Operation IceBridge: The Game
Basic Rules
Up to five people can play. Whoever collects the most data units within three rounds wins.
Every turn in which someone is flying, collect a card when it is your turn (or if it would have been your turn if you were flying). Depending on the card, you can play it immediately on someone else, play it for yourself, or put it in your hand. You always have the option of putting the card in your hand, but you don’t always have the option of playing the card immediately.
A round refers to the players flying their missions. Each round consists of several turns, depending on how many turns are required to complete the missions. Most missions (rounds) will last five turns.
At the beginning of the game, each player draws five cards into their hand.
At the beginning of a round, roll to see who goes first for the round. Starting with the first person and going to the left, each player draws a Flight Plan. The Flight Plan will tell you how many turns your flight is as well as any other rules pertaining to that flight. Every person draws a mission card before anything else happens. After everyone has drawn a mission card, players can play their crew member cards. Then other cards can be played.
The first person will start their turn. They draw a card and play it or not. If no cards are played or no effects occur, that person collects one data unit for that turn (modifiers can affect the number of data units collected).
The cards are divided into categories: Mechanics, Pilots, Instrument Team, Ground Team, Actions, Effects.
Actions include instrument failures, aircraft equipment failures, weather problems, etc. Instrument, aircraft, or ground equipment failures must be repaired; no data is collected until the equipment is repaired. To repair equipment, roll two dice. If you roll above a 7, the equipment is fixed. Otherwise, no data is collected that turn. In-flight weather problems can be avoided by rolling above a 10 on two dice.
Mechanics add their skill level to your dice roll when fixing aircraft equipment failures. Pilots add their skill level to avoiding in-flight weather problems. Instrument team members add their skill level to your dice roll when fixing instrument problems. Ground team members add their skill level to your dice roll to fix ground problems.
Weather delays must be played before a flight starts. Delays will last two turns unless the card states otherwise.
Effects can alter the skill level of the mechanics, pilots, instrument team members, and ground team members.
Unless stated otherwise, an effect on a crew member will last until the end of the round. Any aircraft or instrument failures will be fixed at the end of the round, unless stated otherwise.
Crew member cards can only be played when you are not in-flight. Crew members can be traded when they are not in-flight.
Turn Order
At the beginning of a turn, draw a card. Anyone can play a card until the player whose turn it is announces that they are rolling to fix any problems they have.