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UKRAINIAN CRISIS
(c) 2014 Brian Train
v. 2.0, 23 September 2015
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Ukrainian Crisis is a politico-military game for two players exploring some possible resolutions of the situation in the spring and summer of 2014 between the governments of Ukraine and the Russian Federation. Players represent the political and military leaders of these respective governments. The action begins in late February as elected President Yanukovytch departs from the capital of Kyiv and a new government is formed. The time covered by an entire game may represent several weeks to six or eight months, depending on events within the game.
1.1 General Course of Play
The play of the game is divided into 8 Game Turns. Each Game Turn may be either a Strategic Turn or a Combat Turn.
In Strategic Turns, players play cards on a matrix divided into Military, Diplomatic and Information areas. Players’ military units may be placed on the map but may not move or engage in combat (6.1).
In Combat Turns, players play cards on the matrix, but options are different and the Turn will also contain a variable number of Operational Segments during which each player’s military units move on the map and engage in combat (7.0).
Each Turn is treated differently. It is possible to play a game without a Combat Turn ever being declared (there must be at least one Strategic Turn, though, to allow for some mobilization of forces).
The game must end if at the beginning of the Final Phase of any Turn that a player’s Prestige is zero, or the Final Phase of the 8th Game Turn. In either case, play stops and players judge victory as in 9.0.
2.0 GAME COMPONENTS AND CONCEPTS
Each game comes with a sheet of 70 counters, an area-movement map of the general region of Ukraine, a Player Aid Card, and these rules. The game also uses a deck of 64 cards; either use these, or a more deterministic form of the game can be played by using an ordinary deck of playing cards as directed in 10.1. Players will also need several six-sided dice (d6).
2.1 Cards
• Resource Cards. (48) This group of cards is divided into two identical sets of 24, further divided into Minor (12), Moderate (8) and Maximum (4) Efforts. Each category potentially provides greater amounts of Resource Points (RP) a card provides to whatever activity it is being applied, depending on the roll of one or two dice on the Effort Chart. The effects of a given card depend on what area it is played on (Military, Diplomatic or Information) and whether it is a Strategic or Combat Turn (see 6.0). Resource cards are laid aside after resolution and not used again during the game.
• Event Cards. (16) At the beginning of each Turn, each player draws one Event Card. Its effects can be good or bad for one or both players, depending on the general situation. See the Event Cards chart.
2.2 Counters
There are 70 counters in the game. Some of them are informational markers used to keep track of the status of different record tracks, and mostly their use is obvious. Most of them represent military formations that could be used in the event of armed conflict between Ukraine and Russia, and so are deployed and moved on the map. These are called “units” and each one has the following information on it:
• Type symbol. This will tell you what type of formation the counter represents, and its troop type (Irregular, Regular or Special Forces). See the Identification Chart.
• Combat Values. Each Irregular and Regular unit has a Combat Value (CV) printed underneath its troop type symbol. This is the number of d6 it will roll during combat (7.3). Note that Special Forces units have no Combat Value: this means they may not be engaged in combat of any type. See 7.32. Also, the reverse side of each unit has its Combat Value marked in parentheses, to denote that it has been neutralized in combat and cannot attack (however, it can defend itself). See 7.33.
• Nationality. Russian units are red; Ukrainian units are yellow.
2.3 Maps and Displays and Playing Aids
2.31 Map. The map is an area movement map of the eastern two-thirds of Ukraine and the immediate region. Each area in Ukraine is equal to an oblast (an administrative division). During Operational Segments units move from one area to another (see 7.2).
• Some areas are marked with airfield (triangle) or port (anchor) symbols; these are used to determine whether units can use Airborne or Amphibious movement from there (7.21).
• Each area in Ukraine is marked with a Victory Point value that is awarded to the player in sole possession of it at the end of the game (that is, only that player has non-neutralized Regular or Irregular units in it – Special Forces units do not count either way).
• Note that the city of Kyiv is a special area, located entirely inside the Kyivs’ka area. It belongs to both Ethnic Zones (2.4) and is coloured orange.
• “Sevastopol” is a special enclave of Russian territory within the Crimea area, representing the pre-existing Russian military bases there. It is treated as part of Russia and belongs to no Ethnic Zone (2.4).
2.32 Displays. Also located on the map sheet are the Foreign Relations Display, the All-purpose Record Track and a Unit Box (with Reserve and Mobilized areas) for each player to group his units.
2.33 Player Aids. Finally, there are two player aid cards that contain a detailed guide to the sequence of play in each Turn, the Effort Chart, the Events Chart and the Card Matrix.
