Air, Land, & Sea: Spies, Lies, & Supplies
Air, Land, & Sea: Spies, Lies, & Supplies Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Components
- 1 Rulebook
- 3 Theater Boards
- 1 Intelligence (A)
- 1 Diplomacy (B)
- 1 Economics (C)
- 22 Cards
- 6 Intelligence (D)
- 6 Diplomacy (E)
- 6 Economics (F)
- 2 Supreme Commanders (G)
- 2 Epic Mode Supreme Commanders (H)
- 14 Score Markers
- 2 Sixes (I)
- 6 Threes (J)
- 6 Ones (K)
- 14 Supply Tokens (L)
Setting Up the Game
- Randomly place the three Theater boards in any order to create a row.
- Shuffle the two Supreme Commander cards and deal one facedown in front of each player. Players then turn their Supreme Commander cards faceup. The player who received the red Supreme Commander card (1st Player) will take the first turn.
- Shuffle the remaining 18 cards and deal six to each player to form their starting hands. Players should keep their hands secret from each other.
- Set the rest of the cards to one side of the play area without revealing them.
- Put all the tokens in a pile on the other side of the play area.
Playing the Game
Air, Land, & Sea: Spies, Lies, & Supplies is played over a series of rounds called Battles. To win a Battle, you must either:
- Control more Theaters than your opponent after both players have played all of their cards; or
- Convince your opponent to withdraw.
If you win a Battle, you earn Victory Points (VPs) represented by Score Markers. The first player to reach 12 VPs wins!
Structure of a Battle
During a Battle, the players take turns playing one card at a time, trying to control more Theaters than their opponent.
! Players familiar with Air, Land, & Sea may skip to page 8 for new Tactical Ability key terms and page 10 for new game modes. All other rules are unchanged.
Theaters
Each of the three Theater boards creates a "column" between the players: one for Intelligence, one for Diplomacy, and one for Economics. These columns are called Theaters. Cards are always played into these three Theaters. If a card is in a particular Theater's column, we say that the card is "in that Theater."
Theaters that are next to each other are called adjacent Theaters.
A player owns all of the cards on their side of the Theater boards. During your turn, you will play cards only on your side of the Theaters.
Let's examine a typical game in mid-Battle. In this example, there are three cards in the Diplomacy Theater — one owned by the 1st Player and two owned by the 2nd Player. Notice that the Diplomacy Theater and the Economics Theater are adjacent to each other, while the Intelligence Theater and the Economics Theater are not adjacent.
Battle Cards
Cards are played to advance your war effort, and how they are played will ultimately determine who wins the Battle.
Strength: The large number on each card is the card's Strength (1). If the total Strength of all the cards and supply tokens on your side of a Theater is higher than the total Strength of all the cards and supply tokens on your opponent's side of that Theater, you control that Theater.
Tactical Abilities: Most cards have a Tactical Ability (2) next to their Strength, which takes effect as soon as the card is played faceup to a Theater. These abilities are either Instant (3) or Ongoing (4), which is explained in greater detail on page 7.
Type: There are three types of cards which are represented by color and icon: Black & the Intelligence icon for Intelligence, Red & the Economics icon for Economics, and Purple & the Diplomacy icon for Diplomacy, which relate to the three Theaters. Normally, you may only play a card faceup to its matching Theater: Diplomacy cards in the Diplomacy Theater, and so on.
Facedown Cards: Cards can also be played facedown as a "wild card" in any Theater. Facedown cards always have a Strength of 2. Facedown cards do not have any Tactical Abilities (see page 7). You may examine your own facedown cards at any time, but you may not examine any owned by your opponent.
Covered Cards: When a card is played to a Theater that already contains cards, the newly played card is placed so that it overlaps the previously played card, while still showing the top portion of it. Any card overlapped by another is called a covered card. Similarly, any card that is not overlapped by another card is referred to as uncovered.
Example: In the image on the right, Spy Network is covered and Neutralize is uncovered.
