La Cosa Nostra: Guns for Hire Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• The Rules
  • Recruiting a Special Gangster
  • The First Round
• The Special Gangsters
  • Bad Hombres
  • Outlaws
  • Eastern Droogs
  • Yakuza
  • Bloody Crips
  • Influence and Job Cards

The Rules

Setup is largely the same as in the base game, with the following changes:

Each player receives $5,000 starting cash (instead of $2,000).

Set aside space on the table to lay out the Special Gangsters.

Remove all Gangsters with a strength of 4 (4 guns) from the deck of Special Gangsters and set them aside. Shuffle the rest of the Special Gangsters cards and place them in the middle of the table.

Recruiting a Special Gangster

As in the base game, each player begins the game with their three "Start Gangsters," and they may recruit a new Gangster in every round. A recruited Gangster may be a Special Gangster, or it may be one from a family boss' starting pool. The first round works slightly differently, as explained below.

The course of each round is similar to that of the base game, but the "Recruit Gangster" action no longer belongs to the Payday phase. Instead, it now occurs at the beginning of each round, directly after players have drawn cards. The course of the game is now as follows:

1. Draw cards
2. Recruit Gangster
3. Planning Phase
4. Action Phase
5. Payday

In the Recruit Gangster phase, draw the top 9 cards of the Special Gangster deck and lay them out, face-up. Going in turn order, each player will have the opportunity to recruit a new Gangster. To do so, a player must pay a Gangster's indicated price to the bank; he or she then adds that Gangster to his or her own gang. If a player cannot or does not wish to recruit a Special Gangster, that player may instead recruit one of his family's unpurchased Gangsters. Each player may only recruit one Gangster per round.

Set aside any unpurchased Special Gangsters. Before recruiting in round III, shuffle all unpurchased Special Gangsters (including the 4-strength Gangsters put aside during setup) back into the deck.

The First Round

New Gangsters may not be purchased in the first round. Instead, each player may exchange one of their Starting Gangsters for a Special Gangster of identical strength. Going in turn order, players may choose from the 9 Special Gangsters laid out as described above. The cost to obtain a Special Gangster is the difference between the base price of your starting Gangster and that of the Special Gangster you wish to hire. The base price is $5,000 per unit of strength (gun symbol).

Example: A player wants to exchange his strength-3 Starting Gangster for a strength-3 Special Gangster with a purchase price of $18,000. The base price for a strength-3 Gangster is $15,000 (3 x $5,000). The player must pay $3,000, which is the difference between his Starting Gangster's base price and the purchase price of the Special Gangster.

The player pays this amount to the bank and replaces the appropriate Start Gangster with the new Special Gangster. The Start Gangster is removed from the game.

The Special Gangsters

If the text on the Gangster card says "he," "his," or similar, then this refers to this single Gangster. If the text says "you," "your," "all of your," or similar, then this refers to you as a player – all of your actions (and your Gangsters) may benefit from cards worded in this way.

If a Gangster is deactivated (e.g., by Emergency Doc or Car Bomb), then his special skill is also deactivated. It cannot be activated again until that Gangster returns to play.

The following overview describes the Special Gangsters' skills in detail. We recommend reading them carefully and consulting them as needed during the game.

Bad Hombres

Bernardo Farmacista – Purchase price: $13,000 If Bernardo succeeds in a Job, he may immediately execute the same Job a second time. The player may choose any target, and he or she must roll again. All modifications (e.g., Henchman) still apply. Robbery cannot be "doubled." If the first Attack Job was successful but its effect was avoided by Trap, Emergency Doc, or similar, the second Attack Job may still be played (unless Bernardo was killed by the Trap). You may only use Bernardo's ability once per round.

Tuco Quintero – Purchase price: $12,000 After completing a Job, Tuco may Bash a Businessman. Immediately after the completion of a normal Job, and whether it succeeds or fails, you may attempt to Bash a Businessman (see base game rules, pg. 13). This is played according to the usual rules, as if you had played a Bash a Businessman card. This counts as an Attack Job. Players may play a Trap against this Attack. All modifications (e.g., Henchman, Big Loco) apply.

Big Loco – Purchase price: $23,000 The difficulty for all Jobs carried out by your Gangsters is reduced by 1.

Paco Santiago – Purchase price: $17,000 When executing Attack Jobs, Paco has a strength of 4. He is immune to Trap cards. This only applies executing Attack Jobs. As a victim of an Assassination, he only has a strength of 3. Trap cannot be used against Paco's Attack Jobs.

Mano del Muerto – Purchase price: $25,000 Whenever one of your Gangsters kills an enemy Gangster, you receive an immediate bonus of $4,000 x the strength of the killed Gangster. This is in addition to the end-game Power bonus.