2.4 Game Concepts
• Countries and International relations. Seven foreign countries appear in the game as potential allies of Ukraine. Each country has a marker with a two-letter code to identify it, and a number denoting its Rank (a quantification of its relative power and ability to influence the situation). The attitudes of their respective governments towards Ukraine are portrayed on the Foreign Relations Display. During the game, the Ukrainian player will be trying through diplomacy to build a coalition of countries willing to support his government against perceived Russian aggression, through various means. Due to the general political and diplomatic situation, Russia does not have any allied countries (at least none in any position to affect this crisis) and so is more concerned with manoeuvring potential Ukrainian allies towards neutrality.
• Ethnic Zones: With a certain degree of simplification (to put it mildly), the political divisions and cultural aspirations of Ukrainian citizens, and their ethnicities, are congruent geographically. That is, pro-Russian sentiment is concentrated, along with many ethnic Russians, in the eastern zone of the country while Ukrainian nationalism is concentrated in the western zone. Consequently certain areas on the map are colored reddish (for pro-Russian) or yellowish (for pro-Ukrainian). The city of Kyiv is considered to be in both Ethnic Zones (and so is coloured orange).
• Prestige: During play, a player will have a greater or lesser amount of Prestige, recorded on the All-Purpose Record Track. In the game, the term “Prestige” does not have quite the positive connotation of respect or high esteem it normally does – in effect, it is a quantification and combination of several things, including:
• the amount of intimidation or dominance a player can exert on, or the compliance they can exact from, the other player or the Countries portrayed in the game;
• the general stability or resolve of the Ukrainian or Russian government and leaders to pursue the crisis, particularly with respect to using military force to resolve it;
• the country’s international standing, occupation of the “moral high ground” (in a very relative sense), and ability to control or shape information on events;
• the country’s overall economic health and future prospects; etc..
There are occasions during the game when the player may voluntarily expend Prestige to get something he wants. This can represent making deals for future concessions, political or diplomatic negotiations, threats that are or are not delivered, and so on. The game will end if one player’s Prestige score is zero at the end of any Turn (this signifies a collapse of will to continue, or resignation to the situation, or conclusion of some form of negotiations), at which time victory is judged. In cases where a player’s Prestige is currently zero, he may not voluntarily expend Prestige, and any Prestige points he may be required to lose are instead added to the other player’s Prestige.
• Scale: The game has an abstract scale in all respects. There is no fixed ratio of Resources to any physical commodity, numbers of people or equipment to any military unit, or interval of time to any turn (though Combat Turns represent a much shorter period of time than Strategic Turns).
• Victory: at the end of the game players total up their Victory Points, which they have collected for various activities during the game. See 9.0.
3.0 SETTING UP THE GAME
• Separate the Resource and Event Cards. Divide the Resource cards into piles for each player. Shuffle the Event Cards and put them in a mutually convenient place on the table.
• Sort the Regular and Irregular unit counters out by nationality. Put the Regular units of both sides in the “Reserve” sections of their Unit Boxes. Put the Russian Special Forces units and all Irregular units of both sides in the “Mobilized” sections of their Unit Boxes.
• Take the 7 Country counters and place them on the Foreign Relations Display as follows (If players wish to alter the starting positions of Countries to make things harder or easier for either player, or if they have a different view of the relative attitude of each country, then feel free to do so.):
o BY, DE, FR, GB, RO: Neutral
o US, PL: Support
• Place markers on the All-Purpose Record Track to show a starting Prestige of 16 for the Ukrainian player and 32 for the Russian (again, this can be adjusted if players wish).
• This game is simple and free-form enough that players should be able to alter such game parameters as the opposing orders of battle, opening Prestige scores, VP scores for areas, or arrangements on the Foreign Relations Display to make the game more or less difficult for either player, or to better reflect their view of how the crisis played out in real life, or could have done. So feel free.
4.0 SEQUENCE OF PLAY
Each Game Turn is organized into the following Phases, performed in order. The body of the rules explain what to do in each Phase.
• Event Card Phase
• Card Play, Turn Type and Resolution Phase
• (Combat Turn only) Operations Phase
• Final Phase
• (start next Turn with the Event Card Phase)
5.0 EVENT CARD PHASE
Each player will draw one Event Card at random. If a Card says “Must Play”, the event is immediately resolved. Otherwise the player has a choice of whether or how to implement the event during the Turn, at an appropriate or relevant time. Event Cards are discarded in the Final Phase of the current Turn: use ‘em or lose ‘em.
6.0 CARD PLAY, TURN TYPE AND RESOLUTION PHASE
Card play
Each player will select THREE Resource Cards of their choice from their as yet unplayed stock and place one card in each of the three areas of the Card Matrix (Military, Diplomatic and Information), face down. Again, you get to select which cards you want to play.
