© 2005-2011 Wyrd Miniatures, LLC
You may come across Optional Rules hidden in this document where you spot this little blue puppet hiding, click on him to view them.
Optional rules must be agreed upon by all players. If you have been playing Puppet Wars for a while and need to Turn up the heat, these rules will help you. You may also create your own optional rules.
Somewhere, no one knows exactly where, deep in the Malifaux Bayou there stands a shack.
There are many ordinary, tumbledown shacks scattered throughout the treacherous twists and turns of the Bayou, but there is nothing ordinary about this one. This one, which is never to be found in the same place twice, is the home of Zoraida the Hag, feared by all those unlucky or foolish enough to tread the Bayou trails.
For years, whenever Zoraida has left her hut on some baleful errand, the Bayou has pricked up its green and fetid ears to the muffled sounds of the smallest of wars coming from inside the wooden walls. Small, yes, but vicious and without equal. A war of cloth and stuffing, of stitches and magic, of buttons and patches, of needles and thread. If you listen very, very carefully, you can hear the puppets fighting.
But it was not always this way.
In the beginning, the puppets were lifeless and dull, but magic has a way of getting in the cracks, seeping through the seams and soaking into the fabric of existence. Before long, the wooden boxes in the shack where the puppets lay would shuffle and rattle whenever the owner was away. The shack door would slam shut, and a moment later the box lids would creak open. The puppets would clamber out, gazing around with sewn-on eyes and tottering across the rough floorboards on clockwork legs and wooden pegs. Seamus, all fancy clothes and patched top hat, usually took it upon himself to tidy up. There were always bits of chicken bones and other detritus from the witch's spells lying around, and he couldn't abide a mess. Lady Justice, with her flaming hair of red wool, pulled up a thimble for a stool and helped mend any accidental rips or tears, trimming loose threads with a swish of her long sword. Misaki would hunt for pretty scraps of cloth behind the work benches and ensure the other puppets always had a fashionable selection of matching scarves and hats to choose from, while the Death Marshal kept running away with the Nurse's high heels and trying them on.
But it could not last. One day, Lady Justice found one of the Hag's scrapbooks, full of newspaper clippings curling in the Bayou damp. Lady Justice, who found it tricky to read while squinting out from under the scarf over her eyes, waved the other puppets over to help. The shack was completely quiet as they turned page after page. For the first time, they realized there was a world beyond the Bayou, and they read about what the people in that world got up to. People who looked a bit like they did.
It was Seamus who started it. Strange thoughts flew through his little, stuffed head as he wandered around the shack. He stopped atop a trestle table, a crude model of a domed building set near the edge. He looked down, and on a sudden impulse pushed the building off the table. It landed, not with a crash, but with a soft thump. Seamus clambered down in time to see Lady Justice pulling herself out from underneath, the stitches of her face drawn into a furious scowl. She marched up to him. Seamus grabbed a Rotten Belle and pulled her to stand beside him. Lady Justice reached out a long arm and hauled the Judge to her side. Seamus knotted his brow before snatching the speedy Ronin as she tried to get away. Lady Justice waved a hand, and the Death Marshal tottered over, still not quite having got the hang of walking in heels. Before long, two tiny armies of puppets were arrayed against each other, and the rest hurried back to the safety of their toy boxes to see what would happen next.
What happened next went down in Bayou legend, and became the model for the Puppet Wars that continue to this day. No mercy was given, and none sought. The Nurse ran at the Death Marshal and plunged her giant syringe into him. His legs went in different directions and he flailed back at her ineffectually. Seamus pounced on him, and stuffing filled the air like snow. The Death Marshal's shredded remains were tossed aside, and only the high heels remained.
Lady Justice was a blur of motion, slicing the Rotten Belle into colorful, patchwork squares before showing the Austringer a thing or two about how best to throw his toy bird. He took it to heart, managing to bounce it off the heads of both the Ronin and the Razorspine Rattler, although when he chucked it at Bête Noir, she simply vanished in a puff of sawdust. He never saw her reappear at the lip of the toy box, and she fell on him in silence, her wickedly curved knives severing his threads in an instant.
It was all over before Lady Justice could respond, and by the time she had driven Bête back to the safety of the toy box, Seamus had pulled another rabbit out his hat. He was waving the stuffed animal, trying to catch the attention of something behind Lady Justice. She turned, just as a grinning Teddy ambled out of the shadows, gaily decorated patches sewn on his soft tummy. Only the Judge stood between the giant Teddy and Lady Justice. The Judge was deadly, but Teddy wanted that stuffed bunny, and nothing was going to stand in his way.
The Nurse's high heels were still standing untouched, and Lady Justice flicked them through the air to the Judge. He gave her a pained look, but he knew what he had to do. He slipped them on just as the cuddly monster loomed large. Instead of swinging with his sword, he kicked Teddy in the shins. The brightly-colored fabric started to blacken and decay, but it was not enough to prevent the gaping maw of Teddy from swallowing the Judge whole. Little bits of hat sticking to his teeth, Teddy advanced on Lady Justice, his fur darkening and starting to smell.
But it wasn't just the hat sticking to Teddy's teeth. The Judge's sacrifice had bought Lady Justice the weapon she needed. As Teddy opened wide to gulp her down, she flicked the Judge's magical bandana off one lethal incisor with the tip of her sword and wrapped it round her head. Teddy froze as the bandana's aura accelerated the decay spreading through his stuffing, and with one vengeful swipe, Lady Justice's sword cut him in half.
