MED SIROCCO

June 1940-December 1943, Mediterranean Sea

Standing alone, the British Empire must replenish its strategic bases in Malta and Alexandria by convoys coming for the most part from Gibraltar. Each journey is long and dangerous facing Italian SM-84 torpedo planes and German U-boats. On the other side, Italy and Germany are sending more and more troops to North Africa under constant threat from aircraft in Malta and facing the imminent entry of the United States into the war.

In this original card game, the cards represent units that took part in naval engagements or fought near convoys in the Mediterranean during the Second World War. For each trick called engagement, a player takes an Operation card (Battle or Convoy) and declares the type of attack to be used (air, surface, underwater or combined). He follows that up by playing a Force card which has the specific values representing a historical Allied or Axis unit. The other players subsequently play either a Force card or pass. When all the players have made their selections, and any possible dice rolls have been made, totals of both sides are compared to determine whether the Axis or the Allies won. The player who contributed the most to the winning team gets to decide how the convoy and the opposing enemy ships, which are all worth victory points and possibly an increased hand size, are to be distributed amongst the players who were on the winning side. After twenty-two convoys have been fought over in this manner, the player with the most victory points worth of convoys and captured ships wins the game!

Med Sirocco is a strategy card game for 2-6 players. The game uses the same system that first appeared in the popular (and out of print) 1997 Avalon Hill card game Atlantic Storm and Pacific Typhoon published in 2008 by GMT Games.