What Kind of Turn?
Either player may, at this moment only, declare whether they wish to play a Combat Turn. If only one player desires to have a Combat Turn, the other player may attempt to get a Ceasefire (6.24), through immediately resolving card play in the Diplomatic area of the Card Matrix. If that player succeeds, or if no one wanted a Combat Turn, then a Strategic Turn is played.
Card Resolution
The player who has the higher Prestige at the moment (Russian wins ties) may choose which area of the Card Matrix will be resolved first (exception: if one player attempts to get a Ceasefire, the two players must resolve the Diplomatic area first – the player with higher Prestige may then choose which area is resolved next). Both players turn up their cards and roll 1 or 2 d6 on the Effort Chart as dictated by the type of Resource Card played (Minor, Moderate or Maximum Effort), which will give them a number of Resource Points (RP) to apply or use in some fashion in resolving action for that area.
Critical Incidents: if a player plays a Maximum Effort card and rolls doubles, a Critical Incident has occurred. Resolve the incident depending on which double number was rolled, then the player receives the indicated number of RP and play continues.
Area by area, the player with more Prestige at the moment (Russian wins ties) either goes first to expend the RP he has received or tells the other player to go first. A player’s options of how to expend the RP depend on what area the card was played in, and whether they are playing a Strategic or Combat Turn. Refer to the following table. A player may choose only one of the options presented. Any leftover RP are lost when players move on to another area.
|Area |Strategic Turn |Combat Turn |
|Military |- mobilize/ deploy units|- determine number of |
| |(6.1) |Operational Segments |
| | |this Turn, and the |
| | |number of units that can|
| | |move or recover in each |
| | |Operational Segment |
| | |(7.0) |
|Diplomatic |- attempt to move one or|- resolve a Ceasefire |
| |more countries on |attempt (6.24) |
| |Foreign Relations | |
| |Display (6.2) | |
|Information |- reduce enemy’s |- Neutralize deployed |
| |Prestige score (and |enemy units (6.32) |
| |their own, see 6.31) OR | |
| |- add to own Prestige OR| |
| |- Neutralize deployed | |
| |enemy units (6.32) | |
6.1 Military Area Options: Mobilizing and Deploying Units
Players will mobilize and deploy their military units during Strategic Turns. Units move, recover, and engage in combat only during Combat Turns, see 7.0.
6.11 Mobilizing units. A unit is mobilized by moving it from the Reserve section to the Mobilized section of the Unit box. It costs 1 RP to mobilize a unit of any type.
6.12 Deploying units. To deploy a unit, take it from the Mobilized section of the Unit Box and place it in an area on the map, within the following guidelines depending on its type. It costs one RP to deploy a unit of any type. A unit may be mobilized and deployed in the same Turn.
• Regular: any area within the player’s country that is either empty or contains friendly units (Special Forces units do not count as friendly or enemy units). Depending on the resolution of the “Belarus” event, the Russian player may be able to deploy Regular units to Belarus. Also, depending on the outcome of the “Moldova” Event Card, he may deploy a maximum of 1 Regular combat unit in Moldova (but may not deploy any other units there). In addition to the 1 RP cost of deploying a regular unit, the player must also deduct 1 Prestige (to reflect the escalating tension of moving units out of barracks into assembly areas in the field).
• Irregular:
• Ukrainian: any area within Ukraine.
• Russian: any area in the pro-Russian Ethnic Zone that contains a Special Forces unit.
• Special Forces: any area on the map (including Belarus or Moldova, regardless of whether the Event Cards involving these countries have been played)
6.13 Redeploying units. Units do not move in Strategic Turns. However, a player may remove a unit from the map and replace it in the Mobilized Section of the Unit Box, from where it may be re-redeployed to the map in a later Turn. This does not cost any RP, but does not recover any RP for the player (nor any Prestige, in the case of a Regular unit).
6.2 Diplomatic Area Options
6.21 Moving Countries on the Foreign Relations Display. A player may expend RP and Prestige to attempt to move the counter representing a foreign country on the Foreign Relations Display. The Ukrainian player will want to move the counters towards the Support or Intervention Zones on the display, while the Russian player will want to move them towards the Neutral Zone.
The minimum required number of RP for an attempt to move a country’s counter “up” or “down” one Zone on the Display is indicated in the desired Zone to move to: 1, 2 or 3 RP. Players may try to move a given country only one Zone in a given attempt. A player may divide their RP as they wish in order to influence more than one country, and may make multiple but separate attempts to influence the same country.
