Goat Lords
Goat Lords Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Overview
Goat Lords is very easy to learn, but it also has some tricky parts and strategies that take time to understand.
To quickly learn the rules, scan the QR code on the rules sheet, or see the video at www.gatwickgames.com/pages/goat-lords.
You build your herd by stacking goats from your hand to your herd, stealing goats from your opponents, or butting heads in duels!
Everything gets goat crazy when you play action cards that give you magical goat powers against your lowly goat friends. Every time you build your herd, its value goes up, making you more likely to win, but also a target for your fellow goaters.
Contents: 110 base cards and 16 action cards.
Objective
Each player makes a Herd (Stack) of many matching goats. To win, get as many points as possible in your Herd.
Setup
- Shuffle the cards and deal 5 cards to each player. When playing with 2 players, you may deal 6 cards each.
- Draw Pile: Place the remaining cards face down in the middle (the Draw Pile). Take the Draw Pile's top card and place it face up beside the pile (the Discard Pile). If you flip over a wild or action card, place it back in the deck and redraw. You always have at least one card face up next to the draw pile (replenish it when it is empty).
- Action Cards: Players never have Action Cards in their hand. When a player draws an action card they place the card face down in front of them for later use, then continue drawing from the Draw Pile until they have 5 goat cards in their hand. You may only have 3 action cards in front of you at a time, place extras of your choice in the Trash Pile. Once any card goes in the Trash Pile, it may not be used again.
Gameplay
Starting left of the dealer, your first play must be either a Birth or an Assisted Birth (shown below) to enter into the pasture! You MUST do this action before you do any other action (except discarding a card).
You MUST do ONE of the following (5) actions on your turn:
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Birth - Welcome twin goats into your Herd by using two cards that are the same (or one wild and any goat) and by placing them in front of you. You may not birth triplets; only two cards per birth! The first pair played can never be stolen from you (your Base Stack). You may not birth two wilds.
- Stacking tip: Stack the first pair vertical, then the next horizontal, alternating with the corners aligned in an 'L' shape. This helps organize for Dueling.
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Assisted Birth - When the top card of the Discard Pile has the same card as a card in a player's hand, the player can use it to create twins in their Herd.
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Action Card - Play one of your action cards. Follow the rules of the card. Then play additional actions (if applicable). Once resolved place the action card into the Trash Pile.
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Duel - Attack the top stack of an opponent's Herd by producing a goat from your hand (or a wild) that matches the goat on top of the opponent's Herd, trying to steal their goats and add them to your Herd. See the Dueling Basics section to see more about the rules of dueling.
- If the attacker wins: They collect all dueled cards including the opponent's top stack and add them as a new stack to their Herd!
- If the defender wins: They collect the cards used in the duel and add them to their current top stack.
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Discard - If you can't or don't want to do any other action, you can discard one card from your hand (not an action card) and draw a new card from the Draw Pile.
Dueling Basics
During a Duel, the opponent may choose to defend their top stack with an identical goat or a wild (all wilds are equally powerful, regardless of point value). Continue alternating placing a matching card down until someone can no longer play or chooses not to.
- You may ONLY attack an opponent's TOP stack; the stacks below are protected by the top stack.
- You may NOT use the discard pile to attack.
- You must have at least one birth in front of you before dueling.
- You cannot duel for or steal a player's Base Stack.
- Note: Put a goat card on top of the stack, not a wild.
Restocking Your Hand
At the end of each player's turn, all players restock their hand to 5 cards (unless you decide to play with a different hand size). The player who completed the turn restocks first, drawing from the Draw Pile.
Restocking continues clockwise. No player restocks their hand until the turn is over, including duels and +1 and +2 plays. If you have more than 5 cards at the end of your turn, discard until you have 5 in your hand again.
+1 or +2 Extra Actions
When a +1 Play or +2 Play is shown on an action card, you gain an additional one (+1) or two (+2) actions to play this turn. You are not required to perform the actions.
When playing a card that has a +1 Play on it, your extra action cannot be to play an action card. When playing a card that has a +2 Play on it, you may use one of the two extra actions to play another action card, thus stacking actions. The max action cards you can play on your turn is 2.
End of Game
When the Draw Pile is gone, the players continue playing until one player has run out of cards. Once the first player runs out of cards in their hand, each player gets one more turn! No herd is protected when a player goes out!
Scoring
Each player adds up the total value of their Herd by counting the points of each goat card in their Herd (the point value is shown in the corner of each card). The player with the most points wins!
Action Cards
The sheet's action-card section lists the following cards. Card text is as printed.
- Aligoater - This card may be played at any time during a duel. It acts like a wild but has no points. You may use it to start a duel. Once it is used, place it in the trash pile.
- 3D Goat - When you use this card, you may immediately birth any two non matching goats. Place on top the goat type that will represent the stack for duels going forward.
- Banana Goat - When played, you select one goat stack from any opponent and bring it to the top of their stack, leaving it vulnerable to be attacked. You are allowed to see what cards are in a stack before choosing.
- Discogoat - When played, draw two more cards from the draw pile. At the end of this turn, discard down to 5 cards in your hand if needed.
- Goat Fish - When you use this card, you choose one opponent and then name one type of Goat. If they have this type of goat, they must give all of that type to you. If they do not have that type of goat, they say "GOAT Fish!" and you draw a card from the draw pile.
- Goat Kart - You may play this to escape an attack from an opponent whether it is a duel or an action card. If it is a duel, you gain the attacking card and add it to your top goat stack. If it is an action card attack, it blocks the action card so it has no effect. You may only play the card at the beginning of the duel or before the action card takes effect. In other words you may not "escape" in the middle of a turn. When blocked, the attacker's turn is over, unless they have a +2 Play to use from an action card. Cannot Block: Merry Goat Round, Let It Goat, Goatilocks.
- Goatilocks - When played, you select a direction - left or right. All players pass one card to the next opponent.
- Merry Goat Round - Choose a player and trade your top goat stack with that player's top goat stack.
Play With the Original
For your enjoyment, we left the backs of the cards the same as the original Goat Lords. That way, if you wish to mix and match certain goats/action cards (or put in all of the cards - just play with 7 cards in your hand) into the original game, you are allowed to do so! When playing with both decks, the Goat Kart and Escape Goat are treated with the same limitations for both games. We also put a white goat symbol in the upper right corner of all of the cards so you know which cards belong to this game!