Air, Land, & Sea
Air, Land, & Sea Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Components
- 1 Rulebook
- 3 Theater Boards
- 1 Air (A)
- 1 Land (B)
- 1 Sea (C)
- 20 Cards
- 6 Air (D)
- 6 Land (E)
- 6 Sea (F)
- 2 Supreme Commanders (G & H)
- 14 Score Markers
- 2 Sixes (I)
- 6 Threes (J)
- 6 Ones (K)
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 6 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 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 tokens. The first player to reach 12 VPs wins the game!
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.
You do not draw cards during a Battle, so be sure to plan carefully and make the most of the 6 cards you are dealt!
Theaters
Each of the three Theater boards creates a "column" between the players: one for Air, one for Land, and one for Sea. 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.
Battle Cards
Cards are played to advance your war effort and how they are played will ultimately determine who wins the war (the game).
Strength: The large number on each card is the card's Strength. If the total Strength of all the cards on your side of a Theater is higher than the total Strength of all the cards on your opponent's side of that Theater, you control that Theater.
Tactical Abilities: Most cards have a Tactical Ability next to their Strength, which takes effect as soon as the card is played faceup to a Theater. These abilities are either Instant or Ongoing, which is explained in greater detail on the Tactical Abilities section.
Type: There are three types of cards which are represented by color and icon: Gray (plane) for Air, Green (tank) for Land, and Blue (ship) for Sea, which relate to the three Theaters. Normally, you may only play a card faceup to its matching Theater: Air cards in the Air 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. 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.
Resolving a Battle
During a Battle, players take turns starting with the player who 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 an Air card can only be played to the Air 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 the Tactical Abilities section for more info).
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 next turn, you play a Strength 5 Land card facedown to the Air 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.
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.
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: These take effect immediately after the card is played or if the card is revealed by being flipped faceup. Once the Instant Ability is resolved, it has no further effect (unless somehow that card is played or revealed again).
Example: The Transport Tactical Ability allows you to move any card you own to a different Theater immediately after you play the Transport 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: 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 Escalation Tactical Ability increases the Strength of all of your facedown cards to 4 as long as the Escalation card remains faceup. If that card were flipped over by another Tactical Ability, your facedown cards would go back to being Strength 2.
You must carry out the effects of a Tactical Ability 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 Maneuver 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. If an ability does not specify uncovered or covered, such as on Transport or Redeploy, assume the ability can affect any card.
Play: Some Tactical Abilities instruct you to play a card, or only take effect in response to a card being played. The word "play" describes any time a player takes a card from their hand and places it in a Theater. Unless otherwise specified, playing a card as a result of an ability follows all normal rules: you must play on your own side, you must play faceup cards to their matching Theater, and you must cover any previous cards in that Theater.
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.
Destroy: Some Tactical Abilities instruct you to destroy a card. Destroyed cards are always placed facedown on the bottom of the deck. If a card is destroyed immediately after it is played, such as by Blockade, then that card does not get to use its Tactical Ability.
Occupied: Some Tactical Abilities, such as Blockade, only take effect when a theater is occupied by some number of cards. When determining how many cards occupy a Theater, always count both player's cards towards the total.
Move: Some Tactical Abilities allow you to move a card to a different Theater. When a card moves, it stays on the same side of the Theaters it was already on and remains owned by the same player. Always place the moved card on top of any other cards already in the Theater it was moved to, so that it covers those cards.
Note: Moving a card is not the same as playing a card, so cards such as Blockade that affect the playing of cards do not affect the moving of cards.
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.
Example: 1st Player controls the Air Theater because they have a higher total Strength there (6 to 3). The 2nd Player controls the Land Theater thanks to their Strength advantage (4 to 1). Both players have the same Strength in the Sea Theater (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. 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: the Air Theater moves to where Land was, Land moves to where Sea was, and Sea moves to where Air was.
- 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).
Playing Hint: 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.
Beginner Mode
When you are first learning how to play Air, Land, & Sea, you can use this simplified method of scoring:
- The winner of each Battle scores 1 VP.
- The first player to reach 3 VPs wins the game.
Ignore the Withdraw chart on the Supreme Commander cards when you are playing Beginner Mode.
Playing Hint: Playing in Beginner Mode allows you to concentrate on learning how all of the Tactical Abilities of the cards work, without worrying about giving your opponent a lot of VPs by withdrawing "too late."
