Pocket Landship Rulebook

Table of Contents

Components
Quick Overview
Set-up for Solo Play
Game Play
- Player Turn
- Enemy Turn
Advantage Cards
Gameplay Notes
Card Action Notes
Adjusting Game Difficulty
"Classic" Mode
Campaign Mode
2-Player Co-op Mode
- Co-op Set-up
- Co-op Game Play
No Man's Land Additional Rules
Credits

Components

26 Enemy Unit cards
12 Player Unit cards
8 Commander cards
2 Driver cards
6 Advantage cards
6 Action dice
12 Tracking dice
22 'No Man's Land' expansion cards
3 Kickstarter Promo cards
1 Weather card
1 Weather die

Quick Overview

How to Use Enemy & Player Cards

Although the Enemy and Player cards have a different orientation, they both have the same format, represented here by the Badger Class Mech:

Badger Class Mech - Alpha = Unit name and type. The unit is a starting enemy or player card, if underlined.
Dice Box text = Action that this card takes when a die of the specified value is assigned to this unit.
Grey 5 die image = Starting strength for unit, decrement when taking damage, increment when repairing. When this hits zero, the unit is destroyed and removed from the game.
SR: 2.5 = Relative attack strength of an enemy card.

Un-Attackable Cards

Some cards, like the Minefield and Ambush, cannot be attacked. These cards have a small clock motif by the Grey die image.

When an action die is resolved for one of these cards, reduce the tracking die value by 1 (even if the action caused no damage). When the die would hit 0, discard the card.

A card with the clock motif will last 2 turns.

Winning the Game

You win the game if you defeat all enemy cards before the enemy destroys your Hull or Cannon.

To determine the significance of your win, you may add together all of the relative strengths of the enemy cards (the small number in the top right of each card). A normal difficulty enemy strength (total of 9 cards) is 18-20.

Set-up for Solo Play

Select 9 enemies to face in the game, with 5 or 6 of these being mechs. For your first few games, select the enemy cards with the underlined names. These cards will provide a "normal difficulty" game.
Shuffle the selected enemy cards, then deal them in a 3 row, 3 column grid, with the front row of cards face up and the back two rows of cards face down.
Place a tracking die set to the starting strength shown in the damage tracking square of each face up enemy card.
Shuffle the Advantage cards and place them face down next to the enemy grid.
Choose your weapons: A Landship Hull, a Cannon, and either Sponsons or Shock Troops. For your first few games, the underlined Hull Mk. 2, Cannon Mk. 3, and Sponsons Mk. 2 should be selected. Place the 3 cards near you.
Place a tracking die set to the starting strength shown in the damage tracking square of each player card.
Finally, choose one of the available Commander cards for its one time use action, and place it beside your landship cards. (Optional: Also, select one Driver card and place it next to the Commander card).

Note: The standard set-up for the Player - Hull, Cannon, Sponsons - is probably the best set-up while learning the game. If desired, the Shock Troops can replace the Sponsons.

Game Play

Every round will be one player turn followed by one enemy player turn.

Player Turn

Roll 3* action dice. Decide which die to assign to each player card, one die per card.
In any order, take the action identified on the card for the value of the action die assigned to it. You may choose to not take an action, if desired.
Track damage to the enemy units using each card's tracking die.

* = Roll the number of action dice equal to the number of player cards remaining, plus or minus any dice modifiers, such as "Adrenaline" or "Chaos" actions.

Emergency Repair option: If desired, the player may choose to roll 1, 2, or 3 fewer dice any turn and repair 1 damage on 1, 2, or 3 cards (only +1 on each card). The repaired card(s) cannot take any other action that turn.

When an enemy card tracking die reaches 0, remove the card from the game then slide the card(s) behind it forward. If it isn't already, turn the new front row card face up and add a tracking die to it. If the destroyed card was a mech, place its tracking die next to the advantage card deck.

Enemy Turn

Roll 3* action dice. Place the lowest value die below the left front enemy card, place the middle value die below the middle front card, place the highest value die below the right front card.
From left to right, take the action identified on each front row card for the value of the action die assigned to it.
Track damage to the player's cards using the card's tracking die.

* = Roll the number of dice equal to the number of front line cards of the enemy.

