Mob City Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Don's Last Will & Testament
• City 'Block' Setup
• Game Setup
• Game Play Phases at a Glance
• Privileges Bidding
• Daily Orders
• District Resolving
• End of the Day (Game Round)
• Group Placement
• Shootout
• Enforcer Character Cards
• Enforcer Weapons Cards
• Event Cards
• Notoriety in Detail
• Winning the Game
• Game Contents
• Guide to Mob City Buildings

Don's Last Will & Testament

There are 2 Don's WILL cards. One indicates the Captain with the highest notoriety will become the next Don; the other for the Captain with the highest cash amount to become the next Don.

If there is a separate Consigliere for the game (i.e. someone who is not also playing as a Captain), then the Consigliere chooses one of the cards and keeps it face down in a safe place. NO CAPTAINS may know which card the Consigliere has chosen.

If one of the Captains is also playing as Consigliere, then turn the two cards face down and shuffle well. Randomly pick one (without looking at it) and place it in a safe place. NO CAPTAINS (including the Captain acting as Consigliere) may know which card has been chosen.

City 'Block' Setup

I recommend setting up the following quantity of city blocks based on the number of Captains playing; however, more can be used. See examples below for configuration and how the North, East, South and West sides are decided. (The sheet's examples are diagrams for 2 Captains and for 3 or more Captains, with the four sides labelled NORTHSIDE, WESTSIDE, EASTSIDE and SOUTHSIDE; the diagrams themselves are not reproduced in this text.)

Naturally, the 'blocks' should be randomly selected when forming the City.

Note: For easy reference, every block has an arrow pointing to North.

Game Setup

1. Each Captain should choose a colour.

2. Give 1 Crew board to each Captain. Each Captain must place their 'hat' token on number 1 of their NOTORIETY slot.

3. Sort out the Event, Enforcer, and Whiskey cards into separate decks. Other cards should be kept within easy reach.

4. Take out the 'Don is Dead' card from the Event deck. Now randomly take 6 Event cards, shuffle these and place them face down in a stack. Now shuffle the remaining cards plus the 'Don is Dead' card and place this stack below the first stack.

5. Sort out the Enforcer cards so that you have a deck of only 'Soldier' cards. Shuffle these. Deal out 1 'Soldier' card face down to each Captain. Now add all remaining 'Soldier' cards to the rest of the Enforcer deck and reshuffle. Place this deck face down. Captains should put their soldier card face down on any group slot of their Crew board.

6. From the family bankroll, deal out to each Captain: 4 x $1000, 4 x $500, 4 x $100, 2 x $50. Total $6500.

7. Pass out 1 Planner card to each Captain. These are for reference during the game.

8. Assign the youngest player the "You're in my Favour" Postcard. The Captain who has this in front of him is IN FAVOUR and starts the new round. After each round the IN FAVOUR card is passed to the Captain on the left. Each Captain will be in favour at least once.

Game Play Phases at a Glance

On each new game round, the order of play is as follows.

Phase 1: Privileges bidding. All Captains simultaneously.

Phase 2: Daily orders. Each Captain in turn, starting with the IN FAVOUR Captain.

Phase 3: District resolving. The Consigliere and any Captains that are affected.

Privileges Bidding

1. PRIVILEGES BIDDING.

All Captains place 4 tokens face down, numbered 1 (most preferred) through 4 (least preferred) on the SNITCH, ENFORCER, POLICE, and WHISKEY bid board spaces. The Consigliere checks which Captain has the lowest token for each of the 4 privilege bids. If there is a tie, i.e. more than 1 Captain bids on the same privilege with the same token, then the order of the lowest 'tied' Captains is determined starting from the IN FAVOUR Captain in a clockwise direction.

ENFORCER PRIVILEGE: For each Captain playing, take 2 cards from the ENFORCER deck. Add an additional card for any Captain with notoriety higher than 4. Place these cards in a pile. The Captain with the lowest token gets first pick from these cards and may 'hire' up to 2 cards (3 cards if his notoriety is above 4). The Captain with the second lowest token gets next pick of the remaining cards and so on. Captains have the option of 'hiring' any number of cards up to their maximum allowed.

LIEUTENANT cards must be placed in a group that has no other Lieutenant. This card must always be the top card of a group slot, and must be facing up.

