Prowl: Clans & Cunning
- Board's Eye View
- Aug 11
- 2 min read
Designed by Russell Wee, Prowl: Clan & Cunning is a filler-length card game for 2-5 players that's played over just five rounds. It's played with a deck of 32 tarot-sized cards that represent the members of four clans; so there are eight cards in each suit. Markers are used to rank the four suits; initially randomised but with players able to move a suit up or down through their card play.
Players are dealt a hand of six cards. Each player chooses one card from their hand from the faction they think will end the game at the top ranked position. The other five cards will be the cards they will play in each of the five rounds for their effects; either to manipulate the grid or mess with other players' hands. Some cards have an ongoing effect or remain in place until triggered. In any round except for the final round, and instead of playing a card for its effect, a player can play it face-down to replace the card they originally chose as their target clan. If they do this, they must discard their original choice face up. Of course, you might take a Change action to mislead other players - substituting a card of the same suit as the one you discard...
The other choice players have is to discard a card rather than play it for its effect in order to 'Accuse' an opponent (ie: guess the clan they've chosen). If you guess correct, that player has to reveal their clan card and play with it face up. You can either force them to take a Change action on the next round or you can seize the Dominance token that is used to settle ties... If you take the Accuse action and guess wrong, there's no negative effect; you've just missed out on the action you might otherwise have been able to take with the card you discarded, and players all have benefitted from the knowledge of what suit has not been chosen by accusee.
At the end of the game, when clan choices are all revealed, the win goes to the player who has chosen the suit that ends up on top but if two or more players have chosen the same winning suit then the win goes to the player whichever of those players has the Dominance token. If two or more share the same choice of top suit and none of them have the Dominance token, their suit is demoted to the bottom and the win goes to the next ranked suit. Mind you, there are some cards that further modify the win conditions...
Tho' Prowl is short and snappy, it makes for a lively game of intrigue, manipulation, bluff, deduction and double-guessing. From our plays at Board's Eye View we've definitely preferred the game at four or five players; it's much less exciting with just two or three players. And with five there will always be at least two players who will have chosen the same clan for the win...
Prowl: Clan & Cunning is published by Playlogue Creations in Singapore and features art by Nguyen Huy Hung (Key) and Lee Juyeon. It is distributed in the UK by Revelation Games.