Notes:

If an Enemy's action is a deploy action where it swaps position with an adjacent card, the action dice move with the cards. Then, resolve the action of the just swapped card (if not already resolved).
A tracking die (Enemy or Player) may never be set to a value greater than its starting value (displayed on the card).
If an Enemy's action is Retreat & Repair and it is already at its top value, do nothing - do not retreat.

Final battle: At the end of any turn where the enemy is down to 3 or fewer cards, or the player is down to 2 cards, the final battle begins. Neither the player or the enemy can repair during the final battle (except for Advantage or Commander card actions). If an enemy card is directed to "repair" or "retreat & repair", it does nothing that turn.

Advantage Cards

Whenever the player defeats a Mech, place the Mech card's tracking die next to or on the Advantage card deck. Whenever the deck has 2 dice allocated to it, the player draws the top 2 advantage cards, keeps one, placing it near their landship, and discards the other out of the game.

Using the advantage card - like Commander and Driver cards, the advantage card can be used once anytime during the player's turn (before or after their dice roll and actions) including the final battle. After use, it is discarded out of the game.

Gameplay Notes

If the Sponsons, or Shock Troops card is destroyed, remove it from the game - it can not be repaired once it is destroyed. In future turns, player rolls only 2 dice instead of 3.
If your Hull or Cannon card is destroyed, you lose the game.
When a front enemy card is destroyed, remove it from the game and move the closest second row enemy card forward. Slide third row enemy cards forward as spaces open up in the second row.
When "Retreat & Repair"-ing with less than 3 cards in the second row, retreat the front line card straight back and replace it with the nearest second row enemy card. Tiebreaker is: face-up card, then face down second row card, then player choice.
If the enemy gets down to 3 cards or less and plays the "Retreat & Repair" action, there is no action.
If the enemy gets down to 2 cards, place them in the front left and right position, and roll only 2 dice for the enemy. Player actions to the front centre position do nothing.
If the enemy gets down to 1 card, any player attack (left, centre, or right) hits this card.

Card Action Notes

For the Player's Adrenaline action, on your next turn, roll 4 action dice and select 3 to use. If you only have 2 cards remaining, roll 3 action dice and select 2 to use.
The Out-Manoeuvre action can not swap Minefield, Sniper, Landship Traps, or Ambush cards.
When an Enemy card has a Deploy Left or Deploy Right action, slide the action dice with the cards being swapped. The deploying card completes it action, then (if a deploy right), the card swapped to the left takes its action with its die.
Enemy Deploy Left or Deploy Right actions DO NOT wrap around the game area. For example, if an enemy card is in the rightmost position and gets a Deploy Right action, do nothing.
The player's Immobilise action prevents the selected front row enemy card from moving. Tilt this card slightly to signify that it is immobilised (or place the Immobilise card behind it). It cannot retreat back or deploy left or right for the remainder of the game. Any other front row card attempting to deploy (swap positions with it) cannot.
If an enemy card attempts to discard one advantage card, but the deck is empty, the player's strongest card takes 1 damage instead.

Adjusting Game Difficulty

Game difficulty can be adjusted in any or all of the following ways:

Increase or decrease the total strength of the enemy cards. Typically, total enemy strength for a solo game is 18-20.
During set-up, in addition to selecting a Commander card, also select a Driver card.
Increase or decrease the number of enemy cards in the game.
- Increase the difficulty of a game by starting with more enemy cards.
- Reduce the difficulty of a game by starting with fewer enemy cards.

"Classic" Mode

The original Pocket Landship game was played without Commander or Advantage cards, and against 6 enemy cards.

To play this classic mode:

Select player cards as usual.
Select 3 enemy Mech cards, 2 infantry or artillery cards, and 1 unattackable card.
Do not use any Commander, Driver or Advantage cards.
Final battle starts when the enemy is down to 3 cards, or the player loses their Sponsons / Shock Troops.

Campaign Mode

The Pocket Landship campaign is a set of 6 solo scenarios to be worked through sequentially. The scenarios start simple and add complexity and enemy difficulty, so they are ideal to use as a tutorial to learn all aspects of the game. Or, score each scenario as indicated below, based on how many attempts are needed to succeed.

Select a different commander card to use for each scenario.
Earned, unused advantage cards can be carried over from game to game.
All Scenarios (except 6): Score 3 points if successful on first try, 2 points on second try, 1 point on third or more tries.

Scenario #1: Take Out Artillery Placement.