To make the attempt, a player will expend at least the required number of RP (1, 2 or 3 RP). If a player is attempting to move a marker “upwards” on the Foreign Relations Display (that is, towards Intervention), they must also expend Resource and/or Prestige Points equal to the country’s Rank. If a player is attempting to move a marker “downwards” on the Foreign Relations Display (that is, towards Neutral), they are not required to expend more than the minimum cost of 1, 2 or 3 Resource Points.
They may at this time also voluntarily expend additional RP and Prestige points. They then roll a number of d6 equal to the country’s Rank, and take the total. If the total is equal to or less than the total of RP and Prestige expended, the country’s counter is moved to the new Zone; otherwise, nothing changes. In either case the RP and Prestige are expended.
Example: The Ukrainian player plays a Minor Effort card in the Diplomatic Area. The roll of “5” on the Effort Chart yields 3 RP. To attempt to move Great Britain, a Rank 2 country, from Support to Intervention the player spends 3 RP (since the cost for the Intervention Zone is 3). He also must expend 2 more Prestige to make a total of 5, since Britain is a Rank 2 country. He expends 2 more Prestige to help the effort. He rolls 2d6 (because Great Britain is a Rank 2 country) and gets a “5”. This is less than the 7 total RP and Prestige expended, so the country will move to Intervention.
6.22 Positive effects of Allies. It’s good to have friends:
• In the beginning of the Card Play, Turn and Resolution Phase of each Turn, the Ukrainian player receives a total of “at large” RP equal to the Rank of each country whose marker is currently in the Intervention Zone. These RP may be added to the resolution of card play in any one area of their choice, in that turn only (use it or lose it!).
• At the end of the Final Phase of each Turn (except the 8th one), the Ukrainian player will receive total Prestige equal to the Rank of each country that is in the Support or Intervention Zones. The Prestige is added to the Ukrainian Prestige in a Strategic Turn, and subtracted from the Russian Prestige in a Combat Turn.
6.23 Belarus. When the “Belarus” Event Card is played, its marker is removed from the Foreign Relations Display regardless of the outcome (the country has either decisively declared for Russia, or is determined not to take any further part in the crisis while continuing to declare verbal support for Ukraine).
6.24 Ceasefire
If, at the beginning of the Card Play, Turn and Resolution Phase, one player wants a Combat Turn and the other one doesn’t, the latter may attempt a Ceasefire. Players immediately resolve card play in the Diplomatic area of the Card Matrix.
The two players reveal the cards they have played in the Diplomacy Zone, and roll on the Effort Chart to derive their RP. The player with more RP gets his way. If they are still tied, the Russian player decides.
Note that this is the only function for cards in the Diplomatic area of the Card Matrix in a Combat Turn.
Example: The Ukrainian player wants a Strategic Turn to get some breathing room to mobilize more forces. He plays a Moderate Effort in the Diplomatic area, and when the Russian player says he wants a Combat Turn he proposes a Ceasefire. The Russian player has also played a Moderate Effort, so they both roll 1d6. The Ukrainian rolls “4” on one die on the Moderate row of the Effort Chart and so gets 4 Resource Points. The Russian rolls “2” and gets 3 points. The Ukrainian player gets his Ceasefire, so they play a Strategic Turn instead.
6.3 Information Area Options
6.31 Reducing the enemy’s Prestige.
If a player chooses to reduce the enemy’s Prestige through exercising that option in the Information area, they must roll the die or dice twice, reading off the row of the Effort Chart corresponding to the Resource Card played. The higher of the two rolls will reduce the enemy’s Prestige, the lower will reduce their own Prestige (this represents a range of activity not limited to economic threats, trade sanctions or boycotts and can backfire).
6.32 Increasing own Prestige. The player simply rolls the die or dice on the Effort Chart, reading off the row corresponding to the Resource Card played, and adds that number of Prestige Points (this represents both domestic and international propaganda, manipulation of news and media, measures to “strengthen domestic discipline” and so forth).
6.33 Neutralizing the enemy’s units. If a player chooses this option, they first roll the die or dice and consult the Effort Chart corresponding to the Card played. The player may make 1, 2 or 3 attempts to neutralize enemy units that have been deployed onto the map, depending if they played a Minor, Moderate or Maximum Effort respectively. On each attempt they roll 1d6 and if they score equal to or less than the number of RP derived on the Effort Chart, the enemy unit is neutralized. Attempts can be made only on units already deployed on the map, not the Reserve or Mobilized boxes. There is no additional effect of neutralizing an already-neutralized unit.
Example: The Russian player plays a Moderate Effort card and chooses to neutralize Ukrainian units. He rolls a “4” on the Effort Chart, which gets him 4 RP. He may make 2 attempts (because it was a Moderate card). He chooses 2 Ukrainian regular units and rolls 1d6 twice, trying to get a “4” or less each time.
