📖 WWII GLOBAL STRATEGY — MANUAL

Create an account & log in

On the front page, switch between LOGIN and REGISTER with the tabs. Pick a username (max 20 characters) and a password, then press LOG IN / register. Accounts are stored on this server only.

Install the app on your phone

Tap 📲 Install App on the login screen or 📲 Install in the lobby header. On Android Chrome this opens the native install dialog (give the page a few seconds after loading; it won't work in an Incognito tab). On iPhone/iPad, Apple doesn't allow one-tap installs — the button shows the steps instead: in Safari, tap Share → Add to Home Screen. Installed, the game runs full-screen and can send push notifications.

War Log or buttons hidden? Use the Dock button

On some phones — and especially foldables/tablets — a system taskbar or navigation bar sits over the bottom of the page and can cover the War Log or buttons. Open ☰ MENU and tap ⬍ Dock to raise the whole interface above that bar; tap it again to cycle the bottom margin until everything clears. Your choice is saved for next time. (The button only appears on large Android screens, where this overlap can happen.)

Turn alerts & notifications

Two separate buttons sit in the lobby header (and match the buttons beside Manual / Reports / Info):

• 📢 Notifications — opens your in-app notifications list (game started, your turn, invites, matchmaking seated you, a scramble/canal decision you owe, "you can continue your turn", new chat, game over). The badge shows the unread count; Mark all read clears it.
• 🔔 Turn & chat alerts — opens a small drop-down to turn push notifications on or off. With them on, your phone is pinged for those same events even when the game is closed. (On iPhone/iPad you must first Add to Home Screen — see Install the app on your phone — before push will work.) The same on/off switch also lives on the Info tab inside a game.

You're pinged the moment it's your turn, so you don't have to sit and watch the lobby.

Using this manual

Type any keyword in the search box above — e.g. transport, retreat, kamikaze, friends — and only matching topics stay visible, with the term highlighted. Clear the box to see everything again.

Create a game

Press + Create Game in the lobby. Choose a name, then any options:

• Password — players must enter it to join.
• Friends only — only your friends or invited players can join.
• Matchmaking — quick-join players can be auto-seated into your lobby.
• Ranked — results change ELO ratings and W/L records. Ranked games must be all-human (they refuse to start with AI seats).
• Turn timer — set a real-time limit (in hours) for each turn; running out auto-forfeits you (see Turn timers & auto-forfeit). Ranked games use the admins' site-wide timer instead.
• Independent minors — China, ANZAC and France become separate seats (up to 9 players). Otherwise the USA, UK and USSR operate them (max 6 players).
• Random starting technology — every faction begins with one random tech.
• Commander cards — each faction gets a two-sided general/admiral card with a special ability.
• Event cards — a random world-event card is drawn each round.

You join your own game automatically and land in its pre-game lobby.

Join a game

The 🎲 OPEN GAMES list shows lobbies with free seats — tap one to join (you'll be asked for the password if it has one). Use the search box to filter by name. Tags on each card show its modes (FRIENDS, ⚡ MM, 🎖️ CMDR, 🃏 EVENTS, 9P).

Your games & whose turn it is

Each in-progress game in your lobby list shows whose turn it is right now. When the game is waiting on you — your turn, or a scramble/canal decision you owe someone else — the card gets a red action badge showing how many things need you. Tap straight in to deal with it. (Turning on push alerts means you don't even have to check — your phone tells you.)

Reviewing a finished game

Completed games don't vanish — they move to a 🏁 Finished — Review section in your lobby. Open one to re-enter it read-only: pan the final map, scroll the full war log, and read the results summary (the winning team, every player's faction, and the W/L and ELO each game earned). You can't take actions in a finished game; it's purely for review.

Matchmaking & the waiting queue

Press ⚡ Matchmake, choose 🎲 Casual or 🎖 Ranked, then pick Allies only, Axis only, or No preference. Ranked matchmaking weighs ELO — you're placed in the lobby whose players' average rating is closest to yours; casual simply fills the fullest lobby. You're placed into the fullest open matchmaking-enabled lobby with a free seat on your side (you still pick the exact nation in the lobby). If nothing's available, tap 🔔 Notify me when a match forms — you'll wait in a queue (up to 24h) and be auto-seated and notified (in-app + push) the moment a fitting game appears. You can leave the queue from the same window.

Friends

In the 👥 FRIENDS panel, type a username and press Send Request. Incoming requests appear under Incoming — accept or decline. Friends can join your friends-only games and be invited directly from a game lobby.

Invite players to your game

Inside your game's pre-game lobby you can invite users by name. Invited players see the game under 📨 INVITED in their lobby and get a notification, and they bypass the friends-only restriction.

