Untamed: Feral Factions Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Box Content
• Factions
• Setup
  • Example of a Play Area
• Gameplay
  • 1. Main Phase
  • 2. Upkeep Phase
  • Card Anatomy
  • Ready & Exhausted Cards
• Resources and Spending Them
  • Power
  • Support
• The Actions in Detail
  • Play a Card
  • Attacking with an Animal
  • Play a Card as Power (Once per turn)
  • Bonus Power
  • Use Stronghold Ability (Once per turn)
  • Pay 2 Power to Draw an Additional Card (Once per turn)
• Destroying a Stronghold
• Multiplayer Game Modes
  • Hunter (Recommended) — 3+ Players
  • Survival of the Fittest — 3+ Players
  • Alpha — 3+ Players
  • Hydra (Recommended) — 4 Players (2v2) or 6 Players (3v3)
  • Manticore — 4 Players (2v2)
• Game Terms
• Credits

Game Box Content

• 150 Animals
• 57 Items
• 13 Strongholds
• 24 Damage tokens
• 8 Overview cards
• 24 Fury tokens

Factions

Each faction consists of a Stronghold card (single copy), as well as Animal and Item cards (3 copies each).

Chameleon — The crazy Chameleons gain effects as they play multiple cards in a turn.

Crocodile — The mighty Crocodiles use Last Words abilities and trigger those effects multiple times.

Fox — The sneaky foxes manipulate attack power as well as their own deck.

Panda — The merchant Pandas focus on using Stronghold abilities and producing extra Support.

Rabbit — The dutiful Rabbits overwhelm their foes but remain flexible with their Arrive abilities.

Rat — The unsavoury Rats are a versatile faction that prefer playing and interacting with low cost Animals.

Rhino — The powerful Rhinos manipulate damage tokens and generate tons of Fury.

Tiger — The fierce Tigers defeat other Animals to grant themselves a bonus.

Gorilla — The vigilant Gorillas use their connection to the holy Owl Spirits to call upon their aid.

Deer — The thunderous Deer are able to play more cards depending on how many cards they have played for powerful combos.

Raccoon — The tinkering Raccoons protect your other Animals and increase their attack power in the process.

Snake — The crazy Snakes can summon Owl Spirits for themselves at a cost; or do both for their enemies.

Setup

1. Separate the cards of each faction (indicated by the icon in the top right corner) into separate piles. Randomly decide who will go first (for instance, by flipping a coin). Then take turns choosing a faction, until each player has 3 factions.

2. Order the 3 chosen Strongholds in the order you want to use them. Put the ordered stack of Strongholds face up in front of you.

3. Shuffle the 3 chosen Animal Factions together to form your deck and place it face down on the table.

4. The player going second places the top card of their deck facedown beneath their Strongholds, positioning it so the Power icon on the back of the card is visible. This card is referred to as "Bonus Power" (see: Bonus Power below).

5. The player going first draws a hand of 8 cards, the second player (and all other players in multiplayer game modes) draws a hand of 9.

   Mulligan: If players don't like their initial hand they may perform a "mulligan": shuffle all cards from their hand back into their deck and draw a new hand of cards. This mulligan can only be performed once by each player, and only before the game starts.

6. Finally, players place 1 card of their choice from their hand face up into their Support Area, which is located to the right of their Stronghold.

Example of a Play Area

(Diagram of a play area, showing the Power Area to the left of the Stronghold, cards in play above the Stronghold, and the Support Area to the right of the Stronghold.)

Gameplay

You and your opponent take turns playing Animal and Item cards and attacking with your Animals until one player wins the game.

Your turn consists of 2 phases, the Main Phase followed by the Upkeep Phase. Once you have completed your Upkeep Phase the other player starts their turn.

1. Main Phase

During the Main Phase you may perform the following actions in any order:

• Play a card
• Attack with an Animal
• Play a card as Power (1x per turn)
• Use your Stronghold Ability (1x per turn)
• Pay 2 Power to draw an additional card (1x per turn)

2. Upkeep Phase

You must perform these actions in the following order (1x per turn):

1. Turn all of your Exhausted cards to their Ready position.
2. Draw 2 cards from the top of your deck.
3. Place 1 card from your hand, face up, into your Support Area.

