PLANET PLUNDER RULES

SETUP

Game will require plenty of space to play.

Choose a Player to go first. Pointless bickering is acceptable. Name-calling is not. Play will proceed to the
left.
Separate the cards into 4 face-down Piles: Galaxy Cards, Ship Cards, Army Cards, and Planet Cards.
o Dead Pile card is used to cover the face-down Army Discard Pile to not confuse it with the Main
Army Card Pile.
o NOTE: Unless being actively used in Battle, Army Cards are to remain face down at all times.
Each player gets 5 Galaxy Cards, 3 Army Cards, and 1 Ship Card.
o The Ship is played face up immediately. You can only ever have 1 Ship at a time. If for any reason
you find yourself in possession of more than 1 Ship, you must discard the rest and only keep 1.
o The Army Cards go on your Ship. Any group of Army Cards on a Ship or Planet is referred to as its
Battle Party.
Players may now play to the table any Captain, Captain Enhancement, and/or Ship Enhancement cards as
they see fit. When Playing Cards to your Ships/Planets/Captains, simply place the card next to or under
the card it is being associated with. (Dont completely hide them, though, or you might forget theyre
there!)
BATTLE PARTIES
o Ships may have 1 Battle Party each. (Group of Army Cards up to a certain number determined by
each Ships Max Capacity)
o Planets may have 1 Battle Party each. (Group of Army Cards that must be at least a certain
number determined by each Planets Minimum to Hold. There is no limit to how big a Battle
Party can be for a Planet.)
CAPTAINS
o Ships may have 1 Captain each.
o Planets may have 1 Captain each.
ENHANCEMENTS
o Captains may have up to 3 Enhancements each.
o Ships may have up to 2 Enhancements.
o Planets may have 1 Enhancement each. (You wont start off with any Planets, but its good to
know now before you control any.)
Green Adventure and Red Misadventure Cards cannot be played yet. If you have a Red Misadventure Card
(or you later draw one face down), you may save it and play it against another Player on any of your turns,
during your Management Phase only. The Immediate Effect only applies to you if you draw a Red
Misadventure Face Up or another Player plays that Card on you during THEIR Management Phase.

HOW TO WIN

If you control 4 Planets (none of which are in Revolt) at the beginning of your turn, YOU WIN!

HOW TO PLAY

Each Players Turn begins with drawing a single Galaxy Card face up and placing it into their hand.

If you begin your turn without a Ship, you draw a new Ship card and Play it immediately instead
of drawing a Galaxy Card face down.
If the Card is a Red Misadventure Card, follow the Cards directions immediately.
The Player then begins the Management Phase.
Management Phase (Carry out in the following order)
o If you have a Special Ability active that lets you somehow retrieve new Army Cards for a Ship or
Planet, do so now.
o If you control any Planets, gain 1 new Army Card for each Planet you control.
If the Planet does not have the Minimum Number of Army Cards on it to Hold, it is
considered In Revolt. Do not gain a new Army card for that Planet.
o Collect all Army Cards in your possession in Play (on your Ship and your Planets) or the extras (if
you have any) that are being held off to the side. Shuffle them. Redistribute them as you see fit
and are capable.
Ships have a Max Capacity and can have no more than that many Army Cards.
Planets have a Minimum to Hold and can have no less than that many Army Cards by
the end of your Management Phase or they must be discarded.
o YOU MAY CHOOSE TO DO 1 OF THE FOLLOWING OR SKIP THIS STEP ENTIRELY:
You may discard 3 Army Cards to draw 1 new Galaxy Card. You may do this as many
times as you are able.
~OR~

You may discard 1 Galaxy Card to draw 3 new Army Cards. You may do this as many
times as you are able.
o Play new cards from your hand, rearrange or pull old cards back into your hand that were already
in play, and play Green Adventure and/or Red Misadventure Cards as directed.
o If you have any Planets that are still in Revolt (they dont have the Minimum Army Cards on
them), you must discard them.
o You may now move onto the Explore Phase.
Explore Phase
o If you have a special Green Adventure Card that allows you to act instead of your Explore Phase,
play that now. Otherwise
o CHOOSE 1 OF THE FOLLOWING:
Draw a new Planet Card. Gain new Army Cards equal to the Planets Minimum to
Hold number.
If no one else owns that Planet, its yours! The new Army Cards are used as
that Planets Battle Party.
If YOU already own the Planet, you still draw the new Army Cards, but may
discard the duplicate Planet card. Use the new Army Cards to fill your Ships
Battle Party up to Capacity. The rest can be put aside in your Hand.
If someone owns that Planet, put the new Army Cards on your Ship. If some of
the new cards dont fit, put them aside for now, theyre still yours, though!
Now you must Battle for that Planet. To Battle, you will use the Army Cards
from your Ship, and the Player who already owns the Planet will use the Army
Cards on that Planet. More on Battle later.

