Rules: Nuclear War

Overview
NUCLEAR WAR is a game for two to six players. 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.

Detailed Instructions
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 forty 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. A germ symbol moves from placemat to placemat to indicate whose turn it is.

Setting up the Game

1) A random player is selected to go first.

2) Starting population is determined by a random deal of the population cards. Each player gets a set
number of cards depending on how many people are playing the game:

2 Players 15 Cards
3 Players 10 Cards
4 Players 8 Cards
5 Players 7 Cards
6 Players 6 Cards

3) The remaining population cards are placed in the bank in the center of the table.

4) 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.

Setup Phase
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:

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 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 below), 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, 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 their cards, the target needs to
signify that whether they are intercepting even if they have no anti-missile cards. If the target does
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. Note that in the computer
game version, a missile that explodes on launch damages the attacker.

Roll Result Effect

00- Missile booster explodes on
If attack was anything other than a bomber, attacker takes damage
04 launch
00- Bomber runs out of fuel If attack was with a bomber, then all cards in the face up cards
04 location of the attacker are discarded ? no one is hit with a
warhead
05-
Dud warhead Nothing happens
09
10-
Bomb shelter saves 2 million Target takes damage minus 2,000,000
22
23- Additional 1 million engulfed
Target takes damage plus 1,000,000
35 in fireball
36- No appreciable radiation
Target takes damage
49 fallout
50- Radioactive fallout kills
Target takes damage plus 2,000,000
63 another 2 million
64- Radioactive beta rays kills
Target takes damage plus 5,000,000
76 another 5 million
77- Lethal doses of gamma rays
Target takes damage plus 10,000,000
89 kill another 10 million
90- Dirty Bomb! Double the
Target takes damage times 2
94 Yield
95- Explodes a nuclear stockpile! Target takes damage times 3. If the attacking warhead is a 100
99 Triple Yield! megaton variety, a Super Chain Reaction destroys the world!

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.

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 a 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:

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 with population. Thus, there may not be a winner in the
Nuclear War game?

Computer Game Tips

 Your placemat is always centered at the bottom of the table.
 Your hand of cards juts into the playfield just above the chat interface
 You can click on any card to see a full version of it on the right of the screen---unless of course
it is a face down card belonging to another player
 You can click on your population cards to see how many of each type that you have and hover
the mouse over the stack to see your current total
 Hover your mouse over anyone's population stack to see how many cards are in it
 Target another player by clicking anywhere on their placemat.
 The message window let?s you know what game phase is underway and chat messages from
the game system prompt you on game specifics
 The look of the timer, in the upper right of the interface, changes depending on whether it is
peace or war
 Play cards by dragging them over the correct location or by clicking the place card button and
then double-clicking on the card
 Unlike in the physical game, you can only play deterrent cards during a specific phase

Physical Game Credits

Copyright © 1965 by Douglas Malewicki
Published by Flying Buffalo
All rights reserved. Used under license.