Meuterer (Mutineer)

By Marcel-André Casasola Merkle
A card game for 3-4 players age 12 and up
Playing time: 45-60 minutes

Based on version 1.2 (20.2.2001)
Translation from German to English: Ronald Hoekstra
Revised by: Bob Claster
HTML Conversion and additional revisions: Norman Petry

Contents:

Note: a multimedia version in German of the game rules can be found at: www.casasola.de/meuterer/start.htm
You can download an MS-Word version of these rules from: www.casasola.de/spiele/meuterer/engrules.zip

Reference:

If you know VERRÄTER, you know what to expect: a complex exacting card game, which can be compared with a boardgame. The rules of MEUTERER have the same construction as the rules of VERRÄTER. MEUTERER has the feeling of VERRÄTER, but both games are definitely different.

Game background:

Mutiny on high seas! Everyone has signed onto the Merchant Ship to earn as many Victory Points as possible by selling their wares. The Merchant gets the best price in a trade and the Loading-clerk can choose his new wares.
The Mutineer however has some other ideas: together with the Ship's Boy he'll try to overthrow the Captain. On the other hand the Captain tries to keep in control and hopes the Boatswain will help him.

Goal:

The players try to sell their wares at the best price to earn Victory Points.

Preparation:

To make the introduction as easy as possible, the game rules are divided in two parts:
On the left side you will find the general game rules. Next to it on the right side (in italics) you'll find an introductory game, which shows the most important game mechanics.

Both Goal cards are placed beside the island circle.

General Rules

  • Sort out the playing cards

The Captain cards (Outline 1) show which player is the actual Captain and how many Victory Points he will pay to the Boatswain for his assistance (pouch).

  • A random draw decides which player will be Captain. He gets both Captain cards.
 Welcome to the introductory game (example with 4 players)

The playing cards are sorted out.

Bernhard is chosen as the Captain. He takes both Captain cards and places them in front of him. On his left are sitting Steffi, Florian and Carmen.

The Island cards (Outline 2) build the game board: they show which wares can be sold. They also show the charts with the Victory Points. The ship symbol in the lower right corner shows the number of points the Captain or the Mutineer will earn when the Ship arrives at the island. Every Island card has a light (active) and a dark (passive) side. Wares can only be sold at the active islands.

  • The Island cards are shuffled and laid out in a circle (Outline 3).
  • All cards have their dark side face-up. Only Highland will have its light side showing. This is where the Merchant Ship will start.

The Island cards are placed clockwise in a circle (Outline 3):
At 12 o'clock is Highland, at 1 o'clock is Shiver Cave, then Greenland, Poor Tongue, Ice Rock, Monkey Island, Cold Crag, Summerland, Red Reef, Pirates' Nest, Thimble and Sand Cape.
Highland shows its light side, all the others show their dark side.

The Ship card shows at which island the Ship actually is. This island is called Ship's island from now on.

  • The Ship card is put on the Highland (Outline 3).

The Ship card is placed on Highland.

The Ware (Commodity) cards are important, because you earn Victory Points when selling them. The 6 Conflict cards however decide the outcome of a mutiny.

  • Shuffle the Ware cards and place them as a facedown draw pile next to the circle of Island cards.
  • Every player takes 5 Ware cards from the draw pile.

The Ware cards are shuffled and placed facedown beside the island circle. Starting with Bernhard, each player draws 5 cards. In this example the cards are divided as follows:
Bernhard: 2x Conflict, 2x Wine, 1x Wheat
Steffi: 2x Conflict, 1x Salt, 1x Wheat, 1x Cloth
Florian: 2x Cloth, 1x Wheat, 1x Salt, 1x Wine
Carmen: 2x Salt, 1x Wine, 1x Conflict, 1x Ruby

The Action cards (Outline 1) give the players the opportunity to take another character with different advantages (Summary 1). Only the Captain is stuck with his character and so he can't choose an Action card:

  • The Mutineer starts a mutiny. If he succeeds, he will be the new Captain.
  • The Ship's Boy helps the Mutineer with the mutiny. If the Mutineer is successful, the Ship's Boy gets 2 Victory Points.
  • The Boatswain helps the Captain with an extra Conflict Point. If the Captain retains his job (even if no mutiny was started), he earns 1 Victory Point and also the Victory Points the Captain should pay him, according to the Captain card.
  • The Merchant always gets the highest value in the Score Chart (Outline 2), even in the event of a tie.
  • The Loading-clerk draws 3 extra Ware cards and chooses which cards he wants to keep.