~OR~

Choose to attack another Player. When Attacking another Player, you target their Ship.
Like Planetary Battles, you will use the Army Cards from your Ship, but for Ship Battles,
they will also use the Army Cards from their Ship.
If you succeed in attacking another Players Ship, you may choose 1 of the
following as a reward:
o Any 1 of that Players Captains (plus any Enhancements currently on
that Captain).
o Any 1 of that Players Planets (plus any Enhancement AND Army Cards
currently on that Planet).
o That Players Ship (plus any Enhancements currently on that Ship, but
NOT the Army Cards). Once you take that Players Ship, you may give
the other Player your old Ship if youre feeling benevolent. If not,
choose which Ship to keep and discard the other. Choose which Ship
Enhancements to keep on your Ship (they must be already in Play
from either Ship) and put the rest in your hand.
o Once Battles are complete, the Explore Phase is over.
Finish your turn by drawing a certain amount of Galaxy Cards face down, directly into your hand. Amount
of cards is dependent on how many Planets you control.
o If you control 0 or 1 Planet(s), draw 2 Galaxy Cards.
o If you control 2 Planets, draw 1 Galaxy Card.
o If you control 3 or 4 Planets, do NOT draw any Galaxy Cards.

BATTLE

Battles are fought by flipping over Army Cards one at a time. After taking any relevant bonuses and/or
penalties into consideration, the Army Card with the highest value wins. This is called the Army Cards
Battle Value. Battles are over when one party retreats or one side completely runs out of Army Cards.
o Remember: Army Cards are always face kept face down unless they are immediately being
used to Fight.
There are two types of Battles: Planetary Battles and Ship Battles. More on those soon.
Every time each player flips 1 Army Card over, that is called a Fight. After every Fight, There is a winner
and a loser, or there is a tie. (A Tie is a Duel and well talk about them in a bit.)
RESERVES PILE & TEMPORARY DEAD PILE
o The winning card goes in a Reserves Pile and the losing card goes in a Temporary Dead Pile.
If you are the Attacker, the Reserves Pile is always back to your Ship.
If you are the Defender, the Reserves Pile is back on whatever you are Defending (Ship
or specific Planet).
The Temporary Dead Pile may be wherever you have room, just keep track of where it
is.
When the Battle is over, the Temporary Dead Piles of both Players are placed into the
Main Dead Pile underneath the Dead Pile Card.
WAVES & RETREATING

If all of your Army Cards have fought at least once, and you still have some left in your Reserves,
Pile, that is called completing a Wave. Players will often complete Waves at their own speed.
If you are the Attacker, now is the time to decide if youd like to Retreat or keep
attacking. As long as you still have Army Cards in the Reserves Pile, you make this
choice after every Wave.
If you are the Defender and dont have a special card or ability that allows you to retreat
after each Wave, you are forced to Battle until the Attack retreats or one of you is
defeated.
If the Battle continues, your Wave is complete, and you still have Army Cards in your Reserves
Pile, pick them up, shuffle them, and keep Fighting.

