# Combat Commander: Mediterranean

## General Info
- **Year Published**: 2007
- **BGG Rating**: 8.5
- **BGG Rank**: —
- **Players**: 2 (Best with: 2)
- **Duration**: 120 min
- **Weight**: 2.97 / 5
- **Designers**: Chad Jensen
- **Artists**: Chad Jensen, Lee Brimmicombe-Wood, Leland Myrick, Mark Simonitch, Rodger B. MacGowan
- **Publishers**: GMT Games
- **Categories**: Expansion for Base-game, Wargame, World War II
- **Mechanics**: Campaign / Battle Card Driven, Hexagon Grid, Simulation, Variable Phase Order

## Verdict
If you've already dived deep into Combat Commander: Europe, this expansion is an almost mandatory upgrade! It adds new nations with distinct flavors and plenty more scenarios.New nations with unique gameplayMore historical and random scenariosDeepens the base game experienceGreat replayability with new optionsRequires the base Europe gameSignificant language dependencyHIGHLY RECOMMENDED

## Description
If you're already hooked on the adrenaline rush of Combat Commander: Europe, get ready to expand your battlefield! Combat Commander: Mediterranean (CC:M) arrives to supercharge the experience, bringing three new factions to the front: Great Britain & Commonwealth, France & Allied Minors, and Italy & Axis Minors. Each of these new nations comes with its own 72-card Fate Deck, reflecting their unique historical strengths and weaknesses. Think of the British with their sharp marksmanship, the Italians with a higher chance of surrender when things get tough, or the French with quality orders and events, but with a limited discard capability. 

In addition to new units and cards, CC:M adds 12 brand-new scenarios, many exploring the fighting from 1939 and 1940. And for those who love replayability, the random scenario generator has been updated to include these new nations and maps, promising an almost endless variety of combat situations. The game also offers a complete manifest of all Fate Cards from both volumes I and II, plus point values for all units and equipment, making it easier to create your own scenarios. But be warned: CC:M is not a standalone game; it REQUIRES Combat Commander: Europe to play. If you're looking for more depth and variety for your World War II battles, this expansion is a must-have!

## How to Play
Game Objective
Combat Commander is a series of card-driven tactical board games that simulate World War II infantry combat. In this volume, one player takes on the role of the Axis (Germany) while the other commands the Allies (America or Russia). Players take turns playing one or more Fate Cards from their hands to activate their Units on the map for various military functions.
Players attempt to achieve victory by moving their combat Units across the map to attack the opponent’s Units and occupy as many Objectives as possible. A player’s success or failure is measured by scenario-specific Objective markers, the destruction of enemy Units, and the exiting of friendly Units off the opponent’s map edge. A player generally wins the game by having more Victory Points (VPs) than their opponent when the game ends.

Setup
Refer to the manual for details on this section.

Game Flow
A game of Combat Commander begins with one of the players (as specified by the scenario) conducting the first Turn. When he is done – and draws cards up to his Hand Size – the opposing player conducts his first Turn. These Turns then alternate until a Sudden Death Test or other occurrence ends the game.
A Turn consists of a player choosing between:

    Performing one or more Orders by playing cards from their hand; or
    Discarding any number of Fate Cards.

At the end of each Turn, the active player (only) must draw Fate Cards from the top of their draw deck until the number of cards in their hand equals their Hand Size.
Time Marker Advance
The Time Marker advances one space on the Time Track (located on the Tracks Display) whenever:

    A Time! trigger is rolled; or
    A player reveals/draws the last card of their draw deck: treat such an occurrence exactly as if a Time! trigger had been rolled.

It advances only once – not twice – if the last card of a player’s deck is revealed for a die roll resulting in a Time! trigger.
Immediately after advancing the Time Marker, normal play is paused for the following steps to be executed:

    The player who triggered the Time Advance (only) shuffles their deck and discard pile together to form a new draw deck.
    The player who triggered the trigger makes a Sudden Death Test, if appropriate.

Then, if the game has not ended due to Sudden Death, execute the following four steps in the order shown:

    The Defender (only) gains 1 VP.
    The player who triggered the trigger (only) must remove any Smoke markers from the map.
    If there are one or more Units in the space now occupied by the Time Marker, the owning player(s) place(s) them into play as reinforcements, positioning them in any hex(es) along their friendly map edge (inactive player first). Stacking limits must be observed. Any reinforcing Radio is placed in that player’s (empty) Artillery Box.
    Both players may play “Dig In” Actions.