All 5 Action cards are placed facedown in the middle of the island circle.

 The 5 Action cards are placed facedown in the middle of the island circle.

The Goal (Destination) cards show the destinations of the Captain and the Mutineer.

The Goal cards are placed at the side of the playing area.

Gameplay (Summary 2)

The game consists of multiple rounds, each divided in several phases. The main phases in each round are the offering of the wares and the mutiny.

The game starts:

Phase 1
Choose the Captain card

  • The Captain decides how many of his Victory Points he will give to the Boatswain, in case he helps him.
  • He chooses one of the Captain cards and places it in front of him, with the corresponding side up.

Phase 1

Bernhard decides how many Victory Points he wants to give to the Boatswain. He chooses the Captain card with 0/1 and places the 0 face-up.

Phase 2
Offer Ware cards

Ware cards can only be offered on active islands.

Note: The Conflict cards are Ware cards, but they can't be sold.

  • The Ware cards Ruby, Salt, Wine, Cloth or Wheat can only be sold on the islands that show the corresponding ware. Exceptions are Highland and Pirates' Nest: any type of ware can be sold on those islands.
  • Only the player that sells the most wares on an island earns Victory Points. When more players sell the same amount of wares, they share the Victory Points. Every player can only sell one type of ware per island.
  • The Captain starts the offering of wares.
  • The players take turns clockwise and choose one of the following two options:
    either
    A) Play Ware card:
    • The player plays one of his Ware cards face-up in front of him. It is allowed to play wares that can't be sold. Then the next player takes his turn.
    Important:
    • As long as they want, players can play cards turn after turn. If a player doesn't have any cards, he has to pass (see B).
    • Although Conflict cards have nothing to do with the sale, it is allowed to play them during the offering of wares.
  • or
    B) Pass and choose an Action card:
    • The player decides not to play any further Ware cards. He places his remaining Ware cards facedown in front of him, if he has any left. The number of cards must be clear to the other players.
    • The player can't play any further Ware cards for the rest of this offering round.
    • If it's the Captain who passes, then he indicates which island he wants to sail this round. He places the Captain's goal card -- starting at the Ship's island -- in clockwise order that many islands further than the number of facedown Ware cards he has placed in front of him. If he has no Ware cards remaining, then the Goal card is placed at the Ship's island.
    • If it is not the Captain who passes, then the player chooses one of the Action cards. He takes all the remaining action cards from the middle, chooses one and places it facedown in front of him. The other Action cards are placed in the middle again.
    • When all the players have passed, the offering of Ware cards has ended.

Phase 2

Bernhard starts the offering of wares and places 1x confict face-up in front of him. Although he can't sell it, it may be important to prevent a mutiny.

Steffi also plays 1x Conflict card, Florian 1x Cloth and Carmen 1x Wine.

Now it's Bernhard's turn again. He places 1x Wine. Steffi passes. She places her remaining 4 cards facedown in front of her and takes the 5 Action cards. She chooses the Mutineer and places it facedown in front of her. The remaining Action cards are placed facedown in the middle again. Florian plays 1x Cloth and Carmen 1x Salt.

Bernhard plays 1x Wine; Steffi watches and can't play a card. Florian passes too. He places his remaining 3 cards facedown and takes the remaining Action cards. He sees that Steffi has taken the Mutineer and considers: if he takes the Boatswain and the mutiny is defeated, he only gets 1 Victory Point (none from the Captain). If he takes the Ship's Boy, he will get 2 Victory Points if the mutiny is successful. He doesn't have any Conflict cards in his hand to play in phase 4. He decides to choose the Merchant, which will give him the highest Victory Points even with an equal majority. The card is placed facedown in front of him; the remaining 3 are placed facedown in the middle.

