Tiny Epic Western Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Objective
• Components
  • The Three Influence Types
  • Timing Icons
• Setup
• Boss Ability
• Gameplay
• Phase One – Shuffle and Deal
• Phase Two – Posse Placement
  • Placement Spot Actions
    • Location Mat Influence Spot (2 options, choose 1)
    • Porch Slot
    • Sheriff's Office Actions
• Dueling
  • When the Gun Smoke Settles...
  • Wanted
• Phase Three – Resolution
  • Lone Posse vs. The Rival
  • Comparing Hands
  • Tie-Breaker
  • Winning the Hand
  • Wild Influence
• Phase Four – Buy
  • Buying a Building Card
  • Stack Buildings at a Porch
  • Sheriff's Office: Buy a "Leftover" Building Card
  • Advancing Industry Tokens
  • Tie-Breakers at Town Hall
  • Third Posse Benefit
• Round End
• Game End
• Final Scoring
  • Industry Rankings
• Solo Variant Rules
  • Changes to Gameplay
• Building Card Notes
• Credits

Overview

Tiny Epic Western offers a clever combination of poker and worker-placement. The game lasts six rounds; and each round has players placing their posse at different thematic locations like the Saloon, the Hideout, and even the Sheriff's Office. Here they will compete with other players, or even against the house, known as the "Rival", in hands of three-card poker. The winner gains influence that can later be leveraged for acquiring buildings or winning duels. But be careful; this is the Wild West! To keep your horse hitched around here, you'll need to be good with a gun.

Objective

Players compete to have the most VP (victory points) by the end of six rounds. VP are earned by acquiring Building Cards, having the Wanted Card, and winning industry points. These points are determined by the final ranking of the Industry Tokens on the Town Hall Mat.

Components

• 4 Location Mats (double-sided: colored front, "grayed-out" back) — The Saloon, The Courthouse, The Hideout and The Bank
• 1 Town Hall Mat (double-sided: front and back)
• 1 Sheriff's Office Mat (double-sided: front and back)
• 8 Boss Cards
• 30 Building Cards
• 20 Poker Cards
• 12 Posse Tokens
• 2 Gunslinger Dice
• 1 Dealer Token
• 1 Wanted Card
• 12 Influence Tokens (Money, Law, Force)
• 3 Industry Tokens

The Three Influence Types

The three types of influence are Money, Law and Force. Each is tracked with an Influence Token on the "ammo belt" along the bottom of your Boss Card.

Timing Icons

Building Card abilities and placement spots are noted with icons that show when the benefit is gained:

• exclamation mark (instantly) — gained the moment you place your Posse Token.
• hourglass (resolution) — gained during Phase Three – Resolution.
• dollar sign (buy) — gained during Phase Four – Buy.

Setup

1. Give each player a Boss Card (randomly or by choice), and 1 of each of the 3 Influence Tokens.

   A. To gain initial influence, each player places their 3 Influence Tokens on the spot marked "1" on the "ammo belt" along the bottom of their Boss Card.

   B. Any unused Boss Cards can be flipped over and used as player aids. Any unused Influence Tokens remain in the box.

2. Give each player the 3 Posse Tokens in the color of their choice. Unused colors remain in the box.

   A. Your first 2 Posse Tokens should start standing up on the top two spaces in the upper-left of the Boss Card.

   B. Your third Posse Token starts, laying down, on the large bottom space under the two other Posse Tokens.

3. Place the Town Hall Mat near the top of the play area. Note: for 1-2 player games, use the watermarked side of the Mat.

4. Stack the 3 Industry Tokens on the top-left area of the Town Hall Mat.

5. Place the Sheriff's Office Mat opposite the Town Hall Mat, and distribute the rest of the Location Mats to form a circle.

   A. Players should sit in front of, or near, the Location Mat that matches the color of the Posse Tokens they will be playing with.

   B. For 4 player games, all the Location Mats are placed colored side up. For games with three players or fewer, flip all Location Mats matching the color of any unused Posse Tokens to their reverse "grayed-out" side.

