Most scenarios give each player access to one or more Strategy card decks. These decks represent off-board events and forces that players may bring to the battle by spending the designated number of command points printed on each Strategy card.
At the beginning of the game, and during the Status Phase, players will draw Strategy cards from their Strategy decks and place them faceup in their HQ area. Many of these Strategy cards have the words “Action Phase” topmost in their text box, indicating that they can be activated during the Action Phase as an action. Other Strategy cards will have the words “Command Phase” topmost in their text box, indicating that they may only be activated during the Spend Command step of the Command Phase.
When a player takes an action to activate an available Strategy card, he must first pay the command cost of the Strategy card. If a player cannot afford the command cost of a Strategy card, he may not activate that card.
Although the effect of a Strategy card is typically explained on the card itself, and its effects work within the context of the rules, a few cards may contradict the rules. If a card contradicts the rules of the game, the card always takes precedence.
“Place in Your Play Area”
Though most Strategy cards are removed from the game after use (place them back in the game box), any Strategy cards which state that they are “placed in your play area” are not immediately discarded, but are placed faceup in a player’s play area – and will typically have a lasting effect on the game. The command cost for such cards are only paid at the time the card is initially activated. After such a Strategy card has been placed in a player’s play area, the player may use its effects at no additional command cost until the end of the game, or until the card is discarded by its own effects.
After the last card of a Strategy card deck is drawn, the deck is not replenished. That deck is simply no longer available to the player.
Card Types
Some effects reference certain types of cards in bold italic (for example, an “Air Support card”). This always refers to the title of a Strategy card deck, and affects any card in a deck containing that name.
Example: “Increased Priority” reads: “When you activate another Artillery card, its cost is reduced by 1 (to a minimum of 0).” This ability affects all of the other cards in the Artillery I and the Artillery II deck.
Strategy Card Keywords
Some of the rules regarding Strategy cards’ effects are too detailed to fit on the card. For example, many Strategy cards, especially in the Artillery and Air Support decks, allow the active player to make a destructive attack from an off-board source. The rules for such off-board attacks make use of card keywords that are described below.
Keyword: “Establish Contact (X)”
Many Strategy cards will require you to establish contact before an attack can proceed. This simulates an attempt to contact the battlefield headquarters by radio, and the difficulties in acquiring sufficient battlefield priority for a support request. Establishing contact works in the following way:
When a card requires a player to “establish contact,” the keyword is always followed by a number in parenthesis – the target number. The active player must now roll a single die. If the result of the roll is equal to or higher than the target number, then contact is established, and the player may continue to resolve the other effects of the card.
If contact is not established, the remaining effects of the card are not resolved now. In this case, the player keeps the Strategy card and places it in his play area. Once during every subsequent round, as an action, the player may again seek to establish contact in order to resolve the card’s remaining effects.
Once contact has been established, and the remaining effects of the cards are resolved, the card is discarded.
Remember that a player does not pay the command cost again for a card already placed in his play area.
Keyword: “Target Hex”
Many Strategy cards will require a player to establish a target hex on the board. A player resolves this by simply placing the target token on any board hex of his choice (or within any restrictions indicated by the Strategy card). After placing the target token, the player continues to resolve the remaining effects of the Strategy card.
Keyword: “Determine Drift”
Many Strategy cards require a player to resolve a variance in final placement of a target token for an off-board attack, or other similar function representing an entity entering the board from off-board (such as paratroopers, air-dropped equipment, etc.). This variance is called “drift.”
Any drift will always start from the target hex (indicated by a target token) established prior on the Strategy card. Drift has the potential to move the target token to a different, final hex location.
Rolling for Drift
To resolve the drift of the target token, first you must establish the drift number from the following information:
- No LOS: If the target token is located in a hex not within LOS of any non-fatigued friendly unit, the drift number is 6.
- Normal LOS: If the target token is located in a hex within LOS of a non-fatigued friendly unit, the drift number is 4.
- Enhanced LOS: If the target token is located in a hex within LOS of a non-fatigued squad containing an officer, or the target token is located in a hex either containing, or adjacent to, any friendly unit, the drift number is 3.
After determining the drift number, roll two dice – one red and one black.
- First look at the black die: If the result is equal to or higher than the drift number, the attack is accurate and strikes the target hex where planned. Ignore any results of the red die. The player may continue to resolve the effects of the Strategy card.
