Digging underground for most of their lives gives them a sensitivity to light, especially the light glinting off a piece of treasure! It also gives them impressive muscles. The last place you want to be is between a Munchkin Dwarf with his pickaxe and some treasure.
- - Smash Up: Munchkin rulebook (updated in The Bigger Geekier Box rulebook)
The Dwarves are one of the 8 factions from the Smash Up: Munchkin set.
The Dwarves focus on getting treasures and they get benefits from treasures played on their minions.
Other factions from the same set: Clerics, Elves, Halflings, Mages, Orcs, Thieves, Warriors.
Cards[]
The Dwarves have the usual 10 minions and 10 actions. The total minion base power (not counting any abilities) is the usual 30 or an average of 3 per minion. Additionally, there are several abilities that can boost the power of minions beyond its base value.
Among their actions, there are:
- 0 play-on-minion actions,
- 0 play-on-base actions,
- 10 standard actions (none of them affect minions): Anything for Money, Cash Out, Cunning Plan, Greed is Good (2x), Hidden Assets (2x), Mine!, No! My Precious!, Salvage,
- 0 actions that directly increase a minion's power.
Minions[]
1x Dwarf King - power 5 - Ongoing: When a treasure card on one of your minions goes to the discard pile, place it into your hand instead. FAQ
2x Loot Lover - power 4 - Ongoing: This minion has +2 power for each treasure card on it. FAQ
3x Gold Digger - power 3 - Talent: Place a treasure card from the discard pile into your hand. FAQ
4x Gem Grabber - power 2 - Ongoing: If this minion has a treasure card on it, it has +2 power. FAQ
Actions[]
1x Anything for Money - Discard any number of cards. Draw one treasure card for each card you discarded. FAQ
1x Cash Out - Play up to 3 treasure cards from your hand as extra cards. FAQ
1x Cunning Plan - Special: Play before a base scores. Draw a treasure card. You may play it. FAQ
2x Greed is Good - Draw a treasure card OR place a treasure card from the discard pile into your hand. You may play an extra action. FAQ
2x Hidden Assets - Place the top 3 cards from the treasure card deck into its discard pile. Draw a card. You may play an extra action. FAQ
1x Mine! - Search the treasure deck for a card that can be played on a minion. Play it on one of your minions as an extra action. Shuffle the treasure deck. FAQ
1x No! My Precious! - Destroy an action played on a minion. If it is a treasure card, you may play an extra action. FAQ
1x Salvage - Special: Play before a base scores. Play a treasure card from the discard pile onto one of your minions there. FAQ
Bases[]
Clarifications[]
Here are the official clarifications as they appear in The Bigger Geekier Box rulebook:
Cunning Plan: If you play the treasure card, it’s as an extra card.
Mechanics[]
Dwarves specialize in getting treasures, especially from the treasure discard pile, and gaining power from on-minion treasures.
Out of its 22 cards, the treasure discard pile has 10 actions that can be played on minions, so nearly half of the deck, though Potion of Cowardice is more detrimental to the Dwarves. Some of the Dwarf minions gaining advantage from having on-minion actions on them, they need to draw the right treasures from the treasure deck, or they can choose the appropriate treasures from the treasure discard pile.
While players could think that Dwarves greatly depend on Munchkin bases to have treasures, Dwarves actually have several cards allowing them to draw treasures and to put treasures into the treasure discard pile. So, they can get treasure by themselves, but they do have an advantage when Munchkin bases are in play.
Synergy[]
- Thieves: Another Munchkin faction focused heavily on treasure. Thieves can discard treasure for benefits, while Dwarves can retrieve treasure from the discard pile. Gold Digger is especially useful for reloading treasure to discard to various Thief effects. You can discard treasure that can't played on minions to the Thieves and play the treasure that can on the Dwarves.
- Warriors: Warriors are good at destroying monsters, which makes them good at gaining treasure as well (unless you play Ruckus).
- Aladdin: Most treasures are actions, which the Aladdin faction can discard. Like with Thieves, Gold Digger is good at reloading treasures for repeat discarding.
External Strategy Guides[]
FAQ[]
Questions on Dwarf King[]
Q: Does Dwarf King's ability work after any base scores? Do I place treasures played on my minions there into my hand?
A: Yes.[1]
Rule: Do exactly what the
cardofficial answer says.
Q: If Dwarf King is destroyed, do I place treasures played on him into my hand?
A: Yes.[1]
Rule: Do exactly what the
cardofficial answer says.
Q: But, there's this rule, "When a monster or treasure card leaves play, it always goes to the corresponding discard pile, regardless of card text to the contrary.", so Dwarf King actually can't prevent the treasure from going to your hand since this rule explicitly tells us to ignore the card abilities.
A: This is obviously a very inaccurate rule because that would make Dwarf King useless. A more accurate rule would be that it only applies if the card text refers more generally to "a minion", "an action" or "a card". If the card text specifically refers to the treasure/monster nature of the card, then follow the card text instead.
