Nuclear War

A strange game. The only winning move is not to play.
-- WOPR

Overview

Each player represents a major world power and attempts to gain world domination through the strategic use of propaganda techniques or nuclear weapons. A sound strategy, however, is not always a guarantee of success. As in the real world, the results of strategic decisions are not predictable and such factors as the chance dispersion of deadly radioactive fallout particles may significantly alter the course of events.

Object of the Game

Each player seeks to gain world domination by eliminating the other major powers. This can be accomplished in two ways. The peaceful way is to persuade the population of opposing countries to join your superior form of government. The warlike way is to destroy the enemy population by using nuclear weapons. Population is the measure of success or failure in the game and you withdraw from the game if you lose your entire population.

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.
• Placements - 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. Don’t press the button on it!

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.

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

Game Turn

Play starts with the first player and proceeds clockwise around the table. The turn order is as follows:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. Resolve Face Up Card - The card that was just moved into your face up card location is turned over and it is resolved. See the next section for card resolutions
5. 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 above), 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 below). If not, the warhead is not launched and is discarded.
• Anti-Missile Card - These cards are only effective in defending against an attack when played (as an interrupt) directly from your hand, if you have placed it on your placemat it 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 spin on the nuclear fallout chart to see what happens. The warhead does the damage listed on the card, then modified by the chart.

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.

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:

1. 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)
2. Announce a target for each separate delivery system
3. After all targets are selected, roll for the attacks in the order that you announced them.
4. 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...