Title: Gold Rush Gangs

Authors: Jenova Chen & Charles Mallison

Target Age: 10-18

Target Audience: Enjoyers of soft strategy

Number of players: 3

Time required: about 15-25 minutes

Equipment:     One Hex grid board (9 grids radius)

                        One deck of cards

                        3 Nickels, decorated to represent Professional Thieves

                        6 dimes, decorated to represent Amateur Thieves

OBJECTIVE:

You control one of three rival gangs of thieves. Your goal is to achieve dominance in the illicit gold market by being the first to steal 8 sacks of gold from the board.

UNITS:

To steal gold, you have three units to control, two Amateur Thieves and one Professional Thieves. Amateur Thieves move faster than Professional Thieves, but Professional Thieves are much stronger in combat.

ACTION POINTS:

§         In order to move your thieves, you have to spend Action Points (AP). Amateur Thieves cost one AP to move one space while Professional Thieves cost two AP to move. All units take two AP to move once they pick up any amount of gold.

§         At the beginning of the game, each player gets five AP per turn. Use your AP wisely between your units. It won’t last to the next turn.

§         Once you bring X sacks of gold back to your base, the AP you can spend in each round will instantly increase X.

STORE & BANK:

§         Gold is the only resource and the objective for the players. There are three neutral stores at the border of the map where you can find one sack of gold.

§         A heavily guarded bank is in the center of the map holding three sacks of gold. In order to steal the gold from there, you have to use at least seven AP to break the defense. Once the defense is broken, there is no need for other player to break it again. If the gold from bank drops on your way back, it will return to where the bank is.

GOLD:

§         Every gang has a total of seven sacks of gold. Each Amateur Thieves guard two sacks of gold while Professional Thieves guard three sacks of gold.

§         Before the game starts, all the players have to deploy their thieves with gold on the map. They have to be deployed in their own territories. There has to be at least three grids in between your units at the beginning.

GOLD RUSH:

§         You have to protect your gold from being stolen and steal enough gold (at least eight) from store, bank or your opponents in order to win.

§         You can only carry one piece of gold a time.

§         You can not pass through gold with gold in your hand.

COMBAT:          

§         During movement on the board, when multiple opposing units are in adjacent grids the combat will start. The player who starts the combat will be attacker.

§         Outcome of combat is decided by drawing cards. The player who draws the highest card wins. In the event of a tie, the attacker wins. The Ace card is the lowest card. The King card is the highest.

§         Amateur Thieves can draw one card in the combat while Professional Thieves are able to draw two. When friendly units are adjacent to each other, you can draw more cards. For example, if a Professional Thief and an Amateur Thief are next to each other, they can draw three cards when combat occurs.

§         At the end of combat, the losing unit is returned to his home base and must remain there for one turn. This only applies to the one unit which either attacked or defended. While the unit is incapacitated, leave it on the color grid in the base.

§         Any gold the losing unit was carrying remains in the space the unit was except the gold from the bank.

1)      At the start of the game, players will draw one card each to determine who will have the first move.

2)      On the first turn, each player places his stores and deploys his thieves.

3)      Players will then alternate turns until one satisfies the requirements
for winning. Game ends.