War of the Worlds: The New Wave
War of the Worlds: The New Wave Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components Overview
- 1 Playing Board
- 11 Humans Building tokens
- 13 Aliens Buildings and Influence tokens
- 30 Great Britain Civilians tokens
- 1 Alien Damage Marker
- 2 Miniatures of Human Navy
- 2 UFO Miniatures
- 3 Miniatures of Human Army
- 10 Plastic Stands
- 3 Tripod Miniatures
- 35 Humans cards
- 35 Aliens cards
Game Setup
- Players decide who will play as Humans and who will play as Aliens. Each player takes all the cards, tokens, markers and miniatures of his/her chosen side.
- Place the playing board at the center of your table.
- Place 3 UK Civilians tokens on each land region marked with a Civilians symbol.
- Place 1 Invasion ship building token on a land region with an Invasion ship depicted on it.
- Place 1 Tripod miniature and 1 UFO miniature on a land region with an Invasion ship depicted on it.
- Place an Alien damage marker on a damage counter to 0 damage.
- Each player searches his/her deck for 10 Starting cards marked with a crown symbol and a wave symbol in a top right corner, shuffles and puts them in a pile face-down forming his/her Supply deck.
- Each player shuffles the rest of the cards and also puts them in a separate pile face-down forming his/her Offer deck.
- Each player reveals top 5 cards of his/her Offer deck and places them in a row forming the Offer pool.
- Each player draws the remaining 5 cards from his/her Supply deck to his/her hand.
- Each player allocates a place on the table for his/her Discard pile.
- The Aliens player takes the first turn.
Definitions
- Supply decks are piles of cards players draw their cards from.
- Played cards go to their owners' Discard piles after resolving.
- Offer decks are piles of cards used to form and replenish their owners' Offer pools.
- Offer pools are rows of 5 face-up cards in front of the players.
- Playing board is a map divided to 15 land and 6 navy regions. Players' forces collide on a playing board.
- Adjacent regions are regions on a map that share a common border. In case two regions touch their corners but don't have a common border, they are not considered adjacent.
- Hostile region is a region containing Alien units and/or buildings.
- Invasion ship is a giant Alien baseship.
Game Objective
In "War of the Worlds" each side of the conflict pursues its own agenda.
The main objective of the Aliens is to completely annihilate the population of Great Britain. Remove all UK Civilians tokens from the Playing board to win.
Humans need to deal enough damage to the Alien army. The player who chose Humans needs to deal 30 damage to Alien invasion forces to win.
How to Play
Players take turns, starting from the Aliens player.
- Each player starts his/her turn with a hand of 5 cards.
- Each turn a player can play cards from his/her hand and perform corresponding actions of his/her choice.
- A player must play all cards from the hand during his/her turn if able.
- Played cards go to the Discard pile face-up after resolving.
- If any cards remain on the player's hand at the end of the turn, they're also discarded face-up.
- At the end of the turn the current player draws 5 cards from his/her Supply deck.
- If the Supply deck runs out of cards, its owner shuffles the Discard pile and forms a new deck.
Players may look at any cards in any Discard piles and cards removed from the game at any time!
Offer Pool
In "War of the Worlds: the New Wave" Offer pool represents different decisions offered to you, as a general, by your advisors. For example, evacuate the population, mobilize an army or construct defensive buildings. Each decision made will cost you some resources.
- During his/her turn a player may purchase any number of cards from his/her Offer pool, paying their cost indicated in a top right corner.
- To purchase a card from the Offer pool, the player pays its cost by playing cards with the required number of resources.
- If there are any excess resources remaining after purchasing the card, these may be spent and split freely to purchase any other cards.
- All the unused resources are discarded at the end of the turn. None of the resources can be transferred to a player's next turn.
- After purchasing the card a player puts it into his/her Discard pile face-up (except the Building cards) and then puts the top card of the Offer deck to the Offer pool face-up.