Leaderboard, ELO & military ranks

Open it with the 🏆 button (or the LEADERS tab on mobile). Everyone starts at 100 ELO — a fresh Private; only games created as RANKED (and played all-human) move ELO and W/L — beat stronger opponents to climb faster. Your rating earns a real military insignia beside your name everywhere: chevrons for enlisted ranks (Private 1, Corporal 2, Sergeant 3), bars for junior officers (gold bar Lieutenant, silver double bars Captain), a gold oak leaf for Major, a silver eagle for Colonel, and stars for General at 800+.

Report a bug or issue

Tap 🎫 Report in the lobby header, enter a short subject and a description (which game, what happened, what you expected), and submit. Reports go straight to the admins.

Your reports — and any admin replies — appear under Your reports in that same panel. An admin can write back, you'll get a notification, and you can reply right there to keep the conversation going until it's resolved.

Defense profile (automatic casualty order)

In the 🛡 DEFENSE panel, drag units into the order you want them lost when you are defending — top is taken first. Land and sea combat each have their own list. It's applied automatically so a battle never waits for you to be online.

Choosing your nation(s)

In the pre-game lobby, tap a faction to claim it. One player may take several factions (e.g. both Axis powers). Without independent minors, the USA also plays China, the UK plays ANZAC, and the USSR plays France.

Adding AI opponents

The game creator can assign any unclaimed faction to the AI and set its skill — Beginner, Moderate, or Expert. Expert plays sharper: it values targets, defends its capital, garrisons its front line, and contests scrambles and interceptions. Remember: any AI seat makes the game unranked.

Starting the game

Once every faction has a human or an AI, the creator presses Start. Turn order follows the official sequence: Germany, USSR, Japan, USA, China, UK, Italy, ANZAC, France.

Screen tour

The map fills the screen. On the left edge: 📋 INFO (your treasury, phase controls and action panels), 🃏 CARDS (commander & event cards, when enabled) and 💬 CHAT. The ☰ MENU has fullscreen, leave and (for the creator) delete. Pinch/scroll to zoom, drag to pan, tap a territory to select it.

Reading a territory

Tap any territory to see its name, owner, IPC value, facilities and every unit stack in it. Your selectable units appear with steppers when an action is possible in the current phase.

Chat

Open 💬 CHAT. 🌍 PUBLIC is visible to everyone in the game; 🤝 TEAM only to your side. Chat history is saved with the game, so late joiners and reloads see it.

Game log

The scrolling log (INFO panel) records every purchase, move, battle round, capture and income collection — check it to reconstruct anything you missed.

The phase sequence

1. Research — optionally buy R&D dice.
2. Purchase — buy units, facilities and repairs (the UK does this once per economy).
3. Combat Movement — move units into enemy territory, declare wars, load/launch assaults.
4. Conduct Combat — resolve every battle.
5. Noncombat Movement — reposition, land aircraft, take friendly neutrals.
6. Mobilize — place purchased units at your factories.
7. Collect Income — automatic, plus national objective bonuses.

Advance with the phase button in the INFO panel. You can't go back, so finish everything in a phase first.

Buying research

In the Research phase, buy dice at 5 IPC each. Each die that rolls a 6 is a breakthrough: you pick one technology from a chart. Chart 1 (land/production): Advanced Artillery, Rockets, Paratroopers, Increased Factory Production, War Bonds, Mech Infantry. Chart 2 (air/naval): Super Submarines, Jet Fighters, Improved Shipyards, Radar, Long Range Aircraft, Heavy Bombers. See the Technologies section below for what each does and how to use it.

Purchasing units

In the Purchase phase the INFO panel lists everything you can afford — tap to add, with running treasury. Purchases are placed later, in Mobilize. You can also repair bomb-damaged factories here (1 IPC per damage point) and build facilities (factories, air bases, naval bases) on eligible territories.

Moving units

Tap the territory your units are in, set how many of each unit with the steppers, tap the destination, then press Move. Legal destinations highlight. Movement into enemy-held territory is only possible in Combat Movement; everything else belongs in Noncombat. Units that moved or fought are marked and can't move again that turn (mech infantry, tanks and air have multi-space moves; tanks/mechs can blitz through an empty enemy territory).

Declaring war

Some powers start at peace. Attacking (or moving against) a faction you're not at war with prompts a war declaration — the game enforces the political rules. The INFO panel shows who you're at war with.

United States. It may enter the war on its own only in these windows:

• During the Collect Income phase of its turn 3 — it may declare on any or all Axis powers at once.
• From turn 4 onward, at the start of its Combat Move.

Before that it can be brought in only by Axis action: an Axis power declaring war on or attacking the USA (it is then immediately at war), or the Axis capturing London or any North American territory. Note that Japan declaring war on the UK or ANZAC does not release the USA early — it only costs Japan its "peaceful posture" income bonus. Once the USA is at war with any one Axis power it is at war with all of them.

