RULEBOOK Pilot: Salvatore Vasta • Co-Pilot: Mark Dey • Flight Engineer: Allen Hill Table of Contents
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RULEBOOK Pilot: Salvatore Vasta • Co-Pilot: Mark Dey • Flight Engineer: Allen Hill Table of Contents 1.0 General Information .............................................. 2 11.0 Weather .................................................................. 32 2.0 Country & Factions ............................................... 5 12.0 Turn Completion ................................................... 33 3.0 Markers & Units .................................................... 7 13.0 Conditional Events ................................................ 33 4.0 Movement .............................................................. 8 14.0 Event Markers ....................................................... 37 5.0 Combat .................................................................. 12 15.0 Tracking Markers .................................................. 40 6.0 Actions .................................................................. 16 16.0 Country List ........................................................... 44 7.0 Supply .................................................................... 23 17.0 Disputed Area List ................................................. 44 8.0 Unit Logistics ........................................................ 25 Index ............................................................................... 45 9.0 Economy ................................................................ 26 Operations Phase Flowchart ........................................... 47 10.0 Politics ................................................................... 28 Sequence of Play Flowchart ............................................ 48 GMT Games, LLC • P.O. Box 1308, Hanford, CA 93232-1308 www.GMTGames.com 2 Unconditional Surrender ~ Rulebook Sequence of Play (1.2) 1.0 General Information In faction order, each faction completes one Phase before the 1.1 Introduction next Phase is started [Exceptions: Weather and Strategic War- Unconditional Surrender! World War 2 in Europe (referred to as fare Phases]. Faction Order is Axis, Western, and Soviet. USE) is a 2-4 player strategic level game covering World War Weather Phase Two’s European Theater. Players control the political decisions Axis faction determines the turn’s weather. and military forces of the Axis, Western, and Soviet factions that struggled for European dominance and survival. Declare War Phase USE has scenarios ranging from individual campaigns to the entire If allowed, factions may declare war on neutral countries. war. See the Playbook for a listing. Economy Phase 1.1.1 Objective Determine production points for each country. Have fun playing. After that, achieve the victory conditions as set Strategic Warfare Phase forth in the scenario being played. Axis faction determines the effect of strategic warfare. 1.1.2 Writing Style Strategic Movement Phase Some words are italics to emphasize their importance. Rules An air or ground unit moves using Strategic Movement. marked Important or Exception are ones to pay significant at- tention to. A rules number cross-reference or an acronym for a Operations Phase* group of words appears in parentheses, such as (1.2) or (EZOC). Actions Sub-Phase: Units perform Actions to move and Important notes are highlighted in blue-shaded boxes. fight. Supply Check Sub-Phase: Units trace a supply line. Game Designer comments appear in italics, usually in tan- *Each faction completes both Sub-Phases of the Opera- shaded boxes. tions Phase before the next faction starts its Operations A rules exception is usually enclosed in brackets. [Exception: …] Phase. Examples are highlighted in lavendar-shaded boxes. No Supply Phase Unsupplied units are reduced in strength or eliminated. Examples and comments may help in understanding a rule. Nouns are generally written in the singular form. A phrase such as Replacements Phase “a unit” does not limit the rule to one unit. When a numerical limit Factions may pay to increase reduced strength ground units is imposed, a number will be used, e.g., “one country.” to full strength and remove up to two Sorties each from air and naval units. 1.1.3 Learning the Game Rules are grouped around a common procedure or concept, e.g., Upgrade Phase Movement. You may choose to learn the game by reading the Units on the map may be replaced by Upgrade units that Rulebook from cover to cover (while having the Faction Cards are in their Faction Card’s Upgrade box. and Player Aid Sheet with you) or by using one of the different Mobilization Phase ways found in the Playbook’s Alternate Learning Methods (30.1). Factions may pay to take units in their Faction Card’s Due to the game’s unique mechanics and low counter density Mobilization box and place them onto the map. (relative to other strategic WW2 wargames) the Training Scenarios method is recommended. Diplomacy Phase Factions work with diplomacy related event markers. If you prefer to read the rules while having some components on the map, set up the France 1940 scenario (31.3). Victory Check Phase Check if Victory Conditions have been achieved. 