Carmen and Bernhard are the only players that can play Ware cards now. Carmen has still 1x Salt and plays his face-up.

Bernhard passes and places his remaining 2 cards facedown. The Captain goal card is placed on Greenland. This island is in clockwise order 2 islands away from Highland. Because he is the Captain Bernhard doesn't take an Action card.

Carmen is the last one to pass. If she had had more Salt cards, she could have played them, to earn Victory Points for the sole majority. She doesn't have any however, so she takes an action card: the Ship's Boy.

Phase 3
Reveal Action cards:

  • Every player reveals his Action card.
  • If anyone has the Mutineer, then he places the Mutineer's Goal card -- starting at the Ship's island -- in clockwise order that many islands farther than the number of facedown Ware cards he had placed in front of him. If he had no remaining Ware cards, then the Goal card is placed at the Ship's island.

Note: Mutineer and Captain can have the same destination.

Phase 3

All the Action cards are revealed. Bernhard suspects trouble. If he had played a higher Captain card (1, 2 or 3), perhaps he would have support from the Boatswain. Steffi, who chose the Mutineer, places the Mutineer goal card on Ice Rock, corresponding to the 4 facedown cards she had.

Phase 4
Activate Mutiny:

Note: This phase will only be used if one of the players has chosen the Mutineer card.

  • Starting with the Captain and continuing clockwise, each player that is participating in the mutiny (everyone except the Merchant and the Loading-clerk) can play Conflict cards to support or defeat the mutiny:
    • Captain and Boatswain play their cards in front of the Captain,
    • Mutineer and Ship's Boy in front of the Mutineer.
    • Merchant and Loading-clerk are not allowed to play Conflict cards. Conflict cards already played by them won't count.
  • The side with the most Conflict cards wins (don't forget to count the extra Conflict Point on the Action card of the Boatswain). In the case of a tie the Mutineer wins.

Phase 4

The mutiny can take place. In the present situation Steffi would be the new Captain, because in case of a tie the Mutineer is successful. All the players taking part in the mutiny can play any number of Conflict cards they like. Bernhard plays 1x Conflict. Steffi attacks with 1x Conflict. Because it's a tie now, Carmen, the only one who still can play cards, can keep her Conflict cards for later use. She decides to keep them and doesn't play any card. Bernhard loses the mutiny because of the tie.

Phase 5
Distribute Victory Points:

  • Write down the Victory Points.

Victory Points for Captain, Mutineer, Boatswain and Ship's Boy:

Mutiny is defeated or not activated:
  • The Captain removes the Goal card of the Mutineer from the island.
  • He gets the Victory Points from the island with the Captain's Goal card (ship symbol in the lower right corner of the island).
  • The Boatswain gets 1 Victory Point and the Victory Points shown on the Captain card (0-3 Victory Points). The Captain loses the points on the Captain card, even if he gets a negative score.
  • Ship's Boy and Mutineer leave empty handed.
Mutiny is successful:
  • The Mutineer removes the Goal card of the Captain from the island.
  • He gets the Victory Points from the island with the Mutineer's Goal card (ship symbol in the lower right corner of the island).
  • The Mutineer gets the Captain cards and is from now on the new Captain.
  • The Ship's Boy gets 2 Victory Points.
  • Boatswain and Captain leave empty handed.

Phase 5

The Victory Points are written down.

Victory Points for Captain, Mutineer, (Boatswain) and Ship's Boy:

Carmen gets 2 points as Ship's Boy. Steffi takes the Captain's Goal card from the island and sets it aside. For the successful mutiny, She gets the 5 Victory Points that are depicted in the ship symbol on Ice Rock.

Bernhard (and Florian) get no points. Because Steffi won the mutiny, she gets the Captain cards and is from now on the new Captain.

Victory Points for selling wares:

  • Each active island (2 at most) is counted separately.
  • The player with the most wares of the type shown on the active island receives Victory Points (Outline 2).
  • Use the Score Chart shown on the Island card: One player with the sole majority gets the highest number of Victory Points. If two players equal the majority, they both get the middle number of Victory Points. If three players equal the majority, they all get the lower number of Victory Points. If all four players have the same amount, no one gets Victory Points.