   C. Be sure to keep enough space between each Location Mat so that Poker Cards can fit in between.

6. Give the Dealer Token to the person who has most recently seen a horse, or choose a player randomly.

7. Shuffle the Building Cards (with blue backs) to form a deck and then:

   A. Deal 5 face-up Building Cards to the "buy slots" of each of the Location Mats, plus the Sheriff's Office, however, not to the Town Hall.

   B. Deal 1 face-up Building Card to the empty "porch slot" on the Sheriff's Office. For 1-3 player games, deal 1 face-up Building Card in the empty porch slot on each Location Mat of the unused player colors. These buildings are considered "usable" from the start.

   C. Place the deck of Building Cards within reach.

8. Shuffle the Poker Cards (with red backs) into a deck and place within reach of the Dealer.

9. Place the Wanted Card, with the 2 Gunslinger Dice on top of it, in the center of the circle.

Boss Ability

Each Boss Card has a special ability that is available to just that player for the entire game. Before play starts, players should read their abilities aloud to all the other players.

Gameplay

The game is played over exactly six rounds. Each round has four phases:

1. Shuffle and Deal — Shuffle and deal Poker Cards to the spaces in between Mats, the Rival space, and to each player.

2. Posse Placement — Starting with the Dealer, and going clockwise around the table, each player places a single Posse Token. Continue placing one token at a time in order until all players have used all of their Posse. The third Posse Token is only used IF it is standing.

3. Resolution — Reveal Poker Cards and resolve locations by playing Three-Card Poker (see the player aids for poker hand explanations).

4. Buy — Resolve the Town Hall Mat, buy Building Cards, and advance an Industry Token.

Phase One – Shuffle and Deal

The player with the Dealer Token is the "Dealer" for the round and is in charge of shuffling and dealing. ALL Poker Cards from the previous round, including the one at the Rival space, should be collected and shuffled into the deck.

Then the Dealer:

1. Starting to the right of the Town Hall Mat, and going clockwise, deals six face-up Poker Cards, one to each space in between the Mats. (These are the Location's Poker Cards.)

2. Deals one face-down Poker Card to the Rival space on the Town Hall Mat. This is considered the "Rival's Card."

3. Deals two face-down Poker Cards to each player. Each player should look at their cards and keep only one. Unused cards are put face-down in to a discard pile next to the draw pile.

Phase Two – Posse Placement

Starting with the Dealer and going clockwise, each player must place one Posse Token at a time onto a placement spot on any Location Mat or the Sheriff's Office Mat. Some placement spots offer a choice of two options, and you must only choose one. Despite having two options, these spots are still considered one for the sake of dueling. This continues until all players have placed all their standing Posse Tokens.

Players cannot place a second Posse Token where they already have one, unless the Posse they already have there is wounded. Two standing Posse Tokens of the same color can never share a single placement spot.

Placing a Posse Token on a placement spot will cause three things to happen:

1. Players gain the benefit associated with that spot.

2. Players use their Poker Card at that location to win its influence during Phase Three – Resolution.

3. Allows players a chance to buy the Building Card at the "buy slot" of the Mat during Phase Four – Buy Phase.

Placement Spot Actions

Location Mat Influence Spot (2 options, choose 1)

CHOOSE:

Left Side – Instantly! When you place your Posse here with one foot touching the exclamation mark (instant) icon, instantly gain 1 of the influence shown.

Right Side – Resolution. When you place your Posse here with one foot touching the hourglass (resolution) icon, gain 2 of the influence shown, during Resolution, if you win the hand.

Note: If placing your Posse Token onto an Influence Spot will result in a duel, you must choose the Left or Right option before dueling.

Porch Slot

Use the (top) Building Card's ability that is connected to this porch. Posse here can perform the action as listed on the card (noted with icons that show when the benefit is gained: exclamation mark / hourglass / dollar sign). If the building used belongs to a player (connected to the Location Mat in their color) then that player gains 1 Money.