Soviet Union. It may declare on Germany or Italy from turn 4 onward (or earlier if they attack it first, or if the Axis capture London). It may declare on Japan at any time.

Loading a transport

1. During a movement phase, tap the coastal territory with your land units.
2. Set 1–2 land units on the steppers (a transport carries one infantry + one other land unit, or two infantry... capacity is enforced for you).
3. Tap the sea zone containing your transport.
4. Press ⚓ Load.

Loaded cargo is shown on the transport. Transports can also load mid-move at a friendly coast along their path.

Unloading & amphibious assaults

Move the transport to a sea zone adjacent to the target coast, select it, choose the coastal territory and press 🪖 Unload. Unloading into enemy territory in Combat Movement is an amphibious assault — the landing units fight in Conduct Combat, and your battleships/cruisers in the same sea zone may fire offshore bombardment first (one shot each, only if no sea battle happened there). A transport that offloaded can't move again that turn.

Naval combat & submarines

Move warships into an enemy-occupied sea zone in Combat Movement to force a battle. Submarines fire a surprise strike before normal fire unless an enemy destroyer is present, and may submerge instead of fighting; subs and transports alone don't block enemy movement. Battleships and carriers take two hits — the first damages them (auto-repaired at a friendly naval base / your turn per the rules), the second sinks them.

Carriers & aircraft at sea

A carrier holds two fighters/tactical bombers. Aircraft may end their move on a friendly carrier with room; when you move a carrier, its planes ride along. If a carrier sinks, airborne planes must reach another landing spot or are lost.

Canals & straits

The Suez and Panama canals require friendly control of their controlling territories to pass; the Turkish straits and other special passages follow the official map rules. If a move is refused, check who controls the canal.

Air movement & landing

Aircraft fly out in Combat Movement and must have a legal landing spot (friendly territory you held since the turn's start, or carrier room) within remaining range in Noncombat. The game blocks moves that would strand a plane; a plane with nowhere to land is lost. Air bases give +1 movement to planes taking off from them.

Scrambling defenders

When an enemy attacks a sea zone (or amphibiously assaults a coast) adjacent to your territory with an operative air base, you're offered a scramble: choose up to 3 fighters/tacticals to defend that battle. Scrambled planes return to base afterwards. AI opponents weigh scrambles by the math.

Anti-aircraft fire

Each defending AA gun fires once at up to 3 attacking aircraft (hit on 1) at the start of a land battle, before anything else shoots. AA guns can't attack and don't defend in combat otherwise; they're captured if the territory falls with them in it.

How a battle is resolved

In Conduct Combat, open each pending battle. Units roll their attack/defense values (artillery boosts a paired infantry's attack to 2). Hits remove enemy units — attackers pick their own casualties; defenders' losses follow their saved Defense Profile. After each round the attacker chooses: press the attack or retreat. Capturing requires a surviving land unit — air alone can win the fight but not hold the ground.

Retreating

Between battle rounds, press Retreat and pick a destination — it must be a friendly territory (or sea zone for ships) that at least one attacking unit came from, and the whole surviving force retreats together. Amphibious landers can't retreat back to sea.

Capturing territory

Win the land battle (or walk into an undefended enemy territory in Combat Movement) and it's yours — its income counts for you at Collect Income. Capturing a capital also seizes that power's unspent IPCs, and they collect nothing until it's liberated.

Liberating allied territory

Taking a territory originally owned by a teammate returns it to them (if their capital stands). Liberating Paris restores France fully and grants its one-time troop placement. Liberating a Chinese-emblem territory returns it to China and removes any Japanese-built factory there.

Strategic bombing runs

1. In Combat Movement, tap an enemy territory with a factory (or air/naval base).
2. The 💣 STRATEGIC BOMBING panel appears — choose your bombers (and escorts) in range, pick the facility, press 🛩 Launch Raid.
3. The defender may intercept with fighters; if they do, an air skirmish fires first. Facility AA then fires at the raiders.
4. Each surviving bomber rolls damage dice against the facility (capped by its damage track). Damaged factories produce less until repaired in a Purchase phase.

Rocket attacks (R&D)

With the Rockets technology, each of your operative air bases can fire one rocket per turn at an enemy facility — a cheap way to damage their economy without risking aircraft.

1. Fire them in the Conduct Combat phase (not Combat Movement, and there's no separate bombing step — it's the same phase where you resolve your battles).
2. Tap an enemy territory that has a damageable facility — an airfield, naval yard, or industrial complex (major or minor) — belonging to a power you're at war with, within 4 spaces of one of your air bases. The rocket may not fly over a neutral territory.
3. Press the 🚀 Rocket button (in the territory's detail panel — behind ☰ MENU on mobile). The 🚀 ROCKET ATTACK panel opens.
4. Choose which facility to hit and which air base to launch from (only your operative bases in range are listed), then press 🚀 Fire Rocket.

