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Overview and Goal
The game is played as a series of short battles. To win a battle you must either:
1. Cause your opponent to surrender.
2. Control more theaters than your opponent after all cards have been played.
Winning battles earns you points. The first player to 36 points wins the game.
Components
● 18 unit cards. Each unit has
○ a type (air, land, or sea)
○ a strength value ( 16).
○ a special power (except for the 6s)
● 3 theater cards: one for air, one for land, and one for sea
● a morale token
● a score pad
Setup
Shuffle the unit cards and deal 6 face down to each player. Set the rest of
the unit deck to one side of the play area. Also set aside the 3 theater
cards in their own pile.
If it’s the beginning of the
game, determine first
player randomly.
Otherwise, the player
with more points goes
first. If the players are
tied on points, the player
who won the last battle
goes first.
The first player always
takes the m orale token .
Structure of a Battle
During a battle players take turns playing one unit card at a time, trying to control more
theaters than their opponent.
In order to learn some key concepts, let’s examine a typical midgame battle layout:
Notice the 3 theater cards that make up the center row. The exact order of these theater
cards is determined by the players during the first few turns of the game.
The closer a theater is to the unit deck, the h igher priority that theater is. Priority
matters for breaking ties.
(Ex: In figure 2, land is higher priority than sea, and sea is higher priority than air.)
Theaters that are next to each other are considered to be neighboring .
( Ex: In figure 2, land and sea are neighboring.)
The 3 theater cards create 3 “columns”, one for air, one for land, and one for sea. Unit
cards are always played into one of these 3 columns. A unit in a particular theater’s
column is said to be i n that theater.
( Ex: In figure 2, the 5 card is in the land theater.)
On your turn, you will play units only on y our side of the line of theater cards.
If the sum total of the strength of all cards on your side of a theater exceeds the sum
total of all cards on your opponent’s side, you c ontrol that theater. ( Ex: Player 1
controls the land theater because their units add up to 6, while player 2’s units only add
up to 4.)
Structure of a Turn
On your turn, choose only 1 of the following options:
1. Play a unit from your hand face up to the table .
When playing a unit face up, you must follow these
placement rules:
a. The unit must m atch type with its theater.
(Ex: An air unit must be played in the air
theater.)
b. The unit must be played on your side .
c. The unit must be played so that it overlaps
any previous cards, making it the t op u nit .
(Ex. In figure 3, the 6 unit was just played
and is now the top unit.)
In addition, whenever a unit is played face up, its
special power takes effect. ( More on special
powers below.)
2. Play a unit from your hand face down to the table. Face down units are
considered w ild units . Wild units can be played to any theater, regardless of
type. Otherwise, wild units follow the same rules as face up units. All wild units
have a strength value of 2.
3. Surrender and forfeit the current battle. Sometimes it is best to surrender in
order to deny your opponent points. Note that you are not allowed to surrender
until at least 1 unit card has been played. Also note that it is sometimes possible
because of card effects to not be able to perform actions (1) or (2) above. In such
cases, you must surrender.
Opening Theaters
At the very beginning of the game there are no theaters in the center row. Theaters
must first be opened .
If it is your turn and you want to play a unit in a theater that hasn’t been opened yet, you
can open that theater by simply selecting the corresponding theater card and placing it
in the center row (color side up). When opening theaters, you must follow these rules:
● You must place the new theater in the highest priority slot available. (e.g. as
close to the unit deck as possible)
● Immediately after opening a new theater, you must play a unit in that theater.
This can be a face up unit or a wild unit.
Ex. Player 1 begins the game
by o pening the land theater .
She then plays a land unit into
the theater she just opened.
Player 2 could respond by also
playing into the land theater, but
decides instead to op en the
sea theater . He then plays a
wild unit into the sea theater he
just opened.
Special Powers
Most units have special powers. Whenever a unit is played face up from a player’s
hand, its special power takes effect.
