Battlelines™ Glossary

CREDITS

Many thanks are extended to those folk that have asked the questions and posted the answers in order to make this a better game. Further thanks to Tom Kassel and Fen Yan for their contribution to the Glossary. The Q&A file was produced by Walt Mulder and edited by Jeff Billings.

Index

CARD TEXT INDEX

CARD TERMS INDEX

Chance Number
Control Cost
Cover Modifiers
Defense Modifiers
Helmet
Square
Shield
Hexagon
Diamond Symbol
Group Symbol
Hit #
Hold on ###
Hit Symbols:
Location Restrictions
Orders
Result Bar

GENERAL TERMS INDEX

Card Text

Advance:: Move a card or stack of cards from a friendly-controlled location to an adjacent enemy-controlled location.
Assemble:: Place any number of Formation and/or Attachment cards from the hand to stack at a location. All friendly cards at the location must meet the requirements for stacking.
Barrage:: Allows an indirect fire attack by a formation against an enemy formation in the same location or adjacent location if the formation is an Artillery card.
Bomb:: Aircraft makes an attack without a second fire response by the target enemy formation. The attack can be made in any location that the Aircraft can spot the target (Target Cover # or less).
Cancel:: Card of the indicated type is cancelled before it can attack.
Combat:: Allows a Formation card to attack.
Combat if Defender:: A formation in the Defend position makes an Attack and is awarded First Fire. This award of First Fire without a competitive draw represents hidden sighted guns covering the lines of approach that can engage the enemy with a measure of choice in the action.
Commit:: A Formation card of exactly the same group as the headquarters card may be retrieved from the discard pile and stacked with the headquarters card. This represents a regimental command mustering its forces to accomplish the mission it is committed to perform.
Eliminate card:: Indicated card is placed in the discard pile or in the victory point pile if it is an enemy card with a victory point symbol.
Enemy Discards:: Your opponent discards the type of card indicated if it is in his hand.
Enemy Sets Orders:: Your opponent resets his orders to the number indicated.
Enemy Wastes:: Your opponent takes the indicated number of cards from his Unit Deck and places them into the discard pile.
Flank:: Allows a formation to occupy a Flank position.
Forage:: Player draws an extra card or cards.
In Contact:: The enemy target formation is in the same location as your formations.
Infiltrate:: Allows a formation to occupy an Infiltration position.
Initiative:: The player makes indicated number of Orders Checks and adds that total to his orders for the turn.
Interdict:: Aircraft makes a shock attack against an unengaged enemy formation.
March:: Move a formation or stack of formations to an adjacent friendly-controlled location.
Observer:: Call in an indirect fire attack from a Formation card with indirect fire capability, even if already marked. Only Artillery formations may fire on enemy formations in an adjacent location. Non-artillery units with an indirect fire capability may only attack in the same location.
Plan:: Player rearranges indicated number of the top cards in the Unit Deck. Planning is not considered Drawing cards.
Shock Attack:: Allows a card to make a Shock attack. The Shock Combat check determines if the attack succeeds, with a (-) Combat Check value causing the attack to miss completely.
Strike:: Aircraft makes a shock attack against an enemy formation card in contact.

