Clout: Fantasy

Clout: Fantasy is described by its creator (game designer Jesper Myrfors) as the first "collectible throwing game". Clout Fantasy, released by Hidden City Games, is composed of poker-style chips featuring fantasy art by various artists. In a game of both strategy and dexterity players compose stacks consisting of 15 chips and up to 25 clout points. These stacks or armies (representing fantasy armies of Goblins, Dragons, Elves, etc.) are then played by being tossed in turns onto the playing field. Each chip has special abilities that allow it to affect other chips within its range. At the end of the game the player with the most clout points on the playing field wins the game. The production of Clout has been canceled as of April, 2007 and there are no plans to produce any further expansion sets.

How To Play

For tournaments, Clout Fantasy is normally played on a hard surface one meter square in size. However, the game is extremely adaptable and the company is supportive of players experimenting with all types of surfaces including differing terrains on maps, floors, sidewalks, bouncing off walls, etc. A normal stack is made of 15 chips all from one army (with up to 2 neutral chips) and totaling 25 clout points. The stack must have at least 2 bases in it. Players choose their throwing position and then stay in that position for the game. When using a table as the playing surface, the player’s hand must maintain an arch of approximately 18 inches from the playing surface, the chip must move upwards from the players hand when it is released and the player’s hand may not cross the surface of the playing area. Players usually stand at least 35 centimeters from the playing surface when throwing their chips.

To determine order of play, the players throw chips at the middle of the play field. The person whose chip lands closest may determine the player who goes first. The last chip of the army of the last player does not count for points when it is placed on the board. This is to prevent a player from putting a high point chip down on the board last when no one can attack it.

In a one vs one game, each player takes turns until the last chip has been thrown. They then add up the total points and the person with the highest point total wins that match. A round is made of up to 3 matches. The winner of a round is the person who wins 2 of 3 matches in 45 mins. In multiplayer games only one match is played and the winner of the round is the person with the most points at the end of the match.

The Chips

Each chip is a premium-quality plastic poker chip whose basic color designates the army (or faction) it belongs to. A sticker is secured to both sides of the chip displaying unique art for that specific chip, the chip's name, its range, defense, Clout Points and its ability(s).

Parts of the Chip

• The Name: Each chip has its own individual name which appears in a banner arch across the top of the chip. When building an army there can only be three copies of any chip in a stack.
• Clout Points: The lower one third of the chip contains a horizon line dividing the artwork from the listing of abilities. Along that line will be from 0 to 6 dots representing the number of points the chip is worth. An army may contain up to 25 Clout points in its stack.
• Range: On the left side of the chip is an oval, within that oval is a number representing the range of the chip. Included in the starter armies and all premade stacks are Clout measuring tapes which are marked in range increments. In general, one range increment is 5 centimeters or approximately 2 inches.
• Defense: On the right side of the chip a shield shape contains the defensive value of the chip. Actions (see Types of Chips below) do not have defense.
• Text Area: In the middle of the bottom third of the chip is a text area listing the chip's abilities, immunities and those abilities it can ignore.
• Expansion and Rarity Symbols: Each chip also contains expansion indicators and rarity (the frequency of the chip within an expansion) symbols. A common chip is indicated by a dot, an uncommon one by a square and a rare chip by a diamond. An extra rare chip (found only in pre-made stacks) is indicated by a broken diamond. There are three sets out, the base set, Defenders of the Undersea, and Redbeard's Revenge. The base set has no expansion symbol. Defenders of Undersea expansion is indicated by a small trident over the range symbol, and Redbeard's Revenge is indicated by a small ship. A black symbol indicates a common chip, silver indicates uncommon and yellow indicates rare.

Types of Chips

There are four types of chips used in the game: bases, troops, actions and relics. Players must have exactly two bases in a standard stack. Each player may have up to two neutral chips in their stack (army). There are no other limits on the type of chips that a player can use to make the army they play with.

• Bases: Bases are indicated with a symbol before and after their name. This symbol looks like a pillar or small base. Each of the player's chips that is within range of one of their bases at the end of the game may count as up to one extra point.
• Actions: Actions have a lightning bolt in the shield shape where there is normally a number indicating the defense of the chip. Actions are always removed at the end of the turn. Although actions have points these points do not count towards the total at the end of the game. They are used to balance the making of the stack.
• Troops: The mainstay of the army, troops stay on the board even after they have performed their abilities. Troops have no special symbols.
• Relics: Relics are indicated by a small fringed sun like symbol before and after the name. Relics remain on the board like troops but are removed by different attack abilities.