SOLDIER cards can be placed in any of the 4 group slots on your Crew board. If the group has a Lieutenant, the card should be placed face down below the Lieutenant card.

ASSASSIN, MOLL or TORPEDO cards can be placed in any of the 4 group slots on your Crew board and should appear to other Captains as simply another soldier card.

WEAPON cards must be placed in an existing group and should appear as simply another soldier card.

SNITCH PRIVILEGE: The Captain with the lowest token can now look at the top EVENT card. This card will be the event for this turn. This Captain immediately pays the Consigliere: $50 x (his) NOTORIETY.

POLICE PRIVILEGE: The Captain with the lowest token gets the POLICE token. This Captain's groups and Speakeasies will not be affected by any police Event cards for this turn. This Captain immediately pays the Consigliere: $200 x (his) NOTORIETY.

WHISKEY PRIVILEGE: The Captain with the lowest token gets first pick of the WHISKEY cards. The Captain with the second lowest token gets next pick of the remaining cards and so on. All Captains have the option of taking a WHISKEY card but must immediately pay the Consigliere: $100 x (their) WHISKEY VALUE.

Daily Orders

2. DAILY ORDERS.

The IN FAVOUR Captain is first to make his daily orders, followed by the others in a clockwise direction. Daily orders are completed in the following sequence:

1. PAY CREW'S WAGES. Each Lieutenant card is $200, each face down Soldier, Assassin, Moll, Torpedo & Weapon card is $50.

2. BUY A BUILDING. If you wish, place 1 of your unused building tokens (whiskey glass face down) on the building you want to buy and pay the Consigliere the building purchase price indicated on your Planner card. Any number of buildings can be bought per turn.

3. OPEN SPEAKEASY. Any building owned by you can open as a Speakeasy to obtain a higher income for this round. Turn over the building token so that the whiskey glass is face up. A building that does not open as a speakeasy will receive a normal income.

If you open more than 1 Speakeasy, you will need to pay $100 x (your) WHISKEY VALUE for every additional Speakeasy.

Note: When there is a police raid at a particular city block, any building running a Speakeasy there will be fined heavily (or forfeited if the owner can't pay up).

4. SEND OUT GROUP(S). For each group slot you have at least 1 card on, you MUST place that corresponding group token on any building of the MOB CITY map. *see GROUP PLACEMENT.

NOTE: You cannot place more than 1 of your groups on the same building.

District Resolving

3. DISTRICT RESOLVING.

When every Captain has finished their Daily Orders, the top EVENT card is turned over. The EVENT card indicates what special event will happen this turn.

Starting in the North-West city block DISTRICT, the Consigliere resolves the District in the following sequence:

1. Check buildings affected by the Event card. *see EVENT CARDS 'Speakeasy Raid'.
2. Check group tokens affected by the Event card. *see EVENT CARDS 'Extortion Crackdown'.
3. Check buildings with one group token. *see GROUP PLACEMENT.
4. Check buildings with two or more group tokens. *see GROUP PLACEMENT.
5. Check all group tokens are returned to their respective Captains.

The Consigliere now moves to the North-East DISTRICT, then South-West, and finally South-East. Once all DISTRICTS are resolved, the DAY (round) is over.

End of the Day (Game Round)

The IN FAVOUR card is now passed to the Captain on the left. The POLICE card and all whiskey cards are now returned to the Consigliere. Start the next DAY with 1) PRIVILEGES BIDDING.

Group Placement

ON A BUILDING OWNED BY YOU. If you place your group at your own building, your group is safe from police crackdowns. If any enemy groups are placed at your building then a shootout will occur. *see SHOOTOUT

ON A BUILDING OWNED BY ANOTHER. If you place your group at this building, your group will be arrested if there's a police crackdown. If the building's owner has a group there, then a shootout will occur. *see SHOOTOUT. If you are the only remaining group there, you will extort 10% of the building's income x (your) NOTORIETY from the owner. If the building has a Speakeasy, then refer to Speakeasy income.

ON A BUILDING NOT OWNED BY ANYONE. If you place your group at this building, your group will be arrested if there's a police crackdown. If you are the only remaining group there, you will extort 10% of the building's income x (your) NOTORIETY. The Consigliere will pay you from the family bankroll.

