Battleship: Card Game (2002)
Battleship: Card Game (2002) Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Equipment
- 2 Decks containing 36 Fleet Cards each
- 5 Ocean Cards
Object
Be the first player to gain control of 3 of the 5 oceans.
Setup
- Separate the Fleet cards into 2 decks by card back. Players then each choose a deck (they are identical), shuffle it and place it facedown within reach. These are your Fleet decks.
- Place the 5 Ocean cards, faceup, in a row in the center of the table between the 2 players. The Ocean cards can be placed in any order. See the example below.
Example: five Ocean cards in a row, reading from left to right: South Pacific Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, North Pacific Ocean, South Atlantic Ocean.
Mission Briefing
Be the first player to gain control of 3 of the 5 oceans. You do this by:
- Establishing Task Forces to any or all of the 5 oceans of the world;
- Issuing special commands to block your opponent's movements;
- Engaging your opponent in head-to-head combat.
The stronger Task Force wins!
Good Luck.
Task Forces and Fleets
As mentioned earlier, there are 5 oceans in this game. Eventually, an ocean will have 2 opposing Task Forces dispatched to it. A Task Force is a group of cards played on an Ocean card.
IMPORTANT: You can never play more than 5 cards to a Task Force.
These cards are usually played facedown, hidden from your opponent, but may be revealed (turned faceup) during the course of the game.
All of the cards you play off any one ocean are called a Task Force. All of your Task Forces together make up your Fleet.
After 2 opposing Task Forces do combat and one wins, both Task Forces are placed in the discard pile and that ocean is taken out of play. The discarded Task Forces are no longer part of your Fleet.
A Look at the Cards
Players will alternate turns playing Fleet cards. On each turn you will play 1 or 2 cards. (This will be explained in detail later on.) Cards can be played into a Task Force, or discarded to issue a Special Command.
Let's take a quick look at your Fleet cards. Most Fleet cards have 2 parts to them. The top part shows how powerful the card is if it is added to one of your Task Forces. The bottom part shows a Special Command, which is issued if the card is discarded instead of being added to a Task Force.
Example: the DESTROYER card shows a strength of 3 at the top, and the Special Command MANEUVERS at the bottom: "Exchange two of your Task Forces or move a Task Force to an empty ocean."
Although most Fleet cards perform as explained above some cards do not. Some cards, such as the BATTLESHIP cards, do not have Special Commands and are only useful if added to a Task Force; and some cards, such as the ELEMENT OF SURPRISE cards, are only used to issue Special Commands.
Example: the BATTLESHIP card shows a strength of 5 and has no Special Command. The ELEMENT OF SURPRISE card has no strength and its Special Command reads: "If you attack this turn, you win ties instead of the defender."
*Card note: the SUB card in the printed example shows a strength of 2 with the printed note "5 IF NO ENEMY DESTROYER IS PRESENT", and its Special Command is INTELLIGENCE: "Draw 2 cards from enemy deck. Discard 1. Put the other back on top."
The MINEFIELD and the DEPTH CHARGES cards are played to your Task Forces, and commands are activated during combat.
- MINEFIELD: "At the start of combat, destroy 1 surface ship. (If the enemy has a PT boat, he chooses the target. Otherwise, you choose.)"
- DEPTH CHARGES: "If you attack, this card has no effect. If you defend, destroy all subs in the attacking Task Force."
Dispatching Your Fleet (initial setup)
Decide which player will go first. In order to keep the delicate balance of power, Player #1 begins by drawing 6 cards from his/her Fleet deck; and Player #2 begins by drawing 5 cards from his/her Fleet deck. These are your starting hands. Keep your hands secret from your opponent.
Player #1 plays one of the cards from his/her hand, faceup (revealed) on his/her side of one of the 5 oceans. This will establish this player's first Task Force. Player #2 then does the same by playing a card, faceup, on his/her side of one of the oceans. Player #2 may, but does not have to, place his/her card to the same ocean as Player #1.
The 2 players continue alternating turns, playing Fleet cards, faceup, until Player #1 has 3 cards in play and Player #2 has 2 cards in play. These cards may be spread throughout the oceans or all may be played on one. Both players will now have 3 cards in hand.
(The printed example shows Player 1 and Player 2 with their faceup cards placed among the five Ocean cards.)
Now that the initial Fleets have been established, play can begin. Player #2 continues on.
