Hogs Of War: The Card Game
Hogs Of War: The Card Game Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Goal
In Hogs of War the Card Game, players command one of several Hog armies. To win, they must defeat all of their opponent's enemy Hogs, whilst ensuring at least one of their own friendly Hogs remains undefeated at the end of the game. The game ends as soon as one player has no undefeated Hogs remaining.
Setup
-
Each player takes the five Hog cards belonging to one of the Hog armies.
-
Players shuffle and deal their Hog cards randomly and face up, into five lanes in front of them. (See Diagram 1.)
Note: A player's own lanes are known as friendly lanes. Their opponent's lanes are known as enemy lanes.
-
One player shuffles the Supply cards and places them to one side of the playing area, leaving space for a Supply discard pile.
-
Players determine who will be the first player and receive the "First Player" token. This can be done by one player flipping the "First Player" token and the other player calling "Hogs" or "Tails".
Note: The player not in possession of the "First Player" token is known as the Second Player.
-
Keeping the cards face down, the "First Player" deals five Supply cards to themselves and six to the Second Player.
Note: The default hand size is six cards. Only in the first round does the "First Player" have a hand size of five, to balance the benefit of taking the first turn. In subsequent rounds all players are dealt up to six cards by default.
Gameplay and Round Sequence
Hogs of War the Card Game is played over a series of rounds in which Hogs take turns carrying out actions to defeat the enemy army.
Eligible Hogs are defined as Hogs that are undefeated and have not yet taken their action this round.
-
A round begins with the "First Player" choosing one of their eligible Hogs to take one of a possible five actions. After their action is complete, this Hog's turn ends and they become exhausted.
-
Play passes to the Second Player, who chooses one of their eligible Hogs to take one action. After their action is complete (and their Hog is exhausted) the Second Player's turn ends and play passes back to the "First Player".
-
Play continues to alternate between players, with each player taking one action per eligible Hog per turn. A round ends when all eligible Hogs have taken their action or have been defeated.
Note: Defeated Hogs are ineligible to take any actions but still occupy a lane position, face down.
End of the Round
-
At the end of the round, each player decides how many Supply cards they wish to keep in their hand and discards the rest.
-
The "First Player" token is passed to the Second Player, who now becomes the "First Player" until the end of the next round.
-
Starting with the new "First Player", players take turns to draw Supply cards from the Supply deck until both players hold their maximum hand size (default six).
-
Ready-up all exhausted Hogs.
Note: To ready-up an exhausted Hog, move it back down so that it is in line with the rest of your unexhausted Hogs. Defeated Hogs do not ready-up. They remain faced down and do not take actions.
Actions
Each eligible Hog may take one of the following five actions per turn:
- Move
- Hide
- Remove a Stun token from itself
- Play a Supply / Skill card
- Place a Deployable card
After taking an action, a Hog becomes exhausted. The player should move their Hog card up slightly in its lane to indicate this (see Diagram 2). An exhausted Hog cannot take another action until the next round, unless a card ability gives the Hog an extra action.
Placing a Deployable
Deployable cards have ongoing effects and are usually deployed into the friendly lane of the Hog using the card. However, there are exceptions, e.g. Minefield cards, that have range 1 and can be deployed into enemy lanes. All friendly and enemy lanes are limited to two Deployables each.
Note: The Engineer class ability is also an exception to the above rule and has the ability to deploy into adjacent lanes.
These ongoing effects remain active even if the lane is empty or contains a defeated Hog. Deployables are only removed by card effects and will remain in play until removed.
Diagram caption: Barbed Wire cancels Melee weapons.
Move
Diagram 2. A Move action allows a player to swap the position of one eligible Hog with an adjacent friendly Hog. The player moves the moving Hog to the adjacent Hog's lane and moves the adjacent Hog to the moving Hog's lane (see Diagram 2).
