Game: Ruse & Bruise

Thread: Session report [Home-made software version]

sthrjo — 2008-11-27T18:51:16+00:00

I have now scrutinized the artificial Ruse&Bruise players actions:
Round 1:
Green puts a Storm card below his invisibility cloak, which make little sense.
The yellow player plays his Lord of the Manor straight in the claws of his own Wizard, which removes him at column ending.
Round 4:
Player green plays his Prince at a very late moment. The columns are soon after finished, and he sits with his Squire in the hand and does not get to use his Prince&Squire combination.
Player red runs away in the lead in this round. The other two should take this into account and not let him get more points, by cooperating.
Round 5:
Player Green plays his Alchemist on his own face-down Assassin!
Beware of the long sequence of two Explorers shifting columns while there is a storm going on in the first column.
Notice the Column 3 resolution, where a Wizard removes a Cardinal and an Explorer, leaving only the Witch remaining, which in turn removes him and wins the column by herself.
Round 6:
Plyer green plays his Minnesinger in column 3, where a know Explorer is present. The Explorer moves to column 1, and causes green to loose that column to red, by his own stupid action!
End of game:
Player Red wins by 41/16/8, a huge Victory. Green and Yellow made some stupid choices, but they all used the same artificial player algorithm.

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EndersGame — 2008-11-14T04:31:57+00:00

Product information for French edition by Filosofia

Thread: Re: A good game in need of a corrected printing

NoPoemsForYou — 2008-11-10T03:52:11+00:00

I agree with this 100%. I bought this earlier this week, and played it with several people last night.

Rio Grande Games needs to be willing to send out replacement cards for the game. There are simply too many that seem to do things exactly contrary to what the game rules state.

A good example is the Assassin. The card says "remove all cards that he revealed; a face-up Assassin has no impact". However, the rulebook says "The card that was placed causing the Assassin card to be turned over is immediately placed on its owners discard pile. The Assassin remains face up in the column. If another card is placed below the face-up Assassin, the Assassin has no effect on it." So which is it? Does the Assassin "kill" the card that he reveals when he is placed, or does he "kill" the card that later discovers him? It could be interpreted either way.

This would be a great game if they would send out replacement cards with corrected text. Cards with 'distribution abilities' also need to have a rounded border around their ability, to distinguish them from the rest of the cards, and simplify gameplay.

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Toynan — 2008-11-10T01:43:13+00:00

promotional poster

Thread: Sample 3 automata game [Re: Home-made software version]

sthrjo — 2008-10-01T19:37:08+00:00

http://web.telia.com/~u48116986/rusebruise/seed_213.txt

Here you can see a scripted game between 3 instances of my home-made AI Ruse&Bruise player algorithm. You are supposed to follow the moves using your own cards. Please comment on stupid plays or good plays, or maybe some rule issues.

Thread: [Vassal Module] Play Online at Cape et D'Epées - Kabale und Hiebe - Ruse and Bruise

softbug — 2008-09-16T21:12:15+00:00

Well,

With the collaboration and agreement of Filosofia Games, VassalForge provides you the Vassal French Game Module

Now You can play online ...

Just http://vassalforge.org/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_...

and Download ...

The Guide How To use the Game Module or to Install Vassal is located here : http://vassalforge.org/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_...

Regards,

Grégory

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Gaetbe — 2008-09-16T19:23:51+00:00

Red hand from Vassal Module

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likwit — 2008-09-03T09:19:57+00:00

round two...

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likwit — 2008-09-03T09:14:27+00:00

Powerfull 6

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likwit — 2008-09-03T09:12:29+00:00

in the red deck

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likwit — 2008-09-03T08:50:41+00:00

in the red deck....

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likwit — 2008-09-03T08:45:47+00:00

in the red deck....

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likwit — 2008-09-03T08:43:30+00:00

Nice try! But the witch puts away the magician.

Thread: Refuse to Lose; Choose Ruse & Bruise! P.S.: Fuse, Pews, Muse, Abuse

Numskull — 2008-08-21T04:37:23+00:00

Here we have a splendid bit of heavy filler released not so very long ago by Hans Im Gluck and Rio Grande. Its small, unassuming box and embarrassing title (in English, anyway) caused it to fly under many a radar system, resulting in a distinctive "overlooked gem" aspect. Not one of the really good gems, like a diamond or emerald, mind you. More like a citrine. Or a garnet, maybe.