On Your Turn
Your turn has 3 parts, which are done in the following order:
- Draw 2 cards
- Play a card
- Play a second card OR attack
1. Draw 2 Cards
Draw 2 cards from your Fleet card deck. It doesn't matter how many cards you have in your hand; you MUST draw 2 cards. You only go through the Fleet card deck once. If you run out of cards in your Fleet card draw pile, DO NOT reshuffle your discard pile.
IMPORTANT: If on your turn you draw the last card in your draw pile, finish your turn and end the game. The player controlling the most oceans WINS! If players are tied for control, the player whose draw pile ran out, LOSES!
2. Play a Card
You MUST play a card from your hand. You can either play a card, facedown, off of any ocean, thereby adding to one of your existing Task Forces or starting a new one; OR you may play it faceup to your discard pile to issue a Special Command.
If you play the card to the discard pile, then issue the Special Command by following the instructions on the card.
If you reveal one of your opponent's cards with a Special Command, that card stays revealed until it leaves the Fleet.
3. Play a Second Card OR Attack
You must now either play a second card OR attack your opponent.
- To play your second card, use the same rules as playing your first one.
- To see if you can attack, check the following 2 rules:
You CAN Attack if your entire Fleet is twice as large as all the oceans on the table. So, if no one has gained control of an ocean yet and all 5 oceans are still on the table, then you would need 10 cards in your Fleet in order to wage an attack. If only 1 ocean is left on the table, you only need 2 cards in your Fleet. REMEMBER: Your Fleet consists of all of the cards you have played to all of your Task Forces.
You MUST Attack if all of your Task Forces have 5 cards in them.
To Declare an Attack
Pick 1 ocean in play and declare that you are attacking. You must have a Task Force in that ocean and, unless you are forced to attack (see You MUST Attack on the reverse side), your opponent must have a Task Force in that ocean as well. Unless you are forced to attack, you CANNOT attack an empty ocean.
Resolving Battles
Once an attack is declared, both players reveal all of the cards in the Task Forces in the ocean where the attack is declared. Let the battle begin!
(The MINEFIELD card is shown as an example card in the printed rules.)
All Task Force cards with a value of 0 are resolved first. The defender chooses one of his/her 0 valued cards, plays the Special Command, and discards it. The attacker then chooses one of his/her 0 valued cards and does the same. Players continue alternating turns until all 0 valued cards are played and discarded.
Players then compare the remaining cards. The attacker adds up the value of the attacking Task Force and the defender adds up the value of the defending Task Force. The player with the higher valued Task Force wins. In the case of a tie, the defender wins. In the rare case that no cards are remaining, no one wins.
Both players discard all their Task Force cards in the battle.
The winner of the battle takes the ocean card for that battle and places it in front of him/her. This player now controls this ocean and the ocean is out of play. If no one won, the ocean stays in play.
Example
Dan is attacking in the North Atlantic. He reveals his 5-card Task Force, which has a Carrier, a Fighter Plane, a Sub, a PT Boat and a Minefield. Julie reveals her 4-card Task Force in the North Atlantic, which has a Sub, a Minefield, Depth Charges, and a Battleship.
(The printed example shows "Dan's Task Force" and "Julie's Task Force" as card layouts on the North Atlantic.)
Both Dan (attacker) and Julie (defender) have 0 value cards. Julie, as the defender, plays hers first. She chooses her Minefield, which destroys any one surface ship. Since Dan has a PT Boat in his Task Force, he chooses the target. He chooses the PT Boat and discards it. Julie discards the Minefield.
Dan then chooses his 0 valued card, which is also a Minefield. Since Julie does not have a PT Boat in her Task Force, Dan gets to choose the target. He chooses her Battleship and Julie discards it. Dan discards his Minefield.
Julie has a second 0 valued card, Depth Charges, which destroys all attacking Subs. Dan discards his attacking Sub. Julie discards her Depth Charges.
With all 0 valued cards played, both players now add up the value of their Fleets. Dan has a Carrier (worth 2) and a Fighter Plane (worth 3) left in his Task Force, for a total of 5. The Fighter Plane is worth 3 because there is a Carrier with it, otherwise it would be worth 1.
Julie just has her Submarine left, which is normally worth 2. However, since Dan does not have a Destroyer in his Task Force, it is now worth 5. Both players have Task Forces worth 5. Since Julie is the defender, she wins. Julie takes the North Atlantic Ocean card and places it in front of her. Both players discard their Task Force cards.
Winning
The first player to gain control of 3 of the 5 oceans wins the game!