Mathenyism Core Set - Card Types

There are four types of cards in Mathenyism: Leaders, Objects, Actions, and Fighting Units.

Leaders:
Leaders give the player their affiliation (see "Affiliations" below) and provide certain bonuses to the player, depending on which leader they have. For example: Adolf Hitler is a political leader who gives a +2 bonus to any fighting units that player has. While it is not required to have a Leader, a player is often weaker without one. A player may have only one leader card in play at a time (certain cards can change this). Leaders are permanent; a player can not simply discard their leader if they no longer want to be that affiliation.

Leader cards look slightly different from other Mathenyism cards. They do not have white borders, and instead have a large picture of the Leader on them. There are a total of 20 leader cards in the Core Set.

Objects
Object cards are permanent: the card remains in play even after the player's turn is over, and the effect of the card continues until the object card leaves play or is destroyed.

Actions
Actions have a one time use; they take effect and are discarded immediately after the card is played. These cards have a variety of effects, depending on the card in use. Some action cards take effect only when certain game conditions are met (e.g. the "Nuclear Winter" political action card can only be used if there is a "Nuclear Warhead" or "Plutonium" card currently in play.) Some action cards can be played during other player's turns. A few very rare action cards have permanent effects.

Fighting Units
Fighting Units are cards that fight. Each Fighting Unit has a large number in the top right corner showing that fighting unit's strength. For more on combat and fighting units, see the section on Combat. Additionally, many Fighting Units have special abilities or requirements that players can use; these requirements or abilites are printed on the card below the image.

Each player can have a maximum of five fighting units in play at any time. Once a Fighting Unit is put into play it is permanent: a player cannot randomly discard fighting units already in play to make space for new ones they wish to play.

Affiliations

There are two affiliation types in the game: Political and Religious. The type of affiliation a player becomes is determined by their Leader card. A player can only play cards of their affiliation. If the player does not have a Leader card in play, they can play cards from both affiliations. Both affiliations are roughly equal; one does not have any major advantage or disadvantage over the other.

Political: The ability to use political intrigue, spies, high tech weaponry, the military, and various acts of physical force against enemies.

Religious: The ability to convert opponents, use magick, and defend against zombie plagues or acts of God.

Some cards such as "Jihad" or "Born-Again" allow the player from one affiliation to use cards from the other affiliation for the duration of their turn. Other cards can modify the status of a Leader, even allowing a Leader to control both politics and religion permanently. Fear the might of HitlerChrist!