Note: This is not deducted from the influence of the player using the building.

Sheriff's Office Actions

Buy a "Leftover" Building Card. At the end of the round, if you have a Posse Token here, you may buy any one of the unpurchased Building Cards (see Phase Four – Buy).

Change Number Value. When placing a Posse Token here, the numeric value of the Poker Card in your hand will be altered during Phases Three and Four by +1 or -1. A "1" can be reduced, and wrapped-around, into a "5" and vice versa. Choose by placing the foot of your token on one or the other.

Change Suit Rank. When placing a Posse Token here, the "suit" of the Poker Card in your hand will be altered during Phases Three and Four by going up one rank or down one rank. The "steer" suit can be wrapped-around to become the "hat" suit by reducing it one rank, and vice versa. Choose by placing the foot of your token on one or the other.

Note: Card modifications do not take effect until Phase Three, and therefore, are not taken into consideration for dueling.

Dueling

If you want to use a placement spot that is already occupied by another player's Posse Token, you must start a duel. To duel, place your token on the occupied spot you desire to use. The token already on the spot is called the "Defender" and the intruding token is the "Attacker." The winner of the duel will be the player with the higher power, with any ties going to the Defender.

To duel:

1. Each player rolls one Gunslinger Die. The number rolled is considered that player's power. The "loser" (the player with the least power, or the Attacker if tied) may choose to do the following (and may do both in any order):

   • Pay 1 influence to reroll their die (may repeat, paying one each time). This is now considered their new power and replaces their old power. The Attacker pays Force to reroll, and the Defender pays Law to reroll.

   • Reveal and add the value of their Poker Card to their power. If they have already revealed their card in an earlier duel this round, it cannot be added to their power again. This can only be done once a round. The card remains revealed until the end of the round.

2. After this, the other player (if now the "loser") may choose to modify their power as described above. This may continue back and forth until both players finalize their power.

When the Gun Smoke Settles...

After the duelists finalize their powers, the player with the lower final power (or the Attacker if tied) must lay their Posse Token down on its side, indicating it is "wounded," and the winner places their token on top of it.

A wounded Posse cannot:

• Collect benefits from an exclamation mark (instant) or hourglass (resolution) placement spot it occupies.
• Duel.

A wounded Posse can:

• Retain the benefit of the placement spot it occupies.
• Participate in the poker hand for the Winner's Pot at the location it is at.
• Buy the Building Card at the location it is at, if it is available.

Wanted

As soon as the first duel of the game has been decided, the Wanted Card enters play and goes to the winner of that duel. The Wanted Card remains in play until the end of the game. The Wanted Card is always held by the player who has won the most recent duel. As soon as another duel occurs, between any players, the winner of that duel must take the Wanted Card.

If a player holds the Wanted Card at the beginning of Phase Three, they immediately gain 1 influence of their choice at that time. If they hold it at the end of the game, they gain 2 victory points (see Final Scoring).

Phase Three – Resolution

After players have placed all their Posse Tokens, the Resolution Phase begins. Players now have a chance to win influence from the Mats their Posse Tokens occupy:

• "Standing" Posse Tokens with feet on the side of the spot are eligible to collect that type of influence.

• All Posse Tokens on a Mat are eligible to collect the Winner's Pot.

To Resolve:

1. All players now reveal their Poker Cards. If you have dueled, your Poker Card might already be revealed.

2. Reveal the Rival's Poker Card.

3. Going clockwise from the Town Hall Mat, resolve each Mat. Players who have placed Posse Tokens (including those that are wounded) on a Mat compare their hands using the two cards shouldering that Location Mat, plus their own hidden card, to form a three-card poker hand (see the player aids for poker hand explanations).

   The order of the cards adjacent to the location does not matter; players may consider any arrangement of these cards when making their poker hand.

Example: Yellow's Straight Flush beats Red's Pair.