But I digress. Ruse & Bruise is a card game for two to six players, lasting around forty minutes, with a very Faidutti-ish feel. It's even illustrated by Julien Delval, Bruno Faidutti's frequent artistic collaborator. Fans of Citadels, Castle, and Fist of Dragonstones, with their prominent but somewhat restrained screwing of opponents and sowing of chaos, would do well to investigate this game's merits. So strong is the Faidutti vibe here that I've had to assure people "Yes, I am certain that Lutz Stepponat designed this game" on more than one occasion. You may encounter similar difficulties.

But I digress. The general idea here is that each participant is given an identical deck of character cards (with red, blue, yellow, green, white, and black backs for player identification) which they will use to compete for "goal cards" in six suits (crossed swords, mandolins, gold coins, corn, funny red hats, and glass containers of some sort for which there is undoubtedly a scientific name that I don't know). At the beginning of each of the six rounds, a number of goal cards equal to the number of players are drawn and lined up. One might think that you would want to include only as many suits as there are players, since the game features six of those as well, but that's not the case. Some goal cards just won't make it into play if you don't have six players, and this can lead to some diminished usefulness of certain character cards, along with a certain amount of bellyaching when someone lacks only a corn card for a complete set at the game's conclusion and reveals a whole field's worth of it in the unused pile.

But I digress. When it's your turn, you select a character card from your hand (which has a constant size of three), play it face down in the column of your choice (one for each goal card currently up for grabs), and expose the face-down character card which precedes yours in that column, if there is one. Each of the twenty-five characters has a numeric value, 20 being the highest, and many of them have some sort of special ability as well. Some of these abilities get triggered when the card is exposed; others take effect only when the current round concludes. When all is said and done, the player with the highest total in a column will take its goal card, but these special abilities can wreak all sorts of havoc with what would otherwise be a matter of simple arithmetic. They also wreak another, more irritating form of havoc; they necessitate constant reference to the game's instructions until everyone has them memorized. Why? Because the card text is frequently incomplete or misleading, with the biggest offender by far being the Assassin. The card states that he eliminates (discards) the character he reveals. Wrong, wrong, wrong. Since he, like every other character card, is played face down, only his owner should know he's the Assassin. In actual fact, he eliminates the character card that reveals him. That's a pretty severe error, but it does make some sense, when you think about it. When you're an assassin, what do you do: target a particular victim, or just go to a certain place and stab the next person who lines up behind you? Yeah, I thought so. (Also, one of the other cards in each player's deck is the Storm. How exactly does one assassinate a storm?)

But I digress. To sum it up, rulebook text takes precedence over individual card text. These consultations will slow the game down at first, but once everyone is up to speed, it'll generally adopt the rompish, chaotic nature that one would expect from a game of its ilk. A player who goes through his or her character deck reshuffles the discards and starts anew, but will probably only get one or two more turns; the game is nicely paced that way. Whoever has the highest total value in amassed goal cards (worth one to five points each) will win, unless someone accumulates one of each suit, which allows them to use a slightly different scoring method (2x the value of the six card set, -1 for each additional card) that will probably give them the victory instead. Mind you, this isn't the sort of game in which one should attach a huge amount of significance to winning and losing. Since you're dealing with nothing but cards, Lady Luck has a few methods to really have her way with you; Romeo on the top of your deck and Juliet at the bottom, ditto Prince and Squire, all the goal cards of one suit being clumped together...

But I digress. Bottom line: This is a fun and underappreciated game. It's chaotic, but not impervious to strategy. It's not such a great choice for six players since the length-to-depth ratio starts to become undesirable, but with three or four it's a great amount of game for just some cards in a box. You may even like it enough to forgive the stupid title, but I'm not foolish enough to guarantee you that.

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rober — 2008-08-12T11:31:34+00:00

Thread: Re: Invisibility Cloak alone in the column

Pedrator — 2008-08-11T11:07:06+00:00

Not that he has the highest total, since zero has no value, but in case of a draw, the player with a card closest to the goal card receives that card, so theoretically the player having the invisibility cloak and no more card have been played, means he there is a draw, but his card is closest (being the only one on top of that), so it goes to that player.