Resolving a Battle
During a Battle, players take turns starting with whoever has the 1st Player Supreme Commander card.
On your turn, you must take only one of these three actions: Deploy, Improvise, Withdraw.
Deploy: Play one card from your hand, faceup. When you play a card, you must follow these deployment restrictions:
- You can only play cards on your side of the Theater boards.
- The card must be the same type as the Theater you play it to (so a Diplomacy card can only be played to the Diplomacy Theater).
- If you have other cards in that Theater already, you must place the new card so that it covers (partially overlaps) those cards.
! Remember: When you play a card faceup, any Tactical Ability of that card takes effect immediately (see page 7 for more info on Tactical Abilities).
Example: For your turn, you decide to play the Strength 3 Economics card from your hand (1), placing it faceup in the Economics Theater (2). You already had two cards in that Theater, so you must play the Strength 3 card so that it covers the Strength 2 and Strength 1 cards. Then, you immediately use the Tactical Ability on the Strength 3 card, which allows you to flip over one card in an adjacent Theater (3).
Improvise: Play one card from your hand, facedown, to any Theater. Facedown cards are treated as "wild cards," and can be played to any Theater regardless of which type they are.
Example: On your turn, you play a Strength 5 Diplomacy card facedown to the Intelligence Theater. You can do this because a facedown card can be played to any Theater. You do not get to use your card's Tactical Ability, and it only counts as a Strength of 2 instead of a Strength of 5.
Withdraw: If you think your chances of winning the current Battle are low, you may withdraw. If you do, your opponent wins the Battle (see page 9).
★ Strategy Tip: Sometimes, it may be best to withdraw in order to deny your opponent Victory Points!
Once you have finished your action, your opponent begins their turn. The players continue to alternate taking turns until one of them withdraws or both players have played all of their cards (see page 9).
! Remember: You DO NOT draw cards from the Battle deck during a Battle unless a Tactical Ability allows you to do so.
Tactical Abilities
Most cards have Tactical Abilities described on the card. When you play a card faceup from your hand, or if a facedown card is flipped over, its Tactical Ability takes effect immediately. There are two kinds of Tactical Abilities: Instant and Ongoing, indicated by the symbol next to the ability.
Instant Abilities (lightning bolt icon): These take effect immediately after the card is played or if the card is flipped faceup. Once the Instant Ability is resolved, it has no further effect (unless somehow that card is played or flipped faceup again).
Example: The Relinquish Tactical Ability allows you to immediately destroy one of your deployed cards to also destroy any uncovered card.
Note: Because Instant Abilities take effect when flipped faceup, it is possible for multiple Instant Abilities to take effect around the same time. In these situations, always resolve the Instant Abilities in the order they happened and fully resolve each ability before moving on to the next.
! Once an Instant Ability begins taking effect, it always resolves fully, even if it gets flipped facedown before completing.
Ongoing Abilities (infinity icon): These are always in effect as long as the card is faceup. If a card with an Ongoing Ability is flipped facedown, the ability no longer has any effect (unless that card is revealed again).
Example: The Supply Lines Tactical Ability, once deployed, allows you to continuously play cards to non-matching theaters; however, your opponent will gain 1 Supply token in that theater every time you do so.
You must carry out the effects of Tactical Abilities unless they contain the word "may."
If a Tactical Ability is impossible to perform, that ability is ignored and has no effect.
Tactical Ability Key Terms
Flip: Many Tactical Abilities allow you to flip a card. Flipping a card means either turning a faceup card so it is facedown or turning a facedown card so it is faceup.
Unless the ability states otherwise, you may flip any card — yours or your opponent's.
Example: The Manipulate card reads "Flip an uncovered card in an adjacent Theater." Since it doesn't specify, you could use this ability to flip over one of your own cards or one of your opponent's.
Uncovered/Covered: Many Tactical Abilities only affect uncovered or covered cards (see page 4). If an ability does not specify uncovered or covered, assume the ability can affect any card. For example, Envoy can be moved when covered, and Relinquish can destroy 1 of your covered cards.