Do not use advantage cards.
Start with Hull Mk. 2, Cannon Mk. 2, Shock Troops.
Enemy is 6 cards: Light Artillery, Medium Artillery, Minefield, Sniper, Infantry, Elite Infantry.
Total enemy card strength = 10.4

Scenario #2: Intercept an Enemy Patrol.

Use advantage cards for this and all future scenarios.
Start with Hull Mk. 2, Cannon Mk. 3, Sponsons Mk. 1.
Enemy is 6 cards: Mink A, Mink B, Badger B, Bazooka Infantry, Elite Infantry, Ambush.
Total enemy card strength = 11.2

Scenario #3: Hold the Line.

Start with Hull Mk. 1, Cannon Mk. 1, and Sponsons Mk. 1.
Enemy is 8 cards: Mink A, Mink B, Badger A, Badger B, Light Artillery, Blaster Artillery, Bazooka Infantry, Elite Infantry.
Total enemy card strength = 17.3

Scenario #4: Pierce the Enemy Line.

Start with Hull Mk. 3, Cannon Mk. 2, and Sponsons Mk. 3.
Enemy is 9 cards: Mink A, Badger A, Badger B, Medium Artillery, Blaster Artillery, Bazooka Infantry, Elite Infantry, Sniper, Minefield.
Total enemy card strength = 18.6

Scenario #5: Wipe Them Out.

Start with your choice of any one hull, any one cannon, and any one sponsons or shock troops card.
Enemy is 9 cards: Mink A, Badger B, Wildcat A, Boar A, Ambush, Mech Repair Unit, Light Artillery, Infantry Squad, Blaster Artillery.
Total enemy card strength = 21.0

Scenario #6: Survive Their Final Push. Score 5 points if successful on first try, 4 points on second try, 3 points on third try, 2 points on fourth try, 1 points on five+ tries.

Start with your choice of any one hull, any one cannon, and any one sponsons or shock troops card.
Enemy is 9 cards: Mink A, Mink B, Stag A, Boar B, Bison A, Mech Repair Unit, Infantry Squad, Infantry Bazooka Squad, Sniper Team.
Total enemy card strength = 24.6

Final campaign score: 20 = Victoria Cross, 15-19 = D.S.O., 10-14 = Military Medal, 7-9 = Mention in Dispatches, 6 = Demotion

2-Player Co-op Mode

For the co-op game, both players will play together to defeat 12 enemy cards. Players will earn separate advantage cards and use separate commander cards. Players win if they defeat all enemy cards. Players lose if either Hull is destroyed or both Cannons are destroyed.

Co-op Set-up

Select 12 enemies to face. A typical set-up will be 7 Mech, 3-4 Infantry/Artillery, and 1-2 un-attackable cards.
Shuffle this enemy deck, then deal them in a 3 row, 4 column grid, with the front row face up and the other rows face down.
Place a tracking die set to the starting strength shown in the damage tracking square of each face up enemy card.
Shuffle the Advantage cards and place them face down next to the enemy grid.
Each player chooses their weapons: The Landship Hull, plus a Cannon and a Sponsons/Shock Troops. For your first few games, the Hull, Cannon, and Sponsons should be selected. (The Hull Mk. 2a is very similar to the Mk. 2 allowing both playing to use a standard Hull, if desired). Place each player's 3 cards in front of them.
Place a tracking die set to the starting strength shown in the damage tracking square of each player card.
Finally, each player chooses one of the 5 available Commander cards for its one time use action, and place it beside your landship cards. (Commander P. M. Matteo is not available for co-op play).

Co-op Game Play

Every round will be the players' turn followed by the enemy's turn.

Players Turn:

Each player rolls 2 action dice*
Each player assigns their 2 dice to 2 of their 3 cards. Once per turn, one (but not both) player may assign one of their dice to a card of the other player's.
In any order, players take the action identified on each card for the value of the die assigned to it. You may choose to not take an action, if desired. NOTE: The left player's landship can attack the left front 3 enemy cards - referred to as their Left, Centre, and Right enemy. The right player's landship can attack the right front 3 enemy cards - referred to as their Left, Centre, and Right enemy.
Track damage to the enemy units using each card's tracking die. When an enemy card reaches 0, remove it from the game, and then slide the card behind it forward to the front row and turn it face up.
If the defeated card was a Mech, assign its tracking die left or right side of the advantage deck according to which player defeated it. When either player accumulates 2 damage dice this way, they draw 2 and keep 1 advantage card. See Advantage Cards section for more details.