Additional Card Clarifications
The following clarifications come from the official Arcane Wonders card clarifications. Each card lists its Strength, ability type, and card text.
Reinforce (Strength 1, Instant)
Card text: "Look at the top card of the Battle deck. You may play it face-down to an adjacent Theater."
If you use Reinforce to play a face-down card, that face-down card can potentially trigger Containment or Blockade.
Transport (Strength 1, Instant)
Card text: "You may move 1 of your Battle cards to a different Theater."
Transport allows you to move any of your cards in play, including cards that are covered. You cannot use Transport to move an opponent's card. Since moving a card is not the same as playing a card, Transport does not trigger Blockade or Containment.
Air Drop (Strength 2, Instant)
Card text: "On your next turn, you may play a Battle card to a non-matching Theater."
If Air Drop is flipped face-down before its ability is fully resolved, then that ability is interrupted and immediately stops taking effect.
Example: You play the Air Drop Tactical Ability, which says that on your next turn you may deploy a Battle card in a non-matching Theater. Your opponent then uses the Ambush Tactical Ability to flip your Air Drop card face-down. As a result, the Air Drop Tactical Ability becomes inactive, and on your next turn, you will not be able to deploy to a non-matching Theater.
Escalation (Strength 2, Ongoing)
Card text: "All of your facedown cards are now Strength 4."
Cover Fire (Strength 4, Ongoing)
Card text: "All Battle cards covered by this card are now Strength 4."
Cover Fire only affects Battle cards that are covered by it, meaning cards that are stacked underneath it. Battle cards that have a Strength greater than 4 will be weakened by Cover Fire.
Example: You play a Heavy Tanks card which has Strength 6. Then, on your next turn, you play Cover Fire in the same theater, covering the Heavy Tanks. The Heavy Tanks will now only be Strength 4.
Redeploy (Strength 4, Instant)
Card text: "Return 1 of your face-down Battle cards to your hand. If you do, gain an extra turn."
Redeploy lets you return any of your face-down Battle cards into your hand, including face-down cards that are covered.
If a Redeploy card you own is flipped face-up and triggered on an opponent's turn, then you will take two turns in a row, one regular turn when play passes to you as normal, and one extra turn as a result of the Redeploy.
Blockade (Strength 5, Ongoing)
Card text: "If a Battle card is played in an adjacent Theater with 3 or more cards already in it (counting both players' cards), discard that card with no effect."
Battle cards discarded by Blockade do not get to use their Tactical abilities. Blockade affects both players and can trigger when either player plays a Battle card.
Disrupt (Strength 5, Instant)
Card text: "Your opponent chooses and flips 1 of their Battle cards. Then you flip 1 of yours."
Disrupt causes two Battle cards to be flipped, one after the other. If the first flip triggers an Instant Tactical Ability, resolve that triggered ability immediately, before resolving the rest of the Disrupt ability.
Example: You play Disrupt, which forces your opponent to flip one of their Battle cards. Your opponent chooses to flip their Redeploy card face-up, which immediately triggers Redeploy's Tactical Ability and allows them to return a face-down Battle card to their hand. After the Redeploy ability has been fully resolved, proceed with the second half of the Disrupt ability, which forces you to flip one of your own Battle cards.
If Disrupt is flipped face-down before its ability is fully resolved, then that ability is interrupted and immediately stops taking effect.
Example: You play Disrupt, which forces your opponent to flip one of their Battle cards. Your opponent chooses to flip their Ambush card face-up, which immediately triggers Ambush's Tactical Ability and allows them to flip your Disrupt card face-down. Since Disrupt is now face-down, its Tactical Ability is immediately interrupted, and you will not get to perform the second half of the Disrupt ability.
Disrupt can be used to flip itself.
Containment (Strength 5, Ongoing)
Card text: "If either player plays a Battle card face-down, immediately discard that card."
Battle cards discarded by Containment do not get to use their Tactical abilities. Containment only discards cards at the moment they are played face-down. It does not discard cards that were previously played face-down or cards that are simply flipped face-down.
Credits
Game Design: Jon Perry. Production: John Rogers, Dustin Wessel. Art Direction: Stephen Gibson. Illustration: Valerio Buonfantino. Graphic Design: Stephen Gibson. Rules: William Niebling. Lead Playtester: Montana Graboyes.
©Arcane Wonders, LLC.