The Factions

With the release of Redbeard's Revenge there are seven different factions in Clout Fantasy. Each has its own artwork subjects, its own color, and its own abilities that they focus on. They are:

• Centaurs: The chips for this army are purple. The Centaurs specialize in the Move ability. This ability allows the player to move the chip after it has been tossed making this a good army for the beginning player or those without good manual dexterity.
• Dragons: Dragons are the chase chips of the game so called because of their extreme rareity. There are only 3 Dragon chips in each box of booster packs. The Dragon army is represented by yellow chips with black stripes. This army makes extensive use of the Master ability.
• Elves: Elven army chips are green. This army tends to be the heavy hitters. They do not specialize in any one form of attack but are most noticeable for not having any form of the Team or Move ability.
• Goblins: Goblin chips are orange. The Goblin army specializes in the Team ability which allows each chip with the ability Team on it that is within the range of another chip with the ability Team on it to increase its attack by 1.
• Merfolk: Blue is the color for the Merfolk army. This faction was released in Defender of the Undersea and premiered a new ability called Call that is used extensively by this army. Call allows you to put a chip with Call next to a chip already on the board that also has Call without having to throw it.
• Neutral: Neutral chips belong to no one army but can be included into any army. These chips are white. You can have no more than 2 neutral chips in your tournament stack. Neutral chips are not available in booster packs.
• Pirates:Pirate chips are red. This faction was released as Redbeard's Revenge at GenCon 2006 and premiered two new abilities: Flair and Pillage. The Pirates faction makes extensiveuse of the Flair ability to replay action (or spell) chips from the discard pile.
• Undead: The chips for the Undead army are black. While the Undead army makes use of many of the more unusual abilities such as Reanimate, Trap and Possess, they are best known for their use of the Weaken ability to reduce their opponent’s attack values.

Abilities

Abilities represent the actions and effects caused by playing a chip. All abilities have a range that limits the reach of their effect. Ranges are measured from the edge of the chip after it has been thrown.

• Classes: The class of the ability combines with the type to affect the timing of the ability as well as to help define what abilities are effected by others. (Example: Boost. Add 1 to the attack ability of all of your chips within range of this chip. Here the ability boost is partially defined by the class – attack- of ability that it affects). Not all abilities fall into a class.
  • Movement: Movement abilities activate immediately after the chip lands on the table and effect the final placement of the chip.
  • Attack: Attack abilities are activated after Movement abilities and are used to attack other chips.
  • Rally: Rally abilities are the last activated. These abilities typically cause another chip to be re-activated. This may include re-activating Movement or Attack abilities on that chip. A Rally ability does not activate another Rally ability.
• Types: There are two basic types of abilities – Standard and Continuous. All abilities are Standard abilities unless specifically notated as Continuous. A Continuous ability activates immediately upon landing and will effect all Standard abilities before the Standard ability can activate.
• Ability Modifiers: Abilities may be modified to create individual effects. Types of modifiers include: all, friendly, opponents, remove and master.

There are 35 different Abilities. Please see the rule book for a complete list of all abilities and their functions.

The Artwork

Some of the most widely-known fantasy artists in the gaming business have contributed artwork to this game, many of them with ties to Magic: The Gathering. Although the chips are too small to see many of the details, examples of various artist’s prints for chips can be seen at the artist section of Hidden City Games. A small listing of some of the artists includes: Quinton Hoover, Susan Van Camp, April Lee, Phil Foglio, Ron Spencer, Craig Maher, Gerald Brom, Mark Tedin, Jennifer Meyer, Kaja Foglio, Larry Elmore and over 40 other artists.

Clout International Challenge (C.L.I.N.C.H.)

Definition

CLINCH is the official organized tournament system for Hidden City Clout games. Players can win CLINCH medallions in tournaments and then collect those medallions to gain access to bigger tournaments including Nationals and Worlds. Each player’s medallion collection doubles as his or her CLINCH ranking.

Because the physical medallions are used as the CLINCH rankings there is no centralized database. Each player tracks their own ranking by collecting the CLINCH medallions which work like trophies or medals. This also means that CLINCH requires no reporting by the individual Tournament Organizer (or TO). Instead of reports being filed and processed, “medallions” are awarded. These medallions are non-playable metal chips which act as the representative of the points in the system. The more medallions a player has, the more prestige they have acquired and the higher they are “ranked”.

Different medallions have different Clout values, known as Personal Clout. The bigger the event, the more Clout each medallion is worth. Medallions are only officially available through CLINCH events, but once players have possession of a medallion they are free to sell, trade, or keep them as they wish. Each #C.L.I.N.C.H. Event has a set amount of Personal Clout needed to participate in it. Counting the Medallions in a player's possession and comparing the total points on those Medallions to the amount needed for admission allows a player to determine if they have enough Personal Clout to participate in that game.

