International Play

Two or More Countries in a Simulated World

The Civic Mirror can be played in coordination with a number of classes at once. In this
case, each class will becomes one of many nations living in a simulated world. Nations will
play the game independently for the first 2 Years. This allows students to understand how the
game works as well as build themselves a strong government and healthy economy before
having to face the international challenges (e.g. trade, diplomacy, and military threats).
The teachers of these classes will ensure that all nations are proceeding through the
years at relatively the same pace. At the beginning of an agreed-upon year, the nations will
join, forming an international community involving political and economic interactions amongst
one another. Special meeting times will be scheduled for these events where you can meet the
“foreigners” face-to-face.
International play is the same as above, but a number of rules are added to
accommodate the following features.

International Politics
National leaders will meet face-to-face between the Winter and Spring seasons each
and every year. This meeting is called The International Meeting. Your teachers will prepare a
time and place suitable for meeting. During this time, national leaders do such things as
 discuss diplomatic and economic issues,
 hold peace talks, or impose economic sanctions on certain nation
 create treaties and/or alliances,
 requesting foreign aide.
The meeting is co-chaired by all national leaders, unless they designate one person to
be the chair. If a nation’s leader does not attend, his/her nation
Transportation hex
cannot participate in The International Meeting. However, this can
be avoided if the national leader sends a letter to the other leaders
indicating that he/she wishes to be represented by a delegate (this
may be given to the leader’s teacher for delivery). In this case, the
delegate may represent the absent leader’s nation at The
International Meeting.
Note: Any and every citizen from all nations are encouraged to attend this meeting.
The seating arrangement must be set up in a round-table fashion with citizens of common
nations seated together and behind their leader.
International Trading
Between the Spring and Summer seasons there is an International Market for any
interested buyers, sellers and traders. Business owners may benefit through selling goods to
foreign citizens for higher than normal prices. Buyers may seek better deals from foreign
sellers. Or, business owners from different countries may agree to exchange certain units.
“Shipping” goods to foreign markets requires energy in the form of fuel, industry in
the form of labor and infrastructure, and a mode of transportation. A nation must, therefore,
possess the necessary infrastructure if it wants to participate in global trade. To do this, a new
kind of hex needs to be built within your nation: a Transportation Hex.
The Transportation hex produces Trans-units that are used to help “ship” units to the
international market. A trans-unit is the vehicle that the units get shipped in, but that vehicle
requires fuel to move the units to the other countries. Therefore, the following rules apply:
i) A country must build a Transportation business on one of the 5 River-
hexes so massive ships can travel to and fro.
ii) Thereafter, 1 E/I unit and 1 Trans-unit can be used to ship any 6 units
from one particular country to the International Market. In essence, it
becomes a 6-unit transportation container.

For example, Kevin owns a Health Care hex and an Insurance hex. He can sell all of
his units to anyone in his country, but determines that he would be able to make more money
by selling them to the citizens of a certain country. He purchases an E/I unit and a Trans-unit
and ‘consumes’ them for the purpose of transporting and could export any combination of 6
units (e.g. 2 Health and 4 Insurance, or 3 and 3). Jina, a citizen and business owner in
Kevin’s country, learns that Kevin has a 6-unit transportation container. She owns 2 Farms
and she also thinks she would be able to make much more money selling her Food-units in
this other country, so much so that she offers Kevin $300 for 2 of the 6 spots. They work out
a deal and Kevin ships 3 Insurance units, 1 Health unit and 2 of Jina’s Food-units.
 E/I units and Trans-units are still needed to export E/I units and Trans-units ~
The owners of these businesses must still consume 1 E/I unit and Trans-unit to “move” these
units to another country. In reality, it takes energy and industry to move other forms of
energy and industry.