That had been the moment Seamus was waiting for, and he struck from behind, but he hadn’t reckoned on Lady Justice's unnerving and unnatural senses. The blow that undid Teddy swept around in one smooth strike, and Seamus' hat toppled to the floorboards, his head still inside.
The puppets froze. There were footsteps outside.
When Zoraida opened the door, nothing was left to suggest a furious battle had been waging only moments before. Nothing, that is, but a lone puppet in green cloth lying beside his own severed head. The other puppets lay motionless in the wooden boxes, terrified their exploits would be discovered. In the rush, no one had remembered to pick up Seamus. But Zoraida did not seem puzzled, or even concerned. She picked him up and, tutting and mumbling to herself, sewed him back together and placed him carefully with the others.
But before she did so, she whispered something in his ear, just for him to hear. A little something for the next time, to help him get the better of that goody two-shoes Lady Justice...
Puppet Wars is a game for 2 to 4 players. This box contains enough Puppets for 2 players. Additional Puppets and Puppet Decks are sold separately.
Each player begins the game with a single Animated Puppet: the Master Puppet. Over the course of the game, each Master will construct an army of animated Puppets by making use of the Work Benches scattered about the board.
Puppets are small-minded creatures. They resemble their living counterparts but only have a slight memory of how to function once they become animated, and sometimes they are confused about their roles. But watch out! They’re vicious when organized into an army!
Puppet Wars lets you command a Puppet Army. Your goal is to destroy the competition and protect your Master, while retaining control of those valuable Work Benches. If ever your Master is killed, or you lose control of all your Work Benches, you’ve lost… game over, no more fun.
In order to play Puppet Wars, you need a flat surface large enough for everything you use in the game and enough room for 2 to 4 players. Your playing surface should include room for:
A Battlefield may be set up hundreds of different ways. We have included 18 options in the Puppet Wars Pattern Book and you can find variations in the size and layout of the game board in the Map Section of this site. Or you can be creative and set up your own Battlefield. (Rules on how to do this are also found in the Pattern Book)
Optional rules must be agreed upon by all players. If you have been playing Puppet Wars for a while and need to Turn up the heat, these rules will help you. You may also create your own optional rules. Design Your Battlefield The Tokens included in the Puppet Wars box may be used to set up almost any sort of Battlefield map you can imagine. However, some general guidelines may help make the maps you design a little more fun:
These are only guidelines. The most imporatant part is to have fun with it. Also, check out the additional maps later in this book. You may want to try one of those maps with a slight twist: remove a Work Bench, add an Impassable Token or two, etc. Even the maps we have provided break some of these guidelines!
You can design Battlefields well before a game begins, but you may also wish to make Battlefield design part of the individual game experience. In this case, try these optional rules:
= 1 + Number of Players
= 2 + Number of Players
= 3 + Number of Players
= 5 + Number of Players = 9 Impassable Tokens = 11 Impassable Tokens = 13 Impassable Tokens = 15 Impassable Tokens
You don’t always need to set up the Battlefield so that all players are equal. When you create an unbalanced Battlefield, certain starting Work Benches will include a number. This number indicates the number of additional Pawn Puppets the player that selects that Starting Work Bench may add to their Toy Box after selecting Puppets normally. This does not allow a Player to choose additional Sidekicks. We have included just one example here to give you an idea how the unabalanced Battlefield looks.
Example: If two players agreed to use Map 19 and play the game with a shoebox (8 Puppets per Toy Box), the player who selected the Starting Work Bench that included the +3 in the same Space would be allowed to select 3 additional Pawn Puppets to add to their Toy Box after selecting their 8 Puppets as normal. The player selecting the other Starting Work Bench has no bonus and would only select 8 Puppets for their Toy Box, as normal.
There are different types of Spaces on the Battlefield; the most common are listed here:
Any Space that contains a Puppet (Friendly or Enemy) OR an Impassable Token. Occupied Spaces may not be moved onto, and they block Line of Sight.
Any Space which does not contain a Puppet or an Impassable Token. Unoccupied Spaces may be moved onto, and they do not block Line of Sight.
Here are a few rules for Tokens placed on the Battlefield while designing your own map. These are completely optional and designed to make the game more interesting. Place them in the same way you might place an Impassable Token.
Sticky Fingers. Any Puppet carrying a Firecrackers! Token gains the Action:
Sticky Fingers Action.
All the Spaces that share a border with a Space are Adjacent to that Space. They are also Range 1 from that Space. [Example: Click to see the 6 Green Spaces that are adjacent in the image below. to (and Range 1 from) the red Space.]
Certain Effects in the game have a Range of 2 or more. These Effects apply to Spaces beyond the adjacent Spaces. An Effect with Range 2 may affect any adjacent Spaces, as well as any Space adjacent to those Spaces. Range 3 would also include all Spaces adjacent to those Range 2 Spaces, and so on for Range 4 and beyond. Range In Play can Target any Puppet In Play (if Line of Sight exists). [Example: Click to see the 18 green Spaces that are within Range 2 of the red Space in the image below.]
You may decide that you want to play Puppet Wars on a Battlefield that uses squares instead of hexagons (such as by using TERRACLIPSTM). So we’ll provide you with rules for doing so.
Any reference to a Battlefield Space in the Puppet Wars Rulebook is interchangeable with square.
With squares, adjacent Spaces are the up to 8 squares surrounding the Space in which a Puppet or Effect originates. All adjacent Spaces are considered Range 1. In the image below, the 8 white Spaces are adjacent to (and Range 1 from) the Red Space.