The rocket auto-hits for 1d6 damage (capped by the facility's remaining damage track), just like strategic-bombing damage — a hit factory produces less until it's repaired in a Purchase phase. An air base only launches if it isn't itself too damaged (3+ damage grounds it), and each base fires at most once per turn.

Paratrooper drops (R&D)

With the Paratroopers tech: first declare an attack on an enemy territory in Combat Movement, then select that territory — the 🪂 PARATROOPER DROP panel appears. Choose a friendly operative air base within 3 spaces that holds infantry, and drop 1–2 infantry into the battle. The dropped infantry count as air units for the defender's anti-aircraft guns: they share one AA volley with your attacking aircraft in the battle's AA step (each AA gun rolls up to 3 dice total, no unit fired at twice), and you choose which units the hits fall on.

Kamikaze strikes (Japan)

Japan holds 6 suicide tokens (shown in the INFO panel). When an enemy attacks one of the designated kamikaze sea zones and you still have tokens, you're prompted during their Conduct Combat — a 🗲 KAMIKAZE OPPORTUNITY panel (grouped with the scramble / canal prompts) lists the enemy surface warships there. Press a ship to spend one token on it, or Pass. The attacker can't resolve that battle until you decide, so you always get the chance — even against an AI. Each token is one attack roll (hits on a 1–2), it targets surface warships only (destroyer, cruiser, battleship, carrier), and a zone struck this way blocks enemy shore bombardment from it that turn. You can keep striking (one token per warship) until you pass or run out of tokens/targets.

Blitzing & follow-up attacks

Tanks and mech infantry may blitz through one empty enemy territory, capturing it and continuing their move.

With Field Marshal Rommel's commander card (side B), surviving tanks can push on after they win a battle: once you resolve the combat, a ⚡ Blitz Continue panel appears (in the sidebar on desktop, behind ☰ MENU on mobile) listing the adjacent spaces your tanks can roll into — even another enemy territory, which triggers a fresh battle. It also fires after taking a capital (e.g. Paris). If you don't see it, open the menu; a badge/glow flags that an action is waiting.

Taking friendly neutrals

Neutrals are pro-Axis, pro-Allies or strict. To take a neutral friendly to your side, simply move land units into it during Noncombat Movement — it joins you peacefully and its standing army activates as your infantry (they can't move until your next turn). No battle, no war declaration.

Attacking strict neutrals

Invading a strict neutral is a normal attack against its standing army — and it turns every other strict neutral hostile to your side. Think before kicking that door.

China's special rules

China has no factories: it places new units on any Chinese-controlled territory, and may only buy infantry — plus artillery while the Burma Road is open (Allies hold India, Burma, Yunnan and Szechwan). Chinese units can't leave Chinese-emblem territory (except Kwangtung/Burma per the rules).

The UK's two economies

The United Kingdom runs separate Europe and Pacific economies (London / Calcutta). Each has its own treasury, its own Purchase and Mobilize steps, and factories build for the economy of their region. Losing one capital only freezes that half.

Income & national objectives

At Collect Income you automatically gain the IPC value of every territory you control, plus any national objective bonuses your power currently meets (shown in the bonus step). You collect nothing while your capital is enemy-held.

Convoy disruption: enemy warships sitting in a convoy sea zone adjacent to your income territories raid your shipping when you collect. Battleships, cruisers and destroyers roll 1 die each; submarines and aircraft roll 2 dice each (carriers roll nothing but their planes do). Every roll of 3 or less costs you that many IPCs; rolls of 4+ miss. Each zone can't cost more than the IPC value of your adjacent territories. Convoy zones: 1, 6, 10, 19, 20, 26, 35, 36, 37, 39, 41, 42, 43, 44, 54, 62, 63, 70, 71, 72, 80, 82, 85, 89, 93, 97, 98, 99, 101, 105, 106, 109, 119, 125.

Factories

Minor factories (build 3/turn) can be built on a territory worth 2+; major factories (build 10/turn) require an original territory worth 3+ (minors can be upgraded). Units are placed at factories in Mobilize, up to each one's capacity, ships into adjacent sea zones. A captured major factory downgrades to minor (so it builds 3/turn until you upgrade it again, not 10). The Increased Factory Production tech raises a factory's cap (+2), so a minor factory with that tech shows 4 slots. Tap a factory to see its current mobilize capacity — the same readout spectators see.

