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Flames of War

 

How to Play Firefly: Misbehavin'

Click here to download the Firefly: Misbehaving Rulebook PDF....

Firefly Misbehavin’ is a game for 2-4 players set in the Firefly ‘Verse where each player will take on the role of a faction. Players look to outmanoeuvre each other, pick fights or even make deals aiming towards this goal. For this article we will look at the standard mode of play. The goal is to play enough cards in your Tableau that you have enough power to declare yourself the winner.

Setup
Follow the steps to create the play area. You will need 2 players minimum and you can have a maximum of 4 players.

Step 1. Give each player a Starting Faction Deck and matching Player Board. Each player also gets their corresponding ‘Verse Card, one ‘Verse Token and one Credit. The four factions are unique and have different play styles.

Step 2. Set the Supply Board by placing Shiny, The Black, Palaver, Misbehave, Crazy Ivan and Full Burn card sets in the available slots. (Alternatively, you use the Supply Setup method from Page 19 of the Rulebook)

 Firefly: Misbehavin'

Step 3. Shuffle and place the Core, Border and Rim card decks and place them face down on the Market Board to form the three different Market Decks and deal out the top two cards of each deck face up next to each deck.

Step 4. Each player will shuffle their Starting Faction Deck and draw 5 cards

You are now ready to start the first turn.

 Firefly: Misbehavin'
Player Turn
There are four different actions that a player can do in their turn and most can only be done once per turn. These are Recruitment, Activation, ‘Verse Acquisition and Spending ‘Verse.

Recruitment

Recruitment is the main way you add cards to your Faction Deck. You Recruit to your deck by choosing a card from either the Supply Board or Market Board and placing cards in the Display Area (The Display Area is just above your Player Board and denotes cards in play).

The cards have an Influence value in the bottom left of the card. These must total or exceed the top right value of the card. Once this is completed all the cards placed in the Display Area and the Card you want to recruit are added to your Recycle Deck. In addition, if your recruitment target matches your faction you can use ‘Verse Tokens to add additional Influence (Each token played is one Influence) and the tokens are returned to the resources pile in the centre after use.

There are several different types of cards you can recruit into your deck and play later. Faction and Market Cards are played into your Tableau. Supply Cards however can never be played into your Tableau and only enter play in the Display Area. After you resolve their effect instead of sending them to your area only ever returned to the Supply Board.

 Firefly: Misbehavin'

Activation

Activation can be used in four different ways. You can only preform any of the following.

You can play a card from your Tableau and immediately Trigger it. This turns the card to its side and you then follow the Activation Ability on the card denoted by a lightning bolt. Cards played from your hand go onto the Tableau in their corresponding slots (You must have room on your board to play a card) for Characters, Items and Assets.

You can Trigger a card already in play on your Tableau that has an Activation Ability – again denoted by that lightning bolt.

 Firefly: Misbehavin'

You can Pick A Fight using cards with the Fight Attribute denoted by a gun symbol. When Picking a Fight you must play a card from your hand or move a card from your Tableau to the Display Area with the Fight Attribute.

You then choose a card in an opponent’s Tableau and you can either Dispatch (this returns the card to the opponent’s Recycle Deck) or Nab them (this takes the opponents card and puts it in your hand).

To win a fight the player must have Total Power (bottom left of the card) from cards that beats or equals the Defence Value (Top Right of the card). Both players add cards with the Fight Attribute to the display until one player is no longer willing or able to add any more. If the attacker met the Defence Value of the target, then the card is Nabbed or Dispatched.

The attacker gains a choice of one reward: Draw a card, gain 1 Credit or gain a ‘Verse Token. All cards used on both sides are sent to their corresponding Recycle Decks. If the attacker failed to Nab or Dispatch then the card remains in play on the defenders Tableau. If a player has lost an asset in a fight, then that player cannot be targeted with a fight again until their next turn.
 Firefly: Misbehavin'

You can Make A Deal using Influence and Credits to gain a card from the Market or Supply Board. Cards that can initiate Make a Deal have a symbol of a handshake to denote this.

Making A Deal moves a card from your Tableau or plays a card from your hand with this symbol into the Display Area. The player can then play cards from the Tableau to the Display Area to add their Influence (the bottom right of the card) total to match the Cost of the Market/Supply Board card (Top Right). You can also add Credits (1 Credit is one Influence) and if the card matches your faction, you can also spend ‘Verse Tokens (One ‘Verse Token is one Influence). If you succeed you add the card directly to your hand unlike during Recruitment.

Other players can interfere with a deal and cancel it with a card ability. If this happens you lose your activation. Credits in play are returned to you and are not lost. The cards in play for the Deal must immediately be used for a Recruitment Action instead or they are discarded to the Recycle Deck.

'Verse Acquisition
Each faction has different ways to acquire ‘Verse tokens. Follow the steps on the ‘Verse card of the faction you are playing to acquire a ‘Verse Token.  You can only gain one ‘Verse Token in this manner per turn however you can gain tokens via winning fights or other card effects. ‘Verse accumulates but you cannot exceed the maximum number of 6 Tokens.

 Firefly: Misbehavin'

Spending Verse
Each faction’s ‘Verse Card has different ways to spend ‘Verse Tokens. You can discard the indicated number of tokens to gain the effects on the card. Each faction has different ways to spend ‘Verse. These vary from Retaining which allows you keep a card in play that you moved from the Tableau to the Display Area (via a Fight or Deal) or additional activation actions. Some factions have Unique abilities to spend ‘Verse tokens on like the Alliance “Tax” or Eavesdown “Steal Credits”. See the rulebook for full details on how this works and see your Faction ‘Verse Card for how you can spend your ‘Verse Tokens.

 Firefly: Misbehavin'

End of Turn and Draw Cards
Once your turn is over you draw 5 cards from your Faction deck. For every card on your Tableau that is “Triggered” you draw one less card. If you cannot draw your cards because you have run out, follow the steps below to create your deck:

  • Take your Recycle Deck shuffle all cards
  • Create your new Deck by placing it facedown next to your player board.
  • Draw from the new deck until you have drawn your required number of cards. 

Over the course of your turn you may have added new cards via Recruitment to your Recycle Deck. With this done you will potentially draw your recruited cards in the subsequent round!

Winning the Game
The cards you play and control in your Tableau have a Power Value. Each card has an amount of Power displayed in the bottom left of the card. 

Players win the game by starting their turn with the required amount of Power in your Tableau. The amount of required Power varies based on how many players are participating in the game.
 Firefly: Misbehavin'

2 players – 13 Power
3 players – 12 Power
4 players – 11 Power

As soon as you reach the required amount of Power to win you must announce it immediately. You cannot “surprise” players by starting your turn with the win.

With this you are now ready to play Firefly Misbehavin’.