Nuclear War
Nuclear War Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- Population Cards. There are twenty population cards in the game in the following five denominations: 1 million, 2 million, 5 million, 10 million and 25 million.
- Nuclear War Cards. There are 100 cards, each being either a warhead, delivery system, propaganda, anti-missile, secret or top secret card.
- Dice. There are two ten-sided dice to use when making an attack.
- Placemats. Each player has a placemat which holds their cards in play. The placemat has locations for your face up card, first face down card, second face down card, two deterrent cards, and population cards.
Setting Up the Game
- A random player is selected to go first.
- Starting population is determined by a random deal of the small population cards. Each player gets a set number of cards depending on how many people are playing the game:
| Players | Population Cards |
|---|---|
| 2 | 15 |
| 3 | 10 |
| 4 | 8 |
| 5 | 7 |
| 6 | 6 |
- The remaining population cards are placed in the bank in the center of the table.
- The Nuclear War deck is then shuffled and nine cards are dealt to each player. The remaining cards are placed face down in the center of the table, forming the draw pile.
Opening Round
The first player begins by playing all secret and top secret cards in their hand. The cards are discarded after being played and the player is immediately given replacement cards from the draw pile and proceeds to play any more secret or top secret cards that are drawn. This process continues until their nine-card hand contains no secret or top secret cards. The next player clockwise then does the same, and so on around the table.
Next, each player places two cards face down on the table in the spaces provided on the placemats. Since these cards are turned over on succeeding turns, the player is now committed to a specific strategy for the first two turns.
Game Turn
Play starts with the first player and proceeds clockwise around the table. The turn order is as follows:
- Draw Cards and Resolve Secrets. You are automatically given cards from the draw pile until your hand size totals ten (including cards on your placemat except those in the face up card location). The moment that you draw a secret or top secret card, you need to resolve it. Once it is resolved, you continue drawing until you reach ten cards without having any secrets or top secrets. At this time, the card in your first face down card location automatically moves to your face up location, with the card in the second face down location moving up to the first.
- Modify Deterrents. If you'd like, you can move a card from your hand to one of the two deterrent locations on your placemat, or vice versa. These spaces are used to show all other players one or two cards in your hand — normally with a hope that they'll serve as a deterrent against being attacked.
- Place a Card. You must now place a card in the second face down card location. This card can come from your hand or from a deterrent location. Once you do this, you cannot modify your deterrent cards until your next turn.
- Resolve Face Up Card. The card that was just moved into your face up card location is turned over and it is resolved. See Card Resolutions for card resolutions.
- End Turn. Play proceeds to the next player clockwise, unless someone intercepted a missile. If so, then the last person to intercept a missile during the turn becomes the next player (and play proceeds clockwise from them).
Card Resolutions
Follow these rules when your card is resolved on your turn:
Propaganda Card. As long as there is a state of peace (see State of Peace and State of War), this card is effective. You steal population from the enemy of your choice and the card is discarded. If there is a state of war, the card is discarded with no effect.
Delivery System (Missile or Bomber). These cards are used to set up an attack on your next turn. The delivery system remains face up and is not discarded. If on the next turn you turn over a warhead card useable by that delivery system, then you are ready to attack. If the next card is not a usable warhead card, the delivery system is discarded. Each delivery system lists the maximum size warhead that it can carry; anything equal to or less than this number is useable.
Warhead. For a warhead card to be effective, it must be preceded on the turn before by a delivery system capable of carrying it. If it was, then you must launch an attack (see Attack below). If not, the warhead is not launched and is discarded.
Anti-Missile Card. These cards are only effective in defending against an attack. If you have placed it on your placemat it is not useful and is simply discarded.
Attack!
When you launch a warhead you must choose a target for your attack. The target can intercept your warhead if they have and choose to play the appropriate anti-missile card. Each anti-missile card lists the delivery systems that it can shoot down. To keep you from knowing what cards are in their hand, they need to signify that they are not intercepting even if they have no anti-missile cards. If they do intercept, the attack is a failure. If not, then you roll on the nuclear fallout chart to see what happens. The warhead does the damage listed on the card, then modified by the chart:
| Roll | Result | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| 00-04 | Missile booster explodes on launch | If attack was anything other than a bomber, attacker takes damage |
| 00-04 | Bomber runs out of fuel | If attack was with a bomber, then all cards in the face up cards location of the attacker are discarded — no one is hit with a warhead |
| 05-09 | Dud warhead | Nothing happens |
| 10-22 | Bomb shelter saves 2 million | Target takes damage minus 2,000,000 |
| 23-35 | Additional 1 million engulfed in fireball | Target takes damage plus 1,000,000 |
| 36-49 | No appreciable radiation fallout | Target takes damage |
| 50-63 | Radioactive fallout kills another 2 million | Target takes damage plus 2,000,000 |
| 64-76 | Radioactive beta rays kills another 5 million | Target takes damage plus 5,000,000 |
| 77-89 | Lethal doses of gamma rays kill another 10 million | Target takes damage plus 10,000,000 |
| 90-94 | Dirty Bomb! Double the Yield | Target takes damage times 2 |
| 95-99 | Explodes a nuclear stockpile! Triple Yield! | Target takes damage times 3. If the attacking warhead is a 100 megaton variety, see Super Chain Reaction |
If the delivery system was a missile, the missile and the warhead are discarded. If the delivery system was a bomber, check to see if the bomber's payload is empty. The bomber can attack in multiple, successive turns until it has dropped warheads equal to its payload or until the next card turned up is either not a warhead or takes the payload over the limit — at which point the bomber and its warheads are discarded.