Designer’s note: This is a way to disable enemy forces before any actual combat, since the neutralized units cannot Recover until a Combat Turn is played.
7.0 OPERATIONS PHASE
In Combat Turns, the card a player plays in the Military area of the Card Matrix in the Turn is used to determine how many Operational Segments there will be during that Turn, and how many of his units may move or recover from Neutralization in each Operational Segment during that Turn.
• The players will reveal the cards they played. The strongest card played (Maximum is stronger than Moderate, which is stronger than Minor) determines the number of Operations Segments that each player will play during the turn: 3 for a Maximum Effort, 2 for a Moderate, and 1 for a Minor.
• During each Operations Segment, players will determine from rolls on the Effort Chart the number of units to move or recover in that Operational Segment. The Ukrainian player may also add his “at large” RP gained from alliances, (see 6.22). After moving or recovering his units, the player may engage in combat (7.3).
7.1 Operational Segments
During the Operations Phase, each player will take 1, 2 or 3 Operational Segments. In each Operational Segment, the player will first determine how many of his units may move or recover from neutralization, from rolling on the Effort Chart in accordance with the card they played. At this time the Ukrainian player may also expend any “at large” RP he may get from his alliances (6.22). After this, opposing units in the same area may then conduct combat.
The Russian player takes an Operational Segment first, then the Ukrainian player, alternating until each side has completed the number of Operational Segments for the Operations Phase. After the Operational Segments are done, go to the Final Phase of the Turn.
Example: This particular turn is a Combat Turn. The Russian player played a Moderate Effort card and the Ukrainian player played a Minor Effort card in the Military area of the Card Matrix. The Moderate card is the strongest one played so each player will have 2 Operational Segments. In each of their 2 Operational Segments the Russian Player will roll 1d6 on the Moderate row of the Effort Chart to see how many of his units may move or recover in that Segment, and the Ukrainian will roll on the Minor row.
7.2 Movement and Recovery
During each Operational Segment, a given number of friendly units may move from area to area on the map or, instead of moving, recover from neutralization.
7.21 Movement. Normally, a player may move one unit from one area to an adjacent area (that is, the two areas share a land border). Any number of units may be present in an area, and enemy units do not block a unit’s passage out of or into it.
• Irregular units do not move.
• The Ukrainian player’s units may never enter another country.
• The Russian player may be able to deploy his Regular units in or move through Belarus or Moldova, depending on the outcome of the related Event Cards; otherwise he may not use these countries. He may never enter Romania.
• Russian Special Forces units may move into any area or country at all times.
• Airborne movement: a Parachute or Special Forces unit may move from an area in its own country that contains an airfield (triangle symbol) to any other area on the map.
• Amphibious movement: any Regular unit may move from an area in its own country that contains a port (anchor symbol) to any coastal area on the map (that is, any area touched by the Black Sea).
7.22 Recovery from neutralization. Instead of moving, a neutralized unit may recover from its neutralized state. Simply flip the unit back over to the side that doesn’t have its Combat Value in parentheses. A unit may not both move and recover in the same Operational Segment.
7.3 Combat
When a player has completed all their movement and recovery, they may engage enemy units in the same area in combat. There are three types of combat, but each type of combat is resolved simultaneously in the same way, with all combat results being applied at the end of resolution. The player whose Operational Segment it is is called the Attacker, and the other player is the Defender, no matter what the overall strategic situation. Combat is voluntary on the part of the Attacker, but if attacked the Defender must defend himself.
7.31 Combat procedure
• Pre-Combat Grouping Step. The Attacker examines his Regular and Irregular units in the area and declares which unit or units will attack which defending units. He may now group the attacking and defending units how he likes; he does not have to attack every defending unit, nor does he have to use all of his units to attack.
• Combat Type Determination Step. The attacker chooses the type of combat, but his choice is determined by the troop type of units present in the attacking and defending groups. If half or more of the units in a given group are Regular, the whole group is considered Regular. A group that is attacking a group of the same troop type may choose Symbolic or Kinetic combat. A group that is attacking a group of the opposite troop type may choose Symbolic or Asymmetric combat.
• Combat Resolution Step. Each player simultaneously throws a number of d6 equal to the total Combat Value of the troops in the group, then applies the result to the units in the enemy group. A “5” or “6” scores one Hit. The effect of a Hit depends on the type of combat:
• Symbolic combat: each Hit reduces the enemy’s Prestige by one. A player cannot inflict more Hits than the number of units in the enemy group.
• Kinetic combat: each Hit neutralizes one enemy unit (inflicting player’s choice; flip the unit over to show its Combat Value in parentheses). A second Hit on an already neutralized unit eliminates it, and both players lose one Prestige. Eliminated units are placed in the Reserve section of the owning player’s Unit Box in a non-neutralized state; they may be mobilized later.
