicated by the total amount of bullets between each guns' respective Bullet Capacity in your Supply.

Holster

Every Holster in your possession allows you to have that many Six Shooters or Repeating Rifles. You cannot have more Six Shooters or Repeating Rifles than you have Holsters. The maximum Capacity for Holsters is 6, so you can have 6 guns total (3 Six Shooters and 3 Repeating Rifles).

If you have more Six Shooters and Repeating Rifles than Holsters, YOU MUST SELL THEM (and Bullets, if applicable) for as long as you lack Holsters.

Horse

Sometimes it's best to just skedaddle! Flee is the action of spending Horse(s) against a card when the Horse symbol is present. Cards revealed may force you to spend a Horse, or you may choose to spend Horse(s) to avoid spending other Supplies against a Critter/Duel Card, while keeping your Stamina intact. The Calamity Cards Stampede and Cacti both force you to spend Horse(s) to avoid Stamina loss.

If you spend Horse(s) to escape a card, you must reshuffle the escaped card back into the Deck. If you run out of Horses you cannot Flee from a Critter/Duel Calamity card and must either defeat the card (Critter/Duel) or lose Stamina (Critter/Duel and Calamity Cards Stampede and Cacti).

The maximum capacity for Horses is 6.

Ration

Rations may be spent to give your Stamina a boost! Rations are worth +2 Stamina and can only be used to gain Stamina before card revealing begins. Rations cannot be spent after a player reveals a card, regardless of the player's Stamina status. Rations granted during card reveals can be spent to fulfill any Calamity Card that player may have (granted that the Calamity Card has a Ration as a requirement).

There is no limit to the amount of Rations you can spend to gain Stamina (before card revealing begins, and as long as you have the required amount and don't exceed 20 Stamina).

Rations may be used to fight off some Critter Cards in place of using a Bullet.

The maximum Capacity for Rations is 6.

Repeating Rifle

A Repeating Rifle must be purchased from the Gunsmith Store Card. You do not start the game with a Repeating Rifle. Once you purchase a Repeating Rifle, you automatically gain 7 Bullets.

The maximum Capacity for Repeating Rifles is 3.

Silver Dollar

Silver Dollars are spent to purchase Supplies from the Store Cards. You gain Silver Dollars by revealing cards in the Deck and by selling various Supplies.

The maximum Capacity for Silver Dollars is 24. If selling a Supply puts the player over Silver Dollar Capacity, they must buy something first and then sell the Supply.

Six Shooter

You start the game with 1 Six Shooter. In order to purchase another Six Shooter you need an additional Holster. Upon purchase of a Six Shooter you will automatically gain 6 Bullets.

The maximum Capacity for Six Shooters is 3.

Stamina

Stamina determines whether you live or die! Stamina is lost if you choose to lose it (by choosing to take a hit to your health instead of using Horses, Rations, or Bullets from your Supply). Stamina can also be lost forcefully if you have no Horses, Bullets, or Rations in your Supply. Once a player runs out of Stamina, they are out of the game.

You cannot have more than 20 Stamina at one time. Stamina is not a Supply.

Rewards

Rewards are granted immediately to a player after a Duel/Critter has been defeated (indicated by a + sign).

Rewards are granted immediately to a player by a Range Card (indicated by a + sign).

If a Reward would put you over Capacity, you do not receive that Reward. For Example, if you defeat John Turner, you'll get a Six Shooter. However, you only have 1 Holster and you already own a Six Shooter, so you cannot receive the Six Shooter from John Turner (unless Stagecoach is in your Bounty Pile and you have not already exceeded current Capacity by 1).

Adding and Subtracting Supplies

By hook or by crook, you'll get this clap-trap! Supplies are added when:

purchasing Supplies from a Store Card
defeating a Duel Card
purchasing a gun from a Store Card (bullets)
a card in your Bounty Pile gives you an effect that adds Supplies
revealing a Range Card that specifies specific Supply gain
trading with another player (upon the use of the Trading Post Card)

Supplies are subtracted when:

spending Bullets/Rations to defeat a card
Fleeing by spending Horses
spending Rations to gain Stamina
selling any Supplies to a Store Card
trading with another player (upon the use of the Trading Post Card)
a Calamity Card calls for the loss of specific Supplies

Supplies subtracted are never sent to Boot Hill; they are sent back to the organized Supply piles (excluding Trading, which is sent to another player).

Boot Hill

Cards are sent to Boot Hill (discard) when:

a card effect is used from your Bounty Pile (for example, upon using Harmonica to gain +2 Bullets, Harmonica goes to Boot Hill, even if you gain no Bullets from the card due to Capacity).
a Calamity Card's demand has been fulfilled; the Calamity Card then goes to Boot Hill
Local Yokel and Prospector are revealed (whether or not a purchase is made)
Range Cards grant an immediate effect, but no Notoriety or Bounty

Bounty Pile

Cards are sent to your Bounty Pile when:

defeating a Duel/Critter Card
the revealed card grants Notoriety
the card reads "Place this card in your Bounty Pile"

NOTE: Any player may look through another player's Bounty Pile/Supplies at any time.

FAQs

Scoundrel

Now that's one low lickspittle. If Scoundrel's effect takes place, and there are not enough cards (3) to use the effect, send Scoundrel to Boot Hill. Always reshuffle the (3) cards used by this effect back into the Deck.