Shootout

When two or more groups are located at the same building they will start a shootout. Each Captain picks up all the Enforcer cards in their corresponding group slot and lays each Enforcer (character) card face up in front of their Crew board. Any weapon in the group the Captain wants an Enforcer card to use must be placed, face up, partially underneath that character card. Weapons power is not accumulative.

A shootout round consists of 2 steps. Repeat the steps for each character card in turn until only one group remains.

1. ACTION (Attack or Collect).

The character card with the highest REFLEX value (small number at the top of the bullet) gets to attack first, followed by progressively lower REFLEX values, until every character has attacked. If more than 1 character card has the same REFLEX value, then count clockwise starting from the IN FAVOUR Captain to see who attacks first.

Attack: If a Captain chooses to attack, he can attack any one enemy character card on the table and must state which card he is attacking. A Character can only attack once per shootout round. Captain must now roll the die if not attacking with an Assassin character or Grenade. Proceed to ATTACK RESULT.

Note: Special rules apply to ASSASSINS, TORPEDOS, MOLLS, and GRENADES.

Collect: If Captain chooses to collect, he can pick up 1 weapon his group has dropped and place it, face up, partially underneath that character card. No attack is allowed, proceed to step 1.

2. ATTACK RESULT (With & Without Weapon).

Attack With Weapon: A die roll equal to defender's HEALTH value (bigger number at the bottom of the bullet), and the defending character card is injured and returned to the Captain's corresponding group slot. Any weapon(s) the character had is dropped and left on the table.

A die roll higher than defender's HEALTH value (bigger number at the bottom of the bullet), and the defending character card is killed and placed at the bottom of the Enforcer deck. Any weapon(s) the character had is dropped and left on the table.

Attack Without Weapon: A die roll equal to or higher than defender's HEALTH value (bigger number at the bottom of the bullet), and the defending character card is injured and returned to the Captain's corresponding group slot. Any weapon(s) the character had is dropped and left on the table.

3. END OF SHOOTOUT

When there is only 1 group remaining, that Captain wins the fight. This Captain immediately gains 1 NOTORIETY. Any Captains who were in the shootout and lost, lose 1 NOTORIETY (unless they are at their minimum NOTORIETY *See NOTORIETY IN DETAIL). Any weapons left on the table can be picked up by the winner.

Note: If a group only has Moll or Assassin cards remaining, the attacking Captain can claim the characters as his own IF his notoriety is higher than that of the Captain who owns the cards.

Enforcer Character Cards

SOLDIER: cost $50 in wages per turn. The bulk of your outfit consists of Soldiers. He has a low REFLEX and HEALTH value and can carry any 1 weapon card to increase his attack roll success.

ASSASSIN: cost $50 in wages per turn. He's in it for the kill. He has a very high REFLEX value but low HEALTH value. Use an ASSASSIN to kill an enemy character before they can attack. As his attack is guaranteed success (no die needs to be rolled) he cannot carry any weapons, except for 1 grenade.

MOLL: cost $50 in wages per turn. Smooth talking lovers are a rarity. She has a low REFLEX and HEALTH value. A MOLL is of most value with a group that is extorting, or left at a speakeasy as she will double the whiskey income. She can carry any 1 weapon. During a SHOOTOUT, if a MOLL is the last surviving character card from a group, the enemy Captain CAN take her to his group if his notoriety is higher than her group's Captain.

TORPEDO: cost $50 in wages per turn. Lollipop sucking youngster. He has average REFLEX and HEALTH values. What sets him apart is his ability to carry 2 weapons at once. Each weapon is allowed 1 attack so he can either attack the same character twice, or two different characters.

LIEUTENANT: cost $200 in wages per turn. The leader of a Mob group. Only 1 lieutenant is allowed in each group. He has medium to high REFLEX and HEALTH values and already carries a Colt 45, giving him a +1 to his attack roll even without a weapon card. He can carry any 1 additional weapon.

Note: Weapons power is not accumulative.

Enforcer Weapons Cards

Revolver: cost $50 per turn. A revolver can be used by any character except an Assassin. It adds +1 to an attack roll.

SHOTGUN: cost $50 per turn. A shotgun can be used by any character except an Assassin. It adds +2 to an attack roll.

