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Darkest Days: The Gathering Storm Rulebook (v1.1)

© Copyright 2017 DarkestDaysCG.com

DARKEST DAYS WWII CARD GAME

TM

www.darkestdayscg.com



ANATOMY OF A CARD

Card Title

Deployment cost

Card type (and subtype, if any)

Attack type and value

Game text

Endurance and value

Set and card number

CARD “UNIQUENESS”

Some cards are one-of-a-kind.

“Unique” cards have a dot (·) in front of

their card titles that denotes their

“uniqueness.”

There can only be one copy of a unique card

in play. If another copy would ever enter

play, it is spent (placed on top of the own-

er’s Spent Pile), immediately.

This unit card is unique.

While this one is not.



CARD TYPES UNIT CARDS

Units represent your troops and equipment

in the field. These are your soldiers and the

hardware they use to achieve victory.

Units may be classified as either as Armor

Artillery, Infantry, or Vehicle units. Units

may also have a subtype defined in paren-

thesis next to its unit type identifier on the

card. These are only for card effect refer-

ence.

In future sets, we will introduce new unit

types.

ORDERS CARDS

Orders represent the directives your Field

Commander, and both his subordinates and

superiors give the forces under command.

Orders affect the field and the units on it in

a variety of ways by enhancing your capabil-

ities, placing special restrictions on the ene-

my, or some combination of the two.

Orders cards may have a subtype listed in

parenthesis next to the card type identifier

on the card. These are only for card effect

reference.

FIELD COMMANDER CARDS

These cards represent the commander of

your armed forces.

While not typically the commander-in-chief

of your nation, these cards represent sea-

soned and high-ranking generals given com-

mand of a narrow band of the conflict.

A Field Commander provides you with a

number of abilities throughout the game.

Unlike unit cards, Field Commanders cannot

be destroyed and remain in play for the

entire game.



LOCATION CARDS

Location cards represent the various locales across the world

where the Axis and Allied forces meet to do battle.

There is always only one Location card in play at a time, though

the Location can change (often several times) throughout the

course of the game.

Unlike other types of cards, Locations are considered neutral

(used by either the Axis or the Allies).

EXHAUST AND RECOVER

Throughout this rulebook and in the cards that make

up Darkest Days ™, you will see numerous references

to both the Axis and the Allies.

For the purposes of this rulebook, and the first few

sets of the game, the Axis and Allies are defined as

follows:

AXIS: Germany and Italy

ALLIES: Belgium, Britain, Denmark, France, and the

Netherlands

As the game continues and new sets are released,

new nations will be added to the conflict and will

join either the Axis or Allies, stay neutral (usable by

both sides) or even switch sides.

Any card that refers to the Axis or Allies refers to

cards only of the respective nations listed in this

section and the player that controls that side of the

conflict during the game.

There is only one Axis player and one Allies player

per game, and each player may only use cards from

his or her side of the conflict.

Please keep in mind that Location cards are always

NEUTRAL.

A player’s deck may contain any Location card.

THE AXIS AND ALLIES

Many card effects and rules will refer to exhausting

or recovering a unit card or to and exhausted or re-

covered unit.

An exhausted unit is one that has been turned ninety

-degrees to the right.

To exhaust is a unit is to move it from an upright

position to this ninety-degree position.

A recovered unit is one that is turned upright (with

its game text readable by its controller).

To recover a unit is to turn an exhausted unit upright

again.

A recovered unit. An exhausted unit.



ABOUT DARKEST DAYS ™ CARD GAME

“Germany will either be a world power, or there will be no

Germany.”

—Reichskanzler Adolf Hitler

“Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory how-

ever long and hard the road may be; for without victory there

is no survival.”

—Prime Minister Winston Churchill

Darkest Days ™ Card Game chronicles the events of the Sec-

ond World War over its major movements and battles

starting with the Battle of France in May-June 1940, to the

ultimate surrender of Germany and Japan in 1945.

We have done our best to balance both historical accuracy

and enjoyable game mechanics within the confines of a

humble online trading card game.

Wherever possible, we have tried to preserve original unit

and place names, historical distinctions, and other fine de-

tails of the real-world conflict.

That being said, there are sure to be numerous omissions

(both intentional or otherwise) and a great deal of creative

license on the designers’ behalf in order to make this a game

first and a piece of historical commentary second.

Our intent is to release regular “virtual expansions” every

few months to advance the internal game calendar through

the course of the Second World War and give players a feel

for the epic drama that involved countless millions of brave

souls, dauntless martyrs, and unfortunate victims.