1.1.4 Components • One Rulebook End of Turn Phase • One Playbook Advance the Turn marker one turn. Place counters from the new Turn box in their respective • Two 22"x34" maps locations. • 840 counters on three counter sheets Move all units in a Faction Card’s Eliminated Box to its • Three 11"x17" Player Aid Sheets Mobilization Box. • Three 8.5"x11" Faction Cards • Two 8.5"x11" Flowchart Cards • Three six-sided dice © 2014 GMT Games, LLC Unconditional Surrender ~ Rulebook 3 Rulebook: The rules in this book apply to all scenarios unless [Exceptions: noted otherwise within a specific scenario. If a rules disagree- • Only the Axis faction performs the Weather Phase and Strategic ment arises that cannot be resolved through discussion, roll a Warfare Phase. die. High roller wins. It’s a game, folks. • The Diplomacy Phase is skipped unless one or more of these Flowcharts: Flowcharts follow the Sequence of Play and Opera- policies are in effect: Appeasement, Nazi-Soviet Pact, or tions Phase to help you while playing the game. Moscow Treaty.] Playbook: The Playbook contains the specific rules and setup The Operations Phase has two Sub-Phases: Actions and Supply instructions for the scenarios included in the game. Check. In faction order, one faction completes both Sub-Phases Faction Cards: Each faction has its own Faction Card. Alter- before the next faction starts its Operations Phase. natively, players may use the other side of two of them, one 1.2.1 Operations of which has the Production and National Will Tracks for all factions and the other which has Faction Cards for all factions. USE does not use a “Move everyone; fight everyone” system. Instead, a faction activates one unit to move and/or fight (possi- Player Aid Sheet: The Player Aid Sheet contains many tables bly multiple times within a single activation). When the faction used in the game. completes that unit’s activation, it then activates another unit. 1.1.5 Scale The Operations Phase is when air, ground, and naval units move, USE is not a detailed case study of WW2. It simulates rela- fight, and check if they can trace a supply line. It is also when a tive force projection rather than actual quantities of men and faction checks that its countries are satisfying the Home Defense equipment. You may not see an air or naval unit somewhere on policy (10.3.1). It also checks for the Home Defense policy at the the map, but that does not mean no planes or ships are there. start of its Strategic Movement Phase (4.1.1). It means their impact is minimal at the game’s scale. Actions Sub-Phase: At the start of its Actions Sub-Phase, if the Home Defense policy (10.3.1) is in effect, the phasing faction checks to see Turn: Each turn represents one calendar month. if any friendly country is not satisfying that policy. If it is not, see Unit: A ground unit is represented at the army level, but may Home Defense Not Satisfied (10.3.1.1). After that, the phasing faction consist of forces ranging from a brigade to a full army. An air or may perform Actions (6.0) with its units. When all Actions are done, naval unit is represented as a group, fleet, or other designation. remove any Airdrop, Assault, Partisans, or Surprise Attack markers in a hex or Sea Zone. See the marker’s rule to determine where it goes. Map: The map covers the European continent, portions of Af- rica, and the Middle East. A hex represents about 30-40 miles Supply Check Sub-Phase: After completing its Actions Sub- (50-65 kilometers). Phase, the phasing faction checks if its units in a hex can trace a Supply Line (7.4). The map does not use the common Mercator projection. It is a Lambert-style equal area projection that fit USE’s scale 1.3 Map and game mechanics. The following are key elements and rules related to the map. 1.1.6 Dice & DRM 1.3.1 Capital, City, Factory, Port The game uses six-sided dice to resolve some mechanics. The result See the Terrain Key on the map to identify which symbol represents of a die roll may be modified by a Die Roll Modifier (DRM). You a capital, city, factory, or port. The distinctions are important for add or subtract the DRM to arrive at the final result. different game mechanics. 1.2 Sequence of Play City: A hex with one or more of these symbols is considered to have a city in it: capital, city, factory, or port. The Sequence of Play list is found on the cover of this Rulebook Graniti: This reference location in Sicily is not a city and is ignored for easy reference. for all game purposes. A game turn follows a specific Sequence of Play, made up of Phases It’s there because that is where the designer’s parents are from. and possibly Sub-Phases. The faction performing its part in the It’s good to be the designer. Sequence of Play is referred to as the phasing faction. The other factions are referred to as the non-phasing factions. 1.3.2 Faded Dot Hex In USE, a non-phasing faction will have opportunities to Some hexes are faded in color and have a dot in the middle of them. interact while the phasing faction is playing. Example: Hexes 1805 and 5640. Important: Each faction completes one Phase in the faction These hexes are prohibited hexes for ground and naval movement.