Lone Posse vs. The Rival

If a player has the only Posse Token at a location, they then compare their hand to the Rival's hand (the Rival Card with the two cards on either side of the location). If the Rival's hand is better than the player's hand, the player does not win at that location. If a player has more than one Posse Token on a Mat and no other players have Posse Tokens there, they still must compare hands with the Rival but may only collect the Winner's Pot of a single location once a round.

Comparing Hands

When comparing hands to determine a winner, use the Hand and Suit Rankings on the Town Hall Mat. The higher the hand or suit is on the list, the higher the rank for winning.

Hand Rankings (high to low): Straight Flush, 3 of a Kind, Flush, Straight, Pair, High Card.

Suit Rankings (high to low): Hat, Teepee, Horseshoe, Steer.

Tie-Breaker

If there is a tie where multiple players, or the Rival, have the same poker hand, the player whose card has the higher value wins. If still tied, the player whose card has the higher suit wins. If still tied (as a result of changing a card at the Sheriff's Office) both players collect the Winner's Pot.

Winning the Hand

The winning player at a location gains the Winner's Pot, listed in the stand-alone box with the "poker chips" image. If the winning player's Posse is not wounded and is on the Resolution side of a spot, they receive that benefit as well.

Wild Influence

At the Saloon, through certain Building Cards, and the Wanted Card, players can gain wild influence. This is considered a "wild" influence and the player gaining it may choose which of the three influence types to increase.

Note: If multiple wild influence are displayed in pairs or as a set of three, they must all be taken as the same influence type.

Phase Four – Buy

All players compare their hands using their own Poker Card and the two cards adjacent to the Town Hall Mat. Note: Poker Card modifications done at the Sheriff's Office apply when resolving the hand at the Town Hall unless there is a tie (see Tie-Breakers at Town Hall).

This will decide two things:

• The order in which players buy Building Cards.
• Which player will advance an Industry Token.

Starting with the winning hand, and proceeding in hand order from highest to lowest, each player has the option of buying one Building Card at a location where they have at least one Posse Token.

Buying a Building Card

Players may only buy a Building Card at a Mat where they currently have a Posse Token. Listed on the porch of each Building Card is its cost, and players may pay for the Building Card by reducing the appropriate influence amounts on their Boss Card. A newly bought Building Card is placed underneath the porch slot on the Location Mat that matches the player color of the player who bought it. Regardless of when a Building Card is acquired, it does not replace the current Building Card in play until the end of Phase Four.

Stack Buildings at a Porch

Any new cards are placed over top of the previously bought Building Cards, but not covering up victory points and industry icons on the top of the card. Only the newest (top) Building Card in the "porch slot" can be used during Phase Two – Posse Placement.

Sheriff's Office: Buy a "Leftover" Building Card

If a player has a Posse Token at the "Leftover" spot, the player may buy one of any leftover Building Cards (they can only purchase one even if there are multiple leftover cards) at the end of the round. They do not need to have a Posse Token on that Building Card's Mat.

Advancing Industry Tokens

The player with the highest three-card poker hand at Town Hall must choose an Industry Token to advance. This is done at the end of the round, after the Buy Phase is complete. The player who won at Town Hall selects one Industry – Mining, Railway, or Wagon – and moves that Industry Token forward one rank.

When moving Industry Tokens, only a certain number of tokens may occupy each rank: All 3 tokens can be at Rank 3, 2 tokens can be at Rank 2, and finally only 1 may occupy the final rank. Tokens may never move backward in rank. If a rank is filled to maximum capacity, no Industry Token can be advanced into it. After exactly six rounds all three Industry Tokens should be ranked.

Tie-Breakers at Town Hall

There cannot be a shared victory at the Town Hall. If there is a tie, where multiple players have the same poker hand, same card value, and same card suit (as a result of changing a card at the Sheriff's Office), disregard the modifications made from the Sheriff's Office to the tied players' Poker Cards. The player with the highest natural hand wins the tie.