From the very outset we decided not to broach certain top-

ics within this game. Chief among these are the horrendous

atrocities of the Holocaust and maltreatment of prisoners of

war, political dissidents, civilians and others during the war

years.

Our focus is on the strategy, tactics, and political and diplo-

matic events that shaped the conflict.

We do not endorse the ideology or politics of any side de-

picted in the game, but rather, let the game design and me-

chanics speak to real and perceived strategies employed by

the belligerent nations during the War.

Forgive our errors, wherever they may be.

And above all else, enjoy!

—Darkest Days ™ Design Team

DECK CONSTRUCTION

Each player should come to the game with both an Axis deck

and an Allies deck.

Each deck must conform to the following rules:

• All cards in a single deck must be from the same side of

the conflict (either the Axis or the Allies). Neutral cards

(such as Location cards or any card from a neutral na-

tion) are permitted in any deck.

• Each deck most contain exactly 60 cards.

• Each deck must contain at least 1 Field Commander card

and 1 Location card.

• Each deck may not have more than 6 copies of a card

with the same card title.

PLAYING A “GAME SET”

When players sit down to play, they play a set of two games.

During each of these two games, there is one Axis player and

one Allies player. Each player will play both sides of the con-

flict during a set.

During the first game, players randomly determine who will

play which side of the conflict. (A coin flip, dice roll, rock-

paper-scissors, etc. can be used to determine this.)

During the second game, players will switch to the other side

of the conflict.

After each game, the winner counts the number of cards left

in his or her Reserves and adds them to his or her “game set

score.”

After both games, the player with the higher game set score

is the winner of the game set.

SETTING UP THE GAME

At the start of the game, each player does the following in

the order described below:

• Each player takes 1 Location card and 1 Field Command-

er card from his or her deck and places them face-down

in from of him or her.

• Each player shuffles his or her deck and presents his or

her deck to the opponent to allow the opponent to

shuffle, cut, and replace the deck in front of the owner.

(In a virtual game, the game engine or simulator is used

to accomplish this mandatory shuffle.)

• Each player reveals his or her starting Location card. The



Location with the lower Distance number is placed into

play between the players on the game table and the

card with the higher Distance number is placed onto the

owner’s Spent Pile, face-down. If there is a tie between

Distance numbers for starting Locations, the Axis play-

er’s Location is put into play and the Allies’ Location is

placed onto the Allies’ Spent Pile.

• Each player reveals his or her Field Commander.

• The Axis player draws the top five cards of his or her

Reserves to form his or her starting hand; the Allies play-

er draws the top seven cards of his or her Reserves.

After these steps have been completed, the players begin

taking turns.

TAKING TURNS

After the game has been set up, the players begin taking

turns (as described below), until one player wins (or loses)

the game.

The Axis player will always take the first turn of the game.

WINNING THE GAME

A player wins the game when his or her opponent has no

cards left in his or her Reserves.

A player may also win (or lose) the game if a card effect

states that they do.

THE TURN SEQUENCE

During each player’s turn, he or she will move through the

following turn phases in the order described below.

During a player’s turn, he or she is referred to as the “turn

player.”

PHASE 1: SUPPLY

The turn player may select one card from hand and place it

face-down in his or her Supply Zone.

A card that is placed face-down in a Supply Zone is hereafter

referred to as a “supply.” No player may look at any face-

down cards in any player’s Supply Zone unless permitted by

a card effect.

PHASE 2: DRAW

The turn player draws either one, two, or no cards from the

top of his or her Reserves.

The choice to draw a quantity of cards during this phase is

made before any cards are drawn.

If a player would be required to draw, spend, or destroy a

card from his or her Reserves and there are no cards left in

his or her Reserves, that player loses the game.

PHASE 3: READY

The turn player performs the following steps in the order

described below:

• All of the turn player’s unit formations are

“dissolved” (units are no longer grouped together in

formations if any of them had been in this state from

the start of this turn).

• All of the turn player’s units and supplies are recovered

(turned in an upright position).

PHASE 4: MAIN

The turn player may do any of the following, in any order,

and any number of times he or she is able to pay the supply

costs for:

• Deploy a unit card from hand by exhausting (turning

sideways) a number of recovered supply cards as indi-

cated in the supply cost for the unit and then placing

that unit in a recovered position from the turn player’s

hand into his or her field.

• Play an Orders card (see below).

Additionally, the turn player may only do one of the follow-

ing during his or her Main Phase.

• “Initiate battle” (see Phase 5: Battle [Optional], below).