Special powers can be either i nstant (black text) or p ersistent (white text).
Instant special powers take effect once, immediately after they are played, but do not
normally affect the game after that.
Persistent powers are always in effect as long as the unit is face up. If a unit with a
persistent power is flipped face down, that persistent power is no longer applicable.
Special powers are mandatory unless (a) they contain the word “m ay ” or (b) they are
impossible to perform in the current situation.
Units in the “Wrong” Theater
It is possible that, due to the effect of special powers, a unit may end up mismatched
with its current theater. ( Ex: An air unit may end up in the land theater.) This is totally
fine. In this case, the air unit would remain where it is, and its strength would still count
toward controlling the land theater.
The Morale Token
After both players have played all the cards in their hands, the first player places the
morale token in a theater of their choosing. The morale token provides the first player a
final +1 strength in that particular theater. Placing the morale token is not optional.
Winning Battles
You can win a battle in one of two ways:
1. If y
our opponent surrenders , you win.
2. If after all cards and the morale token have been played, y ou control more
theaters than your opponent, you win. Controlling a theater means your total
strength in that theater exceeds your opponent’s total. If strength is tied, no one
controls that particular theater. If both players control the same number of
theaters, the battle is won by the player who controls the higher priority theater. If
players are still tied, neither player wins and no points are awarded.
Scoring
The winner of the battle scores:
● 1 point for each unit card played to the table by either player.
● 1 point for each theater that has been opened.
● 1 point if the morale token has been played
(Ex: In figure 2, the battle is worth 11 points.)
Track score using the included score pad.
Winning the Game
After scoring a battle, if a player reaches or exceeds 36 points, the game is over, and
that player has won. Otherwise, collect all the cards, mix them together with the rest of
the deck, shuffle everything up and start a new battle following the setup rules above.
ADDITIONAL TERMS
Cover
A unit is said to be c
overing all units stacked below it in the same theater. ( For
example, in figure 3 above, the 6 unit is covering the 1 unit and the 2 unit.)
Flip
Flipping a unit means either (a) turning a face up unit face down (b) turning a face down
unit face up. Flipping adheres to the following rules:
● Only top units can be flipped. A unit covered by another unit cannot be flipped.
● Unless otherwise specified, you can flip either your own units or your opponent’s.
● If flipping over a wild unit result in a unit being mismatched with its current
theater, that is okay.
● If flipping over a wild unit reveals an instant power, that instant power will
immediately trigger, even if it was already triggered once in the current battle.
Reorder
To reorder is to take all of the unit cards on one side of a single theater and change the
order in which they are stacked.
Discard
If you are ever instructed to discard a card, that card should be discarded face down to
the bottom of the unit deck.
Locked
If a theater becomes locked, turn the corresponding theater card over to its black and
white side. A locked theater cannot have additional units added to it under any
circumstances. However, units can still be removed from a locked theater.
SPECIAL POWER CLARIFICATIONS
Aerodrome
—Aerodrome allows you to break the rule that requires you to match type when playing
units face up, provided those units have a strength of 3 or less.
Blockade
—A theater is locked if it has 3 units total, no matter what side those units are on. So if
there are 2 units on one side and 1 unit on another, that theater is locked.
—If Blockade is ever turned face down, any locked theaters become unlocked.
Carrier
—Using Carrier completely takes the place of a normal turn.
—The card you discard should be discarded face down to the bottom of the unit deck.
Encirclement
—Encirclement only prevents your opponent from playing wild units f rom their hand .
—Any wild units your opponent already has in play are okay.
—Your opponent’s units can still be flipped and turned into wild units.
Maneuver
—You can choose to flip your own units or your opponent’s.
Reinforcements
—You can look at the unit you draw prior to playing it as a wild.
—You cannot use Reinforcements to play a wild unit into a theater that hasn’t been
opened yet.
—The unit drawn never enters your hand. So you can still use Reinforcements even if
your opponent has Encirclement.