Izzy Ordova – Purchase price: $19,000 May turn her Job into an Assassination. Plan a Job as usual. You may discard this Job in the Action phase in order to play an Assassination instead. This Assassination is played according to the usual rules, as if this was a normal Assassination card (see base game rules, pgs. 9 & 14).

Outlaws

(The printed sheet gives the Outlaws heading on page 1 only. Bob "The Rock" Nelson and Lono Slifer appear at the top of page 2, with no heading, and are listed here as the last two Outlaws, making six in all.)

Thelma Montgomery – Purchase price: $17,000 The difficulty of all Jobs against your Businessmen is increased by 1. Your Gangsters are immune to Distraction and Saboteur. The target number for all Attack Job cards targeting your Businessmen is increased by 1. Nobody may play Distraction or Saboteur on your Gangsters.

Willy Svenson – Purchase price: $14,000 Willy may sacrifice his Job to avoid the destruction / assassination / deactivation of a card. This ability only works as long as Willy still has a Job. If this ability is used, the Job is discarded without effect. The card targeted for destruction / assassination / deactivation remains untouched. This can also be used to save another player's card.

Dave "Death" Poppel – Purchase price: $17,000 Draw 2 additional Influence cards in the Draw Cards phase. In each round you may Spy on up to 2 Jobs belonging to other players, for free. Spy according to the normal rules (see base game rules, pg. 15.) Draw two additional cards in the Draw Cards phase. Note: When recruiting Dave, immediately draw two cards for the current round.

Jimmy "The Tramp" – Purchase price: $15,000 Jimmy may turn his Job into a Trap. If you were successfully attacked, you may discard Jimmy's Job in order to play it as a Trap. The Trap is played according to the usual rules (see base game rules, pgs. 10 & 14). This ability may only be played if Jimmy still has a Job.

Bob "The Rock" Nelson – Purchase price: $25,000 The difficulty of all Jobs against you is increased by 1. The number your opponents must roll for any Attack Jobs that target you is increased by 1.

Lono Slifer – Purchase price: $22,000 2x per round: Force your opponent to reroll a die of your choice; apply the new result. You may use this ability on consecutive rolls, or with two dice belonging to the same roll. You do not have to use both applications of this ability on the same action.

Eastern Droogs

Stas Valigura – Purchase price: $23,000 Draw two more cards in the Draw Cards phase. These extra cards may be Job and/or Influence cards. After recruiting Stas, immediately draw two additional cards for this round. If all Job cards have been dealt and the current Job deck is empty, you may shuffle the last round's discards and draw from there. Draw your extra cards after all other players have finished drawing their own cards.

Alexei Walenko – Purchase price: $12,000 2x per round: Cancel 1 Influence card. At any time: cancel an Influence card; that card is discarded. You may cancel an Influence card as it is played, or you may cancel a card that has been placed on a Gangster.

Boggy Gloves – Purchase price: $23,000 May plan and execute 2 Jobs (split dice). You choose whether to execute both actions in the same turn, or to use separate turns for each Job (as though Boggy were two separate Gangsters). This applies both to planning and executing Jobs. You must split Boggy's dice between the two Jobs (4-0, 3-1, 2-2, etc.) before attempting the first Job. Modifications (e.g., Henchman) apply to both Jobs. The difficulty of an Assassination-attempt against Boggy is not increased further through the second Job.

Adriano Simion – Purchase price: $11,000 At the end of each round, you may place $2,000 under this Gangster to permanently strengthen him by 1. In each round you may increase this Gangster's strength by 1 point (up to a strength of 5 if bought in the 1st round!). Keep any banknotes used for this ability under Adriano's card so that his strength can be easily calculated. Adriano's modified strength also counts for Assassinations against him, as well as the end-game Power bonus (if he is killed). The money itself counts as spent; it won't be added to your cash total at the end of the game.

Sergey Odessa – Purchase price: $18,000 1x per round: You may reroll any or all of your dice from a single roll. You may reroll any number of your dice from a single roll. The roll may be associated with any of your Gangsters.

Fredo Kalashenko – Purchase price: $16,000 You no longer have a hand limit. 1x per round: You may return one of your Job cards to your hand. Once per round, in the Action phase, you may return a Job Card to your hand (whether or not the Job was executed successfully). This card may be returned from any of your Gangsters. You may hold as many cards as you wish.

Yakuza

Fumiyo Goto – Purchase price: $11,000 Business cards cost you $2,000 less to purchase. Every time you buy a Business card (with any of your Gangsters), the price is reduced by $2,000. The purchase price is reduced before the price is halved (e.g., by Exceptional Offer).

