Optional Supremacy
One of the great advantages board games have over electronic games is that they can be easily customized to suit the tastes of the players. Do you want more realism? Do you want more detail in simulating certain aspects of the conflict? No problem. Just add a few optional rules.
Here we keep a list of our favorites. Try them out for fun. Do you have some of your own that you would like to share? Send us an email and let us know. We’ll give you credit and post it here.
Note- These have not been thoroughly play tested and may result in complications or unbalanced games. Most of these also add playing time and complexity to the game.
Caution -When introducing new players to Supremacy, we strongly recommend sticking to the basic game the first time out. It is easy to overwhelm newbies. Let them get their mind around the basics first.
Godzilla
Inspired by Ben Miller.
Yes, this is a silly rule but it can still be a lot of fun! Purchase some miniature Godzilla pieces. Plastic toy dinosaurs work too.
During the Salary Phase, roll 1 die for each Mushroom cloud on the board. On a 6 result, place a radioactive, mutant Godzilla monster in that area.
For the Combat Phase, place an extra chit in the cup for each Godzilla.
When the Godzilla is pulled, randomly determine a direction it will move. Roll a die and move the Godzilla that many spaces. If there is more than 1 choice, simply roll a die to decide.
Godzilla can be on land and at sea.
Godzilla attacks each area he moves through with 6 dice. ‘6’ results destroy company cards there. If there are no companies, apply the hits to armies/navies. Armies and Navies attacked by Godzilla fire back normally.
You can kill Godzilla with an ICBM strike or 6 regular combat hits. The 6 hits must be all together during the same attack round. These hits do not carry over into other attack rounds (blitz) or into other areas as the monster is moving.
Act of Cat
House Rule by Jim Sabo
Any piece moved by a cat during the game counts as a legal game move. Players cannot just move the pieces back. You must resolve the situation through normal game play.
If opposing armies end up in the same area, they must fight immediate and successive combat rounds until only 1 side remains in the area.
Armies moved into a sea area are destroyed.
Navies moved into a land area are destroyed.
Black markers moved completely off the track or Strategic Reserve card are reset to zero.
If the price marker is knocked off the track, reset the price to the nearest price to the displaced marker.
Supply
By Marshall Barrington
We almost included this a standard rule for the basic game. In the end we decided to drop it to make the game easier for new players. We highly recommend this for added realism.
All Armies not able to trace a supply line back to a controlled home city at the end of the Attack phase are eliminated. The path must be traced through controlled areas and passable borders. You can trace supply through areas controlled by other players but only with their permission. You can also trace supply through a Minor power area, if you pay each of them $100BL each turn. Armies overseas have supply as long as their adjacent sea area is not blockaded.
Airborne Drop
By Marshall Barrington
This was part of the original. This is a fun game mechanic but if you make it realistic, it’s almost never worth doing. We recommend using this with the Supply rule to keep it real. That however demonstrates the folly of the ‘Red Dawn’ attack. Still, there may be a few handy applications.
During a regular attack, players may declare an Airborne drop. The attacker spends 1 extra oil per activated Army to drop them. This Army may be air dropped into any area. They may be dropped into an area containing enemy Armies. The Airborne Armies fire first. Defenders take loses and then return fire. If any defenders remain in the area at the end of the attack, all Airborne Armies are destroyed.
Gearing Limits
By Marshall Barrington
How can you go from producing nothing to building 12 ICBMs in 1 turn? This feature makes some players cringe. This rule forces players to realistically build by gradually ramping up factory production as you would have to in real life. It adds much realism to the game. Unfortunately, it also adds a lot of time. You have been forewarned. You can always gear down any quantity at anytime you want. It just takes awhile to gear up. You can apply this to almost everything. Experiment to see what you like. Some players recommend you apply limits to ICBMs and Loans. When applying it to Armies, the limit would apply to sets of Armies not the actual number. This is going to require some extra record keeping. You will have to keep a total running of how many each player produces of each type on paper each turn.
The maximum of anything a player can build is limited to the quantity he built last turn, plus 1 more.
By Robert Thompson
Here are two more simple versions of this rule:
- Players can only build 3 of anything each turn. i.e. 3 ICBMs, 3 sets of Armies, a $3TL loan, etc.
- The maximum quantity of allowable builds is equal to the turn number. So, you can only build 1 of everything on turn 1. Two of everything on turn 2, etc.
Additional Powers
By Marshall Barrington
What happened to Africa and South America? What?! No Middle Powers? Yes, sorry. We dropped all of these. We’ve tried to ground this edition to plausible reality for 2020. Anything is theoretically possible but realistically, not in our lifetimes.
Still, it can be kind of fun to experiment with different would-be powers. It can really mix up the strategic combinations. In earlier prototypes, we actually started with the EU split up into separate superpowers: Germany, France and Italy. Each of these powers had 1 home area with 4 cities. This makes for a very intense game!! France can be blue. Use the yellow from Brazil for Italy. The black terror pieces work well for Germany.
Caution, Keep in mind that more players will greatly add to the playing time. You are on your own for play balance!
You can easily add in additional Superpower players. Set up is the same. You will need an extra set of colored playing pieces. Colored beads work well. You will also need something to mark 4 cities for each new player. You can place these as you like, even in the same area. All other rules are the same. Have fun!
Note: Report back to us if you end up with interesting games/situations with this. We’d all love to hear about it.
Support
By Marshall Barrington
Failed attacks on Minors push them into the arms of the enemy. In desperate times, they will welcome any support.
If a player has attacked a minor area but did not conquer them, you may declare Support. To declare Support, you must move at least 1 Army into the minor’s area. Support gives you control of the area and the Minor’s forces.
Stronger Minors
By Marshall Barrington
The Mini and Cyber Deck expansions give the players an offensive edge. We recommend this rule while using those.
Do not halve the die roll when placing Minor Armies. Use the full amount.
Medium Powers
By Marshall Barrington
Some Minor’s are bigger and should realistically have more forces.
When placing Minor Armies in these Minors, roll 2 dice and use the full amount:
- Argentina
- Mexico
- Brazil
- Poland
- Ukraine
- Romania
- Turkey
- Iran
- Egypt
- Saudi Arabia
- South Africa
- Pakistan
- Korea