Placing units (Mobilize) & fixing mistakes

In Mobilize you put the units you bought onto the map: tap a factory and place up to its capacity, with ships going into an adjacent sea zone. Two things keep this from ever dead-ending your turn:

• Auto-refund. If you bought more than you can legally place — e.g. more units than your factories' combined capacity, or ships with no coastal factory + open sea zone — the leftover purchases are refunded to your treasury when the phase completes, instead of blocking you with an "unplaced units" error.
• Cancel a placement. Placed something in the wrong spot? Before you leave Mobilize, you can cancel a just-placed unit to send it back to your pending pool and place it elsewhere (on desktop the undo control sits with the unit, like the in-game menu actions).

Air & naval bases

Air bases give +1 movement to planes taking off there, enable scrambling, and serve as paratrooper launch points. Naval bases give +1 movement to ships starting adjacent and repair damaged capital ships. Both can be bombed; a base with 3+ damage is inoperative until repaired.

What each technology does

• Advanced Artillery — each artillery boosts two infantry to attack 2.
• Rockets — each operative air base fires one auto-hit 1-die rocket per turn at an enemy facility (factory, airfield or naval yard) within 4 spaces, during Conduct Combat (see Rocket attacks under Special Actions).
• Paratroopers — drop 1–2 infantry from an air base into an attacked territory (see Special Actions).
• Increased Factory Production — factories produce more and repairs cost half.
• War Bonds — roll a die each Collect Income for bonus IPCs.
• Mech Infantry — mechanized infantry may blitz when paired with tanks.
• Super Submarines — subs attack at 3.
• Jet Fighters — fighters defend at 5.
• Improved Shipyards — ships cost less.
• Radar — your AA hits on 1–2.
• Long Range Aircraft — all aircraft +1 movement, in both the combat and non-combat movement phases (fighters and tactical bombers 4→5, strategic bombers 6→7). It stacks with the +1 an air unit gets for departing a territory with an airfield, so a bomber leaving an airfield with this tech moves 8. Note: Global 1940 grants one extra space — earlier Axis & Allies editions gave +2, so this is a common mix-up.
• Heavy Bombers — strategic bombers roll two dice, keep the best.

Victory conditions

Per the official How the War is Won card: Axis win by holding either 8 Europe victory cities or 6 Pacific victory cities for a complete round, while controlling an Axis capital (Berlin, Rome or Tokyo) at round's end. Allies win by holding Berlin, Rome AND Tokyo for a complete round, while controlling an Allied capital (Washington, London, Paris or Moscow). The INFO panel tracks VC progress.

Where the capitals are: Italy's capital, Rome, is in Southern Italy — not Northern Italy. Northern Italy holds Italy's major factory, but taking it doesn't capture Rome and doesn't seize Italy's treasury; you must take Southern Italy for that. (Likewise Berlin = Germany, Tokyo = Japan, Moscow = Russia, London = United Kingdom, Paris = France, Washington = Eastern United States.)

Commander cards

With this mode on, each power is dealt a two-sided commander card at game start and picks one side (e.g. Rommel A vs Rommel B) — a persistent special ability, from combat rerolls to free moves to economic effects. View yours and everyone's revealed cards in the 🃏 CARDS tab. Most abilities apply automatically and just show in the war log; the ones that hand you a choice pop a panel in the ☰ MENU, grouped right under the scramble / canal prompts (see the next topic).

Commander roster — every card and both sides

Each power's deck, with the two abilities on each card. You keep one side for the whole game. Several of these hand you a choice when they trigger (the cease-fire, withdraw, blitz, breakthrough, free-amphibious, salvage, redistribute, fast-sea-zone and free-placement abilities) — the next topic explains how to use each.

🟦 Allies

United Kingdom

• Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham
  A — When attacking in a sea battle, re-roll 1 die each combat round.
  B — The first time each turn 2+ of your units miss in a sea attack, you may cease the attack with no casualties that round.
• Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery
  A — +1 artillery attack during the first combat round of each of your attacks.
  B — The first time each turn 3+ of your land units miss when attacking, you may cease the attack with no casualties that round.
• Lieutenant General Brian Horrocks
  A — In land battles, if enemy units exceed friendly units, re-roll 1 die each round.
  B — For each tank that rolls a 1, choose the resulting casualty from the enemy's land units.

Soviet Union

• General Konstantin Rokossovsky
  A — When defending, before the conclude-combat step each round, move 1 infantry to an adjacent friendly territory not combat-moved into this turn.
  B — If you win your first land battle, the survivors may combat-move into an adjacent (not yet combat-moved) territory for a 1-round battle.
• General Vasily Chuikov
  A — When defending an originally-Soviet territory, re-roll 1 die each combat round.
  B — When attacking, after the defenders fire each round, you may destroy 1 of your units to score 1 hit.
• General of the Army Georgy Zhukov
  A — Axis collect only half IPC (round up) from captured Soviet territories adjacent to original German territories.
  B — During your first attack each turn, re-roll dice each round up to the number of territories your attackers entered from.

