Art of War

Your Mission

Kill ’em all and become the ultimate warrior. If a player has no more cards, he is dead. If he has no more tokens, he is dead. The last player standing wins the Art of War.

The Concept

Art of War is a very easy game to understand and play, but it requires constant strategic moves in order to survive. As players attack or defend, in case of defeat they weaken their own hand by discarding Strike cards and losing tokens. They must therefore also take time to draw new Strike cards or tokens instead of attacking, to maximise their chances of final victory. Do not overreact: using your strongest Strike cards too early in the game may also prove lethal.

Setting up the Game

• Remove the 3 Massacre cards & 1 Fortune Teller from the deck before dealing.
• Deal each player 6 cards, put the Massacre & Fortune Teller back in the remaining deck, shuffle it and set it as drawing pile.
• Deal each player 6 tokens, set 6 more as drawing pile into the center and discard the rest.

How to Play

On their turn, a player can either draw 1 card (maximum 8 cards in hand), draw 1 token, or challenge another player. The attacker places a bet (tokens) in front of them and a card face down, then calls out their target.

• Refuse the Challenge: pay half of the bet, rounded up (ex: the attacker bet 3, you owe them 2).
• Accept the Challenge: match the bet and play a card face down. On the count of 3, both cards are revealed.
• Raise the Attacker: match the bet and add more tokens (maximum double the initial bet); you must also play a card face down before the attacker responds. If a player is raised, they may give up their original bet and fold, or match the raise to stay in the challenge.

Rules of a Challenge

• Cards engaged in a Challenge can never go back in hands — they must be discarded face up.
• The highest scoring card wins all bets. Only the winner may draw a replacement card.
• If scores are even, the victim receives half of the attacker’s bet rounded up as compensation. Nobody draws a card.

Collateral Damage

War is ugly and dangerous for all. All cards (except the Villager) carry a collateral damage that affects every player except the winner. This damage is activated only when the card wins a challenge.

Special Cards

• Massacre — must be played immediately when drawn; no replacement card is drawn. All players may enter a collective challenge. The player who drew the card is considered the attacker and collects all half bets from players who refuse. The highest card wins. In a draw, cards are lost and all winners split the bets (the Thief’s power still applies first).

• Fortune Teller — must be played immediately when drawn; no replacement card is drawn. All players must bet 1 token and draw 1 card in the order of play. All cards are then revealed on the count of 3. The same rules as Massacre apply; Massacre cards revealed always lose.
• Thief — when used, the player takes back their bet and steals 1 token from the adversary’s bet. In a Massacre or Fortune Teller, they steal 1 token from each bet. The power of the Thieves always goes first, in order of play from the attacker. If bets are insufficient to pay all thieves or the winner, the game continues without compensation. No card is drawn to replace the Thief. Exception: the Great Dragon kills the Thieves — their power is cancelled and the card is lost.

• Wise Man — can be played after cards are revealed to add 2 points to the total score. If the player wins with 1 or more Wise Man, they draw 2 replacement cards. If the player did not win, they may not draw any card.
• Dragon Slayer — can kill the Great Dragon but loses against any other card. In a Massacre or Fortune Teller, he wins only if a Great Dragon card was played.

Killing a Player

• When a player is killed by running out of cards, their killer steals all of their tokens.
• When a player is killed by running out of tokens, their killer steals all of their cards and must keep a maximum of 8 cards in hand between their own and the newly acquired ones, discarding the rest face up.
• If a player is killed during a Massacre, the winner takes their due. If the Massacre ends with even scores and the player had played their last card or token, their tokens/cards are split between winners.
• If a player wins using their last card and draws a Massacre card, they die and all their tokens go back into the centre.

Contents of the Game

59 cards: 2× Farmer, 2× Villager, 2× Soldier, 3× Hermit, 2× Mad Monkey, 2× Militia, 3× Chef, 4× Imperial Guard, 4× Lieutenant, 3× General, 3× Sisters, 2× Oracle, 2× Monk, 3× King, 2× Queen, 2× Assassin, 1× Emperor, 2× Heroine, 2× Legend, 1× Great Dragon, 1× Dragon Slayer, 4× Wise Man, 3× Massacre, 1× Fortune Teller, 3× Thief. Plus 48 tokens and 1 rule book.