Card Anatomy

Cards show: Power cost, Rally indicator, Attack, Health.

Ready & Exhausted Cards

Cards can either be Ready (upright position), or Exhausted (turned 90 degrees sideways). When you play an Animal, it always comes into play Exhausted. There are two exceptions to this however: when that Animal has the Surge ability or is played through the Rally effect. In these cases it comes into play in the Ready position. When you play a card as Power (facedown), it always comes into play Ready.

A card is exhausted by turning it from its Ready position to its Exhausted position.

Resources and Spending Them

The game has 2 types of resources: Power and Support.

Power

Players use power to play and draw additional cards. You can gain Power by using the "Play a card as Power" action during your turn. Players can have a maximum of 5 Power, excluding Bonus Power.

To play a card you must first pay its Power cost. The Power costs are paid by exhausting (see: Ready and Exhausted Cards) the number of Power cards indicated by the number in the icon.

Exhausted Power cards cannot be used to pay for cards. If you cannot pay the full Power cost, you cannot play the card or perform the action.

Support

Players use Support to activate powerful card abilities. You gain Support each turn during your Upkeep Phase by placing a card from your hand into your Support Area (on the right side of your Stronghold). Additionally, Item cards that you have played, Animal cards that have been defeated in battle, and cards that have been discarded from your hand are also placed (face up) into your Support Area. Each card in your Support Area counts as 1 Support.

Cards in your Support Area can be used to pay for Support costs. Support costs are indicated by a number followed by an icon in a card's ability text.

Players can pay a Support cost by removing the specified number of Support in your Support Area from the game (you can choose which specific cards you remove). Activating abilities that have Support costs is always optional. If you choose not to, simply do not pay the cost and the effect is not triggered.

You always pay all costs first, and only then resolve the effects on a card.

(Diagram: the Power Area and Support Area flank the Stronghold; cards removed to pay costs go Out Of Game.)

The Actions in Detail

Play a Card

Each turn you may play as many cards as you want, as long as you can pay for them (see the textbox "Resources and Playing Cards" for more info).

If you've played an Item card, perform the effects written on it immediately, then put it into your Support Area.

• If you've played an Animal card, put it into play (in front of your Stronghold) in the Exhausted position (unless the Animal has Surge). You can have a maximum of 7 Animals in play.
• When a card triggers any beneficial effects, using them is always optional (such as triggering an Arrive, activating abilities that cost Support, or gaining Fury).

Attacking with an Animal

To attack, choose a Ready Animal you control and move it to its Exhausted position. Then choose the target of your Animal's attack: your opponent's Stronghold OR an opponent's Animal. Animals do not block the way to a player's Stronghold unless indicated by card effects such as Guard.

• When attacking your opponent's Stronghold, place damage tokens equal to the Attack value (the number in the icon) of the Animal onto the Stronghold.
• When attacking an opponent's Animal, the attacking Animal places damage tokens equal to its Attack value on the Animal it's attacking. The Animal being attacked does the same to the Animal attacking it. The two Animals deal damage to each other simultaneously, even if the animal being attacked is exhausted.

If a card ever has equal or more damage tokens on it than its Health value (the number in the icon), the card is defeated and placed into its owner's Support Area (in the case of an Animal card) or removed from the game (in the case of a Stronghold). If a card isn't defeated the damage tokens remain on the card until it's defeated or its damage tokens are (re)moved through an effect. You may attack as often as you like, as long as you have Ready Animals to attack with, so a maximum of once per Animal unless otherwise indicated by card effects.

Play a Card as Power (Once per turn)

Play a card from your hand face down into your Power Area (on the left side of your Stronghold) as a Power. You can have a maximum of 5 cards in your Power Area. If you have reached this number, you may no longer perform this action.

Bonus Power

If you did not start the game, or have generated a Bonus Power through card effects, you have an extra action available during your Main Phase: Use Bonus Power.

