Here is my first draft of the game's rules.
Please let me know what you all think!
Henchmen!
Henchmen! was inspired by a long time love of bad movies and even worse TV shows. This game is meant to be fun for people of all ages and to help you see that henchmen are people too!
How to play:
At the start of the game place the job deck in the middle of all the players and flip over the top 5 cards so that they lay next to each other. Then deal 4 Henchmen and 3 Loot (from the Henchmen and Loot decks) to each player.
Once you’ve dealt everyone their cards, place the Henchmen, Loot and the Ca$h decks on the table so that they can be reached by all players.
Give the oldest player or the player who has spent the most time in prison the Scheme! card to indicate who is going first.
Follow the rules of the Scheme! card to know who is to go first at the start of each round.
Now you’re finally ready to play Henchmen!
How to Win?
The player with the most Ca$h at the end
of the game is declared the winner!
How Do Turns Work?
The player with the Scheme! card goes first.
At the start of each turn you have 2 actions that you must use!
Each action can be used to draw from the top of the Loot deck, take a henchman or attempt a job. Actions can be used in any combination of those three.
Once you’ve used up all your actions and finished attempting to complete any jobs you took on your turn ends and the next player goes.
After each player has taken their turn, the round is over and the Scheme! card is passed to the next player.
Rounds
Rounds end after each player has taken a turn and the appropriate card effects have been applied.
At the end of each round, players who completed a job must take their henchmen out of the Thug Life and return them to normal.
If any player failed to complete a job during the round a
“Tell Da Boss card must be revealed.
All job cards other then the Super Jerk are shuffled into the job deck and dealt back onto the job board.
What happens is a player fails to complete a job?
If a player failed to complete a job on their own or with another player by the end of the round, they must place all of their henchmen into the Thug Life.
At the end of the round a Tell Da Boss card must be revealed.
Tell Da Boss
Tell Da Boss cards must be turned over from the top of the Tell Da Boss deck.
The effects of any Tell Da Boss card apply to all players
unless otherwise stated on the card.
The effects of the Tell Da Boss cards last as long
as the card is face up.
Taking on Jobs
Each job has 2 icons on them
The Henchmen icon tells you how many henchmen you’ll need to put into the Thug Life to complete that job
The Ca$h icon tells you how much Ca$h you’ll receive as a reward for completing the job.
If you do need help to complete a job you can enlist the aid of 1 other player to help you.
Rewarding Players Who Aid You
Before a player aids you they must tell you their terms for their help. Aiding players can ask for nearly anything as a payment from the player in need as long as that payment is related to the game and can take place during the same turn.
Once the 2 players have agreed to help one another and the job is completed, the payment must be made.
Job Requirements and Bonuses
Some jobs also have requirements in order to be completed or even special bonuses if they are completed a certain way. If a job does not have any of these then “Fun Text” will instead appear on the card.
After any job is complete it is replaced by a new job from on top of the job deck.
Super Jerk cards!
Super Jerks are shuffled into the job deck and can be revealed at any time a new job is being placed (except during the first round).
Once a Super Jerk is placed on the job board that job is locked down and half of each player’s henchmen currently in the Thug Life are killed.
Once all 5 spaces on the job board are locked down by Super Jerks the game is over.
Super Jerk cards cannot be placed at the start of the round when new jobs are being dealt. If a Super Jerk is placed when dealing out the new jobs, set it aside and shuffle it back into the deck once the jobs are delt.
Loot Cards!
Loot cards help to give you an advantage over the other players.
There are 3 different kinds of loot cards.
Instant:
These cards can be played whenever you want and on any player’s turn. The effects of loot cards only last until the end of the turn (unless otherwise stated) and are discarded once the turn ends.
Crew:
These cards are treated as Henchmen and can be put into the Thug Life to help complete jobs.
Crew do not have their own Class but some have their own special abilities or may be worth more then a normal henchman.
These cards stay in front of you until they are killed off or removed by another card (just like a henchman…which is what I said in the above text if you were actually reading this).
Gear:
Like Crew cards, these stay in front of you at all times but they cannot be used to take on a job alone. At least 1 henchman is required to be put into the Thug Life in order to properly play any gear.
Henchmen
Henchmen are the keyhole shaped characters used to complete jobs.
Henchmen don’t have any actual names but on top of each Henchman card you’ll find their Class and Sex.
Class and sex are only important if a job you are attempting to take on has a specific requirement or you are trying to claim a job’s bonus.
Each Henchman is only worth 1 henchman (hence the use of the singular word henchman and not henchmen).
Thug Life
Henchmen are placed into the Thug Life when they are attempting to complete a job.
To place a henchman into the Thug Life simply turn their card sideways.
Henchmen placed in the Thug Life must remain that way until the end of the round.
Anyone? Bump?