Atlantic Storm Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setting Up
• How to Win
• Sequence of Play
• The Convoy Battle
• Fated Victims
• Bonus Cards
• Special Cards
• Supply Cards
• Resolving the Battle
• Hand Size
• Two-Player Version
• Advanced Rules for Multiple Players
• Solitaire Rules
  • Sequence of Play
  • Special Cards (Solitaire)

Components

• The rules booklet (this one)
• A rules summary card
• 3 six-sided dice
• A 40-card Convoy deck
• A 112-card Force deck

The Force deck includes ships, aircraft, weapons and event cards. It is divided evenly between the Allies (British, American, Canadian and Free French) and the Germans. Every Force card shows its number, its combat values, the years it is available, and its Victory Point value.

Each Convoy card shows:

• The convoy's historical designation and route (a red letter means it is a "fated victim" — see below).
• The cargo icon: an empty convoy, a half-loaded convoy, or a fully loaded convoy. (Convoys sailing from Britain to Russia were fully loaded; the return trip carried little cargo.)
• The year the convoy sailed (1940 to 1943), also indicated by the photograph used.
• The ocean: North Atlantic or Arctic.
• Historical information (month of the battle, convoy size, ships lost).
• Victory Point icons (1 to 7).
• The card number.

Each Force card shows:

• Its name (a red letter means it is a "fated victim").
• Its ocean restriction: North Atlantic only, Arctic only, or either ocean.
• Its nationality.
• Its type or class: aircraft (an airplane window icon), surface ship (a pair of binoculars icon), or submarine/anti-submarine (a periscope icon).
• Its air combat value.
• Its surface combat value.
• Its submarine combat value.
• The years it is available.
• Its "fated victim," if any.
• A historical note or restriction.
• Its Victory Point value (crosses or stars), or the word "BONUS"/"SPECIAL" in that space instead.
• Its card number: A for Allied, G for German, S for Storm.

Setting Up

Dealing: Each player cuts the Convoy deck and draws a card. The player with the lowest-numbered card (for example, C11) becomes the first dealer/hand.

Dealing hands: The dealer shuffles the Force deck and deals every player a hand of six cards, face down. Do not show your hand to the other players.

The Convoy pile: The player to the dealer's left thoroughly shuffles the Convoy cards, sets 20 of them face down in a Convoy pile, and removes the other 20 from the game — they will not be used this game.

How to Win

The game is fought in rounds called battles — one for each of the 20 convoys in play. The Allies defend the convoys and the Germans attack them; you may fight for either side in any given battle.

Victory Points: A player earns Victory Points (VP) for every convoy won and for every enemy card sunk. A convoy is worth 1 to 7 VP, as shown by the VP icons on its card, and is the centerpiece of a battle. Each Force card is worth 0 to 5 VP, as shown by its own icons. When a player wins a battle, that player takes the convoy and all the Force cards of the defeated side, except any bonus or special cards, and stacks this "loot" face up in front of themselves with the convoy on top. Every bonus and special card that was played, along with the winner's own Force cards, goes face up onto the Force discard pile instead.

Historical note: losses in each battle represent ships and aircraft critically damaged and out of action for long periods, as well as those actually sunk or destroyed.

Ending the game: At the end of the game, total each player's VP. Whoever has the most VP wins. If two or more players are tied, whoever has the most VP from convoys wins; if still tied, whoever holds the lowest-numbered convoy card (C1, C2, C3, and so on) wins.

A single game lasts about an hour. For a longer session, keep a running score for each player across several games; the player with the highest cumulative score at the end of a game becomes the dealer for the next one. The first player to reach a cumulative total of 75 VP or more at the end of a game wins the match; if more than one player has passed 75, the one with the higher total wins.

Table etiquette: Talk between players is allowed and encouraged, but it must be open — you may discuss your cards with the others as long as you do so in front of the whole table (without actually revealing your cards). You may not leave the table to discuss the game privately, and players should not be disturbed by whispering or note-taking. You may also talk with other players to gang up against whoever has the highest score (not always obvious mid-game) or to support your own effort — but in this total war, you are never bound to keep any promise you make.