Card Terms

Chance Number:: The number in a die symbol on the lower left corner of the cards. It is used to determine success or failure of various actions during the game, particularly Chance Checks.
Control Cost:: A white flag symbol with a number on a location card. If present, it represents the amount of orders that must be expended at one time to change the locations controlling side.
Cover Modifiers:: A tree symbol with a number that represent or increases the amount of cover in a location or for a given formation.
Defense Modifiers:: Defense modifiers are symbols on cards that apply to increasing the defensive total of defending formation. The symbols are Helmet, Shield, Square, and Hexagon.
Helmet:: Defensive modifier applied to the defense of a formation. Attachment cards add this value to the formation their formations defense. Helmet defense modifiers on Battlefield cards apply to formations occupying the Defend position of a Location. The helmets on a Location card apply to all formations in the position they occupy at a Location card.
Square:: Defensive modifier applied to all formations in a stack at a location. A stack occupies a position.
Shield:: The defensive value for armored units. This symbol may also be present in a location giving a negative modifier to the defense value of armored units.
Hexagon:: The defensive value for unarmored and other soft targets.
Diamond Symbol:: A Group Symbol that represents “wild card symbol” that may be stacked with other cards having Diamond and/or one other Group Symbol.
Group Symbol:: The symbol in the upper left corner of a Formation card or Attachment card representing the same military organization. Only units with the same Group Symbol and/or a Diamond symbol may reside together in a stack.
Hit #:: Text on the Result Bar that represents the number of hits a formation has taken from a combat result.
Hold on ###:: Text on the Result Bar that determines if a formation remains in position. Not drawing a matching Chance Check causes the formation to be withdrawn. Any results with # Hit in the result bar are withdrawn with the lost formation.
Hit Symbols:: A national emblem in a circle that determines the number of hits a formation can withstand before being eliminated. If a formation has as many hit results attached as are available in the formation, the formation is destroyed and awarded as victory points to the formations opponent. (i.e. A formation with 4 Hit Symbols requires a total of 4 or more Hit results to destroy the formation.)
Location Restrictions:: Symbols on location cards (Bridge, Parachute, Railroad Engine) that place restrictions on certain cards for play on those locations containing such symbols.
Orders:: The base number of actions allotted to a player in a given turn. The number of orders is found in an envelope symbol in the lower right hand corner of a card.
Result Bar:: A bar at the bottom of each card with inverted text that determines whether a unit is hit or holds.

General Terms

Attachment:: A card category made up of Company cards and Leader cards. The Attachment cards have a purple border. One Company card and or one Leader card can be attached to a Formation card.
Attacker:: Any card or side executing Combat is called “attacker”, “attacking card”, or “attacking side”.
Chance Check:: A Chance check is performed by drawing a card and referring to the Chance Number. If the Chance Number on the card pulled is the same as the Chance Check required by a card action, the Chance Check passes and the action or text may be performed. If the number does not match, the Chance Check fails. Chance Checks are shown on the cards by using a small die with a number in it if the Chance Check is required for the use of a line of card text. When a formation is attempting to Hold on #,#,# a single Chance Check must match the common number on all results cards.
Check:: Any time a check called for in the Battlelines™, the card providing the check value is drawn from the unit deck and discarded into the discard pile after the check number is used.
Contact:: If a location contains formations from both sides, those formations are “in contact.”
Control:: The player in control of a location has the defend position of the location readable by the player that holds the location. Control of a location is gained by having unengaged formations in a location and paying any required Control Cost to take control of the location.
Defender:: Any formation being attacked is a defender and may be referred to as the “defender,” “defending side” or “target.”
Discard Pile:: A place next to the draw pile where played cards are placed after use or discard. Players may examine their own discard pile at any time.
Draw:: The action of taking a card from your Unit Deck or Reinforcement Deck and placing it in your hand.
Draw Pile:: This is where your shuffled Unit Deck of cards is placed (face down) at the start of a mission/game. Formation: A group of cards consisting of a single Formation card and up to one attached Leader card and/or Company card.
Formation Card:: A category of card (blue or gold border) representing of Troop cards, Headquarters cards, or Artillery cards.
Location:: A named card placed at random or as directed by a Mission card. Locations have 4 positions: Attack, Defend, Infiltrate, and Flank.
Position:: One of four sides of a Location card where formations may reside.
Attack Position:: This is the ground the enemy has to cross to approach the location.
Defend Position:: This is the best ground to defend the location.
Infiltrate Position:: This is the ground crossed to approach the location by stealth.
Flank Position:: This is the ground crossed to approach the location by maneuver.
Stack:: A stack is a single formation or group of formations that reside in one position of a Location card. There may be any number of formations in a stack located in a defend or attack position of a Location card. Only one formation may reside in a flank or infiltrate position of a Location card.
Stacking:: The placement of more than one formation card (including any attachments) from a side in the same location. Cards stacked in one location must all have the same Group Symbol and/or Diamond Symbol.
Target:: The formation being attacked.
Top Formation:: Stacks have a top formation which is used for targeting attacks, strikes, bombings, etcetera. The top formation of the stack is the most exposed formation.
Unengaged:: A location containing formations from only one side. Formations that are unengaged may or may not be in control of the location.
Unit:: All cards in a deck from the same primary organization and one higher headquarters organization.
Victory Point Pile:: A place where an opponent’s eliminated cards, captured locations with victory point value and completed mission cards and the winning location cards are kept for victory point accounting.
Withdrawal Area: An area behind the lines where you place withdrawn units/formations.