If a player is short of what they need for an upcoming invitational tournament and there are no events coming up they still have the option to buy or trade with other CLINCH players for more medallions. Each medallion is worth between 1 to 6 points of Personal Clout. There are over 20 medallions with special medallions being made for national and world events. Only one copy of each individual medallion can be used by a player to count as a Clout point. The same medallion cannot be counted twice.

C.L.I.N.C.H. Event

CLINCH events are of two types – “open” events and “invitationals”. Throw Downs and Rallies are open events and do not require any Personal Clout for entry. Roundtables, Summits and the World events will normally be invitational only requiring a certain amount of Personal Clout in the possession of each player that wishes to enter the event. If a player has the minimum Personal Clout required for the event they may enter it. The invitational events will feature custom made medallions that are either unique or made in extremely small numbers.

• Throw Downs

Any Tournament Organizer can request a Throw Down kit from Hidden City Games. These kits contain the lowest level of prize support and are described in greater detail below. It has been set up so that it is relatively easy for individual players to acquire a full set of Throw Down Medallions within a few months of playing in local tournaments or Throw Downs either through winning highest faction or trading.

• Rallies

Rallies are the next level of CLINCH events above Throw Downs and are reserved for Venture Stores and Distributor/Publisher run events at conventions. These medallions are key to determining who goes to invitational events.

• Roundtables

Roundtables include the National events run by Hidden City Games in the US and the large events run by International distributors around the World. To enter the nationals a player must have 10 Personal Clout points. These requirements will be lowered during the year 2006 due to the system’s late start for that year. National winners are awarded Medallions just like in any CLINCH event, but the Medallions are valuable for life (rather than just a year), and are worth even more Personal Clout than those that are awarded at lower events.

National Roundtable winners are granted automatic entry in the Worlds event at GenCon SoCal along with travel arrangements. Any National faction winners that are in GenCon So Call should also have enough Personal Clout to attend Worlds.

• Summits

Summits represent large international tournaments, generally reserved for regional championships (APAC, North American, or EU CLINCH Championships, etc.) These are optional events for international distributors and sponsors who wish to have a “Worlds” style event with a smaller travel burden on the players.

• Worlds

The World events will of course have a higher Personal Clout requirement for entry than Nationals and represent a higher level of competition. All National winners will automatically gain entry to the world event which will take place at GenCon SoCal in Anaheim, California. There will be unique Medallions awarded to the winners of this event.

How Medallions are Awarded

Medallions are awarded to:

• The winners of a CLINCH event
• the highest placing player of each faction (called faction winners). The faction winners are rewarded regardless of how the player placed overall. If they are the best in their faction, they win a medallion.
• Note that the overall winner gets both their faction winner medallion as well as the event winner medallion.

Additional *Special* Medallion
An additional Unique Medallion is reserved for players who play Dragons and eventually players who play out of print expansions. The special medallion is faction neutral and designed as a ‘catch all’ so that any Clout expansion may be used in a CLINCH event, no matter what medallions we have available. No Clout expansion will ever be banned from tournament play.

Tournament Prizes

Tournament prize kits consist of non unique, collectible, playable promo chips. These promo chips are factions specific and currently are only available in English.

• Each tournament kit contains
  • One prize chip for each faction for the top player in that faction
  • One neutral chip
  • one winner chip for the winner of the tournament
• When a new expansion is released, a new CLINCH kit is released with new prize chips
• Prize chips are not Medallions and don’t change with tournament level. The same chip is won for the Centaur faction at a Throw Down as is won at the Nationals.

Prize chips are designed to encourage players to collect them in multiples. To win all the playable chips, a player will have to participate in seven tournaments, winning at least one of each of the factions.

Existing Tournaments

CLOUT players still gather at the Origins Gaming Convention in Columbus Ohio for the International Clout Championships; in 2011 it will be the 5th Annual tournament event. www.originsgamefair.com

Venture Demo Team

The Venture Demo Team is made up of the volunteers and players who support Clout Fantasy, run demos and sponsor tournaments.

A Venture Founder is a person who has been on the Venture Demo Team since its inception.

A Venture Store is a local store that carries Clout Fantasy merchandise and may or may not have a Venture Demo Team member attached to it.

Sources

Clout Fantasy, Defenders of Undersea Rulebook. copyright 2005 Hidden City Games, L.L.C.

Official Sites

• Clout Fantasy Forums
• Hidden City Games
• Artist list and bios
• Blog of Adam Conus, Organized Play Manager for Hidden City Games

Unofficial Sites

• Sporadic Games Colleciton manager and stack builder.
• Clout frappr map Find a player near you!
• Jirel's Gaming Site Chips lists, action spreadsheet, articles and pictures. Fan site.
• Ventura County Clout Clout in Southern California