- If the result is less than the drift number, the attack will drift as many hexes as the rolled result of the black die. To determine the direction of the drift, look at the result of the red die. Reference the result of the red die with the north directional marker to determine the direction in which the target hex drifts from the original target hex. In this way, the black die tells you how many hexes the target hex drifts (if any), and the red die (together with the north directional marker) tells you the direction in which it drifts.
Example One: If the drift number is 6, and the rolled result on the black die is a “5,” the attack has missed its target, and will drift 5 hexes away from the intended target hex. Check the result of the red die against the north directional marker to determine the direction of the drift.
Example Two: If the drift number is 4, and the rolled result on the black die is a “2,” the attack has missed its target, and will drift 2 hexes away from the intended target hex. Check the result of the red die against the north directional marker to determine the direction of the drift.
Example Three: If the drift number is 4, and the rolled result on the black die is a “5,” the attack is successful in striking the target hex (in this case, a result of “4” or “6” would also achieve the same result).
Note that the lower the quality of friendly LOS to the original target hex (i.e., the higher the drift number), the greater the potential for deviation of the final target hex.
After determining which final target hex the attack drifted to, continue to resolve the effects of the Strategy card.
If the final target hex drifted off the board (including one of the half-hexes on the side of the game board), the Strategy card has no additional effect, and is placed back in the game box.
Friendly Fire
The player activating the Strategy card cannot stop the resolution of a Strategy card, even if he does not like the final target hex. Any off-board attack (such as artillery fire) does not recognize friend from foe. If friendly units are in the affected area of an off-board attack, they – like any enemy units – must take any damage relevant to the Strategy card.
Keyword: “Area Attack (X)”
Make an area attack against the target hex using the attack strength indicated in the parenthesis. See the rules for area attacks on page 32. If an area attack is not designated as “suppressive,” it is considered to be a normal attack. Off-board area attacks (i.e., those from Strategy cards) score successes on results of “5” and “6” unless stated otherwise on the card.
Keyword: “Wide Blast Radius (X)”
An attack with a wide blast radius affects all the hexes adjacent to the target hex. These adjacent hexes are hit by an area attack with the strength indicated by the number in parentheses following the “Wide Blast Radius” keyword. (Note that the final target hex itself is only affected by the strength indicated by the “Area Attack” keyword; only hexes adjacent to the final target hex are hit by the “Wide Blast Radius” attack.) Roll each wide blast radius area attack separately for each adjacent hex. If a wide blast radius attack is not designated as “suppressive,” it is considered to be a normal attack. Wide blast radius attacks score successes on results of “5” and “6” unless stated otherwise on the card.
See detailed FAQs here: Cards.
Example of an Off-Board Artillery Attack
When making an off-board attack (via an Artillery Strategy card), specific keywords instruct players to perform certain steps. This diagram details the steps that an American player goes through after having paid the command cost to activate the “Sustained Blanket” Artillery Strategy card.
- Establish Contact: To establish contact, the player must roll a die. If the die roll is equal to or higher than the target number (4 in this example), then contact is established and the rest of the card’s text is resolved. Otherwise, the card is placed in the player’s play area and the player may use an action to try to establish contact on a future game round.
- Target Hex: After establishing contact, the player selects a target hex and places the target token there. While a player may target any hex, it is better to target a hex within a friendly unit’s line of sight, so that the attack has a lower drift number. In this example, the player selects a target hex that his “E” unit has normal LOS to, so the drift number is 4.
- Determine Drift: After targeting a hex, the player rolls 1 red die and 1 black die. The black die determines whether the target hex will drift and how many hexes it will drift, while the red die determines which direction it will drift. The player rolls a 3 on the black die, which is lower than the drift number, so the attack will drift 3 hexes. The player rolls a 3 on the red die; the north directional marker shows that “3” means that the attack will drift directly to the right. Fortunately for the American player, 2 German squads are located in the attack’s final target hex.
- Suppressive Area Attack: The attacker then rolls a number of attack dice equal to the strength indicated on the card (4 in this example), scoring successes on results of “5” and “6.” Each individual unit affected by the area attack rolls its own defense dice. In this example, the 2 squads in the final target hex have no cover, so no defense dice are rolled.
- E, F, and G) Wide Blast Radius: This attack has a suppressive wide blast radius of strength 3. The American player rolls 3 attack dice for each hex adjacent to the final target hex that contains figures, scoring successes on results of “5” and “6.” Each individual unit affected by the attack must roll its own defense dice. Squads E and G are subject to the suppressive attack (even though squad E is a friendly unit). Unit F is not subject to the suppressive attack, as vehicles are unaffected by suppressive attacks. The wide blast radius area attack rolls are made separately for each hex.