• Asymmetric combat: each Hit by a group of Irregular units will reduce the enemy’s Prestige by one. Each Hit by a group of Regular units will neutralize one enemy unit; however, a unit may be neutralized only once and cannot be eliminated.
• Excess neutralizations: If, through Kinetic or Asymmetric combat, a player has inflicted more neutralizations on the enemy group than are able to be absorbed by the group, then the player loses one Prestige for each excess neutralization (this represents collateral damage to the civilian population and infrastructure).
7.32 Special Forces. Special Forces units cannot be engaged in any form of combat. They do not form part of attacking or defending groups.
7.33 Neutralized units. Neutralized units may move but may not initiate attacks. They may defend themselves in combat. They are eliminated if neutralized again in Kinetic combat. A neutralized unit may recover in an Operational Segment if the owning player desires it to, see 7.22, but it may not both move and recover in the same Operational Segment.
Example: The Russian player has decided to have his group of two Regular units (each of CV=4) attack a mixed Ukrainian group of two Irregular units (each of CV=1) and one Regular unit (CV=2). One of the Irregular units is neutralized from a previous combat. Because the two groups are different types, the Russian can choose Symbolic or Asymmetric Combat. He chooses Asymmetric and rolls 8d6, getting two “5”s and a”6” for a total of 3 Hits. The Ukrainian rolls 4d6 and gets one “5”. Both players apply results simultaneously: the Russian neutralizes the remaining Irregular and the Regular units, but there is one Hit left over (because in Asymmetric combat units cannot be eliminated) so his Prestige is reduced by one. The Ukrainian reduces the Russian Prestige by one.
8.0 FINAL PHASE
8.1 Game End Check
At the end of the Card Play and Resolution Phase (Strategic Turn) or the end of the Operations Phase (Combat Turn), players check to see if the game ends. If either player’s Prestige is zero, or the 8th Game Turn is about to be completed, the game ends. Both players judge victory according to section 9.0.
8.2 Not Over Yet?
If the game does not end, then:
• Both players discard any Resource and Event Cards played.
• The Ukrainian player may receive some Prestige points depending on the state of his alliances (6.22): these are added to his Prestige if this was a Strategic Turn, and subtracted from the Russian Prestige if this was a Combat Turn.
• Players begin the next Game Turn with the Event Card Phase.
9.0 GAME END, VICTORY POINTS AND HOW TO WIN
At the end of the game, each player totals his Victory Points as follows:
• If no Combat Turns were played, each players’ Victory Points are equal to their current Prestige;
• If and only if one or more Combat Turns were played, players’ Victory Points are equal to half of their current Prestige (round up) PLUS the Victory Point value of each area where they are the sole player with non-neutralized units (that is, the only one with at least one non-neutralized Regular or Irregular unit there; Special Forces units do not count either way).
9.1 Levels of Victory
The player who ends the game with more Victory Points than the other player wins some variety of victory, see the table below. A tie is possible but truly, an exercise in futility.
|Difference in |Type of victory |
|points | |
|1-10 |Draw |
| |(The crisis has stabilized for now, possibly in |
| |some form of temporary ceasefire, though the basic|
| |issues are still not resolved. The advantage will |
| |be to the country with more points should it |
| |resume.) |
|11-25 |Tactical Victory |
| |Russia will continue to be the primary influence |
| |in Ukraine’s decision calculus. |
| |OR |
| |Ukraine, with the firm support of the Western |
| |world and international organizations, has |
| |successfully stood off the Russian aggression for |
| |now. The Russian Federation’s economy and |
| |international standing have been damaged. |
|26+ |Smashing Victory |
| |Russia now politically and economically, if not |
| |militarily, dominates the government of what is |
| |left of Ukraine, and has evaded most of the |
| |damaging diplomatic and economic repercussions. |
| |OR |
| |Ukraine has managed to survive with its government|
| |and territory intact, though likely owing many |
| |favours and concessions in return for the material|
| |and diplomatic support of Western Europe and the |
| |United States. President Putin, smarting from this|
| |defeat, is undeterred and resolves to use it as an|
| |example of anti-Russian conspiracy, to stoke |
| |further nationalist feeling at home. |
10.0 OPTIONAL RULES
10.1 Using Playing Cards
To treat this game as a semi-deterministic exercise, you may play this game with a deck of ordinary playing cards. (This will give a higher-powered game, as the 24 cards used will give a total of at least 102 Resources to allocate during the game, versus the average expected total of 85 with the randomized results from the Effort Chart.)
