Quartermaster General: Air Marshal Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• New Components
• Updates to Quartermaster General Rules
  • Setup
  • Turn Sequence
  • Victory
  • Timing within a Step
  • Reactions
  • Other Timing Particulars
• Rules for Air Forces
  • Reposition
  • Deploy an Air Force
  • Marshal an Air Force
  • Air Defense
  • Air Attack
• Bolster Cards
  • Discards
  • Reallocate Resources
• Extended Game Play Example
• Order of Play
  • Turn Sequence
• Card Distribution

New Components

Rules Booklet

• 11 Air Force Pieces
  • 2 Germany
  • 1 Soviet Union
  • 2 Japan
  • 2 United Kingdom
  • 1 Italy
  • 3 United States
• 54 New Cards
  • 11 Germany
  • 8 Soviet Union
  • 10 Japan
  • 8 United Kingdom
  • 7 Italy
  • 10 United States

Updates to Quartermaster General Rules

Setup

(See "Setup", p. 3 of the Quartermaster General Rulebook)

When using the Air Marshal expansion, each country begins the game by drawing 12 cards from that country's deck and discarding 5 cards to create an opening hand of 7 cards.

Turn Sequence

(See "Turn Sequence", p. 9 of the Quartermaster General Rulebook)

When using the Air Marshal expansion, an Air Force step is added after the Play step.

1. Play Step: Play One Card.
2. Air Force Step: Deploy or Marshal an Air Force (Optional).
3. Supply Step: Remove your out-of-supply pieces from the board.
4. Victory Step: Collect Victory Points.*
5. Discard Step: Discard any number of cards from your hand.
6. Draw Step: Draw until your hand has seven cards.**

*Skip this step if your Home Space is occupied by an enemy Army.

**Response and Status cards on the table are not in your hand.

Victory

(See "Scoring & Victory", p. 18 of the Quartermaster General Rulebook)

When playing with the Air Marshal Expansion, do not use the Sudden Victory rules (in which a team wins if it occupies two of the opposing team's home spaces, or earns 400 Victory Points). Instead, use the Scoring Victory and Tournament Victory rules - the Tournament Victory is no longer optional.

To summarize, victory is achieved if a team leads by 30 or more points ahead of its opponent at the end of a round (following the United States' turn). If victory is not achieved within 20 rounds of play, the team with the higher score is victorious. In the event of a tie, the Axis team wins.

Timing within a Step

Many cards indicate activity at the beginning of a given step. The activity on cards such as this occurs before any other during the given step.

• "At the Beginning of the Play step..." is before a card is played.
• "At the Beginning of the Air Force step..." is before an Air Force may be deployed or marshaled.
• "At the Beginning of the Supply step..." is before out-of-supply pieces are removed from the board.
• "At the Beginning of the Victory step..." is before points are collected.
• "At the Beginning of the Discard step..." is before cards are discarded.
• "At the Beginning of the Draw step..." is before cards are drawn.

Example: Italy has Impero Italiano in play but does not have an Army in Africa at the beginning of its Victory step. Before accumulating points, Italy plays the Somaliland Bolster card. Italy then collects Victory Points, including the bonus point for occupying Africa.

Impero Italiano During the Victory step of your turn, gain +1 Victory Point for each of North Africa, Africa, and Middle East occupied by an Italian or German Army.

Somaliland Use at the beginning of your Victory step. Recruit an Army in Africa.

Reactions

(These rules clarify the section "Using Status and Response cards during play" pp. 16-17 of the Quartermaster General Rulebook. In the Air Marshal expansion, the timing of play becomes much more complex and a more elaborate treatment of these concepts is necessary.)

A reaction is defined as the use of the card text on a Status, Response, or Bolster card; or the use of Air Attack, Air Defense, Reposition, and Reallocate Resources. All reactions require a specific trigger, like a land battle, the beginning of a step, etc.

Reaction Rules

• Reactions are never required.
• Reactions are resolved immediately after their trigger (for example: A "Beginning of the Play step" reaction cannot occur once a card play is declared for the step).
• The two teams take turns reacting to the trigger, with the team that did not cause the trigger going first. If the trigger is a game mechanic (for example: the beginning of a Play step), then the team of the country that is taking its turn goes second.
• If a team has multiple reactions to the same trigger, only one is used at a time. Then the other team can use a reaction. A team with multiple reactions to the same trigger can use them in the order it chooses, as long as the other side has a chance to use a reaction in between.
• Reactions may trigger other reactions, which must be resolved before additional reactions to the original trigger are used.
• If you do not use any of your reactions to a particular trigger, you can't later react upon seeing further reactions to the same trigger.

(See examples on following pages.)

Reaction Example 1

The United States has Aircraft Carriers face-up on the table; Japan has Battleship Repair face-down on the table. The United States uses a Sea Battle against a Japanese Navy. If Japan does not use Battleship Repair immediately, it cannot change its mind after the United States has used Aircraft Carriers.

Aircraft Carriers Use when you battle a sea space. Once per turn you may discard the top card of your draw deck, and build a Navy in the space just attacked.

Battleship Repair Use anytime. Do not remove a supplied Japanese Navy this turn.

