The following special actions need additional playtesting. But I want to list them here as a way to scan all of them at once in the same place, and provide an overview to someone wishing to offer some critique.
Currently, there are four special actions permitted in the game, spread across three types of cards:
- HAWK CARDS
- CONVERT CARDS
- BUILDER CARDS
HAWK ATTACK CARDS
These are the only way to reduce the number of moles on the board. It also requires the player use an additional NUMBER CARD to realize its effect.
To use a HAWK ATTACK card, play it, then immediately play a NUMBER CARD. Choose a hex, and remove a number of moles exactly equal to the NUMBER CARD just played. The moles must all be next to one another, "in a row," as if a HAWK swooped down and snatched up all the rodents in one dive.
HAWK cards also allow the active player to POPULATE and add either 1 or 2 moles to hexes they control (the specific number is listed on the card). Also, a player can use a HAWK card or both HAWK cards at the same time to only POPULATE if they play it without a NUMBER CARD.
CONVERT CARD
The CONVERT card is the only NUMBER CARD with a number of 0! Instead of having a typical effect of the player taking over territory, it is a chance to dominate another player's Mole, changing it to the active player's tribe.
When playing a CONVERT card, simply replace any one opponent Mole in your current Network with a Mole of your own. The Mole that was CONVERTED is returned to the opponent's supply, while the active player's Mole has taken over that space. If majority needs to be reassessed, then the player who played CONVERT on that hex will win, as they were the last player to add a Mole to that hex. Stackable cards can add some punch to this Action Card, allowing for some serious shifts in score.
Use CONVERT if you have seemingly nowhere left to go in crowded quarters, since any hex in your network is vulnerable to this effect. Use this newly-infiltrated hex to serve as a bridge to further expansion of your Mole Empire...
BUILDER CARD
A BUILDER CARD is a NUMBER 2 card with an additional special ability. It denotes that a player may move and/or place 2 Moles on the board, and then execute one of two possible special actions: CAUSE A CAVE-IN or MAKE A HOME.
- CAUSE A CAVE-IN will prevent movement from one hex to another along one segment of the hex's border. The hex that shares that border is now inaccessible. Moles cannot go either way - even the moles belonging to the player who built the rock wall.
To CAUSE A CAVE-IN, play the BUILDER card and take two yellow "cave-in" tokens (these look like the walls in Settlers of Catan). Move or add the two moles indicated on the card. Place the yellow token on the border of any hub hex you control (even if it's not where you just placed/moved moles). That hex border is now considered impassable from one side to the next. - BUILD A HOME
This special action allows a player to take the Green Homemaker Token from any hex they control.
To do the BUILD A HOME action, a player must already control at least one hex with a Green Homemaker Token remaining on the hex. Move and/or place up to 2 moles as per usual, then take that one available Green Homemaker Token and keep it on the table face-down. The player who owns it may look at it, but only reveal it during endgame scoring. These are VP that are equivalent to the VP a player earns from a claimed hex.
At this time, there is no way for one player to "steal" these points from an opponent. They are actually more secure points than hexes, though they have no other special properties.
MOLE PANIC
A previous action card allowed players to take cards from their opponent's current hand, but after repeated testing, I decided to replace it with the CONVERT card to cut down on fiddly maneuvers in the game. It may come back for an expansion, but it's not necessarily the best fit for the basic game at this point.
Any thoughts or feedback on any MOLE MAJORITY information pages you've seen? Please leave a comment here, or send a message to editor [at] let [dash] off [dot] com.
Thanks for reading!