Thread: Re: Assasin?

sthrjo — 2008-07-30T08:43:29+00:00

I have mailed Rio Grande regarding this, and received a standard answer. No action regarding removal of the errouneous web page yet.

Thread: Re: Invisibility Cloak alone in the column

Mozmonar — 2008-07-29T20:41:17+00:00

It goes to the player who played the invisibility cloak. Even though the total is zero that player still has the highest total in that column since no other player has a card in that column.

Thread: Invisibility Cloak alone in the column

Ifuca — 2008-07-27T00:52:57+00:00

When Invisibility Cloak is played as a first card in a column with goal card of value 1 and no other card is played below it during the round (so it stays face down for the whole round and thus no card could be played under it), does this player win the column? The situation is that only this player has a card in the column, but the value of the card is zero. Does he get the goal card anyway or is the card put away?

Thread: Re: Doppelgänger: Survives Wizard/Witch? When does it copy?

sthrjo — 2008-07-17T09:21:38+00:00

You may or may not be correct in how the column should be resolved. But do you agree that the German rules contains that same errouneous text regarding 3.2 Wizard(Zauberer)/Doppelgänger: "...ein Doppelgänger, der als eine der gennanten Karten (== Königin) auftritt", "...and a Doppelgänger, when taking the role of one of the named cards (== the Queen)" ? I really was hoping that the game designer himself would clarify this, he has done so before in this forum.
Again (A): If the text under 3.2 Wizard/Zauberer is correct, then the text under Doppelgänger regarding "If the card below the Doppelgänger was removed..." is only possibly speaking about a face-down Explorer being turned face-up, and then moved to another column. It can not be speaking about any card removed by a Wizard or Witch, because that would have removed the Doppelgänger as well, explitly stated in 3.2. The text under Doppelgänger should be changed to reflect this. The text under 3.2 should be clarified stating that the Doppelgänger gets its value after Musketeers, before Wizard.
Again (B): If the text under 3.2 is wrong, it should be replaced by a clarification: "Doppelgänger is unaffected by a Wizard/Witch. It gets its value after Small Giant is resolved, before Dragon".

FWIW, I think that the straightforward ruling is to let the Doppelgänger copy after Musketeers, before Wizard (ruling A above). Otherwise there would be more clarifications needed regarding Hermit and Small Giant (copy the printed/increased value?) and subsequently for Dragon and Romeo.

Thread: Re: Small Giant

Mozmonar — 2008-07-08T15:20:26+00:00

It's been stated that the invisibility cloak and the card it hides count as only one card.

Thread: Re: Small Giant

Pedrator — 2008-07-03T13:30:01+00:00

Henrik is right! You seem to be playing the game by the wrong rules. The value of the goal cards tells you the minimum number of cards to be played in each column. Am not entirely sure right now wheather the pair of cards "invisibility cloak" plus the one it was "hiding" count as one or as two cards, am almost sure they count as one though...

Thread: Re: Doppelgänger: Survives Wizard/Witch? When does it copy?

Goodsound — 2008-06-28T12:26:09+00:00

My interpretation of the German rules are like this:

Wizard removes Queen, Doppelgänger takes value of Wizard:
Doppelgänger as Wizard
Wizard

So the value of the Doppelgänger is determined after all other effects are taken into account.

Thread: Re: Small Giant

sthrjo — 2008-06-26T17:00:44+00:00

The goal card demands 5 *cards* in the column, not 3 cards of a total value of 5 or more, as you seem to play it. Or what am I missing?

Thread: Small Giant

MiracleMat — 2008-06-25T22:05:16+00:00

In a column with Invisibility cloak and the small giant and one other face down card and a goal card of 5, would the column be considered finished (with the small giant being worth 8) or does the bonus only count during scoring? Just wondering. This came up in a game where the answer actually affected the game, since it would have ended the round if he counted 8.

Thread: Re: Explorers and Storms rule glitch

Mozmonar — 2008-06-16T21:44:44+00:00

I see...this is unclear in the English rules. Thanks for the clarification.

I think, however, we will continue to play with the explorer able to move into the storm'd column. We debated it for awhile when the situation arose and the consensus we came to was that it made for a more dynamic explorer power to allow him to do so (it ended up changing which player was awarded the column).

This, of course, is of no help to your situation but it's helpful to me to know the official rule on this even if we choose to ignore it.

