PMC Planet: Rulebook

Please also see the Quick Reference sheet

Number of Players: 2

Concept: Players take on the role of the shadow branch of their nation's
government. Through the use of Private Military Corporations (mercenaries), players must
use subtlety, aggression and subterfuge to influence global conflicts and get what they
want. A player wins by being the first to capture ALL of their randomly assigned Capture
Points (national interests). A player can prematurely lose the game by capping their Profile
Meter (this means their private military exploits have been exposed by the world media),
thus shutting down all PMC operations.

Summary: Be the first player to capture & control all 6 of your Capture Points using your
PMC units. You or your opponent lose if you allow your Profile Level to reach or exceed 15.

PART I: Setting Up

Please consult the Playing Pieces & Game Board Legend for more information.

Resources & Profile: Each player begins the game with 6 Resource Points and a
Profile Level of 0. Players use Resources to move PMC units and play Action Cards.

Your Profile Level represents the amount of negative world press associated with your
government. As a rule, a player wishes to accumulate more Resource Points and to keep
their Profile Points to a minimum.

Adding Surplus Resources: Each player rolls a 6-sided die and adds the result to their
starting 6 Resource Points to determine their starting Resource Level. The player with the
lower Resource Level takes the first turn.

Territories: Each player begins the game with 2 Territories. Place a Territory marker on
2 of the 5 available starting Territory Spaces. Green "T" marks for the Green Player and
Red "T" marks for the Red Player. Territories generate Resource Points for you during
your Income phase. They also impede your opponent's unit movements while providing a
safe haven for your own PMCs.

Capture Points (CP): Players must determine where their national interests lie on the
map. Each player draws 6 cards from the Region card deck. This is the deck of
standard playing cards without the Jokers. The starting player draws her 6 cards first
and places her Capture Point pieces onto the corresponding region spaces on the board.
The other player then does the same. These 6 spaces are where you want to send your
PMC units to capture!

Hot Spots: Each player alternately draws a card from the standard playing card deck (up
to a maximum of 5) and places a Hot Spot marker (pennies) on the card's corresponding
region on the board. These 10 marked spaces represent established military conflicts
between national armies, disaster zones or politically-charged areas and are extremely
sensitive to PMC operations. Penalties are involved for both players who move their PMC
units into these Hot Spots

Any drawn Hot Spot cards and all other Region cards from the deck can be put aside for the
duration of the game. They are no longer needed.

Action Cards: Finally, each player fills their hand with 3 cards from the Action Deck. Only
5 cards are allowed in hand at any time.

These cards can be played during the main phase of your turn and they confer various
bonuses or enable special attacks on your opponent. Every card is marked with a Resource
cost, listed in the upper left corner of the card as "RP" and a penalty to your Profile, denoted
by a number followed by the letters, "Pro".

PART II: Playing the Game

Please consult the Quick Reference Sheet for a walk-through of the phases that make up
each player's turn.

The player with the lower Resource Level takes the first turn. Both players get to hire a
PMC unit for free and move it immediately on their first turn. Note: there is no Income
collected on a player's first turn.

Turn Phases Summary

1. Collect Income & Perform Damage Control

2. Main Phase
3. Recruitment
4. Draw Cards
5. Profile Level Check

Components of each phase will be discussed in more detail below.

1. Collect Income & Perform Damage Control

Income is calculated by taking the total number of Territories you own and subtracting
by the number of PMC units you currently have in play. Your Elite unit has a Resource
upkeep of 3.

Damage Control allows you to reduce your Profile Level 1 point for every card in your
hand that you discard. If you perform Damage Control, you cannot move any PMC units
or capture any Capture Points during the Main Phase. The lowest Profile level you can
ever have is 0.

This phase is skipped on a player's first turn of the game.

2. Main Phase

You may do the following actions during this phase, in any order. Once you have completed
these actions, you may not return to this phase until your next turn.

• Expand to a New Territory

o Pay Resource chips to add your Territory marker to any one empty space
adjacent to one of your existing Territory spaces. This is also referred to as
converting into or buying a Territory.
o The expansion cost is equal to the amount of 2 dice rolls.
o Territory expansion is always optional, even after rolling for cost.
o Place a Territory marker of your colour on any newly converted spaces
o Your new Territory will contribute 1 Resource Point on your next Income
Phase.
o Only 1 expansion allowed each turn.

• Move Units
o All of your PMC units on the board can move 1 space
o The game board does not wrap: no shortcuts from one end to another.
o Your Elite unit can move up to 2 spaces
o Add 1 Profile point for each PMC and Elite unit moved
o A move onto a water space costs 1 Resource Point (per unit)
o A move onto a friendly Territory space reduces your Profile Level by 1 point
(per unit)
o On the first turn only, your starting PMC unit can move as soon as it has been
deployed

• Control Capture Points

Capture Points are taken or controlled by moving a PMC unit onto the space
occupied by your Capture Point cube. It takes 1 turn for any PMC unit to fully take
control of a CP. A PMC unit will move onto the CP space, then on the next turn the
Capture Point will be yours provided that you have not performed any Damage
Control.

