Air, Land and Sea: Review
Information:
Mechanics: Card Game, Area Control, Hand Management
Player Age: 14+
Player Count: 2 Players
Time to Play: 15 - 30 Minutes
Game Designer: Jon Perry
Player Age: 14+
Game Designer: Jon Perry
Year Published: 2018
BGG Weight: 1.83Objective:
The war has started and you have to find a way to outmaneuver, outwit and outplay your opponent to gain supremacy in two of the three battlefields; air, land and sea.Card Anatomy:
Theater Cards:
These are the battlefields and they will be set out beside each other. Many battle cards affect the card in any adjacent theatre, the order of these theatres can often affect the cards you will choose to play during your turn.
Battle Cards:
Each battle card will have a strength between one and six and a colour that matches a theatre. Every battle card (except the ones with a strength of six, as they are the strongest cards)
will have either an instant action that occurs whenever the card is played/flipped over and is indicated by the lightning bolt symbol,
or ongoing ability that occurs for as long as the card is face-up and is indicated by the infinity symbol.
Supreme Commander Cards:
These are the turn order cards as well as a nifty guide showing how to surrender.
Scoring Tokens:
These are the victory points that the winner of each round will gain before starting the next round. The first player to 12 points is the victor.Round Set up:
- Randomly place the theatre cards side by side in the middle of the table.- Deal six battle cards to each player.
- Place the other battle cards face down to the side.
- Place the scoring tokens to the side, within reach of all players.
- Deal one supreme commander card to each player, the player with the card that says first player will go first.
How to Play:
Air, Land and Sea is played in a series of rounds. Once a player reaches 12 points the game ends and they will win. Once a round begins the players take turns to perform one of two options: play a card or surrender. Each round will last until both players have played out their hand of cards or will immediately end if a player surrenders.Battle cards are played onto the active players' side of the theater and will partially cover up the last played card in that theater. When playing battle cards there are two options: play the card face up (deploy) or face down (improvise).
When improvising the card can be played on any theater and has a strength of two.
If you deploy, the card can only go to theaters that match the same colour as that battle card. When a card is played face up there will normally be an action associated with that card, these actions will either happen instantly or will remain in play unless the card is flipped over by an effect.
If you choose to surrender you will be handing your opponent the win for that round but you will live to fight another day. Not only that but the winner of the round containing a surrender will receive victory points based on the amount on the supreme commander cards for example on the first player supreme card if you surrender with one card left in your hand the opponent will gain 4 points if you surrender with 4 - 6 cards the opponent will only gain two points. If you do not surrender and lose naturally instead then your opponent will gain six points.
After every round, the winner will gain six points if they win without a surrender, or less points if their is a forfeit. Then a new round will be set up and begin until someone reaches 12 points.
Final Thoughts:
Pros:- The game deepens as the players become more familiar with the cards.
- Easy to learn yet hard to master.
'Air, Land and Sea' is an easy to learn game with few elements to it, however, every time I play I become more and more familiar with the different tactics and it keeps me coming back for more. This replayability comes from the fact that you only have six cards each round to win control over two theaters so you have to effectively manage the order to play the cards and whether you should surrender instead of trying to pursue victory of the round. If you enjoy games that become better the more you play them then this is a game for you and it is staying in my collection as a Go-To Golden Game for that exact reason.
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