* = Roll 2 action dice plus or minus any dice modifiers, such as "Adrenaline" or "Chaos" actions.

Emergency Repair option: See the Solo Play rules section. A player may not use emergency repair to repair the other player's cards.

Enemy Turn:

Roll 4* action dice. Place the dice in front of the front row enemy cards lowest die value to highest die value from left to right.
From left to right, take the action identified on the card for the value of the die. The left 2 enemy cards attack the left player's landship. The right 2 enemy cards attack the right player's landship.
Track damage to the player's cards using the tracking die.

* = Roll the number of action dice equal to the number of front line cards. Later in the game, this could be 3, 2, or 1 dice.

Co-op Final Battle:

When the enemy is down to 3 cards, or the players are down to 4 cards, the final battle begins. Neither the player or the enemy can repair during the final battle.

When the enemy is down to 3 cards, place them centered between both player landships. The left, centre, and right enemy cards are now in range for both players' landships. On the enemy's turn, the enemy cards will attack the weakest Hull, Cannon, or Sponsons/Shock Troops. If tied, tiebreak as follows: fewest player cards, weakest Hull, weakest Cannon, weakest Sponsons/Shock Troops, players' choice.

No Man's Land Additional Rules

Introduction

Welcome to 'No Man's Land', the 22 card expansion for Pocket Landship. The cards in this set are used to expand the main game as follows:

The 2 Admiral and 2 Commander Class Mech cards are used for the '2-Player Competitive' game.
The Hauler, 2 Tankettes, Commander Laws and Drivers, Litzen and Donald, are for the 'The Christmas Run' mini-scenario.
The Advantage, Shock Troop, Weather and remaining Driver & Commander cards can be implemented into your normal deck to add more variability into your standard, co-op or even competitive games.

2-Player Competitive Rules

Set-up:

Remove the four 6 strength cards from the enemy deck. They will not be used.
Deal out 12 enemy cards in 2 sets: 3 face up front line and 3 face down back line cards.
Shuffle the two Commander Class Mech cards, draw one and place it face down behind the 12 enemy cards.
Each player selects their choice of Hull, Cannon, Sponsons / Shock Troop and Commander. Optional Rule: Lay out all player Landship and Commander cards and players will draft their 3 Landship cards plus one Commander card each.
Players select one Admiral card and place it between them.
Shuffle the Advantage deck and place it between the players.
Set all tracking dice on all player and face-up enemy cards.

Gameplay:

Each player will play their own game per the normal solo rules, attacking and being attacked only by the enemies on their side (left or right). Players will take turns to stay on pace with each other. A player may need to borrow a die from the other player to complete Adrenaline actions.

When a player's enemy line is down to two cards (there is a "hole" in their line), that player may - but does not have to - attack the Commander Class Mech with any (left, centre, or right position is ignored for these attacks) mech attack action. On the enemy's turn, if there is a hole in the enemy line, (and if playing with the Commander Class Mech Alpha), the Commander Class Mech WILL attack the player. The Commander Class Mech always uses the highest value enemy die roll regardless of where the hole in the enemy line is.

When the Commander Class Mech is defeated, the game ends. Each player counts up their total defeated enemies' card strengths (including the Commander Class Mech for the player who destroyed it). Highest score wins. If tied, the player who defeated the Commander Class Mech wins.

Notes:

Retreating enemies lose their tracking die. When they move to the front row again, they start at full strength.
If one player is defeated, the other player may continue to attempt to defeat the Commander Class Mech for a sombre victory.
To track progress towards gaining Advantage cards, each player should place their defeated mechs next to the Advantage deck.
If an enemy side has 3 or more cards, there must be 3 cards in its front row. Move the nearest back row card forward to fill the empty spot.
The attacking Commander Class Mech will attack a player only if there is a hole in the enemy line in front of the player.

Weather Card

This card is double-sided. Choose which side you want to use before play starts.

Add a second sentence to point 3 in Solo and Co-op play set-up: Roll the weather die and place it on the Weather Card with the rolled number up-most. The corresponding rule is in play for the game, or until a reroll is required.

Changeable Weather: The weather die may be rerolled when the enemy is down to 2 rows of cards, and/or when the enemy is down to 1 row of cards.

