REVOLUTION GAME PLAY

Types of cards:

• Major Events - these cards work in a fixed timeline to frame the game within real events that real characters had to respond to. How the players respond determine how the revolution ends. There are separate events for Phase 1 and Phase 2.
• General Events - these cards are actual events from history, but can happen any time during game play. They affect the abilities of some cards.
• Revolutionaries - (need new name, trying something other than “Legendary” using EPIC ) these are the characters assigned to the player. They are not the first names you think of when you think “American Revolution.”
• People - either generic “Merchant” or “Soldier,” or some specific people from history, these cards are collected into the players deck.
• Items - from cattle to needles to gunpowder to canon to paper, these items are collected into the players deck.

Card abilities:

• All cards - give a sentence or two on the historical importance/role of the person, item, or event
• Events - events can add or subtract value from Revolutionaries, People, and Items. For instance, a “Slave Revolt” card may do “-10 for each Slave Owner” and/or “+10 for each Slave” in your deck. Phase 2 events have a total number of points for the Loyalists and the Patriots, which are different values depending on the event.
• Items - have a value, usually low compared to people, and some enhance another item. For instance, gunpowder may enhance a musket. Items don’t have an alliance but may have a class.
• Revolutionaries (EPIC) and (Standard) People - have a value, which indicates both what they cost to purchase during deck building, and their strength in battle; some have extra abilities in the description; all have a “class” (see “Classes”) and “alliance” (either “Tory,” “Whig,” or “Neutral”)

Phase 1 - “POWDER KEG”

1. The Revolutionaries (EPIC) cards are shuffled and one card is dealt to each player. The player should keep this secret from other players at the table.
2. The 4 Major Events are laid out with 4 randomly selected General Events between them, all face down.
3. Determine how many cards are played into the “Town Square” (center of table) - take the number of players and add 2. For instance, for 6 players, 8 cards will be dealt.
4. The round begins - there are as many rounds as there are Major Events.
5. Deal that number of cards into Town Square.
6. The first Event card in line is flipped and the effects are read aloud.
7. Players determine how much they can purchase based on the total value of their deck, including their Revolutionary, and the effects of the Event.
8. The first player (how is the first player determined?) uses the value of their Revolutionary to purchase one card from the Square.
9. The rest of players do the same in a round.
10. Remaining cards in the Square are discarded.
11. The rounds repeat until all Events are played. On each new round, the first player changes to the next in the circle.
12. When all rounds are complete, players must declare for either the Loyalists or Patriots. Neutral cards have no effect one way or the other; Tory’s lean toward Loyalists, Whigs towards Patriots. If the player declares opposite to the cards alliance, that card has -5 value for Phase 2; if the player declares with the cards alliance, that card has +5 value for Phase 2.

phase 1.5

(Optional activity: players group together and form alliances between phases.)

Phase 2 - “WAR!”

1. The two sides face off, Patriots vs Loyalists.
2. The Revolutionary (EPIC) for each side is now revealed on the table.
3. An event card is played, the history and effects are read aloud.
4. (Who shoots first?)
5. The first player chooses two cards to play from their hand; the second player does the same.
6. The values are tallied.
7. If one side is winning by more than 10 points, that side is the de facto winner of the round.
8. If the score is closer, another General Event card is flipped, and the players add up to two additional cards. The player with the most points wins both Events.
9. The winner collects the events; the cards on the table are discarded into their own piles; the next round starts.
10. There is one round for every event card. If players run out of cards in their hand, they may shuffle their discard pile and draw a new hand.
11. At the end of all the rounds, the event cards are tallied, and the side with the most overall points has won the revolution!