Components

• 1 General Mapache deck with 62 cards
• 1 Padre Esteban deck with 62 cards
• 19 Malpaso guardians character cards
• 9 Battlefield cards
• 1 Dynamite the Bridge card
• 1 Gatling Gun card
• 1 Collapse the Tunnels card
• 2 All Rivers Poker summary cards
• 1 Arrival of the Mexican Army card
• 12 All Rivers Poker Tournament cards
• 14 Mexican Army tokens
• 11 True Grit (extra life) tokens
• 4 Malpaso guardians power tokens
• 9 General Mapache power tokens
• 1 Turn marker
• Rulebook

Object of the Game

Revolver is a two-player card game set in the Old West, in which one player takes the role of General Mapache () and his band of thieving outlaws, and the other player is controlling the villagers and guardians hired to protect the town of Malpaso, led by the infamous Padre Esteban.

To win the game, a player must meet one of the following conditions:

• The General Mapache player wins if every member of the Malpaso guardians is killed.

• he Malpaso guardians player wins if Padre Esteban survives the showdown in the Abandoned Silver Mine battlefield turn space "4".

• he Malpaso guardians player wins if he manages to remove all twelve tokens from the Arrival of the Mexican Army card.

Setup

1. Place the three Malpaso battlefield cards in the middle of the playing area, between both players - in the following order, from left to right: Los Quantos Bridge, Malpaso, Abandoned Silver Mine.

2. Leave some space to the left of the Los Quantos Bridge for three additional battlefield cards.

3. Place the Dynamite the Bridge card beside the Los Quantos Bridge card.

4. Place the Gatling Gun and Collapse the Tunnels cards at the end of the battlefields row, next to the silver mine.

   

5. Place the true grit and power tokens in a supply at the beginning of the row of battlefields.

6. Place in front of the Malpaso guardians player the seven starting character cards.

   Shuffle the remaining guardian cards and place these face down to form the guardian draw pile. This player also takes the Mexican Army card and puts twelve tokens on the card.

7. Play the poker tournament (see below).

8. Both players take the appropriate deck, shuffle and place it face down in their playing area.

9. Each player draws five cards and takes these in his hand. (Note that one player may draw more cards dependant on the cards played in the poker tournament)

Poker Tournament

The outcome of the tournament affects the three starting locations and any additional changes to the starting set up.

1. Each player takes the appropriate All Rivers Poker Tournament poker cards, shuffles and randomly discards one card unseen back into the box. He then takes the remaining cards into his hand.

2. Players choose a card from their hand and places it face down in front of them. Once both players have chosen a card they are revealed at the same time. The player who played the highest value card wins the round.

   Note: See the All Rivers Poker summary card for the specific rules for these cards.

3. Discard all played cards (except: You Cheatin' Dawg!).

   Repeat steps 2 & 3 until one player has won two rounds.

4. If the Malpaso guardians player has won the tournament set up place the Crystal River battlefield cards to the left of the Los Quantos Bridge, in this order (from left to right): Church, Saloon, Livery Stable.

   However if the General Mapache player has won place the Cataratas de Buffalo battlefield cards to the left of the Los Quantos Bridge, in this order (from left to right): Cathouse, Jailhouse, Drinking Den.

5. Look at the cards played by both players during the poker tournament and apply their effects to the side that played them (this will include items such as a larger starting hand and/or power tokens placed on the Malpaso location card).

   Important: Even if a player has lost a round, he'll get the benefits of the card played.

6. Discard all the poker cards and remove them from the game by placing them back in the box.

Cards

Player Cards

Each player has his own deck of cards. All cards have the same anatomy:

Guardian Character Cards

The Malpaso guardians player has 19 character cards: they represent the members of this team.

When the Malpaso guardians player has to take a casualty - either through the play of cards by the General Mapache player, or as a result of the Attack phase - he must choose one of these characters and remove it from the game.

Each guardian character card has a value printed in the left upper corner of the card - this is their Survival Rating.

If the Malpaso guardians player must take a casualty, he must choose a guardian character card in front of him with the lowest Survival Rating possible.

If there is a choice, the Malpaso guardians player can choose from among the available gang members - of that Survival Rating pool.

Killed guardian cards are removed from the game and go back into the box.

Also, some of the gang members have a detrimental effect stated on their card - obey the special text upon selecting the casualty.

Battlefield Cards

At the start of the game (after the All Rivers Poker Tournament) between both players are six battlefield cards. These represent locations where both factions meet. It also represents a progressive timeline within the story of the game.

The first three locations allow the Malpaso guardians player to recruit additional guardians as well as making a decision whether to stay or move on.

Game Play

The game is played in turns. Each player completes his entire turn before play passes to the opponent. Play passes back and forth in this fashion until one player wins.

The Malpaso guardians player always starts the game by taking the first turn.

A turn is divided into four phases:

1. Advance turn marker (only Malpaso guardians player)
2. Draw two cards
3. Play cards
4. Attack (only General Mapache player)

1. Advance Turn Marker

At the beginning of his turn, the Malpaso guardians player, advances the turn marker one space forward.