- Once per turn the current player may choose to remove any card from his/her Offer pool and replace it with the top card of the Offer deck. The removed card is put to the bottom of the Offer deck.
Optional rule for swapping cards for experienced players
Once per turn the current player may choose to remove any card from his/her Offer pool and replace it with the top card of the Offer deck. The removed card leaves play and goes to the box!
Note! Always try to estimate the consequences of removing cards from the game and replacing them. Recklessness while building a deck may cause resource crisis!
Card Breakdown
- Each card in the game (except 20 starting cards) has its resource cost indicated in a top right corner.
- Each card has a description in its bottom part, mentioning available actions, resources gained and/or effects resolved after playing it.
- If the description lists several actions which are separated, only one of these may be played at a time (owner's choice)!
A card's layout carries: a card type symbol (top-left corner), the card resource cost (top-right corner, absent on starting cards), the number of Defense gained, the number of Damage dealt, an actions separator between listed actions, a "removing card from the game" marker, and the number of similar cards in the deck (bottom-right corner).
Card Types
There are 3 types of cards in the game. The card type is depicted as a symbol in a top left corner.
- Action Cards — orange (Humans) / blue (Aliens) circular arrow symbol.
- Building Cards — orange (Humans) / blue (Aliens) hexagon-cluster symbol.
- Unit Cards — Royal Navy (ship), Army (tank), UFO (saucer), Tripod symbols.
Action Cards
Action cards allow you to perform certain operations. Whenever a player plays such card, he/she chooses one of the actions indicated on it and performs it.
Example 1: A player wants to play a "Relocate" Action card from her hand. She chooses the first of possible actions (Move 1 Civilians unit). She moves 1 Civilians token of her choice on the playing board from one region to any adjacent land region. After resolving, the card goes to her Discard pile.
Example 2: A player wants to play a "Reap" Action card from his hand. He chooses the first of 3 possible actions (Destroy 1 unprotected Civilians unit with a Tripod). The player removes 1 Civilians token from a region of his choice, that also contains a Tripod miniature. After resolving, the card goes to his Discard pile.
Example 3: A player wants to play 2 "Reap" Action cards from his hand. He chooses the same 2nd action on both of them (Move 1 Tripod unit). He moves a Tripod miniature on the playing board twice from its current region to any adjacent land region. After resolving, both cards go to his Discard pile.
Example 4: A player wants to play 2 "Relocate" Action cards from her hand. She chooses the action "Gain 1 Coin" on the 1st card and "Gain 2 Coins and remove the card from the game" on the 2nd card. As a result, the player gains 3 Coins, which she now spends to purchase an Action card from her Offer pool. After resolving, the 1st card goes to her Discard pile, and the 2nd one is removed from the game and goes back to the game box. The Action card, which was purchased from the Offer pool, goes to the Discard pile.
Building Cards
Building cards allow players to place Building tokens on the playing board. Building tokens, placed on the board, grant their owners some benefits each turn, starting the turn they are placed.
When purchasing a Building card from the Offer pool, a player immediately places a corresponding Building token in a land region of the playing board. The purchased Building card is then removed from the game and goes to the box. Each land region may contain a maximum of 1 Building token.
Humans may place Building tokens in any land regions containing at least 1 Civilians token, provided there are also no Building tokens or units of Alien forces.
Example 1: A player purchased a "Bunkers" card from her Offer pool. Its description says that it grants Defense 2 to the player in this region. The player places a Bunkers token in a land region with a Civilians token. The purchased Building card is then removed from the game and goes back to the box.
Aliens may place Building tokens in any land regions, adjacent to ones containing any of their other Buildings, provided there are also no Human Building tokens, units, or Civilians tokens.
Example 2: A player purchased a "Particle Generator" Building card from his Offer pool. Its description reads that this Building grants 1 extra Energy per turn. The player places a Particle Generator token on a playing board, in an empty land region adjacent to a region with another Alien building. From now on this player will receive 1 extra Energy each turn. The purchased Building card is then removed from the game and goes back to the box.