Certain Effects in the game have a Range of 2 or more. As with the original Puppet Wars Battlefield, these Effects apply to Spaces beyond the adjacent Spaces. An Effect with Range 2 may affect any adjacent Spaces, as well as any Space adjacent to those Spaces. Range 3 would also include all Spaces adjacent to those Range 2 Spaces, and so on for Range 4 and beyond. Range In Play can Target any Puppet In Play (if LoS exists). [Example: The 24 white squares in the chart below are within Range 2 of the red square.]
Unless otherwise noted, all Attacks and Abilities require Line of Sight to be drawn to the game element they are Targeting.
To Determine LoS from one Puppet to any game element, first find the dot in the center of the Space occupied by the Puppet wishing to draw LoS. If you can draw a straight line from that dot to the dot at the center of the Space occupied the Targeted game element, without passing over any Occupied Spaces, then you have LoS.
LoS may not be drawn through the point where two Occupied square Spaces meet diagonally. If only one of those two Spaces is Occupied, then it does not block LoS.
Puppets will move across the Battlefield during a War. When allowed to move, a Puppet may move into an adjacent Space. This move may not be into an Occupied Space and may not be used to leave the Battlefield. If there are two Occupied Spaces which are diagonally adjacent to each other, Puppets may not move between them.
Unless otherwise noted, all Attacks and Abilities require Line of Sight (LoS). LoS is determined from the acting model to the game element (most commonly another Puppet) it is Targeting.
To determine LoS from one Puppet to any game element, first find the dot in the center of the Space occupied by the Puppet wishing to draw LoS. If you can draw a straight line from that dot to the dot at the center of the Space occupied by the Targeted game element, without passing over any Occupied Spaces (Spaces which contain another Puppet or are Impassable), then you have LoS.
When checking LoS, if the line passes through the shared edge of 2 adjacent Occupied Spaces, there is no Line of Sight. However, LoS may be traced along the flat edge of one Occupied Space, as long as the adjacent Space that shares the same edge is Unoccupied.
If you are playing Puppet Wars on a Battlefield which does not have dots conveniently printed in the center of every Space, determine LoS by:
One model may draw LoS to another model if it may draw a straight line from any portion of the Space it is occupying to any portion of the Space the Target is occupying without passing over an Occupied Space.
The outcomes of most Actions in Puppet Wars are determined by using the Puppet Deck. Each card in the Puppet Deck has a Numerical Value and a Suit Value.
Rams
Crows
Tomes
Masks
An Ace has a Numerical Value of 1 and double its shown Suit Value.
When an Ace is Flipped or Played, you may Flip an additional card and
replace the Numerical Value of the Ace (1) with the Numerical Value of the
newly Flipped card while keeping the Suit of the original Ace. If the
additional card is another Ace, do not Flip again.
[Example: You Flip the Ace of Rams and choose to Flip an additional card. The additional card is the 4 of Tomes. The value of your total Flip is 4 because the additional card only replaces the Ace's Numerical Value.]
A Red Joker has a Numerical Value of 14. When it is Flipped or Played, the Player chooses a Suit. The Red Joker is worth double the Suit Value of the chosen Suit.
[Example: The Red Joker is flipped, and the Player chooses the Crows Suit. The value of the Red Joker is 14 .]
If the Black Joker is Flipped while attempting to meet the Action Value of an Action, the Action automatically fails. In all other circumstances the Black Joker has a Numerical Value of 0 and no suit (this includes when the Black Joker is used as an Animation Card or Played from your hand).
Each player has his or her own Puppet Deck, which provides the cards needed to play the game, including cards that players Draw into their Control Hands. The Puppet Deck is always shuffled before the game begins and placed face-down. Neither you nor the other players may look through your Puppet Decks during the game.
Used cards are placed face-up on top of the Discard Pile. This pile should be placed next to your Puppet Deck. If you ever run out of cards in the Puppet Deck, collect all the cards in the Discard Pile, shuffle them, cut them, and place them face-down to create a new Puppet Deck. Any cards that are currently In Play remain In Play (Don’t include your Control Hand cards). No player may look through a Discard Pile during the game (although the top card is always visible).
Each player holds a hand of cards that other players cannot see.
A Player’s Control Hand Size is (4 cards) + (1 card per Work Bench controlled by the player). At the start of each Turn, if a player holds fewer cards than their current Control Hand Size, they Draw cards from their Puppet Deck until their Control Hand Size is reached.
At the end of each Turn, if a player has more cards in their Control Hand than their current Control Hand Size, they must Discard cards until they have reached their current Control Hand Size. Effects may increase or decrease a player’s Control Hand Size. [Example: My Control Hand Size is 6, and I am holding 9 Cards in my Control Hand at the end of the Turn. I currently have 3 Cards more in my Control Hand than my Control Hand Size allows. I must Discard 3 cards before continuing with game play.]
Cards may be used in game play in the following ways:
When told to Flip a card, a player will Flip over the top card from his or her Puppet Deck to an empty spot on the table where everyone can see.
When told to Draw a card, a player will take the top card from the Puppet Deck and add it to his or her Control Hand.
Any time a player uses a card from his or her Control Hand, the card is Played.
When told to Recycle a card, a player will use the card from the top of the Discard Pile.
There may be game Effects which require a player to Discard cards. When a card is Discarded, it is removed from the player’s Control Hand and placed on the Discard Pile.
Whenever a card is Flipped or Played, the player places that card face-up so that all other players can see it.
The term Puppet refers to any Puppet in the game, including Masters.
