Nuclear War (card game)

Secrets and propaganda cards are resolved immediately upon being exposed, while missile launches take more than one turn to properly set up.

A truly successful attack reduces the target player's population; (bomb shelters and other civil defenses may mitigate against this); when a player's population reaches zero due to nuclear war, they may launch an immediate retaliatory attack (called "final retaliation") but they are noted as defeated.

Hence, in some cases, many players can be defeated in a series of tragedy in a single turn (via this mutual assured destruction method).

Also, if the one and only 100-megaton bomb is exploded full force (not a "MIRV" device) and strikes a nuclear stockpile (very unlikely), a chain reaction ensues that destroys all life on the planet: everybody loses.

The delivery systems in the game reflect some of those in the American arsenal at the time each set was released, including the Polaris, Atlas and Saturn rockets.

Other available delivery systems include the XB-70 Valkyrie deep penetration bomber, which had been cancelled several years prior to the base game's release, but which had two operational prototypes at the time; and the Convair B-58 Hustler, out of service for 35 years by the time it was introduced in 2004's Weapons of Mass Destruction.

"[3] In the December 1993 edition of Dragon (Issue 200), Allen Varney considered Nuclear War a classic.

[11] Editor Scott Haring said "Back when people were well-and-truly scared of the possibility of nuclear vaporization (I guess today either the threat is lessened, or it's become old hat), Nuclear War dared to make fun the possibility of mankind's dreaded nightmare via a card game.