Sequence of Play

Leading a round: The game is played in a series of rounds, made up of player turns. The dealer/hand leads the first round, the player to their left leads the second, the next player to the left leads the third, and so on around the table for the whole game.

Announcing the battle: The player leading the round turns the top card of the Convoy pile face up, then chooses and announces which type of operation will apply to the battle (see The Convoy Battle, below). The player to their left must then play a card or discard, and so on around the table for the round.

Play or discard: The round leader may play a card from their hand (in some cases more than one) or must discard a card. You will normally hold a mix of Allied and German cards, and it's your choice which side you play in a given round. The player to your left must then play or discard, and so on around the table for the round.

The Convoy Battle

Type of operation: The player leading the round, who turns the convoy face up, declares the type of operation — and the "zone" or "trump" — that will govern the battle. There are three zones, corresponding to the three kinds of German attack on a convoy: air operations, surface operations, and submarine operations (from the air, the surface, and just below it). Alternatively, the leader may declare combined operations ("no trump"), in which case the combat values from all three zones apply to the battle. Most cards have a combat value in one or more zones.

The ocean: A convoy sails in either the North Atlantic or the Arctic Ocean. Only Force cards that match the convoy's ocean may be played in the battle; cards with a rain-swept background may be played in either ocean.

The year: Only Force cards from the same year as the convoy in the battle may be played. For example, convoy HX84 sails in 1940, so the Reuben James cannot be used to escort it, because the Reuben James was only available from 1941 to 1943.

Playing a card: You may play a normal card on your turn, but you are not required to, even if you hold one that matches the declared zone, ocean and year of the convoy. In addition to a normal card, you may also play any number of applicable bonus, special, or supply cards. However, during your turn you may use cards from only one side (your choice) — you may never combine Allied and German cards in the same play.

Discarding: If you don't play a card, you must discard exactly one card, regardless of its nationality, year or type. You cannot both play and discard on the same turn.

Illegal plays: If you make an illegal play (for example, your card doesn't match the convoy's ocean or year), you may correct it with a legal play before the next player takes their turn. If an illegal play goes unnoticed until later in the round (after your turn), it is discarded immediately and has no effect on the battle.

Combat value: Combat values on Force cards normally range from 0 to 6. You may play a normal card in the battle even if its value in that zone is "0." Combat values in the other, undeclared zones are ignored.

Rolling the dice: If a card shows "?" as its combat value, the player who played it rolls a die to determine that value — but not until the end of the round, after every other card has been played. A player rolls one die separately for each "?" they played. The Bismarck and the Tirpitz have "??" as their combat value; for these, roll two dice to determine the ship's combat value. In combined operations ("no trump"), a player rolls one die for every "?" on their card.

Fated Victims

A card that has another card's name printed under its "years available" column is a "destiny" card: it is destined to destroy or critically damage the named enemy card (its "victim"). A victim has its name printed in red on its own card — for example, the U552 is destined to sink the Reuben James. If you play a destiny card after its victim has already been played earlier in the same round (not a previous round), it immediately destroys the victim. Remove the victim from the battle and set it face down in front of you to count toward your VP (or discard it if the victim is a bonus card). The victim still counts as VP for you even if another player wins the battle. If you play a destiny card and its victim shows up later in the round, the victim is unaffected.

• If the victim is the convoy currently in the battle, you instead double the combat value of your destiny card rather than destroying the convoy (if its value is "?," double the die roll). Any bonus card attached to the destiny card does not have its value doubled.
• A destiny card destroys its victim even if the destiny card has "0" as its combat value in the declared zone. For example, if the round leader declares "air" as the trump and plays the Avenger (an escort carrier), another player could still play the U155 ("0" air value) if the U155 is destined to sink the Avenger.
• You must announce the victim when you play the destiny card. (Historical note: an Allied destiny card that has a convoy's name printed as its victim actually protects the convoy it escorts.)
• If the victim was the "parent" of a bonus card (see below), that bonus card is discarded immediately.