DUELS & CUTTHROAT TACTICS

o If each Players Army Cards Battle Value ties, a Duel happens, and the Captains of the Attackers
Ship and the Defenders Ship or Planet now come into play.
The Captain MUST be on the current Ship or Planet involved in the Battle.
o Each Captain has a base Strength which can be increased by Cutthroat Tactics, Special Abilities,
and/or Enhancement Cards.
Cutthroat Tactics can be used by any Player that has a Captain to represent their Army
Card in a Duel. To use Cutthroat Tactics, simply discard any cards in your hand or your
current Reserves Pile. This is called Burning a Card and it can give a temporary bonus to
the Strength of your Captain for just this Duel.
When you Burn an Army Card, it is worth +1 temporary Strength.
When you Burn a Galaxy Card, it is worth +2 temporary Strength.
o If each Player has a Captain involved in the Battle, their total Strength scores are compared. The
Captain with the highest Strength wins the Fight.
o If only one Player has a Captain to represent their Army Card, the Player without a Captain may
nd
choose to flip their next Army Card to beat the other Players Captains Strength. If the 2 Army
Card has a higher Battle Value than the Captains Strength, it wins the Duel.
o If neither Player has a Captain, each Player may choose to flip the next Army Card. If there is
another tie, you may choose to flip again, if not, the card with the higher value wins the Duel.
o No matter how many cards were flipped for a Duel, the winning Player always puts all of their
Army Cards used in that Duel into the Reserves Pile and the defeated Player always puts all Army
Cards used for the Duel into the Temporary Dead Pile.
o During instances where you may choose to flip another Army Card, you may instead choose NOT
to flip another card. This is the same as forfeiting that Fight. Likewise, if you simply have no
more Army Cards in your Battle Party or Reserves Pile to flip over, you are similarly defeated.
PLANETARY BATTLES
o The majority of Battles in the game will be Planetary Battles. Whoever wins the Planetary Battle
is left in control of the Planet.
o If the Defender successfully holds the Planet, and as long as they have at least 1 Army Card left,
they can choose to keep the Planet even if theyre below the Minimum to Hold. This Planet is
now in Revolt.
o If the Attacker wins the Planet, the Defender discards it, and the Attacker may now put Army
Cards from their Hand on the Planet if they have any or drop Army Cards from their Ship to Hold

it. If the Attacker has at least 1 Army Card on the Planet, they can choose to keep it as a Planet in
Revolt until their next Management Phase.
If the Planet has an Enhancement on it, the Attacker gets that, too.
Its perfectly acceptable for the winner to just discard the Planet if they dont have enough Army
Cards and dont want to hold onto a Planet in Revolt.

SHIP BATTLES
o If you choose to Attack another Player instead of drawing a Planet, they will defend with their
Ship.
o There are more benefits to attacking another Player (described above) but choose wisely. If you
lose, the Defender gets to take 1 of these things from you!
o You may choose to Attack a Player that has no Army Cards on their Ship or even no Ship at all. If
you do, you simply choose one of their Planets to Attack directly. Treat it as you would a normal
Planetary Battle. (You cannot take their Ship or any of their Captains if you win.)
ALTERNATE METHOD TO END THE GAME

GALACTIC ANNIHILATION
If game is taking too long or you reach the end of the Planet Pile, whoever has the most planets wins.
If there is a tie of any amount of players with the most Planets, those players prepare to Battle with each
other at the same time.
o Each Player tied for the most planets collects every Army Card they already have at their
disposal, shuffles them together, and (temporarily ignoring the Max Capacity of their Ship) enters
into a massive Ship Battle with the other player(s) that tied with the most Planets. Even if there
are more than 2 Players involved in the Galactic Annihilation, all Players will flip their Army Cards
at the same time. Highest Battle Value still wins.
o This means any applicable Captains, enhancements, and/or Special Abilities associated with that
Player's Ship my come into play. These Players continue the Battle until there is 1 Player left that
still has at least one Army Card active or in Reserves.
o If any of the Players involved have Green Adventure Cards in their Hands that that are suitable to
play before or during Battle, they are more than welcome to play them.

IMPORTANT THINGS TO REMEMBER

Unless actively Fighting, Army Cards always remain Face Down. Even the Reserves Piles, Temporary and
Main Dead Piles, and the Army Cards in your hand. Generally Army Cards in your hand can just be kept
on the table away from your Ship and Planets so they dont get confused. Dont forget to include them in
your Shuffle during your Management Phase, though.
Enhancements always stay with whatever Card they were played on. If you lose your Planets, Captains, or
your Ship, you also lose any of the Enhancements they had on them at the time.
Speaking of Enhancements, remember: 3 per Captain, 2 per Ship, 1 per Planet.
All Captains, Planets, and certain Enhancements have special abilities. Pay attention to and dont forget
to use them, they could change the game drastically! Also, tell the truth when it comes to the Planet
Specials, its more fun that way!
If a Card ever contradicts the rules, go with what the Card says for that situation.