Kenzo Isosaki – Purchase price: $15,000 Kenzo may execute both a Job and a Purchase. You choose whether to execute both actions in the same turn, or to use separate turns for each (as though Kenzo were two separate Gangsters). This applies to both planning and executing Jobs. The difficulty of an Assassination attempt against Kenzo is not increased further through the second Job.

Ryu Yamamoto – Purchase price: $16,000 Whenever you assign a Gangster to purchase a Business card, you may select from the market OR you may search the Business deck for a card of your choice. Business cards cost you $1,000 less to purchase. This ability applies to all of your purchase Jobs, regardless of which of your Gangsters executes the Job. If you search the Business deck, you may not change the order of the cards in the deck. The price of any Business you purchase is reduced by $1,000. The purchase price is reduced after the price is halved (e.g., by Exceptional Offer).

Saito Botan – Purchase price: $17,000 Your Night Clubs count toward the Prostitution Monopoly. Your Casinos count toward the Credit and Drugs Monopolies. When evaluating Monopolies at the end of each round, your Night Clubs count as Pimps and your Casinos count as Drug Dealers and Loan Sharks. This effect does not apply to your opponents' Night Clubs and Casinos.

Yumiko Ishi – Purchase price: $25,000 You pay half-price for all Business cards. Yumiko may execute a Purchase in addition to her main action. You choose whether to execute both actions in the same turn, or to use separate turns for each (as though Yumiko were two separate Gangsters). This applies to both planning and executing Jobs. The difficulty of an Assassination attempt against Yumiko is not increased further through the second Job. Whenever any of your Gangsters is used to purchase a Business card, the price of that card is halved. This happens after any other price reductions (e.g., Connections).

Takeshi Ando – Purchase price: $24,000 Your income for a single type of Business card is doubled (if you have multiple cards of the same Business, this applies to every card). In the Payday phase, your income for a Business card of your choice is doubled. If you have more than one of these cards, this applies to each of these cards (e.g., 2 Casinos = $28,000 income, 3 Pimps = $12,000). This means that at the end of the game, this income is quadrupled.

Bloody Crips

Tyrell Furious – Purchase price: $17,000 When executing Cash Jobs, Tyrell has strength 4. Tyrell is immune to Robbery. This only applies to executing Cash Jobs. As a victim of an Assassination, Tyrell has a strength of 3. Robbery may not be played against Tyrell's Jobs.

Risky Rick – Purchase price: $25,000 You may increase the difficulty of Rick's Cash Job by 1 in order to double its profits. This is optional. For example: Risky Rick has the Blackmailing Job, with a difficulty of 3. Deciding to use Rick's ability, you must now roll a 4 to succeed. You roll 2, 2, 3, 5. You have one success and so you double the profit for rolling 1 success: $7,000 x 2 = $14,000. Rick may be targeted with Robbery.

T-Dog – Purchase price: $18,000 May launder cash: once per round you may place up to $5,000 under your Boss card. Once per round, on your turn, you may place up to $5,000 under your Boss. A round ends after the Payday phase. (For specifics on money laundering, see pg. 9 of the base game rules).

Laverne Ontario – Purchase price: $14,000

• $4,000 income. Laverne increases your Payday phase income by $4,000. At the end of the game this is paid twice (the same as the rest of your income).

Lil' Omar – Purchase price: $12,000 Lil' Omar may discard a planned Job to earn money: Roll 3 or higher. Profit: $5,000 x number of successes. For example: you planned Vandalism for Omar. During your Action phase you decide to discard the Vandalism card and instead roll two dice (because Omar has [2-strength]), which result in 5 and 3. These count as two successes (against a target of 3 or higher) and you receive $10,000 from the bank. This counts as a Cash Job. All modifications apply (e.g., Henchman, Cop, O.T. Styles), and this ability may be the target of a Robbery.

O.T. Styles – Purchase price: $24,000 The difficulty of all of your Cash Jobs is reduced by 1. For any Cash Jobs attempted by any of your Gangsters, the target number is reduced by 1.

Influence and Job Cards

Godfather's Power You may block an Influence card of another player. You may only block an Influence card as it is played. It is not possible to block a card that has already been played on a Gangster. You may play this card against another Godfather's Power card.

Patron Saint Play this card after you have rolled any number of dice. You may reroll one die. This card can only affect your own roll.

Conspiracy Prerequisites: 1 Lawyer, 1 Cop, 1 Politician. This card is played according to the usual rules.

(The card art shows two amounts, $12,000 and $10,000, which the rules sheet does not label.)

Street Syndicate Prerequisite: 2 Monopolies. This card is played in the same way as any other Job. The required monopolies are treated exactly like Business cards required for other jobs. To complete this Job you must control these monopolies and/or use other players' monopolies with Deal markers.

(The card art shows two amounts, $30,000 and $25,000, which the rules sheet does not label.)