Once the above six steps have been completed in their entirety, normal play resumes where it left off.

Actions and How to Play
Fate Cards are the heart of the game. Once the game begins, no action can be taken on the map by any player – whether via Order or Action – without a Fate Card in hand that allows it. While a Fate Card is in a player’s hand, only its Order or Action may be declared; everything else (from the Event down) is ignored.
Orders
Orders are listed at the top of each Fate Card. A player may only play a card for its Order during their own Turn, and may never announce more Orders in a Turn than their Order Capacity. If a card is played for its Order, it is immediately placed in that player’s discard pile – the Action on that card could not be played until the next time it was drawn into the player’s hand.
The available Orders are:

    Pass (discard): If a player opts not to perform Orders on their Turn, they may instead discard any number of cards up to, but not exceeding, the discard capacity of the nation they are commanding (as shown on the player aid sheet).
    Advance: Refer to the manual for details on this section.
    Artillery Denied: Refer to the manual for details on this section.
    Artillery Request: Refer to the manual for details on this section.
    Command Confusion: Refer to the manual for details on this section.
    Fire: Refer to the manual for details on this section.
    Move: Refer to the manual for details on this section.
    Recover: Refer to the manual for details on this section.
    Withdraw: Refer to the manual for details on this section.

Actions
Actions are listed just below the picture on each Fate Card or, in the case of Opportunity Fire (Op Fire), at the top of the card. A player may play a card for its Action at any time during either player’s Turn, provided its prerequisite is met. If a card is played for its Action, it is immediately placed in that player’s discard pile – the Order on that card could not be played until the next time it was drawn into the player’s hand.
There is no limit to the number of Actions a player may perform during either player’s Turn, other than the number of cards in hand.
Events
Events are listed below the Action on each Fate Card. Events are never played from hand, voluntarily or otherwise – only from the top of the draw deck, and only at random intervals due to certain die rolls.
Die Rolls and Triggers
“Actual dice” are not used in Combat Commander. Instead, whenever a “roll” is called for, the player reveals the top card of their draw deck and only the two dice are consulted; everything else on the card is ignored. When such a roll is made, the two dice are summed to arrive at a total (exception: during an Aim Test, the dice are multiplied).
Many die rolls are surrounded by a thick red box with the word Event!, Jam!, Sniper! or Time! inside; these are called “triggers.” These four triggers immediately and temporarily pause normal play to perform a specific task. Normal play resumes after the trigger is resolved in its entirety.

    Event! Trigger: Whenever a player makes a die roll and that roll is surrounded by a red box with the word “Event!” inside, normal play is paused to execute that Event. The player who rolled the Event! trigger reveals the top card of their draw deck and, ignoring everything else, reads aloud and executes the Event on that card.
    Jam! Trigger: Whenever a player makes a Fire Attack Roll (only; no other roll will trigger a Jam!, including Aim) and that roll is surrounded by a red box with the word “Jam!” inside, all Weapons that are firing become Broken.
    Sniper! Trigger: Whenever a player makes a die roll and that roll is surrounded by a red box with the word “Sniper!” inside, normal play is paused to resolve that Sniper. The player who rolled the Sniper! trigger reveals the top card of their draw deck and, ignoring everything else, reads aloud the Random Hex on that card. That player may then select a Unit in that hex or adjacent to it and break it.
    Time! Trigger: Whenever a player makes a die roll and that roll is surrounded by a red box with the word “Time!” inside, normal play is paused to perform a Time Marker Advance.

Line of Sight (LOS)
Generally, a Unit in one hex must be able to “see” a Unit in another hex in order to fire at it. An LOS “check” is made by stretching a string between the center point of the “spotter” hex and the center point of the “target” hex. If the string touches the physical representation of a terrain Obstacle or Difficulty in an intervening hex, that LOS is blocked or hindered, respectively.

    Obstacles: Any terrain with the “ ” symbol in its LOS column of the Terrain Chart is termed an “Obstacle.” A Unit in one hex cannot see a Unit in another hex if that LOS is blocked by an Obstacle.
    Difficulties: Some terrain is too sparse or too low to be considered a complete obstacle to LOS, and is therefore termed a “Difficulty” because it hinders fire traced through it to another hex, rather than preventing fire altogether.

