History TabletopGame / Guillotine

** Then someone plays the ''Callous Guards'' card, and suddenly the line becomes unmodifiable, frustrating everybody (including the player who played it, most often!).

''Guillotine'' is a card game printed by Creator/WizardsOfTheCoast. In the game, 2-6 players get to take the role of guillotine executioners during the French Revolution of the late 18th century. The players do their best to execute as many high-ranking Nobles themselves as they can before the revolution runs its course, while trying to force rival players to execute the petty nobles.

''Guillotine'' is a card game printed by WizardsOfTheCoast. In the game, 2-6 players get to take the role of guillotine executioners during the French Revolution of the late 18th century. The players do their best to execute as many high-ranking Nobles themselves as they can before the revolution runs its course, while trying to force rival players to execute the petty nobles.

* SinisterMinister: Or at least, the public seems to think so. Which is why you need to execute them all, including the ''Heretic'' along with the ''Arch-bishop'' and ''Bad Nun''!

* CorruptChurch: The clergy characters include "Wealthy Priest" and "Bad Nun".

The first deck is the Noble deck. It contains cards with various French Nobles drawn on them (anything from a lowly ''Piss-Boy'' to ''His Majesty King Louis XVI''). These are the nobles to be executed, and the players fight over who gets to execute the "best" ones during the game. At the start of the game, twelve of these nobles are dealt out on the table, forming a "queue" for the guillotine. The players then take turns [[strike: collecting]] executing the first noble in the queue, earning a number of points shown on the card's face. Naturally, Nobles like ''Marie Antoinette'' or ''Robespierre'' are worth a high number of points, and thus all players crave to chop their heads off personally, leaving scum nobles like the ''Coiffeur'' or ''Heretic'' to other players. Once all nobles on the board have been executed, the "Day" ends, and a new line of twelve nobles is dealt out. Rinse and repeat for three "days", and then tally the final score.

** And some "Aristocrats" are wrongfully accused. The ''Martyr'' and ''Hero of the People'' are thus worth NEGATIVE POINTS when you pick them up, so all players try to avoid executing them like the pox! Or better yet, force someone else to execute them, hehehehe.

Amongst other things, this game is notable for having TWO separate decks of specially-printed cards:

* UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution / ViveLaRevolution: The backdrop to a lot of bloody carnage, natch. Pretty much the basis for half the tropes listed here.

* TheFrenchRevolution / ViveLaRevolution: The backdrop to a lot of bloody carnage, natch. Pretty much the basis for half the tropes listed here.

Unfortunately, despite all its potential for complexity, the game remains largely based on luck-of-the-draw. Both short-term and long-term strategies tend to collapse quickly. This has prompted many ''Guillotine'' players to develop their own devious house-rules to make the game more interesting. In addition, while the game is supposed to support up to 6 players, the great variety of Action and Noble cards and combinations, coupled with no "cap" on the amount of Action cards a player can hold in his hand at any time (and no requirement to play any of them during his turn, either), the game can slow down to a crawl pretty soon. It is best played in small groups of 2 to 4, and again, home rules are pretty much encouraged.

Unfortunately, despite all its potential for complexity, the game remains largely based on ''luck-of-the-draw''. Both short-term and long-term strategies tend to collapse quickly. This has prompted many ''Guillotine'' players to develop their own devious house-rules to make the game more interesting. In addition, while the game is supposed to support up to 6 players, the great variety of Action and Noble cards and combinations, coupled with no "cap" on the amount of Action cards a player can hold in his hand at any time (and no requirement to play any of them during his turn, either), the game can slow down to a crawl pretty soon. It is best played in small groups of 2 to 4, and again, home rules are pretty much encouraged.

The second deck of cards is the Action deck, which is really the meat of this game. Players draw action cards to their hands, and during their turn (before executing the first noble in the queue) they can play a single action card. For the most part, these cards will change the order of the line in one specific manner (as written on the Action card itself). This may include moving any of the nobles a specified number of places backwards/forwards, removing or replacing a noble with another one, randomly rearranging part of the line, etcetera. The idea, of course, to judicially choose an action card to move a more "valuable" noble to the front of the line for the pickup, or to rearrange the line so that the other players get "lousy pickings" (and preferably both at the same time, if possible). Some action cards are far more devious, and can cause other players to lose some of their collected heads, switch hands with other players, or add fresh nobles at the back of the queue. Other Action cards are "permanent", remaining on the board after being played and assisting the player who placed them down by increasing his score, or decreasing an opponent's score.

* TheFrenchRevolution / ViveLaRevolution: The backdrop to a lot of bloody carnage, natch. Pretty much the basis for half the tropes listed here.

* GameBreaker - The Callous Guards card prevents anybody from playing any cards, until the person who played it choses to discard it.

* MoralEventHorizon: Executing the "Grey" nobles, who are favoured by the people, and cause you to lose points. The ''Tragic Figure'' is the worst, as it can cost you a LOT of points if you also executed many other Grey nobles.