If the turn marker is on the last space on a battlefield, place the turn marker on space "1" on the next battlefield. In the first three battlefields (1-3) some turn spaces are optional.

These spaces have a number between brackets below them. The Malpaso guardians player decides to move to the next battlefield on the battlefield or skips all remaining optional turns on this battlefield and move to the next battlefield card by placing the turn marker on space "1" on the next battlefield.

1a. Draw Guardian Cards

If the turn maker is on one of the first three locations (Church/Cathouse, Saloon/Jailhouse, Livery Stable/ Drinking Den) draw the number of guardians from the guardian draw deck equal to the number below the turn marker space and adds these to the characters on the table in front of him.

In the optional rounds guardian cards are drawn too.

2. Draw Two Cards

Draw two cards from your deck and take these into your hand.

3. Play Cards

You may put any number of cards from your hand into play on your side of the current battlefield card (the card with the turn marker on it).

To play a card from your hand, you must pay the cost of that card. The cost of a card is indicated by an icon in the left border of the card (e.g. ). Pay the cost by discarding that number of other cards from your hand into your discard pile.

There are three types of cards:

• Firepower cards: These cards have a white or black poker chip in the top left corner of the card. The number in the poker chip indicates the firepower (attack) value of this card. Firepower cards are placed at your side of the playing area.

• Row-blocking cards: These cards have an orange border and are placed at a battlefield in your oppo- nent playing area (maximum of two row blocking cards per side on each battlefield).

• One-shot effect cards: Follow the instructions on the card and place it on the discard pile.

Cards are always placed at the current battlefield (the card with the turn marker on it ) unless the text on the card states differently.

Imagine there's an imaginary column below and above each battlefield where the cards are placed. The Malpaso guardians player has a three card limit.

This means he can have a maximum of three firepower cards at his side of each battlefield. Once three cards have been placed by the Malpaso guardians player (or his opponent), he may not place any more cards at that battlefield (unless he discards one of his own firepower cards already at his side of this battlefield to his discard pile or a card states differently).

The General Mapache player has no such limit and can place as many cards on his side of each battlefield (unless a card played be his opponent prevents him from doing so).

The General Mapache player may place row-blocking cards in the playing area of the Malpaso guardians player at any battlefield. These cards count toward the three card limit of his opponent. He can't place a row- blocking card at a battlefield already containing three cards.

Many cards have special rules described in their text. All text takes effect immediately when this card is played. These rules are applied to the current battlefield (unless the text on the card states differently).

The symbol on firepower cards tells you to do this action once when the card enters the playing area.

All firepower and row-blocking cards stay at the battlefield they're played at for the rest of the game and may not be moved to another battlefield, unless:

• You choose to discard one of your own firepower cards in play at the current battlefield and put it into the discard pile;

• It's taken out by your opponent;

• You play a card that specifically says you can move a card to another battlefield or discard it.

Powder Kegs/Ammo

Some cards have additional items on them: Powder kegs for the Malpaso guardians player or Ammo for Mapache raiders player.

These cards can be played as afirepower or one-shot-effect card for the listed effect, or can played for an additional location effects on the Los Quantos Bridge or in the Abandoned Silver Mine using the powder keg or ammo on the card.

You may use powder kegs and ammo at any moment during your turn at the appropriate battlefield. You can play cards before or after using these symbols.

Los Quantos Bridge

On his turn, while on the Bridge location, the Malpaso guardians player can discard cards from his hand with a total of two powder keg symbols to blow up the bridge.

This causes all the General Mapache player's cards played at this battlefield to be discarded. The bridge can only be blown up once. The Malpaso guardians player doesn't discard any cards played at this battlefield.

Abandoned Silver Mine

On his turn, while in the Silver Mine the Malpaso guardians player can discard cards from his hand with a total of two powder keg symbols to collapse part of the mine, discarding the cards played by the Mapache player at this battlefield.

The Malpaso player can do this each turn the turn marker is on this battlefield as long as he has powder kegs to pay the cost.

The Malpaso guardians player doesn't discard any cards played on his side of this battlefield.

On his turn, while in the Silver Mine the General Mapache player can use the dreaded 'Gatling Gun' to kill the Malpaso guardians player's character cards.

For each firepower card the Mapache guardians player has on his side of the battlefield he can discard one card from his hand with an ammo symbol on it. For each ammo symbol you discard in this way the Malpaso guardians player must discard a character card.

True Grit

Some characters gain - when entering play or during the game - a true grit token: .

This means this character has an extra life. If a card has a true grit token on it, it won't be removed from the play area when it's killed. Only remove the token from the card and leave the card in play.

4. Attack

During each turn the General Mapache player takes, he can try to kill a bandit using his firepower.

First both players determine their total firepower at their side of the current battlefield.

The General Mapache player sums his firepower (contributed by gang members, wagons, etc).

The Malpaso guardians player does the same (contributed by firepower cards like Beecher's Bible, etc) and adds the defense power (white power chip in the bottom left corner plus tokens on the card) of the current battlefield to this total.

If the General Mapache player's total power is greater than the guardians at the current battlefield, then the Malpaso guardians player must take a casualty.

End of the Game

Play continues as described until one of the objectives has been met.

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