Bonus Cards

There are 15 bonus cards. They are identified by a "+" next to their combat value and by the word "BONUS" in place of the VP icons. A bonus card may be played on its own (where permitted) or in addition to the normal card you are playing. You may play as many bonus cards of the same side as you like in a turn, within the restrictions printed on them. German bonus cards may only be played with normal German cards; Allied bonus cards may only be played with Allied cards (the exact Allied nationality doesn't matter — a British bonus, for instance, could be played with a Canadian ship).

Restrictions: These are printed on each bonus card. A bonus card can only be played if its restrictions are met. Most bonus cards must be attached to a normal card of a specific type (its "parent"); the bonus card adds its "+" amount to the parent's combat value. There are three kinds of parent, shown by the shape of each card's frame:

1. Aircraft: airplane-window frame.
2. Surface: binoculars frame.
3. Submarine/anti-submarine: periscope frame.

A bonus card with a rectangular frame may attach to any type of parent. A bonus card cannot attach to another bonus card, but two or more bonus cards can attach to the same parent. The Minefield (A51) and CAM Ship (A52) bonus cards may be played on their own (not attached to a parent) or attached to a normal card.

Special Cards

There are eight special cards, marked with the word "SPECIAL" in place of the VP icons: two Admirals, Raid on St. Nazaire, 2nd Happy Time, two Storms, and two Intelligence cards. You may play any number of special cards in addition to your normal play. Special cards are always discarded after use; they are never destroyed.

Admiral Tovey — Admiral Dönitz: There are two Admiral cards, one per side. You may play an Admiral in addition to your normal play. When you play an Admiral, do one of the following:

A. Play a normal card (and any bonus or special cards) as usual, but change the declared zone/trump to combined operations. This affects every player in the round, or... B. Play two normal cards (and any bonus or special cards). This only affects your own play.

Discard the Admiral at the end of the round. An Admiral may not change the zone from, say, air to submarine directly — only to combined operations.

Raid on St. Nazaire: This card represents the British commando raid that put the French port out of action so the battleship Tirpitz could not use it — St. Nazaire was the only occupied port on the German Atlantic coast with facilities large enough for the giant Tirpitz (the Bismarck having already been sunk by this point). You may play Raid on St. Nazaire on its own or together with another Allied surface card during a surface battle or in combined operations. After your play, no other player in the round may play German cards for the rest of the round — only Allied cards. Discard the raid at the end of the round.

2nd Happy Time: During the first eight and a half months after America entered the war (December 18, 1941 to August 31, 1942), German U-boats sank 609 merchant ships — 27 percent of all the merchant shipping the US lost in the North Atlantic over the entire five and a half years of the war. The US was initially reluctant to organize its merchant ships into escorted convoys, and the government considered a coastal blackout to make it harder for U-boats to spot ships at night. As a result, the German submarine force enjoyed a second "Happy Time" of easy kills (the first Happy Time had come in the summer and fall of 1940, when the Allies had few escorts available). You may play 2nd Happy Time on its own or together with another submarine-type card during a submarine battle or in combined operations. After your play, no other player in the round may play Allied cards for the rest of the round — only German cards. Discard this card at the end of the round.

Storms: The Force deck includes an Atlantic Storm and an Arctic Storm, which either side may play in the matching ocean. You may play a storm in addition to your normal play. At the end of your turn, roll a die: on 1–3, you may cancel any one player's play (if they've already played, their play is cancelled; if they haven't played yet, their turn is skipped). On 4–6, you must pass the storm to the next player, who must use it at the end of their own turn (playing or discarding normally beforehand). Discard storms as soon as they are used.

If Raid on St. Nazaire, 2nd Happy Time, Admiral Tovey, Admiral Dönitz, or a Black Gap card is discarded because of a storm, its special restriction on subsequent play is cancelled. For example, if Admiral Tovey had been used to change the zone from submarine to combined and is then discarded because of a storm, the zone reverts to submarine.