• Remove the 10s and face cards from the deck; these become Event Cards – refer to the Event Card chart to see which are which. The remaining red cards (two sets of A-9 each) become the Russian player’s Resource Cards; the black ones are the Ukrainian player’s. The number of the card played is the number of RP gained.
• At the end of the 6th Turn, shuffle all the expended cards and draw six randomly: use these for the 7th and 8th Turns.
• In situations where a card is played in the Information area of the Card Matrix to reduce the enemy’s Prestige (6.3), the player who chose the option will lose Prestige equal to the lower of the two cards played in the area, and the other player will lose Prestige equal to the higher of the two cards.
10.2 Completely Deterministic Version
If you really hate those noisy clickety-clackety dice, or can’t stand the feeling that your fate may be subject to the whim of a random, uncaring universe, you may try to play the game without any chance events. (Speaking personally, I would find this an annoying way to play it.)
Military card resolution
In Combat Turns, each player will have 2 Operational Segments. In Combat situations (7.31), Hits are awarded depending on the players’ relative total CV values:
• If the attacker has fewer CV than the defender, he receives two Hits and the defender receives one;
• If the two groups have equal CV, the attacker receives one Hit;
• If the attacker has more, but less than twice as many CV as the defender, both sides receive one Hit;
• If the Attacker has twice as many or more CV as the defender, he receives one Hit and the defender receives two Hits (however, if the defender has only one unit, the attacker receives no Hits).
Diplomatic card resolution
In situations where one player is trying to move countries on the Foreign Relations Display, the player’s attempt is judged successful if he expends a combination of RP and Prestige points equal to twice the sum of the target country’s Rank and the RP cost of the Zone moved to (so to move Great Britain, a Rank 2 country, from Neutral to Support would require a total of 8 points, including at least 2 RP).
In Ceasefire attempts (6.24), the player who played the highest card gets their way (Russian wins ties).
Information card resolution
In situations where a card is played in the Information area of the Card Matrix to reduce the enemy’s Prestige (6.3), the player who chose the option will lose Prestige equal to the lower of the two cards played in the area, and the other player will lose Prestige equal to the higher of the two cards.
In attempts to neutralize enemy units (6.33), the player may neutralize one enemy unit if he played a card valued A-4, two if he played 5-7, and three if he played 8-9.
Event Cards
There are no Critical Incidents; treat these cards as “no event”. In the case of the “Belarus” and “Moldova” Event Cards, the events are resolved in favour of the player who played the higher value card in the Diplomatic area this turn (Russian wins ties). In the case of other event cards where a player rolls 1d6, the die roll is always assumed to be “3”.
11.0 DESIGNER’S NOTES
This game was initially designed in the middle of the crisis itself, over a weekend in March 2014, with little indication as to its ultimate outcome though a Russian invasion of Ukraine seemed very likely at the time. Think of it as the result of a one-man “game jam”, or an attempt to conduct journalism in the form of a wargame.
The game was first released in a free print-and-play in March 2014. As of the date of the latest revision to these notes (September 2015), the crisis has not been completely resolved: ethnic violence continues inside Ukraine, but there was no overt Russian invasion except for the occupation of Crimea. The game analogy to the real life chain of events could be thought of as a draw, ending in September 2014 with the adoption of the first Minsk Protocol. Granted, the Protocol and the partial ceasefire it brought did collapse, but it took several months and by that time the threat of a large overt invasion by formed units of the Russian Army had passed.
Either player, not just the Russian, may declare a Combat Turn. The thinking behind this is that the Ukrainian player may want to do this in order to carry out a violent crackdown on a large presence of pro-Russian Irregular units created by Russian SF units (the SF counters do not always literally mean the presence of detachments of Spetsnaz troops, but also represent autonomous pro-Russian groups taking up arms in response to local provocations, Russian propaganda and encouragement, or covert supply of weapons and trainers). This could provoke a near-automatic Russian military response, so beginning an overt invasion of Ukraine itself.
The Victory Point values for the map areas in the pro-Russian Ethnic Zone were assigned in rough proportion to the number of people in each oblast, about one per million, adjusted upward for each area in the Zone that has an especially strong (40-80+%) ethnic Russian population. The thinking here is that the avowed casus belli for a Russian incursion is to protect these people, and not to conquer Ukraine completely – which is why one-third of Ukraine, containing about eleven million people but only a small minority of Russians, was left off the map, and there are no Victory Points awarded for areas in the Ukrainian Ethnic Zone (though the special zone of Kyiv contains enough ethnic Russians that it may be contested, so it belongs to both Zones,). Similarly, the Ukrainian player is motivated not to accept a partition of his country and therefore to fight for its eastern areas.