Leaders
A Leader’s Command Ability is added directly to the Firepower (FP), Range, Movement, and Moral of all friendly Squads and Teams (only) as long as those Units are in the same hex as the Leader – even if the Leader himself is not activated. This effect is cumulative if two or more Leaders occupy the same hex. Leaders can never affect themselves or other Leaders.
A Leader’s Command Ability is added directly to the FP and Range of each friendly Weapon without a white stripe that is being carried by a non-Leader Unit, provided that Unit is in the same hex as the Leader – even if the Leader himself is not activated. This effect is cumulative if two or more Leaders occupy the same hex.

End of Game and Scoring
A game of Combat Commander generally ends in one of four ways:

    A player is forced to place one of their eliminated Units into the Casualty Track space occupied by their Surrender Marker.
    A player’s last remaining Unit on the map is eliminated.
    A player’s last remaining Unit on the map voluntarily exits the map.
    A Sudden Death Test is made and the result is less than the number in the space currently occupied by the Time Marker.

If the first or second situation above occurs, that player immediately and automatically loses the game, regardless of VP totals. If both players lose simultaneously in this manner, the player who owns the Initiative Card breaks the tie and wins the game.
If the third or fourth situation above occurs and the first two situations do not apply, players must reveal any Secret Objective markers and award their VPs to the current controller. Then, the player with the highest VP total – i.e., the VP Marker is on their side of the “0” space – wins the game. If the VP Marker is on the “0” space, the player who owns the Initiative Card wins the game.
Victory Points
VPs are gained in three ways:

    Elimination of Enemy Units: When a Unit is eliminated, the opponent receives a certain number of VPs for it:
        
            A Squad is worth 2 VPs.
            A Team is worth 1 VP.
            A Leader (exception: Hero) is worth 1 VP plus 1 VP for each point of Command on its un-broken side.
            A Hero is worth zero VPs.
        
    
    Exiting Friendly Units off the Opponent’s Map Edge: An advancing or moving Unit may exit the map – at a cost of 1 Movement Point (MP) – off the opponent’s map edge. The owning player immediately receives Exit VPs for the Unit that exited.
    Control of Objectives on the Map: Each of the five Objectives on each map may be worth one or more VPs, depending on the Objective Markers in play. Objectives are worth zero VPs by default. Two-sided Control Markers are used to indicate which side currently controls each Objective on the map. Once the game begins, the last player to have exclusively occupied an Objective must place/flip the Control Marker within that Objective to match the nationality they are commanding.

Objective Markers are generally drawn randomly and are used to determine additional scenario-specific victory conditions, usually in the form of assigning a VP value to one or more map Objectives.
Open Objectives award their VPs immediately during the game, while Secret Objectives generally award their points at game end (or whenever they are revealed). Whenever an Open Objective changes ownership on the map, remember to first subtract its value from its old controller before adding its value to the new controller’s Victory Points – in this way, an Objective worth 4 VPs would cause an eight-point swing when it changes hands.

Tips for Winning

    Card Management: Fate Cards are crucial. Decide wisely when to use a card for its

## FAQ
### Do I need Combat Commander: Europe to play this expansion?
Yes, absolutely! Combat Commander: Mediterranean is not a standalone game; it functions as an expansion and requires you to own Combat Commander: Europe to play.

### How many players can participate?
Just like the base game, this expansion is designed for 2 players to face off in intense battles.

### How long does a game typically last?
Games tend to be long, with an estimated playtime of 120 to 120 minutes, so set aside a good chunk of time for your campaign.

### Is the game in English? Do I need a translation?
Yes, the game is primarily in English, with many cards and rules. A good understanding of the language or translated reference material is essential for play.

### What new nations are added?
The expansion introduces Great Britain & Commonwealth, France & Allied Minors, and Italy & Axis Minors, each with their own unique Fate Deck of cards.

### What does the game add besides the new nations?
It includes 12 new historical scenarios, an updated random scenario generator, and detailed information on all units and cards from volumes I and II.

### Is it a complex game?
With a BGG weight of 2.97/5, it's considered a moderately complex wargame, simulating war well without being overly complicated for fans of the genre.

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