The Christmas Run

"Donald you're with me, Litzen…to me!, we have a package to deliver." — Commander Laws

In this mission you command a small 'Hauler Landship' and its two minitank support units, called Tankettes. Your job is to get the Hauler through the enemy line. The Tankettes, their drivers and even Commander Laws don't need to survive, their sacrifice will be noble. So long as that Hauler and its important package gets through that's all that matters...GO BE VICTORIOUS!

Set-up: Use the normal rules and set-up for solo play, with the following exceptions:

Use the Hauler Card in place of the Hull.
Use the "C" Class Tankette in place of the Cannon.
Use the "S" Class Tankette in place of the Sponsons.

Notes:

The destruction of the "C" Class Tankette doesn't end the game.
Commander Laws may be added as the Commander. He may also be used in standard games of Pocket Landship.
Drivers Litzen & Donald may only be allocated to Tankettes. You may use either, both or neither in your game that includes one or both Tankettes. Allocate only 1 Tankette Driver to each Tankette.
Do not allocate a Driver to the Hauler.

Allocating damage to the Tankettes: Damage from enemy cards targeting Sponsons or Shock Troops should be allocated to the "S" Class Tankette and damage targeting the Cannon should be allocated to the "C" Class Tankette.

Pop Smoke Clarification

If a Pop Smoke action is activated, allocate enemy dice as normal, but do not complete the action for the specified enemy.

Credits

By: Scott Allen Czysz Project Manager & Editor: Mark Rapson Card Design & Art: Robb Butler, Dominik Kasprzycki, Ben Milnes and Mirco Paganessi Proofreading: Jamie Cross

Playtesters of Pocket Landship by Word Forge Games: Israel Waldrom, Eric Miller, Aris Aravantinos, JW van der Meulen, Raimund Bubelis, Mark Perry, Mark Tuck, Derek Czysz.

Special Thanks: Karen, Tressa, Derek, & Kam for playing games with Scott. Zak for playing games with Mark. Shep for his project management in the early stages. Craig Andrews for facilitating this and the Kickstarter backers of both 1st and 2nd Edition who made it happen.

Pocket Landship Rulebook

Table of Contents

Components
Quick Overview
Set-up for Solo Play
Game Play
- Player Turn
- Enemy Turn
Advantage Cards
Gameplay Notes
Card Action Notes
Adjusting Game Difficulty
"Classic" Mode
Campaign Mode
2-Player Co-op Mode
- Co-op Set-up
- Co-op Game Play
No Man's Land Additional Rules
Credits

Components

26 Enemy Unit cards
12 Player Unit cards
8 Commander cards
2 Driver cards
6 Advantage cards
6 Action dice
12 Tracking dice
22 'No Man's Land' expansion cards
3 Kickstarter Promo cards
1 Weather card
1 Weather die

Quick Overview

How to Use Enemy & Player Cards

Although the Enemy and Player cards have a different orientation, they both have the same format, represented here by the Badger Class Mech:

Badger Class Mech - Alpha = Unit name and type. The unit is a starting enemy or player card, if underlined.
Dice Box text = Action that this card takes when a die of the specified value is assigned to this unit.
Grey 5 die image = Starting strength for unit, decrement when taking damage, increment when repairing. When this hits zero, the unit is destroyed and removed from the game.
SR: 2.5 = Relative attack strength of an enemy card.

Un-Attackable Cards

Some cards, like the Minefield and Ambush, cannot be attacked. These cards have a small clock motif by the Grey die image.

When an action die is resolved for one of these cards, reduce the tracking die value by 1 (even if the action caused no damage). When the die would hit 0, discard the card.

A card with the clock motif will last 2 turns.

Winning the Game

You win the game if you defeat all enemy cards before the enemy destroys your Hull or Cannon.

Set-up for Solo Play

Select 9 enemies to face in the game, with 5 or 6 of these being mechs. For your first few games, select the enemy cards with the underlined names. These cards will provide a "normal difficulty" game.
Shuffle the selected enemy cards, then deal them in a 3 row, 3 column grid, with the front row of cards face up and the back two rows of cards face down.
Place a tracking die set to the starting strength shown in the damage tracking square of each face up enemy card.
Shuffle the Advantage cards and place them face down next to the enemy grid.
Choose your weapons: A Landship Hull, a Cannon, and either Sponsons or Shock Troops. For your first few games, the underlined Hull Mk. 2, Cannon Mk. 3, and Sponsons Mk. 2 should be selected. Place the 3 cards near you.
Place a tracking die set to the starting strength shown in the damage tracking square of each player card.
Finally, choose one of the available Commander cards for its one time use action, and place it beside your landship cards. (Optional: Also, select one Driver card and place it next to the Commander card).

