©2020 Jon Perry. Permission is granted to print/photocopy this document for personal use.

Arcane Wonders
Logo is a registered trademark of Arcane Wonders, LLC.

AIR, LAND, & SEA

Print & Play Prototype, v9.0

OVERVIEW
The game is played as a series of short battles. To win a battle you must either:

1. Cause your opponent to withdraw.

2. Control more theaters than your opponent after all cards have been played.

Winning battles earns you points. The first player to reach 12 points wins the whole war.

COMPONENTS
● 18 unit cards. Each card has
○ a ​type​ (air, land, or sea)
○ a ​strength value​ ​(1-6).
○ a ​tactical ability​ (except for the 6s)
● 3 theater cards: air, land, and sea
● 2 general cards: first player and second player
● A way to track score (tokens or a scorepad will do)

SETUP
1. Shuffle the unit cards and deal each player a private hand of 6 cards. Set
the rest of the unit deck to one side of the play area.
2. Shuffle the 3 theater cards and deal them faceup in a line across the
center of the table. ​(See Figure 1)
3. Mix up the 2 general cards and deal one faceup to each player.
STRUCTURE OF A BATTLE
During a battle, players take turns playing one unit card at a time, trying to control more theaters
than their opponent. Let’s examine a typical battle in progress:

Notice that the 3 theater cards create 3 “columns”, one for air, one for land, and one for sea.
Unit cards are always played into one of these 3 columns. A card in a particular theater’s
column is said to be ​in that theater.
(​Ex: In Figure 2, there are currently 3 cards in the sea theater.)

Theaters that are next to each other are considered to be ​adjacent​.

(​Ex: In figure 2, sea and land are adjacent. Air and land are not adjacent.)

On your turn, you will play cards only on ​your side​ of the line of theater cards.

The big number on each card is that card’s ​strength.​ If the sum total of the strength of all unit
cards on your side of a theater exceeds the sum total of all cards on your opponent’s side, you
control​ that theater. ​ (​Ex: Player 1 controls the land theater because their cards add up to 6,
while player 2’s cards only add up to 4.)
STRUCTURE OF A TURN
On your turn, choose only 1 of the 3 following actions:

1. Play a unit card from your hand ​faceup​ to the table​.

When playing a card faceup, you must follow these
placement rules:
a. The card must ​match type​ with its theater.
​ ​ (Ex: An air unit must be played in the air theater.)
b. The card must be played on ​your side​.
c. The card must be played so that it partially overlaps
any previous cards. Any cards underneath it are
now considered to be ​covered​.
​ (Ex. In figure 3, the 6 was just played. Playing
the 6 means the 2 and the 1 are now covered)
In addition, whenever a unit is played face up, its ​tactical
ability​ takes effect. ​(More on special powers below.)
2. Play a unit card from your hand ​facedown​ to the table.
Facedown cards can be played to any theater, regardless of type. Otherwise, facedown
cards follow the same rules as faceup cards. All facedown cards have a strength value
of 2. You can peek at the other side of your facedown cards at any time.
3. Withdraw and forfeit the current battle.​ If you think your chances of winning are very
low, it may be best to surrender in order to deny your opponent points.

TACTICAL ABILITIES
Most unit cards have tactical abilities. Whenever a unit card is played faceup from a player’s
hand, its tactical ability takes effect. Tactical abilities can be either ​instant​ or ​ongoing​.

An​ instant​ tactical ability triggers immediately after the card is played. An instant ability will also
trigger if the card is revealed by being flipped faceup.

An ​ongoing​ ability is always in effect as long as the unit card is faceup. If a unit with an ongoing
power is flipped facedown, that ongoing power is no longer applicable.

Tactical abilities are mandatory unless they contain the word ​may​. If a tactical ability is
impossible to perform, ignore it.
FLIPPING
Many abilities instruct you to FLIP a card. Flipping a card means either (a) turning a faceup card
facedown or (b) turning a facedown card fac up.

Unless otherwise specified, you can choose to flip either your own units or your opponent’s.
(Ex. The card Maneuver reads “flip a card in an adjacent theater.” Since it doesn’t specify
otherwise, Maneuver can be used to flip one of your own cards or one of you opponent’s.)

In addition, flipping always follows this ​important rule:

** Covered cards can never be flipped. **

(Ex. In Figure 3, the 1 and 2 cannot be flipped since they are covered by the 6.
However, the 6 is not covered and can therefore be flipped.)

MOVING
Some abilities allow you to MOVE a card to a new theater. You can move any card you want,
whether it is covered or not. Moved cards are always placed on the top of the stack within their
destination theater, so that they cover any cards already present in that theater.
(Note: Moving a card is not the same as playing a card, so powers that prevent you from
playing cards would not prevent you from moving cards.)

DISCARDING
Some abilities cause cards to be discarded. Discarded cards are placed facedown on the
bottom of the unit deck.

UNITS IN NON-MATCHING THEATERS

It is possible that, as a result of tactical abilities, a unit may end up mismatched with its current
theater. For example, an air unit may end up in the land theater. This is totally fine. In this case,
the air unit would remain where it is, and its strength would still count toward controlling the land
theater.

WINNING BATTLES
You can win a battle in one of 2 ways:

1. If ​your opponent withdraws​, you win.

2. If after all cards have been played, ​you control at least 2 theaters​, you win. Controlling
a theater means your total strength in that theater exceeds your opponent’s total. If
strength is tied in a particular theater, then the player who took the first turn in the current
battle wins the tie and controls the theater.
SETTING UP FOR THE NEXT BATTLE
1. Collect all the unit cards and shuffle them together. ​Deal each player a new hand of 6
cards​, and set the rest of the unit deck off to the side of the play area, just like you did at
the beginning of the game.
2. Next, ​rotate the position of the theater cards​ as shown in Figure 4 below.
3. Finally, the players ​exchange general cards​ with each other.

SCORING
The amount of points a battle is worth varies depending on when and if a player withdraws.
There are two possibilities:

1. Neither player withdraws and all cards are played. ​In this case, the winner of the
battle scores 6 points.
2. One of the players withdraws early. ​In this case, the withdrawing player gives their
opponent a number of points based on how many cards are left in their hand. Consult
your general card to learn how many points your opponent will gain. The longer you wait
to surrender, the more points you will have to give your opponent!

The first player to reach ​12 points​ wins the game. (For a longer game, play to ​18 points.)