Every Puppet is represented in the game by two different components: a miniature and a Statistic Card (Stat Card).The miniature represents the Puppet's location on or off the board, while the Stat Card describes what the Puppet can do.
Every Stat Card has 2 sides. The front contains the basic Statistics for the Puppet; this is the Puppet Side. The back of the Stat Card contains the information for an Upgrade; this is the Upgrade Side.
During a game of Puppet Wars, you will only use one side of the Stat Card at a time. The Puppet Side of the Card provides all of the Statistics and Abilities that the Puppet may use while it is on the Battlefield. The Upgrade Side represents useful bits and pieces of the Puppet, which other Puppets may pick up and use to clobber each other!
When a Puppet is Animated during the course of play, place the Stat Card in front of you, Puppet Side up.
If your Puppet’s Upgrade is Attached to another Puppet during the course of play, place the Stat Card, Upgrade Side up, partially under the Card of the Puppet being upgraded.
Everyone deserves a name!
Enjoy an exceptional artist’s rendering of your Puppet.
The Value that the Animation Card
must equal or exceed to Animate this Puppet. If the AR includes a
Suit, the Animation Card used must be of that required Suit.
[Example:Joss has an AR of
8,
so an 8,
9,
10,
11,
12,
13,
or Red Joker can all be used to Animate Joss]
Located directly under the name, a Puppet may have several Characteristics. These determine which Upgrades the Puppet may Attach and which Effects may be used on the Puppet. [Example: An Effect that states, “Only Metal Puppets are affected.” will affect only Puppets with Metal listed in the Characteristic section.]
Certain Characteristics have special rules. These Characteristics include:
This Puppet is your Master. You may only have 1 Master in your Toy Box. If your Master is ever Torn Apart, you have lost the game.
This Puppet is a Sidekick. You may include only 1 of each Sidekick in your Toy Box. Only ¼ (rounding up) of your Puppets may be Sidekicks. [ Example: A Toy box with 1-4 Puppets may include 1 Sidekick, a Toy Box with 5-8 Puppets may include 2 Sidekicks, etc.]
This Puppet is a Pawn. You may include up to 3 of each Pawn in your Toy Box.
The Puppet’s Defense is the Action Value when it is Targeted by an Attack. It may also include a Suit Value.
The Puppet’s Combat Statistic determines how many cards a Puppet Flips when performing an Attack Action. A Puppet with a Cb of 0 may Attack but may not Flip any cards in doing so. A Puppet with a negative Cb may not make an Attack Action.
The maximum number of Upgrades this Puppet may have Attached at any time.
Indicated by a number of buttons stitched to the bottom of the Stat Card. Each time your Puppet suffers a Rip, place a mark over one of these buttons. Once all the buttons are marked, the Puppet is Torn Apart.
Lists any Abilities available to the Puppet.
Lists any Actions, beyond the Standard Actions available to the Puppet.
Master Puppets have a special Card unlike other Puppets’ Cards. These Cards provide all the information needed to use a Puppet as your Master but do not include an Upgrade Side because they can never be used as Upgrades. Each player must select one Master Puppet. Your Master Puppet is the center of your Puppet Army and the General of your Puppet War. Masters work just like other Puppets in every way except for the following rules:
We like to name everything!
List of Characteristics that a Puppet MUST possess to receive an Upgrade is located under the Name of the Upgrade. A Characteristic may have NO before it, in which case a Puppet with that Characteristic may not receive this Upgrade.
The Action Value to successfully Attach this Upgrade when performing the Scrounge Action.
If this Upgrade provides your Puppet with an Ability which is always active, the Ability is listed here. Puppets must use Abilities printed on Attached Upgrades as if they were printed on the Puppet's own Card.
If this Upgrade provides your Puppet with an Action it may use, the Action is listed here. Puppets may use Actions printed on attached Upgrades as if they were printed on the Puppet's own Card.
This is a modifier to the existing number of Stitches on the Puppet that receives this Upgrade and is marked by the same button used on the Puppet Side. This means the Puppet's total Stitches is increased by this amount, making the Puppet harder to Tear Apart! If the Upgrade is removed for any reason, the Puppet returns to its normal number of Stitches.
Puppet Wars may be played with 2 to 4 players. To start a Puppet War, follow these steps.
If you are setting up a Puppet War with a limited number of Puppets which are shared by all players, you can choose to assemble your Army using a Draft. To do this, follow these steps:
Determine a Game Size (Shoebox, Chest, etc.). This determines the maximum number of Puppets allowed in a Toy Box, but for the Draft, the normal restrictions on Pawns and Sidekicks do not apply. (That is, you may have more than 1 copy of a Sidekick or more than 3 copies of a Pawn, and Sidekicks may make up more than ¼ of your Toy Box.)
Assemble all of your Puppets into two groups: Masters in one, Sidekicks and Pawns in another.
Randomly determine a player to go first, and that player chooses a Master Puppet. Going clockwise around the table, all other players choose a Master Puppet.
The player who chose the last Master chooses the first Sidekick or Pawn. Going counterclockwise around the table, each player chooses 1 Sidekick or Pawn for their Toy Box, continuing counterclockwise until the Game Size is reached. Once all players have their Puppets Drafted (maximum number from Step 1), it’s time to start fighting the Puppet War.
Once you have set up your Puppet War, it’s time to battle! The battle is composed of Turns, which consist of the following steps. Once all these steps have been completed, proceed to the next Turn.