Note: The standard set-up for the Player - Hull, Cannon, Sponsons - is probably the best set-up while learning the game. If desired, the Shock Troops can replace the Sponsons.

Game Play

Every round will be one player turn followed by one enemy player turn.

Player Turn

Roll 3* action dice. Decide which die to assign to each player card, one die per card.
In any order, take the action identified on the card for the value of the action die assigned to it. You may choose to not take an action, if desired.
Track damage to the enemy units using each card's tracking die.

* = Roll the number of action dice equal to the number of player cards remaining, plus or minus any dice modifiers, such as "Adrenaline" or "Chaos" actions.

Enemy Turn

Roll 3* action dice. Place the lowest value die below the left front enemy card, place the middle value die below the middle front card, place the highest value die below the right front card.
From left to right, take the action identified on each front row card for the value of the action die assigned to it.
Track damage to the player's cards using the card's tracking die.

* = Roll the number of dice equal to the number of front line cards of the enemy.

Notes:

If an Enemy's action is a deploy action where it swaps position with an adjacent card, the action dice move with the cards. Then, resolve the action of the just swapped card (if not already resolved).
A tracking die (Enemy or Player) may never be set to a value greater than its starting value (displayed on the card).
If an Enemy's action is Retreat & Repair and it is already at its top value, do nothing - do not retreat.

Advantage Cards

Gameplay Notes

If the Sponsons, or Shock Troops card is destroyed, remove it from the game - it can not be repaired once it is destroyed. In future turns, player rolls only 2 dice instead of 3.
If your Hull or Cannon card is destroyed, you lose the game.
When a front enemy card is destroyed, remove it from the game and move the closest second row enemy card forward. Slide third row enemy cards forward as spaces open up in the second row.
When "Retreat & Repair"-ing with less than 3 cards in the second row, retreat the front line card straight back and replace it with the nearest second row enemy card. Tiebreaker is: face-up card, then face down second row card, then player choice.
If the enemy gets down to 3 cards or less and plays the "Retreat & Repair" action, there is no action.
If the enemy gets down to 2 cards, place them in the front left and right position, and roll only 2 dice for the enemy. Player actions to the front centre position do nothing.
If the enemy gets down to 1 card, any player attack (left, centre, or right) hits this card.

Card Action Notes

For the Player's Adrenaline action, on your next turn, roll 4 action dice and select 3 to use. If you only have 2 cards remaining, roll 3 action dice and select 2 to use.
The Out-Manoeuvre action can not swap Minefield, Sniper, Landship Traps, or Ambush cards.
When an Enemy card has a Deploy Left or Deploy Right action, slide the action dice with the cards being swapped. The deploying card completes it action, then (if a deploy right), the card swapped to the left takes its action with its die.
Enemy Deploy Left or Deploy Right actions DO NOT wrap around the game area. For example, if an enemy card is in the rightmost position and gets a Deploy Right action, do nothing.
The player's Immobilise action prevents the selected front row enemy card from moving. Tilt this card slightly to signify that it is immobilised (or place the Immobilise card behind it). It cannot retreat back or deploy left or right for the remainder of the game. Any other front row card attempting to deploy (swap positions with it) cannot.
If an enemy card attempts to discard one advantage card, but the deck is empty, the player's strongest card takes 1 damage instead.

Adjusting Game Difficulty

Game difficulty can be adjusted in any or all of the following ways:

Increase or decrease the total strength of the enemy cards. Typically, total enemy strength for a solo game is 18-20.
During set-up, in addition to selecting a Commander card, also select a Driver card.
Increase or decrease the number of enemy cards in the game.
- Increase the difficulty of a game by starting with more enemy cards.
- Reduce the difficulty of a game by starting with fewer enemy cards.

"Classic" Mode

The original Pocket Landship game was played without Commander or Advantage cards, and against 6 enemy cards.

To play this classic mode:

Select player cards as usual.
Select 3 enemy Mech cards, 2 infantry or artillery cards, and 1 unattackable card.
Do not use any Commander, Driver or Advantage cards.
Final battle starts when the enemy is down to 3 cards, or the player loses their Sponsons / Shock Troops.