Thread: Re: Explorers and Storms rule glitch

sthrjo — 2008-06-16T16:04:34+00:00

It is explicit in the German (22.09.2006) rules, chapter 2, under "Sturm", third sentence: "Würde ein Entdecker in der Spalte mit dem Sturm landen, zieht er in die nächste Spalte weiter". -> "If an Explorer lands in the column with the Storm, he moves along to the next column.". The word "landen" is used when describing his secondary movment to another column under "Entdecker" headline.

Thread: Re: Explorers and Storms rule glitch

Mozmonar — 2008-06-15T23:14:12+00:00

Has it officially been established that an explorer does skip a column with a storm card? The rules aren't 100% clear on that point so far as we could tell. The way we ended up playing was allowing the explorer to go to the storm column. The storm card says no more cards could be added which could mean the explorer can't stop there. However, we took this to mean that no more cards could be played beneath the column but the explorer could be moved there due to his special power. We found this to make the the explorer more useful as this could be a valid strategy for countering the storm's ability to lock down a column and give you a chance at increasing your point total there.

Thread: Re: End of round card

toh! — 2008-06-12T00:05:01+00:00

I can see no reason that the second-last card would be treated specially - you completely resolve the last card placement, then end the round only if the goal cards are all full. The card that reveals the assassin is never really placed (it's discarded unseen), so in the case you describe play would continue with the next player. The revelation of an explorer or traitor can also result in the round not ending as expected (or sometimes, ending unexpectedly).

Thread: Re: Invisibility Cloak and Storm

toh! — 2008-06-11T23:55:57+00:00

The Storm card doesn't have any end-of-round "distribution" ability - it's an in-round card. Your opponent was wasting its ability by placing it under the Cloak. I would guess it was a sincere misinterpretation, though giving them the column was perhaps overly charitable.

The Storm also doesn't invalidate other cards in the column, including the one that reveals it. It simply makes it impossible to add more cards to the column once revealed.

Note that the Traitor is also an in-round card and similarly has no effect if revealed at the end of the round, for instance under the Cloak. That's one that might seem to make more sense if it did work, but would mostly just introduce more chaos - and the game has just about precisely enough of that.

The rule in question reads as follows (emphasis original):

"The action of this card takes effect immediately when this card is turned over
through the placement of another card. The action of this card does not take
effect if it is only turned over at the end of the round."

I agree that some of the rules are ambiguous as written (at least in English), but that one's pretty unequivocal.

Thread: Invisibility Cloak and Storm

MiracleMat — 2008-06-10T19:15:12+00:00

This combo happened the last game I played. My opponent started the column with Invisibility Cloak and put The Storm under it when it was revealed. By the end of the round, there were 4 more cards under it, which my opponent argued did not count at all since special text is in effect for his Storm. I let him have it, but I think the rules are either a little ambiguous or the card is just too powerful. Thoughts anyone?

Thread: Home-made software version

sthrjo — 2008-06-06T16:02:00+00:00

As an exercise in SOAP programming I have made a software copy of Ruse & Bruise that is quite entertaining to play against, although not in a quality that is ready to be shared, not yet anyway. The architecture is designed to let contributors design their own automatic players, so that the best implementation of an Ruse&Bruise playing algorithm will win in a series of games. In the "gameplay" module the cards are shuffled and dealt and the phases in the rules are implemented as a simple series of subroutine calls, easy to verify. The player interaction is separated using XML/SOAP "envelopes", bits of formatted text that are delivered using TCP/IP communication to the "player" modules. The "player" modules receives the envelopes containing the entire game state, in a quite human readable format, and must deside the action, that is returned to the "gameplay" module as a return envelope. No cheating is possible, the "player" modules does not get to know more than a real player would. The "player" modules must of course provide a lawful answer, playing the cards that the "gameplay" module says is in his hands.

I have designed an ad-hoc rule-of-thumb "player" module that is quite able. Currently my only problem is to design a good way to utilize the "Verräter" / "Traitor" card. The outcome seems absolutely chaotic, a simple algorithm that randomly decides to swap target cards or keep the target card plays just as well as anything I can come up with that is more intelligent.