Only the moving Hog is considered to have used their action for this round. Therefore stunned Hogs can be moved by this action by a moving non-stunned Hog.
Hide
When a Hog takes a Hide action it is "Hidden". Place a Hidden token on the Hog, it immediately regains 10 health and cannot be targeted unless a Supply card / ability allows it.
In the Hog's next turn, the Hog must Move, remove a Stun token or play a Supply / Deployable card and remove its Hidden token. Hogs cannot be Hidden for two of the Hog's own turns in a row. The Hidden token is always removed before the Hog's following action.
Remove Stun
Stunned Hogs cannot perform any action except to remove the Stun token. Stunned Hogs can be moved by another friendly Hog's Move action or a weapon's knock back effect.
Play a Supply / Skill Card
When a Weapon card is used, all the effects listed on the card are applied immediately and the card is discarded to the Supply discard pile.
To play an Equipment or Skill card, players should follow the instructions on the card.
Range
An enemy Hog opposite a friendly Hog taking an action is considered to be at "Range 1" and is known as an opposing Hog. An enemy Hog to the immediate left or right of an opposing Hog is considered to be at "Range 2" from the friendly Hog taking an action, and so on.
The above shows a fixed range of 2.
Damage
Players track damage done to each Hog by adding damage tokens on top of a damaged Hog's card. A Hog reduced to 0 health or less is defeated. Remove the Hog from play by flipping the card face down in its lane.
Note: This lane is still occupied by the defeated Hog and thus still counted for range.
The above shows damage of 30.
To play a Weapon card, the player must declare their target by choosing an enemy Hog within any possible ranges. The player then discards the card and applies the amount of damage and any status effects printed on the card.
Each class of Hog (e.g. Sniper) has a unique class ability that modifies their actions.
Note: Some classes of Hog modify the effects and ranges of specific Supply cards.
Examples shown on the page:
- Sniper class ability: "Ignores Hidden rule when targeting enemy Hogs with Guns."
- Headshot (Sniper only): "Inflict 30 damage to any enemy Hog, ignore all Deployables and Hidden."
- Bombardier class ability: "Optional, -1 to minimum range of Explosive cards."
Skill cards can only be used by the specific class of Hog named on the Skill card and are played in the same way as Supply cards, as an action.
FAQs
"How does the Mind Control card work?"
Control an eligible enemy Hog as if they are yours. Take an action using the enemy Hog and treat range as if the adjacent enemy Hogs are "Range 1" and use Supply cards from your own hand. The mind controlled enemy Hog is then exhausted and cannot take a further action this round.
"Pillbox and Artillery Deployables look complicated, are they?"
No. Simply exhaust the Hog behind the Deployable and then discard any number of Weapon cards matching the coloured Weapon type on the Deployable to boost the damage of the attack.
"How many Deployables can occupy a friendly lane?"
Any two of the same or different types.
"How does Shifting with the Jetpack work?"
Move the friendly Hog to any friendly lane you wish. All friendly Hogs will then move towards the now empty lane position created by the Jet Packing Hog until the lane is filled.
Burn token
Each Burn token inflicts 10 damage at the start of each new round until the token is removed or the Hog is defeated. It can be removed by the Bandage icon (a crossed-bandage symbol).
Dynamite token
A card played with the Dynamite icon (a 40 damage symbol) adds the appropriate number of tokens to that enemy Hog. Each token inflicts 40 damage whenever a Detonator Supply card is played, regardless of which army plays the Detonator card.
Dynamite damage ignores all Deployables.
Four Player Rules
Including the Bay of Pigs expansion, Hogs of War the Card Game allows four players to battle it out together in a two vs two co-operative game mode.
In the co-operative game mode players are paired into teams. The turns alternate between teams and individual players, so that every other Hog action belongs to a player on the opposing team unless there are no eligible Hogs available.
The "First Player" token also passes this way, alternating between teams and their individual players.
Note: All Hogs within a team count as friendly Hogs.