• “Dismiss” his or her Field Commander by placing a new

Field Commander with a different card title into play in

his or her Home Row and placing the old Field Com-

mander face-down onto the turn player’s Spent Pile.

• “Withdraw” to a new Location by resting a number of

recovered supplies equal to the difference in Distance

numbers between the current Location and a new Loca-

tion card from the turn player’s hand, and then placing

the new Location card from the turn player’s hand into

play and the old Location card face-down onto its own-

er’s Spent Pile.

• “Prioritize” Orders by first swapping any Order cards the

turn player currently has in play from one supply stack

to another any number of times and then selecting one

or more Orders cards and sending them to the top of his

or her Spent Pile and returning the supply cards under

them to his or her Supply Zone in the recovered posi-

tion.

• “Restore” up to two cards from the turn player’s Dead



Each player should follow a standard set-up in terms of their

side of the gaming table.

While player may more or less organize the cards within

their zones as they see fit, all players are expected to con-

form to the layout shown below (as seen by the player that

controls the cards depicted below).

Pre-installed playmats on the gaming software will have

dotted lines to show where these various zones are located

for each player on the gaming table.

Any player may look at any card in either player’s Deploy-

ment Zone, Home Row, or Dead Pile at any time.

No player may look at the cards in either player’s Reserves,

Spent Pile, Supply Zone , or cards placed face-down under

other cards (such as under Orders cards or those placed un-

der other cards by certain card effects) unless a card effect

allows or instructs them to do so.

THE GAME TABLE AND PLAYER ZONES

Deployment

Zone

(Units)

Home Row (Orders and Field Commander)

Supply Zone Dead

Reserves

Spent



Pile by placing those card, one at a time, face-down onto

the turn player’s Spent Pile.

• “Mend” his or her units by removing 1 damage marker

from each of up to 2 units the turn player controls (a

single unit cannot receive this effect more than once

from this turn option).

• “Recycle” his or her Spent Pile by placing the Spent Pile

facedown (in the same card order) under his or her Re-

serves.

Playing Orders Cards

Orders cards stay in play until removed from play when a

player “prioritizes” (see previous section). If removed from

play, Orders cards go onto the top of their owner’s Spent Pile

unless a card effect states otherwise.

Each player may have any number of Orders cards, each with

different card titles, in play at one time. A player may not

have multiple copies of the same Orders card with the same

card title in play at the same time. If a player ever controls

two or more Orders cards with the same card title, he or she

places all but one of them onto his or her Spent Pile, imme-

diately.

The first Orders card a player puts into play requires that the

turn player “commit” 1 supply. The supply card is exhausted

(turned sideways) and the Orders card is placed vertically

over top of it.

If the turn player wishes to play a second Orders card, the

committed supply cost increases by 1. The second Orders

card will require that the turn player commit two supply

cards and the second Orders card will be placed over top of

those two exhausted supplies.

This pattern continues for each additional Orders card a sin-

gle player maintains in play.

PHASE 5: BATTLE (OPTIONAL)

The turn player may declare battle against his or her oppo-

nent only once per turn.

If battle does occur, players perform the following steps in

the order described below:

• Players exchange Artillery fire.

• The turn player, referred to as the “attacking player,”

forms one or more attacking formations with his or her

units.

• The non-turn player, referred to as the “defending play-

er,” may form a number of defending formations with

his or her units, or opt not to form any defending for-

mations.

• The defending player may assign each of his or her de-

fending formations to join battle with the attacking for-

mations, one at a time, so that there is no more than

one defending formation joined with one attacking for-

mation.

• Joined formations “skirmish.”

• Any attacking formations that are not joined in battle

destroy the top card of the defending player’s Reserves

for each 1 total Firepower of all units in that formation

(this is referred to as a “breakthrough”).

i. Artillery Fire

The attacking player may exhaust one or more of his or her

Artillery units in play and then the defending player may

exhaust one of more of his or her Artillery units in play.

The attacking player must then either exhaust one or more

Infantry units (called “pinning” the Infantry unit; such a unit

is considered “pinned” for the remainder of the Battle

Phase) with total Endurance equal to or greater than the

defending player’s Artillery total, or place X damage markers

among his or her units where X equals the defending player’s

Artillery total. After this is done, the defending player does

likewise.

All Artillery units exhausted in this step are group together

(for each player respectively) into a formation of only ex-

hausted Artillery units. This formation does not attack this

turn, but remains inert and exhausted until the controller’s

next Ready Phase.

ii. Attacking Formations

The attacking player creates one or more attacking for-

mations from his or her available (recovered) units.