Unit Cards
Unit cards allow players to place unit miniatures on the playing board and control them.
When purchasing a Unit card from the Offer pool, a player immediately places a corresponding miniature on the playing board. The purchased Unit card is then put into the Discard pile.
- Human Army miniatures are placed in any non-hostile land region with a Civilians token on it.
- Human Navy miniatures are placed in the non-hostile navy Portsmouth region (marked with an anchor symbol).
- Alien miniatures are always placed in a land region with an Invasion ship depicted on it.
Actions on Unit cards allow players to move certain miniatures or attack with them.
Note! You can't play 2 or more similar Unit cards on the same miniature per turn! You can't play 2 Unit cards of the same type to move twice per turn or move and attack using the same Unit miniature.
Note! If a player has Unit card(s) on the hand but doesn't have the miniatures in play which could be affected, he/she places a corresponding miniature on the playing board instead of resolving card actions! The Unit card then goes to the Discard pile without resolving any action.
Example: At the start of the turn, a player has 2 "Royal Navy" cards on her hand. There's only 1 Navy miniature on the playing board, because last turn another Navy unit was destroyed in battle and removed from the board. She plays the first "Royal Navy" card and resolves the first of available actions (Move Navy unit). The player moves a Navy miniature to an adjacent navy region. Then she plays the second "Royal Navy" card and places a Navy miniature to the navy region of the playing board with an anchor depicted. After resolving, both cards go to her Discard pile.
Moving Units and Attacking
- "Army" and "Tripod" units can only move in land regions and attack land regions.
- "Navy" units can only move in navy regions and attack adjacent land (coastal) regions.
- "UFO" units can move in any regions and attack any regions.
- Units move between adjacent regions (sharing common borders).
- In case regions touch corners and don't share a border, you can't move from one to another.
Note! Each land miniature ("Army" and "Tripod") blocks the movement of one enemy land miniature in case they're located in the same region!
Dealing Damage
Dealing damage to Alien forces
- Damage to invaders is dealt by attacking Tripods and Alien buildings! Exception: UFOs. Humans can never attack UFO units.
- Alien miniatures and buildings are never removed from the playing board.
- For each damage dealt to Alien advance the damage marker 1 point on the counter!
Example 1: A player plays an Army card and chooses the 3rd action (Deal 3 damage in a region with Army, then remove this card from the game). An Army miniature is located in a region with an Alien building. The player deals 3 damage to Alien forces and advances the marker 3 points on the Alien damage counter. The card played is then removed from the game and goes back to the box. The Army miniature and the Alien building token remain on the playing board.
Note! Civilians tokens may attack land regions. Civilians may attack using "Guerillas" Action cards, however a player may not play more than 1 such card on a single Civilians token per turn.
Example 2: A player has 2 "Guerillas" cards on her hand. One of the land regions contains 1 Civilians token and an Alien building. The player plays a "Guerillas" card from her hand and chooses the 2nd action (Deal 2 damage in a region with Civilians). The player deals 2 damage to Aliens and advances the marker 2 points on the Alien damage counter. The card then goes to the Discard pile. The 2nd "Guerillas" card goes straight to the Discard pile because the player may not perform an attack action indicated (there's no more Civilians tokens in hostile regions on the playing board).
Dealing damage to Human forces
- Damage to Humans is dealt by attacking Civilians, Human buildings and units with Tripods and UFOs.
- All Human units, buildings and Civilians tokens have a basic Defense value of 1. That means it takes 1 damage to destroy any of these.
- When attacking a region, the damage is first dealt to Human buildings in this region, then Human units, and finally to Civilians tokens.
- Any destroyed Human units, buildings and tokens are immediately removed from the board.
