Brothers In Arms: The Card Game

Brothers in Arms is a compact, solo tactical wargame set during World War II, designed to be played entirely in-hand without requiring a table. Players command a squad of six British soldiers on a desperate mission in occupied Normandy, facing numerically superior enemy forces. The objective is to eliminate all enemy combatants before they destroy or disperse your squad. Featuring no dice, the game uses printed random values on cards to resolve all tests.

Theme & Setting

Isolated from all support, a six-man British squad advances through the ruins of occupied Normandy seeking a critical enemy outpost. Cut off from reinforcements and outnumbered, these soldiers must rely on tactics, teamwork, and courage to survive—or risk being annihilated or scattered by German forces.

Core Gameplay

The game uses a unified deck system where the same card deck serves as the Player's available actions, the Enemy's AI automaton, and the source of all randomness. Players manage six named soldiers with individual abilities, while the Enemy operates through an automated system. No dice are needed—all uncertainty is resolved through printed values on cards, with constant tension maintained by discarding the visible card before reading future results.

Victory & Defeat Conditions

 The Player wins by reducing the Enemy Level to 0.

The Player loses if:

 Five of six soldiers are killed
 The squad's two senior leaders are both killed
 The Enemy successfully escapes beyond maximum range while in Withdraw mode
 All remaining soldiers are suppressed and unable to act

Key Mechanics

Distance & Positioning

Distance ranges from 0 (melee) to 4 (maximum). The Player controls movement strategy, while the Enemy typically advances under normal conditions. Strategic tension emerges from choosing whether to engage at close range for powerful effects or maintain distance for tactical advantages.

Terrain & Combat

Terrain cards provide asymmetric attack and defense modifiers. Villages, hills, forests, bunkers, swamps, and open fields create meaningful positional choices. Squads in movement suffer penalties to both attack and defense, incentivizing tactical positioning.

Squad Management

Each soldier possesses unique abilities and can become suppressed, losing effectiveness until recovered. The tension between aggression and unit preservation drives decision-making throughout the game.

Mission Variants

Three narrative missions alter objectives and add replayability: recovering a downed soldier, capturing a strategic location, and infiltrating to retrieve intelligence. Each modifies setup, victory conditions, and core rules.

Why Play

Brothers in Arms appeals to players seeking:

 Tactical solo wargaming in a truly portable format
 Strategic decision-making through resource management
 Mechanical elegance and coherence
 Emergent narrative and high replayability
 Challenging gameplay where every choice matters

—description from the designer