Harmonica

Play it again! If Harmonica's effect cannot take place due to your Capacity, or if you forget to spend it, send it to Boot Hill.

Rewards

Rewards gained are always treated as "up to" that specific amount. Example: Player 1 has 23 Silver Dollars and encounters Ghost Town. Player 1 receives only 1 of the 2 Silver Dollars, since the Capacity for Silver Dollars is 24.

Bounty Hunters

Any card in your Bounty Pile can be used to fulfill this Calamity, so long as you reshuffle (2) cards from your Bounty Pile (except Stagecoach).

Gunslinger

The Gunslinger Notoriety Card gives you 1 extra Bullet every purchase you make! This isn't exclusive to the purchase of Bullets.

Desperado

At the end of the game, when calculating Bounty Points, every card in your Bounty Pile that grants you Bounty increases by 1. For example, the Varmint card grants 1 Bounty. With Desperado, Varmint is now worth 2 Bounty! (Supplies and Stamina are excluded from this effect).

Bullets, Guns, Holsters

Remember: You cannot have Bullets without a gun, and you cannot have a gun without a Holster!

Winning the Game

So you've been through the mill; the game ends when a player defeats the final Duel Card* (there are 9 total Duel Cards) or when all other player's Stamina falls to zero (Or in a 1 player game, when the single player's Stamina falls to zero). There can be more than 1 surviving player during the game. Once the game has ended, each player (Dead or Alive!) calculates all of the Bounty in their possession. Here is the list of what counts as Bounty upon game's end:

any card with a Bounty symbol is counted
all Supplies are counted (each Supply is worth 1 Bounty)
all remaining Stamina is counted (1 Bounty per Stamina point)
all Notoriety Cards in your possession are counted (each card is worth 1 Bounty)
Ace in the Hole, Stagecoach, and Harmonica are worth 1 Bounty each (in the Bounty Pile)
Tombstone Epitaph is worth 2 Bounty (in the Bounty Pile)
The surviving player(s) gains 10 extra Bounty Points!

The player with the most Bounty wins!

However, it is possible to LOSE Bounty Points:

Every unresolved Calamity on your field loses you 5 Bounty
If a player dies on purpose, that player loses 10 Bounty (for example, you encounter the Sheriff. You have enough horses to Flee, but decide to let the Sheriff defeat you because you will have more Bounty than your opponents upon dying. A player must exhaust all available options in order to not "purposefully" die. We don't want no lily-livered bandits winning this game!)

*All 9 Duel Cards must be in Bounty Pile(s)

Tiebreaker

If two or more players have the same amount of Bounty Points at the end of the game, the player with the most Duel Cards in their Bounty Pile wins. If that number is the same as well, the player with the most Supplies wins. If that number is the same as well, the player with the most Stamina wins.

Game Variants

If you want to play your own version of Frontier, just set up the gameplay any way you choose, but make sure your opponents know ahead of time, or else they'll be mad as a March hare!

Wilder Wilder West

Once you've mastered Wild Wild West, try... Wilder Wilder West. (2) Holsters, (2) Horses, (1) Ration, (2) Silver Dollars, (6) Stamina

Tips and Tricks

Always be prepared or you'll fall faster than a gully washer! Buy Supplies often and be prepared to encounter any card.
Selling Supplies helps in a bind, but starting the game by selling a lot of Supplies is not a good idea.
Don't forget to use cards like Ace in the Hole and Harmonica!
Sometimes it's better to take a hit on Stamina than to spend a Bullet!
Never lose on purpose! You want to make your mark on history and survive to tell the stories!
This game is difficult and sometimes the Deck seems like it's out to get you, but don't worry, it's out to get everyone! Life in this here West is harsh; we don't want to glorify the outlaws, now do we?
If a player disagrees about a rule in play, always consult the rulebook.

Skill Levels

Bounty	Skill Level
1-10 Bounty	UNKNOWN
11-20 Bounty	DASTARDLY
21-30 Bounty	DEPLORABLE
31-40 Bounty	WRETCHED
41-50 Bounty	INFAMOUS
51-60 Bounty	MOST NOTORIOUS
61 and beyond Bounty	GREATEST OUTLAW THAT EVER LIVED

NOW GET OUT THERE AND MAKE YOUR MARK ON HISTORY

Frontier's Most Wanted

Do you have what it takes to beat these Bounty Point Records?

Rank	Name	Bounty Points
1	"Lucky" Luke Kriefall	158
2	Chelsea "The Charlatan" Wood	144
3	"Lucky" Luke Kriefall	134
4	Hannah "Lasso Lilly" McMurray	81
5	"Lucky" Luke Kriefall	81
6	Thomas "The Terrorizer" Kennett	80
7	Jake "The Snake" McMurray	78
8	Jerry "Undertaker" McMurray	75

Other FAQs

John Turner. Since John Turner rewards you with a Six Shooter, you do not get the Bullets with it. You only receive Bullets after the purchase of a gun from the Gunsmith.

Trading Post. When this card is revealed, you may trade with any of your opponents the Supplies listed and as long as you don't exceed Capacity.

Repeating Rifle. You cannot sell the Repeating Rifle.

Dynamite. Player 1 reveals Dynamite; Dynamite is then reshuffled into the deck. Player 1 reveals Dynamite again and loses 6 Stamina. Player 1 reveals another Dynamite and reshuffles it back into the deck. Player 1 must reveal Dynamite again to lose another 6 Stamina.