Introduction[]
In this game players compete to destroy as much of the other player's starfleet as possible before the time runs out.
Players: 2
Complexity: Medium
Components:
- 5 Tiles for each player, consisting of fighters (drop/1), hoppers (circles/3), stations (wheel/5), or interceptors (arrow/6). Players should agree that the other fleet is balanced.
- 5 or more extra tiles to be used for measurement.
- The entire deck of cards.
- 20 cubes for each player, in their color.
- A rectangular playing area.
Setup:[]
1. Place your ships such that the leading edge of the tile is not more than two tile-lengths from the edge of the table. 2. Place the appropriate number of activation cubes onto each of your ships. 3. Shuffle the deck and deal 2 cards to each player. Set the deck where it is reachable by both players.
Play:[]
Play proceeds in a series of rounds. Each round, has several phases, done in order.
1. Initiative Phase
2. Movement Phase
3. Activation Phase
4. Combat Phase
Initiative Phase:
To begin, each player draws 2 cards. Then, each player selects one card from their hand and puts it down on the table, face down. Once both players have selected their cards, turn the cards face up. The player whose card has the lowest number get initiative for the turn. In case of a tie, the player whose cards' symbol has the lowest numerical value gains initiative.
Movement Phase:
Beginning with the player who did not receive initiative, each player moves one of their ships. Movement is accomplished through the use of movement tiles. Each ship is allotted 1-3 base movement tiles, but a ship may activate, discarding a cube to use 2 additional tiles, or playing the fighter card to gain one additional tile. Begin laying out your path at the front of your ship. Choose a maneuver, and lay tiles in the appropriate pattern. Then, if more tiles remain, choose a forward edge and lay down additional maneuvers. If you run out of tiles or choose to stop moving, place the ship at the end of the maneuver or set of maneuvers. This process is repeated for each ship, alternating between players until all ships have moved.
Maneuvers:
There are 2 basic maneuvers, plus two special maneuvers for the fighter and interceptor.
- Forward: (1 tile) Place the tile immediately in front of the previous tile or ship. The direction is not changed.
- Turn: (2 tiles) Place the tiles such that they form an equilateral triangle in front of the previous tiles. Either of the outer-and-forward-most tiles are the next tile.
- Hard Turn: (3 tiles, interceptor only.) Place the three tile in a row perpendicular to the direction of motion. The next tiles are the outermost tiles, such that the direction of motion is changed by ninety degrees.
- Barrel Roll: (1 tile, fighter and card only) The barrel roll is a special move. Instead of using the barrel roll with the rest of the maneuvers, the barrel roll is preformed as a separate maneuver at the beginning or end of a move. Before moving or as arriving at your destination, you may spend one tile to barrel roll, placing the tile to the left or right of your spaceship and then moving the ship to the other side, facing the same direction.
Activation Phase:
Starting with the player without initiative, players may activate one of their ships for an activation phase ability. Instead, a player may play a card for an activation phase affect, or pass. When both players pass in sequence, the phase is over.
Combat Phase:
Starting with the player with initiative, each player takes turns choosing one of their ships to shoot at an opponent's ship. For each ship choose an opponent's ship that is in your ship's firing arc. Then either draw a random card from the deck or play a card from your hand. If the number on the card is less than or equal to the number of cubes on the target ship, remove a cube from that ship. If this was the last cube, destroy the ship. Then, discard the card.
The Cards: Do A Barrel Roll: (Fighter/drop) Movement Phase: Play to give a ship the ability to do a barrel roll for the turn.
Repair: (Construction Ship/hammers) Combat Phase: When a cube would be removed from a friendly ship you may play this card to prevent it.
Energy Surge: (Hopper/3 circles) Any Phase: When a cube would be removed from a ship for an activation, instead you may play this card.
Big Guns: (Battleship/bricks) Combat Phase: Increase your shooting range for the turn.
Replenish: (Station/wheel) Activation Phase: Add one cube to a ship.
Afterburner: (Interceptor/arrow) Movement Phase: Increase a ship's movement tiles by 1 for the turn.
Ships:
Fighter (drop) Starting Activation: 2 Base Movement: 2 May preform the Barrel Roll Maneuver
Construction Ship (hammers) Starting Activation: 3 Base Movement: 2 Activation: To activate, remove two cubes. Attach a card from your hand to a ship. You may play that card for it's ability by activating the ship. Warning: Not playtested.
Hopper (3 circles) Starting Activation: 3 Base Movement: 2 When you could activate another ship in range 2 or less, you may activate that ship by removing an activation cube from this ship instead.
Battleship (bricks) Starting Activation: 3 Base Movement: 2 When shooting a ship at range 1, remove two cubes. You may shoot at range 3. Warning: Not Playtested!
Station (wheel) Starting Activation: 4 Base Movement: 1 Omnidirectional. You may activate the station to put a activation cube on each friendly ship in range 2.
Interceptor Starting Activation:3 Base Movement: 3 The interceptor may execute the Hard Turn maneuver.
Direction and Firing Arc:
Each ship may only shoot ships that are in it's range and firing arc. A ship's firing arc usually consists of the 180 degree arc from the front of the tile forward.
Each tile has a specific front.
Fighter: The side that the pointy end of the drop is pointing towards.
Construction Ship: The side that is closest to both hammer heads.
Hopper: The side that the point of the triangle points to.
Battleship: Either of the sides on the short side of the stack
Interceptor: The side that the point of the arrow is facing towards.
Some ships are Omnidirectional. These ships do not have a specified front, and if a front is needed for an action any side may be chosen.
Game End:[]
When the cards run out, the game is over, and the player with the greatest number of cubes on ships they control wins!