There are 2 ways to lose a Puppet War. If one of the following conditions occurs, you have lost the game:
If you lose and the game is not finished (which can happen in the case of a game with 3 or more players), then Tear Apart all of your Puppets In Play, remove your Toy Box and Scrap Heap from the game, and change all Work Benches you control to Neutral Work Benches.
In order to win Puppet Wars, you must be the last player standing! (Meaning, you have not lost and everyone else has)
Zoraida has left something shiny in the center of her hut. Clearly every Puppet must take it back to their own Work Bench and examine it.
With this strategy, you do not lose if your Master is Torn Apart or if you have no Work Benches. However, remember that any Abilities on your Master will not be available to you if it is Torn Apart, and you need Work Benches to bring Puppets onto the Battlefield. At the start of the game, place the Shiny! Item Token in the center Space of the Battlefield. Do not place anything else in the center Space. If the map you chose denotes a Work Bench or Impassable Token in that Space, simply leave it off. The first player to get the Shiny! Item Token back to a Friendly Work Bench and perform the All For Me Action wins the game.
If a Puppet moves over the Shiny! Item Token, the Puppet may perform Sticky Fingers to pick it up. Once your Puppet who is carrying the Shiny! Item Token reaches a Friendly Work Bench, it may perform the All For Me Action.
Why does the other guy always have the best stuff?
This strategy uses the normal win conditions for Puppet Wars (if your Master is Torn Apart or you have no Work Benches, you lose) but adds a new win condition. The first player to Attach three Upgrades out of an Enemy Scrap Heap using the Scrounge Action wins the game.
Note: Any Token which is specific to a game’s win condition is considered an Objective Token. Objective Tokens can share a Space with another Token (except Impassable Tokens) and can never be removed from the Battlefield. If an Objective Token is an Item Token, it must be placed in the Space a Puppet had occupied (or in an Adjacent unoccupied Space if that Space contains an Impassable Token) if that Puppet is removed from the Battlefield for any reason.For Puppets, tag is serious.
This strategy uses the normal win conditions for Puppet Wars (if your Master is Torn Apart or you have no Work Benches, you lose), but there is a twist. The first Pawn each player Animates receives an It Item Token. Any Puppet carrying an It Item Token gains the following Action:
If a Master ever receives an It Token, the Master is immediately Torn Apart.
With the exception of Tag, You're It!, Masters may not be Targeted by Enemy Puppets’ Actions (including the Attack Action) for the duration of this game.
The Puppets must collect materials to build their own blanket fort. This is very important Puppet business.
In this strategy, you do not lose if your Master is Torn Apart or if you have no Work Benches. However, remember that any Abilities on your Master will not be available to you if it is Torn Apart, and you need Work Benches to bring Puppets onto the Battlefield. During the Resolve the Turn step of any Turn, if you control the most Work Benches out of any player, you win the game.
The battle to be Top Puppet.
This strategy uses all of the normal win conditions for Puppet Wars (if your Master is Torn Apart or you have no Work Benches, you lose) but adds a new win condition. At the start of the game, place the Hill Token in the center Space of the Battlefield. Do not place anything else in the center Space. If the map you chose denotes a Work Bench or Impassable Token in that Space, simply leave it off. The Hill Token may not be removed, moved, or changed in any way. The Space with the Hill Token is not considered Occupied and does not block LoS. During the Resolve the Turns step of any Turn, if your Master is occupying the same Space as the Hill Token, you have won the game.
At the start of the game, each player chooses Puppets for his or her Toy Box. Each of these Puppets may be Animated during a Puppet War. As you have seen above, Animating your Puppets is how you fight the war!
Available Puppets: You may only choose to Animate a Puppet that is Available. A Puppet is Available if it is:
Every Puppet has an Animation Requirement (AR). To be able to Animate a Puppet it must have an AR which is equal to or less than the Numerical Value of your Animation Card. If the AR has a Suit associated with it, the Animation Card must also be of that Suit.
An Animated Puppet may move twice (1 Space each time) and perform 1 Action and any available Free Actions. It may complete these steps in any order. Additional Effects on your Puppet can allow it to do more or fewer moves or Actions during its Animation. [Example: If your Puppet has the Sprint effect, it may move an additional Space during its Animation, for a total of 3 moves and 1 Action.]
If you successfully Animate a Puppet currently in your Toy Box, place it on an unoccupied Friendly Work Bench (see next page for information about Work Benches). Place its Stat Card, with the Puppet Side up, on the table in front of you. The Puppet begins its Animation from this point. If you have no unoccupied Friendly Work Benches, then you may not Animate a Puppet from your Toy Box. The only exception to this rule is if a Friendly Work Bench is Occupied by a Friendly Master Puppet. In this case, the player may place Puppets Animated from his or her Toy Box in a Space adjacent to the Work Bench instead of on it, but the Animated Puppet’s available moves are reduced by one during that Animation.
When a Puppet is Animated, mark that Puppet with an Exhausted Token (indicating it has Animated this Turn). If you decide to Animate a Puppet which has already been Exhausted, that Puppet immediately suffers 1 Rip before it Animates. You may not Animate a Puppet if this would cause the Puppet to be Torn Apart. There are game Effects which may cause a Puppet to be Exhausted without Animating, or to cause a Puppet to no longer be Exhausted.
All Work Benches are either controlled by a player or are Neutral not controlled by any player). When you control a Work Bench, it is considered a Friendly Work Bench to you and considered an Enemy Work Bench to all other players.