Ultra — B-Dienst: Each side has one intelligence card. On your turn, you may play one of these instead of your normal play or discard. This delays your turn to the end of the round, after every other player has taken their turn. When your turn finally comes, you must play a card from the same side as your intelligence card — for example, if you played Ultra (Allied intelligence), you cannot play a German card. If you choose not to play, you must discard the intelligence card in place of another card. No one rolls dice for "?" combat values until after you play or discard. Because you effectively play last, you will lose any battle in which your play ties (see Ties Between Winners on the Same Side, below), and you might even miss your final turn entirely if a storm strikes you, or a Raid on St. Nazaire or 2nd Happy Time prevents your play.

Supply Cards

The Force deck includes two supply ships and one submarine tanker (a "milk cow"). A supply ship can refuel at sea any ship, escort group, submarine, or wolf pack of the matching side. The milk cow can only refuel a submarine or wolf pack. A supply card can refuel an aircraft carrier, but not any other aircraft card.

A supply card may be played on its own or in addition to the normal card you play. A supply card has no combat value and does not affect the battle. When the battle is resolved, the player who played the supply card may refuel at sea one ship or submarine card of their side, if that side won the battle. The refueled card need not be one that was played this turn, but it must be a card involved in the battle.

The supply card is discarded at the end of the battle, even if it was never used to refuel anything. Having used the supply card, that player may — after the battle — claim the refueled card for themselves, even if they were not the one who played it.

If both German supply cards are used in the same battle, whoever played the first supply card chooses first which card to refuel.

If the supply card ends up on the losing side of the battle, it is destroyed along with the other normal cards of that side.

Resolving the Battle

The battle ends when the last player plays or discards. At that point, roll a die for each "?" and total the combat values of the cards played on each side (Allied versus German). Only combat values in the declared zone(s) count (in combined operations, the values from all zones are added together). The side with the higher total wins the battle, and every card on the other side is destroyed.

Winning trick: Whoever played the highest combat value on the winning side takes this trick. They place the convoy face up in front of themselves, and set the enemy's losing cards (except bonus and special cards) face down underneath it. The winning side's own cards, plus any bonus or special cards from the losing side, go to the discard pile. This way, cards are lost in a battle even as survivors remain in play.

Ties between winners on the same side: If two or more players on the winning side tied for the highest combat value, the trick goes to whichever of them played their card(s) first (see the battle example below).

Ties between the Allied and German sides: If the two sides' totals are tied, the forces involved keep fighting in a fresh round. Set the cards that faced off underneath the convoy and fight a new round for the same convoy, starting with the next player whose turn it is.

Players fill their hands as usual, and the next player/hand declares the zone for the next round and plays or discards. Cards played in the previous round have no effect on this battle. A battle can stretch across one or more rounds this way; each following round may be fought in the same or a different zone, and a player may switch sides.

• The eventual winner takes the convoy, destroys every normal card on the losing side (both those played this round and those that faced off in earlier rounds), and discards the rest.
• The effects of a storm, Raid on St. Nazaire, 2nd Happy Time, or Black Gap do not carry over from one round to the next. Cards that faced off underneath a convoy cannot become fated victims of cards played in later rounds of the same battle.
• If a supply card is caught up in an extended battle, its player must wait until the battle is fully resolved before using it. If the supply card ends up on the winning side, its player may recover any ship or submarine involved in the battle, even one played in an earlier round of the battle.

No combat: If no cards are in play at the end of a battle, or if the only cards in play have "0" combat value in the declared zone, the battle ends and the convoy is discarded (no one wins it). Any cards that faced off from an earlier round are all placed in the discard pile.