Note: If players have wares that can be sold on multiple islands, they have to decide, starting with the Captain, where they want to sell them. Each player can only sell one kind of ware per island. For example: With 4 Wheat you can sell 2 on Monkey Island (Affeninsel) and 2 on Highland (Hochland) if the player can get the majority or an equal majority.

Important: On Highland (Hochland) and on Pirates' Nest (Piratennest) the type of ware is not depicted. Each player can choose which ware they want to sell. Only one kind of ware per player counts (Conflict cards are not wares).

  • In the case of a tie, the Merchant always gets the highest number of Victory Points (possibly even on 2 islands).

Victory Points for selling wares:

At the moment only Highland is active and the only place to sell wares.

Because Bernhard, Florian and Carmen all have the same number of wares, the decision of Florian to take the Merchant was a good one. The Merchant gets the highest points even in case of a tie, in this case 4 points. Bernhard and Carmen both get 2 points, because 3 players shared the majority (Outline 2). Steffi doesn't get any points, because she wasn't selling anything. Even with 1 Ware card she wouldn't have received any points.

Phase 6
Move Ship:

  • Except for the Ship's island, all the islands are turned to show their passive side.
  • Depending on the outcome of the mutiny the Ship is moved to the destination of the Captain (if the Captain kept his job) or the Mutineer (if the Mutineer is the new Captain).
  • The new Ship's island is turned to show its active side.

Phase 6

Now the Ship sets sail to the new island. Highland stays active as the old Ship's island and Ice Rock (the destination of the Mutineer) is the new Ship's island and therefore also becomes active (turned to the light side). Steffi puts the Ship on Ice Rock.

Phase 7
Remove Goal cards, discard Ware cards.

  • The Goal cards are set aside.
  • All the face-up Ware cards (including the Conflict cards) are placed on the discard pile.
  • The players take all their facedown cards back into their hands for the next round.

Phase 7

The Goal cards of the Mutineer and the Captain are set aside.

All the face-up cards are placed on a discard pile. The players take their facedown cards into their hands.

Phase 8
Draw Ware cards:

  • Ware cards are drawn from the facedown draw pile. If it's depleted, shuffle the discard pile and place it facedown.
  • Starting with the Captain, all the players replenish their hand to 5 Ware cards.
  • The Loading-clerk gets 3 extra cards and chooses which of these drawn cards he wants to keep to replenish his hand to 5 cards. The remaining 3 cards are discarded under the discard pile. If there is no discard pile, he starts a new one.

Phase 8

All the players replenish their hands to 5 cards. Steffi as the new Captain starts and draws 2 cards; Florian also draws 2 cards; Carmen gets 3, and Bernhard 4 cards.

If Florian had chosen the Loading-clerk, he would have drawn 2 cards (regular) plus 3 more (as the Loading-clerk). From these 5 cards he would then have chosen 2 to replenish his hand. The remaining 3 would have been discarded.

Phase 9
Put Action cards in the middle:

  • All the Action cards are placed facedown in the middle of the island circle.

Phase 9

Each player places his Action card facedown within the island circle.

Phase 10
End of round:

The round has ended. Start a new one, beginning with Phase 1.

Phase 10

This concludes the introductory round. The next round starts in Phase 1 with Steffi as the new Captain.

You now have a first impression of the sequence of play. To learn the finer points of the game, refer to the left part of the general rules.

Game End

  • After 8 (with 3 players after 9) rounds, the game ends after the distribution of Victory Points in phase 5.

The Winner:

  • The player with the highest total number of Victory Points wins the game.

Pirate Variant

In this version the Pirate card and the Pirate Ship are added. The Pirate card is shuffled into the Ware deck and the Pirate Ship is placed at Pirates' Nest Island.

As soon as a player in the ware offering phase plays the Pirate card, the Pirate Ship will sail. It will move counterclockwise as many islands as the number of cards the player who played the Pirate card has left in his hand. The player will play on with those cards.

