2 - 4 Players
2 - 4 hr (1943 Campaign)
4 - 7 hr (1942 Campaign)
14+
Play for free on Tabletopia!
Song for War: Mediterranean Theater is a tabletop strategy game based in the contested regions of southern Europe, north Africa, and the Mediterranean Sea during World War II. It’s late 1942, and the Axis nations of Germany and Italy control much of the theater, but the mighty US and Great Britain are on the move, launching a massive offensive, code-named Operation Torch.
Representing Allied or Axis nations, players can set military strategy, move units, and engage the enemy as individual nations and simultaneously as an Axis or Allied team. Innovative game mechanics allow you to fight the war as it was meant to be fought. Team up to strategically deploy units as combined forces, with lighter, faster units moving first and more often, followed by heavier units with stronger firepower. Capture key objectives from across the Mediterranean, control shipping lanes and resupply forward positions, launch new units, and recast the events of the war to defeat the enemy and win the day!
Game Overview
Reviews, Previews, & Play-Throughs
Player Scenarios
Song for War: Mediterranean Theater is a 2-4 player game, pitting the Allied nations of the US and Great Britain (the Allied team) vs. the Axis nations of Germany and Italy (the Axis team):
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2 Players (1-vs-1): Player 1 is the Allied team, playing both nations. Player 2 is the Axis team, playing both nations.
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3 Players (1-vs-2): Player 1 is either the Allied or Axis team, playing both nations. Players 2 and 3 are the opposing team, playing one nation each.
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4 Players (2-vs-2): Players 1 and 2 are the Allied team, playing one nation each. Players 3 and 4 are the Axis team, playing one nation each.
Phases
Tactical Phase: Move your nation’s land, sea, and air units, resolve battles, and wrest control of strategic objectives. Unit-based game mechanics allow player-nations to wage war on their own while also working simultaneously with their Allied or Axis teammate. Move together, fight together, and win or lose – together.
Victory Phase: Gain victory points by taking control of objectives from across the theater. Tally your nation’s points with those of your Allied or Axis teammate to determine which side wins the day.
National Support Phase: Call on the home country to gain advantages on the battlefield — introduce strategy cards to stay a step ahead of enemies, upgrade units already in the field, introduce new, powerful specialized units, and recreate historical events to gain an edge.
Resupply Phase: Deploy new land, sea, and air units to reinforce key forward positions. But choose wisely — and be sure to protect vital shipping lanes.
Nation Player Aid
Movement Steps
Song for War: Mediterranean Theater uses a 6-step, unit-based approach to move units and declare battles.
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Faster, lighter units move sooner and more often.
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Units are deployed strategically in waves and as combined forces.
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Nations can move and fight on their own, or join forces to launch coordinated attacks.
Battle Steps
During each Movement Step, combat will be resolved using Battle Steps, giving faster units an advantage, and recreating the effect of combined forces.
Unit Ratings
Firepower & Armor Ratings: Different colors are used to represent Firepower and Armor Ratings. Blue represents light, Yellow is medium, and Red is heavy. A unit must have a Firepower rating equal or higher than the Armor rating of its target, otherwise the unit is typically not able to damage the target.
Leveling Up: When a unit rolls a 12 on an attack or defense roll, its Firepower rating increases one level. From Blue to Yellow, or from Yellow to Red. In this way there is a chance for a Light unit to hit a Medium.
Engaging Units: Not all units are able to attack or defend against all other units (an infantry can not defend against a bomber). The icon shown next to the Hit Rating, indicates what type of unit can be engaged (land, air, or sea). The "D" or "A" shown on either side of this indicates if this unit is able to attack or defend against this type of enemy unit.
Victory Phase
There are 3 areas on the map that are worth Victory Points (VP), the value being indicated in a white box:
In either campaign, the Axis will control the majority of the map, and it will be the Allies goal to take as much from the Axis as possible, while maintaining control of their own starting areas. The Axis goal is to hold on to what they have for as long as they can, knowing that they can prevent an Allied victory they will win by default.
In the Victory Phase, each team will check their VP total, from all the areas they control.
If either team meets or exceeds its goal, the game ends immediately, and that team is declared the winner.
If neither team meets their goal, the game will also end at the Victory Phase of Stage 6, with the Axis team winning by default.
Additional Points Needed to Win:
1942 Campaign
12
1943 Campaign
10.5
10.5
15
National Support
The National Support phase allows players to call on their home country to gain advantages on the battlefield. Each nation has its own deck of NS cards, there are 4 types of cards, each providing a variety of benefits.
During each National Support Phase, players will draw 2 cards and gain 2 NS points to spend. All cards cost between 1 and 3 points to play. Both cards and points can be saved and played later.
Strategy Cards: Offers players important tactical, movement, and resupply benefits.
Upgrade Cards: Permanently enhances a standard unit with new or improved abilities. Once played, these improvements will apply to all existing and new units of that type.
Event Cards: Based on actual historical events, these cards can provide a pivotal advantage to your nation, or a devastating blow to your opponents.
Unique Unit Cards: Allow players to produce powerful new units, specific to their nation.
Resupply Phase
During each Resupply Phase, players will purchase and place new units based on the Objectives they control.
Each Objective has the ability to resupply different unit types (Land, Air, and Sea), in varying amounts (shown in gray boxes). These resupply amounts correspond to the unit Costs shown on the Nation Player Aids.
On each Resupply Phase, each nation is able to use (1) Land, (1) Air, and (1) Sea, among all the Objectives they control, to purchase new units.
Game Components
A. Game Board (1): A 54” x 31” game board of The Mediterranean Theater prior to the launch of Operation Torch in November 1942.
B. Nation Player Aids (4): A valuable reference for each nation. The front has details on Standard Units, Movement & Battle Steps, and the back shows how to setup starting units.
C. Standard Unit Tiles (475): Double-sided, silk-screened wooden unit tiles representing the standard units for each nation.
D. Unique Units (24): 3D plastic pieces representing powerful units unique to each nation.
E. Objective Tiles (17): Objectives are nation controlled land spaces, key to winning the game.
F. Air Field Tiles (5): Each Airfield has a corresponding Airfield tile, given to the nation that controls the Airfield during game set up.
G. National Support Cards (64): Played during the National Support Phase to gain a battlefield advantage. There are four types of NS Cards: Strategy, Event, Unit Upgrade, and Unique Unit.
H. Mine Tokens (32) & Fortress Tokens (4): Special combat units introduced by the Engineering National Support Card.
I. National Support Tokens (16): Accumulate these to play NS Cards with more powerful benefits.
J. Hidden Fleet Dials (4): Used to track hidden fleets on the game board. Turn the dial to match the sea space where your hidden fleet is located.
K. Battle Declaration Markers (24): Used by attackers to declare which land and sea spaces are “active” and where a battle must be resolved.
L. Battle Dice (12): Used for resolving battles. Different colored dice correspond to the attack and defense rating of a unit: blue (light), yellow (medium), and red (heavy).
M. Stage Tracker (1): Indicates the current Stage of the game. Move the tracker forward each time a new Stage begins.
N. Storage Trays (4): Trays with lids to organize and store pieces.