Battle example: It's a five-player game, and Player A is leading. They draw SC 42, a valuable, fully loaded 1941 North Atlantic convoy worth 7 VP. Looking at their hand, they declare "submarines" as the zone and play the Markgraf wolf pack, announcing that SC 42 is a fated victim of the Markgraf — doubling its combat value. Player B plays the Sunderland, Metric ASV Radar, and an Atlantic Storm, immediately rolling for the storm and getting a 1. Player B chooses to cancel the Markgraf rather than skip another player's turn, so the Markgraf goes straight to the Force discard pile — much to Player A's dismay. Player C plays the U38. Player D plays the U501 and Black Gap (Black Gap has no effect on the Sunderland, since it was played earlier in the round). Player E plays Escort Group 36.

It's the end of the round. Player E now rolls for Escort Group 36's "?" value and gets a 4. The Allied side wins 8 to 7. Player B had played an anti-submarine value of 4 (3+1); since they played before Player E (who had the same value), Player B wins the convoy. The other cards, U38 and U501, are discarded.

Hand Size

Players fill their hands at the end of every round. Your hand size is normally six cards, but you may raise it up to a maximum of nine by winning loaded convoys. For every fully loaded convoy you win, you may increase your hand by one card; for every two half-loaded convoys you win, you may increase your hand by one card. Empty convoys do not increase hand size. The maximum hand size is nine, no matter how many loaded convoys you've won.

When you win a trick, place it in front of you with the convoy face up, so the other players can check your current hand-size entitlement. Other players may not examine the destroyed Force cards you hold beneath those convoys until the end of the game.

Two-Player Version

Although ATLANTIC STORM works best as a multiplayer game, it can also be played by two. Use all the rules above with the following changes:

1. A battle now consists of two rounds, and its outcome isn't decided until the end of the second round — so each player gets to play twice per battle. You may fill your hand to the maximum between rounds:

   • Player A places the convoy, declares the zone, and plays or discards.
   • Player B plays or discards.
   • Both players fill their hands.
   • Player A plays or discards.
   • Player B plays or discards.
   • Resolve the battle (roll for any "?" and compare combat values).
   • Both players fill their hands.

2. Treat each of your plays separately — so you might play as the Allies in one round and the Germans in the next. If you played the same side in both rounds, the plays are still separate (their combat values are not added together).

3. The trick still goes to whoever made the single highest play on the winning side. If the result is a tie between the Allied and German sides, the forces face off and the battle continues, with the next player declaring the zone to begin another double round.

4. The effects of Raid on St. Nazaire, 2nd Happy Time, or Black Gap played in the first round last through the second round as well. If a storm is played in the first round and doesn't strike, it carries over into the second round.

Two-player battle example: Player A leads and draws Convoy ONS 5, a 1943 empty North Atlantic convoy worth 4 VP. Looking at their hand, they declare "submarines" and play the B-24 Liberator with an anti-submarine value of 4. Player B plays the Steinbrink wolf pack. Both players fill a card. Player A plays Escort Group B7. Player B holds the U-201 in hand, with a submarine value of 2, but playing it would hand Player A the better chance of winning, so Player B instead plays Achates together with Centimetric ASV Radar.

The players now roll for their "?" cards. Player B rolls a 6 for Steinbrink. Player A rolls a 3 for Escort Group B7. The Allied side wins 12 to 6, and Player B has the single highest Allied play (3+2=5), so they win the trick, taking the convoy and Steinbrink as their prize.

Advanced Rules for Multiple Players

Once you're comfortable with the basic game, you can add the following rules to bring in more decision-making, at the cost of a longer playing time. These rules are for multiplayer games only — do not use them in a two-player game.

Convoy selection: Instead of removing 20 convoy cards at the start of the game, use all 40 in the Convoy pile. The player leading the round draws two convoy cards, selects one for the battle, and discards the other to a separate Convoy discard pile (kept apart from the main Convoy pile). Of the 40 convoys in play, you will still only fight over 20, but you'll have more choice about which ones.

Discarding your hand: Instead of discarding a single card, you may choose to discard your entire hand. If you do, you must discard every card you hold for the current round — you cannot keep some cards while discarding others.