You may take control of a Neutral or Enemy Work Bench by moving a Friendly Puppet onto it and using the Mine! Action while the Puppet is standing on that Work Bench. Remove the Neutral Work Bench Token (Clear) or Enemy Work Bench Token, and replace it with a Friendly Work Bench Token.
If any Puppet is standing on a Work Bench, that Work Bench may not be used to:
Scrounge Action to Attach an Upgrade (except by the Puppet standing on the Work Bench)
Note:
If a Work Bench is Occupied by a Friendly Master, Puppets may be placed adjacent to it and make one less move that Animation. However, a Work Bench Occupied by a Friendly Master may not be used by other Puppets to perform the
Scrounge
Action.
Puppets move around the Battlefield during a War. When allowed to move, a Puppet may move into an adjacent unoccupied Space on the Battlefield.
When a Puppet moves into a Space that is adjacent to an Enemy Puppet, it may not make any further moves during this Animation unless that Enemy Puppet is removed from play before the end of the Animation (usually by being Torn Apart). This applies even if the Puppet started adjacent to an Enemy Puppet and moved into a different Space adjacent to the same or another Enemy Puppet. Special: Actions which cause a Puppet to be Placed in another Space are not considered Moves, and do not follow the Blocking Rule.
Some Effects cause a Puppet to move. This movement is made as directed by the Effect and controlled by the player who caused the Effect. Effects which cause a Puppet to move still follow the Blocking rule.
There are many Actions that a Puppet may perform during a Puppet War. The Actions available to a Puppet are those on its Puppet Card, those on the Card of any Upgrade Attached to the Puppet, as well as the Standard Actions available to all Puppets. Actions are always written in the following format:
We just like naming things...a lot.
You must meet the Action Value of an Action in order to successfully perform that Action. At least one card used while performing the Action must be equal to or greater than the Numerical Action Value. The Suit Action Value must be met as well, but you add the Suits of all cards used to perform the Action.
The Additional Cost which must be paid before you can apply the Effect of a successful Action. [Examples of Additional Cost include: Discarding cards from your Control Hand, Ripping your Puppet, Placing the Puppet or Upgrade into your Scrap Heap, etc] Sometimes, paying the Additional Cost of an Action will Tear Apart the Puppet performing the Action. If this happens, or if the Puppet was removed from play for any reason by paying the Additional Cost, the Action succeeds as long as all requirements to make the Action were met. If the Action has a Range, measure the Range from the Space the Puppet occupied before being Torn Apart.
The maximum distance (in Spaces) that the Target of the Action may be from the Puppet performing the Action. A Puppet is always in Range of itself unless the Action states the Puppet cannot Target itself. If the Range does not list a number of Spaces, it will list one of the following:
This Action may only Target the Puppet performing the Action.
There is no maximum Range to the Action. This Action may Target a Puppet at any distance.
The Action does not require a Range and is usually reserved for Effects which do not Target items In Play.
Unless otherwise stated, all Actions in Puppet Wars require Line of Sight to the Target.
All Effects on In Play Puppets last until the end of the current Turn during the Resolve the Turn step., unless the Effect describes a different duration or has no duration. Effects which have no duration include: causing Rips, Drawing cards, Discarding cards, being Torn Apart, and movement.
Describes the Effect resulting from the Action. The possible Targets of this Effect are also described, along with details about duration or Line of Sight requirements.
Every Action in Puppet Wars requires a Target. The Target of an Action is the Puppet, Upgrade, or other game element to which the Effect of a successful Action will be applied. Unless otherwise stated, the Target of an Action must be within Range and LoS of the Puppet performing the Action.
+5=11
Here's a lil 'ol toy to help you get the hang of Totaling up Action Cards
Some Actions are marked with a before the Action Name. These Actions are Free Actions and may be performed as normal during a Puppet’s Animation but do not take up any time! You can perform unlimited Free Actions during a Puppet’s Animation, however a Puppet may not attempt to perform the same Free Action more than once during its Animation. These Free Actions are in addition to the number of non-Free Actions a Puppet normally would have.
These Actions are available to all Puppets (unless otherwise noted).
Scrounge (Special):
Rg: Self.
Effect:
A Puppet may only use this Action if it is adjacent to an unoccupied Work Bench or on a Work Bench controlled by any player. Select one suitable Upgrade from the Scrap Heap of the player who controls the Work Bench. The Action Value is equal to the Attachment Difficulty (AD) of the selected Upgrade. If the Action is successful, Attach the selected Upgrade to this Puppet. See the section on Attaching Upgrades for more details.
Sticky Fingers (0):
Rg: 0,
Effect:
A Puppet may only use this Action if it is standing on a Space occupied by an Item Token. The Token is now carried by this Puppet.
What Pretty Buttons You Have...(0 + Move one or more Puppets from
your Toy Box to your Scrap Heap):
Rg: N/A
Effect: Draw 2 cards. Only Masters may use this Action.
Any Puppet may use an Action to make an Attack against an adjacent Enemy Puppet. This Action is performed just like any other Action, with a few exceptions.
When a Puppet makes an Attack, instead of Flipping 1 card, the player Flips a number of cards equal to the Puppet's Cb Statistic. Select 1 card to use for the Action and move the remaining cards to the Discard Pile. If a Puppet has a Cb of 0, it may still Attack, but it does not Flip any cards during step 2 when performing the Action. A Puppet with a negative Cb may not Attack.
The Target of an Attack Action must be an adjacent Enemy Puppet unless an Effect allows the Puppet to make Attack Actions with increased Range. All Attack require Line of Sight unless otherwise stated.