Super Chain Reaction
If a 100 megaton warhead explodes a nuclear stockpile (a roll of 95-99 on the fallout chart), a Super Chain Reaction begins. It destroys all countries, the Earth itself, and the entire solar system — everybody loses!
State of Peace and State of War
Once the target of a warhead is selected, a state of war exists. This is true even if the delivery system is subsequently shot down, explodes on launch, or is a dud. Peace is not restored until at least one player has been forced from the game through annihilation of their population.
When peace is restored, each player may alter their strategy by replacing one or two face down cards with cards from their hand. You may not replace a card that has already been turned face up, but the face up cards remain in play, in case you wish to continue with your previous strategy.
Final Retaliation
If you have been eliminated through the use of secret or top secret cards or by a warhead you have the privilege of immediate final retaliation before retiring from the game (you do not have this privilege if you were beaten peacefully with propaganda cards). You:
- Combine each acceptable delivery system and warhead card that you possess (multiple warheads are fine on a bomber as long as you follow the payload limit).
- Announce a target for each separate delivery system.
- After all targets are selected, roll for the attacks in the order that you announced them.
- Discard any remaining cards. You can continue to watch the game and chat with the other players.
Note that you do get final retaliation if you draw a secret or top secret card that destroys the last of your own population. Also, if final retaliation wipes out another player, that player also gets final retaliation, so it is possible to start a chain reaction that destroys all of the remaining players!
Victory
You win the game if you are the last player left and you still have at least 1 million of your own population remaining. Thus, there may not be a winner in the Nuclear War game...
B-70 Bomber
The B-70 Bomber is the most versatile of all delivery systems. It can carry a payload of up to 50 megatons in any combination, and may attack more than one enemy as it travels from target to target. For example, a player who turns up the B-70 Bomber card may load a 20 megaton warhead and attack an enemy. On a later turn, they may still load another 20 megaton warhead, and then a 10 megaton warhead, using them to attack the same enemy or a different one. If the target calls "Hold" (successfully intercepts), the bomber and any remaining cards are destroyed — even cards that have not yet been turned face up are discarded, as though they had already been revealed.
Card Draws
There are occasions when you want to play more than one card from your hand on your turn, or on someone else's turn (during Final Retaliation, for example). Unfortunately, you have already drawn your cards for that turn. You must wait until your next turn to draw the cards you missed. The same rule applies if you forget to draw all the cards to which you are entitled at the beginning of your turn or during your turn — you must wait until your next turn to catch up on the missed cards.
Rules Questions
The point of this game is to have a good time. If there is a question about the intent of a rule, use whatever answer seems to make the most sense.
- War begins the moment someone plays a warhead card matching a delivery system already turned up. It makes no difference whether that delivery system is later found to be a dud, runs out of fuel, or is shot down — war has still been declared.
- If you turn up a missile or bomber and the next card you turn up is NOT a warhead, the delivery system is discarded, because it cannot "fly" until a warhead is revealed. Likewise, once a warhead is turned up, you must immediately use it to attack someone — you cannot hold onto it for later or change your mind and not attack anyone.
- If you are wiped out by a Secret or Top Secret card that you drew yourself, you still get to make a Final Retaliation.
- If, during Final Retaliation, more than one player plays an anti-missile, the last player to play an anti-missile (and who is still alive) is the one who takes the next turn.
- If you play an anti-missile or a Secret or Top Secret card, you must immediately draw a replacement card. However, if on your next turn you do not have nine cards in hand (counting those placed face down on the table and in the deterrent area), you must wait until your turn to draw the replacement. If you are also shot down during your own Final Retaliation while using an anti-missile, you do not need to replace it before your next turn (since there is no next turn).
- If you must lose population and do not have the right denomination of population card, you may exchange cards with the bank until you have a matching combination. All cards used in such an exchange must be announced to all players — though it is sometimes considered poor form to have to reveal your remaining population cards to the other players this way.
- All population cards must be kept on the table in front of you, visible to everyone at all times (but face down).
- You may look at your own face-down cards to remind yourself of your strategy, but once placed, they cannot be changed or reordered until peace is restored.
- If a player's B-70 Bomber is shot down by an anti-missile, and that player had avoided playing two face-down cards after the bomber card, the player who shot down the bomber may require the bomber's owner to immediately play the two warhead cards that would have followed the bomber (if any), as though they had followed the normal turn sequence.
- If any question remains, the owner of the game gets to decide, and the new ruling stands from that point on.
Credits
- Copyright © 1965 by Douglas Malewicki
- Published by Flying Buffalo
- All rights reserved. No parts of this product may be reproduced without specific permission from the publisher.