If the "player" module is started with a special program switch, an operator sitting at the keyboard may intercept the decisions, and is presented with all the options ranked in order by the algorithm. He may then choose a better one. This is a simple user interface in ASCII text. The software is designed on a Linux system in C++ language, using the gSOAP GPL-licensed product that generates all the XML SOAP envelope handling, excellent thing!

What is left to do is to implement a Graphical User Interface, and dress up the "gameplay" module as a proper web service on a web hotel, so that players can attach their "player" modules to it and get them into action. It will be possible to design "player" modules in any programming language on any operating system, the XML SOAP bit is absolutely transparent and described in a WSDL description that is language independent. All this would then be uploaded at Sourceforge and distributed from there.

Thread: Re: Assasin?

sthrjo — 2008-06-06T15:22:48+00:00

"The card that was placed causing the Assassin card to be turned over is immediately placed on its owners discard pile". That is what my print says, Rio Grande Games out of the box. This is consitent with the german wording what I understand. "Die Karte, die den Meuchler aufdeckt, wird sofort auf den Ablagestapel des Besitzers gelegt". My translation is "The card that caused the Assassin to be turned face-up is immediately put on the discard pile of the owner". I believe that Rio Grande has put the wrong version of the rules at the on-line rule service, and are not aware of it!

Thread: Re: Assassin?

jeffendres — 2008-06-06T01:28:20+00:00

that isn't what is in the rules or the card.

"The card that is turned over with the placement of the Assassin is put
immediately on the discard pile of it owner. The Assassin remains face
up in the column. If another card is placed below the face-up Assassin,
the Assassin has no affect on it."

http://www.riograndegames.com/uploads/Game/Game_167_gameRule...

This would be a nice game if the rules were consistent...

Thread: Close game

Kronman — 2008-05-16T23:45:13+00:00

I've got 2 sessions of Ruse and Bruise under my belt now. I can see how some strategy goes together and am working on getting some combos in. Ruse and Bruise kind of flys under the radar, but is great fun! Its a card based game that involves some bluffing. We play by putting in face down and turning over the one in front of you.

I came in second out of 4 people. The winner (Sam) was able to beat me by getting a few more higher point total captures. Ouch! It was a close one. I was just one off from getting all six suits which would have given me double points and an easy win. As we went into the last round I needed an alembic, but none were up for battle. Doh!

This game is starting to play faster with our group. This one lasted 45 minutes, but should take less time. I think Sam and Teong were dwelling on how badly I destroyed them in Betrayal at House Hill and lost their focus for a few minutes. Brian was talking a huge game, but kept winning low points. His stack of victories were tall, but weak. Teong got snookered on a few matches and wasted lots of good cards without a win. Sam did clean up on a number of big battles, so I don't mind losing to him in this game. Once I get a few more of these combos down though..... Keep one eye open buddy!

Thread: Explorers and Storms rule glitch

sthrjo — 2008-04-19T08:58:34+00:00

Assume column 1 contains a green face-down Explorer, and column 2 a face-up storm card plus a face-down card. Assume 2 players, green and red. It is red's turn: He plays a red Explorer on column 1. The green Explorer is revealed, the red Explorer is put face-down in column 1 at place 1, and the green revealed Explorer travels to column 2. The Storm card forces him to move along, and he reappears in column 1. The just played unrevealed red Explorer is now turned face-up, the green Explorer face-down at position 1 column 1, and the red Explorer does the journey into column 2 and back to column 1. A pattern emerges here: The two Explorers will activate each other eternally. There must be an extra rule to break this eternal Explorer/Storm situation.
These two states alternate:
A:
Col1: Red face-down Explorer, Green face-up Explorer (moved 1->2->1)
Col2: Storm, green face-down card
B:
Col1: Green face-down Explorer, Red face-up Explorer (moved 1->2->1)
Col2: Storm, green face-down card
A:
...

My suggestion is to limit the number of times an Explorer can be turned face-up and moved along to once per player turn. This would break the endless loop after the two first travels, first a green travel and then a red travel. The situation after this will be that column 1 contains a green face-down Explorer, and a red face-down Explorer.

Thread: Doppelgänger as 8? [Re: Dragon and doppelganger]

sthrjo — 2008-04-08T17:16:28+00:00

But the rules explicitly says that the Doppelgänger will be removed by Wizard and Witch when taking the role of the Wizard/witch-affected cards. Implicitly this means that the Doppelgänger have to copy its value much earlier, after the Musketeers, before Wizard. This does not fit the description of Doppelgänger resolving as number 8. It should resolve as number 1.5! Clarification, please!