The Action Value of an Attack is the Df of the Target (both Numerical and Suit, if applicable). If the Target does not have a Df, the Action Value is 0.
After a successful Attack, the Target of the Attack suffers the Effect of 1 Rip.
Some Actions or Abilities will tell you to Attach an Upgrade to a Puppet. The most common Action which results in Upgrade Attachment is the
Scrounge
Action.
When an Upgrade is successfully Attached to a Puppet, place the Upgrade's Stat Card, Upgrade Side up, under the Stat Card of the Puppet receiving the Upgrade. Immediately apply any Effects and Abilities granted by the Upgrade. The Puppet receiving the Upgrade may use all Abilities, Actions, and modifiers listed on the Upgrade as if they were printed on its own card. In this way, Upgrades make your Puppets stronger (or sometimes weaker!) as you play. Note: The miniature of a Puppet whose Card is being used as an Upgrade has no effect on the game.
The Upgrade you select must be Suitable to attach to this Puppet. This means:
Scrounge:
A Free Action available to every Puppet is
Scrounge.
This Action allows you to Attach an Upgrade and is performed just like any other Action with two exceptions:
To perform a
Scrounge
Action, your Puppet must be adjacent to an Unoccupied Work Bench or on a Work Bench that is controlled by a player. When you choose the
Scrounge
Action, select a suitable Upgrade from the Scrap Heap of the player who controls the Work Bench. This is the Upgrade you will Attach after successfully performing the Action.
The Action Value of the
Scrounge
Action is the Attachment Difficulty (AD) of the selected Upgrade (both Numerical and Suit).
Abilities provide an Effect. Effects from Abilities do not need to be activated like Actions and do not end during the Resolve the Turn step. An Ability is always active, even when a Puppet is not Animated, and does not end until the Puppet is removed from play. Abilities are clearly labled and are noted on a Puppet’s Stat Card as follows:
An Effect is anything resulting from a Puppet’s Abilities and successful Actions. An Effect will clearly state what it does, under what conditions it comes into play, and how long it lasts. Effects can also be caused by Counters.
An Effect may only Target a Puppet or Game Element within its Range.
All Effects will describe requirements for selecting a Target (i.e. Range, specific Characteristics a valid Target may or may not have, etc.). Unless otherwise noted, all Effects require LoS to the Target.
Effects may modify a Puppet's Statistics.
The following Effects are common enough that they are sometimes only referred to by name, without repeating this descriptive text. There are many more Effects, but they are not common enough to list here.
Increase or decrease a Puppet’s AR by this amount.
Increase or decrease a Puppet’s Combat by this amount.
The Puppet may not perform any Actions during its Animation.
Increase or decrease a Puppet’s Defense by this amount.
Discard a card from your Control Hand.
Draw a card from the Puppet Deck.
The Puppet becomes Exhausted.
The Puppet may perform an additional Action during its Animation. You may not use this Effect to perform the same Action twice.
The Puppet may not move or perform any Actions when it Animates.
Increase or decrease the number of Rips inflicted by a Puppet’s Attack by this amount.
The Puppet is no longer Exhausted.
The Puppet or Upgrade is now Out of Play.
While this Puppet is in a Toy Box or Scrap Heap, increase or decrease its Animation Requirement by this amount.
Remove 1 Rip from this Puppet. If there are any Rips on an Upgrade Attached to this Puppet, remove those first before removing Rips on the Puppet's Card.
A Puppet may move one less time during its Animation.
The Puppet may not move, may not use the Run Action, and may not use the Sprint Effect during its Animation.
The Puppet may make one additional move during its Animation and may not use the Run Action.
Bonus or penalty to the Numerical Value of cards Flippedor Played when a Puppet performs a non-Attack Action.
The Puppet or Upgrade is Torn Apart; place it in the Scrap Heap.
During the course of the Puppet War, your Puppets will almost certainly gain Rips or be Torn Apart. This is often caused by being Attacked by another Puppet, but there are many other Effects which may also Rip or Tear Apart a Puppet or Upgrade. Effects which cause or remove Rips are permenant and do not go away during the Resolve the Turn step.
When marking Rips, always mark rips on the Puppet Card first before marking any Rips on an Attached Upgrade Card.
Every Puppet has a number of Stitches, represented by Button icons shown on the Stat Card and sometimes on Attached Upgrades. Each time a Puppet receives a Rip, make a mark on an unmarked Button, starting with the Buttons on the Puppet Card first. Once all the Buttons on the Puppet's Card have been marked, then mark off the Buttons on any Attached Upgrades. When the number of Rips on a Puppet equals or exceeds the number of Stitches the Puppet has (including Stitches from Upgrades), the Puppet is Torn Apart.
Note: Some abilities may refer to the number of Stitches a Puppet has remaining. The number of Stitches a Puppet has remaining is considered to be the number of Stitches it started with (including Stitches from Upgrades) minus the number of Rips it currently has.
do the following:
Sometimes a Puppet or Upgrade is Removed From the Game. This most commonly happens to Upgrades which are Attached to a Puppet that was Torn Apart, but certain Effects may remove a Puppet, Upgrade, or other Game Element from the game as well.
If a Puppet or Upgrade is ever Removed From the Game, it can no longer influence the game in any way. It can never be Animated or Attached as an Upgrade.
If a Puppet is Removed From the Game, the Upgrade on the other side of its Stat Card is also Removed, as well as any Attached Upgrades. Likewise, if an Upgrade is Removed From the Game, the Puppet on the other side of its Stat Card is also Removed.
