Wool Gang (2023)

Overview

George the shepherd is exhausted. It’s complete chaos in the valley! The sheep do whatever they want and love to wander around. Shearing time is approaching and George needs to find a way to herd them all together… and fast! Using the village sheepdogs to help seems the best way forward. Make the most of each dog’s skills to get the sheep under control.

Object of the Game Be the first player to score 20 points.

Setup

Form the Sheep deck Shuffle all Sheep, Joker, and Action cards together. Deal six cards to each player. Deal the Sheepdog and Empty Doghouse cards Deal two Empty Doghouse cards to each player, then return the rest to the box. Shuffle the Sheepdog cards, then deal one to each player.

Give a Score wheel to each player. The player with the most convincing “baa” goes first.

Playing the Game Wool Gang is played over several rounds. Each round has two phases:

Playing the Sheep, Sending the Dogs.

Playing the Sheep : Starting with the first player then playing clockwise, each player chooses one card from their hand and plays it in the middle of the table. This can be a Sheep, Action, or Joker card. Once each player has played five cards, the “Playing the Sheep” phase ends. Unless otherwise stated, you never play your sixth card. A Sheep card can be played ALONE, by itself, or it can be added to one or more cards already on the table to form a GROUP of sheep. You may add a Sheep card to any GROUP, regardless of the numbers or colors that compose it. Joker Card : A Joker card is a Sheep card that takes on the number and color you desire when the sheepdogs are revealed. Action Card : Action cards let you move the sheep on the table. When you play an Action card, immediately apply its effect, then discard it.

Note: Discard the Action card if you cannot apply its effect.

- Sending the Dogs : After getting to know their dogs’ abilities and seeing where the sheep have wandered, each player secretly decides whether to play zero, one, or two sheepdog(s) to try and collect sheep. Each player must place two cards in front of themselves, face down. Use the Empty Doghouse cards if you don’t want to play all your dogs at once. You don’t want to give away your strategy! Then all players reveal their cards at the same time.

Note: During the first round, players only have one sheepdog so must play one or two Empty Doghouse cards.

Each sheepdog has their own requirements for collecting sheep. Sheepdog abilities are resolved in ascending order of their Initiative Value. For example, a sheepdog with an Initiative Value of 50 resolves before a sheepdog with an Initiative Value of 55.

Prepare for the Next Round Shuffle all Sheep, Action, and Joker cards again, then deal six to each player. Each player refills their hand to two Empty Doghouse cards, then draws one new Sheepdog card, unless they already have two. Note: If there are not enough Sheepdog cards for each player, shuffle all the discarded Sheepdog cards and place them under the draw pile before dealing again. The player with the highest total score starts the next round. In case of a tie, the player who scored the most points during the previous round plays first.

End of the Game When a player has 20 or more points, the players finish the round and then the game ends. The player(s) with the highest score win the game. Note: To adjust the game length, you can change the win conditions to 10 or 30 points.

—description from the publisher