Example: A player plays a Tripod card from his hand and chooses the second of available actions (Deal 2 damage in a region with Tripod). There is a Tripod miniature in the same region as a Human building "Supply Depot" token and 2 Civilians tokens. The player deals 2 damage to Human forces. He removes the building token from the region and then removes 1 Civilians token. After resolving, the card goes to his Discard pile.
Humans Defensive Buildings
- Some Human buildings have a Defense value. Defense value is indicated inside a shield icon.
- In order to destroy a defensive building, Aliens need to deal damage equal to or more than its Defense stat in a single strike (using one or multiple units).
Note! You can't attack a defensive building using attacking card/cards if the building won't take damage equal to or more than its Defense value as a result! Thus if the Aliens can't deal a blow, powerful enough to destroy a defensive building in a specific region right away, they can't attack this region at all.
Example 1: Humans turn: there's a Fort (defensive building) in a land region. Its Defense value is (4). There is also 1 Civilians token and 2 Tripod miniatures in the same region. Humans player uses the Fort's action (Deal 1 damage in a region with Fort) and also plays a "Guerillas" card, choosing the 2nd of 2 available actions (Deal 2 damage in a region with Civilians, then remove this card from the game). The player deals 3 damage to Alien forces and advances the marker 3 points on the Alien damage counter. The "Guerillas" card is removed from the game and goes back to the box after resolving.
Example 2: It's Aliens turn now. A player plays 2 "Tripod" cards from his hand. He chooses the second of 3 available actions on the first card (Deal 2 damage in a region with Tripod). He then chooses the third action on a second card (Deal 3 damage in a region with Tripod, then remove this card from the game). As a result, Human forces are dealt a total of 5 damage. Fort defensive building token and Civilians token are both removed from the playing board. The first "Tripod" card is put into the Discard pile after resolving. The second card is removed from the game and goes back to the box. Both Tripod miniatures remain on the playing board.
Aliens Special Attacks
Some Aliens Action cards allow to make special attacks or apply special conditions to regions on the board. These conditions are marked with Alien Influence tokens.
Example: A Tripod miniature is located in a land region, and there are also a defensive building "Heavy Artillery" (Defense 3) and 2 Civilians markers in an adjacent region. Aliens player decides to play a "Poisonous Fog" Action card (Deal 1 damage in a region adjacent to Tripod. Humans may not use their buildings' attacking abilities on the following turn). He places the "Poisonous Fog" influence token in the attacked region as a reminder of its condition for the following turn. During the next turn Human player may not use their "Heavy Artillery" building action. After resolving, the "Poisonous Fog" card goes to its owner's Discard pile. "Heavy Artillery" building token and 2 Civilians tokens remain on the playing board. The Alien Influence token is removed from the region at the start of the Aliens player next turn.
End of Game
Alien damage marker reaches the "30" mark — Human forces win! Alien invaders retreat hastily, the invasion ship leaves Earth!
All the Civilians tokens are removed from the playing board — Alien forces win! United Kingdom is conquered. Alien invasion is underway!
Humans Cards Descriptions
Action Cards
Relocate (starting card). Choose one of the following 3 actions: 1 – Move any 1 Civilians token to an adjacent land region. 2 – Gain 1 Coin. 3 – Gain 2 Coins. Remove this card from the game.
Guerillas (starting card). Choose one of the following 2 actions: 1 – Deal 1 damage in a region with any Civilians token, if that token did not deal damage this turn. 2 – Deal 2 damage in a region with any Civilians token, if that token did not deal damage this turn. Remove this card from the game.
Airstrike. (cost 7) After purchasing this card, place it into Discard pile. – After playing this card deal 1 damage to Alien forces.
Evacuate. (cost 3) After purchasing this card, place it into Discard pile. Choose one of the following 2 actions: 1 – Move up to 2 different Civilians tokens to their adjacent land region(s). 2 – Gain 2 Coins.