Rule: Often, card text and rules text will conflict. When there's a fight, card text wins.
Q: It applies to treasures on "one of my minions". Does it also apply to treasures on minions I own that I don't control? I don't control them but I "own" them, so they are "my" minions, right?
A: No. "Your minions" are minions you control, whether or not you own them. A minion you own but don't control isn't yours.
Q: What about Magic Missile? When I use its talent, is it placed in my hand or the bottom of the treasure deck?
A: The bottom of the treasure deck. When you use Magic Missile's talent, you immediately place it under the treasure deck. Note that it doesn't say "instead of the discard pile", so it's not replacing its fate of being discarded so you don't wait for the step where the card should normally be discarded. Since it never reaches that step, Dwarf King's ability can't apply.
Q: I already have ten cards in hand. Something happens (a base scores, one of my minions with treasures on it is destroyed, etc.) that allows me to place treasures into my hand. What happens? Are they discarded anyway? Or do I get them and then immediately choose cards to discard?
A: You get them back and you discard any card until your next Draw 2 Cards phase (so not any Draw 2 Cards phase!). At that point, you will indeed need to draw two cards and discard down to 10 if you have more than 10. That's the only moment where you must discard down to 10. At any other time, you keep your hand of cards. So, if it happens during another player's turn, you keep all the cards and can therefore play your next turn with more than ten cards in hand.
Questions on Loot Lover[]
Q:
A:
Rule:
Questions on Gold Digger[]
Q: I already have ten cards in hand. What happens if I decide to use this talent? Do I place a treasure in my hand and immediately discard a card?
A: It is placed in your hand and you don't discard any card until your upcoming Draw 2 Cards phase. At that point, you will indeed need to draw two cards and discard down to 10 if you have more than 10. That's the only moment where you must discard down to 10. At any other time, you keep your hand of cards.
Questions on Gem Grabber[]
Q: Does Gem Grabber's ability turn off if it has two or more treasures attached to it? Or does it get +2 power per treasure attached to it?
A: As long as there's at least one treasure attached to it, it gets +2 power. If there are more than one treasure on it, it will neither turn off the ability, nor give additional power boosts.
Questions on Anything for Money[]
Q: Can I discard cards that are already in play?
A: No. When a card tells you to discard a card, it comes from your hand unless it says otherwise.
Rule: Unless otherwise specified, discarding cards refers to cards in your hand.
Q: How does this interact with the Disco Dancers' mechanic and Funky Town's ability?
A: It doesn't interact with them at all, because it doesn't affect any minions in play and so its effect can't be copied.
Questions on Cash Out[]
Q: If the first treasure I play is Wand of Dowsing, can I play any of the drawn treasures as any of the remaining extra card plays? Or can I only play three treasure I already had in hand?
A: Yes, you can. Cards are played one at a time and each is resolved as soon as it is played. Moreover, unlike Teleport Overflow, there's nothing that tells you to reveal beforehand which treasures you intend to play.[2]
Q: How does this interact with the Disco Dancers' mechanic and Funky Town's ability?
A: It doesn't interact with them at all, because it doesn't affect any minions in play and so its effect can't be copied.
Questions on Cunning Plan[]
Q: After playing this card, I (somehow) have more than 10 cards in hand, do I immediately discard down to 10 before I can play the treasure?
A: You don't discard any card until your next Draw 2 Cards phase (so not any Draw 2 Cards phase!). At that point, you will indeed need to draw two cards and discard down to 10 if you have more than 10. That's the only moment where you must discard down to 10. At any other time, you keep your hand of cards.
Q: With Cunning Plan, if I play a treasure that increases my total power on the base, or conversely decreases the total power of an opponent, does it change anything? Don't we only get VPs based on the power we had at the start of scoring?
A: Actually, the amount of VPs each player gets is determined by the power each player currently has when you are handing out VPs, so any before-scoring abilities (including this one) that affect how much power you have on the base will affect the amount of VPs you'll eventually get.
Rule: VPs are awarded according to the current power totals.
Q: With Cunning Plan, if I play a treasure that reduces the total power on the base below the breakpoint, does this end the scoring?
A: No. Once a base has been chosen to score, you keep scoring it even if the total power on it drops below its breakpoint because of before-scoring abilities. (Only a couple of things can really prevent a base from scoring, but this isn't one of them.)
Q: Can I play it from stasis before a base scores?
A: No, while in stasis, the only abilities that can do anything are the ones that explicitly state that they do something there.
Rule: Abilities of cards in stasis do not work unless they refer to stasis.
Q: How does this interact with the Disco Dancers' mechanic and Funky Town's ability?
A: It doesn't interact with them at all, because it doesn't affect any minions in play and so its effect can't be copied.
