Twilight Struggle Components

Board

Game Board

World map divided into 6 scoring regions (Europe, Middle East, Asia, Central America, South America, Africa) plus Southeast Asia. Countries are connected by adjacency lines. Battleground countries are marked with a purple/red star. Each country has a stability number.

VP Track

Track running from -20 (USSR auto-victory) to +20 (US auto-victory). Starts at 0.

DEFCON Track

Track from 1 (Nuclear War) to 5 (Peace). Starts at 5. Improves by 1 each turn. Degrades from coups in battleground countries.

Action Round Track

Tracks current action round within a turn. Turns 1-3: 6 action rounds each. Turns 4-10: 7 action rounds each.

Military Operations Track

Each player has a track from 0-5. Must reach the required Military Operations level (equal to current DEFCON) by end of turn or lose VP.

Space Race Track

Track with 8 spaces. First player to reach certain spaces gains VP and/or special abilities. Advancing requires discarding a card and rolling equal to or under the success number.

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Token

Influence Markers

Blue markers for US influence, red markers for USSR influence. Placed in countries to establish control.

Card

Early War Cards

Cards used from Turn 1. Include US events (blue stars), USSR events (red stars), and neutral events (split stars). Each card has an Operations value (1-4) and an event.

×35

Mid War Cards

Shuffled into the deck at the start of Turn 4. Generally more powerful events.

×46

Late War Cards

Shuffled into the deck at the start of Turn 8. The most dramatic events of the Cold War.

×23

China Card

Special card that starts with the USSR face down. Worth 4 Ops (5 if all used in Asia). After play, passed face down to opponent. Cannot be held during scoring.

×1

Marker

Turn Track Marker

Tracks the current turn (1-10).

×1

Required Military Operations Marker

Placed on the DEFCON track to show required Military Operations level.

×1