Field Manual: a tarot deck drawn like a 1944 field-manual engraving

Every card reads as an old print: fine cross-hatched ink lines, a mustard-ochre sky, olive uniforms and paper with faint grain and wear. The frame has a cream edge, an olive border with a double rule, stamped metal corner plates with a five-pointed star, a riveted plate for the Roman numeral, and a dark olive banner with the title in mustard-gold serif capitals.

The Minor Arcana come from a soldier's kit: Cups are dented tin mugs, Wands are rifles with an oak sprig under the sling, Swords are bayonets, and Pentacles are brass coins stamped with a star. The Fool is a grinning paratrooper in an aircraft doorway with a terrier in his jacket. The back shows a brass star medallion in a laurel wreath between oak sprays.

Field Manual appeals to people who like documentary illustration, old engravings and twentieth-century history, and who want tarot that feels sober rather than ornamental. Its scenes of farewells, night watches and homecomings sit well with questions about endurance, duty, separation, loyalty or rebuilding after a hard stretch. The full 78 cards allow more detailed readings on work and everyday life.

It is not a deck for everyone. War imagery, including a fallen soldier on a few cards, can be hard to look at, especially for anyone whose family history was marked by war. If that is you, any of the other eleven decks gives the same meanings and the same kind of interpretation.

Field Manual sits behind Arcana Pass, the €11.99 monthly subscription that also brings 150 tokens a month, the five other premium decks, and free weekly and monthly horoscopes. Buying tokens alone is not enough: packs from 10 tokens (€1.69) to 100 tokens (€10.49) pay for readings but not for premium decks.

Once subscribed, enter your question, a category and Field Manual. Before the draw, choose between the 22 Major Arcana and the complete 78-card deck. The three cards are read as past, present and future; the AI explains each in light of your question, closes with a live summary, and files the reading in your history. Two more cards can be added at 1 token apiece. None of the meanings depend on the wartime art.