Reaction Example 2

Japan plays a Sea Battle and has the Response cards Destroyer Transport and Surprise Attack face-down on the table. (In this example, the Allied team has no potential reactions available.) Japan could:

Destroyer Transport Use when you battle a sea space. You may build one or two Armies adjacent to the space attacked.

Surprise Attack Use when you battle a sea space. You may battle an additional Navy, and then battle an Army.

• Use Destroyer Transport as a reaction to Sea Battle to build armies adjacent to the battled sea space.
• Use Surprise Attack as a reaction to Sea Battle to battle an additional Navy and then an Army.
• Use Destroyer Transport and Surprise Attack both as reactions to the Sea Battle in whatever order Japan prefers.
• Use Surprise Attack as a reaction to Sea Battle to battle an additional Navy and then use Destroyer Transport to build armies adjacent to the second battled sea space. Japan would then finish Surprise Attack by battling an Army which could be adjacent to its newly placed armies.

Japan could not:

• Use Destroyer Transport as a reaction to the sea battle of Surprise Attack after resolving the land battle.

Other Timing Particulars

Discards. Discards occur immediately, before any other activity. Reactions to discards (example: Women Conscripts) take place immediately after the discard.

Duration. If a card's text does not have a specific duration, its effect occurs immediately and then ends. Card effects that do have a specific duration, like "until the end of the turn", continue until that time or until another effect causes them to end (whichever comes first).

Immediately. A card that specifies "immediately" may only be used when its trigger is met, and is used as a reaction. For example, Rasputitsa may only be used immediately after an Axis Army is built or recruited; it may not be used to remove an Army placed on a previous turn.

Rules for Air Forces

A country can never have more than one Air Force in a space.

Reposition

If at any time your Air Force is in a space without an Army or Navy from the same country, you must immediately move it to an adjacent space occupied by your supplied Army or Navy (from the same country). If there is no such space, the Air Force is removed from the board. You may not reposition to a space that already contains an Air Force from the same country.

Commanding Your Air Forces

During the Air Force step, you may do one of the following (but not both):

Deploy an Air Force

Discard a Deploy Air Force card and place an available Air Force in a space with your supplied Army or Navy.

During the Play step, you may discard a Deploy Air Force card to satisfy the requirement that one card be played each play step. However, you do not get to place an Air Force if used in this way.

or

Marshal an Air Force

Discard any card from your hand and select one of your supplied Air Forces on the board. You may move that Air Force to any space that has your supplied Army or Navy - even the same space, to trigger a reaction.

Air Forces in Battle

Air Defense

When your Army or Navy would be removed from the board due to a battle, you may remove an Air Force from the same country in the same space instead, as a reaction. If you do not choose to (or can not) immediately use the Air Defense or Reposition reaction and the Air Force finds itself in the space without a supplied Army or Navy, the Air Force is removed. This reaction is not available if the Army or Navy is eliminated instead of battled.

Germany has an Army in Ukraine, and the Soviet Union has an Army and Air Force in Moscow. Germany plays a Land Battle to remove the Soviet Army, but the Soviet Union uses the Air Defense reaction, sacrificing its Air Force instead, so the Soviet Army remains in Moscow.

Air Attack

When an opponent uses the Air Defense reaction, you may remove your own Air Force adjacent to the space battled in order to remove the Army or Navy originally targeted by the battle.

Germany has an Army and Air Force in Ukraine, and the Soviet Union has an Army and Air Force in Moscow. Germany plays a Land Battle to remove the Soviet Army, but the Soviet Union uses the Air Defense reaction to remove its Air Force instead. Germany then uses the Air Attack reaction, removing its own Air Force and the Soviet Army.

Bolster Cards

Unlike the cards in the basic game, Bolster cards may be used directly from hand as reactions; the trigger for the reaction is specified on the card itself. Once used, Bolster cards are discarded. Bolster cards are not used as the card "played" during your play step (although they may be triggered during the play step). Like Deploy Air Force cards, Bolster cards may be discarded for no effect to satisfy the requirement that one card be played each play step.

Many Bolster cards can be used out of turn; this means you may have fewer than seven cards in hand when beginning your turn. Use of a Bolster card is always optional.

Many Bolster cards specify that you must discard one or more cards from your hand or draw deck. These cards are discarded in addition to the Bolster card, unless the card text indicates otherwise.

Example: The United States plays Fleet Deployed to Pearl Harbor. After building the Navy in the East Pacific (A), it discards the Bolster card A Great, Sleeping Giant from hand. The United States discards the top card its draw deck to build an Army in New Zealand (B). It then completes the remaining effects of Fleet Deployed to Pearl Harbor.

Fleet Deployed to Pearl Harbor Build a Navy in the East Pacific, then build a Navy in the North Pacific, and then build an Army in Hawaii.

A Great, Sleeping Giant Use when you build a Navy in a space with Pacific in the title. Discard the top card of your draw deck to build an Army or Navy in an adjacent space.