United States

• General Douglas MacArthur
  A — From the 2nd combat round when defending, if all defenders are infantry, +1 infantry defense.
  B — In amphibious assaults, before the 2nd combat round, repeat the bombardment with the same bombarding units.
• General Dwight D. Eisenhower
  A — Every other turn, place 1 free transport of any allied power in the mobilization zone.
  B — At the end of each turn, redistribute your units within 2 chosen adjacent territories.
• General George S. Patton Jr.
  A — During the first combat round of each attack, each tank you take as a casualty may fire again after the defenders fire.
  B — Each time you take 4+ land casualties in a round, +1 land attack/defense the following round only.
• Admiral Chester W. Nimitz
  A — Your aircraft carriers cost 2 IPC less.
  B — Each turn, at the start of combat or non-combat move, choose a sea zone; your sea units there gain +1 movement that phase.

China

• Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek
  A — When defending an originally-Chinese territory, re-roll dice each round up to that territory's IPC value.
  B — When defending, before the conclude-combat step, move all your units in the battle to an adjacent controlled territory not combat-moved into this turn.

ANZAC

• Field Marshal Sir Thomas Blamey
  A — When attacking or defending on an island, +1 infantry attack and +2 infantry defense.
  B — Fight your largest land battle first; in all later land battles that turn, +1 attack for your land and air units.

France

• General Alphonse Juin
  A — When attacking an originally-French territory, +1 infantry attack.
  B — You may conduct amphibious assaults against originally-French territories as if you had transports for all your land units, but only across a single sea zone.

🟥 Axis

Germany

• Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz
  A — In your purchase phase, if you own fewer than 3 submarines you may buy 1 at half cost (round up).
  B — After setup, place 1 free battleship in a sea zone containing your sea units.
• Field Marshal Walther Model
  A — Your infantry gain +1 movement during your non-combat movement phase.
  B — Each enemy power's turn, in your strongest defending battle, re-roll up to the number of territories adjacent to that battle that you control (one combat round).
• Field Marshal Erwin Rommel
  A — After your first capture each turn, place a free German unit matching one non-infantry land unit the defenders lost.
  B — After a successful attack, surviving blitz-capable units may use remaining movement to move and possibly attack again.
• Field Marshal Erich von Manstein
  A — During the first combat round of each of your attacks, re-roll up to 2 dice.
  B — Attacking or defending, for each matched infantry + artillery + tank set you own in the battle, roll 1 extra die (it hits on a 2).

Japan

• Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto
  A — During the first 2 game rounds, +1 attack for all your units with attack > 0.
  B — When attacking in a sea battle, +1 sea attack for each previous sea battle this turn that had 2+ attackers with attack > 0.
• Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo
  A — For each of your battleships or carriers destroyed, place 1 free infantry in the mobilization zone.
  B — When attacking or defending in a sea battle, re-roll dice up to the number of friendly transports in that sea zone.
• General Harukichi Hyakutake
  A — When defending in an amphibious assault, +1 infantry defense.
  B — Once per turn, before rolling attack dice, destroy 1 of your land/air units in the battle to score 1 automatic hit.

Italy

• Admiral Angelo Iachino
  A — At the start of each combat round, if enemy sea units exceed friendly sea units, re-roll 1 die.
  B — Once per game, when you lose a sea unit you may recover one — placed in the northernmost friendly sea zone adjacent to an Italy-named territory. Your choice: take it, or save the ability for a costlier loss.
• Marshal of Italy Ettore Bastico
  A — When attacking or defending a land battle, if all your units in the battle are infantry, re-roll 1 die each combat round.
  B — When attacking or defending a land battle, in each round your side has only a single land unit, that unit's attack/defense is +1.

Commander abilities that ask you to decide

These commander abilities don't fire on their own — they hand you a choice the moment they trigger, as a panel in the ☰ MENU (below the scramble / canal prompts) or a button on the battle card.

After you win an attack — on your turn:

• ⚡ Blitz Continue (Rommel B) — when an attack succeeds, surviving tanks / mech infantry that still have movement left may push one tile on: into empty enemy land (a blitz capture) or an enemy-held tile (a fresh 1-round attack). Pick a destination in the panel, or leave it to stop.
• ⚡ Breakthrough (Rokossovsky B) — after you win your first land battle of the turn, the surviving land units may make one extra 1-round assault on an adjacent enemy-held territory. They press on if they break it, otherwise fall back.
• ⚓ Free Amphibious (Juin B — France) — assault an enemy-held, originally-French coast across a single sea zone with no transports needed; any of your warships in that sea zone bombard automatically.

