Twilight Struggle: Turn Zero Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Expansion Setup (Before Basic Setup)
• Alternative Space Race Track
  • Track Values (as printed on the track diagram)
• Historical Comments on Cards
  • Non-Aligned Movement
  • Mobutu Sese Seko
  • Berlin Wall
  • Stanislav Petrov
  • Who Lost China?
  • Zorin versus Stevenson*
  • Struggle for the Kremlin
  • Soviet Atomic Project*

Components

• 6 crisis cards.
• 2 new event cards (the modified card "Scoring in Europe" and "National Government of China").
• 10 superpower cards.
• 7 special tokens for the crisis cards.
• A board with an alternative space race track.
• 8 promo cards.
• Rules.

Expansion Setup (Before Basic Setup)

1. Decide which superpower you will play. When playing with the expansion, using bidding for this is not recommended. However, if you still decide to use bidding, follow rule 11.4 of the basic game rules.
2. Each player takes 5 superpower cards (the cards with red stars go to the player playing the USSR; the cards with blue stars go to the player playing the USA).
3. Take all 6 crisis cards and divide them into two face-down stacks of three cards. The first stack must contain the following cards: "Victory in Europe", "Yalta and Potsdam", "Elections of 1945 in Great Britain". The second stack contains "Creation of Israel", "Victory over Japan", and "Chinese Civil War". If you are using the "Chinese Civil War" scenario from the deluxe edition rules, remove the card of the same name from the game. Shuffle the cards in both stacks.
4. Turn over the top card of the first stack.
5. Each player chooses a superpower card from their hand and places it in front of them face down.
6. Players reveal the chosen superpower cards.
7. Roll the die and apply the modifiers on the placed superpower cards. Then apply the effect on the revealed crisis card that corresponds to the result (some results have no effect). If you received additional influence, it is convenient to place it on the board right away, next to the regions it will be added to. Use the special tokens to mark other effects.

Note that superpower cards that affect the die roll are discarded after they are played. A bluff card returns to the hand and may be played again.

8. Repeat steps 4–7 for the remaining cards in the first stack, then for the cards in the second stack.

8.1. When all crisis cards have been resolved, remove the superpower cards from the game and return them to the box. They are no longer needed in the game.

8.2. Make the changes to the event decks indicated on the crisis cards (for example, with the result "6" on the card "Elections of 1945 in Great Britain"). If a crisis card states that a certain event has no effect, do not remove that event card. Such a card can be played under the normal rules, but the event on it does not occur.

9. If, when resolving the crisis card "Yalta and Potsdam", the result was "1" or "4–5", the player playing the USSR or the player playing the USA, respectively, may take a specific card into hand before the first deal of cards.

10. Deal the cards for the first round. The card received as the result of the effect of the crisis card "Yalta and Potsdam" is considered to occupy a place in the hand.

11. Carry out the setup under the basic game rules (section 3.0 of the basic rules), taking into account the changes that resulted from resolving the crisis cards. If influence must be increased, add influence points to the standard amounts. If influence must be reduced, subtract influence points from the standard amounts.

Alternative Space Race Track

The same rules apply to the alternative space race track as to the basic track. Only the player who first reaches the corresponding milestone on the track gains the additional ability. As soon as the second player reaches the same milestone, the ability no longer applies.

• Milestone 2 ("Artificial Earth Satellite"): before the penalty for failing to carry out military operations, you gain 2 additional military operations points.
• Milestone 4 ("Moon Landing"): once per turn, you may place 1 influence point in a country controlled by your opponent for 1 operation point (under the normal rules, such a placement costs 2 operation points). After using this ability, place any token on this milestone. You may use it again only on your next turn.
• Milestone 6 ("Missile Defense"): once per round, on your turn, you may reroll the die when attempting a coup (you must accept the second result). After using this ability, place any token on this milestone. You may use it again only in the next round.
• Milestone 7 ("Neutron Bomb"): your opponent subtracts 1 from the result of the die roll when attempting a coup.

As in the basic game, these abilities begin to act as soon as you have reached the corresponding milestone. Different abilities may be active at the same time. For example, if you are on milestone 4 and your opponent is still on milestone 1, you have the abilities of milestones 2 and 4 available at the same time.

Track Values (as printed on the track diagram)

The track is titled "Space Race Scale". Its legend reads: "X/Y, where X = VP to the first player to reach the milestone, Y = VP to the second player to reach the milestone." Below each milestone is printed its cost in operation points ("OO") and the success range of the die roll. The diagram shows the following:

Milestone	Name (as printed)	VP (first/second)	Cost and success
Start	Start	—	—
1	Hydrogen bomb	2/1	2 OO, success on 1–3
2	Artificial Earth satellite	—	2 OO, success on 1–4
3	Intercontinental ballistic missiles	2/0	2 OO, success on 1–3
4	Moon landing	—	2 OO, success on 1–4
5	Label not legible in the source	3/1	3 OO, success on 1–3

Note on the diagram: the label of milestone 5 is printed too small to read reliably in the source, so it is not transcribed here. The diagram's on-track notes are: for milestone 2, "Before the check for mandatory military operations, advance 2 on the military operations track"; for milestone 4, "Once per turn, placing influence in a country controlled by the opponent costs 1 OO instead of 2 OO"; for milestone 6, "Once per round you may reroll the die when attempting a coup, and you must use the new result"; for milestone 7, "The opponent receives −1 on all coup attempts."