Third Posse Benefit

If a player DID NOT buy a Building Card at any point in the round, they automatically gain the Third Posse Benefit in the next round. Players may also gain this benefit by winning the hand at the Sheriff's Office and choosing it instead of gaining the listed influence. The third Posse is usable in the following round only. This benefit must be gained again to be used again.

Round End

Players collect all of their Posse Tokens and place them back on their Boss Card. If players gained the Third Posse Benefit for the next round, stand it up now. If not, lay it down on your Boss Card.

Deal new Building Cards at locations bought from the previous round. If the "buy slot" Building Card at the Sheriff's Office Mat, or in 1-3 player games a Location Mat of an unused color, has been bought it is replaced by the Building Card at the "porch slot" from that Mat. A new Building Card is then dealt to the "porch slot" of that Mat. Finally, pass the Dealer Token clockwise, and begin the next round.

Game End

The game ends after exactly six rounds: when all 3 Industry Tokens have filled the ranks on the Town Hall Mat OR immediately if the Building Card deck has run out and any empty "buy slots" cannot be refilled.

Final Scoring

When the game ends, players total up their victory points as follows:

• Listed on their Building Cards
• + From Industry Rankings (see Industry Rankings)
• + 2 points if holding the Wanted Card

After all players have totaled their points, the player with the most victory points is the winner. In the event of a tie, check these tie breaking conditions in this order: first, most Building Cards purchased, and second, most total industry icons. If the tie remains, the game ends in a tie.

Industry Rankings

Each Industry, starting with the first and working down, is scored. For each Industry Token, each player adds together the number of industry "shares" (icons) that appear on their purchased Building Cards. The player with the most of that icon is the Majority shareholder. The player with the second most "shares" is the Minority shareholder. The Majority shareholder gains the larger number of victory points for that Industry rank; the Minority shareholder gains the smaller number. Tied players all gain the listed number of points, however if there is a tie for Majority, no points are rewarded to the Minority shareholder(s).

The ranks on the Town Hall Mat award, from the final (highest) rank down: 5 victory points to the Majority and 3 to the Minority; then 3 to the Majority and 2 to the Minority; then 2 to the Majority and 1 to the Minority.

Note: When calculating the Industry Ranking points, you may find it useful to use Poker Cards to keep track of what VP each player has earned.

Below is an example of players' total shares and their bonuses:

• Yellow: Railway 2, Wagon 1, Mining 5
• Blue: Railway 3, Wagon 2, Mining 2
• Red: Railway 3, Wagon 3, Mining 3
• Green: Railway 4, Wagon 3, Mining 1

Results — Mining: Majority Yellow, Minority Red. Wagon: Majority Red and Green (tied), Minority none. Railway: Majority Green, Minority Blue and Red (tied).

Solo Variant Rules

Set up the game as if playing with 2 players, using an "automated" player who has its own 3 Posse Tokens and matching color Location Mat, but DOES NOT use a Boss Card. They are called the "Rival."

The Rival's Location Mat's "porch slot" may have random Buildings Cards, depending on the difficulty level of the game. Select the level you wish to play, and then add buildings according to the chart:

Difficulty	Buildings in the Rival Mat's Porch Slot
Learner	0
Beginner	1
Medium	2
Hard	3
Epic	4

Changes to Gameplay

Phase One: Shuffle and Deal – At the beginning of each round, the Rival space gets dealt 2 Poker Cards, 1 face-down, and 1 face-up (it does not return 1, as the player does).

Phase Two: Posse Placement – The player's turn always comes before the Rival's turn. The player places their Posse Token as normal. After each Posse Token the player places, the Rival will place one Posse Token at a random location:

• Roll a die: 1-5, place a Rival's Posse Token on a spot at that numbered mat. The Mats are numbered: "1" indicates the first clockwise Mat from the Town Hall and "5" indicates the Mat adjacent to the Town Hall, counter-clockwise.

