In past InsideGMT articles, we looked at the gameplay in Bear Trap and provided a simple combat example.

Part of the asymmetry in Bear Trap emerges from the way the cards work. And so, in this InsideGMT article, I’ll explain how the how the different cards work as well as look at the force pools and deck composition for each side. This is first part in a two-part series of InsideGMT articles about the cards in Bear Trap—in the second part, I’ll give some historical comments on some of the more interesting strategy cards.

Broadly speaking there are 3 types of cards in Bear Trap—unit cards, loyalty challenge cards, and strategy cards. (Note: The cards depicted here are playtest components and still subject to possible change—including text, art, and graphic design.)

Unit Cards

In Bear Trap, unit cards are used in combat to commit matching unit blocks. For instance, the Insurgent player can play a Lashkar unit card to commit a Lashkar block when attacking.

The Insurgent forces in Bear Trap are represented by 4 types of units: Lashkar, Sunni Mujahideen, Shi’a Mujahideen, and Captured Artillery. While the Insurgents have blocks for each of these unit types, they have unit cards for only the Lashkar, Sunni Mujahideen, and Shi’a Mujahideen—the reason why they don’t have Captured Artillery unit cards is that a Captured Artillery block can be committed in combat through the play of either a Sunni Mujahideen card or a Shi’a Mujahideen card.

The Lashkar represent untrain and inexperienced tribal rebel fighters. The Mujahideen, in a rough sense, represent the veteran fighters who have had the benefit of training or experience and may be better equipped than their Lashkar brethren. (Sunni Mujahideen is treated here as a bit of a shorthand for the Peshawar Seven, a somewhat loose alliance of Sunni insurgent factions, whereas Shi’a Mujahideen is treated as short hand for the corresponding Shi’a alliance: the Tehran Eight.) Finally, the Captured Artillery represent the insurgent elites wielding such tools as captured Soviet artillery but also other kinds of high value weaponry, whether stolen or acquired through arms traffickers.

The Soviets forces in Bear Trap are represented by 3 types of units (plus 1 special unit). The 3 types are: Soviet Armor, Soviet Infantry, and Democratic Republic of Afghanistan Forces (DRAF). The Soviet player has unit cards for each of these 3 unit types. The additional special Soviet unit is the Spetsnaz—the Soviet special forces—which has corresponding strategy cards. And the Spetsnaz block can be committed through the play of either a Soviet Infantry or Soviet Armor card.  

The Soviet Armor and Infantry represent the Soviet 40^th Army. The DRAF, on the other hand, represents the armed forces of the Soviets local allies in Afghanistan. While the DRAF were supported in a number of different ways by Soviets during the war, they were by and large less well equipped, less well training, and often less committed to conflict—many in the DRA Army regarded their job as more of a paycheck than something they were ideologically committed to.

Fans of Sekigahara will notice that the card layout in Bear Trap is similar to the card layout in Sekigahara. However here the central card area features reminder text—noting the number of cards of that type in the deck, number of matching blocks, impact value of that block for its different orientations, and key rules which affect that unit type.

Loyalty challenge cards

Each side has their own, different, kind of loyalty challenge card. How loyalty challenges work in Bear Trap was covered in a prior InsideGMT article, but here’s an excerpt:

Loyalty challenges are an important feature of combat. Each time you commit a block, your opponent has the opportunity to play a loyalty challenge card—Defectors, in the case of the insurgents, or KhAD in the case of the Soviets. If your opponent plays a loyalty challenge card, you must reveal an additional card from your hand that could commit that block. If you cannot, the block you were committing is eliminated and your opponent gets to add a new block to play and commit it (the forces effectively switching sides). In the war, the DRAF suffered from a high rate of defection and so the Insurgents have more loyalty challenge cards in their deck than the Soviets (KhAD, the Afghan secret police, also pressured rebels to abandon the cause through a variety of harsh measures).

The Insurgents have 3 copies of their loyalty challenge card, Defectors. The Insurgent player can use Defectors against either DRAF or Soviet Infantry (but not Soviet Armor). During the war, the DRAF suffered a high desertion rate—as much as 10,000 per year. The individuals within the DRAF were often not well motivated to fight against their fellow Afghans. This ties into why the Insurgent player has 3 copies of this card. Soviet forces themselves did also suffer desertions. For instance there were a few high profile cases of conscripts in the Soviet Army, like Kazbek Hudalov, defecting to the Mujahideen. But these were much rarer and hence why the card effect differs when played against Soviet Infantry.

Meanwhile, the Soviets—through the Afghan secret police, known as Khadamat-e Aetla’at-e Dawlati (KhAD)—would try to persuade locals to betray the freedom fighters through threats, propaganda, and an assortment of promises. In Bear Trap, these actions are represented through the Soviets loyalty challenge card, KhAD. While the Soviets only have one copy of this card, it can be devastating when used effectively.

Strategy Cards

In Bear Trap, each side has a set of strategy cards, consisting of 8 pairs (16 cards each total for each side).

These cards have powerful effects as they represent significant strategic ploys, defining attributes of their side, or noteworthy doctrinal shifts in how the conflict was waged. Most of these strategy cards will be played on a player’s turn for their effect, however some are reactionary and are instead play during the other player’s turn (in reaction to what they’re doing).

Over the course of the game, each side will gain access to more and more of their strategy cards, enabling them to react to the evolving game state and define how they’ll pursue their own priorities

The second part of this two-part series will talk more about the strategy cards and their historical context.

Deck Composition at Game Start & Over the Game

The Insurgent player’s deck contains 12 Lashkar, 8 Sunni Mujahideen, 8 Shi’a Mujahideen, and 3 Defectors cards. And during setup, the Insurgent player will add 1 strategy card of their choice to create their deck—32 cards total at game start. The Soviet player’s deck contains 7 Soviet Armor, 10 Soviet Infantry, 15 DRAF, ad 1 KhAD cards. Like the Insurgent player, they will also add 1 strategy card during set up—making their deck total 34 cards at game start.

Adding the strategy card at the outset allows the player to define their starting strategy and gives players a greater degree of variability from one playthrough to the next.

While Bear Trap is not a deck building game, each player’s deck will change slightly over the course of the game. Each time a player reshuffles their deck, they will choose 2 strategy cards from their available supply and add them to their deck—in this way, their deck will increase in size by +2 each time they reshuffle. Moreover, some cards can be permanently removed from the game once played (thereby reducing the size of their deck).  

Even though the size of the player’s deck will change over the course of the game, and some might think decks of only 35 or so cards is quite small, it’s important to bear in mind that the decks sizes impact the game length and the pace of the game. That is, unless a player satisfies their win condition beforehand, the game will end with the 7^th reshuffle (e.g. after 5 Soviet and 2 Insurgent reshuffles, or 3 Soviet and 4 insurgent reshuffles, etc).

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Previous Articles: 

Resolving Combat in Bear Trap

Gameplay Overview—How to Play Bear Trap