Meanwhile, it is possible to play the game to a conclusion without playing any Combat Turns. Both players have an ability to reduce the other’s Prestige to zero, through adroit card play on the Diplomatic and Information fronts while the other’s main effort is spent on mobilizing for war; however, as in the military arena most of the advantages lie with the Russian player, who may also be reverse-provoked into an invasion if he sees the Prestige clock winding down too fast on him.
“Hey, there are no NATO units!” Yes, that’s right; no military formations from NATO member countries appear in the game. In the designer’s opinion, it is highly unlikely that troops from any country that is a full member of NATO would be placed in a position where they would potentially be shooting at Russian soldiers. The governments of NATO’s member countries seem to be firmly of the opinion that while Ukraine should be supported against Russian aggression, it is not worth starting World War III over.
CREDITS
Design: Brian Train
Development: Brian Train
Graphics and Production: Brian Train (using graphics found on Internet, freeware fonts from )
Playtesting and suggestions: Neal Durando, Alan Emrich, Kevin Fortuna, Lance McMillan, Kevin Roust, Stephen Rugge, Akito Train
SEQUENCE OF PLAY
|Event Card Draw Phase |
|Both draw one Event Card; may play or not play |
|Card Play and Resolution Phase |
|Ukrainian gains RP = Rank of each country at Intervention (6.22). May use in any one area during Resolution Phase. |
|Each player puts 1 card of their choice in each of the 3 areas of the Card Matrix (Military, Diplomatic and Information), face down. Either |
|player may, at this moment only, declare if they want a Combat Turn (6.0); other player may attempt to get a Ceasefire (6.24). |
|Player with higher Prestige (Russian wins ties) chooses which area of the Card Matrix to resolve. Both turn up cards and roll on the matching |
|row of the Effort Chart; may add RP from applicable Event Card and/or Ukrainian may add RP from alliances (6.22). Area by area, player with |
|more Prestige (Russian wins ties) either goes first to choose and implement option, or tells the other player to go first. See 6.1 to 6.3 for |
|details on how to resolve actions. |
|Operations Phase (Combat Turn only) (7.0) |
|1, 2 or 3 Operational Segments each, depending on strongest card played; Russian Operational Segment first, then Ukrainian. Movement/recovery,|
|then Combat. See 7.1. |
|Movement/Recovery: Determine # of units to move/recover by rolling on Effort chart according to card played. Irregulars don’t move; all others|
|to adjacent area except Airborne (from airfield to anywhere, Parachute/ SF only) or Amphibious (from port to any coastal area). Units can |
|recover from neutralization instead of moving. Neutralized units can move. |
|Combat: |
|Pre-Combat Grouping Step. Attacker arranges attacking and defending units in groups of his choice. SF do not count or participate. |
|Combat Type Determination Step. Attacking group of same troop type: choose Symbolic or Kinetic combat, otherwise Symbolic or Asymmetric. Half |
|or more units Regular = Regular group. |
|Combat Resolution Step. Simultaneously throw #d6 = total CV: “5” or “6” = 1 Hit. Apply Hits simultaneously. Hit effect depends on the type of |
|combat: |
|Symbolic: enemy Prestige -1. Cannot inflict more Hits than number of units in enemy group. |
|Kinetic: neutralize 1 enemy unit. 2nd Hit on neutralized unit eliminates it (move to Reserve section), both players’ Prestige -1. |
|Asymmetric: each Hit by Irregular group = enemy Prestige -1. Each Hit by Regular group = neutralize one enemy unit, units may not be |
|eliminated. |
|Excess neutralizations: (Kinetic or Asymmetric) -1 Prestige of inflicting player for each neutralization enemy cannot absorb . |
|Final Phase (8.0) |
|Check for game end (one player has Prestige = 0, or ending 8th Turn) |
|If no game end, Ukrainian player receives Prestige = Rank of each country in Support or Intervention zones (6.22, but not in final Turn); |
|added to Ukrainian if Strategic Turn, subtracted from Russian if Combat Turn |
|Discard Resource and Event Cards |
|Area |Strategic Turn |Combat Turn |
|Military |Mobilize/ deploy units (@ 1 RP each; also 1 Prestige per |determine # of Operational Segments this Turn, and # of units|
|(see 6.1, 7.0) |Regular unit deployed) |to move/ recover each Turn |
|Diplomatic |attempt to move countries on Foreign Relations Display |attempt to get a Ceasefire (immediately resolve card play on |
|(see 6.2) |(expend RP = Zone cost (+ RP or Prestige = country Rank if |declaration of a Combat Turn. Player with more RP derived |
| |moving “up”), may add RP or Prestige; roll #d6 = country |gets his way. Russian player decides ties.) |
| |Rank; success if roll ................
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