Knights of the Hound Table
Knights of the Hound Table Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
The Board
The board is set up with these areas (labels as printed on the board diagram): Deck, Discard Pile, Treats, Attack Slot, Ability Slot, Defense Slot, Hero Deck, and Barracks.
Setup
First, each player takes a Lifepoint Card, and moves the slider to 30 Lifepoints. After that, seperate the Hero Cards, and Hound Cards into seperate decks, and shuffle both. Then, take 24 cards from the top of the Hound deck. Place the rest of the Hound cards back in the box. Next, draw 3 cards from the Hero pile and place them face up off to the side, so both players can see them. This area is known as The Barracks. Finally, take all of Treat tolkens and place them in a pile next to The Barracks.
Draft
Deal out 6 Hound Cards face up. Each player takes turns drafting Hounds to their deck, with the youngest player drafting the first card. Repeat this with another 6 Hound Cards, with the other player picking first this time. Repeat until each player has 12 cards in their deck. Then each player shuffles their deck, and places it face down.
Draw
At the start of your turn draw 3 cards from your deck into your hand (unless a previous card ability tells you to do otherwise). If you do not have enough cards in your deck to draw, draw the remaining cards from your deck, then shuffle your discard pile, which becomes your new deck. Draw the remainder of your 3 cards from the top. Do not shuffle and reuse your discarded cards until you draw all cards from your deck, as some card effects use your opponent's discard pile.
Play
Play 3 cards from your hand face down onto the battlefield. One for Attack (Left), one for Ability (Center) and one for Defense (Right). Once both players have placed their cards, you and your opponents will flip all cards at the same time. Your attack card will battle against your opponents defense and your defense card will battle against your opponents attack. Your ability card will not battle. Instead, each player uses the ability written on the card.
Whoever has the higher powered card resolves their ability first. If it's a tie, each player adds up the power of all three of their cards. Whoever's total power is higher goes first. If it's still a tie, each player draws a card from their deck, with the higher powered card winning the tie. Shuffle the tie breaker card back into your deck after drawing. If still a tie, repeat until there's a winner.
Note: Every card will have an ability on it, but only the card in the ability slot uses that card's ability.
Battle
After each players ability cards have resolved, it's time for battle! Each player deals damage equal to their attack card power minus their opponents defense card power. If your opponent's defense power is higher or the same as your attack, you deal no damage.
For each point of damage dealt, you receive one Treat. Take that many Treat tokens from the pile off to the side.
If a Hero Card has won a battle against a Hound Card, that Hound faints and is removed from play immediately. Hounds that faint do NOT go back into a players discard pile.
Card Anatomy
The card diagram labels the parts of a card as follows: Name, Power, Dog, Ability, and Flavor Text. The example Hound card shown is "Buckey", with Power 6 and the ability "Add +1 to your defense."
Recruiting Heroes
After battle, both players have the option to recruit Hero Cards from the The Barracks using Treat tokens. Hero Cards typically have superior power values & abilites compared to Hound Cards, and are key to securing victory. The player with the lowest number of Treat tokens has the option to recruit first, alternating from there. If there is a tie, each player draws a card from their deck, with the higer powered card winning the tie. Shuffle the tie breaker card back into your deck after drawing. If still a tie, repeat until there's a winner.
A Hero Card's cost is designated by the Treat number in the upper-left corner of the card. Place any Treat tokens used to recruit back into the token pile. When a Hero Card is recruited, immediatly replace it with the top card from the Hero deck. Place any recruited Hero Card into your discard pile. Hero Cards will eventually be shuffled into your deck and drawn for battle.
Note: You are able to recruit as many Hero cards as you'd like during this phase, taking turns choosing one card at a time between players.
The example Hero card shown is "Bravebark", with a Hero Cost of 13 and Power 8. Its ability reads: "Say a number before flipping cards. If that number matches one of your opponent's cards, gain a Hero from the Barracks." (The card's flavor text is omitted.)
How To Win
The game is won when one player deals enough damage to bring their opponents lifepoints slider down to 0.
You can also win the game without bringing your opponent's life points to 0. If either player ever allows 5 of their Hounds to faint (defeated by a Hero Card) they no longer have enough troops to fight and immediately lose.
There is a chance that both players can win in the same turn. If so, the player with the most Treats wins. If it's still a tie, players must play one more sudden death round, whoever does more damage wins, continue this until the tie has been broken.
Win Variations
If you want to try playing the game with different ways to win, we recommend these:
- Heroes for Hire: The first person to acquire 5 heroes wins.
- Coin Dominance: Stop your opponent from collecting coins 3 turns in a row.
- All-Stars: The only way to win is to faint 5 of your opponents Hounds (no Lifepoints).
- Quick Play: Skip the draft phase and deal out 12 Hounds at random.
3-4 Player Game (variant)
Note: You need 2 copies of the game to play the 3-4 Player variant.
Each player takes turns drafting Hound Cards, starting with player with the closest birthday, and going clockwise from there (draft 8 cards for 3 players, 6 cards for 4 players). Once all Hound Cards have been drafted, lay out as many Hero Cards as there are players face up, and start drafting those cards as well (without breaking rotation turn order). Draft Hero Cards until each player has 2.
During the Play phase, once all players have placed their 3 cards face down, each person picks their opponent (who their attack and ability will be used against) in a clockwise order, with the person who drafted last going first. Then everybody flips their cards over at once, and players resolve their abilites based on ability card power value. If there's a tie, the player earlier in the "opponent pick" rotation goes first. Once abilities have been resolved, attack begins, with the same player who picked their opponent first resolving their attack first, and rotating clockwise from there. Reminder: the player who picks their opponent and attacks first rotates clockwise after each round.
There is no lifepoints or additional card drafting in this mode. Instead players use their Heroes to faint opponents Hounds until one player remains. Once a player has 3 of their Hounds fainted, they are eliminated. Players can recover a fainted Hound once they have collected 6 treats or more. Treats are accumulated the same way as normal play (after attack phase) and once a player hits 6+ treats, they must recover a Hound. When a Hound is recovered, place it into your discard pile and discard all of your treats, even if you have more than 6.
FAQ
If a card ability uses a Hero from the center row, does the Hound it fought against faint?
No, any abilities that let you temporarily use a Hero's power or ability don't have the characteristics of a Hero.
There are no more tokens in the middle, what do I do?
In the rare chance that this happens, you can use coins or a piece of paper to keep track.
If I accumulate 12 treats in a 3 or 4 player game can I recover 2 Hounds?
Yes. Players must recover a hound once they have 6 treats, but if you go from under 6 to 12 treats or higher in one turn, you can recover 2 Hounds.
How do I use a card that helps me recruit a Hero in a 3 or 4 player game?
If a Hounds ability would let you recruit a Hero, you may recover a fainted Hound instead. If a Hound's ability would let you buy a Hero for less treats, gain that many treats instead.