To use Bonus Power, move the Bonus Power card from underneath your Stronghold to the top of your deck. Then, you may reduce the Power cost of the next card you play this turn by 1.

You can only perform this action if you have Bonus Power underneath your Stronghold. This action can be used as many times as you have Bonus Power (so multiple Bonus Power can be used to pay for a card's cost, if available).

Use Stronghold Ability (Once per turn)

Once per turn, you may pay the Support cost (written next to the Stronghold Ability), and immediately trigger the effect written on your visible Stronghold.

Pay 2 Power to Draw an Additional Card (Once per turn)

Once per turn you may pay 2 Power to draw a card.

Destroying a Stronghold

Whenever your Stronghold is destroyed, you immediately draw cards equal to how many of your Strongholds have been destroyed thus far, including the Stronghold which was just destroyed.

If any of the cards drawn have the Rally indicator next to their name, you may play that card immediately without paying its Power cost. If that card has any Support costs, you must still pay them if you want to activate the Support effect.

Any effects of playing that card are resolved immediately, even if it's not that player's turn. Animals played through the Rally effect, come into play Ready.

The destroyed Stronghold is removed from the game, and the Stronghold beneath the destroyed one becomes your new Stronghold. If the destroyed stronghold was your last, you lose the game.

Multiplayer Game Modes

The rules above describe the standard 2 player game, however Untamed can also be played by more than 2 players using the following multiplayer game modes. Playing the game is recommended with a maximum of 4 players for an optimal (and balanced) experience, however feel free to combine multiple copies of the game to play your favorite factions with even more players!

In multiplayer game modes, the 3rd player (and any additional players) start with 10 cards in their hand, however still only gain 1 Bonus Power.

Drafting rules for multiplayer for each individual players are recommended as follows:

3 players drafting: 1st player choosing picks 1 faction > 2nd 1 faction > 3rd 2 factions, 1st 1 faction > 2nd 2 factions > 3rd 1 faction.

4 players drafting: 1st player choosing picks 1 faction > 2nd 1 faction > 3rd 2 factions > 4th 2 factions > 1st 2 factions > 2nd 2 factions > 3rd 1 faction > 4th 1 faction.

Hunter (Recommended) — 3+ Players

In this game mode, players can only attack the Stronghold of the opponent to their left, though Animals of all other players may be attacked. The first player to defeat another player, wins the game.

Survival of the Fittest — 3+ Players

In this free-for-all game mode, players can attack all other players. The last surviving player wins the game.

Alpha — 3+ Players

In this game mode, a single player takes the role of the Alpha, while the other players try to take the Alpha down.

The Alpha has several special rules: their Strongholds have twice the Health they usually have (14 instead of 7), they are able to use the 'Play a card as Power' action twice per turn and have a maximum Power of 10. In their upkeep phase, the Alpha draws cards equal to 2 plus the number of enemy players. They also place a number of cards into their Support Area equal to the number of enemy players instead of just one. The Alpha always starts the game. The Alpha wins if all other players are defeated. The other players win if the Alpha is defeated.

Hydra (Recommended) — 4 Players (2v2) or 6 Players (3v3)

In this game mode, players team up and share their Strongholds.

During setup, each player chooses 3 Factions. A team selects 1 Stronghold to start with and then puts 3 (in the six player variant: 5) other Strongholds beneath it. Players must decide which of their respectively 6 (in the six player variant: 9) total Strongholds they will choose to play with.

Players on a team each have their own deck, Support Area and Power Area, but teammates play their turns simultaneously. A player may not use their teammate's Power, Support or cards in hand, however they may discuss, share info and strategize together. Whenever a Stronghold is destroyed, all players in the team always draw 2 cards for their Rally effect. The Team that defeats all of the opposing Team's Strongholds, wins.