Historical Comments on Cards

Each entry below gives the card's name as printed, its promo number and era/operations header where the source prints them, the card text printed on the card, and the historical comment. The card text is reproduced from the printed card images; the historical comments are the publisher's own commentary.

Non-Aligned Movement

Promo 117 · Mid War · operations value 2

Card text: Choose India or a country in one of these regions: Africa, Southeast Asia, Middle East, South America. That country must have at least 2 US influence and 2 USSR influence. Remove all influence from that country. Then reveal the top four cards of the draw deck and place them in the discard pile (if the deck has fewer than 4 cards, take as many as there are, shuffle the discard pile to form a new deck, and then reveal and discard the missing cards).

Historical comment: The Non-Aligned Movement is an international organization founded in 1961 on the initiative of the leaders of Indonesia, Egypt, India, Ghana, Yugoslavia and Burma. It cannot be said that they rejected the USSR and the USA outright, but they fundamentally refused to join military blocs and insisted that the interests of all developing countries be taken into account in the system of international relations. Of course, preserving true independence and non-involvement proved harder in practice than in words.

Mobutu Sese Seko

Promo 118 · Mid War · operations value 2

Card text: Stability of Zaire becomes 3 until the end of the game. Add 2 US influence to Zaire. If the event from this card has been played, remove it from the game.

Historical comment: For many years as president of Zaire (formerly the Democratic Republic of the Congo), Mobutu Sese Seko built a totalitarian regime in one of the largest countries in Africa. Despite its rich natural resources and enormous development potential, Zaire became a country suffering from poverty and internal conflicts. The American newspaper The New York Times dubbed Mobutu a "destroyer", but it was US patronage that allowed him to hold on to power, as well as appeals to the memory of the cruelty and hardship the people endured under Belgian colonial rule.

Berlin Wall

No promo number, era or operations value is printed in the source for this entry.

Card text: None printed in the source for this entry.

Historical comment: The Berlin Wall, built in 1961, is perhaps the most recognizable symbol of the Cold War era: not only figuratively but literally a dividing wall between East and West, capitalism and communism. For almost thirty years the wall performed its main task: blocking the path of political refugees and scholars from East Berlin.

Stanislav Petrov

Promo 120 · Late War · operations value 3

Card text: Can be played only if DEFCON is at level 2. Move the DEFCON marker to level 4 or 5. If the event from this card has been played, remove it from the game.

Historical comment: Stanislav Petrov, an officer of the Soviet missile defense forces, played a role in the fate of the entire planet. On 26 September 1983, during his duty shift, Soviet satellites reported the launch of American ballistic missiles. After analyzing the situation, Petrov reported to the leadership that a false alarm had occurred. Had he been wrong or panicked, the USSR could have launched a retaliatory strike and started a global nuclear war. In a 2014 documentary Petrov was named "the man who saved the world".

Who Lost China?

No promo number, era or operations value is printed in the source for this entry.

Card text: None printed in the source for this entry.

Historical comment: In 1949, troops under the command of Mao Zedong forced Chiang Kai-shek and his Nationalist government to flee from China to Taiwan. At that time the United States had a paternalistic attitude toward China: since the nineteenth century there had been active missionary and commercial activity there. But with the founding of the People's Republic, the long-time ally suddenly turned into a sworn enemy. Despite warnings from General Joseph Stilwell and others, a dispute broke out in Washington over who had "lost China" and handed it to the "Reds". Public anger fell on the Truman administration and on the far-fetched "fifth column", members of the US government who were allegedly secretly sympathetic to the communists.

Zorin versus Stevenson*

Promo 124 · Mid War · operations value 3

Card text: If the US has fewer military operations points than the USSR, the US receives 2 VP. If the event from this card has been played, remove it from the game.

Historical comment: The UN Security Council was a mirror reflecting the realities of the Cold War. It was the international arena in which the ideological confrontation between the two superpowers unfolded. The delegations and representatives of the USSR and the USA always had one goal: to show the opponent in a bad light and to declare it the aggressor. One of the most striking episodes of this struggle was Adlai Stevenson's speech to the Security Council during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Presenting photographs and intelligence data, he insistently demanded that the Soviet ambassador Valerian Zorin confirm or deny the presence of Soviet ballistic missiles in Cuba.

Struggle for the Kremlin

Promo 121 · Early War · operations value 2

Card text: The US player plays this card for its operation points. On the following turn, the USSR player must play a scoring card. If it has no such cards, the USSR passes its turn.

Historical comment: Internal conflicts within the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee remained a secret throughout the Cold War. American and European analysts could judge changes in the state apparatus only once a year, during the Victory Parade. New high-ranking officials and leaders were presented to the public gradually and with particular pathos. If one of the former figures was absent, people said he had caught "the Kremlin flu".

Soviet Atomic Project*

Promo 122 · Early War · operations value 2

Card text: Play this card together with the US event card as an operation. The event of that card is not played. If you play this card separately as an event, or use it for operation points, the DEFCON level decreases by 1. If the event from this card has been played, remove it from the game.

Historical comment: At the start of the Cold War only the USA possessed nuclear weapons of mass destruction, but the end of the nuclear monopoly came faster than the State Department expected. Joint efforts of Soviet spies and scientists led to the testing of the first Soviet atomic bomb (RDS-1) on the territory of Kazakhstan as early as 1949. Until that moment the USA could use its nuclear potential to deter, a potential that posed a serious threat to the armed forces of the USSR. But the balance was restored, and from then on both superpowers could use conventional as well as strategic weapons in their manoeuvres.