Thread: Doppelgänger: Survives Wizard/Witch? When does it copy?

sthrjo — 2008-04-04T05:58:38+00:00

The rules (also the German version) are contradictory regarding the Doppelgänger: Examples:
Doppelgänger
Queen
Wizard
The rules under Musketeers are explicit regarding Doppelgänger beeing a 0 from start. The rules under Wizard (and Witch later) are also clear, Doppelgänger taking the role of a Queen (>= 10) is removed. So far all clear.
But the rules under Doppelgänger starts speaking about which card to value-copy when they are removed (i.e. removed by a Wizard/Witch?). This confuses me. The Doppelgänger should be removed along side with them as in the explicit text under Wizard. Also the author speaks in this forum regarding resolution order, that the Doppelgänger copies after Small Giant, before Dragon. This supports my suspicion that the text under Wizard/Witch regarding Doppelgänger is in error. This would resolve the sample above as:
Doppelgänger as Wizard
Wizard
But then the text under Wizard should be changed into "Doppelgänger is unaffected by Wizard", and the text under Witch into "Doppelgänger is removed/unaffected (which?) by Witch". My guess is unaffected.
Or is the resolution:
Wizard
?

Thread: Re: Expansion!

rvinyard — 2008-04-02T03:07:17+00:00

-xXx- wrote:
What's with this French mini-expansion, where can we get it? Were there any other additions in that expansion? Some other expansion being planned?

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/262877?size=origina

I'll second that question. Does anyone know where it's available?

Thread: Re: Kabale und Hiebe. Translation please!

Firmous — 2008-03-28T18:20:25+00:00

Já apanhei as regras no site da Rio Grande Games.

Muito obrigado pela informação!

Thread: Re: Rules Issues Compilation

boomtron — 2008-03-12T16:35:19+00:00

Hello Lutz,

Thank you for the clarifications! Makes more sense your way. I will edit my above post to reflect your rulings.

Thread: Re: Rules Issues Compilation

LutzSt — 2008-03-12T08:10:29+00:00

Hallo Lucas,
the problems with the cloak.
The cloak covers the card hidden under it. [BGCOLOR=#FF9966]Both cards count as one![/BGCOLOR]
After completing all columns the card under the cloak is revealed and the cloak card is of no account.
If the cloak card is the last card of a column and no card is hidden under, the cloak card counts as a card with a value of 0. 0 is smaller than 9, so this card is affected by the witch.
I hope, i could help.
Phantastische Grüße
Lutz

Thread: Re: Doppelganger and Invisibility Cloak

LutzSt — 2008-03-12T07:49:21+00:00

Hallo Hans,
the Doppelganger copying the value of the hidden card.
Phantastische Grüße
Lutz

ps sorry for the belated answer!

Thread: Rules Issues Compilation

boomtron — 2008-03-07T17:51:40+00:00

These threads are full of timing and rules issues for this game, so here is my attempt at wrapping them up. Since the author has suggested applying the abilities in order, even the ones after #4 (Prince and Squire) and this method seems to aleviate other timing issues, Im going with that. (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/1886887#1886887)

1. Hermit is affected by Wizard, not Witch since his power comes after Wizard/Witch. This is consistent with English rules listing Hermit under Wizard and not Witch, and avoids issues where he is one value at one time, then another after applying the Wizards/Witches. Nice and neat.

2. Same, but reversed, for Small Giant.

3. Same for Romeo, affected by Witch, not Wizard. Consistent.

4. Doppleganger copies before Dragon reduces.

5. Hermit and Small Giant only count the Invisibility Cloak card and the card beneath as one card to determine thier value. The only time the Witch would kill the Cloak, and it would matter, would be if the Cloak was the last card and was only revealed to score, and the Beggar was in effect.

6. Since the Cloak and its card underneath are 1 card, they only count as one for the purposes of completing the columns.

7. The Explorer skips the Storm-ed column.

Please add comments and questions.

Edit - Added notes to reflect author's rulings.

Thread: Doppelganger and Invisibility Cloak

Mozmonar — 2008-02-18T21:07:09+00:00

Ok in the scenario where...