Campaign Mode

Select a different commander card to use for each scenario.
Earned, unused advantage cards can be carried over from game to game.
All Scenarios (except 6): Score 3 points if successful on first try, 2 points on second try, 1 point on third or more tries.

Scenario #1: Take Out Artillery Placement.

Do not use advantage cards.
Start with Hull Mk. 2, Cannon Mk. 2, Shock Troops.
Enemy is 6 cards: Light Artillery, Medium Artillery, Minefield, Sniper, Infantry, Elite Infantry.
Total enemy card strength = 10.4

Scenario #2: Intercept an Enemy Patrol.

Use advantage cards for this and all future scenarios.
Start with Hull Mk. 2, Cannon Mk. 3, Sponsons Mk. 1.
Enemy is 6 cards: Mink A, Mink B, Badger B, Bazooka Infantry, Elite Infantry, Ambush.
Total enemy card strength = 11.2

Scenario #3: Hold the Line.

Start with Hull Mk. 1, Cannon Mk. 1, and Sponsons Mk. 1.
Enemy is 8 cards: Mink A, Mink B, Badger A, Badger B, Light Artillery, Blaster Artillery, Bazooka Infantry, Elite Infantry.
Total enemy card strength = 17.3

Scenario #4: Pierce the Enemy Line.

Start with Hull Mk. 3, Cannon Mk. 2, and Sponsons Mk. 3.
Enemy is 9 cards: Mink A, Badger A, Badger B, Medium Artillery, Blaster Artillery, Bazooka Infantry, Elite Infantry, Sniper, Minefield.
Total enemy card strength = 18.6

Scenario #5: Wipe Them Out.

Start with your choice of any one hull, any one cannon, and any one sponsons or shock troops card.
Enemy is 9 cards: Mink A, Badger B, Wildcat A, Boar A, Ambush, Mech Repair Unit, Light Artillery, Infantry Squad, Blaster Artillery.
Total enemy card strength = 21.0

Scenario #6: Survive Their Final Push. Score 5 points if successful on first try, 4 points on second try, 3 points on third try, 2 points on fourth try, 1 points on five+ tries.

Start with your choice of any one hull, any one cannon, and any one sponsons or shock troops card.
Enemy is 9 cards: Mink A, Mink B, Stag A, Boar B, Bison A, Mech Repair Unit, Infantry Squad, Infantry Bazooka Squad, Sniper Team.
Total enemy card strength = 24.6

Final campaign score: 20 = Victoria Cross, 15-19 = D.S.O., 10-14 = Military Medal, 7-9 = Mention in Dispatches, 6 = Demotion

2-Player Co-op Mode

Co-op Set-up

Select 12 enemies to face. A typical set-up will be 7 Mech, 3-4 Infantry/Artillery, and 1-2 un-attackable cards.
Shuffle this enemy deck, then deal them in a 3 row, 4 column grid, with the front row face up and the other rows face down.
Place a tracking die set to the starting strength shown in the damage tracking square of each face up enemy card.
Shuffle the Advantage cards and place them face down next to the enemy grid.
Each player chooses their weapons: The Landship Hull, plus a Cannon and a Sponsons/Shock Troops. For your first few games, the Hull, Cannon, and Sponsons should be selected. (The Hull Mk. 2a is very similar to the Mk. 2 allowing both playing to use a standard Hull, if desired). Place each player's 3 cards in front of them.
Place a tracking die set to the starting strength shown in the damage tracking square of each player card.
Finally, each player chooses one of the 5 available Commander cards for its one time use action, and place it beside your landship cards. (Commander P. M. Matteo is not available for co-op play).

Co-op Game Play

Every round will be the players' turn followed by the enemy's turn.

Players Turn:

Each player rolls 2 action dice*
Each player assigns their 2 dice to 2 of their 3 cards. Once per turn, one (but not both) player may assign one of their dice to a card of the other player's.
In any order, players take the action identified on each card for the value of the die assigned to it. You may choose to not take an action, if desired. NOTE: The left player's landship can attack the left front 3 enemy cards - referred to as their Left, Centre, and Right enemy. The right player's landship can attack the right front 3 enemy cards - referred to as their Left, Centre, and Right enemy.
Track damage to the enemy units using each card's tracking die. When an enemy card reaches 0, remove it from the game, and then slide the card behind it forward to the front row and turn it face up.
If the defeated card was a Mech, assign its tracking die left or right side of the advantage deck according to which player defeated it. When either player accumulates 2 damage dice this way, they draw 2 and keep 1 advantage card. See Advantage Cards section for more details.