Splitting the spoils: The player who wins a trick must share the spoils rather than keep them all. The trick's winner takes the convoy and the losing side's normal cards and distributes them between themselves and every player who played on the winning side of the round (in an extended battle, distribute among the winning players from the battle's final round).

• To receive a share of the spoils, you must have a card with a combat value of "1" or more in the declared zone that survives to the end of the battle. If you played on the winning side but your combat value was "0," or your card was discarded due to a storm, or your play was lost as a fated victim, you receive no share of the spoils.
• Every player on the winning side must receive one spoil card before anyone can receive a second (and everyone must receive a second before anyone gets a third, and so on). The trick's winner is not obliged to divide the VP evenly — only the cards themselves.
• If you played a destiny card against a victim, that victim doesn't count toward anyone's spoils at the end of the battle.
• Within the restrictions above, the trick's winner is not bound to keep any promise made to other players about how the spoils will be divided. Just because you promised someone the lion's share for backing your side doesn't mean you can't keep the larger portion for yourself and give them a smaller one once you've won the battle.

Spoils example: In the five-player example on the earlier page, Player B won the trick. They must share the spoils with Player E, who also played on the winning side. Player B must give Player E at least one of the spoil cards, and chooses to give up the U38 (1 VP), keeping the convoy and the U501 (8 VP total) for themselves.

Solitaire Rules

1. Set up the two Force decks separately (German and Allied). The player chooses one side to play from start to finish.
2. Use all the convoys. When a Force deck runs out, reshuffle its discard pile to form a new deck. Continue this way until you've fought over the final convoy, ending the game — at which point you can see the overall result of the battle.
3. Each battle for each convoy lasts one round, unless there's a tie (see below).

Sequence of Play

1. Resolve initiative. Roll a die: 1–3 is Allied initiative, 4–6 is German initiative. Place the initiative marker showing the winning side. On later rounds, initiative alternates: one side, then the other.
2. Turn up the convoy.
3. Draw 4 cards from the deck of the side that has the initiative.
4. Discard any that don't qualify (by year or ocean).
5. Choose a zone or zones (up to 2 combined). You may still discard a card that has no combat value in the chosen zone(s).
6. Check whether the convoy is a "fated victim" of any card in hand (if so, that card doubles its combat value; a "?" becomes a "??").
7. Lay out the cards that will fight.
8. Announce what you'll do with any special card, storm, milk cow, admiral, and so on.
9. Draw 4 cards for the other side.
10. Discard any that don't qualify (year, ocean).
11. Check for "fated victims" again (if the convoy is the victim, that card doubles its combat value). If an enemy card is the victim (checking both sides), the victim card goes to whichever side holds the card that "wins" it as loot at the end of the battle — even if that side doesn't win the overall battle — and the "winning" card is also discarded at the end of the battle (it does not count as loot for the winning side).
12. Lay out the cards that will fight.
13. Now resolve all special, storm, admiral, milk cow, and similar cards. Any card cancelled as a result of a special card is discarded now. The side without the initiative may still discard a card with a "0" combat value for the agreed zone(s).
14. Roll for any "?" combat values and resolve the battle. The side with the higher total combat value wins.
15. The winning side claims its loot for VP (the convoy and the enemy's combat cards, except special and bonus cards).

In case of a tie: A tie can occur either in the combat value totals or because neither side has any cards to fight with. In that case, draw cards one at a time from each side's deck (starting with the side that has the initiative) until one side comes out ahead.

Special Cards (Solitaire)

Admirals: Do one of two things:

1. Cancel an enemy card.
2. Change the zone or zones.

Storm: Roll 1 die. On 1–3, cancel 2 enemy cards. On 4–6, pass the card to the enemy, who may use it the same way.

Milk Cow: Before the battle, choose one of your own cards to supply (protect). After the battle, the protected card does not become war loot even if its side loses — instead, it may take part in the next battle as an extra card for its side, as long as it still meets the year, ocean, and other requirements; otherwise it is discarded.

All other special cards: Cancel an enemy card.