International Warfare
In international play, any nation may attack or be attacked by another nation in The
Military Round. The benefit of attacking (to conquer) another country is to gain control over its
economy. In fact, a conquering nation can take up to 33% of the units (rounding-up, per year)
from every unit-producing-hex in that country. This could greatly impact the WB Pts of the
citizens in the victorious nation.
The losses of warfare are grave and catastrophic depending on its size. What’s lost in
war are the lives of your Civilian Grouping members. And, if someone in your Civilian Grouping
DIES, you lose 10 Status Points.
Note: Due to conflicting class meeting times (when and where your courses are held),
no nation can politically rule a conquered nation. A conquered nation keeps its political
autonomy, but becomes economically crippled.
The Military Round occurs between the Summer and the Fall and your teachers will
arrange a time and place for both nations if required. Like the International Meeting, the
leader(s) of each nation must be present to conduct

Military Units

Every year, the government of a country must decide whether it Military unit

wants to create Military-units or not. To do this, a nation must convert

Safety-units into Military-units at a 1-1 ratio (i.e. one Safety-unit can
be converted into one Military-unit). In reality, creating and mobilizing
a military requires a vast amount of energy and industry. The rule,
then, is that 1 E/I-unit is required to convert every 2 Safety-units into 2
Military-units. their military campaign, or delegate someone to do so.
For example, if a country wishes to convert 5 Safety-units into 5 Military-units, 3 E/I-
units will be required. The size of your national army will be posted for citizens of all nations to
see.
The Military-units must be made before the Military Round and they are good for only
that year. Once a security-unit is converted, the decision is final and it remains a Military-unit
for that year. Countries cannot reclaim the “consumed” E/I units or Safety-units.
Rules of Warfare

First, the national leaders of various countries will all be given a small bit of
time to discuss, persuade and/or bribe one another. In step 3 all national leaders
Country Country
will declare their military intentions at the same time – there is not a country that C A

goes first, second, third, and so on. Second, all national leaders write down their
military intentions on a piece of paper and submit them to the teachers. Third, the
teachers will announce the various orders and determine the military battles that Country
B
are to be fought. Finally, the remainder of the Military Round will be spent rolling
the die to determine the winners and losers of the already decided military battles.

The rules for engaging in war are simple and done with dice. In a military battle, every
Military-unit allows one die roll for its nation. To win a military battle, nations will roll the die
as many times as they have Military-units (although they do not have to). The numbers are
recorded and added up. The nation(s) with highest total wins the military battle.

Example, if your country had 2 Military-units and rolled a 5 and then 6, your total would be
11. If your opposing country had 4 Military-units and rolled a 2, 3, 1, and 3, its total would be
9. You would win the military battle by a difference of 2. If there is a tie, the rolls are
forgotten and the parties repeat the rolling process.

There are three types of military actions: attacking, defending and expelling.

1. Attacking: When a country attacks an unoccupied country. If the attacking country is

successful, they conquer it and take their “spoils of war” from it (see below). If 2 countries
write orders to attack each other – a mutual attack - the winner conquers the loser.

2. Defending: When a country must defend itself from an outside attack. This is different
from a mutual attack because the defending country did not write orders to attack the
aggressive nation. Therefore, if it wins the military battle, it does not conquer the other
nation.

2. Expelling: This is when a defeated country kicks out its conquerors by winning a military
battle.

The following are rules for Multi-Country Military Battles:

 1. Countries can co-attack, co-defend and co-expel. For example, 2 countries could
defend against one attacking country. Or Country-A could help Country-B expel
Country-C, allowing Country-B to regain its independence.

2. If 2 countries attack and defeat a third country, only one of the winning countries
becomes the ruler of the losing country. If 2 countries attack 2 different countries,
then each winner gets a country. This is sorted out by the national leaders.

3. A defeated country cannot attack another country until it has expelled its rulers

4. In an International Community of 4 countries or less, a nation can engage in only 1

Military Battle

5. In an International Community of 5 countries or more, a nation can engage in only 2

Military Battles

6. If a country is in a position where it has to choose between attacking or defending

itself from a different attack, it must always defend first, attack second.