During a battle — buttons on the combat card:

• Break off the attack (Cunningham B / Montgomery B) — the first time each turn that 2+ of your units miss in a sea attack (Cunningham) or 3+ of your land units miss attacking (Montgomery), you may cease the attack with no casualties that round and retreat.
• Sacrifice for a hit (Chuikov B) — attacking on land, after the defenders fire each round you may destroy one of your own units to score one automatic hit.
• Auto-hit (Hyakutake B — Japan) — once per turn, before rolling, destroy one of your land/air units in the battle for one automatic hit.

While defending — a per-round prompt that pauses the attacker:

• Withdraw an infantry (Rokossovsky A) — each round you defend a land battle, pull 1 infantry back to an adjacent controlled territory, or Hold ground. The attacker can't roll the next round until you choose.
• Withdraw your whole force (China B) — each round you defend, pull your entire force out to an adjacent controlled territory (ending your defense there), or hold ground.

Other:

• ⚓ Salvage a sunk ship (Iachino B — Italy) — once per game, when you lose a sea unit an ⚓ IACHINO SALVAGE panel appears: recover one of the lost units to the northernmost friendly sea zone next to an Italy-named territory, or press Save for later. It's a choice, not automatic — pass on a destroyer and keep the ability for when your battleship sinks. The panel shows whether your fleet was lost on your turn or the enemy's, and never holds up anyone's turn (the battle is already over); if a costlier loss happens while you're still deciding, the offer upgrades to it.
• ↔ Redistribute (Eisenhower B — USA) — at the end of your turn, freely shuffle units between two chosen adjacent territories you control.
• Pick a fast sea zone (Nimitz B — USA) — each turn, at the start of a movement phase, choose one sea zone; your sea units there gain +1 movement that phase.
• Place a free battleship (Dönitz B — Germany) — at game start you place one free battleship in a sea zone that already holds your sea units.

Event cards

Homebrew option (enabled in + Create Game): at the start of every round one world-event card is drawn and stays in effect for that whole round, then is discarded. It applies to whichever powers and regions it names — not just the active player. The current card is shown in the 🃏 CARDS tab, and the war log notes when it is drawn. Most cards persist all round (movement penalties, income cuts); a few resolve immediately on draw (the +IPC gifts, the bomb-damage and the storm-damage rolls). There are 25 cards:

Battlefield weather (land). Bog down ground/air forces in a region for the round:

• Russian Winter — in or moving into six Russian territories (Novgorod, Smolensk, Ukraine, Volgograd, Caucasus, Bryansk), tanks and mech infantry may move only 1 and aircraft have −1 movement. At the end of each Axis turn, every Axis land unit there is lost on a roll of 1.
• Rasputitsa Mud — across Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, Smolensk and Bryansk, tanks, artillery and mech infantry may move at most 1, and no unit may land there from the sea.
• Battle of the Bulge Fog — in any battle in Germany, Western/Southern Germany, Holland-Belgium, France, Normandy-Bordeaux or Alsace-Lorraine, no aircraft on either side rolls dice. Planes may fly through but can't fight there.
• North African Sandstorm — in Libya, Tobruk, Egypt and Algeria, no aircraft may move in or roll dice in a battle, and tanks and mech infantry may move at most 1.
• Burma Monsoon — in Burma, India, Malaya and Shan State, a unit's movement is reduced by 1 (to a minimum of 0) for each such territory it starts in or moves into, and no unit may land there from the sea.

Naval storms. The named sea zones are impassable to surface ships and aircraft for the round — only submarines may pass (planes can't even fly over). Surface ships caught there when the card is drawn roll for storm damage and can be sunk (capital ships roll twice; subs are exempt):

• Atlantic Gale — the North Atlantic (sea zones 108–112, 118, 119, 123–126).
• Typhoon Cobra — the Central Pacific (sea zones 20 and 35).
• D-Day Channel Storm — the English Channel (sea zone 110); one transport caught there is lost automatically.
• Typhoon Louise — off Iwo Jima, Okinawa and the Marianas (sea zones 17, 19, 22).
• Black Sea Tempest — the Black Sea (sea zones 99 and 100).

Economy & logistics. Squeeze a power's production, movement or income for the round:

• U-Boat Blockade — the UK collects only half its income, and German submarines attack at +1 in the approaches to Britain (sea zones 109, 110, 111, 119).
• Japanese Oil Embargo — Japanese fighters, tactical bombers, strategic bombers and tanks cannot move within Japan's home area (Japan, Formosa, Korea, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Celebes, the Philippines, New Guinea); factories there run at half output and Japan's income from them is halved.
• German Rail Gauge Crisis — every Axis unit in Axis-held Soviet territory moves 1 less (min 0), Axis factories there run at half output, and Axis income from them is halved.
• Red Ball Express Overload — Allied factories in Western Europe (Germany, Holland-Belgium, France, Italy) run at half output, Allied income from them is halved, and Allied ground units there move 1 less.
• Italian Desert Supply Woes — Italian units in Libya, Tobruk and Egypt move 1 less, and Italy cannot mobilize new units in those three territories.