When a Puppet is Torn Apart, any Upgrade attached to that Puppet is Removed from the Game
There are Effects that cause a Puppet or Upgrade to be placed into the Toy Box from its current location. When a Puppet or Upgrade is placed into the Toy Box, immediately remove all Effects, Rips, and Counters and place the Stat Card and associated miniature into the Toy Box. Puppets and Upgrades always return to the Toy Box of the player who originally selected them at the start of the game.
When a Puppet is placed into a Toy Box from play, Tear Apart all of its Attached Upgrades.
Some Effects generate Counters. When a Counter is generated, it is usually placed on the Target of the Effect (but read the the Effect closely for instructions on exactly where to place the Counter!) and is not removed during the Resolve the Turn step. Counters may not be dropped, given to another Puppet, or removed, except by an Effect which removes the Counter. A Counter causes an Effect to the game element on which it is placed (usually a Puppet). When the Puppet carrying the Counter is Torn Apart, the Counter is Removed From the Game. Counters ALWAYS stack with other Counters, even Counters of the same name. The name of a Counter will indicate its Effect. Counter Example: A Combat +1 Counter has the Effect of Combat +1. A Stuck Counter has the Effect of Stuck.
Decay Counters are a special. When a Puppet or Upgrade with a Decay Counter would be Torn Apart, it is instead Removed From the Game.
Sometimes you will be asked to Randomly Pick a card from your Control Hand. This is easy because you have people around you who have no idea what you have in your Control Hand. When asked to Randomly Pick a card, you should first mix up the cards in your hand, then spread out the cards with the backs to the other players, and have one of them pick a card. You’ve just had a card Randomly Picked for you.
Each hexagon printed on the board you are using is 1 Space. If you decide to play Puppet Wars on a board with squares instead of hexagons, each square is 1 Space. See the Puppet Wars Pattern Book for rules on playing Puppet Wars with squares, particularly if you want to play on TERRACLIPSTM terrain.
Tokens are used to mark Spaces or represent items on the Battlefield. A Space with a Token is not considered Occupied and does not block LoS unless otherwise noted (such as Impassable Tokens). Examples of Tokens include Impassable Tokens (Black), Neutral Work Bench Tokens (Clear), and Friendly Work Bench Tokens (color selected by each player). Two Tokens may not occupy the same Space at the same time for any reason. Certain Tokens may cause Effects or provide Abilities or Actions. Tokens may not be moved except by Effects which can Target a Token.
Item Tokens work exactly like Tokens except they may be picked up by a Puppet performing the Sticky Fingers Action. A Token which is picked up from the Battlefield is placed on the Puppet’s Stat Card, but still considered In Play. A Puppet may not carry more than 1 Item Token.
Only certain Effects stack (apply their Effects cumulatively). Effects stack if they have +/- # next to the name, such as Combat +1. [Example: If a Puppet had Combat +3 and gained Combat +2, it would makeAttackswith a total of Combat +5.] Effects which do not have this notation do not stack, such as Range 2. [Example: It a Puppet has Range 2 on its Attack and gains Range 3 from an Effect, it must choose which it would like to use when it makes Attacks and cannot stack theEffects. Similarly, if a Puppet gained Sprint from 2 different Effects, it would still only move 1 additional Space, because only 1 Sprint Effect would apply.]
Fractions in Puppet Wars are always rounded up.
The player who Controls a Puppet chooses how the Puppet moves or what Action the Puppet performs. Normally, you only Control Friendly Puppets. Certain Effects may allow you to temporarily Control an Enemy Puppet.
Any Puppet which you Selected for your Toy Box (or which you chose to start with In Play) and is not being controlled by an opponent.
Any Puppet which is not Friendly.
There are times when a Puppet will have an Effect which seems to contradict a general rule that applies to all Puppets. Any time a specific rule contradicts a general rule, the specific rule takes precedence.
A Game Element is anything in the game: Puppets, Upgrades, Tokens, Counters, etc.
There may be some situations when the order in which you apply certain adjustments to Stats or other numbers can change the outcome. In these situations, do your math according to the normal order of mathematical operations (multiplication first, division second, addition third, and subtraction fourth).
Some of the questions that may arise during a game of Puppet Wars. These are just clarifications; when in doubt, check the Puppet Wars Rulebook and Puppet Stat Cards.
Example 1: The Punk Zombie moves adjacent to the Death Marshal. Because the Death Marshal is an Enemy Puppet, the Punk Zombie may not move any further this Animation, unless the Death Marshal is removed from play (although the Punk Zombie is free to move on subsequent Animations).
Example 2: The Punk Zombie moves adjacent to the Death Marshal, which is an Enemy Puppet. The Punk Zombie must stop its movement. It uses its Action to Attack the Death Marshal, and the Death Marshal is Torn Apart. The Punk Zombie is now free to use its last remaining move, because the Puppet which caused it to be Blocked has been Torn Apart.
Scrounge Action?Scrounge Action. However, no other Puppet may use that Work Bench to Attach Upgrades with the Scrounge Action while the Puppet remains on it.Sticky Fingers Action?
in its Defense gained from Scary Face? to its Defense, and Dodges with the 7 of Masks, its new Defense is 7. just for the Animation in which the Belle is placed onto the Battlefield, or does it occur every time you Animate that Belle for the rest of the game? just for the Animation in which the Autopsy is placed onto the Battlefield, or does it occur every time you Animate that Autopsy for the rest of the game? to ignore one Rip before they are applied."