A single formation must consist of at least one unit, and may

contain as many units as the attacking player desires.

All units that will be part of a single formation are exhausted

and group together in one area of the game table to show

their relationship as part of the same formation.

The attacking player may create as many such formations at

they desire.

Each attacking formation must be given an attack target:

either the defending player’s Reserves, or a one of the de-

fending player’s exhausted formations (including the defend-

ing player’s exhausted Artillery formation). The declaration

of attack targets must be made as each of the attacking for-

mations is created during this step of the Battle Phase.



ARTILLERY FIRE EXAMPLE AXIS COMMITS AN ARTILLERY UNIT

During the Axis player’s Battle Phase, the Axis

player commits Lightning Artillery by exhausting

it.

The Axis Artillery Total is now 2.

The Allies player has French Light Armor Regi-

ment (recovered), Battlefield Veterans

(recovered), and Defenders of the Republic

(exhausted) in play.

In these examples, the Allies player does not

commit any Artillery units to the Artillery Step.

SCENARIO ONE: “PINNING” INFANTRY UNITS

The Allies player chooses to apply the Axis Artillery

Total as follows:

The Allies player “pins” Battlefield Veterans.

Since Battlefield Veterans is an Infantry unit, it can

be pinned by being exhausted and satisfying the Axis

Artillery damage by up to an amount equal to the

total pinned units’ Endurance value.

All points of the Axis Artillery Total have been satis-

fied and the Artillery Step ends.

SCENARIO TWO: APPLYING DAMAGE MARKERS

The Allies player chooses to apply the Axis Artillery

Total as follows:

The Allies player places 1 damage marker on French

Light Armor Regiment and 1 damage marker on

Battlefield Veterans.

All points of the Axis Artillery Total have been satis-

fied and the Artillery Step ends.



EXAMPLE SKIRMISH THE AXIS’ FIELD

For our example, the Axis side of the field contains Alpini

Regiment, Lightning Artillery, German Armored Patrol,

Light Panzer Regiment, and two copies of Heer Reservists.

THE ALLIES’ FIELD

The Allies side of the field contain Battlefield Veterans,

·600th Armored Brigade, Heavy Artillery, and British Expe-

ditionary Forces (BEF) (B).

1A.THE AXIS INITIATES BATTLE

The Axis initiates battle and moves first into the

Artillery Step by committing Lightning Artillery.

Lightning Artillery is exhausted and the Axis Ar-

tillery Total is increased to 2.



EXAMPLE SKIRMISH (CONTINUED)

1B. THE ALLIES COMMIT ARTILLERY

The Allies commit Anti-Tank Battery and Heavy

Artillery to the Artillery Step and increase the Al-

lied Artillery Total to 3.

1C. THE AXIS APPLIES ARTILLERY DAMAGE

The Axis player chooses to apply the Artillery

damage from the Axis Artillery Total as follows:

• The Axis “pins” (exhausts) Alpini Regiment,

satisfying 2 damage since Alpini Regiment has

2 Endurance.

• The Axis places 1 damage marker on Light-

ning Artillery, which destroys it (since it has 1

Endurance).

The Allied Artillery Total has been satisfied.

1C. THE ALLIES APPLY ARTILLERY DAMAGE

The Allies player chooses to apply the Artillery

damage from the Allied Artillery Total as follows:

• The Allies “pin” (exhausts) Battlefleld Veter-

ans, satisfying 2 damage since Batttlefield

Veterans has 2 Endurance.

The Axis Artillery Total has been satisfied.




2. THE AXIS FORMS ATTACKING FORMATIONS

The Axis player chooses to form three separate

formations:

• Formation A contains two copies of Heer Re-

servists.

• Formation B contains one copy of Light Pan-

zer Regiment.

• Formation C contains one copy of German

Armored Patrol.

3. THE ALLIES FORM DEFENDING FORMATIONS

The Allies player chooses to form one formation:

• Formation A contains one copy of ·600th Ar-

mored Brigade and one copy of British Expe-

ditionary Forces (BEF) (B).

4. THE ALLIES ASSIGN DEFENDERS

As defender, the Allies choose to assign their For-

mation A to defend against Axis Formation A,

leaving Axis Formation B and Axis Formation C

undefended.




5. FORMATIONS SKIRMISH

Allies Formation A and Axis Formation A skirmish.

Allies Formation A has a total of 5 Firepower.

Axis Formation A has a total of 4 Firepower.

The Allies’ formation wins the skirmish, and each

unit in the losing Axis formation is given 1 damage

marker.