If the Pirate Ship reaches the Merchant Ship (or passes by), all the wares are robbed: all the played Ware cards are discarded, together with the Pirate card. This also applies to the cards of a player who has passed. Now the round will continue as normal.

If the Merchant Ship reaches the Pirate Ship (or passes by) during its travels, nothing happens.

Ware cards (Warenkarten)

Fingerhut - Thimble Konflikt - Conflict
Eisfelsen - Ice Rock Korn - Wheat
Affeninsel - Monkey Island Tuch - Cloth
Sandkap - Sand Cape Wein - Wine
Hochland - Highland Salz - Salt
Kalte Klippe - Cold Crag Rubine - Rubies
Frosthöhle - Shiver Cave Piraten - Pirates
Sommerland - Summerland
Grünland - Greenland
Rotes Riff - Red Reef
Karge Zunge - Poor Tongue
Piratennest - Pirates' Nest

Action cards (Aktionskarten)

Kapitän - Captain
Maat - Boatswain
Meuterer - Mutineer
Schiffsjunge - Ship's Boy
Händler - Merchant
Lademeister - Loading-clerk

Summary 1 (Übersicht 1)

AKTIONEN - ACTIONS

The CAPTAIN chooses the destination island and gets the Victory Points shown on the Goal card

+1 Conflict Point when a mutiny is activated. If the Captain keeps his job, the BOATSWAIN gets 1 Victory Point plus the Victory Points shown on the Captain card.

The MUTINEER activates a mutiny. If he is successful, he will be the new Captain and gets the Victory Points shown on the Goal card.

The Ship's Boy supports the Mutineer in a mutiny. If the mutiny is successful, he gets 2 Victory Points.

When selling wares, the MERCHANT gets the highest number of Victory Points in the Score Chart even in case of a tie.

The LOADING-CLERK gets 3 extra Ware cards and chooses which cards he wants to keep.

Summary 2 (Übersicht 2)

RUNDENABLAUF - ROUND SEQUENCE

Phase 1 Choose Captain card
Phase 2 Offer Ware cards
A) Play a Ware card face-up
B) Pass and choose an Action card
Phase 3 Reveal Action cards
Phase 4 Activate Mutiny
Phase 5 Distribute Victory Points
Phase 6 Move Ship
Phase 7 Remove Goal cards, and
discard Ware cards
Phase 8 Draw Ware cards
Phase 9 Put Action cards in middle of Island Circle
Phase 10 End of Round

Game ends after 8 rounds (with 4 players)
9 rounds (with 3 players)

Outline 0 (Skizze 0)

SYMBOLE - SYMBOLS

Warenart - Ware types
beleibige Warenart - Any ware
Konfliktpunkte - Conflict Point

Siegpunkte - Victory Points
Victory Points for Captain or Mutineer
Additional Victory Points for Boatswain that the Captain must give up

Allied with the Captain
Allied with the Mutineer
Neutral

Outline 1 (Skizze 1)

AKTIONSKARTEN/KAPITÄNSKARTEN - ACTION CARDS/CAPTAIN CARDS

The Boatswain supports the Captain with an additional Conflict Point.

Allegiance: Captain, Mutineer or neutral

Effects of the Card (for non-neutral cards, and only if successful)

Kapitänskarten - Captain Cards
Aktionskarten - Action Cards

Outline 2 (Skizze 2)

INSELKARTEN - ISLAND CARDS

Wertungstabelle - Score Chart

1 player has played the most Rubies: 2 Victory Points

2 players have played the most Rubies: 1 Victory Point each

3 players have played the most Rubies: 0 Victory Points

Type of ware that can be sold for Victory Points

Victory Points for the players with the most Rubies

Victory Points for the Captain or the Mutineer

aktive Seite - Active side
passive Seite - Passive side

Outline 3 (Skizze 3)

AUFBAU - SETUP

Fahrtzielkarten - Goal Cards

Nachziehstapel Warenkarten - Ware Cards draw pile

Schiff - Ship

Aktionskarten - Action Cards

Inselkreis - Island Circle

Warenkarten - Ware Cards

Kapitänskarten - Captain Cards