Gangland! is a card game set in the 1920's/1930's. Players assemble gangs of thugs each possessing different levels of business savvy, muscle and loyalty. Keep the other rival gangs in check by various mafia means. Players who amass the greatest business income wins!
Advantages over the original rule set:
• Everyone starts with a strong boss and a business
• The gang recruitment mechanic used to determine the starting gangs is more thematic, balanced and interesting
• Players can’t keep growing their gangs just by drawing lucky cards
• The mandatory phase wasn’t useful for anything except prolonging the game and limiting players’ options
• Weak characters actually have a chance of attacking others even if their chances of success are lower
• Loyalty is used for much more than just one rare card combination
• The Judge and Lawyer cards have more useful functions, similar to the Informant cards
• For a game based on killing everyone or acquiring the most money, making you pay money to attempt assassinations was...
Gangland! is a great game, but the original rulebook is 41 pages long! Also, you have to cross refernce back and forth throughout the book to find out what each card does and when. I have summarised the rules and put them in true play order: an introduction of the basic rules, followed by details of what each card can do on a particualr turn. I hope that by using this 4-page rulesheet you can learn to enjoy this great game.