Both copies of Heer Reservists are destroyed (as

each only has 1 Endurance).

The Allies, as the winner of the skirmish, must

choose to place 1 damage marker on a unit in the

winning formation.

The Allies choose to place 1 damage marker on

British Expeditionary Forces (BEF) (B).

British Expeditionary Forces (BEF) (B) remains

alive, as it has 2 Endurance.

6. BREAKTHROUGH

Axis Formation B and Axis Formation C “break

through” the Allies’ defenses.

The total Firepower of all breakthrough for-

mations equals 4.

The Allies destroy the top 4 cards of their Re-

serves.

After this step, the Battle concludes.



iii. Defending Formations

The defending player creates one or more defending for-

mations from his or her available (recovered) units in the

same way as the attacking player (see above).

iv. Defenses Assigned

Each of the defending formations must be assigned to de-

fend against a single attacking formation to join battle in a

“skirmish.”

The defending player cannot assign more than one defend-

ing formation to each attacking formation. If there are more

defending formations than attacking formations after each

attacking formation has been defended against, the excess

defending formations remain exhausted and they do not

participate in the Exchange of Fire step (as described below).

If the attacking player has assigned an attacking formation to

attack a defending formation as its attack target, the defend-

ing player may assign an additional “reinforcement” for-

mation to help defend; the new units in the newly created

defending formation are added to the formation of the

attacked defending formation to form a new, larger defend-

ing formation.

v. Skirmish

In the order of the attacking player’s choosing, each pair of

joined formations “exchange fire.” The total Firepower of

each side in a joined skirmish is calculated.

The formation with the lowest total Firepower is the “losing”

formation and each unit in the losing formation is given 1

damage marker. The formation with the highest total Fire-

power is the “winning” formation and only 1 unit (owner’s

choice) is given 1 damage marker.

If the total Firepower on both sides is tied, the skirmish is

considered a “tie” (with neither a “winner” or a “loser”), and

both the attacking and defending player choose 1 of the

units in their participating formations to receive 1 damage

marker.

vi. Breakthrough

If any attacking formations were not defended against, the

total Firepower of all units in all undefended attacking for-

mations is totaled.

The defending player destroys (sends to his or her Dead Pile)

1 card from the top of his or her Reserves 1 card for each 1

point of this Firepower total.

Attacking formations and units in them that are undefended

in this way are considered to have “broken through” and the

event is known as a “breakthrough.”

After these steps have been completed, the Battle Phase

ends.

PHASE 6: END

If the turn player has more than seven cards in hand, he or

she must place cards from hand face-down onto his or her

Spent Pile one at a time until his or her hand contains seven

cards.

After this phase is complete, the turn passes to the turn play-

er’s opponent, and that player begins a new turn in which he

or she is the turn player.

KEYWORD ABILITIES

Blitz X: The turn that a unit with Blitz X is played, its Firepow-

er is +X.

Defender X: If at the conclusion of a skirmish, if a unit with

Defender X would be part of a losing defensive formation

that lost by X or less total Firepower, the skirmish is consid-

ered a “draw” instead. If more than one unit has the Defend-

er ability within a single formation, only the unit with the

highest Defender ability applies it. If more than one unit in a

single formation has the Defender ability at a level tied with

one or more other units, in the same formation, the control-

ler of those units chooses which of the units applies the abil-

ity.

Rally X: When a unit with Rally X is deployed, its owner may

draw up to X cards from his or her deck and then place the

same number of cards from his or her hand onto his or her

Spent Pile.

Supply X: A unit with Supply X may be exhausted by its own-

er to provide X supplies.

Transport X: If the owner a unit with Transport X would

“withdraw,” he or she pays X fewer supplies to

“withdraw” (to a minimum cost of 0 supplies).



EXPLAINING ORDERS CARDS FIRST ORDERS CARD

The first Orders card a player puts into play

requires that the player exhaust one supply

card he or she controls and places it under

the Orders card played from hand.

This Orders card and the supply under it

remain in play, turn after turn, until re-

moved from play.

SECOND ORDERS CARD

The second Orders card a player puts into

play, requires that the player exhaust two

supply cards he or she controls and places

these supplies under the second Orders

card.

With two Orders cards in play, the player

now has a total of three supplies cards un-

der his or her Orders.

THIRD ORDERS CARD, ETC.

The third Orders card a player puts into

play, requires that the player exhaust three

supply cards he or she controls and places

these supplies under the third Orders card.

With three Orders cards in play, the player

now has a total of six supplies cards under

his or her Orders.

This pattern continues with each new Or-

ders card put into play.

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