Brothers In Arms - the card game

Brothers in Arms is an intense, fully playable-in-hand solo wargame set in occupied Normandy. You command a squad of six British soldiers on a desperate mission to eliminate an enemy outpost and prevent German reinforcements from changing the fate of the entire Allied campaign. Isolated and cut off from all help, every decision counts.

What Makes Brothers in Arms Unique

The game is fully playable in hand with just 18 cards—no table or additional accessories needed, making it perfect for gaming anywhere. While the rulebook is comprehensive and detailed, don't let its length intimidate you. Once you become familiar with the core rules and understand how movement within the deck works, the game becomes elegantly simple. The extensive manual reflects the designer's commitment to detailed explanations rather than actual game complexity.

Core Gameplay

You control six specialized soldiers—Squad Leader, Assistant Squad Leader, Demolition Specialist, Radio Operator, Sniper, and Scout—in tactical combat against enemy forces. Manage your action cards wisely to move tactically, take cover on varied terrain (from villages to forests to bunkers), and engage enemies at different ranges. The enemy AI automatically scales in difficulty and can retreat or reinforce itself based on the deck sequence—creating genuine uncertainty and tension with every turn.

Combat is resolved through card-based tests that factor in terrain bonuses and suppression mechanics. Soldiers can be killed or suppressed, forcing you to adapt your strategy. Your soldiers have unique abilities: call in air strikes, use sniper precision, deploy grenades, coordinate suppressive fire, and rally suppressed troops.

Victory and Defeat

Annihilate all enemy forces to win the battle. But watch out—you lose if you take catastrophic casualties, both leaders fall, the enemy breaks through your lines, all surviving soldiers are suppressed, or the enemy manages to escape.

Three Challenging Missions

Beyond the standard skirmish, play alternative missions for completely different objectives: rescue a trapped soldier and extract him to safety in Saving Private X, capture and hold a strategic village in Village Capture, or steal classified enemy documents and escape in Enemy Plan. Each mission dramatically changes your strategy and victory conditions.

Why Play

A truly solo experience where the enemy isn't predictable, every decision carries weight, and games play in 10-30 minutes. Perfect for portable gaming—on a train, in a café, or during a lunch break. Strategic depth rivals traditional board games despite its minimalist hand-playable design. Replayable through difficulty scaling and mission variety.

Use of AI content

All illustrations—on the box and cards—have been AI-generated. The designer cannot draw. At all. Rather than subject you to terrible sketches, AI handled the illustrations while the designer focused entirely on what they're actually good at—the game itself. If you're an artist interested in improving these illustrations, please reach out. Seriously.