Questions on Greed is Good[]
Q: After playing this card, I (somehow) have more than 10 cards in hand, do I immediately discard down to 10 before I play the extra action?
A: You don't discard any card until your next Draw 2 Cards phase (so not any Draw 2 Cards phase!). At that point, you will indeed need to draw two cards and discard down to 10 if you have more than 10. That's the only moment where you must discard down to 10. At any other time, you keep your hand of cards.
Q: How does this interact with the Disco Dancers' mechanic and Funky Town's ability?
A: It doesn't interact with them at all, because it doesn't affect any minions in play and so its effect can't be copied.
Questions on Hidden Assets[]
Q: Does "Draw a card" mean that I draw a treasure card?
A: No, it means you draw a card from your deck.
Q: After playing this card, I (somehow) have more than 10 cards in hand, do I immediately discard down to 10?
A: You don't discard any card until your next Draw 2 Cards phase (so not any Draw 2 Cards phase!). At that point, you will indeed need to draw two cards and discard down to 10 if you have more than 10. That's the only moment where you must discard down to 10. At any other time, you keep your hand of cards.
Q: How does this interact with the Disco Dancers' mechanic and Funky Town's ability?
A: It doesn't interact with them at all, because it doesn't affect any minions in play and so its effect can't be copied.
Questions on Mine![]
Q: It says to play the treasure on "one of my minions". Can I play it on a minion I own that I don't control? I don't control it but I "own" it, so it's "my" minion, right? For example if the treasure is Potion of Cowardice.
A: No. "Your minions" are minions you control, whether or not you own them. A minion you own but don't control isn't yours.
Q: I play Mine! and search the treasure deck. What happens if I find no eligible play-on-minion action there? Am I then allowed to search my hand or the treasure discard pile?
A: Then its ability fails, you won't get a treasure and will still have to shuffle the treasure deck. You do not go through the treasure discard pile or your hand as a compensation, otherwise the card would have said so.
Q: Can you play the treasure on a minion in stasis?
A: No, cards in stasis cannot be affected by cards that do not explicitly state they work on cards in stasis.
Q: How does this interact with the Disco Dancers' mechanic and Funky Town's ability?
A: It doesn't interact with them at all, because it doesn't affect any minions in play and so its effect can't be copied.
Questions on No! My Precious![]
Q: How does this interact with the Disco Dancers' mechanic and Funky Town's ability?
A: It doesn't interact with them at all, because it doesn't affect any minions in play and so its effect can't be copied. Yes, destroying an action affects that action, but not the card (minion or base) it is on.
Rule: Definition of "affect".
Questions on Salvage[]
Q: With Salvage, if I play a treasure that increases my total power on the base, or conversely leads to a decrease of the total power of an opponent, does it change anything? Don't we only get VPs based on the power we had at the start of scoring?
A: Actually, the amount of VPs each player gets is determined by the power each player currently has when you are handing out VPs, so any before-scoring abilities (including this one) that affect how much power you have on the base will affect the amount of VPs you'll eventually get.
Rule: VPs are awarded according to the current power totals.
Q: With Salvage, if I play Boots of Butt-Kicking and an extra action that reduces the total power on the base below the breakpoint, does this end the scoring?
A: No. Once a base has been chosen to score, you keep scoring it even if the total power on it drops below its breakpoint because of before-scoring abilities. (Only a couple of things can really prevent a base from scoring, but this isn't one of them.)
Q: Which treasure can I play with Salvage?
A: Only treasure actions that say "Play on a minion" (or a similar wording). You cannot use Salvage to play "play on a base" actions, nor standard actions.
Rule: Only "play on a minion" actions are played on a minion.
Q: It says to play the treasure on "one of my minions". Can I play it on a minion I own that I don't control? I don't control it but I "own" it, so it's "my" minion, right? For example if the treasure is Potion of Cowardice.
A: No. "Your minions" are minions you control, whether or not you own them. A minion you own but don't control isn't yours.
Q: Can I play it from stasis before a base scores?
A: No, while in stasis, the only abilities that can do anything are the ones that explicitly state that they do something there.
Rule: Abilities of cards in stasis do not work unless they refer to stasis.
Q: How does this interact with the Disco Dancers' mechanic and Funky Town's ability?
A: It doesn't interact with them at all, because it doesn't affect any minions in play and so its effect can't be copied.
Trivia[]
- The artists are John Kovalic, who is well-known for drawing the art of many boardgames including Munchkin and several of its expansions, and Gong Studios, who also designed the art of many other factions.
- Their divider features Dwarf King.
- The font used for the Dwarf cards is Quasimodo.
- An Elf and a Warrior are present on the Cash Out card.
- An Elf is also present on the Cunning Plan card.
In other languages[]
| Language | Name |
|---|---|
| French | Nains |
| German | Zwerge |
| Russian | Дварфы |
| Spanish | Enanos |
| ||||||