7. The previous rule brings up the hypothetical scenario where the leaders of all the
nations write orders to attack the other as shown below:

Insert Diagram

Because every country would have to “defend first, attack second”, all attacks
would be canceled: all of the armies would be returning home to defend, thus postponing
their attack.

Note: National leaders (as well as their diplomats and military strategists) should be
very aware how the defend first, attack second rule could be used as an advantage and
against them in many-country-scenarios.

The Consequences of War

1. Collateral Damage: Every Military-unit used (i.e. die rolled) automatically results in the
death of a randomly selected citizen from the nation that used the Military-unit. That unlucky
citizen must then pick which Civilian Grouping member DIES.
Example: If your country rolled the die 2 times (because it used 2 Military-units), then 2
Civilian Grouping members will randomly DIE. That would likely mean that 2 citizens would
lose 10 Status Points each (or, if one citizen’s members were picked twice, he/she would lose
20 Status Points). Imagine the consequences of using 9 die or more!

2. Life Lost in Defeat: The losing nation(s) of a war will always incur 4 EXTRA DEATHS.
These civilian casualties are selected randomly as previously outlined. Example: If your
country used 5 Military-units (because 5 die were rolled) but still lost the war, your nation
would incur 9 random Civilian Grouping member DEATHS(5 + 4).

3. Spoils of War: The victorious nation is entitled to 33% (rounding up) of the units from
each and every operational business-hex of the conquered nation. *Note: It is the importing
nation’s responsibility to supply the necessary E/I and Trans units for global shipping (see the
International Business section).

Sovereignty Returned

A conquered nation can reclaim sovereignty and economic independence if one of 2 scenarios
occur:
I. Departure of Captors: If for an entire year the victorious nation does not claim any
spoils of war, the conquered nation is liberated.

Example: In the year 2004, Country-X defeats Z-Nation in a war. Country-X takes E/I
units and Food-units from Z-Nation in 2005 and 2006. In 2008, however, Country-X
does not take anything. As a result of this non-action, Z-Nation is liberated and
economically independent – Country-X can no longer take as it wishes.

II. Expel the Ruler: At the end of a year, the conquered nation may attempt to Expel
their rulers by winning a military battle. A conquered nation may seek the help of
other nations in order to do this. If the military battle is won, the ruling nation leaves
and sovereignty is returned. successful, the nation is expelled from your territory, but
this does not give you conquering rights (i.e. you have not invading, you have “forced”
them out of your country).
Example: In the year 2004, Country-X defeats Z-Country in a war. For 3 years
Country-X has control over Z-Nation. In 2007, however, Z-Nation wages war against
Country-X and successfully defeats them. Z-Nation regains its independence but does
not control Country-X.

Summary of the International Sequence:

International Trading
 A country must create a Transportation business on a River-hex before any trading can occur.
 1 E/I unit & 1 Trans-unit are required to export ANY 6 units

International Diplomacy & Warfare

 Anyone can attend the Int. Meeting between the leader(s) of each nation
 Security-units can be converted to Military-units at a 1-1 ratio plus the conversion costs
 1 E/I-unit is required to convert 2 Security units into2 Military units
 War is conducted with dice between years. Every Military-unit allows one die roll for its nation. The nation(s) that
rolls the highest cumulative total wins the war.
 In an International Community of 4 countries or less, a nation can engage in only 1 Military Battle
 In an International Community of 5 countries or more, a nation can engage in only 2 Military Battles
 If a country is in a position where it has to choose between attacking or defending itself from a different attack, it
must always defend first, attack second.
 Every Military-unit used in War results in the death of a randomly selected citizen
 The losing nation(s) of a war will always incur 3 extra DEATHS.
 Spoils of War: the victorious nation is entitled to 3 units from any & every powered business-hex of the losing nation
 A conquered nation can reclaim sovereignty and economic independence if either a) the captors do not claim spoils
of war for 2 years, or b) defeat the captors in a second war, or c) diplomatic negotiations