Longhorn Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Equipment
• Mise en Place
• Gameplay
  • 1- Stealing Cattle
  • The Possible Effects of Action Tokens:
  • 2- Move and Turn Over the Outlaw Token
• The End of the Game

Equipment

• 9 location tiles

On each tile, an icon shows the number of cows at that location at the start of the game and has an area where you can place your Action tokens.

• 19 Action tokens: 3 Ambush, 3 Branding Iron, 2 Rattlesnake, 1 Epidemic, 3 Snake Oil, 1 Sheriff, 6 Gold Nuggets (values ranging from $200 to $500 — see The Possible Effects of Action Tokens)
• 2 Wanted tokens (one per player) + 1 Outlaw token (one side per player)
• 36 wooden cows (9 in each of the four colours)

Mise en Place

• Both players jointly decide which outlaws they will play. They place the corresponding Wanted token in front of them.
• Mix up the 9 location tiles and place them at random on the table to form a 3x3 square.
• Mix up the Action tokens. Pick 9 of them, and place them one by one, in the area provided for this purpose on each of the locations. Important: If the Sheriff token is present, it must always be placed on Nugget Hill. If necessary, swap its position with the token already placed randomly on Nugget Hill.
• Next, mix up the wooden cows and place the stated number of cows on each of the locations in a random manner.
• Decide who will play first by throwing the Outlaw token in the air (as you would a coin). The side facing upwards shows which player will begin. His opponent chooses the starting location from among those containing four cows (Cherokee Spring, Dagger Flat, Maverick Junction, Red River Valley, Kid Cooper's Ranch) and places the token on this location.

The game can now begin. Be wild!

Gameplay

The Outlaw token shows which of the two opponents will play. When it's his turn, this outlaw must:

1. Steal cattle
2. Move and turn over the Outlaw token

1- Stealing Cattle

In the location in which he is placed, the player chooses a colour and MUST steal all of the cattle of this colour. He places these cattle in front of him. These form his herd, the value of which he calculates at the end of the game. If the location contains no more cattle at the end of this raid, then the player MUST apply the effect shown on the Action token present at the location.

The Possible Effects of Action Tokens:

• Gold Nuggets: the token is kept in front of the player. At the end of the game, it is worth the number of $ shown: ranging from $200 to $500.
• Branding Iron: discard the token and take all of the cattle of the same colour on one of the orthogonally adjacent locations. Add these cattle to your herd. Important: if you empty a new square thanks to the branding iron, the Action token present in this square will have no effect. It is simply put back in the box.
• Epidemic: discard the token. Choose a colour and remove from the board all of the cows of this colour still present there. This type of cow will therefore be worth nothing at the end of the game.
• Sheriff: if you have to take this token the sheriff captures you and you immediately lose the game.
• Snake Oil: This legendary elixir enables you to play again right away. The player discards the token then moves the Outlaw token as per the basic rules but does not turn it over: it's his turn to play once again.
• Ambush: discard the token and immediately steal from your opponent (your choice) either a gold nugget token taken at random from those in his possession or two cows of the same colour.
• Rattlesnake: the rattlesnake causes panic in the herd. Discard the token then take a cow from each of the colours in your possession and lay them out as you wish on the orthogonally adjacent locations (you can place all of the cattle on just one of these locations if you wish).

2- Move and Turn Over the Outlaw Token

The player MUST then move the Outlaw token to another location situated a number of squares away equal to the number of cows he has just stolen.

When moving from one location to another, the move must always be performed vertically or horizontally, with no return travel between two locations.

At the destination location, the outlaw token is turned over onto its other side, indicating that it's the opponent's turn to play.

Important: if all the locations situated at a distance determined by the number of stolen cattle are empty, then the game is over and all that remains is to add up the points. But if at least one of the locations situated at this distance contains cattle, then you must move the token to one of these locations.

Example: A- Eagle Perkins is at Cherokee Spring. He steals a grey cow and makes Jessie Artist Byrd play at Nugget Hill. B- Jessie Artist Byrd steals a white cow. He must therefore move the Outlaw token by one square. But he can't return right away to Cherokee Spring because it's a dangerous location. C- He therefore makes Eagle Perkins play at Maverick Junction.

In the example shown above, Eagle Perkins has a choice: either he can steal the beige cow, which will bring the game to an end as all other locations one square away (Blackstone Corral, Red River Valley, Tulsa) are empty, or he steals the two Orange cows, and he is then obliged to have his opponent play at Dagger Flat, which is the only location containing cows situated exactly 2 squares away.

The special characteristics of dangerous locations: locations containing yellow Action tokens (Rattlesnake – Sheriff) are considered as dangerous. Consequently you cannot have the same player play twice in succession at the same dangerous location if other possibilities exist.

The End of the Game

The game can end with one of three different scenarios:

1. If an outlaw is forced to activate the sheriff token, he immediately loses the game.
2. If an outlaw manages to get 9 cows of the same colour, he immediately wins the game. (Important: if conditions 1 and 2 are met at the same time, then only condition 1 will be taken into account).
3. All of the locations situated the number of squares away determined by the last cattle raid are empty. Each player then calculates the value of his herd and adds the value of his gold nuggets. The richest player wins!

To calculate the value of the herd: each cow in your possession earns you $100 for each cow of the same colour still present on the central board!

In the example shown below, each beige cow earns you $200 (there are two left on the board), the brown ones aren't worth anything (there are none left), the red ones are worth $100 (there's only one left), and the orange ones are worth $400 (there are 4 left).

Worked example of a final scoring, for the two players' herds:

Herd	Value
3 white cows	$1000
3 black cows	$0
4 grey cows	$500
2 orange cows	$800
Wanted token + 1 Gold Nugget	$300
Total	$2600

Herd	Value
2 white cows	$400
3 black cows	$0
3 grey cows	$300
3 orange cows	$1200
Wanted token + 2 Gold Nuggets	$600
Total	$2500