TOMMYGUN: cost $50 per turn. A tommygun can be used by any character except an Assassin. It adds +4 to an attack roll.

GRENADE: cost $50 per turn. A grenade can be used by any character including an Assassin. The grenade can be used to instantly kill any 2 enemy characters of the same group.

It can also be thrown to damage an enemy building (building owner must turn over building token if whiskey glass is face up), thereby preventing any further activity (shootout/extortion/speakeasy) at this building. After use, the grenade card is placed at the bottom of the Enforcer deck.

Event Cards

DON IS DEAD: The last Day (game turn) is now played. Once all districts have been resolved, the Consigliere will read the Don's last will and testament to decide which Captain replaces the Don as the head of the family.

EXTORTION CRACKDOWN: Refer to the city map layout on the front page to calculate which DISTRICT (block) falls under a particular side (north, east, south, west). Any group on an affected building not owned by the group's Captain will be arrested and placed at the bottom of the Enforcer deck. Only a Captain holding the POLICE card is not affected and still gets to extort the building's income.

GANGLAND TRUCE: No shootouts are allowed during this Day. Only buildings that are not owned can be extorted. If there is more than one group at an un-owned building, the Captain holding the POLICE card gets to extort.

POLICE RAID SPEAKEASIES: Refer to the city map layout on front page to calculate which DISTRICT (block) falls under a particular side (north, east, south, west). Any affected Speakeasies (whiskey glass face up) will be fined and the building temporarily shut down for the Day. If the owner cannot immediately pay the fine, his ownership of the building will be immediately revoked (remove his token from the building).

Note: As the building has been shut down, no income or extortion can be collected, even by the Captain holding the POLICE card.

WHISKEY CONSUMPTION SKY ROCKETS: All Speakeasy incomes are doubled.

WHISKEY CONSUMPTION HITS BOTTOM: All Speakeasy incomes are halved.

WHISKEY CARDS: Whiskey cards indicate the whiskey quality and how much each glass can be sold for. Without a whiskey card, a Captain cannot open any Speakeasies.

Note: Open more than 1 Speakeasy during his Daily Order phase, and a Captain will need to pay $100 x (his) WHISKEY VALUE for each additional Speakeasy.

Notoriety in Detail

A Captain's notoriety can never fall below 1. If he owns any buildings, his notoriety can never fall below the total notoriety value of his buildings. Refer to Planner Card for these values.

Winning the Game

At the end of the last DAY, all Captains should count the cash they have in hand. Any buildings owned and Crew characters hired do not constitute additional assets to the Captains.

The Consigliere will now take the Don's WILL card (randomly selected at the beginning of the game), and turn it over.

Depending on the Don's final wishes, the Captain with either the highest amount of cash or highest notoriety will become the new Don!

Game Contents

MOBCITY MAP: Comprises of 8 separate city block tiles that can be randomly arranged each game.

BID BOARD: Consists of EVENT, ENFORCER, POLICE and WHISKEY privileges which can be bid for.

CREW BOARD (x6): Each board has 4 group slots for placing enforcer cards and one slot for a whiskey card. There is also a row of slots to keep track of a Captain's notoriety.

ENFORCER DECK: Consists of Lieutenants, Assassins, Molls, Soldiers, Torpedos, Revolvers, Shotguns, Tommyguns, and Grenades.

WHISKEY DECK: Consists of 6 cards with 3 different whiskey values.

EVENT DECK: Consists of 12 daily event cards such as Police crack downs, Police raids, Whiskey consumptions, Don's death, etc.

CAPTAIN'S TOKENS: 4 Group tokens (also used for bidding), 7 Building tokens, 1 Hat token.

PLANNER CARDS (x6): Indicates the costs and income for each building.

IN FAVOUR POSTCARD: Indicates which Captain goes first for the round.

POLICE CARD: Indicates which Captain is not affected by Police events.

DON'S WILL CARDS: 2 cards, each with a different winning goal for the game.

ONE SIX-SIDED DIE

MOBCITY MONEY

Guide to Mob City Buildings

The sheet illustrates the following buildings: SMALL SHOP, BIG SHOP, SMALL CLUB, BIG CLUB, HOTEL. (The building artwork is not reproduced in this text.)

Note: The buildings in Mob City can be found in different orientations to those illustrated above.