Discards

(See "Who can see what?", p. 12 of the Quartermaster General Rulebook)

Some Bolster cards require you to discard a specific type of card from hand. In this situation, the card type is revealed, but any additional text is kept secret from the other players. Discard the card to the bottom of your discard pile.

Example: Japan plays the Bolster card Yamamoto aboard the Yamato. In order to play this card, Japan discards the Response card Destroyer Transport. Japan should show the other players the "Response" header on Destroyer Transport, but does not show the name of the card or the text effects on it.

Yamamoto aboard the Yamato Use at the beginning of your Play step. Discard a Response card from your hand to deploy an Air Force in a space with your supplied Navy. (You do not need a Deploy Air Force card.)

Reallocate Resources

Reallocate Resources allows you to discard 4 cards from your hand to search your draw deck for a card and add it to your hand. Only Build Army, Build Navy, Land Battle, Sea Battle, or Deploy Air Force cards can be chosen from your draw deck. Reallocate Resources is only allowed at the beginning of your Play step, before playing a card, and can only be used once per turn.

You do not need to declare what type of card you want before searching your deck, but you must reveal the card selected to the other players. Afterwards, shuffle your draw deck.

(Please note, you may use the Reallocate Resources rule when playing Quartermaster General alone, without the expansion, if all agree ahead of time.)

Extended Game Play Example

Germany has an Army in Germany and Eastern Europe; and has Wolf Packs, Dive Bombers, and Blitzkrieg on the table. The Soviet Union has an Army in Moscow, Russia, Ukraine and an Air Force in Russia. Stalingrad is face-down on the table.

Dive Bombers Use once per turn when you battle a land space. Discard the top card of your draw deck and battle an additional Army in the same or an adjacent space.

Blitzkrieg Use once per turn when you battle a land space. Discard the top card of your draw deck and build an Army in the space battled.

At the beginning of the Play step, Germany uses the Bolster card Tactical Innovations and discards Wolf Packs to place Bias for Action face-up on the table.

Tactical Innovations Use at the beginning of your Play step. Discard your Status card on the table to place a Status card from your hand on the table.

Bletchley Park Use when Germany or Italy uses a Bolster card. Discard 2 cards from your hand to negate the effect of the Bolster card (but not any cost associated with using the card).

The United Kingdom uses Bletchley Park as a reaction to the use of Tactical Innovations; the United Kingdom discards two cards from hand in addition to Bletchley Park. Germany returns Bias for Action to his hand, but Wolf Packs remains discarded.

During the Play step, Germany plays Land Battle against Ukraine. The Soviet player decides to use Stalingrad rather than lose the Army. Germany could use Dive Bombers to battle again, but decides against it. This ends Germany's Play step.

Stalingrad Use anytime. Do not remove a Soviet Army in Ukraine this turn.

During the Air Force step, Germany discards Deploy Air Force to place an Air Force in Eastern Europe. Germany then uses the Bolster card Ju-87 to battle Russia. This requires Germany to discard a card from the top of its draw deck.

Ju-87 Use when you deploy or marshal an Air Force. Discard the top card of your draw deck to battle an Army adjacent to that Air Force.

The Soviet Union could remove its Air Force in Russia to save the Army, but decides to save the Air Force. The Soviet Union's Army in Russia is removed. The Soviet Union uses a Reposition reaction to move its Air Force to Moscow.

Germany discards a card from its draw deck to use Blitzkrieg and builds an Army in Russia. However, the United Kingdom uses Keep Calm and Carry On as a reaction to Germany's use of a Status card. The United Kingdom discards two cards from hand (in addition to Keep Calm and Carry On), to spoil Germany's Blitzkrieg. The card discarded by Germany in order to use Blitzkrieg is still lost.

Keep Calm and Carry On Use when the Axis uses a Status card. Discard 2 cards from your hand to negate the effect of the Status card (but not any cost associated with using the card) until the end of the Turn.

Without any other adjacent armies to battle, Germany's Dive Bombers cannot be used this turn (since the Army in Ukraine is still protected by Stalingrad). If the United Kingdom had not used Keep Calm and Carry On to cancel the Blitzkrieg, Germany would have an Army in Russia and could have used Dive Bombers against Moscow.

It should be noted that at the end of the German turn, the United Kingdom has only one card remaining in hand.

Order of Play

Every round, each country takes a turn in the following order:

1. Germany
2. United Kingdom
3. Japan
4. Soviet Union
5. Italy
6. United States

At the end of each round (after the United States turn), advance Game Round Marker and check for victory.

Turn Sequence

1. Play Step: Play one card.
2. Air Force Step: Deploy or Marshal an Air Force (Optional).
3. Supply Step: Remove your out-of-supply pieces from the board.
4. Victory Step: Collect Victory Points.*
5. Discard Step: Discard any number of cards from your hand.
6. Draw Step: Draw until your hand has seven cards.**

*Skip this step if your Home Space is occupied by an enemy Army.

**Response and Status cards on the table are not in your hand.

Card Distribution

Card type	Germany	Italy	Japan	Soviet Union	United Kingdom	United States
Build Army	6	4	4	8	5	5
Build Navy	2	3	6	1	5	5
Land Battle	7	4	3	6	4	4
Sea Battle	2	2