FOREIGN LEGION
CARD GAME

DESCRIPTION

The Sheik of AS Q'ARA. an imaginary desert State, knows that secret preparations are being made for a rebellion in his country. He, therefore, asks the Foreign Legion to loan him a small body of trained Security men to discover the rebels' plans.

Each player represents a Foreign Legionnaire on his mission to AS Q'ARA. It is the mission of each player to locate and observe the rebel organisations, which are smuggling arms and military equipment into AS Q'ARA. To do this he must have information supplied by contacts.

The pack consists of:

1. 2 complete maps of AS Q'ARA (each map consists of 4 cards marked 1, 2, 3, 4 on the backs). The country is divided into 64 oblong sections, marked on the maps, each section having a letter in a coloured square. These letters are repeated on the CARDS (see next para.) and the colours are repeated on the card borders.

2. 26 cards with a LETTER and NUMBER in their top left corners and with various coloured borders. Each illustrates a "nest" of rebels. The area of AS Q'ARA in which they are located can be seen by finding on the map the corresponding letter in the same colour as the card border.

3. 2 SPY cards, marked * in the top left corner. These cards indicate the gaining of vitally important information in the 2 areas on the map marked with corresponding * signs and colours.

NOTE. To simplify finding on the map the letters matching the cards, they appear in the following pattern:—

Reading the map from top to bottom, beginning top-left corner, the first and last columns read— REVOLT IS VERY NEAR. The other columns, starting with "A" at the top of the second, continue in alphabetical order to the end of the last-but-one column, the two * signs being inserted in addition.

THE GAME

OBJECT

To play a fixed number of cards having the highest points value.

DEAL

1. Take out the 8 Map Cards and form these on the table into 2 complete maps; the numbers on the back, also the white borders, will guide you in this. Each player should be able easily to see a map.

2. Shuffle the rest of the cards and deal face-down, as follows:—

Place the remainder of the pack in the centre of the table, face-down.

PLAY

Players take up their cards and arrange them in their hands in order of points value (points= numbers in the top left corners), with the highest number to the left, SPY cards and UNSUCCESSFUL SEARCH cards to the right.

Those cards bearing letters and numbers will be referred to in the rules as MISSION cards, as they represent the result of the players' missions—the discovery of what is pictured on the cards. Unsuccessful Search cards will be referred to as U/S cards.

The object is to play, by placing face-up in a row on the table, a number of cards which varies according to the number of players:

If 2 players, 6 cards must be played*

If 3 players, 5 cards must be played*

If 4 players, 4 cards must be played*

*In each case one SPY card may be played in addition (See Page 14).

FIRST PLAYER

The player on the left of the dealer begins. He must play one of his cards (except a SPY) if he can do so. As his final score will be the total of the numbers on the cards he has played, he will first consider the MISSION cards bearing the highest numbers. He will also study the map, as follows:—

1. The letters on the map-sections are the same as the letters on the cards, and their colours are the same as the card borders. When the player has chosen the card he wants lo play, he notes its letter and the colour of the border, then looks at the map and finds the map-section having the same letter in the same colour.

2. Before he can play the Mission card he must first establish that he has a "contact" card in his hand (to show he has received information from contacts in the area). He now, therefore, looks at the map-sections which adjoin the map section of the card he wants to play.* He notes their LETTERS irrespective of colour, and sees whether any of the cards in his hand bears any of these letters. If so, this card is a "contact" card and he now plays the Mission card by placing it face-up on the table before him. He shows the "contact" card to the other players to prove he has one, and replaces it in his hand.

N.B.

*(a) The adjoining map-sections are the ones immediately above, below, to right and to left; NOT those which adjoin diagonally. Mostly there are 4 adjoining sections but in some cases, e.g., around the edges of the map there are only 2 or 3.

(b) U/S Cards are played exactly as numbered (Mission) cards, though they do not score points when played. A player must not "pass" if he can only play a U/S card. It may pay him to play one in order to be first to complete the game.

He may find he has more than one "contact" card in his hand. It does not matter which one he shows.

If he has no "contact" card for the first card he wants to play (which would be that with the highest number on it) he will consider each of his cards in turn, including U/S cards, exactly as above, until he sees one which has.

He has now completed one "mission", that is, he has discovered u rebel "nest". His turn is ended and passes to the player on his left.

If he holds no card which is a "contact" to any of the cards in his hand, he cannot play, and he takes into his hand the top card from the face-down pack in the centre of the (able. He then discards one card from his hand (which may be the one he picked up) face-up beside the centre pack. This constitutes his turn. He must not play, at this turn, the card he picked up.

SUCCEEDING PLAYERS

The next player plays in the same way. In succeeding rounds, cards when played are placed beside and to the right of any already played.

If the centre pack is used up before the end of the game, the dealer takes up the discard pack, shuffles it, and replaces it face-down in the centre of the table when it becomes a fresh "centre pack".

NOTE.

1. "Drawing and Discarding" only take place when a player cannot play. At the end of every turn the cards in the player's hand plus those on the table in front of him equal the number of cards originally dealt to him. Cards are drawn only from the face-down pack, not from the discards.

2. Only cards in the hand can be used as Contact cards. Avoid if you can, therefore, playing a card which could be better used as a Contact card to another more valuable card, especially to a SPY card.

3. SPY cards. A player may play only ONE of these during the game. II he is dealt (or acquires by drawing) both SPIES, he must discard one of them at the first opportunity, i.e., when first he has to discard. A SPY card need not be played until the player wishes to play it, even if it is the only card in his hand that he could play.

A SPY card is played exactly as any other (by showing a correct Contact card). When played, its effect is to DOUBLE THE POINTS VALUE of the player's card(s) which are ALREADY ON THE TABLE. It is therefore a very useful card and a player would try to play as many other cards as possible before playing his SPY; at the same time it could be risky to keep it too long as another player may finish the game before him, and the opportunity of playing the SPY would be lost.

Cards played AFTER the SPY are not doubled in value.

A SPY card may not be used as a Contact card.

The SPY card, when played, does not count towards the number of cards required to finish the game, e.g., with 4 players, the game ends when a player has played 4 cards, but if he plays a SPY, he must play 5 cards (4+the SPY).

END OF GAME

The game ends as soon as any player has "completed his mission" —that is, when he has played the correct number of cards. Cards left in the hands of all players do not count.

SCORING

Each player adds up the numbers shown on the cards he has played.

(i.e. those on the table before him), doubling the values of those cards played before a SPY card, if he played one. U/S cards have no score value.

The player who "completed his mission" is given 200 points extra.

The highest scorer is the winner.

An agreed number of games can be played, to see who wins the most games: alternatively, scores can be recorded and the player with the highest total score after an agreed number of games is the outright winner.

Collect, shuffle and deal all the cards (except maps) before each new game.

 

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