• The Rival prefers to place onto the "Influence Spot" (right side) at a Location Mat, if that placement spot is present. If it is not (because the reverse "grayed-out" side of the Mat is being used), the Rival will place its token onto the "porch slot". It does not gain the benefit of a Building, if one is attached. At the Sheriff's Office, the Rival places its token on the "Leftover" spot. If the Rival already has a Posse Token on a Mat, it places at the next clockwise Mat that does not have one of its Posse Tokens. If the player's Posse Token occupies the spot where the Rival is placing its token, they duel.

• Roll a die: 6, Place a Rival's Posse Token at the spot the player just placed a Posse Token and initiate a duel (see below).

Dueling – The Rival always rolls a Gunslinger Die and then adds the value from a random Poker Card drawn from the deck.

• After the duel, the Poker Card the Rival used in the duel is discarded to the discard pile.
• The Rival takes the Wanted Card if it wins a duel. While it does not gain the influence benefit from it, it does gain the 2 VP for being Wanted at the end of the game.
• During the duel, the player may pay 1 influence (of any kind) to force the Rival to reroll its die OR draw a new Poker Card to duel with (may repeat either, paying 1 influence each time).

Phase Three: Resolution – The Rival competes at all locations, regardless of whether it has a Posse Token there or not. The Rival never gains influence or benefits from Buildings Cards; however, the Rival may stop the player from gaining them. The Rival has two Poker Cards and always selects the best card (to make the highest ranking hand) for each individual location. However, the Rival may only use one card from its hand at a time.

Phase Four: Buy – The Rival can always buy a Building Card. On the Rival's turn, it selects the highest victory point Building Card available from the Mats where it has Posse Tokens. In case of a tie between point values, the Rival selects by going clockwise from the Town Hall. If the Rival has the "Leftover" spot, it does not buy a second Building Card. If the Rival must advance an industry, note the leftmost symbol on the Building Card it bought first that round. Advance that industry. If that Industry Token cannot advance, use the next symbol list on the Building Card, moving to the next Building Card owned, if needed.

Building Card Notes

Building Cards are the main source of victory points, and many carry an ability that a Posse Token in the connected "porch slot" can use. Each Building Card lists its cost on its porch, its victory point value, and its industry "share" icons. The Building Cards illustrated in this rulebook are:

• Appraiser — Gain Money equal to the VP value of the 1st Building Card you buy in phase four.
• Army Outpost — Gain Force equal to the VP value of the 1st Building Card you buy in phase four.
• Barber Shop — Rearrange the Building Cards in the "porch slot" at any Location Mat to place another Building card from there on top to become usable. (You may not do this if a player is using the topmost building.)
• Cattle Farm — At the beginning of phase three, gain 1 wild influence for every steer suit poker card in play. (Max. 3)
• Collapsed Mine — Pay 1 less Money for each Mining icon shown on the 1st Building Card you buy in phase four.
• Graveyard — Gain wild influence if there are any wounded Posse, including those of other players.

Credits

Designer: Scott Almes

Game Developer: Michael Coe

Illustrator & Graphic Designer: Adam P. McIver

Rulebook Layout: Benjamin Shulman

Editor: Richard A. Edwards

Honorary Producers: Stephen B. Eckman, Robert Corbett, Dr. Jean-Michel Ballocchi, Jakub Mirola, Shawn Park, Adele Cuartelon, Joshua Griset, Aaron Pape, Shigeru Nakasone, John Wightman, Kristian Carlson, Puppet Rebel Press and the Cribbs Family.

Special thanks: Nathan Hatfield, Jonathan Cox, Ben Pinchback, Brittany Coe, Beth Almes, Ken Grazier, Chris Leder, Donald Dennis, Simon Foxall, Donald Shults, Jeremy Schwartz, Jason Hancock, Leo Wild, Eric Reuss, Phoebe Wild, Rainer Ahlfors, and Christopher Baddell for their meaningful contributions; and to our play testers, the BoardGameGeek community, Panda Games, and over 14,500 Kickstarter backers that made Tiny Epic Western possible!

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