Redeploy. (cost 3) After purchasing this card, place it into Discard pile. Choose one of the following 2 actions: 1 – Move any 1 Army unit up to 2 land regions. 2 – Move any 1 Civilians token to an adjacent land region.
Units
Royal Navy. (cost 6) After purchasing this card, place it into Discard pile and place a Navy unit in the non-hostile navy Portsmouth region. Choose one of the following 3 actions: 1 – Move 1 Navy unit to an adjacent navy region. 2 – Deal 2 damage in a coastal region adjacent to navy region with a Navy unit. 3 – Deal 3 damage in a coastal region adjacent to navy region with a Navy unit. Remove this card from the game. (In case there's no Navy units on the board: place a Navy unit in the non-hostile navy Portsmouth region instead of performing any actions.)
Army. (cost 4) After purchasing this card, place it into Discard pile and place an Army unit in a non-hostile land region containing Civilians tokens. Choose one of the following 3 actions: 1 – Move 1 Army unit to an adjacent land region. 2 – Deal 2 damage in a region with Army unit. 3 – Deal 3 damage in a region with Army unit. Remove this card from the game. (In case there's no Army units on the board: place an Army unit in a non-hostile land region containing Civilians token(s) instead of performing any actions.)
Buildings
Bunkers. (cost 3) After purchasing this card, remove it from the game and place a Bunkers building token in a non-hostile land region containing Civilians token(s) and no buildings. – Humans player gains Defense 2 in this region. (This condition takes effect immediately after placing the Bunkers token on the board.)
Heavy Artillery. (cost 6) After purchasing this card, remove it from the game and place a Heavy Artillery building token in a non-hostile land region containing Civilians token(s) and no buildings. – Humans player gains Defense 3 in this region. – During his/her turn Humans player may deal 1 damage in an adjacent region, or 2 damage if there are enemy land units in the region containing Heavy Artillery. (These conditions take effect immediately after placing the "Heavy Artillery" token on the board.)
Supply Depot. (cost 4) After purchasing this card, remove it from the game and place a Supply Depot building token in a non-hostile land region containing Civilians token(s) and no buildings. – Each turn Humans player gains 1 additional Coin. (This condition takes effect immediately after placing the Supply Depot token on the board.)
Fort. (cost 5) After purchasing this card, remove it from the game and place a Fort building token in a non-hostile land region containing Civilians token(s) and no buildings. – Humans player gains Defense 4 in this region. – During his/her turn Humans player may deal 1 damage to Alien forces if there are enemy land units in the region containing Heavy Artillery. (These conditions take effect immediately after placing the "Fort" token on the board.)
Tank Factory. (cost 8) After purchasing this card, remove it from the game and place a Tank Factory building token in a non-hostile land region containing Civilians token(s) and no buildings. – All Army units have their Defense increased to 2. (This condition takes effect as long as the Tank Factory token is on the board.)
Barrage Balloons (special building). (cost 5) After purchasing this card, remove it from the game and place a Barrage Balloons building token in a non-hostile land region containing Civilians token(s). – UFO units may not enter regions where Barrage Balloons are placed. (Barrage Balloons may be placed in a region containing allied buildings! Barrage Balloons token is destroyed following Human units rule!)
Landmines (special building). (cost 3) After purchasing this card, remove it from the game and place a Landmines building token in a non-hostile land region containing Civilians token(s) and no buildings. – When enemy land unit enters the region containing the Landmines token, this building deals 2 damage to Alien forces. Then this building is destroyed, remove this token from the game. (Landmines building token cannot be destroyed in any other way!)
Aliens Cards Descriptions
Action Cards
Reap (starting card). Choose one of the following 3 actions: 1 – Destroy 1 unprotected Civilians token in a region containing a Tripod unit. 2 – Move any 1 Tripod unit to an adjacent land region. 3 – Gain 2 Energy. Remove this card from the game.
Power Supply (starting card). Choose one of the following 2 actions: 1 – Gain 1 Energy. 2 – Gain 2 Energy. Remove this card from the game.