When the turn has come for your PMC unit to take control of a Capture Point, remove
the relevant CP cube from the region space and place the cube on the first available
circle on the Capture Point tracker. Each player will have their own set of CP tracker
circles on the game board.

The PMC unit that completes a Capture Point does not raise your Profile Level by 1.

• Play Action Cards

You start the game with 3 Action Cards in your hand. Cards in hand are always
hidden from your opponent until they are played. You may have up to a maximum
of 5 cards in hand.

During this phase you can play any number of Action Cards from your hand. You are
only limited by your Resources and your desire to raise your Profile Level to more
dangerous levels. Most Action Cards have a Resource cost (upper-left corner) and a
Profile penalty (top-right corner) listed on them. They also fall into 3 general
 categories:

o Instant: you play these cards and they take effect immediately. Once used,
they are placed in the discard pile.
o Permanent: you play these cards and they stay in play until the end of the
game. When played, place these cards close to you on the outside edge of the
board as a reminder. These cards have a recurring effect each turn, assumed
to take place at the start of the Income phase.
o Special Instant: you play these cards and they take effect on your next
turn. Place these cards at the edge of the board. Once they are used on the
following turn, place them in the discard pile.

3. Recruitment Phase

You can hire new PMC units during this phase at the cost of 2 Resource Points each.
Newly hired units are deployed at any one of your friendly Territory spaces. New units
cannot move until the main phase of your next turn.

Elite units (Elites) can be hired at the cost of 12 Resource Points and a +3 penalty to
your Profile Level. Each player is allowed only 1 Elite unit on the board at all times.
Please see the Elite section below for more details about these powerful units.

Finally, while you may only recruit new units during this phase, you are free to disband any
active PMC units at any time. Any disbanded or otherwise forcefully removed unit must be
rehired at their regular cost.

4. Draw Cards Phase

You may draw up to 2 new cards from the Action Deck in this phase. If you have 5 cards in
hand, you cannot draw any new cards. You also may not discard cards in order to draw
new cards from the deck.

5. Profile Level Check

As you take control of your Capture Points, you come closer to victory but also increase
your risk of exposing your clandestine mercenary operations on the world stage. If you
have control of more than 3 Capture Points when arriving at this phase, roll 1 die for each
controlled Capture Point above 3. This works out as follows:

• You control 4 CPs = Roll once

• You control 5 CPs = Roll twice

A roll of "1" or "6" means that your controlled Capture Point is drawing unwanted
attention and you must raise your Profile Level by 1 point.

If at any time your Profile Level reaches 15, you lose the game!
PART III: Special Rules & Elite Units

Unit Interactions

• PMC units raise your Profile Level with every move. When your unit lands on a
friendly Territory region space, your Profile Level is reduced by 1 point.

• Your units may land on a space marked by your opponents Capture Point cube. You
will block your opponent's units from landing on this space and taking their Capture
Point.

• You will suffer a +3 penalty to your Profile Level any time you land a unit on a space
marked as a Hot Spot.

• Your units may not end their move on an enemy Territory space.

• If a unit is able to move more than 1 space in a turn, the move must be linear: No
back-tracking.

• PMC units may not occupy the same region space at the same time. Opposing PMC
units do not "fight" one another. The exception to this rule is the Elite.

Elites

Elites are the best of the best, the cream of the crop. They do the dirty jobs no one else will
do. As such, they are among the most expensive investments you can make, costing 12
Resource Points to hire and incurring a +3 to your Profile Level upon deployment. Place one
of the 4 available Elite PMC cards at our edge of the board when hiring an Elite. This unit is
represented on the board as a coloured jellybean.

Elites follow all the same rules as regular PMC units, with the following exceptions:

• They can move up to 2 spaces in a single turn. (No back-tracking allowed)

• They have a Resource upkeep of 3 Resource Points instead of the usual 1 point.
(this is calculated during the Income & Damage Control Phase)

• They can land on a space occupied by an enemy PMC unit, regular or Elite. This
results in an Interception: the unlucky enemy unit is removed from play
immediately.

• Any unit removed from the board in this manner must be rehired during a
Recruitment Phase.

• Only 1 active Elite unit permitted for each player!

Resolving Rule Conflicts

If at any time a conflict arises between the base rules and rules outlined by an Action Card,
the card rules take precedence.

Winning the Game

You are declared the winner the moment you control all 6 of your Capture Points. You are
also declared the winner the moment your opponent's Profile Level reaches or exceeds 15.