Non-Matching Theaters: It is possible that, as a result of Tactical Abilities, a card may end up in a Theater that does not match the card's type. When this happens, the card does not suffer any penalty for being in the "wrong" Theater. The card remains where it is, and its Strength is counted towards control of that Theater.
Note: You are never required to use Supply Lines. If you have another way to play to a non-matching Theater, you can ignore its Tactical Ability.
Destroy: Some Tactical Abilities instruct you to destroy a card. Destroyed cards are always placed facedown on the bottom of the deck.
Supply: A token worth +1 Strength. Supplies are placed in theaters on either your side or your enemy's side.
Reveal: Choose a card in your hand and show it to your enemy. Revealed cards go back into the owner's hand after being revealed. If you do not have any cards in your hand, you cannot reveal a card. If you are unable or unwilling to reveal a card, you will not get the benefit of any Tactical Ability that requires you to do so.
Name: Specify a card by saying both its Theater type and Strength number, as in "Intelligence 6." You cannot name a card by using only its title. The back of each Theater Board features a quick reference guide.
Higher/Lower: When determining if a card is higher or lower than another card, compare the two cards' Strength values. If a card is in a player's hand, always use the Strength on the front of the card. If a card is in play, then use whatever Strength value is currently active (so a facedown card would have a Strength of 2).
Ending Battles
There are two ways that a Battle can end:
If either player withdraws. If you withdraw, your opponent wins the Battle.
- or -
If both players have played all of the cards in their hand. At this point, the player who controls the most Theaters wins the Battle.
In order to control a Theater, you must have a higher total Strength there than your opponent has in that Theater. If your Strengths are tied, the 1st Player wins the tie and controls that Theater. If there are no cards on either side of a Theater, the 1st player controls that Theater.
Tallying the players' total Strength in each of the three Theaters, 1st Player controls the Intelligence Theater (6 to 3), 2nd Player controls the Diplomacy Theater (4 to 3), and both players have the same Strength in the Economics Theater (3 to 3), leaving them tied. Since the 1st Player wins ties, they control two Theaters so they win the Battle!
Scoring Victory Points
If you win a Battle, you score Victory Points, which are tracked with Score Markers. The number of VPs you score depends on if and when your opponent withdraws:
- If neither player withdraws before both players have played all of their cards, the winner of the Battle scores 6 VPs.
- If one of the players withdraws, the other player scores the VPs shown on the withdrawing player's Supreme Commander card, based on how many cards the withdrawing player has left in their hand. The longer you wait to withdraw, the more VPs your opponent will score!
After scoring, check to see if the victor has enough VPs to win the game (see page 10). If not, set up and fight another Battle.
Setting Up for the Next Battle
- Collect all of the cards and shuffle them together to create a new deck. Deal each player a new hand of six cards and set the rest of the deck off to the side of the play area, just like you did at the beginning of the game.
- Next, rotate the position of the Theater cards as shown below.
- Finally, the players exchange Supreme Commander cards. The player who was the 1st Player will be 2nd Player in the next Battle.
Winning the Game
After each Battle, you must check if the winner of the Battle has enough Victory Points to declare victory. The first player to reach a total of 12 VPs wins the war (and the game).
★ Optional Rule: You can adjust the length of the game by changing the number of points you need to win. If you want to play a longer game, play until one player reaches 18 points.
Mixing with "Air, Land, & Sea"
While Spies, Lies, & Supplies can be played fully standalone, you can also mix it with Air, Land, & Sea in one of 2 ways:
1. Standard Mode: Select any 3 Theaters from either game. For example, you could select Air, Intelligence, and Economics. Use only the Theater Boards and Battle Cards from these 3 selected Theaters. All other cards will not be used. Otherwise, the game plays as normal.