Player A plays Doppelganger
Player B plays Invisibility Cloak
Player C plays anything revealing the cloak
Player B slides a facedown card under the cloak.

Does the doppelganger have the value printed on the cloak (0) or the value of the card hidden by the cloak?

Thread: Re: Kabale und Hiebe. Translation please!

theo_ms — 2008-02-11T07:09:37+00:00

hey there!

i've posted a link to a downloadable translation of the rules (the one made by north-american publisher rio grande):

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/2072359#2072359

hope it helps!

Thread: Re: English rules available?

theo_ms — 2008-02-11T07:07:32+00:00

here they are:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/2072359#2072359

enjoy!

Thread: English Rules avaiable!

theo_ms — 2008-02-11T07:04:05+00:00

for the many seeking for an English translation of the rules, i have good news: here it is!

http://www.riograndegames.com/uploads/Game/Game_167_gameRule...

it's a pdf file with the full transalation of the rulebook, made by usa publisher rio grande. it cannot be uploaded to bgg without explicit permission (due to copyright issues), but it is avaiable for download on the publisher's website.

hope that helps!

PS: many thx to Achilles (kiko_chirol), who told me where to look for the file. c'mon, how come we didn't think of that before? :P)

[note that: 1. Rio Grande released a fully translated version, so all their cards are also in English; 2. i have NO relation whatsoever with said publisher, nor, on the other hand, any intentions on inflicting their copyright. just trying to help fellow gamers here!]

Thread: A Fun 30 Minute Filler Worth Getting

KineticKill — 2008-01-29T03:16:30+00:00

Overview:
Ruse and Bruise is a great card game in the 30 minute filler category, full of twists and surprises. When I first saw it on the shelf it caught my eye as something I hadn’t heard anything about. It was from Rio Grande Games, so I knew it was worth looking at. I was pleased to discover this under the radar title was a card game with some unusual aspects.

Components:
Ruse and Bruise is a Rio Grande “small box” format game. It comes with a deck of 36 goal cards, 6 identical decks of 25 influence cards (each in a different player color), a tri-fold color rules page, and a plastic box insert that does a decent job of holding the cards in place. The goal cards are of the standard small card variety (similar to first edition Ticket to Ride cards). The Influence cards are of the square card variety (similar to the Settlers of Catan card game). The cards are all of good quality, highly colorful, and good finish. The rules page is short, simple, well illustrated with examples, and does its job.

Theme:
The theme is thin and a typical Eurogame tack on. Players are competing for influence in medieval Europe. They employ allies to accomplish goals in six areas of influence. The player gaining the most total influence at game end wins.

Setup:
To set up the game, you place one stack of 6 goal cards face down in the center of the play area for each player in the game, laying them out in a horizontal line. Each player then chooses one of the decks of influence cards, shuffles them and takes the top three as their starting hand. Determine a starting player at random and begin the game

Game Play:
The game consists of 6 rounds of play. To start each round, you flip the top goal card on each stack face up. The goal cards consist of a victory point value (from 1 to 5) and a symbol indicating one of the six areas of influence (alchemy, fencing, agriculture, trade, religion, and music). On a player’s turn, they place one of their three cards from their hand face down beneath one of the goal cards (forming a column of placed cards). If a previously placed face down card is above the card you just placed, that card is turned face up and revealed. If the card lists an action that occurs immediately, that action is taken. Otherwise you draw back and it becomes the next player’s turn. Play continues in this manner until all the goal cards are completed. A goal card is completed when it has at least as many influence cards placed in the column beneath it as its victory point value.

Once all the goal cards are completed, you flip over all face down cards (ignoring any immediate actions they may contain) and evaluate each column one by one. First, any cards with an action that is triggered at scoring are evaluated. There are five of these types of cards that are always evaluated first if they are present; each is resolved in a prioritized order specified in the rules. There are others that are not order dependent as well. Then you add up each player’s total influence value for all the cards they have in that column. The highest influence total wins the goal card (unless one of the scoring action cards present changes this). If there is a tie, the player with the card closest to the top of the column wins the tie. The goal cards are each scored and given to their respective winning player. A new round then begins by flipping over the top goal card of each stack and continuing play with the next player.

There are three kinds of influence cards in the game. The first type has only a numerical value (some of these have a higher value if placed beneath a goal card of a certain type).

