Auxiliary Rules Part 2: 3 vs 3 (Leisure play)

*Please note that a major revision has been made to the "Sequence of Turns" section. My apologies for any inconveniences caused!

Welcome! One of the most exciting evolutions of this game is known as the "3 vs 3" format of play. Technically speaking, there is only one version of the 3vs3 rules, but i'm choosing to split it into the "Leisure" version (playing with friends) and the "Tournament" version. In this post, i shall be describing the Leisure version, just to familiarize you with the mechanism. Picking up the tournament version is easier from there on.

Alright, so here we go!!



The Setup:

Only 6 players are allowed in the game, no more and no less. Contrary to the normal SGS rules, the identities of all the players are known in the 3vs3 format. Here's what to do:

1. Split the 6 players into 2 teams. How you choose to do this is up to your creativity. Note that team members cannot switch teams later on.

2. Determine which team wants to be "GOOD GUYS" and which is "BAD GUYS".

3. Select a leader within each group. For simplicity sakes, I shall be referring to the identities as such:

- Leader of GOOD GUYS = Ruler (use the red Ruler identity card)
- Other 2 members of GOOD GUYS = Bodyguards (use the yellow Loyalist identity cards)

-Leader of BAD GUYS = Villain (use the blue Defector identity card)
- Other 2 members of BAD GUYS = Henchmen (use the green Rebel identity cards)

4. Sit yourselves around the table in this fashion.

The suffix "L" & "R" denote placement on the left and right of the leader.

5. Randomly choose any 16 characters from the character deck and lay them out on the table (face up so that the character is visible) for all to see. These will be the possible candidate characters used for the round.

6. Now the teams will pick their character candidates.
- The Ruler starts by choosing 1 of the 16 characters for the Good Guys.
- The Villain then picks 2 of the remaining 15 characters for the Bad Guys.
- The Ruler picks another 2 (not one!) of the remaining 13 characters for the Good Guys.
- Both sides take turns to pick 2 characters each until only 1 character is left behind. This last character goes to the Good Guys. Each team should then have exactly 8 characters each.

7. Each team will then select the character that each player will use, meaning out of the 8 candidates selected in step 6, choose only 3 and assign which player uses which character. Discard the remaining unused character cards.

The end result should look something like this...

Ok! Now you're all set to begin the war!!


Gameplay

The way this 3vs3 format is played is very different from the usual way of playing, so do lend me your attention in this following section.

Important points:
A: Remove the LIGHTNING card from the pack. This card will not be used in this format.
B: All Ruler Abilities 主公计 do not work in this format, even if you are the leader.
C: Leaders receive 1 additional unit of health, as per the normal format.
D: The player who kills a Bodyguard or Henchman gets rewarded with 3 cards, regardless of which team the killer is from. Therefore you can kill your own teammate and still be rewarded 3 cards.

Winning/Losing conditions:
- Kill the leader of the opposite team & your team wins.
- If your leader dies, your team loses.

Distance Calculation:
- Identical to the normal SGS format. Which means that at the start, the 2 leaders are at distance of 3 away from each other.

Sequence of Turns: (Very different!! This is where it gets a little confusing!)

- At the start of the game, the Villain gets to pick which team shall go first.

- Note the difference when leaders play a turn and the bodyguards or henchmen play a turn:
---> If a leader chooses to play that turn: once the turn ends, the next turn goes to the other team
---> If the bodyguards or henchmen are chosen to play that turn: both of them will play their turns consecutively (one followed immediately by the other) before the turn goes to the other team.

- Once a player has finished his turn, their identity cards are flipped over. They can no longer have another turn till all 6 players have played.

Ok that is all very confusing, so let's see an example. In the example below, it is Turn 1 and the Good Guys go first.

At Turn 1, the leader can choose between playing himself, or letting his helpers play.
In this example, he chooses to let his helpers play.

Once a player has taken a turn, the identity card is flipped over.

The helpers get to play consecutively. 

Once both helpers are done, the turn goes to the other team.

Important note: If one of the helpers is dead, then only the remaining helper gets his turn. Once his turn is over, the turn goes straight to the other team (ie: no consecutive turns).

For easy recall, just remember that either Leaders go, or Helpers go before the turn goes to the other team.

Leader can choose to go first as well.

Once leader is done with his turn, the turn goes back to the other team.

The final member of the Good Guys play his turn.

All Good Guys have played their turn.

Both henchmen play one after another.

Final member of Bad Guys takes his turn.

By the end of Turn 6, every player would have played their turn.
All identity cards are flipped back up and the Turn is reset to Turn 1 again.

Ok, I hope you understood that part! The game continues in this fashion until the winning/losing conditions are met.


Question: What if one of the team only has the leader remaining? How does the sequence play out then?


Answer: The sequence remains unchanged. When the leader chooses to let his helpers take their turn (although they are already dead), the turn automatically skips back to the opposing team. Yes, this usually means the leader gets pounded to death in no time.


Now let's move on to the last portion of this post.


Cards that affect Multiple Players

Since the turn sequence is no longer in a clockwise or anticlockwise fashion, how are cards such as BARBARIANS 南蛮入侵 or HARVEST 五谷丰登 played?

The answer is the player using the card gets to choose which direction (clockwise or anti-clockwise) the card takes effect. For example, if I were Bodyguard L and I use HARVEST, I would surely choose to play it anti-clockwise so that my Ruler and teammate gets to pick the cards before my opponents!

Note that unlike the 1vs1 format, no player is immune to any card. If Bodyguard L uses BARBARIANS, the Ruler has to react accordingly or suffer damage.


Phew!!! What a long post!! I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as i enjoyed writing this for you. Feel free to comment, ask questions, or point out any errors I may have made in the comments section!!

Till my next post... have fun and 杀!