2. Epic Mode: Use 5 Theaters instead of 3, draw a starting hand of 10 cards instead of 6, and use the special Epic Mode Supreme Commander cards instead of the regular ones. If neither player withdraws, the winning player is the one that controls at least 3 Theaters. Since Epic games are longer, we recommend playing to 6 VPs instead of the usual 12.
3-4 Player Team Variant
The Team Variant is a way to play with more than two players. It can be combined freely with both the Standard and Epic game modes.
Setup Modifications
Divide the players into two teams. You can play 1 vs 2 or 2 vs 2. The two teams should sit on opposite sides of the table from each other, with teammates sitting next to each other on the same side of the table.
A solo player (on a team by themself) draws the normal number of cards at the start of the game: 6 cards in Standard Mode and 10 cards in Epic Mode.
A team player (on a team with one other player) draws half the normal number of cards: 3 cards in Standard Mode and 5 cards in Epic Mode.
After looking at their starting hands, the team players swap 1 card with each other.
Turn Order
Teams alternate taking turns. When a team takes its turn, only one member of that team plays.
The team player with more cards in their hand is always the one who plays. If both team players have the same number of cards in their hands, the team players decide together which of them will play.
Scoring & Withdrawal
When team players withdraw, they should add together all of the cards in both of their hands to determine how many VPs to give to their opponent.
Since team games tend to be longer, we recommend playing to 6 VPs in Standard Mode and only a single battle in Epic Mode.
Communication
Players can say whatever they want, provided it is said out in the open so that all players on both teams can hear.
★ Strategy Tip: The cards you swap at the beginning of the game are a great touchstone for coded communication with your teammate. For example, you might say something like "I'm strong in the Theater of the card I gave you."
Other than the initial card swap, you are not allowed to show cards in your hand to another player.
Both team players can peek at any facedown cards on their side of the table.
When a card is revealed, all players from both teams get to see it.
Tactical Abilities (Team Variant)
Whenever a Tactical Ability refers to "you," assume it is referring to your whole team. Likewise, whenever a card refers to "the enemy," assume it is referring to the whole enemy team.
Clarifications:
- Aerodrome, Envoy, Supply Lines – Ongoing Tactical Abilities can be used by both team players.
- Air Drop – Tactical Abilities that affect "the next time you play" affect the next member of your team who plays, regardless of who played the Tactical Ability.
- Leverage, Requisition, Surveil – When a team must reveal a card, the team players can decide together which of them will reveal.
- Neutralize – If either team player has the named card, that player must reveal it and play it the next time their team takes a turn, whether it would normally be that player's turn or not.
- Redeploy – The team players decide together which of them will put a facedown card in their hand. That same player must then play a card.
- Give & Take – When a team draws a card, the team players decide together who will draw. Likewise, when a team is given a card, the team players decide (before looking at the card) which of them will receive it.
Credits
Game Design: Jon Perry
Product Development: Walter Barber, Bryan Pope
Project Management: Nicole Cutler
Marketing: Robert Geistlinger
Production: John Rogers
Art Direction: John Guytan, Stephen Gibson
Illustration: Jose Angel Trancón Fernández, Damien Mammoliti, Valerio Buonfantino
Graphic Design: Stephen Gibson, Damien Mammoliti
Proofreading: J. Tucker White, Eric Slauson, Benjamin Pope
Rules: William Niebling
Lead Playtesters: Justin Lowe, Montana Graboyes
Playtesters: A.J. Brandon, Tyler Bransfield, Egor Chistyakov, AJ Echeverria, Mark Ehlke, Sammi Ehlke, James Firnhaber, Wiebe Ginter, Peter Karimeddini, Kyle Kukshtel, Tyler Kilgore, Alex Knight, Adam Ornstein, Dan Pearce, Chris Register, The Shogunstein, Ivy Thurston, Jason Thurston, Joey Vigour, Jay Vowles, Thomas Welker, Minh Nguyen, Andee Tao, Paul Filar, Mark Fachler, Dan Pearce, Benjamin Pope, Caitlin Nowak
©2021 Arcane Wonders, LLC.