Poisonous Fog. (cost 4) After purchasing this card, place it into Discard pile. – When this card is played, deal 1 damage in a land region adjacent to a Tripod unit. – During his/her next turn Humans player cannot use attacking abilities of his/her buildings (Heavy Artillery and/or Fort) in that region! – As a reminder, place a Poisonous Fog token in that region. Remove it at the start of your next turn.
Frightening Sound. (cost 3) After purchasing this card, place it into Discard pile. – When this card is played, deal 1 damage in a land region containing a Tripod unit. – During next turn Humans units and Civilians tokens cannot enter that region! – As a reminder, place a Frightening Sound token in that region. Remove it at the start of your next turn.
Nerve Agent. (cost 3) After purchasing this card, place it into Discard pile. – When this card is played, deal 1 damage in a land region containing a Tripod unit. – During next turn Humans units and Civilians tokens cannot leave that region! – As a reminder, place a Nerve Agent token in that region. Remove it at the start of your next turn.
Infrasound. (cost 4) After purchasing this card, place it into Discard pile. – When this card is played, deal 1 damage in a land region adjacent to a Tripod unit. – Move 1 Humans Army unit from this region to an adjacent non-hostile region.
Plasma Synthesis. (cost 4) After purchasing this card, place it into Discard pile. Choose one of the following 2 actions: 1 – Gain 2 Energy. 2 – Gain 3 Energy. Remove this card from the game.
Scorching Beam. (cost 6) After purchasing this card, place it into Discard pile. – When this card is played, deal 2 damage in a region containing a UFO unit.
Alien Abduction. (cost 5) After purchasing this card, place it into Discard pile. Choose one of the following 2 actions: 1 – Destroy 1 Civilians token in a region with UFO unit (even if it's protected)! 2 – Move any 1 UFO unit to an adjacent region.
Units
UFO. (cost 7) After purchasing this card, place it into Discard pile and place a UFO unit in the Invasion ship region. Choose one of the following 3 actions: 1 – Move 1 UFO unit up to 2 regions (land or navy). 2 – Deal 1 damage in a region with UFO unit. 3 – Deal 3 damage in a region with UFO unit. Remove this card from the game.
Tripod. (cost 6) After purchasing this card, place it into Discard pile and place a Tripod unit in the Invasion ship region. Choose one of the following 3 actions: 1 – Move 1 Tripod unit to an adjacent land region. 2 – Deal 2 damage in a region with Tripod unit. 3 – Deal 3 damage in a region with Tripod unit. Remove this card from the game.
Buildings
Alien factory. (cost 10) After purchasing this card, remove it from the game and place an Alien factory building token in a land region adjacent to a region with an Alien building and without any Humans units, buildings or Civilians tokens. – Tripod units' attack power is increased by 1. (This condition takes effect immediately after placing the "Alien factory" token on the board.)
Particle Generator. (cost 4) After purchasing this card, remove it from the game and place a Particle Generator building token in a land region adjacent to a region with an Alien building and without any Human units, buildings or Civilians tokens. – During his/her turn Aliens player gains 1 additional Energy. (This condition takes effect immediately after placing the "Particle Generator" token on the board.)
Regenerator. (cost 8) After purchasing this card, remove it from the game and place a Regenerator building token in a land region adjacent to a region with an Alien building and without any Human units, buildings or Civilians tokens. – During his/her turn Aliens player may spend 4 energy to lower the Alien damage counter by 1. (This condition takes effect immediately after placing the "Regenerator" token on the board.)
Plasma Reactor. (cost 6) After purchasing this card, remove it from the game and place a Plasma Reactor building token in a land region adjacent to a region with an Alien building and without any Human units, buildings or Civilians tokens. – During his/her turn Aliens player gains 2 additional Energy. (This condition takes effect immediately after placing the "Particle Generator" token on the board.)