The second type has a numerical value and also has an action that is triggered when they are revealed in play during a round. Some examples of these are: The Assassin (kills the card that revealed it), The Traitor (switches the goal card in this column with one from another column), The Explorer (moves to the bottom of the next column over), and so on.

The third type has a numerical value and also has an action that is triggered when goal cards are being scored. Some examples of these are: Musketeers (cancels all special abilities in this column), The Wizard (destroys all cards with a value of 10 or higher), The Dragon (reduces the value of all other players’ cards by 2), The Beggar (lowest total wins), and so on.

Winning:
After all six rounds are finished, players total up the values of all of the goal cards they won. If you have won at least one of each of the six types of goal cards, you may total the value of a single set of all six types of goal cards and score double that value minus one point for each additional goal card you have won. Highest score wins.

High Points:
A fun mix of luck and light strategy, easy to learn, fast paced, some unique card actions, surprising reversals possible.

Low Points:
Luck is a factor (but not overwhelming), for 2 to 6 players but more fun with more people (also longer playing time).

Final Impressions:
I found the game to be fun to play and exciting, as you always had to worry if the card you were going to reveal is a trap. The Explorer cards shake up the round with a surprise column switch (and you have to remember if you play on them again they move again).

A surprise hit of a filler you may not have heard of.

Thread: Re: Small Giant

bonz — 2008-01-20T15:48:11+00:00

The exception is the Cloak (Tarnkappe) when the respective owner has put another card facedown under it.
The Cloak then does not count as a card, as it is so to speak "stripped off" when the card below is revealed.

I had a talk with the game's author Lutz Stepponat and he confirmed that.

Thread: Re: Caesar & Cleo lookalike?

Numskull — 2008-01-07T02:17:21+00:00

R&B is simply more of a game than C&C; there's more going on, the cards have more ways to interact, and it supports more than two players. And, although it is chaotic, there is most definitely room for some strategy.

Thread: Re: Kabale und Hiebe. Translation please!

belbutcher — 2008-01-04T17:28:59+00:00

I have the same problem, Firmino. As soon as I get the rules in other language, I post it here.

Thread: Re: Assasin?

Lou-Dawg — 2007-12-07T08:18:53+00:00

The best is when the explorer reveals it...from another column!

Thread: Re: Order in which the cards resolve !?

Lou-Dawg — 2007-12-07T08:17:50+00:00

He's making it up, which is what you have to do when the rules aren't fully explained.

I too would like to know what happens when you have romeo, juliet, and the wizard. Or whether the cloak counts as an extra card for purposes of the hermit/small giant.

Thread: Re: Small giant and wizard

Lou-Dawg — 2007-12-07T08:14:26+00:00

Is this true? Because this happened in a game today. Also would apply to romeo in romeo and juliet.

Thread: Re: Confused about the storm cards?

BarcaLounger — 2007-11-30T01:00:32+00:00

Thanks for the clarification. This is how we played our first game, but I just wanted confirmation just in case we were misinterpreting the rules.

Thread: Re: Confused about the storm cards?

Challst — 2007-11-29T07:19:50+00:00

As far as I can tell, the cards in the column that are there all count. The storm just makes it so no new cards can enter the column.

Thread: Confused about the storm cards?

BarcaLounger — 2007-11-28T04:28:50+00:00

I was wondering if someone could explain how the storm cards work. If a storm card is turned over, is the storm card the last card to be counted in the column or does the card that was played after it (and caused the storm card to be turned over)also included in the column?

Thread: Re: Dragon and doppelganger

Suzan — 2007-11-27T21:46:07+00:00

Hi Lutz,

Thanks for your quick reply. It's clear now.
We really like the game

Groetjes,
Suzan

Thread: Re: Dragon and doppelganger

LutzSt — 2007-11-27T18:41:34+00:00

Hallo Suzan,
in the rules is an order when cards come into effect.
Dont read the sentence on top of side 6. (it is side 6 in my german rules)
So the order is continued as follows:
5. Eremit, 6. small Giant 7. Doppelgänger 8 Drache 9 Romeo 10 Bettler(Beggar)
With this order your Doppelgänger gets 20 point copiing the king. After this, the dragon reduces all cards of another colour by 2.
So player A gets 31 points.
Okay?
Phantastische Grüße
Lutz