Manticore — 4 Players (2v2)

In this game mode teammates share one deck, one Support Area and their Strongholds. Each player on the team chooses 3 factions, those 6 factions are shuffled together to form the team's deck. The team then selects 1 stronghold to start with, and puts the 3 Strongholds of their choice beneath it. Players on a team alternate taking a turn (so for example Jeremy on team A, takes a turn, then Milan on team B takes a turn, then Vincent on team A, then Miltos on team B). Players may not share info and strategize with each other. The Team that defeats all of the opposing Team's Strongholds, wins.

Game Terms

Animal — Card Type. Animals can attack other Animals or the opponent's Stronghold when they are Ready. Animals are placed on the table in the Exhausted position when played, and thus cannot attack on the turn they are played. Animals have a Power cost, Attack and Health, as well as a textbox with one or more special card abilities.

Arrive — Card Ability. This effect triggers when an Animal comes into play. A player can also decide not to use the Arrive effect.

Attack — Card Property. This denotes the damage your Animal inflicts when attacking or being attacked. This is increased by any Fury on the card. Abilities that use an Animal's Attack value also include Fury, unless otherwise indicated (such as with 'base Attack' and 'printed Attack').

Bonus Power — Resource. A facedown card from the top of the player's deck placed underneath their Strongholds, with the Power icon visible. During the Main Phase a player with Bonus Power may place it back on top of their deck, facedown. This action reduces the Power cost of the next card that player plays that turn by 1. A player (or team) going second receives one Bonus Power during setup. In a multiplayer game, the players going third and later all receive 1 Bonus Power during setup. Other card effects can generate additional Bonus Power.

Focus X — Card Ability. You may pay X Support instead of paying a card's Power cost, meaning you can play the card without spending Power. A card with Focus 3 requires you to pay 3 Support to play it without paying its Power cost.

Fury — Token. A token that grants the Animal +1 Attack for as long as the token remains on the Animal. Defeated cards lose all Fury tokens when they enter the Support Area.

Guard — Card Ability. This Animal must first be defeated before other Animals or Strongholds can be attacked. When multiple Animals with Guard are in play, the attacker may choose which one of them to attack. Guard does not affect Items and card abilities. Guard is always active, even if the Animal is exhausted.

Health — Card Property. When the total damage tokens on an Animal are equal to or greater than an Animal's Health, the Animal is defeated.

Item — Card Type. Items have a single use effect and are placed into their owner's Support Area after they are resolved.

Last Words — Card Ability. This effect happens when an Animal is defeated. A player can decide not to use the Last Words effect.

Power — Resource. Any card that is placed face down in a player's Power Area (on the left side of their Stronghold) is referred to as Power. Each facedown card in a player's Power Area counts as 1 Power. Players may only play a single card as a Power per turn and can have a maximum of 5 Power.

Rally — Event. A player checks whether the card(s) they draw when their Stronghold is defeated, has the Rally symbol on it. If so, that card may immediately be played without having to pay the card's Power cost. If not, you get to keep the drawn card in your hand. Arrive abilities can be triggered when Rally cards are played, however attack-enabling abilities such as Surge do not function, as even with Surge you can only directly attack using your Animals during your turn.

Reveal — Action. When a card states to reveal a card, the player shows the card to all players, then puts the card back where it came from. If multiple cards were revealed from the top of a player's deck, put them back in the same order.

Surge — Card Ability. Animals with this ability come into play in the Ready Position and may immediately be used the turn it's played to attack the opponents Animals. It cannot be used immediately to attack a Stronghold.

Support — Resource. A card that is discarded, an Animal that is defeated or an Item that has been used is placed in your Support Area (right side of your Stronghold). These can be used to pay for abilities on cards. Cards that have been used to pay for Support costs are removed from the game afterwards.

Credits

Game Design: Jeremy Falger, Milan Lefferts

Artists: Joe A. Howard, Andrew Soman, Julien Vandois, David Tenorio, Baukje Jagersma, Ilse Harting, Andrea Sodaro, Alex Shiga, Albert Bruun, Radu Mihai, Régis Torres, Scarlet Kitten, Michel Verdu, Evgenia Smirnova

Product Manager: Vincent van Gils

Digital Development: Miltos Nedelkos

Publisher: Grumpy Owl Games