* = Roll 2 action dice plus or minus any dice modifiers, such as "Adrenaline" or "Chaos" actions.

Emergency Repair option: See the Solo Play rules section. A player may not use emergency repair to repair the other player's cards.

Enemy Turn:

Roll 4* action dice. Place the dice in front of the front row enemy cards lowest die value to highest die value from left to right.
From left to right, take the action identified on the card for the value of the die. The left 2 enemy cards attack the left player's landship. The right 2 enemy cards attack the right player's landship.
Track damage to the player's cards using the tracking die.

* = Roll the number of action dice equal to the number of front line cards. Later in the game, this could be 3, 2, or 1 dice.

Co-op Final Battle:

When the enemy is down to 3 cards, or the players are down to 4 cards, the final battle begins. Neither the player or the enemy can repair during the final battle.

No Man's Land Additional Rules

Introduction

Welcome to 'No Man's Land', the 22 card expansion for Pocket Landship. The cards in this set are used to expand the main game as follows:

The 2 Admiral and 2 Commander Class Mech cards are used for the '2-Player Competitive' game.
The Hauler, 2 Tankettes, Commander Laws and Drivers, Litzen and Donald, are for the 'The Christmas Run' mini-scenario.
The Advantage, Shock Troop, Weather and remaining Driver & Commander cards can be implemented into your normal deck to add more variability into your standard, co-op or even competitive games.

2-Player Competitive Rules

Set-up:

Remove the four 6 strength cards from the enemy deck. They will not be used.
Deal out 12 enemy cards in 2 sets: 3 face up front line and 3 face down back line cards.
Shuffle the two Commander Class Mech cards, draw one and place it face down behind the 12 enemy cards.
Each player selects their choice of Hull, Cannon, Sponsons / Shock Troop and Commander. Optional Rule: Lay out all player Landship and Commander cards and players will draft their 3 Landship cards plus one Commander card each.
Players select one Admiral card and place it between them.
Shuffle the Advantage deck and place it between the players.
Set all tracking dice on all player and face-up enemy cards.

Gameplay:

Notes:

Retreating enemies lose their tracking die. When they move to the front row again, they start at full strength.
If one player is defeated, the other player may continue to attempt to defeat the Commander Class Mech for a sombre victory.
To track progress towards gaining Advantage cards, each player should place their defeated mechs next to the Advantage deck.
If an enemy side has 3 or more cards, there must be 3 cards in its front row. Move the nearest back row card forward to fill the empty spot.
The attacking Commander Class Mech will attack a player only if there is a hole in the enemy line in front of the player.

Weather Card

This card is double-sided. Choose which side you want to use before play starts.

Changeable Weather: The weather die may be rerolled when the enemy is down to 2 rows of cards, and/or when the enemy is down to 1 row of cards.

The Christmas Run

"Donald you're with me, Litzen…to me!, we have a package to deliver." — Commander Laws

Set-up: Use the normal rules and set-up for solo play, with the following exceptions:

Use the Hauler Card in place of the Hull.
Use the "C" Class Tankette in place of the Cannon.
Use the "S" Class Tankette in place of the Sponsons.

Notes:

The destruction of the "C" Class Tankette doesn't end the game.
Commander Laws may be added as the Commander. He may also be used in standard games of Pocket Landship.
Drivers Litzen & Donald may only be allocated to Tankettes. You may use either, both or neither in your game that includes one or both Tankettes. Allocate only 1 Tankette Driver to each Tankette.
Do not allocate a Driver to the Hauler.

Pop Smoke Clarification

If a Pop Smoke action is activated, allocate enemy dice as normal, but do not complete the action for the specified enemy.

Credits

By: Scott Allen Czysz Project Manager & Editor: Mark Rapson Card Design & Art: Robb Butler, Dominik Kasprzycki, Ben Milnes and Mirco Paganessi Proofreading: Jamie Cross

Playtesters of Pocket Landship by Word Forge Games: Israel Waldrom, Eric Miller, Aris Aravantinos, JW van der Meulen, Raimund Bubelis, Mark Perry, Mark Tuck, Derek Czysz.