Partisans & uprisings. Resistance behind Axis lines drains income and grinds down occupiers (attrition = each affected Axis land unit rolls 1d6 at the end of each Axis turn and is lost on a 1):

• Yugoslav Partisans — the Axis collects no income from Greece, Yugoslavia, Albania or Bulgaria, and suffers attrition in those territories.
• French Resistance Sabotage — every Axis unit in occupied France and its neighbours (France, Southern France, Normandy-Bordeaux, Holland-Belgium, Western Germany, Northern Italy) moves 1 less; Axis factories there run at half output and Axis income from them is halved.
• Polish Home Army Uprising — Axis forces cannot advance into Poland, Eastern Poland, Slovakia/Hungary or Romania, and Axis income from those territories is halved.
• Greek National Uprising — the Axis cannot mobilize or move reinforcements into Greece or Cyprus, and suffers attrition there.
• Soviet Partisan Raids — for each Axis-held Soviet territory with a factory, the Axis chooses: keep the factory but collect only half that territory's income, or raze the factory (it's removed — full income returns but it can no longer produce). Axis units in Axis-held Soviet territory also suffer attrition.

Offensives & intelligence. A one-round edge in combat or economy:

• Wolfpack Assault — on the first combat round this round, German and Italian submarines attack at +1 in the North Atlantic and the approaches to Britain (sea zones 109, 110, 111, 119, 121, 123).
• Lend-Lease Lifeline — when drawn, the USSR receives +10 IPC, and at the end of its turn may place up to 3 free infantry on any Soviet-controlled territory.
• Enigma Intelligence Breakthrough — every Allied unit attacks at +1 against Axis defenders, and Axis strategic-bombing damage is halved this round.
• Kamikaze Divine Wind — on the first combat round, Japanese fighters and tactical bombers attacking ships hit on a 4 or lower (instead of 3) and ignore defending antiaircraft fire.
• Strategic Bombing Campaign — when drawn, one random Axis factory in Europe (Germany, Italy or occupied Europe, the Eastern Front included) takes 2 bomb damage. Japan's home and Asian factories are out of range.

Random starting technology

Every faction begins the game with one of the 12 technologies, chosen at random. Check the INFO panel to see what you rolled.

Backing out before the game starts

In the pre-game lobby, press 🚪 Leave Game to give up your seat — your faction is freed for someone else. (← Back just returns to the lobby while keeping your seat.) A creator whose lobby still has players must use 🗑 Delete instead.

Forfeiting a game in progress

Open ☰ MENU → 🏳 Forfeit. Your faction(s) pass to a remaining human teammate (the one holding the fewest nations). If you're your team's last player, your whole team surrenders and the other side wins immediately. In a ranked game a forfeit counts as a loss — it cannot be undone.

Turn timers & auto-forfeit

A game can put a real-time limit (in hours) on each player's turn. While it's your turn a countdown shows in the top bar (amber under 3 hours, red under 1 hour), and at the halfway mark you get a warning — a bell notification, plus a push if you're away from the game. If your turn isn't finished when the clock reaches zero you auto-forfeit, and the normal forfeit rules apply (your nations pass to a human teammate; if you're your team's last player, your team loses). The clock resets every turn.

• Casual / custom games — the creator switches the timer on and sets the hours in + Create Game.
• Ranked games — a single site-wide timer, set by the admins, applies to every ranked game; it can't be changed per game.

Turning a timer on never instantly forfeits a turn that's already running — the clock starts fresh from the moment the timer takes effect.

You're never forfeited for someone else's delay. If your turn is stuck waiting on an opponent's decision — a defender's scramble, or a canal owner letting you pass — the clock won't time you out for it. The halfway warning will tell you you're only waiting on another player, the game answers that prompt with its safe default if they never respond, and you get a you can continue your turn alert the moment it clears, with your clock reset. Only your own inaction can forfeit you.

Deleting a game

The creator can 🗑 Delete a game at any time (☰ MENU in-game or the lobby header). All players are notified and removed. Deleting is permanent.

Idle games are also cleaned up automatically: a game nobody opens or plays for a set number of days (30 by default) is deleted, with the same notification. Simply opening a game keeps it alive, so only truly abandoned games are removed.

Something looks stuck?

First check the phase — most actions only work in their phase (e.g. you can't move in Purchase). Then hard-refresh the page; the game state reloads from the server. Still wrong? Send a 🎫 Report from the lobby with the game name and what you expected.